Don't talk nonsense, this is the Emperor's Banner

Chapter 34 Underworld
Shen Siyuan stood up and put on his clothes again. Since he was his uncle's friend, he should still show him the proper respect.

My uncle quickly led an old Taoist priest into the house.

Shen Siyuan was also surprised when he saw the other person.

With his understanding of ghosts, he could naturally see that the old Taoist priest was in a state of extremely full soul power.

Ghosts also have strong and weak ones. The strength of a ghost is not only related to its spirit and energy when it was alive, but also to its talent.

These gifted people are born with stronger souls than ordinary people. Therefore, they are smarter than ordinary people. Some are even geniuses in certain aspects that ordinary people can hardly match.

The old Taoist priest is such a person, he was born extraordinary.

So even after death, he is still different from everyone else.

When the old Taoist saw Shen Siyuan, he was surprised at first, then he bowed his head and said respectfully: "I am Qingyun, Taoist friend."

"Oh, why do you call me fellow Taoist? Shouldn't you call me layman?" Shen Siyuan asked with a smile.

"I see that you are able to control yin and yang, breathe in the essence, and maintain your spirit independently. Your muscles are like one. You deserve to be called a real person, so I naturally call you a Taoist friend."

What the old Taoist said came from Huangdi Neijing Suwen. Shen Siyuan naturally didn't understand it, so he didn't respond. He just politely asked the two to sit down and talk in detail.

"Mr. Yu was worried about you, thinking you were in poor health, so he asked me to take a look. But he didn't expect that you were just successful in your practice."

The old Taoist priest gazed at Shen Siyuan's bright eyes, and couldn't help but admire him secretly in his heart. In this era when Taoism was declining and gods were not visible, to be able to practice to such a level, his talent must be extraordinary. But he also secretly felt sorry that Shen Siyuan was born in the wrong era.

After hearing what the old Taoist said, the uncle next to him looked at Shen Siyuan up and down in surprise. He never expected that his nephew was also a Taoist practitioner. He had never noticed it in the past.

Shen Siyuan was very curious about what the old Taoist said about cultivation. As far as he knew, there was no spiritual energy in this world and the energy of heaven and earth was extremely turbid. It was impossible for a cultivator to be born. However, when he thought about the merits from heaven, it seemed that it could not be so absolute.

So he asked, "Are there many people like the Taoist priest? I mean, are there many people practicing?"

“In the past, there were very few, but there were many people who achieved success in cultivation. Now, there are many, but there are no successful practitioners. They are all pretending to practice, and they are just making money in the name of cultivation.” The old Taoist sighed, full of melancholy and heartache.

“Why were there so few people practicing in the past, but so many people who achieved success in practice?”

"Because at that time, the heaven and earth had not changed, all things had spirits, the world was orderly, the gods were above, humans were in the middle, the dead were below, and all things had reincarnation..."

"You mean, there was an underworld in the past?" Shen Siyuan asked.

"This is natural. Otherwise, where do all these myths and legends come from? Are they all fabricated out of thin air?"

"Then why are they gone now? I've seen many people whose souls dissipate directly after they let go of their obsessions and are no longer tied down."

"Ah~"

The old Taoist priest shook his head and said, "I am not very clear about this either."

"A long time ago, no gods descended to the world. It is said that the path to becoming an immortal was completely cut off, and no one could become an immortal anymore. However, at that time, the underworld and reincarnation still existed. After death, as long as people let go of their obsessions, they could enter the underworld and re-enter reincarnation. But a hundred years ago, for some unknown reason, the underworld suddenly disappeared, and the soul died, becoming its final destination..."

Perhaps the old Taoist priest’s unwillingness to let go of his obsession with becoming an immortal is also related to this.

"A hundred years ago, is there a specific time?" Shen Siyuan asked.

Hearing this, the old Taoist frowned and thought: "It was probably the year when the foreigners invaded our Chinese land."

The old Taoist priest was talking about foreigners, not the little notebook, and it was more than a hundred years ago. Shen Siyuan reacted instantly.

"In 1900, the Eight-Nation Invasion?"

"It seems so." The old Taoist priest had lived a long time. Although it was more than 120 years ago, he was already in his 60s at that time, so he was naturally clear about these things. "Don't you know the reason either?" The old Taoist priest shook his head.

"Back then, I and some Taoist friends visited famous mountains and rivers, visited immortals and worshipped foxes, just to seek an answer, but in the end it was to no avail." The old Taoist sighed.

But the old Taoist priest had already let it go. He continued, "But the world has its own rules. Although ghosts don't enter reincarnation, it doesn't have much impact on the human world."

"No, it still has an impact." Shen Siyuan said.

"Oh? What impact?" The old Taoist priest showed curiosity.

"Ghosts enter reincarnation not only to comply with the rotation of heaven and earth, but also because every reincarnation nourishes the body, which makes the soul more spiritual. Hundreds of years ago, countless amazing talents were born. Are there still any now?"

"And without the six realms of reincarnation, what difference does good and evil make? In the end, everything will disappear between heaven and earth."

"That's exactly the truth." The old Taoist priest showed admiration.

Then he asked, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"tomorrow?"

Shen Siyuan thought about it and nodded slowly. He decided to go on a blind date tomorrow morning, so he still had time in the afternoon.

"Then come to my temple tomorrow. I have something for you."

"Things? What things?" Shen Siyuan asked curiously.

"I and a few fellow Taoists have visited famous mountains and rivers, and we have gained a lot. However, our cultivation is shallow, so we can't see anything special. You can achieve something special in this world, which shows that you are not only gifted, but also blessed. If I give you these things, maybe you can study them out..."

When Shen Siyuan heard this, he suddenly understood and became even more curious about what he was talking about.

At this moment, my uncle, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

"Your Taoist temple has collapsed, it's overgrown with weeds, rats and ants are everywhere, and it's been so many years, how can you still hide the things?"

The old Taoist glanced at him sideways when he heard this.

Then he said, "When I die, humanity will flourish and we will defeat all kinds of evil spirits. I was worried that those things would be lost, so I buried them underground early. Over the years, there have been few people in my Taoist temple, so those things will naturally not be lost."

"In that case, thank you very much, Taoist priest. I will go and have a look tomorrow afternoon. I wonder where your temple is?"

"It's in Xiaofengling, its name is Tingfeng Temple. I'll wait for you at the foot of the mountain tomorrow afternoon and take you there then." said the old Taoist priest.

"Okay, thank you very much, Taoist priest." Shen Siyuan expressed his gratitude.

He knew Xiaofengling, which was a nearby mountain. It was a bit of an exaggeration to call it a mountain. In fact, it was just a big mound of earth. Shen Siyuan had played there with his friends when he was a child.

The old Taoist priest stood up and said, "In that case, I won't bother you any more. Go to bed early."

Seeing this, my uncle also stood up.

Shen Siyuan wanted to say something to his uncle, but he didn't know what. Just as he said, everything was in the past. Humans and ghosts are different, so what's the point of saying those things.

The reason why my uncle has been wandering around the world and has not disappeared is probably because he is waiting for his Qiaozhen.

In this case, let him wait. There is still hope. Wait until he figures out why he disappeared from the underworld and see if he can be reincarnated again. Of course, before that, let him board the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to prevent his body from dissipating.

But there was no need to rush now, so he sent them to the door and watched them leave.

(End of this chapter)