"Daoist brother, you truly have a wide circle of friends..."
Behind Xu Qing, the Red-Tailed Monkey was carrying the Dragon Prison Staff and pacing back and forth, seemingly trying to eavesdrop on the conversation between the Sect Leader and that potential competitor.
Upon learning that the other party had no interest in the position of a stableman, it finally felt at ease.
Xu Qing turned his head, only to see the monkey, who had been whining and complaining earlier, now gleefully running beside the Chasing Mourning Horse, grooming its mane.
How come this monkey was suddenly so diligent today?
Looking at the eager Red-Tailed Monkey, Xu Qing was somewhat puzzled.
Could this monkey have some designs on the Chasing Mourning Horse?
It shouldn't be, that horse is not a mare...
...
In the following days, Xu Qing and the celestial beings, including the Red-Tailed Monkey, established a cave dwelling on the spot, entering seclusion for meditation.
At that time, the spirit energy tides in the Turbid River area had not yet dissipated completely, making it the perfect time for cultivation.
In just half a day, Xu Qing's magical power had fully recovered. Having observed the profound mysteries of the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation, the Red-Tailed Monkey and the White Gentleman remained in a state of enlightenment after restoring their magical power in the subsequent days.
Xu Qing did not disturb them. He left his place of seclusion, riding a horse along the now-calm Turbid River alone.
On his journey to the Central Plains, he had removed a nail obstructing the harmony of heaven and earth, allowing the secular world to recover some vitality.
In addition, he also received a reward from the Sutra of Salvation.
The reward from the Celestial Lord General was the Great Yellow Heaven Law, which was essentially a Yellow Heaven Banner, with the power to mobilize the yellow wind and dust, covering miles of land under the 'Yellow Heaven' when pushed to its limits.
Xu Qing suddenly thought of the yellow wind of the Great Yellow Wind King, yet that wind was the Samadhi Divine Wind, requiring holding the breath and invoking chants to harness the wind.
The Yellow Heaven Banner, however, wielded the Zombie Evil Demon Wind, which was quite different from the wind Xu Qing cultivated, known as the Dispersing Gathering Wind.
The Dispersing Gathering Wind is a Fur Corpse technique, focusing on the vitality of mountain forests. One breath of disseminating wind can dispel ghostly spirits, scattering them instantly, while one breath of gathering wind can promote the growth of vegetation...
The Yellow Heaven Wind, on the other hand, has little effect on ghostly entities. It targets practitioners of righteous paths, as well as officials protected by Purple Fortune Body Protection or kings shielded by imperial qi...
Simply put, it dismantles any hierarchical gaps, breaking all barriers of fate. As long as one is under the Yellow Heaven, wherever the yellow wind blows, everyone becomes equal as commoners. In the Yellow Heaven, you can use divine techniques and martial prowess, but you cannot draw on external sources of power.
"Great Yellow Heaven Law..."
Xu Qing looked at the upper-grade heavenly flag in his hand, vaguely seeing the word 'Fairness' inscribed on it.
Putting away the flag, Xu Qing looked again at the rewards from the Earth Lord General and Human Lord General.
A scroll of Earth-grade Talisman Scripture recorded the creation methods for common basic talismans such as the Iron Bull Talisman, Plain Water Talisman, Pacifying Madness Talisman, Pain Relief Talisman, and Marching Talisman.
There was also a lower-grade heaven divine technique, Words and Laws Follow; a medium-grade heaven South Pole Mystical Longevity Sutra...
Riding his horse, Xu Qing said, "Wind rise."
The next moment, Xu Qing's robe fluttered, and indeed, a rootless wind arose, covering an area of at least ten miles around.
Xu Qing spoke again, "Thunder come, rain fall."
As soon as he finished speaking, a thunderclap echoed in the sky, with rolling dark clouds bringing moisture, covering ten miles of land, and in no time, torrential rain poured down.
The Chasing Mourning Horse widened its eyes in shock as it looked at the sky, wondering if the Sect Leader had already ascended to immortality.
Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, and once more said, "Wind cease, rain stop, rainbow appear."
The Chasing Mourning Horse, seeing the suddenly bright sky and a seven-colored rainbow appearing ahead, neighed excitedly.
However, just then, it suddenly heard Xu Qing say, "Horse, be silent!"
"..."
The Chasing Mourning Horse opened its mouth wide, but no sound came out. Its initial excitement was replaced by shock and fear, realizing that it had truly become mute!
When the surroundings quieted down, the invigorated Xu Qing immediately focused his mind and excitedly declared, "Corpse, come!"
Yet, the surroundings remained calm and unruffled.
"Corpse, come! Come, corpses! I want ten thousand corpses!"
"..."
Still, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Xu Qing decided to lower his aspirations and said instead, "Open Heaven-Reaching Road, connect the yin and yang, cleanse the world, bring peace to the land!"
Rumble!
Several bolts of lightning descended from the sky, directly aiming at the person making wishes.
After opening the Blood Lake Dharma Realm and consuming several ten thousand incense offerings, Xu Qing finally closed his mouth.
Through these numerous experiments, he roughly understood the effect and scope of the Words and Laws Follow technique.
This Words and Laws Follow can only cover a ten-mile radius; at least according to his current cultivation, it cannot exceed this range.
Moreover, summoning corpses or calling people are not within the scope of 'laws'.
Additionally, Words and Laws Follow have certain limitations; if spoken carelessly, one might suffer heavenly retribution.
"Useless..."
Xu Qing understood that Words and Laws Follow are essentially a smart life assistant, allowing many tasks that originally required some effort to be accomplished with just one sentence.
For example, the spell of calling wind and rain; originally, Xu Qing might need rituals and practices, but with Words and Laws Follow, he just needs to speak.
However, the magical power required to call wind and rain would not reduce by a bit.
Xu Qing shook his head; the remaining Antarctic Cave Profound Longevity Sutra is a method of cultivating immortality, reaching the ultimate can ascend to immortality, achieving great longevity.
Longevity methods are useless to Xu Qing; he has no concerns about lifespan, thus not needing to cultivate the longevity path.
However, this cultivation technique is left for those with good foundations in the Immortal Hall or Galloping Immortal Disciples to practice.
"Antarctic Longevity Sutra, why does this cultivation technique name sound so familiar..."
An unnamed old woman once told Xu Qing that if one wishes to ascend to immortality, they must eliminate the three corpses: the upper corpse Peng Ju; middle corpse Peng Zhi; lower corpse Peng Qiao.
Moreover, aside from cultivators, in ancient times, there were humans and celestials living together; later they were divided into heaven, earth, and human, among them, celestials also had three corpses eliminated, these corpses were evil corpse, yin corpse, resentment corpse.
Nowadays, those law corpses governing the underworld are formed from these three corpses.
"After the Heaven-Reaching Road was cut off, immortals and gods cannot descend; how can Nanhua Elder Immortal descend?"
Xu Qing recalled the Nanhua Elder Immortal who bewitched the Celestial Lord General, and combining this with the formation of law corpses, he has a rough judgment, though still unable to confirm.
But confirmation is unnecessary, as long as there is something unjust or dark, blaming it on law corpses is undoubtedly right!
"Giddy up!"
Riding the quiet, obedient, non-noisy Chasing Mourning Horse, Xu Qing travelled, enjoying the scenery with pleasure.
On both banks of the turbid river, any plants leaning slightly closer to the river showed signs of new life, even deadwood sprouted new buds, and Xu Qing even witnessed many wild beasts with awakened intelligence consuming morning dew and practicing cultivation.
This is indeed the transformation of life and death, everything is one.
All things are born from the way and eventually return to the way, forming an eternal cycle.
While cultivators spend their lives aiming to break this cycle and achieve transcendence.
Xu Qing rode the Chasing Mourning Horse forward; upon arriving at a river corresponding to the yin river, he discovered a temple before him.
The plaque above the temple gate bore only three fading characters—Taiping Temple.
Xu Qing was surprised.
The matters of the yin river are unknown to secular people, to have a temple here, one must be either from the Dao or a descendant of Taiping Dao.
But after two thousand years, are there truly disciples of Taiping Dao maintaining this temple system?
Xu Qing walked with the horse; upon reaching the simple and tidy temple, he saw an elderly man and a child scattering wheat seeds outside the door.
"From where does the scholar come, and for what purpose?"
Xu Qing replied to the elder Daoist, dressed in a blue robe and behaving courteously: "I've heard that the Celestial Lord General's venue is here, so I've come to pay respects."
The elder Daoist's expression became puzzled; he scrutinized Xu Qing and remarked: "This temple hasn't had incense visitors for ages, you are the first in years."
"Anyway, there are incense candles in the incense hall, you can offer them yourself, the old Daoist must continue plowing new crops with the young Daoist."
Xu Qing nodded, then proceeded alone to the incense hall.
The arrangement remained humble, the old but clean altar bore an incense burner, facing the statues of the Celestial, Earth, and Human Lord Generals.
Xu Qing picked up three sticks of incense and offered them at the altar, when suddenly a surprised voice came from the right wing.
Glancing sideways, Xu Qing saw a middle-aged Daoist holding a sutra walking out, dressed in a Celestial Master's robe.
The robe's design was simpler, and the fabric courser, yet Xu Qing recognized it as a standard Celestial Master's Mansion's attire.
"Are you from the Celestial Master's Mansion?"
Squinting slightly, Xu Qing's mind involuntarily activated the corpse-search compass.
Astonished, the Daoist nodded before shaking his head: "I am the twenty-sixth generation Celestial Master of the Celestial Master's Mansion, but not the current Celestial Master."
The Celestial Master's Mansion has branches?
Xu Qing's curiosity aroused, he instinctively utilized the Qi Observation Skill, observing behind the Daoist.
Indeed, there were two shadows behind the Daoist!
But the shadow colors were unique; Xu Qing had previously only seen black shadows, whereas this Daoist's shadow was black and green, truly bizarre...