Chapter 263

"Master!"

Zhaoli called out,

"Why are you back so soon!"

Cheng Xinzhan returned to the hermitage and saw the two children still packing things.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled,

"I met a dull one today, but you must never take it lightly when you go out."

"Got it!"

Zhaoli responded crisply.

Cheng Xinzhan touched the child's head and returned to his quiet room. He sat on the couch and began to count the Crying Wind Monk's cave stones and the things brought back from the Decay Life Zen Monastery.

Things commonly used in cultivation such as jade, gold essence, minerals, medicinal herbs, and talisman paper were classified by Cheng Xinzhan by grade and put into cave stones for safekeeping.

Such things are never too many. Low-grade ones can also be rewarded to children, disciples, and juniors, all of which can be used. He specifically picked out some spiritual objects of gold, fire, wind, and earth, called Zhaoli and Bai Long, and handed them to them.

Things like demonic treasures, evil scriptures, and inferior elixirs were packed and brought back to the sect. Whether to remove the dross and use the waste, or to burn and destroy them as furnace firewood, it was all up to the sect.

And what Cheng Xinzhan really cared about were gangsha and scriptures, which were the only things on the demon that could enter his eyes.

As expected, like the monk Han Shi, he didn't find any traces of known Tiangang in the Crying Wind Monk's treasures. Such spiritual objects were still too hard to find.

However, there were traces of true evil refining in many of his demonic treasures, and they all came from the same wind evil.

But he didn't care about those demonic treasures, but picked up something that looked like a stone.

This thing was shaped like a hanging lotus calyx, and the texture on it looked like grass and wood leaf veins, but it appeared gray-white, like a dead shell, and there were many holes on it, and it was very light in the hand, as if it had been eaten empty by insects.

This was something that fell out of the Crying Wind Monk's body.

Cheng Xinzhan knew at a glance that this was clearly the Crying Wind Monk's liver.

However, an ordinary person's liver would naturally not have holes, and its color and quality would not be like a hollow withered stone. People who have achieved cultivation, such as Cheng Xinzhan himself, have a liver as full as a hanging gourd, green and tough, like silk reflecting dark blue, like a green lotus leaf.

And the liver in Cheng Xinzhan's hand was engraved with talisman patterns, emitting pale white light, like ghost fire on a grave, and wisps of white-haired wind shuttled through these holes, making a "woo-woo" sound.

This looked a bit like a Xun.

Did this demonic monk refine his own liver into a magic treasure?

However, Cheng Xinzhan was not interested in demonic treasures, and he was even more disgusted by human artifacts. He sacrificed "Fire Refining Red Clouds" from his heart mansion. The sword weapon turned into a furnace shape and became the size of an incense burner, suspended in the air.

Cheng Xinzhan threw the liver artifact into it and let the sword furnace refine it.

This liver artifact should belong to the demon monk's life treasure category, and its grade was not low. At this moment, it was emitting dharma light to protect itself, and white wind roared out, wanting to overturn the sword furnace.

"Meow—"

At this time, without waiting for Cheng Xinzhan to take action, Zhaoli heard the sound of the furnace shaking and immediately turned into its original form, jumping in the air a few times and landing on the furnace lid.

"Roar—"

Zhaoli sat on the furnace lid and let out a roar like a dragon and a lion, emitting golden light all over its body. Immediately, the sword furnace under its feet became quiet, and no matter how the liver artifact inside tossed, it couldn't move the sword furnace at all.

Zhaoli spat a golden smoke into the sword furnace again, and the furnace fire suddenly became fierce, and the liver artifact made a ghost-like howl.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled upon seeing this, so he didn't care about the sword furnace anymore, but flipped through those Buddhist scriptures, dharma volumes, and the Crying Wind Monk's notes.

By the morning of the next day, it was time to ingest purple energy, and Cheng Xinzhan withdrew his gaze from the books.

At this time, he took a look and saw that there was no shadow of the liver artifact in the sword furnace, leaving only a cluster of pure white wind.

And the cat on the sword furnace was gone. A talisman paper was left on his desk, with a cat and a dog fighting a skeleton head drawn on it.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled, thinking that these two restless ones should have been itching for a long time.

As for the safety of the two children, Cheng Xinzhan was not worried. The cat and dog had followed him for a long time, their foundation was solid, and they were quite liked by the master and junior sister in the mountains. Their magic treasures were complete, and ordinary people couldn't hurt them.

He put away the talisman paper, then ingested purple energy as usual, and then looked back at the wind in the elixir furnace.

This was naturally that true evil.

At this time, he read the things left by the Crying Wind Monk and naturally already knew the name and origin of this wind evil.

Like Cold Flavor Lake, this was an evil passed down by the Decay Life Zen Monastery, called "White Disaster Bai Wuchang Evil," which could whiten people's hair and skin, ruin people's flesh and blood, loosen people's tendons and bones, and scatter people's souls. It was a Yin evil that extinguished vitality.

It was rumored that this was an evil blown out from the underworld.

Its function was the same as what Cheng Xinzhan thought. The Decay Life Zen Monastery practiced decay wind, using the aging of the flesh and the passage of time to comprehend the great terror and great opportunity between life and death. This was also considered a superior dharma lineage among the eight sufferings.

It was just that the practice of true decay wind was very difficult, and few demonic monks in the Decay Life Zen Monastery could refine it, and it was seen that the inheritance was about to break.

So since a certain generation of abbot of the Decay Life Zen Monastery found this "White Disaster Bai Wuchang Evil," he discovered that this wind could also blow people to age. Although it was not a sudden scene of withering, it was a way to invade vitality.

But no matter what, this could barely be considered a decay wind, and most of the spells and magic treasures of the decay wind lineage could be directly refined based on this wind evil.

This was also the reason why most of the "Decay Wind Suffering" inheritances in Little Xikang had gone extinct, while the Decay Life Zen Monastery could persist until now.

However, it had long been concluded in the world that the so-called "isolated Yang does not grow, and isolated Yin does not grow." The Decay Life Zen Monastery only practiced Yin evil, wind poison entered the body, and even the liver was refined into a demonic treasure. This was clearly walking on a wrong path.

In this way, the death of people and the breaking of inheritance was sooner or later. The fact that there was only one person, the Crying Wind Monk, in the entire Zen monastery in this generation was proof. So even if no one who slays demons and defends the Dao came to the door, its natural extinction would not take long.

Cheng Xinzhan waved his hand, put away the sword furnace, and then opened his mouth to inhale, and that cluster of cold white wind was inhaled into his body, entering his body directly from the twelve-story building.

It is best to refine Yin wind evil with Yang Wood evil to make it enter the body slowly and refine it slowly. Cheng Xinzhan didn't have Yang Wood evil on him now, but he had a top-level Yang Earth evil, "Huang Ji Zheng Wu Evil."

This Yang Earth true evil was condensed from the qi of the earth's lungs, able to suppress the universe, and suppressing Yin wind was naturally not a problem. Moreover, "White Disaster Bai Wuchang Evil" came from the underground Yin-Ming, while "Huang Ji Zheng Wu Evil" was the head of the seventy-two evils, the extreme of earth evil, so it naturally hated and suppressed "White Disaster Bai Wuchang Evil."

Cheng Xinzhan used evil to restrain evil. After "White Disaster Bai Wuchang Evil" entered the body, it didn't set off any waves. He slowly refined this wind evil, comprehending the Taiyin dharma intent inside.

【Extinction】, 【Death】, 【Netherworld】, 【Aging】, 【Decay】...

Although it was suppressed by "Huang Ji Zheng Wu Evil," this Yin wind failed to blow and erode Cheng Xinzhan's flesh and blood. But when Cheng Xinzhan deliberately comprehended the wind evil dharma intent, that cold feeling of death approaching still pulled Cheng Xinzhan's consciousness into the Nine Nether Wind Abyss.

He felt as if his flesh and blood were dissipating rapidly, his white bones turning into flying ash, and even his soul was fluttering like a remnant candle in the wind.

And Cheng Xinzhan didn't resist, carefully comprehending the feeling of the form and skeleton dissipating.

Ancient Western Buddhism believed that there was a miraculous realm between life and death, called "Intermediate State," the so-called "between death and birth, named 'Intermediate State,' possessing the subtle form of the five aggregates, breaking it can achieve Buddhahood in this body," which was one of the sources of the dharma theory of "Decay Wind Suffering."

And in the Daoist Sect, there was also the saying of "Life and Death Mysterious Pass." Only by proving the "Life and Death Mysterious Pass" can one know that one's life is not up to heaven.

In addition, Cheng Xinzhan also heard Wen Sukong say such a sentence, "The corpse-relieving one is the transformation of form, the practice and transformation of the true self." Therefore, in proving the path of the corpse-relieving immortal, comprehending the feeling of the form and skeleton dissipating could be said to be a necessary path.

Now, among the inheritances of Meiji Mountain, only the corpse-relieving immortal method remained that Cheng Xinzhan had not yet practiced, because Wen Sukong definitely wanted Cheng Xinzhan to achieve the fruit of the Heavenly Immortal, and the corpse-relieving immortal method could only be used as a backhand and inheritance. She didn't want Cheng Xinzhan to practice it too early.

So, whether it was to prove the "Life and Death Mysterious Pass" to comprehend the supreme mystery, or to prepare for practicing the corpse-relieving immortal method, this wind evil could be said to have come just right for Cheng Xinzhan.

So at this moment, he was also completely immersed in this Yin wind death abyss, comprehending carefully, only maintaining the Primordial Spirit not to dissipate or get lost with the method of pure Yang intention earth.

He comprehended this, and even Mao constellation didn't call him, missing the purple energy for a few days, and woke up three days later.

He slowly opened his eyes, and those eyes became increasingly deep.

At this time, he took out the Red Goiter gourd and released the Crying Wind Monk's Primordial Spirit.

After three days of refining in the fire domain of the gourd, especially under Cheng Xinzhan's intentional Yang fire locking and burning, the Crying Wind Monk's Primordial Spirit was already on the verge of collapse, like a remnant candle in the wind.

In the gourd, the Crying Wind Monk once thought that this Daoist wanted to refine and kill himself directly, causing his spirit and form to be destroyed, so at this time, as soon as he came out of the gourd, he said,

"The Immortal asks nothing but answers, only begging for a quick death and reincarnation, to be reborn in bliss."

"I only want the practice method of decay wind,"

Cheng Xinzhan said.

And the Crying Wind Monk had already received the monk Han Shi's advice. At this moment, and never before had he had any thought of dying for the dharma. Upon hearing this, he immediately transmitted the dharma method of "Decay Wind Suffering" to Cheng Xinzhan with his Primordial Spirit thought.

Subsequently, amidst the Crying Wind Monk's screams and pleas for mercy, Cheng Xinzhan put his Primordial Spirit into the gourd again.

He used one heart for two purposes, while looking at the secret method transmitted by the Crying Wind Monk, while looking at the Buddhist scriptures and dharma volumes of the Decay Life Zen Monastery and the annotations of past generations, comparing them to avoid being deceived.

And the Decay Life Zen Monastery had a long inheritance and many scriptures. For some obscure places, he had to pick up the scriptures of Cold Flavor Temple and Corpse-Tu Cave to compare. It was just fortunate that he had learned vine script from Tanbai Mingding Sanren before, and could roughly understand them. If he really encountered obscure and difficult ones, he still had to go to the neighbor to ask Tanbai for guidance.

Another five days and five nights passed like this before he finished reading the decay wind dharma method.

Comparing with the Crying Wind Monk's personal secret book and the original annotations passed down by the Decay Life Zen Monastery, he could basically conclude that the dharma method transmitted by the Crying Wind Monk had not done any tricks.

The decay wind dharma method passed down by the Decay Life Zen Monastery was called "Scripture of Proving Emptiness." The many wind-manipulation methods, body-refining methods, meditation methods, and wind treasure refining techniques here were not too interesting to Cheng Xinzhan. These things were not as good as "Bird Divination" and the two inheritances of wind scriptures of Meiji Mountain.

What he wanted to know was where to collect decay wind and how to collect decay wind.

In the "Scripture of Proving Emptiness," the origin of decay wind was said to be mysterious. It was said that when the Buddha Emperor Kuotuo of the ancient West attained enlightenment, he used wisdom to see through 【Space】, transcended life and death and calamities. At the moment of enlightenment, a formless wind burst out from his whole body, blowing the stubborn stones around him into powder, and blowing himself and the disciples serving by his side from young men into old men.

The Buddhist scripture explained that this was saying that the Buddha Emperor Kuotuo had already controlled 【Space】, attained enlightenment on life and death, and was no longer restricted by skin and appearance.

That wind that burst out from the Buddha Emperor Kuotuo was decay wind.

Cheng Xinzhan just took it as watching a fun thing.

He believed that this kind of wind that pushes Yin and pulls Yang and accelerates the passage of time would only come from the creation of heaven and earth, and it must be the same thing as the disaster wind, calamity wind, and disaster-plague five decays wind mentioned by the Daoist Sect, just that the names on both sides were different.

This wind is the power of heaven and earth. Wanting to practice it is already stealing the creation of heaven and earth, bearing karma, which is extremely difficult. How could it come from a practitioner, even if he is an immortal Buddha.

So Cheng Xinzhan thought, at most, it was that the Buddha Emperor Kuotuo practiced decay wind and showed a hand in front of his disciples, and then it was exaggerated by his disciples and descendants, and spread by word of mouth.

This scripture mentioned that to collect decay wind, there are heaven and human methods.

Heaven wind refers to autumn wind gold brilliance.

The Buddhist scripture says: "Observe the body like autumn leaves, scattering and breaking with the wind, knowing the suffering of impermanence," and also says: "Observe the changes of the four seasons, only the autumn wind sweeping leaves has great terror, knowing the impermanence of all actions, it is named 'Decay Phase Contemplation'."

Cheng Xinzhan didn't feel surprised upon hearing this, because there were similar records in the Daoist scriptures, saying: "Gold energy is murderous, all things wither, if the west wind is too prosperous, it becomes a calamity evil."

The Daoist Sect also believed that autumn wind was at the change of the boundary between Yin and Yang. Once the autumn wind was out of balance, it would evolve into a disaster. "Honglie" says: "If the first month of autumn follows the winter order, then Yin energy will win, insects will ruin the grain, and soldiers will come; if it follows the spring order, then the country will be dry, Yang energy will return, and the five grains will not be solid."

However, the immortal path values life, and many scriptures only said how to avoid disasters and adjust, but they didn't record how to practice this disaster energy in the autumn wind, or there were records, but they were lost in several immortal avoidance and demon tides.

But fortunately, the Decay Life Zen Monastery lived in a remote corner of Little Xikang, with vast land and few people, and it actually passed down the method of collecting this wind in the Kuotuo lineage.

The Buddhist scripture says that to collect the decay energy in the autumn wind, it must be in the Zi year of the earthly branches, within fifteen days before and after the Frost Descent, at the Zi hour of the night. When the autumn wind falls on the grass and wood and is about to form white frost, the wind at this moment will contain decay wind.

Just hearing this timing, one knows the difficulty of collecting decay wind, because just one Zi year of the earthly branches takes twelve years to come around once, and there are only fifteen hours in a year. And this is only if you encounter Frost Descent. If you encounter a geothermal drought year, then these twelve years will be waited in vain.

And this is only saying that there is decay wind in the wind at this time. Wanting to collect this decay wind from the autumn wind is another matter.

The Buddhist scripture recorded a wind-collecting tool and a wind-receiving tool.

The wind-collecting tool must be refined from Xin gold material into a wind-catching net. The mesh must be three inches, three points, and three li, and the thickness of the net rope must not exceed one hao. And when the wind-catching net is opened, it must be enough to cover a mile of land!

Xin gold is soft. The requirement for refining techniques is not ordinary, and such a fine net, to catch the murderous gold wind, I am afraid that if one is not careful, it will be blown and broken.

If everything is lucky, the net is not broken, and one can catch decay wind in the Zi hour of one night, the wind will hang wind dew on the Xin net, which is also called Xin dew or dead dew in the Buddhist scripture.

After the wind dew is formed, it must be dialed down immediately and collected with the wind-receiving tool, which is a treasure bottle cast from lead and tin using secret methods, otherwise it will dissipate immediately.

Collecting all the wind dew on the Xin net in this night, it would be good to have one plant.

If one wants to refine decay wind, one must swallow wind dew. Wind dew entering the body is another danger. If one is not careful, it will cut short vitality, and even worse, wind evil entering the body will turn into a pile of withered bones on the spot.

Cheng Xinzhan felt some emotion watching this. No wonder the Daoist Sect's practice of disaster wind had already been lost, and Buddhism was also about to break its inheritance.

And as he watched, he felt something was wrong again. This decay wind, or disaster wind, seems to be a Tiangang?

Being so particular about the timing, able to condense into dew, and needing to be stored in lead vessels, and having great danger when taken.

Isn't this also a characteristic of Tiangang?

However, in the Daoist canon that Cheng Xinzhan read, there was no Tiangang that could correspond to it.

Could it be because it is too rare in the present world, and there are even fewer people who refine it, so it has not been recorded in the book?

This is not impossible, because although the thirty-six Tiangang are fixed numbers, Tiangang also has a lifespan, some die of old age, and some are born. As time goes by, the Tiangang of the present world are naturally not recorded completely.

If it is really a Tiangang, then such a Tiangang that can change the timing, if ranked in the present world, is also extremely high.

Tiangang is hard to get. Cheng Xinzhan felt that the hope of catching it was not great, so he went to look at the human method.

He only glanced at it, and felt that the heaven method was more reliable.

(End of chapter)