From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

To achieve this, one must not only align the circulation of Qi with the rising and setting of the sun and moon within a day, but also with the changes of the four seasons throughout the year, and even with the movement of the stars in the celestial sphere.

Therefore, compared to those talismans that can set off fire or thunder, this Twenty-Four Qi Lord Talisman, which can help him sense the twenty-four solar terms, is definitely the most suitable!

However, when Jiang Liu tried to offer money as a token of gratitude, Lin Jiu refused, instead making a request: "You don't need to give me money, just do me a favor later."

"What kind of help?"

Seeing Lin Jiu's serious expression, Jiang Liu also became serious, "I will do my best as Uncle Jiu instructs me."

"There's no need to be so serious..."

Lin Jiu smiled and explained the situation—

It turned out that he had been invited by the town mayor to look at the feng shui. He went to the "feng shui treasure land" where the energy had changed again and discovered that the cracked "dragon ball" had developed more cracks afterward!

Later, he found a pile of dead bats in a nearby stream.

In Taoism, the bat is considered an auspicious animal.

Ge Hong's "Baopuzi" states: "A thousand-year-old bat is as white as snow. When they gather, they hang upside down because their brains are heavy. If you obtain this creature, dry it in the shade, grind it into powder, and consume it, it will grant you a lifespan of ten thousand years."

Furthermore, bats feed on mosquitoes and are therefore beneficial animals.

However, bats also carry many "external evils," which, according to Western understanding, are germs. People should not touch them lightly, otherwise they may easily get sick...

# Chapter 174 Ren Wei: I want to engage in Buddhism and Taoism... the East-West conflict!

"bat?"

Jiang Liu had read "The One-Eyebrowed Taoist" in his previous life, but the two disciples of that "One-Eyebrowed Taoist" had been changed from Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng to A Hao and A Fang.

But Lin Jiu only had Wencai and Qiusheng as his apprentices.

"Uncle Jiu, do you want me to find the bat nest and destroy it? Doesn't that go against the Taoist principle of natural harmony?"

"We must still put people first."

Perhaps because he had lived in the mountains for a long time, Lin Jiu was more concerned about the safety of the people of Renjia Town, and the concept of following the natural way became secondary.

"Furthermore, the bats I observed did not seem to be native to this area; they had wider wing membranes and red eyes."

“We do have red-eyed bats here, but their fur is white, not black.”

Bats with albinism do indeed have red eyes.

Jiang Liu nodded secretly, agreeing to Uncle Jiu's request, and said, "Black-haired, red-eyed bats are indeed extremely rare here. They must be a species from the West."

"I think so too."

Lin Jiu said, "Moreover, the bat corpses that were found were very peculiar. They showed signs of being refined, similar to the methods of beast masters, but also different. It was as if they directly used bats as magical artifacts for refining."

Alchemy!

Recalling the plot of "The Taoist Priest with One Eyebrow," Jiang Liu didn't remember it very well, but he did remember that the big boss was a Western zombie.

Western Zombies

This title is inaccurate; it should be called a vampire.

The mainstream method used by Western supernatural beings is alchemy, among which there is a forbidden technique called human transmutation.

The methods of ordinary alchemy are similar to those of weapon crafting, but the difference is that as long as the raw materials are sufficient, it seems that the corresponding items can be crafted by relying on magic arrays or similar methods, and the output is relatively large.

Human transmutation is different; it's a method of alchemy that uses the human body as raw material. For example, Marcelo Garcia in the Nathan Island arc can transform himself into a special hard alloy; or Stephen White, the genius of the Emerald Society, whose chaotic life form can merge with the life of others.

If vampires really exist, they are very likely the product of some Western supernatural being who has practiced human transmutation. Moreover, based on the plot analysis of "The One-Eyebrowed Taoist", the vampires are indeed similar to the vampire settings that Jiang Liu is familiar with: they are afraid of light, drink blood, can turn others into their followers, and have long lifespans.

In a sense, it is close to the definition of "immortality," but the side effects are quite significant.

After the meal.

Wen Cai continued to guard the mortuary, while Lin Jiu led Jiang Liu, Lu Jin, Li Muxuan, and Hong Guniang to find Ren Wei, the captain of the soldiers in Renjia Town.

"Uncle Jiu, you've come!"

Since resolving his family affairs, Ren Wei has been wanting to become Lin Jiu's apprentice and learn some skills, but he is still in the observation period.

"Awei, take them to find the source of the bats and destroy their nest," Lin Jiu instructed Ren Wei before going to find Qiu Sheng.

Before the filth in the streams and rivers near Renjia Town is naturally purified, he must find a new water source for Renjia Town to prevent anyone from getting sick from drinking the water.

"Don't worry, Uncle Nine, I will definitely burn down all the bat nests I find!"

Ren Wei solemnly assured him.

After watching Lin Jiu leave, Ren Wei led Jiang Liu and his group to the riverbank where the bat carcass was found, near a broken tree.

He pointed to the large pile of bat corpses and said, "Young heroes, and this new heroine, look, these are the bat corpses we found."

Jiang Liu stepped forward, squatted down, applied a layer of human magnetism to his hand, moved aside the corpse of a bat, and injected a wisp of Qi. He found that the bat's wings were flapping and it was fluttering on the sand, but after dissipating the Qi, it stopped fluttering. It didn't look like a living creature, but rather like a magical artifact.

"This is truly eye-opening. There are actually such strange creatures." Li Muxuan also injected a wisp of Qi into the bat corpse and exclaimed, "It is a living creature and a magical artifact. Moreover, unlike that alchemy furnace, it seems that injecting Qi can make it flap its wings."

Lu Jin also tried it out, her eyes showing surprise: "If these bats are still alive, we might be able to control them relatively easily, at least we should be able to affect their flight trajectory."

The girl in red used the throwing knife at her waist to cut open the chest of a bat carcass and found that it did indeed contain shriveled internal organs; it was a living organism, not some special material.

"Captain Awei, after discovering the bats this morning, did you search upstream?" Jiang Liu asked.

"No."

Hearing Jiang Liu address him as "Captain," Ren Wei became excited. "After discovering the bats, my brothers searched the nearby woods... but we plan to go upstream this afternoon."

"Then let's go upstream and take a look."

After saying that, Jiang Liu suggested that he burn the bats on the ground to avoid any unforeseen complications.

Upon hearing that the bats were to be burned, Ren Wei immediately transferred two soldiers from among the officers and soldiers and ordered them to burn the bats in the area.

Jiang Liu and his group headed upstream along the stream.

After walking for nearly a mile, all they saw were weeds and low shrubs, which did not seem like a habitat for bats.

After walking another half mile and crossing a hillside, an abandoned church came into view below.

Jiang Liu glanced in the direction of Renjia Town and realized that the abandoned church was about two miles away from Renjia Town. On the open space around the church, five nuns were repairing the church, some weeding, some carrying bricks, some building ladders, some taking out the trash, and some erecting crosses.

"Brothers! Let's go! Let's burn that Western-style temple down! It's bad luck!" Ren Wei knew that Uncle Jiu was a Taoist priest from Shangqing Maoshan and wanted to become his disciple, but he was still in the probationary period and not even an apprentice yet. Now that he saw a Western-style church, he had an idea and felt he needed to make a name for himself—

As the saying goes, "Competitors are enemies."

In this turbulent world, even local Taoist temples and monasteries are struggling to make a living, and now Western churches are even trying to steal their business.

Absolutely not!

"Captain Ren Wei, wait!"

Before Ren Wei could lead his team down, Jiang Liu stopped him and advised, "We're here to search for bat nests, not to burn down someone's church. Besides, it's unreasonable of you to burn down someone's church for no reason."

But Ren Wei had already lost his mind, and he only had one thought in his mind: to burn down the Western temple and build a Shangqing Temple. At that time, Uncle Nine would definitely think more highly of him!

The bat nest is a minor issue; we can look for it later.

But if he burned down this Western temple that was trying to steal his job, and won Uncle Nine's favor, he might immediately become Uncle Nine's disciple, learn the magic of Maoshan, and gain his cousin's favor!

Seeing his reaction, Jiang Liu stopped trying to persuade him and simply followed behind, observing the situation.

Will the plot of "The Taoist Priest with One Eyebrow" really happen?

In the world of Under One Person, the form in which vampires appear remains a question.

As long as Ren Wei doesn't cause any deaths, that's fine.

but--

Jiang Liu was also puzzled by Ren Wei's attempt to burn down the church, wondering if he might have a grudge against Westerners, otherwise why would he be so eager to do so?

The Ren family should have a high level of acceptance of Western culture. Ren Wei previously wanted to marry Ren Tingting to inherit the family fortune, so he shouldn't be opposed to Western things, right?

# Chapter 175 Maria

We arrived at the church.

The nuns who were repairing the church were terrified by Ren Wei and his soldiers, who resembled bandits.

Ren Wei was very satisfied with the nuns' trembling reaction and shouted loudly, "Dead bats have appeared in the streams and rivers near our town, causing some villagers to fall ill and ruining the feng shui. It must have been you nuns who did it!"

In order to spread their religion, they first poisoned the river, and then used holy water and other things to cure diseases, just to deceive the townspeople and get them to donate money, right?

Luckily, I have discerning eyes and saw through it all!

The church was burned down to gain Lin Jiu's favor, but taking direct action would be too domineering, so Ren Wei framed the nuns with fabricated charges.

“We are God’s representatives on earth, how could we do such a disgraceful thing? You must be mistaken.” The leader, a nun with a white headscarf, a blue robe, a plump figure, a round face, and a European-like appearance, but who spoke fluent Chinese, stepped forward and said, “I, Mary, swear to the Lord!”

"What kind of bullshit master? I don't believe it!" Ren Wei said, then pulled out his pistol and fired a shot into the air.

thumping!

"You fat woman, get out of my way! Don't delay us, or we'll throw you in jail! And then we'll give you a good beating!"

Maria was furious when she realized that Ren Wei had come to cause trouble. Without saying a word, she grabbed Ren Wei's wrist, which was holding a pistol, and used her weight advantage to pin him down.

"I will live and die with the church! If you're going to burn the church down, kill me first!"

Maria looked on with a pious expression, grabbed Ren Wei's wrist that was holding the pistol, and slowly pointed the gun at Ren Wei's head.

"What are you doing? Let go! Let go!"

Ren Wei panicked and struggled desperately, but the difference in weight was obvious, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not overturn the mountain of flesh on his body.

The other officers and soldiers were not well-trained soldiers either. Seeing their commander being suppressed, they were at a loss and none of them dared to step forward to help.

With the gun barrel pointed directly at Ren Wei's head, Maria even guided his finger to pull the trigger.

thumping!

At the moment the second shot rang out, the eight veins of the river pulsed, and the magnetic force silently wrapped around their hands, pointing the guns at the sky.

Maria then awoke with a start, realizing what she had done in her panic. She collapsed to the ground, muttering "Hallelujah" under her breath.