Chapter 42: Three Mountain Talisman Dao! World's Fiercest

Jiangnan Province, Maoshan.

One of the ten great Daoist famous mountains in the world, a 5A-level tourist attraction, ticket 180.

Deep mountains hide pine and cypress, thin vines entangle old trees, hidden birds cry near, source springs sound clear. Layer upon layer of valleys and ravines surrounded by orchids, everywhere cliffs and moss grow. The undulating mountain peaks have good dragon veins, there must be experts hiding their names.

In front of an ancient Daoist temple, incense smoke curled up. An old Daoist priest with white hair and beard, wearing cloth clothes and straw sandals, holding a broom, was stooping and sweeping the floor.

"Master, are you calling me?"

Just then, a young man looking like a Daoist priest walked from afar. As soon as he arrived, he bowed to the old Daoist priest.

The old Daoist priest continued sweeping, as if he hadn't heard.

"Master..." The young man was stunned for a moment, whispered again, but still no response.

The old Daoist priest held the broom, his gaze fixed on the ground, turning a deaf ear, as if he couldn't perceive anything around him.

A moment later, the old Daoist priest finished sweeping and then looked up.

"Little Qiji, you're here."

As he spoke, the old Daoist priest put down the broom, walked to the stone steps, and sat down slowly.

"Master, what were you doing just now?" Qiji asked with a strange expression.

"Cultivating." The old Daoist priest said casually.

"Cultivating? Is sweeping the floor also cultivation?" Qiji couldn't help but show a look of doubt.

"Walking, standing, sitting, lying are all cultivation... going up the mountain is cultivation, chopping wood is cultivation, sweeping the floor is also cultivation... as long as your thoughts are focused on the present, everywhere is cultivation..."

The old Daoist priest's gray eyebrows drooped, showing a compassionate expression.

"What a pity. People nowadays are too deeply poisoned by the red dust..."

"Going up the mountain is going up the mountain, sweeping the floor is sweeping the floor. When you sweep the floor, you think about going up the mountain; when you eat, you think about work. Thoughts fly, and your heart is always leaking, consuming your essence, energy, and spirit every moment..."

Speaking of this, the old Daoist priest looked at Qiji: "For those who practice the Dao, avoid wandering thoughts, reflect internally at all times, and you will be at ease."

"Disciple remembers." Qiji bowed and engraved every word and every sentence of the old Daoist priest in his heart.

"Little Qiji, you have practiced in the mountains since you were a child, it's time to go out and see the world." The old Daoist priest changed the subject and suddenly said.

"Master is letting me go down the mountain?" Qiji was taken aback.

Practitioners of the Dao fear the turbidity of the mortal world, especially the successors of major famous mountains, who almost never move in the secular world.

"Refining the heart in the mortal world, entering the world is also cultivation..."

The old Daoist priest paused, then continued: "Our Maoshan Shangqing's talisman path is famous in the world..."

"But you should also know that there are three talisman paths. Since the Song Dynasty, the world's talisman paths have belonged to the Orthodox One..."

Talismans occupy a very important position among Daoist arts and are one of the important means for Daoist priests.

If a mantra is the language for Daoist priests to communicate with ghosts and gods, then a talisman is the text for Daoist priests to communicate with ghosts and gods. Its historical origin can even be traced back to ancient times.

Legend has it that over four thousand five hundred years ago, Cangjie created characters. By observing the laws of heaven and earth and examining the changes of Yin and Yang, he linked the void and the dharma realm, obtaining twenty-eight original oracle characters. Using these as a foundation, he created pictographs representing civilization based on the footprints of birds and beasts and the topography of mountains and rivers.

On the day the characters were formed, the Qi of mountains and rivers moved, rivers and seas surged, birds and beasts chirped together, and a hundred ghosts cried at night.

The great shamans of the human race obtained their true meaning, carved the extreme Yang characters on peach wood, and named them talismans.

2,500 years ago, a hundred schools of thought contended, and shaman culture gradually died out, merging into the Daoist school, until the founder of the Heavenly Master Dao, Zhang Daoling, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was enlightened by the Supreme Old Lord on Mount Heming, founded the Orthodox One Alliance Dao, created talisman books, and thus began the talisman path.

The Heavenly Master Dao once said: Our family's talismans can move heaven and earth, shake mountains and rivers, command dragons and tigers, capture ghosts and gods, raise the dead, and escape life and death.

Since then, the talisman path has run rampant in the world and shone brightly.

To this day, there are only three orthodox families in the world's talisman path, namely 【Maoshan Shangqing】, 【Long Hu Heavenly Master】, and 【Gezao Lingbao】.

"Eighty years ago, the Great Putian Ritual, the Daoist Great Tribulation, Long Hu Mountain has since closed its mountain gate, only incense has risen again..."

"But I heard that 【Gezao Mountain】 has produced many good seedlings in this generation..." The old Daoist priest sighed faintly.

"Apart from that, Xia Weisheng of Zhenwu Mountain, An Wuyang of Zhongnan Mountain, Qi Delong and Qi Dongqiang brothers of Laojun Mountain... have all long been famous."

"These good seedlings have all entered the world to practice."

"Xia Weisheng!?" Qiji's gaze narrowed. Three years ago, he followed the elders of the sect to visit Zhenwu Mountain and saw this Zhenwu Mountain senior sister. She was indeed outstanding and not inferior to men.

Especially her Five Thunders Orthodox Method, which had some heat.

"Zhenwu transmits the Dao seventy-three, because of the mortal response, the descendants participate... Master, I heard that a few days ago, Zhenwu Mountain jade tablet transmission, why is there no movement?"

Qiji couldn't help but say: "The outside world says that this generation of Zhenwu Mountain will have a great tribulation, fearing that it won't be able to pass."

"That is the mysterious words left by the Zhenwu Mountain ancestors... if it comes true, it is not a good thing."

The old Daoist priest shook his head, and a sharp light flashed in his turbid eyes.

"Chu Chaoran is already in the realm of Pure Yang Limitless. The great tribulation he cannot block probably affects more than just Zhenwu Mountain..."

The old Daoist priest's face trembled slightly, and worry filled his face.

"If it goes wrong, it will be another Daoist Great Tribulation!"

"Master..." Qiji's heart moved, just about to speak.

"Gone too far."

The old Daoist priest waved his hand: "You go down the mountain this time, first go to Yujing City..."

"Yujing City?"

"Word came from there yesterday that the people of the Yinshan sect are really not following the rules, actually committing crimes at night, gathering Yin to refine methods in the bustling city!" The old Daoist priest said in a deep voice.

"Yinshan sect? Have they been arrested?" Qiji couldn't help but ask. Daoist cultivation, once one has Dao cultivation, is very taboo about casting spells in the secular world.

"Gu Yuming of the Yinshan sect is now a vegetable, lying in the hospital... people have already been controlled..." The old Daoist priest couldn't help but sigh.

"Those who do many injustices will die by themselves, he dares to be like this, he deserves heaven's punishment..."

"The key is that when he was gathering Yin to refine methods that day, a righteous person took action, not only proficient in the Taiyi method of liberating the dead, but also understanding some Northern Emperor methods, just not yet successful."

"Northern Emperor Method!?"

Qiji's brow jumped. Although he had been in the mountains for a long time, he had heard of the fierce name of the Northern Emperor Method, which is known as the number one killing great method of the Daoist world. Since the Daoist Great Tribulation eighty years ago, it had disappeared from the world.

"You pay a little attention on this trip down the mountain. If you find this person, explore his roots. If possible, bring him back to the mountain." The old Daoist priest instructed.

The duel in Yujing City had been handled, the main culprit Gu Yuming had suffered retribution and became a vegetable, fearing that it would be difficult for him to wake up in this life.

The only thing to pay attention to is the person who carries the 【Northern Emperor Method】.

"Disciple remembers!" Qiji nodded.

Rumble...

Just then, a burst of explosion came from deep in the mountain, accompanied by sky-high dust.

The old Daoist priest raised his gray eyebrows, looked at the direction where the explosion sound was startled, and couldn't help but sigh deeply.

"Your uncle is sick again!"

Those who practice the Dao, pursuing the path of Pure Yang Limitless, either crazy, or dead, or disabled... are all very normal. In every mountain and palace, who doesn't have a few abnormal lunatics?

"Master, how did Uncle get this injury?" Qiji couldn't help but ask.

He had seen this uncle a few times, he was very capable, his cultivation was world-shaking, but his state was like madness. Once he got sick, he was like a wild beast, extremely difficult to suppress.

"He fought with someone in his early years and left a root of illness..." The old Daoist priest sighed.

"Who could hurt Uncle?" Qiji couldn't help but press.

His uncle's talent was among the best in the entire Maoshan Shangqing sect, and he was a leader of the mountain gate when he was young, famous in the ten great Daoist famous mountains.

"Divine Demon Holy Fetus!" The old Daoist priest opened his mouth slightly and spat out four words.

"The world's fiercest method?" Qiji's expression changed slightly.

If it is said that the Northern Emperor Method once had inheritance practitioners, then the 【Divine Demon Holy Fetus】 can only be seen in legends.

"Does anyone in this world really practice this method?"

"Twenty years ago, a young man once practiced this method..." The old Daoist priest said very firmly.

"If he hasn't died yet, he should be over forty now."

Speaking of this, the old Daoist priest paused slightly, and a look of recollection appeared on his old face.

"Divine Demon Holy Fetus, the world's fiercest... back then your uncle was defeated by this person..."

"Just one move... now that I think about it, it's still terrifying!"

As he spoke, the old Daoist priest slowly closed his eyes, as if he didn't want to recall this past.

"Master, what is the power of the Divine Demon Holy Fetus?" Qiji pressed.

He didn't expect that the elders in his own sect had fought with such a legend, truly shocking.

"Gathering thoughts as medicine, the soul-aspect of such people is powerful to the point of being unimaginable, powerful to the point of being incomprehensible..." The old Daoist priest said in a deep voice.

In his eyes, the Divine Demon Holy Fetus is not an ordinary internal alchemy method at all, and it is not even something for people to practice.

"Precisely because their soul-aspect is incomparably powerful, practicing any art is easy, and the speed is so fast, the progress is so fierce, it makes people stunned..."

Back then, that young man who carried the 【Divine Demon Holy Fetus】 mastered many arts, and his means were so many that it made people's hearts jump.

"However, practicing this method has a huge drawback..."

"What?"

"Must enter the Great Night-Never-Bright tribulation!" The old Daoist priest said in a deep voice.

Great Night-Never-Bright is the nightmare of Daoist practitioners, but for those who practice the 【Divine Demon Holy Fetus】, it is a necessary tribulation.

"Practicing the 【Divine Demon Holy Fetus】 method, falling into the Great Night-Never-Bright, is called responding to the tribulation... this is also their unique method of cultivation. Once they escape the tribulation, their Dao cultivation will advance..."

"I heard that since ancient times, those who practice this method have escaped the tribulation nine times at most." The old Daoist priest said in a deep voice.

"What kind of cultivation is that?" Qiji's heart moved, and he asked subconsciously.

"Crossing Pure Yang Limitless, stepping over the changes of three and five, that is the class of Earthly Immortals!!"

The old Daoist priest sighed faintly and slowly opened his eyes: "That young man back then should have escaped the tribulation three times, his cultivation is unfathomable."

"Entering the Great Night-Never-Bright, and still being able to escape the tribulation?" Qiji whispered.

He is a practitioner of the Dao, so he knows the horror of 【Great Night-Never-Bright】.

Once falling into it, the soul-aspect returns to silence, like the darkness of heaven and earth, and there will never be a day of emergence.

"Some people practice the Divine Demon Holy Fetus, fall into the 【Great Night-Never-Bright】 tribulation, and their soul-aspect will have huge problems, perhaps never waking up in a lifetime..."

"Will one definitely fall into such a tribulation?" Qiji couldn't help but ask.

"Once you practice this method, you can't stop. Those who are lucky can forget everything and be an ordinary person. Those who are unlucky, death and vanishing is also common." The old Daoist priest said faintly.

"What if they wake up?" Qiji asked casually.

The old Daoist priest paused slightly, looked at Qiji, and said in a deep voice: "Then that is the world's fiercest!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 43 =====