Chapter 1: Polygonum flowers bloom to worship the rain at night
Late autumn cold rain.
Dusk in the ancient temple.
A path winds along the valley and reaches this dark mountain depression.
A jackdaw huddled on a dead tree outside the small temple raised its head and stared blankly at the sky. Occasionally, it lowered its head and glanced inside the small temple.
"Why are you watching, why don't you get off here?!"
The dull and suppressed voice was full of indescribable power, like a tiger roaring in the dark, frightening all the beasts, in the small pavilion. The outside exploded.
The jackdaw was frightened and fluttered its wings, but it hovered in the air for a while and seemed to find no place to go. Then it flinched and flew back to the branch.
I was chased too closely by the Taoist thirty miles away.
After three thousand miles of running from Jingyanggang to here, there was almost no time to rest. So far, he has not had time to digest the alchemy in his stomach, and he is a little exhausted.
The man with hooded hair and curly beard who kicked open the rotten door of the small courtyard of the dilapidated temple glanced at the roof of the pavilion above the ancient well in the courtyard, turned his brown eyes, and curled his lips contemptuously.
How dare an ordinary person visit me?
The roar spread, the pillars and roof of the small pavilion shivered, the gray grass fell off, and the black shadow crawling on the roof only trembled, but there was no other movement.
At this moment, something seemed to be triggered by his roar, and the main hall of the ruined temple, which was far away from the small pavilion in the courtyard, suddenly seemed to shake.
A golden light spread out from the main hall and hit the wellhead in the pavilion.
The man with shaggy hair and curly beard had long noticed the strange phenomenon at the mouth of the well.
The white mist is lingering, as if tangible objects are slowly transforming and gathering. When illuminated by the golden light, they suddenly accelerate to condense.
Stopped in surprise, the man looked at the hexagonal wellhead in the pavilion, then glanced back at the strange light that was slowly disappearing, and his eyes fell on the ruined temple with an unobstructed view.
The light on a strange statue leaning on the pedestal in front of the temple is dimming.
The power of God’s wish?
The man suddenly became serious. If he could be blessed by incense and vows, he would be no ordinary thing.
It’s just this statue...?
The man could not identify what this ugly statue was.
But after all, he has been traveling in the human world for many years, and he also knows that the customs in the world are different, and private temples for obscene worship are also full of strange things, and it is not strange to worship anything.
It’s just that the sacrificial object is too hideous and terrifying.
But if it was just ferocious and terrifying, that would be fine. After all, it was not uncommon to see people offering sacrifices to monsters and ghosts in the secular world, but this one looked like a beast. For a while, he didn't think of any gods and ghosts with such an image.
The forehead is convex and the nose is flat, the mouth is bulging and the teeth are buckled, the top of the head is uneven, and the statue is missing both arms and the lower half, leaving only a clay bust.
It has neither a powerful and vigorous form nor a look of contempt for all living beings. It looks like something that is handled casually in private.
Look again at the dilapidated and messy appearance of this temple. The candlesticks in the main hall have collapsed, the offering trays have fallen to the ground, and a futon is rotten into shape. The damaged grass roots protrude out, revealing the wooden base inside.
The side hall is empty, except that the stone walls are crooked and mottled.
It doesn't look like anyone is coming to worship.
Perhaps this is a local monster that is so effective that it attracts ordinary people to worship in private?
But no matter what it was, his natural intuition made him feel the crisis.
The monster at the well mouth transformed into shape very quickly. Almost in a breath, it had swelled into a white-headed, green-bodied monster with a wide forehead and broad nose. It looked somewhat similar to the statue.
I saw the monster's eyes were red, with golden light flashing. The ferocious flames in his eyes immediately fell on him, and he also revealed a bit of joy. In an instant, he was about to turn into reality. Are you going to change your form?
Is it the form of Yuan Shen, or is it the form of Yuan Ti that I cannot know?
The man with shaggy hair and curly beard suddenly felt the coercion forcing him to breathe hard, and the pill that had not yet been digested in his belly started to beat vigorously, almost jumping out of his body.
He immediately felt that a catastrophe was coming, and the innate sense of crisis made his whole body tremble.
This monster actually wanted to devour himself, and even the undigested elixir in his belly was affected.
You just ignore yourself, how brave!
But the strength shown by the other party also gave him a feeling of overwhelming power that he was unable to resist.
Either run away or fight.
A hundred years of travels in the world and three hundred years of cultivation have never left him in such a defenseless state, but his heart and blood do not allow him to be captured without restraint.
The man with shaggy hair and curly beard didn’t have time to think too much. He took a quick stride and was three feet away. In just one step, the man transformed into a colorful tiger that was over one foot long!
Dou Da’s head, beard and hair were spread out, and his bloody mouth suddenly opened, and the red and white breath spurted out, directly attacking the entangled and transforming gas shape.
The atmosphere that was transforming and consolidating suddenly expanded outwards, and the lingering smoke exploded with a roar, blooming into speckled air waves, facing the impact of the red and white gas.
"Boom!"
The tiger's huge body was suddenly shaken three feet away, and the light dimmed.
The entire dark and colorful figure presented a blurred shadow, twisted and folded in the space, and the Dan Yuan that had not yet had time to be digested in the belly was almost knocked out.
In shock, the tiger transformed into a human form again. The man with shaggy hair and curly beard could not believe what he had encountered.
Unexpectedly, a layer of external Qi can dissipate the essence of the elixir that he has exerted to the extreme, and part of it has already digested the Taoist's essence.
Could this demon really become a god with the power of incense and wishes? !
How is this possible?
For a moment, he didn't know what to do, but he knew that once the demon ghost took shape, with the power it displayed, even if he ran away now, it would be impossible to escape from the opponent's clutches.
With no choice left, the shaggy-haired and bearded man roared again.
Suddenly, his hands transformed into tiger claws. The red and white vitality between the claws disappeared and appeared, and he clasped his hands and pushed forward.
Suddenly combined and separated, in an instant, the entire space in the pavilion was about to be torn apart, and the small pavilion suddenly exploded into pieces.
The thatch on the top of the entire pavilion was scattered in all directions, the four pavilion pillars were broken, the cyclone exploded, and even the hexagonal wellhead shook.
The transformed giant ape couldn't help but grin, and stretched its arms.
There are actually beautiful things delivered to your door. Is God really opening his eyes?
Although it is said that the quality is a bit poor and a bit mixed, it is actually a tiger's body, but it is also mixed with the human Taoist elixir, which makes it an appetizer.
I saw that the giant ape was about to break away from the restraints of the wellhead with a single movement, and its lower body was completely transformed at the last moment.
A silver-white bolt suddenly appeared in the pitch-black void and cut through the sky, falling straight down between the sky and the earth, reflecting the vast white sky of Yushan Cuiwei, which is three thousand miles away.
The horse fell down from the sky and landed on the ground, so that the whole three thousand miles of Yushan and its surrounding towns could see this practice.
Countless cultivators couldn't help but float up into the sky and look around, trying to see clearly who was in trouble again.
Bai Lian's light suddenly disappeared, splashing down from the sky, breaking through the air in the blink of an eye.
But it is blooming on the well in this pavilion.
“Ah!”
“Ouch!”
The Danyuan Cyclone, which the man with shaggy hair and curly beard danced with his claws, had just had time to approach the opponent again when he saw the self-made cyclone. Bai Lian's light falling from the sky bloomed between the two of them, or in other words, it bloomed in the real form transformed by the radiance he released with his lifetime alchemy and the monster giant ape.
The top of the barrel-sized nimbus flame ball had a thin silver-white line reaching straight to the sky. It suddenly expanded and exploded between the two of them. The entire two-fold intertwined cyclone was instantly swallowed by the flame, and then slowly spread outward.
The giant ape's expression changed from surprise and joy to horror, despair and anger when it fell into the eyes of the man with shaggy hair and curly beard.
Before he could react, he found that his entire body had once again turned into a tiger shadow, and even the remaining alchemy turned into dots and scattered in the air.
“No! Damn it!”
“Ah!”
With gradually blurred eyes, he watched the giant ape that had transformed from feathers into a real form become insubstantial again, and a flash of spiritual light suddenly passed away.
The entire real form turned into a white mist again, and was forced back into the hexagonal well. Along with the rough and violent series of curses, it went straight to the bottom of the well for hundreds of feet, and disappeared.
No one noticed that when the top of the pavilion was blown open by the air wave, the black shadow that screamed and fell from the top of the pavilion had not had time to land, but was bounced into the temple by the shock wave released when the flames bloomed. , hit the stone wall of the side hall hard, only making a dent in the stone wall, and then fell to the ground silently.
Thirty miles away, a figure flew in the air and shot out.
It only landed in the sky above this stone kip, but could no longer feel the aura that was quite clear before.
The Taoist who landed on the top of Shikia Peak felt incredible.
Pinch and count.
At midnight?
Is it really the violent tiger that turned into a nightmare in response to the disaster?
That shouldn’t be the case.
Even though the guy took advantage of the situation and swallowed his junior brother's Yuan Dan, he was still far from being ready for the disaster, at least it couldn't be this kind of heavenly disaster, but the faint aura of the guy was fading away, and it seemed to be getting stronger. layer.
Where did this guy go?
If it weren’t for him, who would be responsible for the disaster?
Looking up, the Taoist couldn't figure out whether it was humans or monsters in the wild mountains who were suffering from the calamity. This Yushan Mountain was too broad, and he could only roughly determine the direction, but could not find the specific location.
After lingering for a long time, I carefully sensed the surrounding area for dozens of miles, but still didn't detect anything of value. The Taoist sighed and could only leave in frustration.
The ancient temple has returned to its former peace, but it is even more dilapidated than before.
The small pavilion disappeared, the hexagonal wellhead was exposed in the wild, and most of the courtyard wall collapsed due to the wave of shock.
Only a crumbling temple was left, as well as the statue of the god that had fallen to the ground and the black shadow that was knocked to the stone wall of the side hall and huddled motionless in the corner.
The sun rises and the moon sets, the morning sun and evening rain.
I don’t know how long it took.
The rain began to pour again.
A group of people appeared on the mountain path, with a few torches dimly lit, heading towards the small temple. The black figure huddled at the foot of the wall seemed to be awakened by the sound of horse hooves on the mountain path, and finally moved.
Chen Huaisheng tried his best to raise his heavy head to see where this was.
The darkness in his eyes made him wonder if he was blind.
The probing hand rubbed the rugged stone wall next to it.
There was a fishy smell in the mouth, and there was something dry like snot on the lips under the nose. After licking it, it still smelled like blood.
When he realized it, his mouth and nose were full of dried blood clots.
Except for his left hand, his whole body seemed to be in severe pain as if it was broken and scattered.
I haven’t felt this way for a long time.
I have the impression that after I was determined to have a Taoist seed at the age of ten, I no longer had such uncomfortable situations.
Even though I later traveled abroad to study, I encountered some dangers, but never as nearly as a cripple and a half-dead person as I am today.
No, aren’t you County Magistrate Chen?
His thinking became a little confused, making him dizzy again. It seemed like a dream, intertwining the memories of two people, but which one was true and which one was false?
He shook his head hard, trying to wake himself up, but the various scenes in his mind lingered. It was really a dream, why was it so clear?
He subconsciously touched the clothes and baggage on his body.
A long narrow shirt with a horizontal pleated shirt, a cross-collar sweatshirt inside, and trousers underneath, it feels familiar yet strange.
What is familiar to me is that the clothes seem to fit me very well, and the smell is very familiar. What is strange is that this clothes is from the Tang, Song or Ming Dynasty? This thought was strange.
It seems like he really traveled through time?
Chen Huaisheng's mind became clearer and clearer, and bits and pieces emerged from the bottom of his heart like gurgling spring water.
The memories on both sides are finally separated and do not overlap with each other. One seems to be innate, and the other is experienced personally, which is a bit interesting.
This man is also called Chen Huaisheng. Is he soul-piercing or body-snatching?
It seems that I have more recognition of this identity, so I have such thoughts, instead of feeling that I have had an extremely real dream.
With a slight movement, Chen Huaisheng was brought back from his reverie by severe pain.
His whole body was seriously injured and he could not move. Chen Huaisheng could only turn his mind back to the scene before he fell into coma.
Tigers should not be talented people.
He didn’t know the identity of the man he saw who was waiting to devour others, but before he fell into coma, he saw that the man with the curly beard turned into a beautiful tiger, and his hair was dazzling with flames. , confusing people and deeply impressed him.
He couldn't tell whether it was a demon or a human.
He was knocked up and hit the stone wall and fell down. Although his whole body is in great pain and his bones are broken and his limbs are broken, it is nothing to him who possesses Taoist skills. He only needs to adjust his breath and move. After a week, you can recover a little, and after resting for one or twenty days, you can recover most of it.
Taozhong, Chen Huaisheng finally realized something.
Well, I am a little bit different, that is, I have Taoist seeds in my body. I am the only one among the more than 120 children born in Yuanbaozhai, Guzhen, Liao County in the ninth year of Jingzhen that I have Taoist seeds in my body. .
Thinking of this, the faint sound of horse hooves on the mountain path came to my ears again.
He had no time to think too much, almost gritted his teeth, supported his body with his still strong left arm, and sat up.
At this time, through a little starlight outside the hall, Chen Huaisheng was finally sure that he was not blind. It was just that the night was deep, he was facing the wall, and there was no light, so he couldn't see.
The slightly turbid vitality is about to stir in the sea of qi.
Closing his eyes and concentrating, Chen Huaisheng slowly gathered spiritual power from his Dantian. Chen Huaisheng urged his spiritual consciousness to drive the flow of vitality in the meridians, and a qi machine began to slowly move along the meridians.
The qi machine rotated three times in a row in the body, which seemed to be faster than expected, which surprised him.
Well, it seems that there is something more in the depths of the Qi Sea, but now I can't look inside and see what's wrong with my body.
Chen Huaisheng finally got ahead of the noise and entered the temple, forcing himself to stand up.
The ribs are almost all broken or cracked, but it doesn’t matter, they are well maintained.
But what we are facing now is the crisis.
In the middle of the night, visiting such a small temple in a mountain col, I am afraid it is not an ordinary person.
My current state is very unsafe, or very dangerous.
This world seems to be very uneven, or in other words, dangerous.
He cannot expose his weakness to outsiders. Without knowing the role of the person coming, it is difficult to say whether his weakness will stimulate the other party to become malicious.
Chen Huaisheng never hesitates to use malicious intentions to speculate on people he doesn't understand.
Well, this doesn’t seem to be the temperament of Chen Huaisheng now.
The sound of horse hooves is getting closer.
The messy sounds are also particularly clear in the mountains late at night.
“Why is there a temple here?”
"What kind of bullshit temple is built in a place where people are afraid to see people? You can tell it's a prostitute at a glance..."
"Whether it's a prostitute or a private temple, this place has a radius of twenty or thirty miles. There are no people around. Who will worship? The Dragon God of Huaidu? or the God of Gengchen? "How is that possible? How can it be so dilapidated? It’s impossible to choose a place like this. It’s not popular. How can I worship?” The government doesn't care about it..."
"It's so remote. If we didn't take the wrong road, we wouldn't be able to get here. The nearest county is a hundred miles away, so there's no way we can manage it..."
Amid the commotion, the group walked to the courtyard. In front of the door, I looked around and realized that it was in a state of decay.
The first person couldn't help but frown: "Why is it so shabby, how can I rest?"
"Okay, there is no need to pay so much attention when going out, so why don't you go out at all and find a place to rest?" Just take shelter from the rain." A gentle and calm voice suddenly suppressed the noisy group of people, "Go in, be careful, there may be people taking shelter here, don't disturb others."
Chen Huaisheng held on to the stone wall and with some difficulty wiped away the blood outside his nose and the corners of his mouth with his inner sleeve, trying to make himself look calmer, but also a little shocked in his heart.
He tried his best to suppress his breath, but it was obvious that he was still noticed.
There should be more than five or six people coming, and you can tell just from the footsteps of their dismounts that they all have Taoist qualifications, and there are also Qi practitioners.
After traveling abroad for seven years to study and pursue Taoism, Chen Huaisheng still saw a lot although his Taoism was still unclear.
I have a Taoist background, and I am considered a leading figure in Yuanbaozhai in the countryside. I can be famous in Guzhen, but in the county, I can only get a "rare" praise.
If you want to enter the mansion, you will really be like everyone else.
At the age of seven, he has the bones of knowledge and the spiritual roots of his fourteenth year. At twenty-one, he realizes nothing and returns to nature.
After fourteen and your spiritual roots have not yet appeared, it will be difficult.
I was only thirteen before I awakened my spiritual roots, and I couldn’t wait to travel and seek enlightenment.
It’s a pity that nothing has been accomplished in six years.
There is still one year left. If you still cannot enter Taoism and practice Qi after twenty-one,...
Then he can only be regarded as an innate Taoist. He can strengthen his body better than ordinary people and have a chance of doubling his lifespan, but there is no other extravagant hope.
There are no candles in the temple.
Recalling that when I first entered the temple, I found that the candlesticks collapsed, the statues were crooked, the offering trays fell over, and there was nothing, so I took shelter from the rain in the side hall to rest.
Who would have thought that the monster with shaggy hair and curly beard would come so loudly along the mountain path, and circled outside the temple before entering.
If I hadn’t practiced Taishang Sensing Technique and accidentally sensed something strange, climbed up to the top of the pavilion and hid, I would have been swallowed by that guy immediately.
Thinking of this, Chen Huaisheng couldn't help but touch the thin booklet in his arms.
After six years of studying and traveling, I only had this technique, and it had never worked. I always thought it was useless, but today I finally felt it, and it saved my life.
It’s just that I wanted to find a sect to open the door to the Tao, but I still couldn’t do it. I wasted for a few years, and saw the passage of time, and then I had the idea to go home and have a look.
As I was thinking about it, the footsteps of a group of people outside had already entered.
The first person did not enter the side hall first, but entered the main hall. He raised the torch and had a panoramic view.
"Hey, this is...?"
"Scared, how stupid people dare to privately create gods and monsters?"
"It's so ugly, without any dignity at all, I don't know what it is?"
The chaotic voices were noisy, but they were still overwhelmed by the quiet and gentle voice: "Chi Mei, you are from here, do you know what kind of big demon this is? It's not Dragon Lord, nor Not Gengchen God,..."
"Sister Hui, he is like Wuzhiqi. The Huai River is nearly three thousand miles away. Most of them worship Dragon King and Gengchen God, but there are also many villagers. Privately worshiping Wuzhi Qi, but the government has always strictly prohibited it, and my younger sister has never seen it. She only heard that Wuzhi Qi had white hair, red eyes, a protruding forehead and buck teeth..."
A voice as clear as a spring answered.
"Hey, this private temple actually has couplets,..."
"Lantian Hongze, blessing Qinghuai? Tsk, tsk, this is really going against the government. "
"That should be it. I wonder if Zuodian's friends also recognize it?" The quiet and gentle voice sounded again, and everyone looked at Zuodian.
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(End of this chapter)