Chapter 353: The Breathing Spiritual Sea
Chapter 353: The Breathing Spiritual Sea
The King of Jiuli had made up his mind, and that determination was like a raging fire, raging in his heart. This blazing belief was like an invisible but powerful hand, pushing him to quickly plunge into a series of intensive preparations.
He knew clearly that this time he stepped into Lingtai Star Sea, he would undoubtedly be in a desperate situation full of thorns and dangers. If he made a mistake, he would fall into an abyss from which there was no return. But at this dead end, Lingtai Star Sea was like the ethereal but attractive dawn, the only hope for the Jiuli barbarians to break free from their predicament and change their fate.
Lingtai Star Sea, this mysterious place, has long been the forbidden territory of the four major Taoist sects. It seems to be tightly covered by a thick and mysterious veil, exuding an atmosphere of unknown and taboo. Only when the Dao-discussing and God-destroying Dharma Assembly is opened, the gate to the star sea will be stingy and briefly reveal a gap, which is fleeting.
However, the King of Jiuli learned from the ancient and secret traditions of the barbarians that Lingtai Star Sea is not just a simple forbidden area. It was not born after the opening of the Taixu Universe, and even in essence, it cannot be simply defined as a "star sea".
The contents of the Lingtai Star Sea described in the inheritance were extremely shocking, like an absurd Arabian Nights fairy tale. Even as a barbarian king, he was still full of doubts and half-believed. But at this moment, he did not have much room for choice, so he had to muster up his courage and give it a try.
To enter the Lingtai Star Sea, you must have capable people around you to help you.
The Barbarian King's sharp eyes, like two cold blades, swept across the many great witches one by one, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Although there were many great witches in the Jiuli tribe, in his harsh eyes, most of them were just greedy and ignorant drunkards.
There were only a handful of people who could truly fight alongside him and share life and death with him at a critical moment of life and death. As for the selection of the Great Wizard to follow him into the Lingtai Star Sea, the Barbarian King could only rack his brains, weigh the pros and cons, and think carefully.
Recalling the frustration in the Chunyang Realm, apart from the heavy blow of losing the Shura Flag, looking at it from another perspective, the result is not entirely a bad thing. If the Chunyang Realm is really breached, it will undoubtedly completely anger and offend the two powerful Taoist sects of Tianhe and Chunyang. Back then, the Jiuli Barbarians drove the Taoist sect out of the Jiuli World. Although they had deeply offended the two sects, it was a fair fight after all, and the Supreme Taoist Sect was in charge of the overall situation. Based on this, the two sects had no objection to the result, and the Barbarian King naturally did not need to fear that they would take the opportunity to retaliate and settle accounts afterwards.
But this time the situation was completely different. For the benefit of the Supreme Dao Sect, the Jiuli Barbarians acted as the thugs who charged into battle, but the result was counterproductive. Not only did they lose the Shura Flag, which was regarded as the treasure of the tribe, but they also ended up in an embarrassing and miserable situation. In the final analysis, this action was not morally justified, but how could the Supreme Dao Sect be a master who followed reason and emphasized benevolence?
The barbarians regarded the Shura Flag as their lifeblood, and they took it away without hesitation. This great humiliation was like words engraved on a huge stone, engraved in the heart of the Jiuli Barbarian King, and he would never forget it. In contrast, the person who took the Shura Flag seemed less annoying in the heart of the Barbarian King. After all, from the moment the Shura Flag was taken away by Wuxiang Taoist, the Jiuli Barbarians had actually completely lost the ownership of the Shura Flag. As for who took it away in the end, it seemed that after all these changes, it was no longer so important.
These past disputes and entanglements have gradually settled down in the heart of the Barbarian King, turning into a heavy haze. He deeply understands that the root of all problems is that the Jiuli Barbarians themselves are too weak. In this world where the strong prey on the weak and are cruel and ruthless, being weak means that you can only be beaten and can only survive under the shadow of the strong. Just like when the Jiuli Barbarians conquered other worlds, they relied on their own powerful strength to trample on those weak forces. This world is so cold and cruel. The strong may not be completely just, but the weak are definitely wrong. They can only struggle to survive under the majesty and oppression of the strong.
Fortunately, the Barbarian King's careful management of the Barbarians over the long years was not completely in vain. After a long period of careful consideration and repeated weighing of the pros and cons, he finally determined the list of great witches to enter the Lingtai Star Sea.
The night was as dark as ink, like a vast expanse of black silk, tightly covering the entire royal court. In the palace deep in the royal court, the candlelight flickered in the breeze, and the dim light cast strange and distorted shadows on the wall, dancing wantonly, like a group of demons dancing wildly.
The King of Jiuli sat on the huge animal bone throne that exuded an ancient atmosphere. This throne carried the vicissitudes of time, as if it was telling the glory and honor of the barbarians in the past. In his hand, the King of Jiuli played with an ancient witch token that emitted a faint light. The token was engraved with mysterious and obscure runes, which were the symbol of the ancient power of the barbarians. Each rune seemed to be whispering an ancient secret.
His eyes were as sharp as an eagle, as if he could see through all illusions and cut the sky apart. At this moment, he was examining the great witches standing in front of him one by one. These great witches all looked solemn and dared not breathe, as if they were a group of devout believers waiting for the will of the gods. They knew very well that this mission was of great importance and any mistake would bring disaster to the entire tribe.
"Zhu You, in this operation, you are responsible for leading the elite troops of our tribe to defend the royal court." The Barbarian King spoke first.
Zhu You, the Great Wizard, responded loudly: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, with me, Zhu You, here, I will make the royal court indestructible!"
Because Zhu You is his most trusted confidant, the Barbarian King decided to keep him to guard the base camp.
Then, the Barbarian King turned his attention to the other great witches and assigned tasks in an orderly manner according to their respective expertise... After everything was arranged, the Barbarian King waved his hand and asked the great witches to leave first.
After everyone left, he was the only one left in the secret room. The Barbarian King slowly stood up and walked to the end of the secret room, where there was a huge pattern of the sea of stars.
"Hmph, Supreme Taoist Master, when I return from the Ancient Temple, I will make sure you know that Jiuli is by no means a soft commodity that can be bullied by anyone!" The Barbarian King murmured in a low voice as he looked at the picture in the mirror.
This is a huge gamble. If successful, Jiuli will have the opportunity to be reborn; if failed, the entire Jiuli tribe may be doomed.
But at this moment, he had no way out. Today, the Supreme Dao Sect could take the Shura Flag without any scruples, and tomorrow they could use the Great Witches for blood sacrifice. As for him, the Barbarian King, in their eyes, he was nothing more than a hunting dog.
...
...
In Xu Qing's palm was a glowing Xiantian Xuanshui flag. The flag was like a deep black lake, reflecting the golden light pulsating in his eyes.
When his fingertips stroked the flag, the lines that were once dyed blood by the Shura Flag were turning into gurgling clear streams, flowing through his Sanyuan Emperor Veins with a strange feeling of ice and fire intertwined - that was the resonance between the Xuanshui Flag and the Taichu Taishi Demonic Qi in his body after returning to its origin.
"Master, I am here to deal with the evil spirit in the alchemy well." Xu Qing came to Longhu Mountain and met the young Master.
The young Taoist priest clenched the peach wood sword in his hand. The night-shining pearl inlaid on the hilt emitted light, flickering in the demonic energy of the alchemy well.
He glanced at the Xuanshui flag in Xu Qing's hand, an unspoken question rolling in his throat: Can this seemingly ordinary black flag really purify the evil spirit in the alchemy well that even the heavenly masters of all generations were helpless to deal with?
Xu Qing did not answer.
A powerful aura emanated, stirring up the essence of the demons in the alchemy well.
His eyes swept across the black cloud vortex hovering above the alchemy well. The clouds that looked like skulls were making a grinding sound, and purple-black poisonous mist was seeping out of every crack. The pile of demon bones at the bottom of the well was corroding and emitting green smoke.
"Okay." Xu Qing suddenly shouted, and the Xuanshui flag spread out in the wind. Twelve clear whistles like the chants of water dragons burst out from the flag. In the center of the flag, the innate water spirit totem emerged, turning into a black light waterfall that covered the sky and sun and poured down. The magic mist that first came into contact with the light waterfall screamed and melted like hot oil poured on snow, revealing the space below that was twisted into a twisted shape by the magic energy.
"This is... the rhythm of the Xiantian Water Path!"
Great monk Xiong Chan also followed.
As the light waterfall penetrated into the bottom of the alchemy well, the pile of demon bones buried deep underground suddenly made a crisp sound like metal hitting stone. The dark surface of the bones, which were stained by the demonic energy, was fading away at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the jade bones with spiritual light flowing underneath. What's more, several intact demon corpses were actually decomposed into pure water spiritual energy in the light waterfall, which was automatically condensed into thumb-sized "spiritual dew" by the Xuanshui Flag, floating on the flag like twinkling stars.
"Master Taoist, your real water actually has a bit of the shadow of the Three Lights Holy Water." He Tong was extremely surprised.
The Three Lights Holy Water is the Great Emperor’s secret method, which can even revive the dead spiritual roots of heaven and earth.
Back then, the Great Emperor Changsheng relied on the Three Lights Holy Water to make friends widely and forge good relationships with many powerful people.
"Hetong, open the Xuanhuang Ding." Xu Qing gave Hetong instructions directly without any nonsense.
He Tong curled his lips, but still obediently pinched out the magic formula passed down by the Changsheng Emperor, and the Xuanhuang Cauldron floated above the alchemy well. The ancient seal of the Great Dao appeared on the body of the cauldron, sucking the purified demon spirits into the cauldron.
The young Taoist priest saw with his own eyes a demon spirit with wings on its back transform into a spot of light in the cauldron.
This inspiration is absolutely pure and any practitioner can benefit from it, but it is indeed weird.
He Tong seemed to sense the young Heavenly Master's thoughts and said, "The Great Emperor once said that we are all matter of the Great Void Universe. We come from here when we are born and go here when we die..."
Xu Qing laughed and said, "Matter is indestructible. If we die, we will just become food for the common people or become part of their bodies."
Xiong Chan recited the Buddha's name: "The so-called creation, existence, destruction and emptiness are nothing more than this."
The young Heavenly Master nodded slightly and said, "This demon spirit is the most difficult to refine. I didn't expect that you, Gongming, could easily resolve it. From now on, Longhu Mountain will have one less major hidden danger."
He was right. The demon skeletons, spirits and evil spirits in the alchemy well were all hidden disasters. Once they erupted, the thousand-year heritage of Mount Longhu would be destroyed.
Xu Qing's move is undoubtedly of immeasurable merit to the people of Longhu Mountain.
When the first ray of sunlight penetrated the clouds and shone on the alchemy well of Longhu Mountain, new green sprouted on the scarlet evil land that was originally barren. The ancient trees that were eroded and twisted by the evil spirit now sprouted emerald new buds, and the roots no longer oozed black blood-like sewage, but clear spiritual springs. There were even bold tits landing on Xu Qing's shoulders, happily pecking at the spiritual dew condensed on the flag, and their feathers faintly revealed the icy luster in the dark light.
...
...
The news spread throughout the Dayu Immortal Dynasty with the mountain wind.
The poisonous fog in many forbidden areas where demons appeared has receded, and the Feng Shui veins that had been dead for a hundred years have come back to life!
There are fewer and fewer cases of demons causing trouble.
Especially some places with poor mountains and bad waters, where even the Dayu court did not care. They were originally places where evil spirits roamed, but now they have been uprooted by Xu Qing using the Xiantian Xuanshui Flag.
Moreover, Xu Qing transformed the evil spirit into Xuanming True Water.
During this period, he even manifested five holy images, which, combined with his true form, could be called Xu Six Heads.
People from all over the place knelt on the roadside and kowtowed in the direction where Xu Qing left. They found that the well water polluted by evil spirits had become sweet, and their long-ill relatives were able to walk - these "immortal traces" within the purification range of the Xuanshui Flag were changing Dayu at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Father, people are saying that you are the reincarnation of Emperor Xuanwu." After Xu Qing returned home, Xu Tianqi, Xu Qing's son, told his father about the interesting things in the capital.
After all, Xu Tianqi was different from other children. He had always been by his and Feng Wu's side. Even though Xu Qing was busy with work and saw his son less often, they were generally not restrained when getting along with each other.
So the brat has no filter at all for his old man.
Xu Qing rolled his eyes at Xu Tianqi and said, "You are already an adult. If there is a girl you like, I will ask your mother to find a partner for you."
There is no parent in this world who doesn't care about their children's marriage.
Even the children themselves don’t care.
It was obvious that Xu Tianqi didn't care. He said, "It's so nice to be free and unfettered. I don't want to get married. Anyway, our family cultivates immortality. If we have many children and good fortune, it won't be a good thing for the Great Yu Dynasty."
Xu Qing knew what Xu Tianqi meant. The descendants of the Xu family were destined to be the superior ones. If there were too many of them, it would be easy for unfilial sons to emerge and bully the lower classes.
Xu Qing: "If you can convince your mother, then I don't care."
...
...
In the study, Xu Qing told Feng Wu about Xu Tianqi's idea.
Feng Wu suddenly looked out the window at the starry sky. "Tian Qi is right. If our descendants all grow like weeds, even the best spiritual soil will dry up. We can't be the one who drains the pond to catch all the fish." When she turned around, her hair was dyed bright by the moonlight. Her bright eyes were filled with Xu Qing's image. She smiled and said, "Perhaps, this time the Xuanshui Flag will not only cleanse the evil spirit, but also the greed for eternity in your heart."
Xu Qing smiled with relief and said, "Yes, now I roughly understand what immortality is."
Longevity gives people many choices.
You can have many children and be blessed, and you can also be free.
Longevity can accommodate all attempts at vision.
If people only live for a few decades, they will inevitably have too many regrets.
Longevity is not about embracing everything, but about being able to tolerate mistakes.
The premise is that you still have a sense of right and wrong in your heart.
Only when there is right and wrong can there be sentient beings.
(End of this chapter)