Bodhisattva, please help me in my spiritual practice!

Chapter 216 The Mirror of Illusion Displays its Power

In March, springtime is as beautiful as flowers, and tourists flock to the area.

The foot of Mount Qingcheng was bustling with activity.

"Look, that fortune teller is hilarious."

The female Taoist Lingxu pointed to the white-bearded old man under the big marriage tree at the entrance of the market.

The old man was wearing a large floral robe woven from a hundred different fabrics. With white hair and a youthful face, he had a somewhat otherworldly air about him and had secured a good spot. Unfortunately, he made a fool of himself in front of everyone.

He was weaving a marriage rope by himself, but when no one was around to interfere, his two hands started fighting each other. The more anxious he became, the more tangled the rope became, and he ended up getting himself all tangled up in the process, which was quite amusing.

The Taoist priests of Qingcheng Mountain usually cultivate in the deep mountains and forests and rarely participate in such markets during the Shangsi Festival. The female Taoist priest Lingxu, in particular, was in high spirits and, seeing this scene, went over to see what was going on.

The red threads binding the Old Man of the Moon (Yue Lao) were piling up, almost binding him like a red rice dumpling. The tourists watching were amused, and a few young men joked, "Old man, with your skill at weaving red threads, which girl would dare ask you to tell her her love story? You should go back and practice more before setting up your stall again!"

You can laugh at the Old Man of the Moon for his lack of other skills, but his skill in weaving red threads is his specialty, and he can't let mortals laugh at him. So he stubbornly said, "What do you know, young man? Today happens to be the Shangsi Festival, and the Yellow Emperor has descended. Marriages here are in chaos, which is why this old Taoist priest made a mistake. Otherwise, let alone weaving one red thread, even if I were to weave a thousand or ten thousand, I would never make a mistake!"

The female Taoist priestess Lingxu had already approached the Old Man of the Moon. Although she found him quite amusing, she still suggested, "Why don't you take out the scissors and cut the red string on your body first?"

Upon hearing this, the Old Man of the Moon quickly shook his head, "You can't cut it, you can't cut it! This marriage is preordained. As the saying goes, it takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a pillow and a thousand years to share a boat ride. If I cut it, I don't know how many marriages I will ruin. You mustn't, you mustn't!"

"Then let me help you untie it."

Relying on her dexterity, Lingxu quickly stepped forward to help the Old Man of the Moon untie the red rope binding her hands. Originally, the red rope did not seem complicated to her; how could a cultivator not be able to untie it? However, once she actually got her hands on the red rope, in Lingxu's eyes, she was untying it round and round, but in the eyes of outsiders, Lingxu was wrapping the red rope around herself round and round. Before long, she was half-bound up, just like the Old Man of the Moon.

When Lingxu was untying the red rope, some girls around him came forward to help, but like Lingxu, they all got tangled up in the red rope while trying to untie it.

These young women, accompanied by their male companions, rushed to rescue their daughters from the red rope that had become entangled in it. Little did they know that the red rope seemed to be thousands of feet long, flying out continuously from the canvas bag next to the Matchmaker God. In no time, it had entangled hundreds of onlookers.

"not good!"

The Taoist priests from Qingcheng Mountain, who were waiting for Lingxu to untie the red rope and watch the commotion, also realized what was happening. They initially thought that the Old Man of the Moon was a demon in disguise, taking the opportunity to hunt for prey, and they all wanted to take out their magical artifacts.

However, Ao Peng glanced at them with his [Evil-Repelling Heavenly Vision] and reached out to stop the crowd.

Although he couldn't clearly see the old man's true nature, under the scan of the [Evil-Repelling Heavenly Vision], he didn't see any ominous aura emanating from the red rope; instead, it revealed various auspicious signs.

The 【Red String of Fate】is a rope woven from the red clouds in the sky, based on the principle of marriage. Connecting the rope can form a predestined relationship from past lives, while cutting it can sever a relationship from three lifetimes.

The moment he saw the marriage rope, he guessed the old man's identity.

Even if the other party isn't the God of Marriage, they should at least be some deity in charge of marriage.

Ao Peng was speechless. Were the professional ethics of the gods in charge of marriage so poor these days? No wonder it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a partner in the mortal realm!

Ao Peng couldn't figure out the purpose of the marriage god's visit. Since it was the Shangsi Festival, a time for marriage, it was normal for him to descend to the mortal world to preside over marriage matters.

Ao Peng glanced at Zhang Daoling beside him, "Fellow Daoist, what do you think should be done about this?"

Zhang Daoling glanced at the red ropes filling the sky and said, "Let's go and help this person, otherwise we might not be able to make it up the mountain."

He pointed to the road in front of him.

In just a short while, the red threads emanating from the Old Man of the Moon not only entangled hundreds of people, but also, like a huge causal knot, connected to the entire Qingcheng Mountain market, transforming into an overwhelming red wave.

Ordinary people don't feel it, but those who know some karmic magic and can see some of the predestined relationships can sense that these dense red threads have been binding people's hands and feet since some time ago. As long as these red threads cannot be untied, even if they run to the ends of the earth, they will be pulled back. This is the mystery of predestined relationships.

Ao Peng looked down and realized that he had unknowingly become entangled in a mess.

He thought for a moment, then walked to the marriage tree and said to the Old Man of the Moon, "How old are you? Still messing around with the red thread of fate!"

When the Old Man of the Moon saw that it was Ao Peng who came, he gave a wry smile. "I don't want to mess around with the red thread of fate, but I have a mission from above. I don't have enough quota this year, so I can only come to the mortal world to join in the fun."

Upon hearing the Old Man of the Moon's reply, Ao Peng instantly understood that the great deity before him was at least on par with Zhang Tianshi, both being powerful figures capable of freely traversing different worlds with their true spirits, and most likely the Old Man of the Moon himself.

Such a celestial official is one who can forge a good relationship with others, and Ao Peng never expected that the Old Man of the Moon had come here specifically to wait for him.

After thinking for a while, Ao Peng took out a precious mirror. The mirror seemed to be made of jade, and its light was hazy and indistinct, neither like fine jade nor like ordinary stone, but somewhere in between.

It is the Mirror of Illusion, a symbol of chaos, forged through the refinement of the fetal membranes of Heaven's Resentment.

At this moment, the [Mirror of Illusion] has not yet been fully refined and cannot completely erase the existence of cause and effect, but it can already greatly weaken the principle of existence.

It can be used to solve the current predicament.

If these marriage threads were forcibly severed by magic, just as the Old Man of the Moon said, it would ruin the marriages of tens of thousands of people in this place, which would be considered a natural disaster for ordinary cultivators.

The Mirror of Illusion can weaken cause and effect without completely severing them.

Ao Peng was very careful when using the mirror. He covered the mirror with his sleeve when he took it out and said to the Old Man of the Moon, "Please don't touch it. This is the first time I've used this magic weapon."

Having said that, he revealed the mirror and looked at the red thread wrapped around the Old Man of the Moon's hand, revealing that this was the real cause of the trouble.

When illuminated by the Mirror of Illusion, the karmic connection of the red thread of fate weakened, and the tangled knot loosened, freeing the hands of the Old Man of the Moon a little.

Seeing an opportunity, the Old Man of the Moon quickly said, "Shine here, shine here!"