Chapter 146: So-called Talisman Dao, so-called Elixir Dao

The thirteenth of the third month, the day before Qingming.

A group of people gathered at Zhongling Mountain.

Because this visit had been scheduled long ago, it was not like the rushed trip to West Kunlun last time; that time they had departed from Yuxu Peak, but this time they were setting off from the mountain gate.

The leadership for this trip was of a high level. The one in charge was Cheng Yifu, Vice Sect Master of Yuqing Peak. Additionally, Huo Jingyan, Master of the External Affairs Courtyard; Zhao Wuji, Master of Shuji Mountain; Ren Wushi, Master of Danxia Mountain; Ying Jingsong, Master of Toujian Mountain; and Gan Jingquan, Master of Moya Mountain, were all present.

Besides them, for this participation in the Long Hu Fa Hui, they also brought ten disciples each from the first and second realms. When the time came, these disciples would not only observe the ceremonies but also perform techniques to help boost the sect's prestige.

Furthermore, the territorial divisions and harvest terms for some spiritual fields and mines in Yu Zhang would also be determined by the rankings of these first and second-realm disciples' performances.

This performance was limited to the first and second realms, because once one reached the third realm, one was a person of status and reputation. If placed in a remote area, one could already establish a sect, so naturally, they would no longer enter the arena to fight.

Several of the masters had arrived quite early and were chatting.

"Sigh, you say, Cheng Xinzhan, this child, why must he break through to the second realm at this juncture? Opening the Wood Mansion would have been enough! It wouldn't have been too late to break through to the second realm after returning!"

Huo Jingyan said with long sighs.

With Cheng Xinzhan's strength in refined Five Elements cultivation, it could be said he dominated the first realm. In the first-realm competitions, he would certainly have been a sure winner, but now that he had broken through to the second realm, he would have to compete against those young talents who had been in the second realm for many years, so the certainty was not as great.

It was just that the other side had specifically requested Cheng Xinzhan's participation, and after obtaining Cheng Xinzhan's opinion, they had agreed, so naturally, they could not go back on their word now.

Ying Jingsong smiled upon hearing this, "Unless someone has refined an extraordinary Lei Gang or Sha, and can use it with ease, otherwise, Cheng Xinzhan's chances of winning should still be very high."

Zhao Wuji and Gan Jingquan both nodded, agreeing verbally. Aside from Inner Elixir cultivation, Cheng Xinzhan's achievements in sword arts, thunder arts, and talisman arts were also plain for all to see.

Ren Wushi felt somewhat unhappy hearing this. Since everyone thought he was good, then how could such a child, excellent in every aspect, not learn elixir arts? The Sect Master had him audit at the three mountains, but did not mention Danxia Mountain; what was going on with that?

Was it because he had been in seclusion, and Danxia Mountain had been neglected? Then how did Wan Wuwei serve as the Vice Mountain Master?

Was it that this child was not interested in elixir arts? Ren Wushi did not believe it; in this world, only fools would not be interested in elixir arts, because they could not learn them.

Was it that Wen Sukong or the Sect Master had an opinion about Danxia Mountain? Then he would definitely catch them and ask when he returned this time.

Amidst the laughter, the people had mostly arrived, and they began to board the boats.

The transport magic treasure this time was also quite interesting; it was three bamboo rafts. The rafts were large, but very empty on top, with only a few meditation cushions placed there.

The several masters sat on the bamboo rafts in pairs, and the disciples also began to board.

"Eh, has Cheng Xinzhan not arrived yet?"

Huo Jingyan was counting the number of people, but discovered that among the twenty disciples, Cheng Xinzhan was the only one missing. This shouldn't be; that child understood propriety and etiquette, so if a time was set, he shouldn't be late.

"Apologies! Apologies! I am late!"

Huo Jingyan was just preparing to make contact when he heard a familiar voice.

Immediately after, he saw a figure stepping through the air.

He looked, and who else could it be but Cheng Xinzhan?

Eh?!

Just look at his footwork; what kind of magic light was under his feet? Silver and purple flickered, seemingly lightning, but one could also hear the sound of wind howling and fire roaring. This child was not walking a straight path either; three steps and a turn, four steps and a fold, the footprints left in the void looked like plum branches, and also like stars.

The sound traveled from far to near; at first, it was still far away, but by the time the sentence was finished, he had landed right in front of them.

"Cheng Xinzhan, what kind of footwork is this? I have never seen you use it before."

Cheng Xinzhan bowed and replied, "Disciple's learning is miscellaneous. I discovered that wind, fire, stars, and thunder all have unique aspects in escape arts, so I thought about merging them together, and created this nondescript escape art. Disciple calls it the 'Four-Unlike Step'. It is still a rough draft and not worthy of your eyes."

Huo Jingyan nodded, having nothing to say.

Cheng Xinzhan apologized to the other masters and fellow disciples, then prepared to choose a bamboo raft to board.

"Cheng Xinzhan, come here to me."

At this moment, two calls rang out in unison.

Cheng Xinzhan looked over; it was Ren Wushi, Master of Danxia Mountain, and Gan Jingquan, Master of Moya Mountain, calling him at the same time.

"Jingquan, you don't need to move; I'll go to your side."

Ren Wushi shouted upon seeing this and stepped over in one stride.

Seeing this, Cheng Xinzhan had no choice but to board this bamboo raft.

On the raft now were three elders: Ying Jingsong, Gan Jingquan, and Ren Wushi. Including Cheng Xinzhan, there were seven disciples.

Cheng Xinzhan saw Zeng Jinian of Toujian Mountain and Xiao Miaoyu of Moya Mountain on this raft as well, while on the opposite raft, he saw Zhu Jianrong of Danxia Mountain. He had seen the others before, but was not familiar with them.

"Jingquan, what is it you have to say? You speak first."

Ren Wushi sat down on the meditation cushion next to Gan Jingquan.

Cheng Xinzhan also came to sit opposite the several Mountain Masters.

He had not had much interaction with Moya Mountain or Danxia Mountain before, and this was his first time meeting the two Mountain Masters. Upon seeing them, he discovered that both Mountain Masters had very distinct characteristics. Hmm, that wasn't quite right; it could only be said that the masters of each mountain had very distinct characteristics.

The Master of Danxia Mountain was a typical child-faced, crane-haired elder; his hair was like silver silk, but there was not a single wrinkle on his face, and his complexion was as rosy as an infant's.

The Master of Moya Mountain was extremely young. The youngest Mountain Master Cheng Xinzhan had seen before was the Master of Toujian Mountain, but Mountain Master Gan Jingquan was even younger than Master Ying, possessing a very youthful spirit.

"Cheng Xinzhan, your reputation as Cheng Yifu is like thunder to the ears!"

Gan Jingquan said with a smile.

Cheng Xinzhan repeatedly said he did not dare.

"Where did you learn this set of talisman arts?"

Gan Jingquan was very curious. He had become interested after hearing that there was a figure named Cheng Yifu in the sect. Later, when they suppressed demons in West Kunlun, after his direct disciple Xiao Miaoyu returned and spoke highly of this Cheng Yifu, it piqued his interest even more.

He had taken the talismans Cheng Xinzhan drew from Xiao Miaoyu to look at; the grade of the talismans was not considered high, but the brushwork and the divine intent within them were extremely exquisite.

Cheng Xinzhan answered truthfully,

"Disciple entered through 'Initial Explanation of Talisman Dao'."

Gan Jingquan nodded; this was not surprising. Most talisman cultivators in the world entered through this initial explanation, which was a book available for free borrowing in the Sanqing Mountain library.

"And then? Who taught you the way of talismans?"

He asked again.

Cheng Xinzhan replied, "Actually, no one taught me. It was Elder Jingsi of Toujian Mountain who once gave me a talisman book, which helped me a lot. After understanding the elements and essentials of talisman drawing through these two books, I pondered and drew them myself. At first, it was difficult to have any realization, but later I discovered that talisman dao can borrow from spell arts and calligraphy/painting, and only then did my talisman dao make progress."

Speaking of this, Cheng Xinzhan discovered that the fellow disciples on the raft were all listening, especially those from Moya Mountain, so he expanded on it,

"Disciple thinks that the weight, speed, and cadence of the incantation when chanting, and the weight, speed, and turns of the brush when drawing a talisman, are all different paths to the same destination; they are just different expressions of Dao rhyme and magic intent."

"Later, in order to learn arts, disciple came into contact with different fonts, such as Cloud Clerical, Thunder Seal, Wind Cursive, and Dragon Script. Disciple discovered that in fact, these characters are all talismans; for the same character, using different fonts presents different magic intents. Thus, disciple later self-studied Phoenix Patterns, Ghost Script, Tadpole Script, Flower-Bird Script, and Insect-Fish Script."

"Drawing different talismans using different fonts, at first, the gain might not be very large, but after getting used to it, the brush follows the intent, not restricted to any one kind. When the brush falls, it is neither clerical nor seal script. One day, I suddenly discovered that the gain was not to be underestimated."

"Another point is visualization. Visualize the divine statue images more often. With the divine in your heart, when the brush falls, it is naturally as if you have divine help. I have a method I pondered myself; let me tell everyone. It is just one person's opinion, but I feel it is useful. Because many deities are very ancient, just visualizing the image is difficult to grasp the true intent. Sometimes I collect some legendary stories, perhaps true, perhaps far-fetched by later generations. I create biographies for the deities based on these stories. As I write and think, the divine intent in my heart naturally becomes stronger."

"Another is visualizing the true form of nature. For example, mountains. The true form of nature is placed there, but when visualizing, you don't need to visualize the entire scenery. Strip away the lines that best represent this mountain, for example, the boundary line between yin and yang, dawn and dusk; for example, the lines of the mountain's rise and fall; for example, the cloud lines and water lines associated with the mountain lines. Sometimes you need to look from afar, sometimes you need to look closely. With these lines, you can merge them into the talisman, and the divine intent will have a place to rely on."

After Cheng Xinzhan finished speaking, the raft was quiet.

"One person's opinion, just one person's opinion."

He added a sentence.

"Thank you, Master Cheng, for your lecture!"

At this moment, to his surprise, Xiao Miaoyu suddenly stood up and bowed to him!

He was all too familiar with this etiquette; this was the disciple etiquette of Sanqing Mountain sect members towards a master. He had performed it to his master at the beginning, later to Master Tao Jianxian, and also to Master Jiang Weishan. He never expected that one day he would be the one receiving the bow!

!

"Fellow Daoist Miaoyu, this cannot be."

He took two steps forward and helped Xiao Miaoyu up.

"Thank you, Master Cheng, for your lecture!"

The other five fellow disciples all stood up and performed the disciple etiquette.

Cheng Xinzhan was at a loss for a moment.

Gan Jingquan, Ying Jingsong, and Ren Wushi clapped their hands together.

"Truly, the younger generation is to be feared! You are taking heaven and earth as your teacher! I saw that Cheng Xinzhan, you are intelligent, so I asked about your talisman dao learning, preparing to invite you to audit at Moya Mountain. But now it seems, I still want to invite you to Moya Mountain, but not to audit; rather, I invite you to lecture. I hope you can agree."

Gan Jingquan praised.

"This..."

Cheng Xinzhan hesitated. He had only just entered the second realm; could he go to Moya Mountain, famous for its talismans, to lecture?

And at this moment, Ren Wushi could no longer wait and said,

"Cheng Xinzhan, just agree. In everything, teaching others is also teaching oneself. Once others learn, you will inevitably become more refined. Old Daoist asks one more thing: do you have such insights in elixir dao as you do in talisman dao?"

Cheng Xinzhan shook his head; he was indeed not familiar with elixir dao.

Ren Wushi was anxious. Did this child really not know elixir dao?

"How could this be?"

He asked.

Cheng Xinzhan thought about it. What was the reason he didn't learn elixir dao at the beginning?

Oh.

It was because he had no money.

At the beginning, he had no money to practice sword arts either, so he could only learn spells and talismans. It was only after his first trip out that he obtained "Autumn Water" and "Taodu", and only then did he start to come into contact with sword dao.

Later, when he was not short of money, he also received strong cultivation from the sect. Taking the opportunity of sword casting, he also started to come into contact with refining dao. But aside from orthodox Inner Elixir cultivation, sword, talisman, spell, refining, and thunder were already enough for him to learn. Elixir dao seemed to have never had an opportunity for him to learn.

"I heard that elixir dao is extremely difficult and extremely wasteful, so..."

Ren Wushi blew his beard and stared upon hearing this,

"Elixir dao is difficult? That is difficult for fools. It is not difficult for you. Elixir dao is wasteful? Since the three mountains of Toujian, Shuji, and Bai Hu can let you audit and learn arts, can my Danxia Mountain not afford the pill refining needs of one person?"

Cheng Xinzhan was speechless.

At this time, Mountain Master Ren changed his tone,

"Cheng Xinzhan, look, how about this? After we return, I will go find your master and the Sect Master myself and allow you to come to Danxia Mountain to audit elixir arts. How about that?"

This kind of pie falling from the sky was also an opportunity. He really didn't know how to refuse, so he bowed,

"Many thanks for Mountain Master Ren's great kindness!"

Ren Wushi nodded with a smile and asked Cheng Xinzhan again,

"One cannot not know fire arts to refine pills. Cheng Xinzhan, do you possess magic fire?"

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, flipped his palm, and two fireballs tumbled in his palm,

"Disciple has a Bing Fire and a Ding Fire. I wonder if they can be used for refining pills?"

Ren Wushi's eyes lit up, and he said 'good' repeatedly. In his heart, he cursed Wan Wuwei to a bloody pulp. Such a seedling, why not pull him to Danxia Mountain earlier?

At this moment, his thoughts were exactly the same as Zhao Wuji's back then.

"Come, Cheng Xinzhan, it is still early. Old Daoist will teach you some elixir theories first..."

Ren Wushi said it was still early, but Sanqing Mountain and Long Hu Mountain were both in Yu Zhang, so how far could they be? In a short while, Long Hu Mountain was right before their eyes, and his elixir theory had only just begun.

However, this person was worthy of being the Master of Danxia Mountain. His speech was high-reaching; from an introductory elixir theory, he spoke from preserving essence and removing dross to refining essence into Qi, instantly linking it to Inner Elixir Dao, which made Cheng Xinzhan benefit greatly.

"Look, the most famous Green Dragon White Tiger elixir appearance in the world is right there."

Ren Wushi pointed to the direction where the bamboo raft was slowly descending.

Cheng Xinzhan looked there and saw mountains towering, continuous and endless. Yellow stones and green pines could be seen everywhere, which was somewhat similar to the rock appearance of Sanqing Mountain.

However, looking from afar and bird's-eye view, one knew that Sanqing Mountain won in being quiet, elegant, and beautiful, while this group of mountains was majestic and imposing.

In the center of the group of mountains was a circle of large mountains forming a ring. On both sides of the ring of mountains, two high peaks stood, like a two-eared round tripod.

To the east of the round tripod, the group of mountains wound and snaked, forming a dragon. This mountain ridge was planted with green pines, looking like a green dragon lying on the ground, not knowing how many miles it stretched, seeing the tail but not the head.

To the west of the round tripod, high peaks clustered, interlocking like a tiger. Here, the high peaks' rock was exposed, as if a white tiger was soaring into the sky, the high peaks reaching straight into the clouds, seeing the body but not the head.

These three mountain trends were the famous Immortal Tripod Mountain, Green Dragon Ridge, and White Tiger Peak.

Legend has it that the Ancestral Tian Shi refined pills here, and when the pills were formed, the dragon and tiger appeared, and he ascended to heaven on the spot. The tripod for refining pills turned into Immortal Tripod Mountain, and the dragon and tiger phenomena turned into Green Dragon Ridge and White Tiger Peak.

"Back then, the Ancestral Tian Shi did not take that pill. Just because the pill was formed, he ascended to heaven on the spot. Hehe, Cheng Xinzhan, this is elixir dao!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 147 =====