Chapter 127: Dharma Altar, Fetal Obscurity

The Heaven-Deceiving Technique, a forbidden art of "replacing the peach with the plum," deceiving the heavens and obscuring the earth.

A person's lifespan, wealth, poverty, birth time, and death place—regardless of the myriad forms in the world or the myriad phases of all living things, everything cannot escape the prying of heavenly secrets, and this gives those with ulterior motives the possibility of peeking and divination.

However, although heavenly secrets cannot be avoided, they can be hidden and covered.

The Heaven-Deceiving Technique is such a technique.

"The breath of all things gathers and issues from my body; the forms of all things are borrowed for my body. Wind hides clouds, clouds hide rain, covering the sky and blocking the sun, a drop of water becomes a thousand rivers..." Xu Qing plucked a wolf hair from his wolf-hair brush as a spell-casting material and recited the incantation. The next moment, his background, past, and future all transformed into a different appearance.

At this time, Xu Qing's true self's heavenly secrets were obscure, becoming an existence that was indescribable and un-divinable.

Even if someone proficient in the principles of arts were to calculate, at most they could only calculate the result that there was a bald-tailed yellow weasel named Xu Qing on Huangtiao Mountain.

However, the Heaven-Deceiving Technique did not end here. The hair of Elder Huang was only the first barrier to cover the heavenly secrets.

At best, it could only be counted as one of the form-substitutes among the forms of all things.

As long as Xu Qing collected more spell-casting materials in the future, he could possess more substitutes as cover.

Besides these functions, the cultivation disasters he would need to face in the future could also gain more turnaround time with the help of the Heaven-Deceiving Technique.

In other words, as long as he did not show his true colors and did not display abilities exceeding the detection of heavenly secrets, the Heavenly Dao would only treat him as one of the myriad mortal beings.

For Xu Qing, who was a zombie, these effects were absolutely a great good thing—like sending an umbrella in the rain or charcoal in the snow!

As the Sect Leader of the Cat Immortal Hall and a corpse-driver of the Mortuary Shop, Xu Qing would inevitably come into contact with all kinds of people, and among these people, there might be experts proficient in the way of divination.

If one day, by chance, someone had a sudden whim and calculated that he was a dead zombie, it would inevitably lead to a series of troublesome matters.

Now with this Heaven-Deceiving Technique, his zombie identity had an extra layer of locking. From now on, when he went out, he could walk swaggeringly on the street and would no longer need to hide from those fortune-tellers at the stalls who liked to "eye-rape" passersby.

Having just received a Heavenly-grade reward, and it being such a taboo technique that ignored levels and could obscure the prying of everyone, Xu Qing felt indescribably happy.

Looking at the other two rewards, one was an Earth-grade high-tier "Yin-Eye Method," which was an advanced version of the Qi-Observing Technique. After opening the Yin-Eye, one could see through falsehoods, peek into the upper and lower Nine Netherworlds, and sense the laws of heavenly secrets.

Xu Qing clicked his tongue in wonder; this Yin-Eye complemented the Heaven-Deceiving Technique perfectly—one used for obscuring, the other for peeking. He just didn't know if someone possessing the Yin-Eye could see through his Heaven-Deceiving Technique.

However, thinking of the chasm-like gap between the Heavenly grade and the Earth grade, he knew that even if someone opened the Heavenly Eye or Yin-Eye, they would not be able to see through his background based on this.

Near the ruins, Xuanyu opened its eyes wide, looking at Xu Qing in surprise.

At this time, Xu Qing's eyes seemed to have been injected with thick ink, and the black-and-white eyeballs instantly became as black as ink.

Seeming to sense Xuanyu's gaze, Xu Qing's line of sight suddenly turned and fell upon it.

Eight phantoms with vigorous vitality emerged from the black cat's body. Xu Qing saw the essence of the Nine-Life Mysterious Cat; Xuanyu had not lied to him—it had truly lost one life previously.

On the spot, the black cat's fur on its spine stood up like needles, involuntarily bristling.

Xu Qing's gaze was undisguised, simply more rude than a lecher on the street commenting on a respectable woman!

Xuanyu felt that all the secrets on its body were seen through by him.

"Xu Qing!" A young girl's clear reprimand sounded suddenly. This was the first time Xuanyu had called Xu Qing by his name directly.

Xu Qing, who had seen Xuanyu half-naked, instantly came to his senses.

The ink color faded, and Xu Qing looked at the cat running onto the wall, puffed up with anger, feeling a sense of helplessness in his heart.

Forget it, when this matter is over, he would go to the pier to buy a fish to coax it.

After testing the Yin-Eye, Xu Qing looked again at the "Medicinal Corpse Raising and Refining Method."

He had already seen this method in the shaman's memories earlier; it could be considered an alternative corpse-refining method.

The Medicinal Corpse Method was not of much use to Xu Qing; its only role might be to increase his experience in the way of raising and refining corpses. Now, apart from ancient sects with long traditions like the Yin Corpse Sect, I am afraid there is no one in the world whose understanding of corpses exceeds his.

"Yin Corpse Sect..."

Xu Qing's mind stirred slightly. The Yin Corpse Sect was known for collecting, driving, refining, and controlling corpses. For such a sect, would the corpses of disciples and elders after death be buried and left to rot like ordinary people?

If they were not buried, but like this shaman, had all cultivated their own corpses into medicinal corpses, then after thousands of years, how many corpses would the long-standing Yin Corpse Sect have accumulated?

When it comes to preserving corpses, the Yin Corpse Sect is an expert!

The thought that was stirring in his heart appeared for a moment before being forcibly suppressed by Xu Qing.

Such a thousand-year-old sect had too deep a foundation; there might be Gold-Armored Corpses or even higher-level corpse soldiers guarding the sect. Although he was not afraid of those zombies, apart from zombies, there were living cultivators guarding the sect.

If he wanted to go in and dig up their ancestors' graves, he would have to get their permission!

Forget it, it's better to honestly guard his own shop and collect corpses!

Recalling the "Dream-Untying Dream" he had when he first obtained the Dream-Making Technique, Xu Qing instantly regained his clarity.

One cannot be too greedy as a human, and the same goes for being a zombie.

Corpses can be collected again if they are gone, but if one is eager for quick success and instant benefits, one might end up like this shaman, meeting a miserable end.

Putting the shaman's corpse into his "Box Garden," Xu Qing then looked at the ghost infant corpse.

The *Scripture of Salvation* flipped pages; the ghost infant's life was nothing special. Not long after birth, it was locked in the Infant-Locking Pagoda.

The temple keeper of the Child-Sending Temple would send dead fetuses as nourishment for the ghost infant's growth every once in a while.

This Yin-evil method was derived from the Rakshasa Bird.

It is rumored that in the land of Great Yin, between ruins, tombs, and graves, corpse-evil and grievances accumulate, eventually turning into Rakshasa Birds. They are as large as gray cranes, can transform into evil spirits, and love to eat human eyes; they are also called Yakshas, Asuras, Pretas...

And the ghost infant before him, if it wanted to grow, could only be refined by this method.

If Xu Qing hadn't intervened halfway, in another year or two, perhaps it really would have made up for its physical defects and become an evil spirit with a bird's face and human body, neither human nor ghost.

After the salvation was completed, Xu Qing obtained a "Fetal Obscurity Bead."

The most unlucky thing in the world is for a living being to die an unnatural death just after being born; this is not something the fetus itself can control, but purely a matter of fate.

Although this Fetal Obscurity Bead was of Human-grade, it had an incredible function: it made people unlucky.

Holding the grayish-white bead, Xu Qing urged his Yin energy, and a wisp of bad luck was picked up by his fingers, turning into a gray mist.

This mist did not have much effect on practitioners, but for ordinary people, it could make them get food stuck in their teeth even when drinking cold water, or strain their waist just by yawning.

Xu Qing played with it for a while before throwing it into the *Mountain and River Map*.

Now it was good; the *Mountain and River Map*, which originally had no sun or moon, now had a grayish-white full moon hanging in the sky, and in that moon, a figure of a fetus curled up and hugging its knees vaguely appeared.

The previously bright *Mountain and River Map* was covered with a layer of grayish Yin-world filter, but above the river, there was a white lotus floating down from a high mountain, emitting a holy radiance.

After dealing with this Yin-world father and son, Xu Qing took out the tools for funeral rites and set up a salvation dharma altar on the spot for the hundred or so fetuses.

For the hundred infants, as the *Scripture of Salvation* flipped page by page, Xu Qing held a child in one hand and a willow branch in the other, dipping a little clean water from a flower vase filled with morning dew, gently brushing it on the infants' foreheads to wash away the dust and filth of this life.

In the distance, the sulking Xuanyu sat on the wall. When it saw Xu Qing in red gently performing salvation for those children, its eyes also became soft.

In the night sky, the black crow landed on a tree branch, quietly watching the dharma altar.

The incense keeper who had luckily survived, perhaps out of reverence and fear, or perhaps knowing his own sins, was now silently reciting the *Scripture of Protecting All Children* with the two nuns who had not committed any killing.

The temple keeper of the Child-Sending Temple, that old nun, stared blankly at the ruins of the Infant-Locking Pagoda, as if she had lost her soul.

Xu Qing had no other thoughts at this time, ignoring the disturbances outside. After washing away the dust and filth for those infants, he walked the "Yu Steps," performing the "Pacing the Dipper" ritual, using the methods of funeral and white-affair books to send off souls and summon spirits, lighting lamps and guiding the way for all the children.

To ensure the children would not be troubled on the road, he burned a lot of Yin money to buy the way, then chanted verses, worshiping Heavenly Venerables, Earthly Deities, and constellations...

Finally, he submitted a memorial, recording all the matters of the Child-Sending Temple into a memorial document, and burned it with talismans for the heavens to hear.

Newborn fetuses are innocent and pure, not knowing the ways of the world; if they went to the Underworld or Heaven, they wouldn't know how to express themselves.

Xu Qing burned the memorial to speak for these infants, telling those deities and gods who might exist about what they had experienced in their lives.

After doing this, Xu Qing chanted the salvation scripture again; the first three times were to call back the sleeping and wandering infant spirits, and the last time was to save them into reincarnation.

At the wall, Xuanyu's eyes suddenly burst with golden light. Its mouth opened slightly, and golden incense fire flowed out from its nose, ears, and lips.

Those incense fires stretched into a line, widening into a three-foot-wide radiant silk ribbon, flowing toward the dharma altar, forming an incense bridge connecting Yin and Yang.

At the dharma altar, Xu Qing looked at the white light spots floating out from the hundred or so infant corpses and was slightly stunned.

He did not expect that the Hall Master of the Cat Immortal Hall, the high-and-mighty Cat Immortal, would be willing to give the incense fire that the hall had painstakingly accumulated to these infants.

Xu Qing turned his head to look at the black cat crouching on the wall. The other party, seeing him look over, immediately turned its head to the side, as if it were still angry about him opening the Yin-Eye to peek at it.

Xu Qing laughed dumbly.

He turned his head back, gathered his mind, and this time he chanted the *Scripture of Salvation*, only praying for these infants to be born in a good place or reach the Ultimate Bliss.

After the salvation was over, Xu Qing turned his head to look at the ruins of the Infant-Locking Pagoda.

In the ruins, there was no lack of damaged wooden stairs, wooden doors, and windows, and other flammable materials.

Xu Qing flicked his finger, and a spark of Yin-Burning Fire flew down. The dirty items in the ruins burned along with the firewood.

Not far away, the foolish old nun saw the jumping firelight and suddenly came to her senses. Muttering the ghost infant's nickname, she giggled and walked toward the fire pit.

Xu Qing saw this, and his figure suddenly moved from the dharma altar to the edge of the fire pit.

He grabbed the old nun by the collar and dragged her all the way to the dharma altar.

In Xu Qing's eyes, this old nun's sins had not yet been settled; what right did she have to choose her own way of death to follow her husband and child?

"Your blood should be used to sacrifice at the altar for these children, so they can close their eyes in peace after death!"

Hearing this, the old nun suddenly struggled, as if she did not want to admit the sins she had committed.

In front of the dharma altar, Xu Qing gathered Qi into a blade. For a total of one hundred and thirty-two infants, he skinned the old nun one hundred and thirty-three times in front of everyone; the last cut was not held back, counting as an extra gift.

The previous one was a literary sacrifice; this one counted as a martial sacrifice where grievances were settled and grudges were repaid.

After the old nun died, the place where the infants had suffered, which initially had some lingering grievances, completely returned to clarity.

After finishing the dharma ritual, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. He put away the old nun's corpse and all the items on the dharma altar, then greeted Xuanyu, who was wagging its tail on the wall, meaning it was time for them to head home.

Although Xuanyu was sulking at him, it did not disobey. It walked, and as Xu Qing walked out of the temple, it followed along the wall.

Xu Qing stopped and looked back at it, and it also stopped and looked back.

Arriving at the gate of the Child-Sending Temple, the black crow circled and landed.

"Little Xu, just leave with peace of mind. Leave the matters here to Old Crow. When the sky brightens tomorrow, I will ensure the disciples of other halls come to handle the aftermath."

Xu Qing thanked the black crow, but before leaving, he stopped his steps.

Under the eaves where the black crow stood, there was a plaque, and the three lacquer-gold characters "Saving Infant Temple" were exceptionally glaring.

Xu Qing frowned slightly, just about to act, but did not expect the black cat, which was three steps away from him, to suddenly turn into a streak of black light and shoot over. The next instant, the plaque on the temple gate cracked with several horizontal and vertical lines, then exploded with a bang.

Xuanyu retracted its claws, landed on the high stone steps, and walked past him with a calm gait.

Xu Qing grinned and quickly caught up with the cat.

The black crow stood on the eaves of the temple gate, using its black-bean-like eyes to watch the two great immortals of the Cat Immortal Hall leave.

On the mountain road, Xu Qing caught up with Xuanyu's steps, and then he walked with his hands behind his back, praising the cat before him fiercely.

"I didn't expect Immortal Xuanyu to have such a warm heart."

"What is warm?"

"It means having the demeanor of an immortal, and being very cute."

"..." Xuanyu remained expressionless upon hearing this, but its walking pace slowed down involuntarily.

"Being able to cultivate with Immortal Xuanyu is truly a joyful thing. I like Immortal Xuanyu the most."

Xu Qing chose to push his shamelessness to the extreme.

The intelligence of demonic kinds is usually opened late; the little cat, which had lived for more than three hundred years but knew little of the world's affairs, how could it withstand such sweet words?

The little bit of emotion it had stored up before was instantly thrown to the nine heavens.

Xuanyu, which had been deliberately keeping a distance of three steps, walked closer and closer. It was not until it was walking side-by-side with Xu Qing that it opened its mouth and made a childish, youthful sound.

"I also like Immortal Xu Qing."

Xu Qing laughed.

In his eyes, the liking between a zombie and a cat was companionship on the path of cultivation, a bond between like-minded people supporting each other and experiencing the world together.

Some say that without reading the world's affairs, one can never understand the Dao.

But if one can have someone walking the same path while reading the world's affairs, that must be a very lucky thing.

(End of chapter)