Under One Person: I Have a Billion Taoist Gods Within Me

Chapter 57 Wugensheng: My horse has been stopped!

The scene changes.

Outside Tanzhou City, on the official road.

The moonlight was like silk, and a cool breeze blew.

Li Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

Those gentle eyes held a deep, unwavering light, devoid of sorrow or joy.

Yet it also seems to reflect everything thousands of miles away.

He stood quietly, his gaze seemingly piercing through the darkness of the night, landing on the receding figure.

a long time.

Li Yuan nodded slightly.

Liang Ting's final choice did not disappoint him.

That fire is still there.

But it eventually burned where it was supposed to burn.

Li Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked up at the northern horizon.

The night was deep, and the Milky Way hung low.

There, a chess piece he had just placed was heading to its own battlefield.

There, countless pieces he has yet to place are waiting to be "seen" on their respective paths of destiny.

There, a catastrophe about to engulf the land is slowly brewing in the darkness, waiting for the moment it will erupt.

And he had been preparing for this ever since he came down the mountain.

The placement of Zhou Sheng's piece is a hidden thread that will influence the future upheaval of the Jia Shen year.

The decision to place Xia Liuqing and Mei Jinfeng was made to touch upon the undercurrents of the Quanxing sect, thereby gaining more leverage in the midst of the chaos.

The placement of the White Spirit is to lay a foundation for the future of the Ma Xian lineage outside the pass.

By naming Lu Jin, Wang Ai, Lü Ren, and Lü Ci, they are planting seeds in the hearts of the younger generation.

Zhang Zhiwei's move was meant to let that great sun see clearly where its light comes from and where it will shine.

The placement of the sons in the Zhuge family is to inherit the legacy of Zhuge Liang, finally giving a place to end the 1,700-year wait.

Luo Ziliang

It is so that the blade, tempered with hatred, can be used to strike those who deserve it.

Every piece has its place.

Every chess piece has its own mission.

He stood in the night, on the official road, watching the chess pieces slowly move along their respective paths.

Like a chess player who, after placing the opening pieces, can finally catch his breath and examine the gradually taking shape of the game.

Li Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked down at his palm.

The place where the little yellow paper figure had just been placed was now completely empty.

Only a faint trace of warmth remained, slowly dissipating in the night breeze.

That was the last trace left behind after the paper figure completed its mission.

Li Yuan watched quietly as the lingering warmth dissipated.

Then, he slightly raised his hand and gently brushed his palm across it.

It's as if a speck of dust has been brushed away.

It was as if it were paying a final salute to the departing golden light.

After doing all this, Li Yuan raised his eyes again and looked into the distance.

Further away, there are many more pieces waiting for him to place.

There are many more causes and effects waiting for him to see.

And there was the impending catastrophe waiting to be rewritten by his own hands.

The road ahead is still long.

The lights of Tanzhou City had long since disappeared below the horizon behind us.

The hustle and bustle of the Lu family's birthday banquet has long since faded into the past.

Those he "saw," those he placed on the chessboard, are now continuing their journeys in their respective destinies.

And he will continue on his path.

Li Yuan lifted his foot and walked forward again, his steps still composed.

A night breeze swept by, and the moonlight, like water, bathed the official road.

The figure in the moon-white Taoist robe gradually blended into the night, into the long wind, and into the most natural rhythm of heaven and earth.

Finally, it disappeared into the depths of the night.

The next day, early in the morning.

.

The sky was turning a pale white, and the morning mist, like a veil, enveloped the city that was gradually becoming clearer in the distance.

This place is hundreds of miles away from Tanzhou.

Li Yuan walked all night without using any movement techniques or escape skills; he simply walked normally.

Yet his steps were in harmony with the rhythm of nature, each step covering several meters, seemingly leisurely, but actually faster than a galloping horse.

This is the natural expression of "Tao" in one's actions—not something done intentionally, but rather, when one is in harmony with heaven and earth, heaven and earth will naturally shorten the distance for one.

He stood outside the city, looking at the ancient city awakening in the morning mist.

The city was small, but it was nestled against the mountains and beside the water, with a unique and distinctive layout.

The city wall is made of ordinary blue bricks and gray tiles, lacking any grandeur, but a closer look at its location reveals a subtle alignment with geography—

Backed by a low mountain range like a reclining chair, facing a clear stream like a jade belt, and embraced by mounds on both sides, it is a blessed little place that gathers and retains energy.

Outside the city gate, early-rising farmers were already carrying loads in and out, children were chasing and playing, and wisps of smoke were rising from the chimneys, creating a peaceful and serene scene.

Li Yuan's gaze fell on the plaque above the city gate.

The three characters of "Qingyuan County" are written with a solid and unremarkable style.

However, the moment his gaze fell upon those three words, deep within the Great Luo Palace, in the inner world...

On the newly erected shrine of Marquis Wu, the illusory figure with a feather fan and silk turban suddenly moved slightly.

Those eyes, which seemed to have seen through the ages, seemed to slowly open a crack at this moment.

immediately-

A faint ray of light quietly emerged from the divine throne.

The light was extremely light, as light as a wisp of breeze falling in the morning mist, yet it was extremely precise, as if it had already calculated this moment, this place, and this person.

As the clear light flowed, it fell directly into the depths of Li Yuan's mind.

Like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.

Li Yuan's heart stirred slightly, and his right hand naturally rose.

With fingers slightly bent, gently tap the thumb between the knuckles of the index, middle, ring, and little fingers.

The movements were so fast that if someone were watching, they would only think he was casually moving his fingers.

However, if a master of Qimen Dunjia were here, he would be horrified, because that seemingly random movement actually secretly corresponds to the infinite changes of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, the Eight Trigrams and Nine Palaces, Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions!

The thumb touches the first joint of the index finger—that represents the cycle of the twelve earthly branches: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai.

The thumb sliding across the three joints of the middle finger represents the deduction of the ten Heavenly Stems: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui.

The thumb lightly touching the base of the ring finger corresponds to the positions of the eight trigrams: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui.

The thumb brushing against the tip of the little finger represents the opening and closing of the eight gates: Rest, Life, Injury, Block, Scenery, Death, Shock, and Open.

Every click is an intersection of spatiotemporal information.

Each slide is a step in unraveling the cause and effect.

This is precisely a method of divination inherited from Zhuge Liang's divine calculations, completely different from ordinary divination techniques.

It does not use tortoise shells or yarrow stalks as tools, nor does it rely on coins or divination symbols. Instead, it uses the twelve joints of the fingers as the pivot of heaven and earth, and the nine palaces between the fingers as the residence of yin and yang.

The Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, Eight Trigrams, Five Elements, Nine Palaces, Eight Gates, Nine Stars, and Eight Gods are all contained within a small space.

In less than three breaths.

Li Yuan's finger stopped at the second joint of his ring finger.

That is—

The position where "Wu" and "Li" meet.

The Li trigram represents the south, its image is fire, its nature is brightness, and its meaning is "encounter".

Noon is the time when the sun is at its zenith. It is the time when Yang energy is at its peak and its energy is at its strongest. It means "abundance".

When noon and separation meet, fire meets fire, and brightness meets brightness.

This image signifies the Lord—

"When you meet the right person."

Li Yuan lowered his eyes, looking at his fingers that were suspended in mid-air.

Then, he looked up and gazed at the city gate.

His gaze remained gentle, yet it seemed to hold an indescribable understanding.

I never expected that...

A slight tremor ran through Li Yuan's heart; the result of the deduction gently rippled within his mind:

And so we met here.

The fate between us...

He slightly raised his eyes, his gaze piercing through the morning mist, as if he could already see a figure approaching.

That's quite deep.

The thought had just arisen—

A sudden commotion arose at the city gate ahead.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way now!"

"The horse is startled! The horse is startled!"

"Oh dear, oh dear—!"

It was a chaotic mix of screams, shouts, and cries for help.

Li Yuan followed the sound and looked in that direction.

A large, chestnut-colored horse galloped out of the city gate!

The horse was entirely crimson, with its mane flying and its hooves thrashing about, clearly a spirited and excellent steed.

But at this moment, this fine steed is being ridden haphazardly by the person on its back who has no idea how to ride a horse!

The man gripped the reins tightly with both hands, his body swaying from side to side, sometimes being tossed high into the air, sometimes slamming back onto the horse's back. He was like a leaf in a storm, about to be flung off at any moment.

Even worse, he had no idea how to control the direction.

Under his wild pulling, the horse completely lost its mind, charging wildly left and right. First, it crashed into a vegetable stall by the city gate, sending vegetables flying everywhere. The stall owner screamed and fell to the ground.

Then there was another sharp turn, which nearly knocked the peddler carrying his load off the side of the road away. The peddler dropped his load and ran away, the carrying pole rolling a long way.

Then it accelerated again, hurtling straight towards the roadside tea stall. "Ah—!"

The customers who were having breakfast in the teahouse were so frightened that they scattered and fled in all directions.

At the last moment, the man pulled hard on the reins, and the horse barely grazed the pillar of the teahouse before rushing past, creating a gust of wind that made the teahouse's banners flutter wildly.

The tea stall owner slumped to the ground, his face deathly pale, his lips trembling, unable to utter a word for a long time.

The horse continued galloping wildly.

Ahead were several peasant women carrying loads of vegetables into the city to sell.

When they saw the mad horse charging towards them, they screamed and dropped their loads, running to either side.

An elderly woman who was running a little slower was swept away by the gust of wind stirred up by the horse, stumbled a few steps, and almost fell.

The man on horseback glanced back, his face deathly pale, yet he couldn't stop.

His voice finally pierced through the chaos of the street and reached Li Yuan's ears: "People...people in front! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Li Yuan's gaze passed over the mad horse galloping wildly, over the mess in the street, and landed on the person on horseback.

He was a young man.

He was about twenty years old, wearing a faded coarse cloth shirt, and his face was full of panic.

But those eyes made Li Yuan pause slightly.

Those eyes were very bright.

It's incredibly bright.

Even in this disheveled and panicked state, the light in his eyes did not dim in the slightest.

That divine light and inner power is not something that only those with profound cultivation possess.

That is something more authentic and pure—vitality.

It is spirituality.

It is an innate light that cannot be extinguished by anything.

Those eyes were even more piercing than those of many extraordinary individuals who had cultivated for many years.

They were staring intently ahead, at the figure in the moon-white Taoist robe standing in the middle of the official road.

In those eyes, there was panic, anxiety, and helplessness, but Li Yuan saw it too. Beneath that panic and anxiety, there was also a very deep calmness.

That kind of composure is something only those who have truly experienced life and death and survived desperate situations can possess.

It's a kind of composure that prevents you from completely panicking, no matter what happens.

This person...

The result of the deduction flashed through Li Yuan's mind, and the sense of understanding in his heart deepened even further.

fate..."

He pondered silently:

Indeed, this is no ordinary person.

As my thoughts raced, the mad horse had already charged right up to me.

Three zhang (approximately 10 meters).

Two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters).

One zhang (approximately 3.3 meters).

The horses' hooves pounded, dust billowed, and the heat from their breath almost hit you in the face.

The young man on horseback, seeing that Li Yuan was still standing there motionless, finally showed a hint of genuine horror in his bright eyes.

"you--!"

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but it was too late.

Because he couldn't ride a horse at all, he had no way to stop it, let alone make it go around the person in front of him.

He could only watch helplessly as he rode the mad horse toward the motionless, seemingly oblivious Taoist priest.

He charged toward the figure that seemed ready to be trampled to pieces by the horse's hooves at any moment.

Just then—

Li Yuan spoke, but only uttered one word.

The voice was not loud; it could even be described as calm.

But the moment that word was uttered, the whole world seemed to fall silent.

"end."

He uttered a single word.

The wildly galloping horse suddenly stopped in its tracks!

It's really "frozen".

Its hooves, raised high, hovered in mid-air, not falling; the mane, whipped up during its gallop, remained frozen in the wind, no longer fluttering.

The hot air exhaled from the nostrils, which were wide open from running, condensed in the air like a still fog.

The horse's eyes, wide open in fright, were now fixed on the figure in the moon-white Taoist robe before it. Reflected in its pupils was not fear, but—

at a loss.

It doesn't understand what happened.

It only knew that it had been running wildly just moments before, but the next instant, it was unable to move.

It wasn't about being bound or suppressed, but rather a "command" that was fundamentally irresistible.

The command, uttered from that Taoist's mouth, was like a heavenly decree, etched into every inch of his flesh and blood, every wisp of his consciousness.

Therefore, it had no choice but to stop.

It must be stopped.

We had to stop.

On horseback, the young man remained in a galloping posture, his hands gripping the reins tightly, his body leaning slightly forward, completely frozen.

It wasn't because he was frozen in place, but because he simply didn't react in time.

It was running wildly just a moment ago, and then it stopped the next moment?

What's going on here?!

He stared blankly at the Taoist priest in the moon-white robe before him, at his refined and composed face, and at his gentle, watery eyes.

Those eyes were looking at him right now.

There was no blame, no probing, and no superfluous emotion.

The young man opened his mouth, as if to say something.

But before he could speak—

The horse, which had been frozen in place, suddenly moved.

But not forward.

Instead, it was a "plop—!"

The chestnut horse buckled at the ground and collapsed!

It lay down so suddenly and so completely that the young man on horseback had no time to react and fell headfirst as the horse lurched forward!

"Ouch--!"

A muffled thud.

The young man fell flat on his back on the ground, his mouth full of dirt.

He lay there, spread-eagled, his clothes covered in a new layer of mud and dust.

The hat flew a long way, rolled a few times, and finally came to rest next to the ruins of a vegetable stall.

His hair was completely disheveled, a messy smear on his face, making him look like a beggar who had just rolled out of the mud.

He lay on the ground, motionless for a long time.

Then-

He twitched his fingers and then his toes.

After confirming that he was still alive, he slowly propped himself up, spat out the dirt in his mouth, raised his head, and looked at the figure in the white Taoist robe who was still standing in the same place.

Those bright eyes were now filled with confusion.

What happened?

Why did the horse suddenly stop?

How did I suddenly fall?

Who exactly is this Taoist priest in front of us?

He only said one word.

The character "止" (stop).

That crazy horse really stopped.

What kind of tactic is this?

In the few years he's been in the world of supernatural beings, he's met many supernatural beings and witnessed many amazing techniques.

But I've never seen a single word stop Crazy Horse like this before.

I've never even heard of it.

He just looked up at Li Yuan.

His dust-covered face was filled with surprise, confusion, and a hint of awe that he himself was unaware of.

Li Yuan remained silent.

She simply watched the disheveled young man before her.

Looking at his mud-covered body, his disheveled hair, and his bright eyes that remained even after the fall, I was struck by his mud.

That thought resurfaced in my mind:

"Rootless..."

No, he should be called Feng Yao now.

The current Wugensheng is not yet Wugensheng, not yet the leader of Quanxing Sect, not yet the fourth of the Thirty-Six Thieves.

He was not the culprit who triggered the Jia Shen Rebellion, which turned the entire world of supernatural beings upside down.

Wugensheng is currently just a greenhorn who has only been in the world of supernatural beings for a few years, a greenhorn who can't even ride a horse properly.

These thoughts flashed through my mind.

Li Yuan looked into Wu Gensheng's eyes, at the innate light within them.

The meaning in his eyes deepened slightly, but he said nothing.

He just stood there quietly.

Looking at this future leader of Quanxing, who was now lying on the ground in a sorry state, staring blankly at him with his bright eyes.

As dawn broke and the fog gradually dissipated, the morning light deepened.

The city gates of Qingyuan County were finally fully opened.

People began to pour out, some watching, some discussing, some pointing and whispering, taking in the whole farce that unfolded in the early morning.

Wugensheng, who was lying on the ground, still did not get up, but just stared at Liyuan.

Look at this Taoist priest who froze the mad horse with just one sentence.

He looked at this being, which he could not understand at all and seemed not to belong to the human world.

Only one thought remained in my mind:

Who exactly is this person?