Chapter 238

Xu Qing finally understood why the old Daoist had built Ruyi Temple so magnificently; it turned out that this temple also served as a shield!

Ordinary Daoist temples using pine, cypress, or mulberry wood for beams and pillars were already top-grade, and perhaps a grand temple might use nanmu, but the beams and pillars of Ruyi Temple were sought out by climbing mountains and crossing ridges, specifically looking for old iron-pear wood that grew in rock crevices and had weathered a hundred years of wind and frost.

This kind of wood, even if you hacked at it with an axe, would only leave a white mark; even copper beams and iron pillars would likely be no better than this.

Besides the beams and pillars, the blue bricks used to build the walls of Ruyi Temple were all specially made from official kilns, and they were three-tenths thicker than the city defense bricks on the city walls.

The mortar used to build the walls was made by boiling glutinous rice paste until it was as thick as honey glue, then mixing it with egg whites, fine sand, and cast iron powder. This secret recipe was something only used by the Qiang people in the Shu region when building watchtowers and castles. You must know that the Qiang people used this stuff to prevent earthquakes from shaking the earth!

But the deathly afraid Bai Yun Daoist had used this stuff on his own Daoist temple. Now, the walls near the main hall were covered in sword marks, and Xu Qing could smell that "pungent" glutinous rice smell from far away!

Why would this old Daoist smear dirty things on the wall? This is too disgusting!

Xu Qing's expression at this moment was just like when Xuanyu's cat paw accidentally touched water—as disgusted as could be.

The most extreme thing was the ground. The ground in Ruyi Temple wasn't paved with blue stone slabs, but with granite.

Those granite blocks were each three feet square, and the base was paved with three-in-one soil, rammed as solid as an iron plate. With this ground, even if a Silver-Armored Zombie came, it might not be able to bite through it!

Xu Qing finally understood; this old Daoist was truly afraid of death!

At this moment, in front of the Dharma altar, the Bai Yun Daoist remained as motionless as a mountain, looking just like a living turtle.

Xuanyu was extremely fast, and sword lights fell on the Bai Yun Daoist like raindrops, but what it had to face at this moment was not just the old Daoist, but the entire meticulously constructed grand temple.

And that grand temple was the Bai Yun Daoist's turtle shell; as long as the temple didn't fall, he wouldn't fall.

Forming the Avoid-Weapon Seal, the Bai Yun Daoist's heart was settled. He looked coldly at the cat that was constantly dismantling his home and said in a strange voice: "This Void-God Body-Protecting method is a true immortal magic; no matter how capable you are, don't even think about breaking it in a short while!"

Having said this, the Bai Yun Daoist freed up a hand, took out a string of Buddhist beads, and threw them directly at one of Xuanyu's avatars.

The sword light swept past, the string connecting the beads suddenly snapped, and the beads engraved with Sanskrit scriptures scattered all over the ground like falling rain.

Seeing this, the Bai Yun Daoist was not shocked but delighted. A relaxed smile appeared on his face: "These Buddhist beads were originally a pair, obtained by me at Cizhao Temple. As long as one string of beads is damaged, the other will also shatter."

"If you two retreat now, that's fine. If you are late, hehe..."

"Once the high-merit Zen monks from Daci Temple come, even if a Great Luo Immortal descends, they won't be able to save you!"

Xu Qing squinted at the old Daoist, who was feigning calmness, and suddenly said: "Isn't that Zen Master Jinghai a monk from Cizhao Temple? I don't think you two look like you have a very good relationship. If your relationship with the monks of Cizhao Temple were really that good, would you reveal the function of the Buddhist beads and let us leave?"

"I am just heartbroken for my own foundation and cannot bear to see the Daoist temple continue to be damaged..."

"Does the Daoist believe this himself?" Xu Qing squinted at the Bai Yun Daoist and continued: "Could a Daoist temple be more precious than immortal medicine? I think the Daoist himself has no bottom in his heart."

"..."

Seeing the Bai Yun Daoist not speaking, Xu Qing knew he had guessed right.

The Buddhist beads might really have some use, but whether Cizhao Temple would come to rescue or sit back and reap the benefits was uncertain. Even if monks really came to rescue, could they really empty their nest to do so?

This Bai Yun Daoist is not the monks' own father or godson!

After seeing the Bai Yun Daoist's plan, Xu Qing simply stopped hiding. He put away the Mother-Qi Bottle and the jade ruyi, and instead pulled out a door-sized mountain-opening axe from behind him!

Hearing Xu Qing's words, the old Bai Yun Daoist was already feeling uneasy. Now, seeing the opponent suddenly pull out a mountain-opening axe that didn't fit his style at all, his unease became even stronger.

The Baosheng Niangniang Dharma image faded, and Xu Qing held the three-hundred-catty mysterious iron axe, saying meaningfully:

"You have Heavenly Book divine arts, and I have the Tiangang methods taught by a heavenly being. Today, let's see whose body-protecting method is stronger, or whose Tiangang axe is sharper!"

The Thirty-Six Tiangang Methods were also obtained from a cave, but that cave was not Bai Yun Cave; it was a nameless mountain cave that Hong Baoya, the leader of the Jinmen Gang, had accidentally entered while chasing a young man in his early years.

That cave was located within the borders of Mount Taihua in Guanzhong, and the cave walls were engraved with tadpole-like runes. Xu Qing didn't recognize those Heavenly Book-like rune characters when watching Hong Baoya's revolving lantern, but when he saw those runes, he was pulled into a strange dream. In the dream, a white-robed youth with a high and extraordinary spirit personally appeared to demonstrate the method, teaching a complete set of Tiangang Axe Techniques.

That axe technique had thirty-six styles. The white-robed youth taught Xu Qing all the moves and mental methods, but never told him the names of the first thirty-five styles. Only when performing the last style did the white-robed youth speak the name of this style—"Opening Heaven."

The Opening Heaven Axe Technique versus the strongest body-protecting method in the Nine Secret Heavenly Books—now, these two otherworldly magic arts that didn't belong to the mortal world and both came from mysterious caves were like the strongest spear meeting the strongest shield.

The Bai Yun Daoist tried to remain calm, but the scene he expected of Xu Qing hacking at him with the axe didn't happen. Just as the old Daoist was surprised, he saw Xu Qing carrying the mountain-opening axe and walking straight to the front of the main hall door.

Xu Qing measured the distance on foot and finally stopped fifty steps away from the main hall.

What should be done then?

Of course, it is to rent it to tenant farmers to farm and collect high land rent!

In this way, the temple doesn't have to pay taxes, and with interest rolling, the money rolls more and more, and the land is occupied wider and wider.

When there are not enough tenant farmers, they hire commoners to farm. If they encounter commoners who have no food to eat and no land to farm, they make them work for free.

Finally, the great masters in the temple will also say nicely: "My Buddha is compassionate and gave you food to eat, so you don't starve to death. You should be grateful and work harder to farm to repay the temple."

The Great Yong Dynasty has the most temples in all dynasties. From the Longping Emperor to the Jingxing Emperor's governance of the world, the prevalence of sacrificial customs has once again increased the status and arrogance of temples.

If you ask if the imperial court can't feel the sharp decrease in tax revenue?

They can feel it, but they can only close one eye and open one eye, pushing all the responsibility elsewhere.

As for why, the reason is also very simple. The people standing behind the temples in various places are not ordinary people.

You can move the temple, but you can't move the nobles' rice bowls!

Since the status of the temple cannot be shaken, where does the tax revenue come from?

Only by cleverly establishing names, collecting various harsh taxes, and exploiting the bottom-level commoners.

Xu Qing knew this principle well. After he saw the gold and silver stored in Ruyi Temple and the grain counting in the hundreds of thousands, he realized a principle.

It is said that "car, boat, shop, foot, tooth—even if innocent, they should be killed," but in his view, the big temples and big shrines now, the monks who don't engage in production, and the fake monks and fake Daoists who occupy land and houses, should be eradicated even more!

"People are idle and produce extra things." When these fake monks and fake Daoists are idle, they are blatantly eating people!

After Xu Qing searched the Bai Yun Daoist's family property, he simply set up an altar in the other party's home to communicate with heaven and earth.

Don't say that cause and effect cycle, retribution is not refreshing.

The Bai Yun Daoist liked to do things like killing people and taking their property. Now that he is dead, the property he obtained has all returned to others, which is exactly the retribution for this.

Xuanyu saw Xu Qing worshipping heaven and earth, so it also followed and bowed with incense.

Demons like to worship gods, hoping to get the protection of gods, especially demons who are about to cross the tribulation are particularly pious.

As the saying goes, "sharpening the spear before the battle, even if it's not sharp, it's still bright."

Demons are also keeping pace with the times.

"What is Immortal Xuanyu praying for?"

Xu Qing, who was planning to perform the Immortal-Seeking Technique, turned his head and saw the young girl behind him with her hands together, eyes closed, muttering there.

"I am praying for the gods to bless me."

Xuanyu opened its eyes, looked at the cloudless sky, and then looked at Xu Qing.

"The demonic energy on me is about to be unable to be suppressed, Immortal Xu..."

Just as Xuanyu wanted to say something to Xu Qing, a chaotic sound suddenly came from outside Ruyi Temple.

Xu Qing squinted and saw a monk riding a donkey backward and an abbot wearing a kasaya coming into the temple.

Behind them were twelve martial monks who looked like Arhats. Those martial monks were all full of blood and energy, and they were all martial masters in the Ning-Gang realm!

Xu Qing watched indifferently. After the Bai Yun Daoist used the mother-and-child Buddhist beads to send a distress signal to Cizhao Temple, he had been waiting for these monks to come.

However, there had been no movement in the middle. He thought the Bai Yun Daoist's magic had failed, but he didn't expect this group of monks to come now.

Xu Qing suddenly had a feeling of relief that his child had grown up.

Not far from the ruins of the main hall, Xu Qing took the ghost-headed blood knife from the old Daoist, then dripped a few drops of the blood lake dew from the Mother-Qi Bottle onto the ghost-headed knife.

The dew in the Mother-Qi Bottle was condensed from the incense in the blood lake; one drop was ten thousand wisps of incense.

While dripping the dew, Xu Qing chanted the Blood Lake Treasure Repentance Sutra, taking away the baleful energy and fierce light in the blood knife, making it a mortal weapon.

Then, the mountain-opening axe fell, and the ghost-headed knife broke!

After doing this, Xu Qing searched the Bai Yun Daoist for many more evil things.

Divination plates, soul nails, Nine-Infant gourds, blood-locking copper coins, and gourd medicine bottles containing Blood-Longevity Pills and Fortune-Longevity Pills.

Xu Qing burned all those pills that harmed heaven and reason with Yin-burning fire, followed by those evil Daoist magic tools and treasures.

Xuanyu stood obediently on the side, acting as a sword-attending young girl, guarding Xu Qing.

Although it was called guarding, it didn't look elsewhere, but kept staring at Xu Qing's movements, as if no matter what Xu Qing did, it felt it was meaningful.

After dealing with all the evil things on the old Daoist, the remaining items were just an old map of Yunmeng Mountain and some nightmare-suppressing objects that hadn't seen blood.

Xu Qing unfolded the old map, and the most conspicuous thing was the landmark of Bai Yun Cave, which had been specially circled.

"Monk Xinyuan said my immortal fate is in the bright moon, and this Bai Yun Cave that raised the demon Daoist is definitely not that bright moon..."

Xu Qing shook his head, dispelling the distracting thoughts.

Besides Daci Temple and Xiaoci Temple nearby, there were no other temples. The identity of the crazy monk was unknown, and no one knew if he really had ability or was just spouting nonsense.

Xu Qing didn't believe that crazy monk. If he had really believed the other party's words, he wouldn't have run here and pushed over the Bai Yun Daoist's temple.

Putting away the map, Xu Qing looked at the Bai Yun Daoist's corpse.

This Daoist died so cleanly; it was too easy for him!

However, Xu Qing was not worried. Evil people have their own destination; otherwise, the Deliverance Sutra wouldn't manifest scenes of different backgrounds every time it superintended a corpse.

Xu Qing had superintended so many corpses that he had already figured out some patterns.

For example, when superintending corpses that had lived mediocre lives, the opening scene when the Deliverance Sutra turned the page was often a deserted pass, a silent bridge, a desolate rock pile, and a huge high platform that had lost its color and was only gray and white...

When superintending corpses that had accumulated merit and done good deeds during their lifetime, the scenes that appeared were bridges built of gold and silver, stone cities arranged in matrices of three-colored stones, and ten thousand zhang high platforms with ten thousand rays of rosy light, where one could see all the colors of the world.

Xu Qing started his business in the funeral industry, so he was no stranger to these things.

In the Yin-gate trade of walking through the underworld, there has always been the saying of golden bridges and silver bridges. For example, the golden bridge is exclusively for good people and nobles who accumulated merit and did good deeds during their lifetime.

Just stepping onto the golden bridge means one can reach the other shore directly, either ascending to the heavenly realm or choosing a blessed land for reincarnation.

The silver bridge is exclusively for ordinary people who behaved uprightly and did many good deeds during their lifetime, that is, "people of medium goodness."

Walking across the silver bridge means one can smoothly reincarnate into a wealthy and peaceful family.

Over the years, Xu Qing had superintended nearly ten thousand corpses, but those who could trigger the cutscenes of golden and silver bridges were few and far between.

Besides good people who accumulated merit and ordinary people who lived mediocre lives, there was another kind: corpses that had committed many evils and killed countless people during their lifetime.

The cutscenes for this type of corpse were often boundless mountains of corpses and seas of blood, as well as the boiling, surging Nether River and Forget-River, where countless skeletons and evil ghosts struggled and wailed...

Now, Xu Qing looked at the revolving lantern of the Bai Yun Daoist, but it had triggered a new cutscene.

The Underworld of the Yin Office, the land of exile, in the abyss that runs through the center of the earth, there are ten thousand zhang mountains of knives, boundless seas of fire, Nine-Nether cold ice... In addition, there are scenes such as iron trees, tongue-pulling, steamers, and copper pillars.

In the abyss, the wailing is endless, the karmic fire never goes out, as if there is no end to the release.

Even as a bystander, Xu Qing felt the emotion of despair to the extreme.

As the saying goes, the heavier the evil karma, the deeper the trap.

From this, it can be seen that the Bai Yun Daoist's evil karma had likely reached the point where it would never be repaid.

No wonder this old Daoist was so afraid of death...

Xu Qing suddenly realized that those who cultivate the Dao are often more taboo about the underworld than ordinary people, especially under the influence of the Five Turbid Evil World, where many go against the heavens, and there are no shortage of those who use any means to achieve their goals.

According to the evil karma accumulated by these people, I'm afraid that after death, not one of them will be able to escape the abyss's devouring.

The Deliverance Sutra, already stained ink-black by sin, continued to turn the page, and the sinful life of the Bai Yun Daoist was also revealed...

(End of chapter)