Chapter 147: Refining Treasures with the Five Poisons

After Xu Jia finished giving instructions, he took out the tattered pottery bowl that had suppressed the centipede spirit. Inside this bowl were black centipede eggs filled with evil Qi; if they were not killed by the evil Qi and were instead hatched, they would surely be the most superior breed of Gu.

Therefore, Xu Jia wanted to make good use of them; this was using an evil tool for a righteous purpose.

In front of the old man, Xu Jia drew a Gu Talisman; this talisman was formed by gathering the poisonous and evil Qi of venomous insects between heaven and earth.

It was offered to the Five Plagues General.

While the Five Plagues General is still considered a True God, the disciples of later generations worship the Five Fierce General, or the Five Directions Five Colors Ghost, such as the Yellow Ghost, Red Ghost, and their ilk—these are plague ghosts that existed since ancient times. In many places, there are folk customs of wandering gods driving away ghosts; this is the kind they drive away.

Xu Jia finished drawing five Gu Talismans, all in the image of the Five Poisons.

Wang Mintong leaned in with a shameless face, and upon seeing these talismans, his expression changed: "What, are you planning to unleash a plague?"

"So you actually have a few tricks up your sleeve, not just asking me for three thousand taels of silver!"

"You are a Heavenly Master Seed, how can you touch these things of the Outer Path and evil arts? Doesn't this lose your status and virtue?"

"This centipede Primordial Spirit was personally subdued by me; is there any problem with using it to practice Dharma?"

Xu Jia pondered that this centipede lacked the genetic editing capabilities of the Southeast Asian sorcerers from his past life to be refined into something like a flying sword.

Then he would just use these centipedes to refine a Magic Tool. Once he found the other four poisons and four plagues, and inlaid the Wind-Avoiding Pearl from the Centipede Pearl, the Poison-Avoiding Pearl from a toad, the Water-Avoiding Pearl from a snake, the Dust-Avoiding Pearl from a gecko, and the Night-Shining Pearl from a scorpion, he could restrain the Five Plagues and Five Poisons, forming a structure where the Five Elements and yin/yang embrace each other.

It would be best if this Five Elements Magic Tool could be both separated and combined, so that would only be the "Five Elements Ring," taking its meaning from the "Universe Ring" Magic Tool, and born from the "Olympic Five Rings." One such ring would be the "Wind Centipede Ring."

If nothing else, wood, jade, or even ceramic are not as effective as gold. If he forged five gold rings, inlaid them with Wind-Avoiding Pearls, engraved them with Talismans, and infused the evil Qi of these centipedes into the rings, then when fighting, he could spray out a gust of evil wind. Within the wind would be thousands of centipede spirit souls, merging into one great centipede dragon—that would be truly sinister and vicious.

Burning the Five Plagues and Five Poisons talismans into ash one by one, Xu Jia recited a secret incantation, dripped a drop of blood, and burned incense to pray. Soon, he made the evil Qi retract; a portion of the centipede eggs began to absorb Vitality and grow slowly, while the Vitality of another portion was snatched away, and they began to stiffen.

Xu Jia instructed Hu Jinhua: "Keep this bowl on the altar for offerings. You watch these eggs; if they turn from black back to orange-red, they are developing. If they turn from black to white, it means their evil Qi and Vitality have been stripped away. You take those out and throw them into the Fierce Soldier Altar. These mountain-wandering Fierce Soldiers not only like chicken blood, but they also like the eggs of these venomous insects; eating them will make them even more fierce and overbearing."

"Understood!"

Xu Jia nodded: "After these centipedes hatch, put them into a jar and let them kill each other. For the centipede spirit souls that die, you take something to collect them—a small Gourd or a ceramic jar."

"When only the last one remains, that will be the most vicious Centipede Gu, which I will use to refine my Dharma."

"This is pure Evil Art; how can you allow yourself to degenerate?" Wang Mintong said: "You must quickly return to the righteous path. Practicing Evil Art will inevitably lead to all kinds of calamities. Although practicing the righteous Dharma also has calamities, they are proper Dao Tribulations. The more powerful your Evil Art becomes, the stricter and more severe the examiners will be during your Demon Examination later, and they might even discriminate against you and intentionally prevent you from passing."

Wang Mintong pleaded earnestly: "Consider it a request from me; quickly take out some money. Name a number, I will give it to you no matter what, just don't practice this kind of evil Dharma anymore."

Xu Jia asked: "How do you know that what I am practicing is an Evil Art, rather than a method to control evil?"

Xu Jia said: "You say these soldiers were not originally under the command of Demon Kings or Ghost Kings, wreaking havoc on the human world, and only became a regular army after being subdued by a Heavenly Master? I know these evil arts are evil, but I have a way to use the righteous and the unorthodox to control them." "However, since you said to give a little, I understand now. Your approach is 'no fate, no sale for a thousand gold; with fate, not a cent taken.' If I still have to pay money, doesn't that mean I belong to the 'no fate' category?"

Wang Mintong shook his head: "Young people just don't listen to advice."

He added: "For my Celestial Master Register, except for rare Daoist prodigies in the world, I take not a single cent and teach everything I know. For others, even if they offer ten thousand taels of gold, I ignore them. Why do I want three thousand taels of silver from you? It is the meaning of the three thousand Great Dao—one tael of silver per Dao; that is already selling it too cheaply."

"Am I not a rare Daoist prodigy in the world?"

Wang Mintong looked Xu Jia up and down: "Although you are excellent, you cannot be called a prodigy, but you do have a certain potential to be a Heavenly Master. You must know that it is not necessarily the genius who reaches the end; one must undergo heavy trials and possess great fortune, great perseverance, great Merit, great wisdom, great compassion, and great Dharma Power. Only then can one finally attain the position of Heavenly Master."

Xu Jia asked curiously: "Why do you Longhu Mountain Heavenly Masters search the whole world for a successor? Does the current generation not have one?"

"Because a Heavenly Master of a different surname appears once every five hundred years. We at Longhu Mountain must bestow the Register upon them; we are the Heavenly Masters who seal the Heavenly Master, to maintain the orthodox lineage of the Heavenly Master."

"Oh, I see." Xu Jia said: "Then besides me, have you calculated anyone else?"

"We are only focusing on searching in Sichuan and Jiangnan West Circuit. Past Heavenly Masters have all come from these two places. There might be others in other places, but the source of the world's Daoist lineage is still here with us."

Xu Jia nodded: "Fine, you should have said that earlier. Three thousand taels to buy a Heavenly Master candidate spot, right? This is much faster than being promoted from a low-level Register. After receiving the Celestial Master Register, according to what you said, I will carve a seal. If I only use it myself, that would be a Heavenly Master seal, right?"

"Exactly so." Wang Mintong thought about it and nodded.

Xu Jia felt this operation was very familiar, just like selling official posts, and immediately said: "Fine, I will pay this money, but you must stay. When I achieve the status of an Earth Immortal True Person, I will take you to Longhu Mountain. Even if I don't become a Heavenly Master, if I establish my own sect, I will still go there for a visit."

"Hmm? Doesn't that mean you didn't pay? If you gave the money, why not let me leave?"

"If you leave, wouldn't you become a swindler? My outer-sect disciples are all animals that have attained the Dao; their emotions are simple. With three thousand taels of silver involved, I cannot guarantee what they might do."

Xu Jia immediately wrote an IOU: "On such and such year, month, and day, Xu Jia, due to receiving the Celestial Master Register, owes the Dharma Official Wang Mintong three thousand taels of silver. As proof, in duplicate!"

He immediately gave the note to Wang Mintong: "Take it, three thousand taels of silver."

Wang Mintong had a look on his face as if he had eaten dog shit.

"This is three thousand taels?"

"How is this not three thousand taels? When I become a Heavenly Master, would I renege on the debt?"

(End of chapter)