I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 100 Three visits to the thatched cottage
Old wine tastes mellower, and old people gain broader knowledge.

Hu Baosong is over 200 years old, and his vision and knowledge are incomparable to ordinary people. Although Xu Qing is a zombie, he also has a heart to learn and pursue the truth.

Now that he has such a ready-made master, he naturally wants to ask for advice.

After leaving the coffin shop to Xuanyu's care, Xu Qing went to the coffin shop with Taoist Master Yizhen to learn about the Dao.

There is an old peach tree in the house where Hu Baosong lives. This is the first time Xu Qing has entered the backyard of the coffin shop.

He looked at the cushion placed under the peach tree, his eyes moving slightly.

The fox lives in a peach tree, and there is a fox hole in the tree.

Foxes seem to have always had an inseparable connection with peach trees.

There are also frequent records of foxes worshipping peaches in books. Legend has it that when a fox begins its practice, it will often look for a peach tree of the best quality within a radius of a hundred miles.

The fox then placed offerings for the peach tree, imitating humans by kneeling down to pay homage, in order to pray for the peach tree to allow it to reside in its body and practice cultivation.
On the contrary, if someone who knows the situation sees a fox worshipping peaches, they will often choose to kill the fox and cut down the peach tree.

This is not done because they are greedy for the fox's fur or want to cut firewood, but because the peach tree that the fox has a connection with is often the most spiritual one.

Once the fox moves in to practice cultivation, it will inevitably take advantage of the peach tree's protection and absorb all the spiritual energy around it, leaving no grass growing within a hundred miles.

Without spiritual energy, crops will not grow well and people and animals will not live in peace.

Therefore, the older generation passed down a saying that if you see a fox bowing to a peach tree, you must drive it away or kill it.

Xu Qing didn't know whether it was true or not, but he believed that the fox loved the peach tree.

The Taoist Master Yizhen in front of him obviously likes the old peach tree in the yard very much.

She narrowed her almond-shaped eyes and raised her head slightly. The peach tree in the yard seemed to have a spirit. At this moment, an inexplicable breeze came out from the branches of the peach tree and was blowing gently towards the few people.

Seeing the two people standing under the peach tree with different expressions, Hu Baosong smiled and said, "The reason I chose this house was because of this peach tree."

"This peach tree is at least four hundred years old."

As Hu Baosong spoke, he looked at Yizhen, who was squinting her eyes and enjoying the breeze.

"If my guess is correct, there should be a peach forest at the gate of Wulao Temple."

Yizhen came back to his senses and nodded, saying, "There is indeed a peach forest. The elders in the temple said that those peach trees were planted by Master together with a heartless person."

"."

Hu Baosong looked embarrassed, but Yizhen remained calm, as if he could not hear the hidden meaning in the other person's words.

Xu Qing, eager to watch the fun, suddenly said, "Senior Hu has been trying to make a living in a coffin shop all these years. How would he know there's a peach orchard outside the Five Elders Temple?"

"Could it be."

Hu Baosong and Yizhen glanced at Xu Qing almost at the same time.

"Could it be that Senior Hu accidentally mentioned the Five Elders Temple while chatting with someone, and that person happened to have been there and mentioned the peach forest outside the Five Elders Temple?"

Seeing that the two men looked tense and as if they were facing a great enemy, Xu Qing changed his tone quickly.

Hu Baosong breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, and Yizhen also smiled faintly.

Only Xu Qing was left sighing.

A forced melon is not sweet. If you want to eat good melons, you have to wait for them to ripen on their own.

Hu Baosong was in a state of fear and love at this time. He wanted to take his relationship with Yizhen to the next level, but he was also afraid that breaking that layer of window paper would lead to a series of bad consequences.

The same was true for Yizhen. She had clearly noticed the relationship between Hu Baosong and his master, and she had guessed something from Hu Baosong's caring attitude.

But the more this happened, the more panicked she became.

Faced with this situation, the only thing she could think of subconsciously was to avoid such topics.

Hu Baosong sighed softly, then gathered his thoughts and began to impart his lifelong learning to the two of them.

The person in front of him was his closest person, and the other was a friend of different ages who gave him a new life and helped him resolve his regrets.

If his life span was not limited, he really wanted to see these two juniors grow up.

It’s a pity to say, but Hu Baosong doesn’t feel regretful at all.

It is said that the greatest blessing in the world is to be content and always happy, while the greatest disaster in the world is to be discontent and always sad.

In this life, he is already content!
The sun flows like water, and horses pass by the window.

Three days passed in a flash, and one day a plain carriage suddenly arrived outside the coroner's shop.

In addition to the carriage, there were also several martial arts masters dressed in martial arts style, riding tall horses to protect them.

The car curtain opened, and a fat little man with a slightly haggard look walked out of the car.

He looked at the tightly closed door of the paper-making shop and sighed softly.

However, when he saw that the coroner's shop was still operating as usual, his mood improved.

He rubbed his face with his hands, and Zhu Huaian's originally somewhat distressed expression disappeared in an instant.

He walked into the shop with a smile, but there was no sign of Xu Qing inside. There was only a beautiful young girl with fair skin sitting in front of the counter.

The girl, dressed in red and with a cool temperament, was playing with a pair of walnuts in her hands. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that the style of the painting in front of him did not match.

Zhu Huaian's heart skipped a beat, wondering if his enigmatic brother Xu had sold the shop and would never come back.
"Miss, may I ask if Shopkeeper Xu is in the shop?"

Possessing Sun Erniang, Xuan Yu, who was playing with a walnut, raised his eyebrows slightly and said in a clear voice: "He is not here. If you have anything to say, you can talk to me."

"May I ask about the relationship between the young lady and Shopkeeper Xu?"

"He is my cousin and I am his cousin. My cousin is out for something, so I will take care of the store on his behalf." Xuan Yu responded with the excuse he had agreed with Xu Qing earlier.

"I wonder how long Brother Xu has been away, and when he will return?"

"I don't know. My cousin didn't say clearly. Maybe he'll be back tomorrow, or maybe in a month or two."

Zhu Huaian had no choice but to say: "Then I will come to visit again tomorrow. If Brother Xu comes back during this period, I hope you can tell him that Huaian, an old friend from Tianjin, is here to visit. I will be very grateful."

After leaving the coroner's shop, Zhu Huaian saw a charming woman directing the driver to unload goods at the door of the incense and candle shop, so he went up to her and began to inquire about the news of the Wu brothers.
In the backyard of the coffin shop, although Xu Qing had only listened to the lecture for three days, he already had the enlightenment of breaking the golden rope and unlocking the shackles.

A true word is passed on, and a thousand volumes of books are falsely passed on.

Old Man Hu really teaches you something!

Perhaps it was because of the presence of this cheap senior sister from Wulao Temple, but Hu Baosong paid attention to every detail when teaching. Whenever there was a question, he would answer it carefully and never showed any impatience.

Xu Qing wanted to ask Hu Baosong some questions about zombies, but he didn't dare to say it directly.

After thinking for a long time, he had an idea and chose a roundabout way to ask Hu Baosong what he thought of the alien monsters.

"The zombies, ghosts, and demons you mentioned are all inhuman things."

"So-called inhuman things are beyond common sense. In short, they are nothing more than ghosts, monsters, demons, and evil spirits."

"I once met a master named Ge Hongwen. He knew my background. At that time, I asked him questions about my demon bloodline."

When Hu Baosong talked about the demon bloodline, he subconsciously looked at Yizhen.

When the nun heard this, her breath stopped, and she was obviously very concerned. When Xu Qing heard the three words "Ge Hongwen", he was stunned for a moment.

Isn't this the one in the revolving lantern who says that there is no such thing as magical power or magic in the world, but when he turns around, he is as light as a cloud crane and breeze, floating across a mountain stream more than ten feet wide?

Hu Baosong didn't know what Xu Qing was thinking, so he continued, "Fellow Daoist Ge explained to me at the time that when people are fabricated, they are called demons; when things have spirits, they are called spirits; when human souls linger, they are called ghosts; when the energy of heaven and earth is out of balance, it is called strange; when gods are not right, it is called evil; when people are confused, they are called demons; and when they stray into heresy, they are called unorthodox."

"As for demons, they are often caused by humans. Without provocation, demons will not arise. Humans do not do good things, harboring resentment and fear. This muddies the earth's energy and creates uncertainty in the heavens. These demons take advantage of this opportunity to enter the world and commit evil, a recurring phenomenon that is difficult to eradicate.

If the world is clear and bright, and people do not do anything wrong, in a peaceful and prosperous era, the demons will naturally hide themselves and not enter the world.

As the saying goes, when a country is about to rise, there will be auspicious signs; when a country is about to fall, there will be evil spirits."

Hu Baosong laughed and said, "I didn't understand why, so Fellow Daoist Ge gave me some pointers, saying that I'm neither a demon nor a ghost, but a human spirit who has entered the world to cultivate."

Xu Qing suddenly realized, "This monster is not that monster. Senior Ge must not be talking about origin, but character."

"As long as you can see your true nature, you won't need to worry about appearances like humans and ghosts, demons and evil spirits, or gods and demons. You must know that demons can disguise themselves as ghosts, evil spirits can become demons, and gods can become demons. What matters is the distinction within your own heart."

"If you are a demon, then you are a demon; if you are a human, then you are a human."

Yizhen looked at Xu Qing in surprise. She had the blood of a fox demon, so it was not surprising that she could empathize and understand the truth.

But in her eyes, Xu Qing is a normal person.

It is indeed rare for a person who is not an evil spirit to have such profound thoughts.

The nun had no idea that the young man in front of her, who looked like a human being, was actually not a living person.

Otherwise, where would so many inhuman insights come from?

The next day, Zhu Huaian went to the coroner's shop again, but still came up empty-handed.

"Your Highness, why are you so concerned about someone who runs a funeral business? Time is running out and there are many matters that need to be dealt with in the palace. Even if they are friends, you shouldn't waste so much time on them."

The staff and guests around Zhu Huaian were obviously a little anxious.

"I have my own plans for this matter, so you don't need to say anything more."

Others may not know, but Zhu Huaian knows that his brother Xu really has some skills.

If we only talk about wisdom and insight, I'm afraid he is not much worse than the staff in the palace.

If he could get Xu Qing to come out and assist him, it wouldn't hurt for him to wait a few more days.

Coffin shop.

Xu Qing and the other two sat around under a peach tree, with an incense burner on the table emitting wisps of green smoke.

Today, Hu Baosong talked about the realm of practice of people today.

Xu Qing had only known that there were six realms in martial arts before, but he had never known that outside of martial arts, there were also six realms for those who practiced Taoism.

However, the six realms of practitioners are not comparable to martial arts.

One of them is popular in the secular world, while the other is hidden from the world and is not known to ordinary people. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are completely unrelated, so there is naturally no question of comparison.

“There are various methods of cultivation, and there is no specific set of rules. However, a thousand years ago, a major sect was established and created the six realms of cultivation, namely, exorcism, general knowledge, soul punishment, beheading of decay, shaping life, and primordial spirit.

Because these six realms of practice are the most widely spread, they have become the most commonly used term when practitioners discuss the Dao and compare the Dharma.

Hu Baosong talked freely.

As the name suggests, when Liu Youdao was able to control the zombies and dared to walk among the graveyards and forests at night, he possessed the ability to ward off evil spirits.

And nurturing consciousness is the second realm, a reflection of the general consciousness realm.

Humans have nine senses, including eyes, ears, mouth, nose, tongue, body, mind, sacrum and storage.

Every time you gain a piece of knowledge, you can gain many mysterious abilities.

Among them, the eye is the broad sense of vision, which can see the evil when it is opened;

The ear is the organ that transmits auditory consciousness and can hear the words of ghosts and the sounds of gods.

The mouth is the wonderful oral consciousness. After it is opened, one can practice the method of silence, the method of command, or compose tens of thousands of words a day, speaking of wonderful and profound things without feeling hungry or thirsty. When practiced to a high level, one can also silence the sound and store the breath, gather the inner breath, emit thunderous sounds from the mouth, awe the hearts and souls, and possess supreme majesty.

The nose is the organ of hearing and knowing, and can distinguish the thickness of air and remember every detail.

The tongue is responsible for the perception of the five flavors. It can distinguish the taste of all kinds of things, from the rare and delicious to the poisonous and evil, and know them all clearly.

The body is a strong consciousness, which can climb rocks and walk on walls, pass through mountains and touch the consciousness without any obstacles. When it is cultivated to a high and deep level, it can be divided into multiple forms and change in thousands of ways. The long form can fill the eight poles, and the short form can penetrate into the tiny.

It means the spiritual consciousness, which is open to all dharmas. External demons cannot enter, internal demons cannot arise, and everything is empty and pure.

The end represents the end of knowledge. Opening it can lead to good fortune and avoid misfortune, and disasters and calamities can also be overcome.

Zang is the storage of clear consciousness. After opening, it can build a bridge to connect heaven and earth, enter the divine scene, perceive the inside and outside, and comprehend the true mystery.

Among these nine consciousnesses, only seven are easy to understand, and the last two consciousnesses are extremely dependent on luck and understanding.

Among them, the last master can change, which is the foresight to seek blessings and avoid disasters. The hidden consciousness can be the bridge to communicate between heaven and earth, perceive the inside and outside, and is the knowledge of enlightenment, which cannot be cultivated by ordinary people.

Xu Qing asked Hu Baosong a question and learned that practicing the Six Realms did not prolong life before the Soul Punishment Realm, so most practitioners only opened one or two general knowledge in the second realm and no longer wasted energy on it.

This is because once one consciousness is opened, one has entered the realm of general consciousness. Instead of opening many more general consciousnesses, it is better to practice to the next level as soon as possible to prolong one's life.

Xu Qing asked Hu Baosong how many consciousnesses he had opened, and he laughed and said, "My Huyang clan is born with the eye consciousness. No one would cultivate the other eight consciousnesses unless they were necessary."

After all, whether it is a human or a demon, the lifespan is limited. Everyone is competing with the heaven and earth for longevity. No matter how many general knowledges are opened, it cannot increase the lifespan. Who would neglect the essential and open so many general knowledges?

When Xu Qing heard this, his heart moved slightly.

The Corpse-Nourishing Sutra states that when a zombie reaches the corpse-lying stage, it can open its nine orifices.

These nine orifices are equivalent to the nine general consciousnesses.

Others have limited lifespans and dare not spend their time on developing general knowledge, but he is different.

Zombies have no lifespan. Even if it takes ten years for him to open one orifice, a hundred years is enough to open all nine orifices.

"Each orifice represents one supernatural power, and the nine orifices represent nine abilities. I just don't know if the nine orifices of a zombie are any different from the nine supernatural powers of a living person."

In the evening, Hu Baosong, who had been discussing Taoism for seven consecutive days, finally felt tired.

"I'm old. It's only been a few days and I can't sit still anymore."

Hu Baosong looked at the two younger generations and said, "Take a rest for two days tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Then I will teach you the Huyang family's cultivation method."

Xu Qing was still not satisfied.

He probably couldn't practice Hu Yang's method of cultivation, but the way of cultivation has always been able to be applied to other cases. Even if he couldn't practice it, it would be good to have more experience.

After Xu Qing said goodbye to Senior Sister Yizhen at the door of the coffin shop, he went to the coroner's shop alone.

When he was about to reach the door of the shop, Xu Qing inadvertently looked up and glanced somewhere.

There was a strange man squatting on the opposite street.

When the man saw him walk into the coroner's shop, he quickly got up and left Jingxia Street.

(End of this chapter)