Chapter 15: Bai Hu Constellations, Green Chi Listening to the Zither

Cheng Yunqi returned to his residence, hugging a large pile of books.

He sat at the desk, first took out the "Bai Hu Seven Constellations Chapter," and slowly tore open the paper seal on the painting scroll.

A touch of silvery-white brilliance immediately shone through the painting. The silver light fell on Cheng Yunqi's face, giving him a chilling sensation as if a blade were cutting his skin.

He placed the scroll on the far right of the desk and slowly unrolled it to the left. After the scroll was unrolled, the silver light became even more intense, piercing his eyes, and Cheng Yunqi subconsciously closed them.

"Roar!"

A tiger's roar sounded out of thin air, forcing Cheng Yunqi to endure the tears and open his eyes.

At this moment, he happened to see a white tiger leap out from the scroll, then vanish into a galaxy that also appeared out of thin air. By the time he wanted to look closer, there was no trace left.

He marveled at the magic of immortal arts, and it also made him understand that this ancient artifact from the Warring States period was indeed extraordinary.

He examined the scroll carefully and found that the background color was black, the lines of the portraits were silver, and the clothing colors were colorful, as if a master painter had just put down the brush. He could not tell at all that it was a rubbing from a screen thousands of years ago.

Looking closer, the scroll depicted from right to left:

Kui Wood Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord was lying on a piece of jade, one hand supporting his head, the other leaning on a long, emerald-green blade, looking angry. He had an indigo face, white fangs, messy crimson sideburns on both sides of his head, and three or four tufts of purple whiskers hanging from his chin. The Star Lord was draped in a pale yellow robe, with a pair of green feet and red soles exposed, the joints like gnarled cliffs.

Lou Gold Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord was tall and burly, standing with a sword in his arms, wearing a wide ochre-red robe, a black square cap on his head, and thick-soled official boots on his feet. He had a square face, bright yellow, with a mustache on his lips, a circle of thick, bushy whiskers under his chin, eyes like lightning, and a majestic appearance.

Wei Earth Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord stood with his hands behind his back, a long spear tilted in his hand behind him, wearing armor, with a yellow robe draped over the armor, and a pheasant-feather cap on his head, looking majestic.

Mao Sun Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord was dressed very gorgeously, with a gold-bead peach-leaf cap on his head, wearing a vermilion red robe, on which were painted patterns of colorful clouds arching over stars, auspicious clouds swirling, and stars forming the Mao constellation. Around his waist was a warm yellow jade belt inlaid with various agates, and a tablet was tucked into the belt, on which were painted scenes of mountains and rivers.

Mao Sun Star Lord was not tall, quite thin, with a white face and no beard, fiery eyes and golden pupils, and a hooked nose.

The Star Lord had his left hand behind his back, his right hand raised high, his thumb and index finger twisting a ball of fire. Looking closely, inside the fire was actually a thin embroidery needle. The Star Lord squinted one eye and looked up, as if he had just refined a treasure and was now using the sunlight to look at the embroidery needle.

Bi Moon Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord was dressed in a moon-white palace dress, with layers of tassels on the dress, and bright pearl decorations on her hair, ears, and neck, truly glittering with jewels. The Star Lord held twin swords, looking straight ahead, her eyes filled with anger and evil, her heroic spirit compelling.

Zi Fire Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord was dressed in an official uniform of the star official, interwoven with purple and black, exceptionally noble. The Star Lord had a red face and a pointed mouth, eyes like red charcoal, holding a short red iron stick in his hand, looking angry.

Can Water Star Lord. In the portrait, this Star Lord was tall and burly, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, ape-armed and bear-waisted, wearing green armor, draped in a water-blue robe, left hand on his hip, right hand holding a large seal, looking down and scolding.

These seven Star Lords occupied the seven attributes of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, ranked in the Western Bai Hu, in charge of military affairs and killing, and used as the main sacrifice for the temple in his mind and the landscape deities of the five internal organs in the future, which must be enough.

Cheng Yunqi wanted to open his heart-mansion, so the inner-landscape deity must belong to fire. By logic, Mao Sun Star Lord should be the first choice, but Cheng Yunqi preferred Mao Sun Star Lord.

There were three reasons.

First, Mao Sun Star Lord was a deity of the Sun. Although he was beyond the Five Elements, he was the root of the fire phase. It was difficult to combine the Five Elements with Yin-Yang, but it was simple to derive the Five Elements from Yin-Yang, so it was appropriate as the main deity of the heart-mansion.

Second, Mao Sun Star Lord's original form was a double-crowned golden-eyed rooster. The rooster was the "bird of five virtues." Ancient sayings went, "The rooster with a crown on its head is literary; the one with spurs on its feet is martial; the one that dares to fight when the enemy is in front is brave; the one that calls others when seeing food is benevolent; the one that guards the night without missing the time is trustworthy." In comparison, Zi Fire Star Lord's original form was a fire monkey, which was jumpy and easily angered, not liked by Cheng Yunqi.

Third, the rooster was a Yang bird, in charge of announcing the dawn, restraining Yin energy, and suppressing all monsters and insects in the world. As an official of the heart-mansion, it naturally had the meaning of commanding the five mansions and ordering the hundred orifices.

With an idea in his heart, Cheng Yunqi thought about it carefully a few more times, confirmed there was nothing wrong, and made up his mind.

He put away the scroll and stuck the paper seal back on to prevent the divine intent from leaking too quickly.

Subsequently, he flipped through the "Architectural Standards for Daoist Temples," focusing on the essentials of temple construction for Yang officials, Star officials, and Fire gods.

———— Spring passed and winter came; today was heavy snow.

Songlu Lake was located in a pine forest south of Mount Xiaowan, rarely visited by people.

Today was the sixth day of the winter month, the season of heavy snow. In fact, heavy snow had been falling for five days. Everything was vast and white, with white snow on the ground and clouds and mist in the sky, making it impossible to distinguish the boundaries.

The pine forest was covered in white snow, only the center of the forest was still lush and green—this was Songlu Lake. Mist curled over the lake, but it did not freeze. In the cold mist above the center of the lake, there was a red dot.

The pine wind was biting, blowing away a corner of the mist, and only then could it be seen that the red dot was actually a fire cloud.

On the fire cloud, a young Daoist stood, his eyes slightly closed, his body repeating a few movements:

Both hands followed the arms from the sides of the body, circled the tailbone and kidney acupoints, drew an arc forward, and raised them to the level of the collarbone in front of the body. Both arms were rounded as if holding a ball, with the fingertips of both hands facing each other.

Then the body squatted down, both arms fell with it, and were slowly placed on the upper part of the knees.

Accompanied by these movements, the young Daoist spat out a syllable unhurriedly:

【Chui】!

After this long syllable was finished, the young man's body slowly stood up with the trend of inhalation, and both arms naturally fell and hung on both sides of the body.

It was also when the young man inhaled that the cold mist on the lake was also sucked into the young man's mouth in wisps.

At this time, if one looked from top to bottom, one could easily see a dark green shadow swimming in the lake water below where the red cloud was.

=9+Book_Bar

"Alright, thank you, fellow Daoist, for guarding me."

The young Daoist said a sentence to the water below.

"Splash~"

Suddenly, a sound of water rang out, and a giant object broke the water surface, poking out a large head that looked like a dragon but not a dragon, like a snake but not a snake.

The giant object was covered in green scales, with a dragon head but no horns; it turned out to be a green Chi.

The head of this green Chi extending from the lake was about the same size as the young Daoist standing on the red cloud. Looking at the body size, this green Chi was not yet an adult; it was a young species.

The little green Chi opened its mouth and spat out an object, which fell onto the cloud head and was caught by the young Daoist. It was an ancient zither of dark green color.

Seeing the young man catch the ancient zither, the little green Chi's emerald pupils were immediately filled with joy and expectation.

"Still playing 'Fisherwoman'?"

The little green Chi nodded repeatedly.

The young Daoist smiled and said okay, his hands fell on the zither, and he began to play the ancient Tang dynasty tune, "Fisherwoman."

This little tune was unknown, and it was accidentally discovered by the young Daoist's father when he was young from some ancient music score, but he did not expect it to be the favorite of this young Chi.

A few months ago, he was collecting water energy on the lake, and it happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival at midnight, with the flat lake reflecting the moon. He hummed this song of his parents' love, but he did not expect to attract the green Chi to linger and not leave.

Cheng Yunqi plucked the strings. The tone of this ancient zither named "Heavenly Wind Pine Snow" was naturally worlds apart from his old father's ordinary zither, but at this moment, Cheng Yunqi missed his father's zither sound incomparably, and missed his mother's warm and satisfied smile when she heard this song.

The new book is presented; I hope everyone will leave more messages and comments.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 16 =====