Chapter 136: Numinous Treasure Sect

The many other Daoists of Shanju Guan chimed in one after another: "That's right! That's right! I also feel that he must have a connection with the Ancestor."

"The poisonous pythons in the mountains that previously only had a connection with the Ancestor have been directly moved by his virtue and are willing to be driven by him. For how many years have we wanted to make contact with this person and collect the beautiful jade of the deep mountains, yet we were never granted permission."

Jingzhu Daoren sighed: "It is a pity he is unwilling to be the abbot of our Shanju Guan; otherwise, it would surely be a great blessing."

"Actually, it is not necessary for him to be our abbot," Zhang Zhenji said. "We need only respect him in our hearts. He is a high-level True Person of the Dao. However, regarding the modifications to our cultivation methods, we still need to ask him for more guidance. Even if it is not him, that Chang Immortal, Chang Yu, also practices the Gen-Mountain Breath-Consuming Method. He can be considered our senior; even the Ancestor once said that he initially only knew the techniques of nourishing life and guiding energy, but later encountered a great snake, saw the great snake shooting breath and consuming breath, and swallowing the jade in the mountains, thus forming the Gen-Mountain Breath-Consuming Method..."

"It is just that we have borrowed the Mountain God to filter it once, but instead, we have gradually relied too much on the Mountain God, turning it into a 'Worship-the-Mountain-God Gen-Mountain Breath-Consuming Method'."

The group of Daoists said: "This Gen-Mountain Breath-Consuming Method indeed has flaws. Apart from the Ancestor achieving the status of Earth Immortal, for two or three hundred years in our temple, we have all merely been Human Immortals. The old abbot had sufficient talent, yet he only cultivated a Yin Spirit, and his physical body sat stiff for years. Among the generations of Daoists, there are not a few who have become paralyzed or sat stiff."

"The Ancestor must have had some secret keys we do not know of, or perhaps he did not pass down the full gate, or he had some unique encounter that could resolve this."

"Then let us take advantage of the fact that he is still here and has not yet descended the mountain to ask for more guidance!"

Having made up their minds, the few of them went together toward where Xu Jia was.

Xu Jia had just sent off Hu Jinhua and Kan Yinwu to go subdue the Lao Zhupo of Lan Shi Huo. To tell the truth, the persimmon forest over there was still a very good source of output. Xu Jia just happened to know the method for making "dried persimmons." If he could mobilize the widowed, lonely, and orphaned Out-of-Body Messengers to produce dried persimmons, it could become a craft to support his household.

At a higher level, the "persimmon frost sugar" that condenses on dried persimmons is a very precious luxury item. For every catty of frost sugar produced, four or five hundred catties of dried persimmons are needed, because the frost sugar brushed off from three or four catties of persimmons made into dried persimmons is only about one qian.

In ancient times, persimmon frost could exist as a tribute for the imperial palace.

In ancient times, dried persimmons belonged to the category of "sweets" that were relatively easy to obtain, and they were durable for storage. Although one could not eat too many, they were indeed quite filling.

Xu Jia valued Lan Shi Huo quite a bit.

For no other reason than that, although he had just made a fortune, using it for cultivation was still a consumption like burning paper, and he also had to build a Daoist temple on Three Pure Ones Mountain. If nothing else, the Three Pure Ones Palace had to be built a bit better.

Furthermore, having just opened the altar, the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable sent down a mysterious light signal. What did this mean? It meant that Xu Jia's branch was no longer a "Lushan Master Sect," but had been incorporated into the Numinous Treasure Sect, one of the "Three Mountains Orthodoxies."

What did this represent? It represented that Xu Jia could build a "Numinous Treasure Altar Field."

Of course, the most famous Numinous Treasure Altar is Gezao Mountain, located in Zhangshu. Ge Tianshi was a master of alchemy, and Zhangshu is also the medicine capital of the Jiangnan West Circuit, the general hub for medicinal materials in the southeast, known by the name "Medicine does not work unless it reaches Zhangshu."

The most famous thing about the Numinous Treasure Sect is, of course, the *True Spirit Chart of Ranks and Positions*, which pioneered the ranking of gods and immortals, constructing the mythological system and the lineage of gods and immortals.

As for the classics of the Numinous Treasure Sect, besides the *Duren Sutra*, the most famous ones, Xu Jia had also read the *Supreme Numinous Treasure Five Talismans* and the *Zhen Gao*, so he was quite familiar with the classics of the Numinous Treasure Sect.

Moreover, the founder of Maoshan, one of the current "Three Mountains," Tao Hongjing, was from the Numinous Treasure Sect.

The Numinous Treasure Sect ancestor Ge Xuan came from the "Shangqing Sect," and the Shangqing Sect ancestor was Wei Cunhua, who was also a "Celestial Master Dao Libationer." The Celestial Master Dao is the Orthodox One Dao, with its Ancestral Court at Longhu Mountain, but the Ancestral Heavenly Master established an altar and cultivated the Dao at Qingcheng Mountain, governing the demons and ghosts of Shu, so Qingcheng Mountain is also an Ancestral Court of the Orthodox One.

The internal refining method Xu Jia obtained at Qingcheng Mountain was clearly derived from the *Yellow Court Inner Landscape Sutra* of the Shangqing Sect.

Everything here is passed down in one continuous line, with great beings developing their own insights, from which schools branch out. Xu Jia's branch was initially Lushan Master, and the Lushan Master was obtained from the Jingming Sect of Xu Xun, and Xu Xun was also dispatched by the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable to be taught by the Sun and Moon Lords.

Then, Xu Jia's path, when calculated, should be considered a branch of the "Numinous Treasure Jingming Sect."

The patron of the Jiangnan West Circuit is "Xu Xun." Come to think of it, Xu Jia was indeed a person from Nanchang, Jiangxi in his past life; he might just be a descendant of Heavenly Master Xu by many generations.

Shangqing Numinous Treasure Altar, Numinous Treasure Jingming Altar, Jingming Lushan Altar, Lushan Master Altar...

There are many branches in between.

What Xu Jia was struggling with was whether to directly establish the Numinous Treasure Jingming Altar or to follow the inheritance of his past life and establish the Lushan Master Altar.

There is a difference of four or five levels in between.

Just at this time, the group of Daoists from Shanju Guan came forward to ask for guidance, interrupting Xu Jia.

Seeing Zhang Zhenji and Jingzhu Daoren in the lead, they lined up in two rows and bowed to Xu Jia.

It gave Xu Jia a start: "What? Do you want to put a yellow robe on me?"

Jingzhu Daoren spoke sincerely: "Our Daoist practice is shallow, our knowledge is limited, and we did not recognize the True Person. But we have heard that the True Person's heart holds the universe and his belly contains the cosmos; with a few words, he can point out the way through confusion. We small Daoists dare not ask the True Person to lower himself to this humble thatched cottage and temple altar, but we have developed admiration and look up to the Daoist methods. The high mountain is what we look up to, and the great path is what we follow. Although we cannot reach it, our hearts yearn for it. Therefore, we piously bow and invite the True Person to lecture on the scriptures for us."

"We are willing to offer everything we have, for the True Person to take as he pleases."

Seeing them say such a long paragraph in such a pedantic way, Xu Jia couldn't help but laugh: "This is quite normal; why make such a grand gesture? If you want a lecture, I will lecture. I also know your situation; you are still keeping to the upright and holding to the center, but for many years you have practiced small methods and walked on small paths. As long as any of you have read the *Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon*, you should roughly know the *Ancient Heavenly Truth Treatise*. Using the *Heavenly Truth Treatise* as a foundation to conduct cultivation and guidance, there will never be any major mistakes."

The *Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon* is indeed not very popular; the medical practitioners here each have their own theories.

The more common ones include the Fire School, Earth School, and Wood School. Whatever the illness, they can drag it to the heart, believing that nourishing the heart is primary; whatever the illness, they can drag it to the spleen, believing that nourishing the origin and solidifying the root is primary; and whatever the illness, they can drag it to the liver, believing that the liver Qi not being smooth and the stagnation is the cause of the disease.

Of course, they can all cure illnesses. In fact, their thinking is the same, which is "harmonizing the Five Elements," but everyone's starting point is different. Some are used to correcting from the heart fire, some are used to correcting from the spleen earth, and some are used to correcting from the liver wood.

These Shanju Guan Daoists are actually those whose energy of the Earth element is too strong within the Five Elements.

The theory of the Five Elements, besides "generation and restriction," also includes "overacting" and "insulting."

If Earth is too strong, it restricts Water, and conversely "insults" the "Liver Wood." Once the Liver Wood is weak, it will be doubly restricted by the Heart Fire, and thus the balance of the Five Elements and Yin/Yang is lost.

What is manifested is that the temperament of the Shanju Guan Daoists is becoming more and more depressed, even approaching "earth and stone," and there is even a risk of "sitting stiff."

Xu Jia letting them "cultivate fields and plant medicine" was precisely to make corrections starting from this point.

At this time, since they asked, Xu Jia explained the theory within in detail.

(End of chapter)