From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

After all, all souls that enter the underworld lose their spirit. As long as a "hardware" shell is created for them, even if they still retain the memories and emotions of when they were human, can think, can imagine, and can even gossip about immortals and Buddhas in private, they are still essentially trapped by their obsessions. They are the best "tools" and will never betray you.

The spiritual essence is the most fundamental part of a living being, and the foundation upon which the light of the soul is born. It is the seed that sees through the self, others, and all beings, and is formless and without appearance.

It is precisely because this spirit is formless and invisible, unseen by those who have not truly forged their Dharma body, that the underworld cannot capture the spirit along with the soul...

However, if the spirit is not collected, it will not be able to be reborn smoothly through the cycle of primordial Qi. In places with special Qi patterns, this spirit will be bound by the obsessions of the previous life and remain in the world. This is because the spirit is just a tiny, imperceptible spark of light that a person produces after experiencing a lifetime, and it can spontaneously coexist with obsessions.

"Countless lives have perished in this White Bone Ridge. Piles of white bones, intertwined with obsessions, have transformed into a realm of obsessions."

"That's not right!"

Upon hearing that it was a realm of obsession, Bajie retorted, "Obsession is a lingering worldly attachment; to enter it, one must become entangled with obsession."

"Yes, you went through the Three Battles with the White Bone Demon once, so you're now involved with obsession, aren't you?"

Jiang Liu's gaze was deep and unfathomable, making Bajie's scalp tingle. "That's why I told you not to rush into action..."

Chapter 1431 The people of Wuzhuang Temple are in a state of panic.

"Brother, I was wrong."

Bajie knelt down with a thud, not blaming Jiang Liu for not telling him beforehand, but simply kowtowing and admitting his guilt.

"Senior Brother, I think this pig is just showing off; he doesn't have much ability." Hu Yuan seized the opportunity to kick him while he was down, saying with a sneer.

Hu Jue also complained, "You eat a lot."

"Even if I just fart to add some wind, it'll still cheer us on!"

Pigsy got angry and glared at the two big worms, snorting, "Besides, I, Grandpa Pig, am the Clean Altar Messenger. Do you understand Clean Altar?"

They're specifically there to eat the offerings!

"What's wrong with me eating a little more?"

This commotion, however, dissipated much of the terrifying atmosphere.

"Make a note of this for now, and we'll discuss the matter after we get out."

Jiang Liu smiled, helped Bajie up, and said to Hu Yuan and Hu Jue, "I know you two have a grudge against Bajie, but now you should work together."

"Eldest brother, we don't have a blood feud with second brother. We were each serving our own masters back then. My father was not as skilled as others, so we can't blame anyone else."

Hu Yuan glanced at Zhu Bajie and said this.

"The real culprit is that Yellow Wind Monster. As for our second senior brother, we just feel a bit uncomfortable about him."

Seeing that his elder brother had spoken, Hu Jue echoed his sentiment, deciding to let the matter rest and refrain from attacking Bajie without cause in the future. After all, their fates were now intertwined...

···

"Ah~ sneeze!"

Wuzhuang Temple.

As the sun rose high in the sky, a yellow talisman fell from the roof beam and landed on Qingfeng's nose, causing him to sneeze.

Five hundred years ago, Qingfeng once experienced a drowsy bug, and was still shaken by it. In addition, they had been refining drowsy bugs for the past five hundred years and often fell victim to them. So they had already pasted a yellow talisman on the roof beam in advance, which had the effect of refreshing the mind. Whenever the two of them had not gotten up by midday, the yellow talisman would sense their Qi and fall down on its own.

Rubbing her eyes, she saw the blinding light outside the window. Qingfeng sneezed again, fully waking her up. Seeing the Gu jar on the ground, her heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly pushed open the door and saw the sun high in the sky. There was no one in the temple. Panicked, she quickly took the sleepy bug out of Mingyue's ear.

With the drowsiness gone, Mingyue slowly woke up. Just as she was about to stretch, Qingfeng grabbed her shoulder and shook her vigorously, exclaiming, "Brothers, trouble has struck! We also accidentally caught the drowsiness bug last night and fell into a deep sleep! It seems that the senior brothers have also had the escaped drowsiness bugs take up residence in their ears, and they are still not awake!"

"Is that so?"

Mingyue was incredulous. She quickly grabbed the Gu jar and went with Qingfeng to the courtyard where her senior brothers lived, but they couldn't see a single person.

There was nothing we could do.

The two young disciples had no choice but to remove the sleepiness from their senior brothers' ears one by one and wake them up.

When the senior brothers learned what had happened, they all complained to Qingfeng and Mingyue, saying, "You two are so lazy! You actually let Sleepyhead get away, which almost made us fall asleep."

Qingfeng said apologetically, "I hope you senior brothers won't take it to heart. We just wanted to keep those outsiders occupied for ten days or half a month, but we didn't want to trouble you senior brothers, so we came up with this plan."

Mingyue was inwardly furious, thinking to herself: "They shared the ginseng fruit with us, and instead of thanking us, they're criticizing us! What a bunch of ingrates!"

Having lived for nearly two thousand years, even though he rarely travels among mortals, he is still somewhat worldly-wise and dares not speak his mind. Instead, he apologizes to his fellow disciples along with Qingfeng.

"Qingfeng, Mingyue, go and see how those people are doing."

One of the senior disciples said, "Those monkeys, pigs, tigers, wolves, etc. are all demons. Sleeping for half a month will not cause any harm. At most, they will be exhausted. When they wake up, we can give them some pills to replenish their qi and blood."

But those ten ordinary people couldn't endure it; let alone half a month, even three days would be enough for their souls to enter the underworld.

Another senior brother suggested, "Why don't we wake them up and rush them down the mountain?"

"No, that won't work."

Another person rejected the suggestion, saying, "We heard from that wolf demon that those mortals are going to Baoxiang Kingdom to do business and visit their families. If they pass through Baihu Ridge and disturb Master's ritual, we can't afford to be responsible!"

"Since we are just ordinary people, our lives are of little importance."

Qingfeng said, "That Baoxiang Kingdom has already been occupied by an elephant demon. Going there would only be suicide. What's the point of going? Why don't we show some mercy and send them on their way?"

The senior brothers were greatly surprised, but after some thought and discussion, most of them agreed with the reasoning.

Before they became disciples, they were human. Now that they have forged their golden cores and become carefree immortals, they no longer recognize the identity of "human".

Furthermore.

Ginseng fruit —

They ate too, so they had to contribute.

Having devised a plan, the senior brothers followed Qingfeng and Mingyue to the guest room where Kuilang, Baihuaai, and the others were resting, but they found no one there, only a few taels of silver.

In an instant.

Qingfeng's face turned deathly pale. He hurriedly went to look for Jiang Liu, but he was nowhere to be found. Only a letter remained. Upon opening it, he read:

[To the young Taoist:]

I was honored to have spoken so much yesterday. When I woke up this morning, I found you all still resting... I left without saying goodbye, and I hope you will not be offended.

Besides, there is something else I need to tell you.

I did not eat the ginseng fruit yesterday because I understand that it was obtained by absorbing the spiritual essence of the world... I am a cultivator, enlightened by the cycle of the universe, and I do not consume fruits that plunder the spiritual essence of other living beings—

If ingested, it will lead to utter ruin.

Human beings practiced slash-and-burn agriculture and herded livestock as a reward for becoming the most intelligent of all beings through competition with other creatures.

However, if one forcibly plunders another's spiritual essence in order to enhance cultivation or prolong life—

But it's too late.

Therefore.

My trip to White Tiger Ridge was also to discuss the ginseng fruit tree with the Great Immortal Zhenyuan...

"Oops!"

Qingfeng's lips trembled. Before he could finish reading the letter in his hand, he said to Mingyue and the other senior brothers, "That monkey is going to find Master!"

Mingyue was startled and immediately came to her senses, exclaiming, "Last night we were all under a drowsy spell, and it wasn't an accident, but rather the monkey's doing!"

In a short time.

The Taoist priests inside the temple were all terrified. Each of them held a magic weapon and went down the mountain together to chase after Jiang Liu. They were determined not to let him find their master.

Otherwise, how would they explain the disappearance of the thirteen ginseng fruits in the orchard?

Does this mean that Qingfeng and Mingyue delivered all the ginseng fruits to the monkey when he came to their door? Or did the monkey steal all thirteen fruits?

Neither will work!

If they couldn't even hold off the monkey after the fruit was gone, then they had failed in their duty!

Forty-eight Taoist priests, plus two young Taoist disciples, Qingfeng and Mingyue, a total of fifty people, descended the mountain in a grand procession from the edge of White Tiger Ridge.

Look at me, and I'll look at you.

They could only hope that the monkey hadn't gone far and hadn't encountered their master, otherwise they would all be subject to punishment.

"Go in."

Qingfeng took the lead into the forest, followed closely by Mingyue, and the forty-eight senior brothers also followed behind them.

As soon as they entered the forest, the fifty men felt a chill creeping over them from the depths of their being, and they all shivered.

"Do you feel it's getting dark?"

Some people were suspicious.

"It's normal that the shrubs in the mountains are lush and darker than the Wuzhuang Temple."

"No! I felt it too; it is indeed darker here than outside!"

"Could it be that Master is using magic?"

Chapter 1432 Nine Revolutions of Regenerating Muscles from Bones

"By the way, does anyone know what Master is here at White Tiger Ridge for?"

A Taoist priest spoke up, puzzled, "Is it truly a ritual performed to subdue demons and monsters?"

None of the forty-eight people knew.

Seeing that they were looking at him, Qingfeng and Mingyue could only say, "We asked our master before. He doted on us the most and had revealed a few words about it."

It's related to the family of the owner of that seventh wisp of primordial purple energy.

The seventh wisp of primordial purple energy?!

The Taoist priests were either puzzled, shocked, or greedy.

This is because the Primordial Purple Qi is the key to becoming a saint. Only by possessing the Primordial Purple Qi can one connect with the Heavenly Dao, entrust one's own primordial spirit to the Heavenly Dao, and live as long as heaven and earth, and be as old as the sun and moon. One no longer needs to go through the complicated steps of consuming the spiritual essence of monsters to maintain longevity.

"Could it be that Master is about to become a saint!" one of the Taoists exclaimed excitedly.

If Zhenyuan Daxian becomes a saint, then his disciples will be disciples of a saint.

No, that's not true.