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

Chapter 298 Being a Zombie is Okay! (It's the end of the month, please vote for me!)

In front of the county magistrate's mansion, a mad monk would sometimes cry and sometimes laugh, making even the old women who walked unsteadily on the street seem like beautiful women striking poses, and even the dogs on the street seemed to have become handsome.

The monk cried and cursed, "You inhuman youth! You've poisoned my wine and are playing a trick on me! This is a complete waste of good wine! What a pity for this century-old vintage in the gourd. This wine was meant to dispel sorrow, but now it's become my bitter water."

The monk then laughed and scolded, "Everyone has enemies, and I, as a monk, also have enemies. This is my retribution in my life, and I can't hide from it, so I still have to drink this wine."

Knowing the wine was problematic, the mad monk still picked up the gourd at his waist and took a swig without a second thought.

After a while, the mad monk waved his hands repeatedly at the dog behind him: "Forgive me, forgive me, benefactor, please don't take off your clothes. I have never been interested in women. If you take them off any more, I will really get angry!"

Everyone initially thought he was talking nonsense, but then they saw the mad monk suddenly calm down and shout the word "calm down" at the yellow dog that was wagging its tail and begging for food.

The dog actually stood still, like a piece of wood, with only its eyes moving back and forth.

In Dongdaokou Hutong, Xu Qing was planning to return to Jingxia Street to examine the blue scale in his hand more closely. Unexpectedly, after crossing just two streets, he bumped into a mad monk who was both crying and laughing, staggering towards him from the other side of the street.

Xu Qing turned around decisively, but bumped into the mad monk again on the next street.

"."

Xu Qing turned around again and encountered the mad monk's figure once more on the street he returned to.

Is this a case of "a monk hitting a wall"?

Xu Qing understood that the monk was coming for him, so he simply stopped hiding and stood on the side of the street waiting for him to come over.

When Xinyuan came closer, her eyes were already red from crying before she could even speak.

"You can't be so immoral. You're harming monks; it will diminish your good karma!"

Xu Qing, without batting an eye, coldly sneered, "You're not shameless enough to trick a child into shaving his head? You've become a monk and have no one to care for you in your old age, so you think you can trick a little monk into taking you back as his child to take care of you in your old age? You're even more shameless than a slave trader!"

The two of them were arguing with each other.

Xinyuan Monk and Xu Qing have very similar personalities; both of them are sharp-tongued and have thicker skin than anyone else!
Normally, Monk Xinyuan would be confident that he could hold his own against Xu Qing in a verbal battle, but today he was drugged and was alternating between crying and laughing, making it impossible for him to exert his full strength.

Finally, Xin Yuan couldn't take it anymore and simply asked, "What exactly did you put in the monk's gourd?"

Xu Qing vehemently denied it, saying, "I didn't poison you, don't try to pin it on me!"

Xin Yuan, looking completely drunk, laughed incoherently, "This humble monk knows you didn't poison me. Ordinary poisons are useless against this humble monk. Monk, I'm asking you what 'medicine' you used!"

Xu Qing clicked his tongue and said, "Haven't you ever tried medicinal wine before? My wine is infused with mushrooms from southern Yunnan. The one you're drinking happens to have 'Hungry Mushroom' and 'Weeping Mushroom,' and more."

"What else?" Xin Yuan felt increasingly uneasy.

"And the Dream Mushroom."

What kind of mushroom is that?

"Hey! It's the kind of mushroom that can make men have wet dreams and women have orgasms. This is a good thing to test your willpower, monk. You should thank me."

"Thank you? This humble monk will use you to break the precept against anger!" Monk Xinyuan pretended to roll up his sleeves.

Xu Qing's face turned cold, and he said, "I haven't settled the score with you for kidnapping Chen Liuer yet, don't think I don't know what you're up to in front of the county magistrate's mansion!"

"I'm only sparing you from jail because you haven't committed any serious crimes. If you remain obstinate, you'll see if I don't beat you up!"

Xu Qing interacted with Monk Xinyuan as an ordinary person from beginning to end. The mushrooms he dealt with were from Yunnan, which were not considered high-class and were at most considered martial arts techniques.

Even when mentioning Chen Liuer, Xu Qing always spoke in terms of worldly affairs and never mentioned anything about the Xuanmen (Taoist sect).

However, the monk in front of them seemed to be bound by some kind of restriction, so even if he was teased by others, they would just let it go.

Xu Qing didn't know what kind of Buddhist practice this was, but it seemed to have some similarities with his silence mantra and closed-mouth meditation.

The monk Xinyuan took another sip of wine anxiously and said, "Don't ruin my important plans! That child shouldn't be alive."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, as if he had inadvertently uttered something he shouldn't have.

"Shouldn't be alive?" Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, leaned closer, and said, enunciating each word clearly, "What do you mean by that?"

"It's pointless! Don't ask any more questions. I'll just consider this matter over. But if you keep bothering me..."

In front of Xu Qing, the monk Xinyuan adopted a starting stance of external martial arts.

"I'm a trained martial artist, a monk by training. You can't beat me!"

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, showing no fear whatsoever, and said, "You can get away with this, but I can't! Chen Liuer is the county magistrate's adopted son. If I can't beat you, I can report it to the authorities and have the constable arrest you. Zhao Zhonghe, the constable of Linjiang County, is a Condensing Qi Martial Master. You, a monk, can you possibly defeat an official?"

"You mean the head constable?"

Upon hearing Zhao Zhonghe's name, Monk Xinyuan suddenly calmed down. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Whether Chen Liuer is willing to go with me is not something you can decide."

“No need for you to worry about that, Master. I trust Chen Liuer; he won’t go with you.”

The monk Xinyuan was half-believing and half-doubting.

The confident tone of the pale-faced young man in front of him made him waver somewhat.

No! I can't get entangled with this kid any longer!
For the first time, the monk Xinyuan had the thought that someone was trying to kill him, so without saying a word, he turned around and was about to leave.

Xu Qing hadn't gotten a clear answer, so how could he just let the other party leave?

"Stop! You still haven't explained what you meant by 'Chen Liuer shouldn't live'."

After hesitating for a moment, Xin Yuan finally replied, "This humble monk has calculated his fate. This child was destined to face a fatal calamity, but he has managed to escape it."

After watching Xin Yuan leave, Xu Qing stood there pondering for a long time before finally departing.

Jingxia Street.

Xu Qing turned into the nearest coffin shop and eagerly took out the scale from his pocket.

Xu Qing originally knew very little about rare and precious materials, but ever since the disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion came to him one after another to attend funerals, he has learned a lot from these 'old corpses'.

A thousand years ago, the Celestial Master's Mansion was a renowned and righteous sect, a vital force in the secular world to subdue demons and uphold justice.

Even today, although the Celestial Master's Mansion is fundamentally corrupt, the contents recorded in its Sutra Repository remain unchanged.

Besides the Celestial Master's Mansion, Hu Baosong, who traveled the world for nearly a hundred years, is also an encyclopedia.

In addition, there are the Waterworker Taoist, the Corpse of the Hundred Infants Pagoda, and the Doppelganger of the Nameless Old Woman.
The knowledge and experiences of these people were like an invisible treasure trove, allowing Xu Qing to know the world without leaving his house. Without even looking out the window, he could see the Way of Heaven.

Now, looking at the azure dragon scales containing pure spiritual power, Xu Qing has discerned the origin of these scales.

"Among the Four Divine Lords, the Azure Dragon is the leader. The scales of the Azure Dragon can guard the Heavenly Gang and control the order of the mysteries. They can also be used as the Hundred Scales Key to open the Dragon Palace and Water Mansion in legend. They can also be used in medicine to remove impurities and make the Three Treasures clear."

Xu Qing flicked his index finger, which was covered in corpse armor, an inch away from the scales. The green scales in front of him instantly developed azure waves and golden patterns, becoming harder than black iron and as tough as silk.

Even Xu Qing's left hand, which had been fully nurtured and refined into an indestructible bone, could not be scratched. This was precisely the characteristic of the Azure Dragon's scales, which could defend against the Heavenly Gang.

Legend has it that in ancient times, there were those who refined magical artifacts and could extract dragon scales and fuse them into their robes. Wearing such robes would protect one from thunder and fire, and would also ward off evil spirits.

Xu Qing then took out three copper coins and dropped them into the depression of the dragon scale. He then used the tortoise shell divination method to calculate the time when the old fox demon of Yunmeng Mountain would be freed from its seal.

Now that the road to heaven is broken, the gods no longer care about the mortal world, and the balance of yin and yang has been lost, the seal of the White Cloud Cave will be broken by that old female fox sooner or later.

Yuan Gong had warned Xu Qing that, given his skill level, he had no chance against that Heavenly Fox.

In other words, Xu Qing stumbled upon a lucky coincidence and used the dream-making technique to sever one of the old fox demon's wisps of its spirit; later, Xuan Yu added insult to injury, severing another wisp of its spirit.

These two matches caused considerable physical and mental trauma to the celestial fox.

According to Yuan Gong, if the other party wanted to break the restriction set up by the Heavenly Emperor, they would need to recuperate for at least ten years and wait until their injuries healed before making new preparations to break the restriction.

All of this adds up to a turnover period of no less than a hundred years.

But Xu Qing didn't believe Yuan Gong's words, just like the old woman who deceived him and Xuan Yu. In his eyes, everything these 'gods' did was to complete the game of this great calamity.

Both he and Xuan Yu were pawns in each other's eyes.

Xu Qing is not afraid of being a pawn, but he doesn't like being a pawn held by others.

What if that old monkey, like the old woman, sets up a big pit in the White Cloud Cave, forcing him to make a move and move forward? Wouldn't that make him look stupid?
Xu Qing used the unique properties of the Azure Dragon Scale Profound Palm Sequence and the incense from the Blood Lake to activate the power of the four seasons and stars contained within, thus beginning divination.

Inside the coffin shop, a star map emerged from the dragon scales in Xu Qing's hand.

Above the star map, a blue dragon roars.

When the star map covered the entire shop, the small coffin shop had become its own world.

The Awakening of Insects hangs on the eaves, the Summer Solstice falls on the door, the Autumn Equinox brings changes in tides, and the Great Cold causes frost to form on peach trees.
Xu Qing used fish scales as a plate to observe their luster and predict the movement of stars.

In that instant, he seemed to be a blue dragon bursting out of the ravine. When he leaped into the sky and looked down at the world, he crossed thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, passed through spring and autumn, and saw the White Cloud Cave that had completely collapsed twelve years later.

It has been exactly one cycle.

Xu Qing's face instantly turned gloomy.

The old monkey was definitely up to no good!
According to the other party, it would take the Heavenly Fox more than ten years to fully recover from its injuries, let alone break through the restrictions of the White Cloud Cave.

But now, the Azure Dragon's scales have glimpsed the secrets of heaven and told him that the Heavenly Fox will be freed in twelve years.

Given the grudge he had with the old fox spirit in the past, Xu Qing had no doubt that once the fox spirit escaped, the first people it would look for would be him and Xuan Yu.

Fortunately, Xu Qing kept this matter in mind. If it were someone careless, they wouldn't even know when their enemies came knocking on their door.

"Twelve years"

Xu Qing felt that he couldn't be passive about this matter. In the next twelve years, he had to come up with a solution: either reinforce the restrictions on Baiyun Cave or strike first and find a way to restrain the Heavenly Fox and block its entrance!

"If I can master the Heavenly Gang Axe to around level 30, I might be able to deal with that old vixen."

Xu Qing, anticipating a future event, pondered his plans while glancing once more at the green scales in his hand.

According to the records in the Celestial Master's Mansion, in addition to the Tongxuan Palm Sequence, the Azure Dragon Scale also has the function of opening the Dragon Palace Water Mansion.

In other words, none of the caves and realms opened up by aquatic creatures in the water can stop the Azure Dragon from passing through.

This function is not very useful to Xu Qing at present. Although Tianjin has a estuary, he has never had the idea of ​​leaving Tianjin to venture out to sea.

Aside from the Hundred-Scale Key, the Azure Dragon Scales before us also possess medicinal properties that nourish the soul and enhance wisdom.

The Azure Dragon's scales contain the virtue of wood and the azure energy; when mortals possess them, their minds can remain clear and bright year-round.

If a cultivator possesses it, he can place the fish in the furnace to refine elixirs and miraculous medicines, greatly enhancing the medicinal properties of the herbs and plants in the furnace.

If a scholar wears a fish-shaped ornament, he will have an unforgettable memory and his mind will never be lost in thought.
If a skilled craftsman were to obtain the scales, quench them in fire, and forge them into a jade tablet, when the artifact appears in the world, withered trees would sprout new branches, and parched land would gush forth springs, thus defying the laws of nature.
However, divine creatures possess spirits, and the scales of the Azure Dragon embody the essence of heaven and earth. If forcibly taken by brute force, this spiritual essence will dissipate. Only those that fall into the scales themselves possess the wondrous power to penetrate the universe. Therefore, the scales of a true dragon are as rare as stars, and only those of virtue can glimpse its form.
Xu Qing took out the blood-stained dragon scales he had once picked up in the Baisha River basin.

Comparing the two, the latter is indeed more charming.

As for why he was able to gain the approval of the Azure Scale in his hand, Xu Qing thought it was probably because he had also saved two golden carp and that he contained the true blood of the Azure Dragon.

Having carefully concealed the dragon scales, Xu Qing couldn't help but pay even closer attention to Chen Liuer.

The child was so sensible that he gave him his precious Qinglin to repay his life-saving grace. Xu Qing felt very gratified.

Although it was a passive act of gratitude, that doesn't matter.

The child is still young, and he is only temporarily keeping it for the child. When the child grows up, he may have long forgotten about the scales!
Xu Qing may seem like a scoundrel, but he didn't take Chen Liuer's things for nothing.

Xu Qing could roughly guess the purpose of the Golden Carp Boy and Golden Carp Girl gifting Chen Liuer the Azure Dragon Scale.

These two little guys probably wanted the Azure Dragon Scale to be Chen Liuer's talisman, since the most basic function of the Azure Dragon Scale is to resist external evil and protect the wearer from being lurked by demons and evil spirits.

However, Chen Liuer's safety is constantly monitored by the living, and Xu Qing can easily resolve minor crises through the incense and Dharma realm, without needing the dragon scale as a protective shield.

On the contrary, when faced with an insurmountable crisis, Xu Qing, who has mastered the Azure Dragon's spiritual essence, is able to unleash the greatest power of the Azure Scales.

As the sun was setting and Xu Qing was about to get up and leave the coffin shop, he noticed that all the flowerpots and plants in the shop had sprouted tender, vibrant green shoots.

However, it is now early winter, and Xu Qing has not yet used any flower-planting or flower-forcing techniques.
"The Azure Dragon governs the order of the four seasons; this is the order of spring."

Xu Qing had an idea. He walked towards the backyard, where lilies of the valley were in bloom and kumquats were bearing fruit.

"This is the summer sequence, the autumn sequence, and then..."

Upon seeing the large peach tree in the backyard, and the woman in a peach-colored dress whose eyebrows and nose were covered in frost and who was rubbing her hands and breathing on them to keep warm from the cold, Xu Qing silently put away the words 'Winter Order'.

"It's only been a few days since the start of winter, how come it's suddenly colder than the coldest days of winter?"

Tao Sanmei looked at the zombie disguised as a human in front of her and asked in confusion, "Aren't you cold?"

Xu Qing checked the surrounding temperature and raised an eyebrow, saying, "It's so sunny, how could it be cold? You must have caught a cold."

A cold? How could a thousand-year-old tree spirit like me catch a cold?
Just as Tao Sanmei was about to reply, she suddenly felt the surroundings warm up.

In the blink of an eye, the temperature returned to normal.

"Huh? Why isn't it cold anymore?"

Xu Qing clicked his tongue and said, "Switch between hot and cold, it's either a heat rash or a case of heat-dampness syndrome. I'll get you some herbal medicine tomorrow and pour it on you. You're still one of my employees, after all; you can't miss work because of illness."

Tao Sanmei looked at Xu Qing, who spoke with such conviction, and then glanced at the sky with some doubt.

Could she, who is so adept at adapting to the four seasons, have actually caught a cold?

　It's almost the end of the month, please vote for me!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)