Chapter 100

Aged wine has a mellow taste; old people have broad experience.

Hu Baosong was over two hundred years old, and his vision and experience were beyond that of ordinary people. Although Xu Qing was a zombie, he also had a heart that sought learning and the Dao.

With such a ready-made master teacher, he naturally had to ask for advice.

Leaving the mortuary in Xuanyu's care, Xu Qing went with Daoist Yizhen to the coffin shop to visit and seek the Dao.

There was an old peach tree in the courtyard where Hu Baosong lived. This was the first time Xu Qing had walked into the backyard of the coffin shop.

He looked at the meditation cushion placed under the peach tree, his eyes flickering slightly.

Foxes live in peach trees, and there are fox dens in the trees.

Foxes seem to have always had an unbreakable bond with peach trees.

Books often record foxes worshipping peach trees. Legend has it that when a fox begins to cultivate, it will often search for the best-looking peach tree within a hundred miles.

Then the fox will place offerings before the peach tree and imitate humans by kneeling and bowing, praying for the peach tree to allow it to live inside its body to cultivate.

Conversely, if a knowledgeable person sees a fox worshipping a peach tree, they will often choose to kill the fox and cut down the peach tree.

Doing so is not because they covet the fox's fur, nor because they want to cut wood for firewood, but because the peach tree the fox has bonded with is often the most spiritual one.

Once a fox lives inside to cultivate, it will inevitably borrow the peach tree's protection, sucking up all the surrounding spiritual energy, leaving no grass growing for a hundred miles.

Without spiritual energy, the five grains will not be abundant, and people and livestock will not be at peace.

Therefore, the older generation passed down a saying: once you see a fox bowing and worshipping a peach tree, you must drive it away or kill it.

Xu Qing didn't know if this was true, but he believed that foxes loved peach trees.

The Daoist Yizhen before him clearly liked the old peach tree in the courtyard very much.

Her apricot eyes narrowed slightly, and her head lifted slightly. The peach tree in the courtyard seemed to have spirituality; at this moment, a breeze born from nowhere emerged from the peach tree's branches, gently blowing over them.

Seeing the two standing under the peach tree with different expressions, Hu Baosong laughed and said: "The reason I chose this residence back then was because of this peach tree."

"This peach tree is at least four hundred years old."

As Hu Baosong spoke, he looked at Yizhen, who was squinting and enjoying the breeze.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be a peach forest at the gate of the Five Elders Temple..."

Yizhen came back to her senses and nodded: "There is indeed a peach forest. The elders in the temple say that those peach trees were planted by my master together with a heartless person back then."

"."

Hu Baosong's face showed a look of embarrassment, while Yizhen's expression remained as usual, as if she couldn't hear the hidden meaning in the other's words.

Xu Qing, watching the fun without fear of trouble, suddenly said: "Senior Hu has been making a living in the coffin shop all these years; how would you know there is a peach forest outside the Five Elders Temple?"

"Could it be..."

Hu Baosong and Yizhen looked at Xu Qing almost at the same time.

"Could it be that Senior Hu was chatting with someone and accidentally talked about the Five Elders Temple, and that person happened to have been there and mentioned the peach forest outside the Five Elders Temple..."

Seeing the two of them tense up, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy, Xu Qing's words reached his lips, and he quickly changed his tune.

Seeing this, Hu Baosong breathed a sigh of relief, and Yizhen also showed a faint smile.

Only Xu Qing was left sighing.

A forced melon is not sweet; if you want to eat a good melon, you have to wait for it to ripen and fall off on its own.

Hu Baosong now had a sense of fear and love; he wanted to take his relationship with Yizhen a step further, but he was afraid that after poking through that layer of window paper, it would lead to a series of bad endings.

Yizhen was the same; she had clearly noticed the relationship between Hu Baosong and her master, and from Hu Baosong's caring attitude, she had guessed some things.

But the more this was the case, the more panicked she felt inside.

Facing this situation, the only thing she could think of subconsciously was to avoid such topics.

Hu Baosong sighed deeply, then collected his thoughts and began to teach the two his lifelong learning.

One of the people before him was his closest person, and the other was a friend of a different generation who gave him a new life and helped him fulfill his regrets.

If it weren't for his limited lifespan, he would really like to see the day these two juniors grew up.

It was a bit of a pity, but Hu Baosong didn't feel regret in his heart.

As the saying goes, there is no greater happiness in the world than being content. There is no greater disaster in the world than being discontent.

In this life, he was already content!

Days are like flowing water, like a horse passing a window.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed. On this day, a simple and unadorned carriage suddenly arrived outside the mortuary.

Besides the carriage, there were several experts dressed in martial arts attire, riding tall horses to protect it on both sides.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and a little fatty with a slightly haggard expression stepped down from the carriage.

He looked at the closed door of the paper shop and sighed softly.

However, when he saw that the mortuary was still operating normally, his mood improved again.

He reached out and rubbed his face, and the bitter expression that had been on Zhu Huaian's face instantly disappeared.

He came into the shop smiling, but there was no sign of Xu Qing inside; there was only a young girl with fair skin and beautiful features sitting in front of the counter.

The girl, dressed in red with a cold temperament, was playing with a pair of walnuts in her hands. No matter how he looked at it, he felt the style of the scene didn't quite match.

Zhu Huaian's heart skipped a beat, wondering if his unfathomable Brother Xu had already sold the shop and wouldn't be coming back.

"Miss, may I ask if Shopkeeper Xu is in the shop?"

Xuanyu, who had possessed Sun Erniang and was playing with the walnuts, raised her eyebrows and said in a clear voice: "He is not here. If the guest has anything to say, you can tell me."

"May I ask what your relationship is with Shopkeeper Xu?"

"He is my cousin, and I am his cousin. My cousin had to go out, so I am looking after the shop on his behalf," Xuanyu responded with the excuse she had previously colluded on with Xu Qing.

"I don't know how long Brother Xu will be out, or when he will return?"

"I don't know. My cousin didn't say clearly; perhaps he will return tomorrow, or perhaps in a month or two."

Zhu Huaian had no choice but to say helplessly: "Then I will come to visit again tomorrow. If Brother Xu returns in the meantime, I hope you can pass on a message for me, saying that his old friend Huaian from Jinmen has come to visit. I would be very grateful."

Leaving the mortuary, Zhu Huaian saw a woman who still had charm at the entrance of the incense shop directing a carriage driver to unload goods, so he went up to inquire about the news of the Wu brothers...

In the backyard of the coffin shop, although Xu Qing had only been listening to lectures for three days, he already had an epiphany of breaking the golden rope and opening the shackles.

A single sentence of true transmission is worth ten thousand volumes of false books.

Old Man Hu really taught things!

I don't know if it was because of the cheap senior sister from the Five Elders Temple, but Hu Baosong was meticulous when teaching. Whenever there was a question, he answered it carefully, never showing any impatience.

Xu Qing wanted to ask Hu Baosong about zombie-related knowledge, but he couldn't speak directly.

After thinking for a long time, he had a flash of inspiration and chose a roundabout way, asking Hu Baosong how he viewed alien monsters.

"The zombies, yin ghosts, and monsters you speak of all belong to non-human matters."

"So-called non-human matters are beyond ordinary circumstances; to sum it up, they are nothing more than ghosts, monsters, demons, and heterodox spirits."

"I once met a master named Ge Hongwen. He knew my background, and at that time, because of my own demon bloodline, I asked him a question."

When Hu Baosong mentioned the demon bloodline, he subconsciously looked at Yizhen.

The female Daoist's breathing stalled upon hearing this, clearly very concerned.

When Xu Qing heard the name Ge Hongwen, he was stunned for a moment.

Wasn't this the enlightened master in the revolving lantern who said there was no such thing as divine power or immortal magic in the world, but when he turned around, he crossed a mountain stream over ten feet wide like a cloud crane in the breeze?

Hu Baosong didn't know what Xu Qing was thinking and continued: "Fellow Daoist Ge answered me at the time, saying: 'Human pretense creates monsters, the spirit of things creates spirits, human souls that do not dissipate create ghosts, the disharmony of heaven and earth creates anomalies, impure spirits create evil, human obsession creates demons, and leaning toward heresy creates heterodox paths...'"

"And monsters mostly arise because of people. If people have no faults, monsters will not act on their own. If people in the world do not do good things, and their hearts harbor resentment and fear, the earth's energy becomes turbid, and the heavenly secrets become unstable. Monsters then take the opportunity to enter the world and do evil, which is difficult to eliminate."

"If heaven and earth are clear, and people do not act on their own, in a peaceful and prosperous age, monsters will naturally hide their forms and not enter the secular world."

"As the saying goes, when a country is about to flourish, there must be auspicious signs; when a country is about to perish, there must be monsters."

Hu Baosong laughed: "I didn't understand, so Fellow Daoist Ge pointed out that I am neither a monster nor a ghost, but a human spirit who has entered the world to cultivate."

Xu Qing realized: "This monster is not that monster. Senior Ge was likely not talking about origin, but about character."

"As long as one can see one's own nature, one doesn't need to care about the appearances of humans, ghosts, monsters, evil spirits, or gods and demons. One must know that monsters can pretend to be ghosts, evil spirits can turn into demons, and gods can also become monsters. What is important is the distinction within one's own heart."

"If you are a monster, then you are a monster; if you are a human, then you are a human."

Yizhen looked at Xu Qing in surprise. She had fox demon blood and could empathize, so it was not surprising that she understood the truth.

But in her eyes, Xu Qing was a normal person.

For a person who is not a monster to have such profound thoughts is indeed rare.

How could the female Daoist know that this young man who looked like a human was actually not a living person?

Otherwise, where would he get so many non-human insights?

The next day, Zhu Huaian came to the mortuary again, but he still missed him.

"Why is Your Highness so concerned about a person who does funeral business? Time is tight, and there are many things in the Prince's Mansion that need to be handled. Even if he is a friend, you shouldn't waste so much effort."

The advisors and guests around Zhu Huaian were clearly a bit anxious.

"I have my own plans for this matter; you don't need to say more."

Others might not know, but Zhu Huaian knew that his Brother Xu really had some skills.

If we talk about intelligence and insight alone, he is probably not much worse than the advisors in the mansion.

If he could get Xu Qing to come out and assist him, what would it matter if he waited a few more days?

Coffin shop.

The three of them sat around the peach tree, and incense smoke curled from the incense burner on the table.

Today, Hu Baosong talked about the cultivation realms of current practitioners.

Xu Qing previously only knew that martial arts had six realms, but he didn't know that outside of martial arts, practitioners of the Dao also had six realms.

However, the six realms of practitioners were not aligned with martial arts.

One is popular in the secular world, while the other is hidden outside the world. It is not something ordinary people can know. It is no exaggeration to say that they have nothing to do with each other, so there is naturally no comparison.

"Cultivation methods are varied, and there is no specific rule, but a thousand years ago, a great sect was established and created the six-realm method, which are: Evil-Warding, Knowledge-Penetration, Soul-Punishment, Mourning-Cutting, Fate-Shaping, and Primordial Spirit."

Because this six-realm method is the most widely spread, it has become the most commonly used terminology when practitioners discuss the Dao and compare methods.

Hu Baosong spoke eloquently.

Evil-Warding, as the name suggests, when Liu Youdao could control walking corpses and dared to walk in desolate graves and wild forests at night, he was equivalent to possessing the ability of Evil-Warding.

And nourishing consciousness is the second realm, the reflection of the Knowledge-Penetration realm.

Humans have nine knowledge-penetrations, including eye, ear, mouth, nose, tongue, body, mind, end, and storehouse.

Each penetration of a knowledge can gain many mysterious abilities.

Among them, the eye is the Broad-Sight Knowledge; opening it allows one to see evil spirits.

The ear is the Penetrating-Ear Knowledge, which can hear ghost talk and divine sounds.

The mouth is the Wonderful-Mouth Knowledge; after opening it, one can practice the prohibition method, the edict method, or speak ten thousand words a day, talking about the mysterious without feeling hungry or thirsty; when cultivated to a high level, one can also prohibit sound and hide energy, contain internal breath, and speak with thunderous sounds, intimidating hearts and seizing souls, possessing supreme majesty.

The nose is the Multi-Hearing Knowledge, which can distinguish the thickness and difference of energy, remembering every detail.

The tongue is the Five-Flavor Knowledge; all things, immortal treasures, and evil poisons can be combined into one meal, distinguishing their flavors and knowing them clearly.

The body is the Strong-Body Knowledge, which can climb rocks and walk on walls, touch mountains and know things, without obstacles; when cultivated to a high level, one can divide the body and disperse the form, changing in a thousand ways, with the form filling the eight poles and shrinking into the infinitesimal.

The mind is the Spiritual-Mind Knowledge; opening it transcends all laws, external demons do not enter, internal demons do not arise, and all are empty and clean.

The end is the End-Sight Knowledge; opening it allows one to seek good fortune and avoid disaster, and even disasters and calamities can be adapted to.

The storehouse is the Storehouse-Bright Knowledge; opening it allows one to communicate with the bridge of heaven and earth, enter the divine scene, perceive internal and external, and realize the true mystery.

Of these nine knowledges, only seven are easy to penetrate; the last two, end and storehouse, rely heavily on luck and understanding.

Among them, the end governs change and is the foresight knowledge of seeking fortune and avoiding disaster; the storehouse knowledge can communicate with the bridge of heaven and earth, perceive internal and external, and is the knowledge of realization, which cannot be cultivated by ordinary people.

Xu Qing asked Hu Baosong and learned that the six realms of cultivation have no life-extending function before Soul-Punishment, so most practitioners only open one or two knowledges in the second realm and then stop wasting energy on it.

Because opening one knowledge counts as entering the Knowledge-Penetration realm, it is better to cultivate to the next barrier as soon as possible to extend life.

Xu Qing asked Hu Baosong how many knowledges he had opened, and the other party laughed and said: "My Hu Yang clan was born with eye knowledge. If there is no need for the other eight knowledges, no one will cultivate them."

After all, whether it is a human or a monster, lifespan has a limit. Everyone is fighting for life with heaven and earth. Opening more knowledges cannot increase lifespan, so who would abandon the root for the tip and open so many knowledges?

Xu Qing's heart moved when he heard this.

The Zombie Sutra states that when a zombie cultivates to the stage of a Prostrate Corpse, it can open nine orifices.

These nine orifices are equivalent to nine knowledge-penetrations.

Others have limited lifespans and dare not spend time opening knowledges, but he is different.

Zombies have no lifespan. Even if he opens one orifice every ten years, a hundred years is enough to open all nine orifices.

"One orifice, one divine ability; nine orifices are nine kinds of abilities. I just don't know if the nine orifices of a zombie are different from the nine knowledge-penetrations of a living person..."

In the evening, Hu Baosong, who had been discussing the Dao for seven consecutive days, finally felt tired.

"I'm old. After just a few days, I can't sit still."

Hu Baosong looked at the two juniors and said: "Rest for two days tomorrow and the day after. Then I will teach you the cultivation methods of the Hu Yang clan."

Xu Qing was still unsatisfied.

He probably couldn't cultivate the Hu Yang clan's cultivation methods, but the way of cultivation can always be inferred by analogy. Even if he couldn't cultivate, it would be good to have more experience.

After Xu Qing said goodbye to Senior Sister Yizhen at the entrance of the coffin shop, he walked toward the mortuary alone.

When he was about to reach the shop entrance, Xu Qing inadvertently looked up and glanced at a certain place.

A strange man was squatting and waiting by the street opposite.

Seeing him walk into the mortuary, the man quickly got up and left Jingxia Street.

(End of chapter)