Chapter 255: Mount Emei's Open Plot, Wind Dwelling Bird God

"By the way, Daoist Tanbai, you said that your sect juniors received an edict to eliminate demons. What does this mean? What edict?"

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan asked.

Daoist Tanbai Mingding Sanren explained,

"Naturally, it is the edict issued by the Xuan Tian Alliance. Since the establishment of the Xuan Tian Alliance, all Xuanmen sects in Shu must listen to its dispatch."

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan thought that the Xuan Tian Alliance was really overbearing. The Haoran Alliance in the east is that disciples of all families are willing to go down the mountain to experience the tribulation, go to the alliance to register themselves, and then receive the order arrow or distribute the order arrow. There is no such thing as forced conscription.

However, after thinking about it carefully, this is not strange. Different places have different differences. The eastern immortal Dao advocates avoiding the world and being unrestrained, while the Shuxi Xuanmen has always advocated cultivating the Dao in the red dust. Doing so is also within expectations.

Especially since Shu is surrounded by demons on all four sides, the current situation is even more optimistic. If there is no such hub to unify the dispatch, it is easy to make mistakes.

"Yunlai, now that things have reached this point, since you insist on taking this risk with me, some things are not easy to hide from you. Anyway, once you arrive at the scene, you will naturally know everything."

"You say."

"You are so intelligent, you should have guessed it. Daoist Tuo Yan and the others and I are from the same sect, the Zhan Biyun Nunnery."

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan nodded. It was indeed not beyond his expectation. Being able to cultivate these people, it must not be a small sect. And when chatting privately with Daoist Mingding, Daoist Tanbai, and Master Huqing, these three could hardly hide their disgust for Mount Emei.

A large sect in Shu, with a grudge against Mount Emei, all love wine—the answer is not hard to guess.

And Daoist Tanbai Mingding Sanren saw Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's expression of not being surprised at all, knowing that he had a number in his heart, and continued,

"But Zhan Tao is not."

"Oh?"

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan was a bit surprised this time. He didn't expect this.

"He is from Mount Emei."

Daoist Tanbai Mingding Sanren's next sentence surprised him even more, but he quickly reacted and said,

"That is originally from the Zhan Biyun Nunn

Daoist Daoist Tanbai was surprised by Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's quick-wittedness, but he still shook his head.

"More precisely, it was only after he was first taken in by Mount Emei that the annexation of Zhan Biyun Nunnery by Mount Emei occurred."

"Hmm?"

There was such a thing as a sect being annexed before it even retired? If this were spoken of, one would be pointed at and reviled; who would dare to defy the world's opinion like this?

In other words, what kind of talented figure was it that was worth Mount Emei doing something so overbearing?

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan found it hard to understand, but suddenly, he remembered Zhou Zhou Qingyun. She had been raised by Master Master Canxia since she was a child, and she too had been taken in as a disciple by Mount Emei in an unclear manner, eventually becoming the personal disciple of True Person Lady Miaoyi and one of the renowned Seven Cultivators of Shushan.

However, later on, after Li Li Yingqiong lost the "Taodu" sword, the term "Seven Cultivators of Mount Emei" was heard less and less, and later a new term, "Three Heroes and Two Clouds," emerged, with the other two being known as Jin Chan and Little Little Zhuge.

Thinking back, during that brief meeting, this person Zhan Tao did not speak much, but left a deep impression on him; his aura was peaceful, and he was a person who hid his true depth.

Thus, a thought suddenly occurred to Cheng Cheng Xinzhan. He looked at Daoist Daoist Tanbai and smiled.

"That Zhan Tao, could he be one of the Three Heroes and Two Clouds? Among these five, there is only one male; is it Yan Yan Renying?"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai widened his eyes.

"Yunlai, you... how did you guess that?"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai never expected Cheng Cheng Xinzhan to guess correctly on the first try, because Yan Yan Renying had entered Mount Emei at a very young age, a matter known only to Zhan Biyun Nunnery and the high-ranking figures of several major sects in Shu; ordinary Xuanmen disciples, including the vast majority of Mount Emei disciples, were unaware of it.

Because the act of snatching away someone's roots, even if done by Mount Emei, would cause great controversy, and True Person Lady Miaoyi hated people gossiping the most, so Zhan Biyun Nunnery kept the family shame from spreading, and other insiders dared not speak of it.

Therefore, Daoist Daoist Tanbai could not imagine how Cheng Cheng Xinzhan, a wandering rogue cultivator from out of town, could have guessed it.

Seeing that he had guessed correctly, Cheng Cheng Xinzhan couldn't help but smile. To tell the truth, it was fine that it was Yan Yan Renying; he remembered very clearly that during the sword duel at Baiyujing, the Xuan Sha Sword Master was the only one who did not participate in the joint attack. He had the demeanor of a gentleman; at that time, he didn't even draw his sword throughout the entire event, and the most he did was protect Li Li Yingqiong's shattering flying sword behind him.

Right, it was that very time that the Xuan Sha Sword suddenly plummeted while flying high; that day also happened to be when Mount Emei announced the annexation of Zhan Biyun Nunnery.

Then everything matched up.

Looking at Daoist Daoist Tanbai's surprised expression, Cheng Cheng Xinzhan smiled and explained.

"Anyone Mount Emei would disregard the rites of succession to forcefully snatch must be a genius rare in a thousand years. Such a person, once taken into Mount Emei, would certainly not be unknown, so I only needed to guess among the generation of Mount Emei's young and famous, aiming for the highest."

Daoist Daoist Tanbai exclaimed in admiration upon hearing this.

"Yunlai, you truly are unparalleled in wit. Correct, Zhan Tao is Yan Renying; Zhan Tao is his title within the nunnery."

Immediately, Daoist Daoist Tanbai sneered twice.

"You are right; anyone Mount Emei would disregard the rites of succession to forcefully snatch must be a genius rare in a thousand years, and True Person Lady Miaoyi has taken in four such geniuses."

"Oh?"

So besides Zhou Zhou Qingyun and Yan Yan Renying, there were others. He asked curiously.

"Who else?"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai explained.

"Besides Yan Renying, there is Zhou Zhou Qingyun, the sole disciple of Master Master Canxia of Wenbi Peak, Mount Huangshan, Qingzhou. At the banquet that day, Tuo Yan said there was someone in Shu who was even more formidable than her in the Dao of Sword-Mist; that is this person."

"There is also Yu Yu Yingnan, a disciple of Master Guanghui of Longxiang Nunnery at Yitian Cliff, on the border of Shu and Yunnan. This Longxiang Nunnery is a hidden sect of Zen Buddhism, and its strength is not below my Zhan Biyun Nunnery."

"As for taking in Little Zhuge Little Zhuge Jingrui, it is even more baffling. This person was already within the Mount Emei lineage, only he had always been practicing in seclusion overseas with True Person Xuanzhen. You might not know True Person Xuanzhen; he is True Person Lady Miaoyi's senior brother. You say he even takes his own nephew and puts him in his own hands; isn't that strange?"

"There are seven people viewed as candidates for the next generation of Mount Emei Sect Master, who obtained the Seven Cultivation Swords left behind by True Person Elder Changmei, and thus are also called the Seven Cultivators of Mount Emei. Among them, four were obtained through his clever snatching and forceful taking, two are his own children, and only one, Li Li Yingqiong, was taken in from the secular world, and she is also the one with the heaviest killing intent among them."

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan nodded; only now did he have a rough understanding of the background of these seven most prominent people in Mount Emei.

"That person is skilled in open schemes. Two months ago, he issued a decree for all Seven Cultivators of Shushan to leave the mountain: Yan Renying to guard the Nujiang in Kangxi, Shu, to resist the Tibetans; Zhou Zhou Qingyun to guard the White River Mouth in Northwest Shu, to resist the Western Sea; Li Li Yingqiong to guard Minshan in North Shu, to resist Longyou; Yu Yu Yingnan to guard the Lu River in Southwest Shu, to resist Dianwen; Qi Qi Lingyun and Qi Jin Chan to guard the Red River in Southeast Shu, to resist the Miao Frontier and the Southern Wilderness; Little Zhuge Little Zhuge Jingrui to guard the Wu River Mouth in East Shu, to guard against Eastern forces."

"He has already put out the word: whoever performs most convincingly in the upcoming confrontation between the righteous and the demonic will be the Master of Lingcui Peak. Heh, Master of Lingcui Peak—Yunlai, you are an outsider and perhaps don't know, but all the people of Shu know that before that person succeeded as the Mount Emei Sect Master, the position he held was Master of Lingcui Peak, in charge of the Scripture Pavilion!"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai said with a sigh.

He sighed because all Seven Cultivators of Mount Emei were dispatched to compete for the title of successor, but he did not know that the place names he spoke of had already stirred up monstrous waves in Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's heart.

In Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's mind, the six places Daoist Daoist Tanbai just mentioned appeared, and six points of light lit up on the map of the Divine Land in his mind.

Thus, the sphere of influence of the Xuanmen in Shu became very clear:

West to the Nujiang, pointing at the snowy plateau; East to Wuling, encompassing a thousand miles of the Wu River. North pushing to the Yellow River, where the heavenly stems are cold; South facing the Yangtze River, where the earth is hot and the forests are dense.

This is simply too vast!

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan made a rough estimate; it was as large as Yu Zhang, Kuaiji, and Bamin combined!

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's heart was agitated, and his face appropriately revealed a hint of surprise.

"Is the Mount Emei Sect Master just going to let them compete?"

"That is exactly it."

Daoist Daoist Tanbai nodded and said.

"He didn't arrange it randomly either. My Zhan Biyun Nunnery is in West Shu, and many people, like me, have lived in seclusion in Kangxi after Mount Emei annexed the nunnery, so he arranged for Yan Renying to come to the west."

"Yu Yu Yingnan comes from the Longxiang Nunnery in the south, so he sent her to Dianwen."

"The Purple and Green Swords are held by them, and to show fairness, they were placed in the north. Also out of consideration for the overall situation, to demonstrate his iron-faced impartiality, he could only place his own pair of children in the south, facing the two demonic sects directly."

"As for Little Zhuge Little Zhuge Jingrui, he is his senior brother's disciple after all, and he is young, so he was placed in the safest east."

"Understood."

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan nodded and said.

"Not to mention anything else, at least these two, Yan Renying and Yu Yu Yingnan, have sect forces behind them. If the forces behind them want them to win the candidate position for Mount Emei Sect Master, they must help them compete."

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan looked at Daoist Daoist Tanbai and said bluntly.

"For example, Zhan Biyun Nunnery could remove the label of 'Mount Emei Branch Nunnery' after Yan Renying succeeds as Mount Emei Sect Master. So publicly, you must consider the reputation of your sect; privately, you are worried about Yan Renying being in danger. Thus, without the urging of the Xuan Tian Alliance, your Zhan Biyun Nunnery will certainly put aside past grievances and go all out to help Yan Renying eliminate demons, to the point that even you three who have lived in seclusion for many years have come out of the mountain."

"This is the open scheme of the Mount Emei Sect Master."

Daoist Daoist Tanbai nodded heavily.

"Exactly!"

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan sighed.

"Longxiang Nunnery claims to be a hidden Zen sect, but I think they should also be unable to resist the huge temptation of having the future Mount Emei Sect Master and Xuanmen leader come from their own sect, right?"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai stroked his beard and smiled.

"That is natural."

"Then taking it a step further, the loose cultivators of Qingzhou led by Master Master Canxia of Mount Huangshan, and the overseas practitioners led by True Person Xuanzhen, are probably also hard-pressed to abandon their feelings and will mainly come to help Zhou Zhou Qingyun and Little Zhuge Little Zhuge Jingrui?"

"It should be so."

"So True Person Lady Miaoyi can rest assured in dividing the Mount Emei disciples among Qi Qi Lingyun, Qi Jin Chan, and Li Li Yingqiong—these three truly his own people."

"This is extremely correct."

"Then the other sects of the Xuanmen in Shu, seeing the Mount Emei Sect Master put all seven personal disciples, including his own children, on the front line of the demonic tide, will find it hard to hold back their own resources and will have to send out all their elites to resist the demonic tide."

"Just as you said."

"Truly a good open scheme."

"Yes, this is an open scheme."

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan and Daoist Daoist Tanbai looked at each other and sighed.

At this moment, Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's expression suddenly changed, and he cried out.

"Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai asked.

"Then I treat you all as friends and want to follow you to the Nujiang to eliminate demons; wouldn't I also be falling into his open scheme!"

Daoist Daoist Tanbai laughed upon hearing this and said.

"Indeed!"

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan was joking; his reason for going would naturally not be shaken by such a small factor. He asked.

"When are we leaving?"

"Wait for me to recuperate for a few days. Daoist Mingding and Master Huqing didn't come back this time, and I still need to prepare some things for them. This time, we will stay for a longer period. Yunlai, you should also bring everything you need to bring; we will set off in ten days."

"Good, then see you in ten days."

————

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan returned to his cave dwelling.

"Pack up, we leave the mountain in ten days."

He said to the two children.

"Where to!"

Cheng Zhaoli's eyes were sparkling.

It seems she has deeply felt that life in seclusion is boring.

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan smiled.

"To the Nujiang to eliminate demons, and while we're at it, take precautions and see the demeanor of the Xuanmen practitioners."

"Alright!"

Bai Long also responded loudly and immediately began to pack the things in the cave; it seems he was also impatient.

The two children were cheering, while Cheng Cheng Xinzhan began to sit cross-legged in meditation again. Having just talked with Daoist Daoist Tanbai and learned that the 'Waiting for the Wind Bird Divination' he performed was so effective, then some things could be done.

His own Wind Residence had been left idle for a long time.

Generally speaking, opening the Mount Wufu and Three Residences is something that should be done in the First Realm. The Mount Wufu are the foundation of the Inner Landscape's small world, while the Three Residences are the manifestation of natural phenomena in the Inner Landscape world.

The so-called "snorting through the nose produces thunder, exhaling through the mouth forms clouds, moving the ears raises wind"—when the three orifices move together, rain arrives in an instant. This is not only saying that the three orifices can perform supernatural powers to change weather phenomena, but also refers to the role of the three orifices in the Inner Landscape world.

When yin evil enters the body, a snort through the nose is like a rumbling thunder in the Inner Landscape world, which can disperse evil objects. Some people snore in their dreams because yin evil or nightmares have invaded, and the nasal orifice defends itself by making a sound.

When restless fire rises in the body and one cannot calm the heart, one can swallow saliva through the throat orifice, which reflects into the Inner Landscape world as producing clouds and causing rain, suppressing the restless fire and returning the heart to peace.

When the body is struck by wind evil, and the flow of Qi, blood, and magic power is not smooth, or thoughts are chaotic, one can regulate and expel the evil Qi by moving the wind orifice.

That is why the sages of the Inner Elixir Dao advocate completing the opening of the Mount Wufu and Three Residences in the First Realm; the Mount Wufu increase longevity, and the Three Residences protect the body—all of these have their reasons.

Cheng Cheng Xinzhan's Mount Wufu were naturally beyond reproach, fully opened. He had three Thunder Residences opened, which was also far beyond ordinary people. The Inner Landscape God of the Cloud Residence, the Twelve-Story Tower, was taken from the dragon-kind variant Teng Snake, which was also extraordinary. Only this Wind Residence's Inner Landscape God made him hesitate for a long time.

If he only needed to consider the natural wind of the outside world, it wouldn't have made him so conflicted. There were many wind gods in the sect and in Mount Juqu for him to contemplate, not to mention that there was a living Green Phoenix in Mount Juqu.

But he had practiced one of the main scriptures of Mount Mount Mingzhi, the "Heavenly Gang Earthly Xun Human Spirit Manifestation God Original Scripture," which expounds on wind methods. This true scripture set the tone for wind extremely high: in the heavens, it is Gang Wind; on earth, it is Xun Wind; in the human body, it is Inner Wind—attributing the movement of stars, the flow of spiritual energy, and the circulation of magic power to wind.

So after reading this classic, all tangible wind-phase gods could no longer catch his eye, and thus the opening of the Wind Residence and the selection of the Inner Landscape God had been dragged out until now.

It wasn't until he began practicing the "Baopuzi - Waiting for the Wind Bird Divination Chapter" that he found it described wind even more mysteriously and ethereal, even involving heavenly secrets and fate. Moreover, as he deepened his interpretation of "Waiting for the Wind Bird Divination," it was not hard to find that "Waiting for the Wind Bird Divination" was the source, while Mount Mount Mingzhi's "Heavenly Gang Earthly Xun Human Spirit Manifestation God Original Scripture" was the expansion.

Then this made sense: the Ancestor Immortal was the source of the wind methods of Mount Sanqing; he personally founded "Waiting for the Wind Bird Divination" and passed down the lineage, and later the ancestor of Mount Mount Mingzhi took over this Dharma lineage and began to expand it deeply, forming the "Heavenly Gang Earthly Xun Human Spirit Manifestation God Original Scripture."

This is the same as the lineage inheritance of the Corpse-Dissection Immortal of Mount Mount Mingzhi.

So when "Waiting for the Wind Bird Divination" said that as heavenly secrets change, one can see bird shapes in the wind, Cheng Cheng Xinzhan knew what to choose for his Wind Residence's Inner Landscape God.

The "Waiting-for-the-Wind Bird," which is formless yet has a phase.

(End of chapter)