Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 157: Opening the Gate of Hell
Zhao Yifu returned to Fenglin County, and his Fenglin soldiers were disbanded and returned to their respective families.

Each of these Fenglin soldiers who followed him into battle returned with a full load, but again, casualties are inevitable in war, so Zhao Yifu could only focus on the subsequent compensation.

Yang Zaixuan also followed Zhao Yifu to Fenglin County. He really followed Zhao Yifu wholeheartedly and did not care about personal gains and losses at all.

Zhao Yifu did not treat him badly upon seeing this. He gave him the house that originally belonged to the county lieutenant to live in, and directly let him take charge of the duties of the county lieutenant.

"Sir, isn't this a bit presumptuous?"

Li Liang was somewhat dissatisfied with the appointment, but fearing Zhao Yifu would notice his dissatisfaction, he quickly said, "I'm just worried that someone might gossip about you and ruin your reputation."

Yang Zaixuan, who was listening nearby, thought it made a lot of sense, especially because he felt that Li Liang's way of addressing Zhao Yifu was very nice.

So he followed along and said, "Yes, sir, why don't I just be your guard first."

Zhao Yifu laughed and said, "Don't worry, don't be anxious."

"Zaixuan, to be honest, with your achievements and the fact that Yuzhou is in need, it's fine for you to take over the command of Yuzhou, and it would be a natural progression for you to become the official commander later."

"It's just that I love you very much, and I want to keep you by my side and train you for a while before releasing you. So I'm planning to temporarily suppress your official position... But please don't bear a grudge against me."

Yang Zaixuan was delighted to hear this and said, "Sir, I'm naturally willing to study with you for a while longer."

Li Liang said with a rather jealous look: "Zaixuan, you should call yourself 'disciple' in front of the young master. From now on, the young master will be your benefactor."

Yang Zaixuan was shocked when he heard this and quickly said to Zhao Yifu, "I am Yang Zaixuan, your disciple, and I am honored to meet you, my benefactor."

Zhao Yifu waved his hand and said, "We don't want a dual monarchy. In short, you should first gain experience. The current emperor is not a man who will sit still. Now is the time for you warriors to make great achievements."

After explaining some details, Zhao Yifu returned to his residence without any worries.

Wu Zhong was already cleaning the yard for him. Xiong San was sweeping the floor clumsily with a broom, and the cats were climbing up and down to help wipe the hard-to-reach corners of the house.

This situation is really... At least I don't have to worry about cleaning the house.

There is also a figure that is not quite coordinated among them.

The girl named Li Nuer was actually busy with the cats. It seemed like she thought of herself as a cat too?

Zhao Yifu turned to look at Wu Zhong, his doubtful eyes filled with questions: [Are you still supporting her?]

Wu Zhong nodded silently, as if to say, "What if the young master makes a mistake someday?"

Good heavens, Zhao Yifu thought he had finally defeated Moro, but he didn't expect that the person closest to him was trying to trick him into making a mistake.

He said helplessly, "I am in seclusion."

Then he locked himself in the room.

As for what is meant by seclusion?
Ha, that's impossible. He just wants to harass netizens for no reason.

However, he had just taken out the 'Thousand Mile Painting' and hadn't put pen to paper when he discovered a line of words had already appeared on it.

[I'm so angry! I wanted to transfer Zhou Su to Jingshan as the governor just now, but I didn't expect the ministers to unanimously oppose it. As a result, your teacher was assigned to the Jingxi Province instead.]

[How can he be worthy of Zhou Qing's great contributions if he is only appointed as the prefect of Xiangzhou and in charge of Xiangzhou's military affairs?]

Zhao Yifu looked at it with a puzzled look. He asked, "Is there any problem with the Southwest Jing Province?"

Jingxinan Province was right next to his hometown, Mozhou. More importantly, the "ministers of the court"? Aren't they his senior teachers?

Ying Cong said: "The southwestern province of Beijing is the key to resisting the Northern Dynasty's offensive and counterattacking the north. Lu Zhao, the governor and pacification envoy there, has been diligent and reassuring over the years."

"That's why I'm so dissatisfied with this. Your master, Zhou Su, is a man of great talent. I originally wanted him to conquer a certain region directly, and the devastated Jingshan would be the best choice."

However, in the southwest of Beijing, the terrain there is important, and Lu Zhao himself has not made any major mistakes, so it is difficult for him to carry out administrative affairs.

Zhao Yifu understood, and soothed him, "Don't be too anxious. Governing a country is like cooking a small fish. It's good for my teacher to advance step by step. After all, he has already won the emperor's favor."

Ying Cong said: [I know, but it’s a pity to miss this opportunity.]

[Forget about that. Are you sure your subordinate Yang Zaixuan is only worth a county lieutenant? He's a rare talent, and I feel like this is treating him too poorly.]

Zhao Yifu said: "That's enough. This kid is still young and needs some polishing. Release him when he's almost ready. He will definitely be a great general in your Northern Expedition."

Ying Cong was very happy, he knew that Zhao Yifu understood his thoughts.

Why is he in a hurry?
It’s all for the Northern Expedition.

They chatted for a while before they finally calmed down.

However, at this moment, he felt a faint fluctuation of spiritual power outside the house.

He quickly opened the window and looked out, only to see a kite fluttering over and landing close to him.

Zhao Yifu felt something and picked it up immediately.

But the kite unfolded itself and became a piece of letter.

He first looked at the signature at the bottom of the letter, and saw the words "Qiu Yu".

Zhao Yifu instantly understood that this was a letter from his master Qiu Yuzi.

He hurried back to the house, closed the doors and windows, and began to read carefully.

It turned out that Qiu Yuzi had specifically explained the various arrangements for suppressing the rebellion in Mozhou and Jingshan.

First of all, the reason for the arrangement against Zhou Su was actually because of Lu Zhao!

Lu Zhao had been in charge of the southwestern province of Beijing for a long time, and because he had to deal with pressure from the north and was in charge of both military and political affairs for a long time, he had actually become a person who could not be easily eliminated.

Originally, this was fine. After all, as long as we could withstand the pressure from the north and cooperate with the Northern Expedition, everything would be fine.

But in order to consolidate his power, Lord Lu Zhaolu actually made a deal with people in the north.

Not only did he engage in various smuggling businesses, he sometimes even helped cover up northern spies heading south... The Jingshan Rebellion can actually be traced back to Lu Zhao to a large extent!
Zhao Yifu felt "no wonder" when he saw this.

No wonder there were northern Hu commanders and shamans in Jingshan.

This is the reason for everything.

Zhao Yifu finally understood why Zhou Su was transferred to Xiangzhou. This was to allow his teacher to overthrow Lu Zhao, who had actually become a warlord!
Then he realized that he also had his own business to do here.

That is, when his term of office expires in two years, he will be planned to be transferred to the southwest province of Beijing to continue serving as a county magistrate, and he will be the magistrate of a large county that is important for border defense.

Zhao Yifu had expected this, so he was not too surprised.

Although the bigwigs in our own party have different political views, one thing is certain, that is, they are all for the Northern Expedition.

The Northern Expedition has become a concern for them.

However, he didn't expect that in the last part of the letter, he also specifically mentioned the Three Veins Conference of the Chunyang Sect held on the winter solstice this year.

He will go as a representative of the new generation of disciples of Danqing Sect.

In fact, the number of people in the team heading north this time will not be too large. After all, the bigwigs of Danqingmen are all officials in the court. If they all go to the court, how can they have fun?
Zhao Yi Fu looked at the date. There were still about ten months left, and he didn't know what to prepare.
He put down the letter and thought about it.

Suddenly, the meowing of cats in the yard disturbed his thoughts.

Zhao Yi Fu unexpectedly walked out of the door, then jumped onto the wall and looked around, and saw two blue flames quickly escaping into the distance amid the cat's meows.

The girl next to him, Hua Da Niu, said calmly, "Those are wandering ghosts. Many of them appear after every war."

Zhao Yifu frowned and asked curiously, "What about the underworld? Can't the underworld take them back?"

Hua Da Niu said, "The underworld? Don't underestimate the power of those ghost officials. The battlefield is filled with fierce fighting and murderous energy. There are many places where ghost officials cannot approach."

"And those who died unjustly, because of their resentment, could not be naturally led to the underworld, so they remained in the human world."

Zhao Yifu said, "So these wandering ghosts can only be led back to the underworld after the war subsides and people's livelihoods are restored and the evil spirits of the human world dissipate..."

Hua Da Niu continued, "It's also possible that he transformed into a vicious ghost and wreaked havoc on the human world."

Then it continued, "But the Fenglin County area has only been slightly affected. It's just a few ignorant wandering souls that have come here. There's no need to worry."

Zhao Yifu shook his head after hearing this and said, "This is troublesome after all. The people are already very tired from working during the day, and it would be bad if they were to be disturbed by these things at night."

"By the way, is there a road leading to the underworld nearby? If not, I can just send these things directly to the underworld."

Hua Da Niu said, "As for the entrance to the underworld, it's actually found in almost every major human city."

Zhao Yifu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and said, "Yes, the City God Temple, right?"

Hua Da Niu said, "Yes, the City God is the official who guides the souls of the dead into the underworld. He has the ability to open the passage to the underworld."

Zhao Yifu nodded repeatedly and said, "Then I'll go to the City God Temple in Yuzhou to take a look."

Then he returned to his bedroom and lay down. After a while, he closed his eyes with even breathing.

The next moment, the Yin Spirit climbed up from his body and soared straight into the air.

The night sky in the eyes of this Yin God was completely different from the normal one. The entire sky was filled with a strange blue-green color.

Zhao Yifu could see the wandering ghosts around, and he thought that since he was going to the City God Temple anyway, he might as well take them with him.

So he said, "Come with me, I will take you to the afterlife."

These wandering ghosts actually have no self-awareness at all. They just wander around the earth aimlessly, instinctively getting close to their relatives and friends when they were alive, but they don't know how much trouble they will bring to the living.

Although there were many wandering souls in the space seen by the Yin God, it seemed extremely quiet.

But Zhao Yifu's voice broke the silence, and they instinctively followed the direction of the sound... They really needed guidance.

He slowed down a bit, but still headed straight towards Yuzhou City.

But the situation was somewhat unexpected for him.

Because there were so many wandering ghosts gathered together, gradually the number reached tens of thousands!

These were just what he encountered along the way. He couldn't imagine how many such wandering ghosts there were in the entire Yuzhou.

And this is just Yuzhou. What will the situation be like in Jingshan Province, where the real rebellion took place?
Zhao Yifu couldn't imagine that kind of scene.

His heart gradually grew cold, and as he walked, people just kept calling out, "Follow me!" When he arrived in Yugzhou City, 30,000 lonely souls had gathered around him!
He gradually felt a heavy, extremely heavy pressure!

This pressure suddenly erupted when he arrived at the City God Temple on the southwest side of Yugzhou City.

Because this City God Temple was actually knocked down!

The donation box was smashed, but the debris was still visible.

All the ritual implements enshrined in the temple were also taken away, and even the golden statue of the City God enshrined in the main hall had its gold paint scraped off its surface, leaving it black and full of holes.

Judging from the spirituality that remains in this golden body of the City God, He should have been truly spiritual.

Look, now... that spirit is dead.

Zhao Yifu immediately thought of the shaman who was chopped to pieces by him. Only this shaman would do such a thing.

How to do?
Zhao Yi Fu thought calmly for a moment, and then he felt that it would be more reliable to go back and ask the two big guys in the summoning diagram about this matter.

However, just when he was about to go back, the unique thinking and cognition in the Yin Shen state suddenly told him that there was another way.

That is, he can activate the remaining spirituality in the statue to open the way to the underworld.

The Yin God is sometimes so magical that he can know things inexplicably.

Of course, it is even more amazing when it comes to Yang Shen. He not only knows what can be done, but also the principles.

There is not much thinking in the Yin Shen state. Basically, if you think you can do it, then just do it.

Of course, this is not done randomly. It is basically carried out in accordance with the original intention of the cultivator, except that there is no hesitation behind the pollution of the worldly world.

Zhao Yifu's Yin Spirit calmly came to the statue and then entered into it.

The remaining spirit had no independent consciousness and was soon controlled by Zhao Yifu's Yin Shen.

This bit of spirituality seemed to want to merge into his Yin spirit.

But he instinctively felt that this was not a good thing, so he simply moved his mind and completely catalyzed this spirituality.

The next moment, a road leading to another world was formed with this statue as the center... This is the road to the underworld!
But this comes at a price, and the price is that the opened passage to the underworld is rapidly burning out the last bit of spirituality.

Zhao Yifu knew that once this spiritual energy was burned out, the opened passage to the underworld would be closed.

At this time, those wandering ghosts had already felt the guidance and were rushing towards Zhao Yi Fu frantically... They wanted to enter the underworld and return to reincarnation.

Zhao Yifu sighed, and his sleeping self suddenly reached out to touch his chest, slowly stroking his letter seal.

Then, the Yang and spiritual energy from Emperor Da Xu crossed the void in an unpredictable way and poured directly into Zhao Yifu's Yin Spirit.

His Yin Spirit is unable to transmit Yang and spiritual energy.

But at the moment before the City God's spirit was extinguished, he grasped it in his hand, and then used his own yang and spiritual energy as fuel to replace the City God's spirit and continue to burn.

The Ghost Gate is still open and has not been closed because of the final disappearance of the City God spirit.

It seems that the spirit of the City God can only be regarded as the key to open the gate of hell. Once the gate is opened, the key is useless.

The power that maintains the existence of Ghost Gate should be the incense of believers, but it can also be yang and spiritual energy!
Zhao Yifu has discovered that this yang and spiritual energy are actually very useful in Shintoism, and can almost be said to be a universal power.

In other words, as long as the disciples of Danqing Sect develop towards the way of God, each of them will have strong strength?
Putting aside other things, just lighting a stick of incense to worship the gods, and then using yang and spiritual energy to invite the gods to descend to the earth... Who among the mortal cultivators can stop this?
Since when, Zhao Yifu has felt that Danqingmen has no ambition to make progress.

His Yin Spirit was still keeping the Ghost Gate open. Although his Yang and spiritual energy were being depleted at a fairly fast rate, he still gritted his teeth and persevered.

The number of wandering ghosts around has been increasing, and even because the gates of hell are wide open here, wandering ghosts outside Yugzhou are also gathering here.

Seeing this situation, Zhao Yifu thought calmly in his heart: These are all your people. I will use the Yang and spiritual energy you gave them to comfort their souls. When the Yang and spiritual energy are used up, I will stop.

In the Yin Shen state, he fully embodied the Taoist idea of ​​inaction.

Don’t think that “wuwei” means doing nothing. You must know that there is “wuwo” before “wuwei”. “Wuwo” literally means “without self”… But in Zhao Yifu’s understanding, it means “without self in the world”!
Then "Wuwei" means "not doing things for oneself in the world."

There is also a saying 'The highest state is to forget about emotions': In the midst of worldly affairs, forget about your own emotions.

The saying goes, "Worry about the world's worries and rejoice with the world's rejoicing"!
This is the true meaning of "Supreme Forgetfulness of Emotions", a supreme moral and ideological realm, not a state of abandoning human emotions.

Of course, Zhao Yifu knew that he couldn't do that, so he just did nothing at that moment.

Don't do it for yourself.

But this "not doing it for oneself" at this time is so consistent with the Confucian gentleman's understanding of "doing something".

The dual cultivation of Confucianism and Taoism was truly realized for Zhao Yifu at this moment.

He calmly kept the Ghost Gate open, sending the wandering ghosts to the underworld to greet the afterlife.

Gradually, it was almost dawn.

After dawn, Zhao Yifu's Yin spirit would definitely not be able to be maintained.

The moment the true yang of heaven and earth becomes angry, his yin spirit will dissipate.

Fortunately, the Yang and spiritual energy in the letter seal have been almost consumed, and should be used up before dawn.

Once the Yang and spiritual energy are exhausted, the gate of hell will naturally close, and he can convince himself not to pay attention to the wandering ghosts that are still coming from afar.

Because he really tried his best.

However, something happened that made him vomit blood.

The emperor who needed to attend court early would get up early every day, and the diligent Ying Cong got up even earlier today, getting up before dawn.

He got up early just to appreciate the cat painting that Zhao Yifu gave him.

I have to admit, while that illusion-infused scroll is magical, it gets a bit tiresome after looking at it for too long. It might be okay to take it out and look at it once in a while, but constant viewing is not the way to go.

In comparison, the cats painted by Zhao Yifu are different.

There are hundreds of cats, which cat lovers like Ying Cong admire repeatedly.

He couldn't even help but complain that since Zhao Yifu could make the paintings move, why couldn't he make the cats in these cat paintings move as well?

A stream of firm, lasting yang and spiritual energy, numbering in the thousands, was continuously injected into the seal of trust, and then transferred to Zhao Yifu's Yin Shen.

This change made him want to vomit blood, because it meant that he would not be able to finish all this before dawn.

There’s no other way, so let’s just hold on until dawn.

It just so happens that these wandering ghosts will disperse after daybreak, and then this matter will be over.

He comforted himself in this way and persevered.

Soon it was daybreak.

The ghosts really looked very painful under the sunlight.

but……

but!

They didn't retreat!
They would rather suffer the scorching heat of the yang fire than enter the gates of hell.

This scene shocked Zhao Yifu so much that his Yin Spirit was about to dissipate, but because of the sudden enlightenment in his heart, he stayed there for some unknown reason.

He suddenly thought, will the soul disappear in the sunlight?

No, obviously not. What disappeared was only the negative energy that had tainted the soul!
The soul of a person after death actually carries the person's last breath of yang energy.

The soul at this time is called a living soul.

The living soul is not afraid of sunlight, and can even travel thousands of miles with a single thought, and know everything in the world in an instant.

To some extent, this living soul is actually very similar to the Yang God.

However, the "supernatural powers" of the living soul are constantly declining, because the last bit of yang energy it carries will dissipate, and only yin energy will remain.

At this time it is the ghost.

The final destination of the ghosts is the underworld. If they cannot return to the underworld... due to the yin energy's "particularly easy to dirty" nature, they will gradually become unrecognizable and become "dirty things."

At this time, Zhao Yifu was facing ghosts that had no way to enter the underworld. They were looking forward to returning to the underworld and starting over.

Therefore, even if they are burned by the yang fire, they must rush over and enter the gate of hell.

Zhao Yifu understood this and couldn't bear to give up.

The sun and spiritual energy continued to burn, and the light of dawn also shone into the destroyed City God Temple, making the City God Temple seem to be coated with a layer of golden light.

Zhao Yifu's Yin Spirit was holding on, continuing to maintain itself with the help of Yang and spiritual energy.

Even though his Yin Spirit seemed to be burning with golden flames all over his body, he was still enduring the burning of the Yang Fire.

Unfortunately, not long after, the wandering ghosts around dispersed.

After all, they cannot withstand the exposure to the sun and stars for long.

Then Zhao Yifu stopped the infusion of yang and spiritual energy, and the gate of hell quietly disappeared.

However, to his surprise, his Yin Spirit still remained here and did not dissipate in the sunlight because the supply of Yang and spiritual energy had stopped.

How is this going?

He looked down at himself and saw a spark of fire like the rising sun appearing on the chest of his Yin God body, making his Yin God body no longer pure Yin, but giving birth to a ray of true Yang.

Just this one ray of true yang is enough to make his Yin spirit no longer afraid of the sunlight.

Zhao Yifu was a little dazed, but his heart was very clear.

At the same time, he discovered that this night's operations had allowed him to passively receive something...that is, the coordinates of another space and the method to open that space!
Underworld, as long as he burns the yang and spiritual energy, he can open the passage to the underworld again!

Although he doesn't know what benefits this will bring to him at the moment, it's at least not a bad thing, right?

(End of this chapter)