The Mysterious Immortal, the Everlasting Lamp

Lu Wenze hung the red lantern on the roof, then returned inside and lit the fire dragon oil lamp.

May the ancestral master protect us.

Lu Wenze clasped his hands together, turned around, and bowed to the portrait of the patriarch.

These days, the temple gates are not at peace.

Lu Wenze, for example, joined the Immortal Sect by chance, but he had never really seen much of the world.

He was taken up the mountain by his master and has been studying Taoist texts in this Taoist temple ever since.

I don't really know much about the mountain gate.

I only know about the Taoist temple built on this mountain.

Lu Wenze transmigrated here and merged with the soul of this body.

"Disciple, the first rule in the academy is: do not go out after dark."

"The second rule is: never open the door to anyone who knocks at night."

"The third rule is that the oil lamp in the room must always be kept lit."

Lu Wenze looked at the tiny lamp, which illuminated the room brightly.

"Fire Dragon Oil, with a wick woven from azure silkworm silk, is brighter than a light bulb, combining all the advantages. Its only drawback is that it's expensive."

For the first three months after Lu Wenze entered the Taoist academy, the academy provided him with fire dragon oil and azure silkworm wicks.

After learning the Taoist texts, one needs to copy them down in exchange for Fire Dragon Oil.

One hundred characters of Taoist scripture can be exchanged for Fire Dragon Oil, which can be used for five days.

Ink is made by grinding one's own blood.

Only written Taoist texts will be accepted by the Taoist academy.

Lu Wenze cut his finger, squeezed out the thick blood, and dripped it onto the white bone inkstone. He picked up an unusually large bone grinding stick, added cinnabar and black powder, and began to grind ink.

"One lap~~"

"Two laps~~"

......

"Forty-nine laps!!"

It requires a white bone inkstone and a white bone grinding stick, along with a child's blood, century-old cinnabar, and mysterious black powder, to grind forty-nine times. Only then can the resulting ink meet the minimum standards for writing.

Lu Wenze opened the "Guanyin Zizai Xiangu Jing" (The Scripture of Guanyin's Free and Easy Immortal Bones), turned to page sixteen, and began to copy it.

[...At that moment, the White Bone Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, out of compassion for the four assemblies, as well as the white bone celestial beings, dragons, and non-humans, accepted their necklaces, divided them in two, offering one part to Shakyamuni Buddha (the White Bone Buddha) and the other to the Many Treasures White Bone Stupa. Endless Intention, the White Bone Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva possesses such unfettered divine power, roaming freely throughout the Saha world...]

"Was the rubbing made incorrectly?"

Lu Wenze gazed at the scriptures.

The eerie and sinister aura emanating from the scriptures sent chills down his spine.

White Bone Guanyin?

Shakyamuni, the White Bone Buddha?

The Pagoda of Many Treasures and White Bones?

Holding a wolf-hair brush with a white bone handle, dipped in specially made ink, Lu Wenze painstakingly traced the strokes of Daowen.

The pen tip felt incredibly heavy, as if it were cutting through countless threads. With his effort, the brush, like a sharp blade, severed all the threads from the pen tip, finally allowing the ink to stain the snow-white paper.

Dark red characters leap from the snow-white paper, each stroke conveying an infinite depth, bringing with it an eerie vitality.

"This essay is too difficult to write."

"Writing each character is like doing a set of dumbbell exercises."

But there was no other way; Lu Wenze had to write articles every night.

Within the Taoist academy, lower-level disciples like them need to copy scriptures to obtain more resources.

A single word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.

The Taoist texts written according to the requirements can be exchanged for more resources at the Taoist Academy.

"This is so weird and sinister. You're saying this sect cultivates immortality? I really don't believe it."

Given the sinister aura emanating from within and outside the sect, Lu Wenze concluded that this sect must be either an evil cultivator or a demonic sect.

After writing about a hundred articles, Lu Wenze's arms ached.

The special ink has run out.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Turning around and looking at the still brightly lit dragon lantern, I felt much more at ease.

The quiet Taoist temple, Lu Wenze's room is in a secluded courtyard in the back mountain.

This is a room he exchanged for a thousand Daowen.

On a night without entertainment, Lu Wenze, who was used to being a night owl, did not rest because he was tired from copying the text. Instead, he began to meditate cross-legged under the fire dragon lamp.

"Knock knock knock~~"

Lu Wenze opened his eyes.

Look towards the door.

The silhouette of the figure standing outside the door in the lamplight revealed him to be a tall, thin man.

A jade hairpin is used to tie up the hair.

The wide robes fluttered in the wind.

"Knock knock knock~~"

The person outside, seeing no response from Lu Wenze, continued knocking.

Lu Wenze parted his lips slightly, but immediately closed them again.

Rule Two: Do ​​not open the door if anyone knocks at night.

Lu Wenze doesn't have many redeeming qualities, except that he listens to advice.

Recalling the sinister nature of the various rules within the courtyard, Lu Wenze obediently kept quiet.

"Knock, knock, knock~~" The third knock came. A slender figure outside seemed no longer content with just knocking. "Disciple, open the door. It's your master."

Lu Wenze glanced back at the oil lamp.

The wick flame was bright.

It was much brighter than ever before.

But Lu Wenze was heartbroken.

The brighter the flame, the more dragon oil it consumes.

This was all earned with his blood and sweat!

"Knock knock knock~~ Disciple, your master has comprehended a magic technique and needs your help. If this magic technique is successfully mastered, hehehe, this academy will belong to the two of us in the future."

The master outside the door kept tempting Lu Wenze.

Lu Wenze thought to himself, "Master, you're wrong. I haven't even entered the Dao Embryo Realm yet. Immortal arts are to me like the bright moon hanging in the sky—just something new to look at."

"Master, your disciple is dull-witted and cannot cultivate immortal arts."

Lu Wenze answered truthfully.

"Damn it, you cowherd who was born of a father but raised by no mother! If I hadn't taken you as my apprentice, you'd still be herding cattle in the village!!!"

The thin, wiry Taoist priest outside the door burst into a tirade of curses.

Lu Wenze's chest heaved.

But it quickly subsided.

A provocation tactic?!

My master usually speaks in a soft voice.

Such a rude scoundrel outside the door must not be my master.

Lu Wenze calmly said, "Disciple is grateful for Master's great kindness and virtue, and therefore will keep Master's words in mind. Master, it is getting dark, please return."

The dark figure outside the door said, "What ridiculous rules? They're all just to fool you. I'm going to set new rules for you now: when you hear me say 'open the door,' you must open the door immediately. Do you understand?"

Lu Wenze: "Disciple understands."

But I won't open the door.

Lu Wenze returned to his seat and sat quietly.

His gaze fell on the fire dragon oil lamp.

The fire dragon oil lamp was very bright.

It is three times brighter than usual.

The tiny wick emits heat and brightness like a small sun lamp.

The fire oil is burning faster.

Lu Wenze quickly added more lamp oil.

The fire dragon oil is consumed every day, and even if you speed it up, you'll only waste three days' worth of lamp oil at most.

If the azure silk wick were to burn out, the cost of replacing it would be enough to make Lu Wenze's heart bleed.

"Disciple, since you understand, why don't you open the door?"

The shadowy figure outside the door was taken aback.

"Master, my hand is injured and I can't open the door bolt."

Lu Wenze looked at the wooden door bolt; with just a gentle pull, he could remove it.

If he really is the master outside the door.

With Lu Wenze's evasive answer, how could a mere wooden bolt possibly hold him back, given his master's strength?

Huh?

It's a Taoist text!

A line of text was written on the wooden door bolt.

[Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering this room!]

Unauthorized entry is prohibited.

It turns out that Taoist texts have this function.

Lu Wenze felt as if he had discovered a new continent.

"presumptuous!!"

"presumptuous!!!"

"You cowherd, I'm expelling you from my school right now!!!"

"You wait."

"Watch how I deal with you!!!"

A dark figure outside the door suddenly pounded on the door.

bang bang bang~~~

The door remained completely still.

The oil lamp suddenly burst into light.

The firelight shone through the sticker on the wooden door, making the outline of the dark figure even clearer.

uh-huh?!

A painful groan came from outside the door, and the dark figure quickly moved away from the wooden door.

Through the crack, Lu Wenze could smell the aroma of barbecue coming from outside the door.

Lu Wenze leaned back in the wooden chair, staring at the gradually dimming lights, and exhaled a sigh of relief. Only then did he realize that his back was soaked with sweat.

Bang~ Bang~ Bang~~

My heart is beating abnormally fast.

The flow of Qi within the body accelerated dramatically.

A strong intuition, though vague, told Lu Wenze that this was called the "embryonic movement of the Dao".

I'm about to enter the Dao Embryo Realm!

Lu Wenze immediately stood up, sat cross-legged on the futon, pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, concentrated his mind, and focused his attention on his dantian, circulating the Dao Embryo Foundation Building Technique.

In an instant, the energy in my entire body gathered in my dantian like water.

The pitch-black dantian was ignited like a firefly.

As the energy gathered, the energy became round like a chicken egg, gradually growing larger like a balloon, emitting a faint white light.

Is this the embryonic form of the Dao?

Is the energy as primordial as a placenta?

With his breath rising and falling in rhythm with the exercise, Lu Wenze entered a very comfortable state.

The pores are open.

With each breath, the gas flows through the limbs and bones, circulates through the meridians and acupoints, and flows into the dantian.

The inner core of the dantian felt like a pulsating fleshy embryo.

As the Qi flows into the body and accelerates its circulation, the Dao Embryo increasingly resembles a living placenta pulsating.

Until the rooster crows at dawn.

Lu Wenze then stopped practicing his exercises.

"The first stage of the Dao Embryo."

Lu Wenze couldn't hide his excitement.

He has been in this world for three months.

I meditate and cultivate myself every day.

Aside from circulating his inner energy and strengthening his body, he has yet to enter the first stage of immortal cultivation, the Dao Embryo.

Lu Wenze even began to doubt himself.

His resolve to follow the Dao wavered.

If Lu Wenze hadn't clearly known that human suffering was so severe that only by cultivating immortality could one stand atop the mountain, he would have already run away.

Now, I've finally gotten the hang of it.

"Does it mean 'if you believe, it exists; if you don't believe, it doesn't'?"

In ordinary times, the absence of supernatural means is due to impure thoughts.

Today I encountered something evil; may this dispel my doubts and lead me to enlightenment?

This thought flashed through Lu Wenze's mind.

But he quickly rejected that idea.

It must have been due to his hard work; where there's a will, there's a way.

"When the rooster crows at dawn, all evils retreat."

"Now we can extinguish the dragon oil lamp."

However, Lu Wenze recalled what happened that night, and it was precisely because the fire dragon oil lamp warded off evil spirits that he was safe and sound.

"Forget it, I'll just pay for peace of mind."

I got up, went back to bed, lay down, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

However, because he had entered the Dao Embryo Realm, his whole body was brimming with energy and he was full of vigor, making it difficult for him to fall asleep.

Please bind your personal magical artifact.

Suddenly, a barrage of comments appeared in front of me with my eyes closed.

Lu Wenze's attention was immediately drawn to this scene.

[Please bind your personal magical artifact. The special energy gained from the journey will expire in thirty seconds.]

Please bind your personal magical artifact to your destiny.

Please bind your personal magical artifact to your destiny.

The information before him began to bombard Lu Wenze's mind.