Chapter 213: The Times Have Changed!

Once this Register was formed, it evolved into various other Registers. The first Register, formed by Xu Jia establishing ties with numerous spirits, ghosts, and essences, is named the "Capture Mountain and Water Essence Chart". This is the first of Xu Jia's twenty-four-tier Register methods; it has the ability to capture mountain essences and water demons, similar to the Longhu Mountain method of summoning gods, but it only captures mountain spirits and water monsters, and does not really capture gods.

The meaning of "Chart" refers to the ability to seize their true names and capture their true forms, drawing them into a chart, much like the "Secret Book of Subduing Demons" Xu Jia previously created, only more professional.

Soon, the second-tier Register also evolved, which is the "Taishang Eight Vistas Human Immortal Register". It is an "Immortal Tier Register", representing that Xu Jia's achievement is "Human Immortal". The "Eight Vistas" does not refer to the "Three Primes Eight Vistas Yellow Court Method" that Xu Jia practices, but rather the Eight Vistas of the Eight Trigrams. The function of this Register lies in assisting cultivation, clarifying the relationship between the Inner Landscape and the natural Eight Trigrams of heaven and earth: Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui, Zhen, and Xun.

The cinnabar text "The Seal of the Unity of the Three" deeply expounds the relationship between alchemy and the Eight Trigrams, and there are similarities between external alchemy and Inner Elixir.

Next, the third-tier Register evolved, which is the "Three Heavens Mighty Spirit Alliance Register". The "Three Heavens" refers to the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm. It involves signing alliances with the gods of these three realms, incorporating them into one's own system, whether to summon them for use, or for disciples to offer sacrifices to, assisting in cultivation and training troops. To be precise, Xu Jia now has the ability to "open an office" independently; the reason why the Wanfa Zongtan of Longhu Mountain is called "Ten Thousand Laws" is precisely because it has ten thousand gods.

It can be said that the Longhu Mountain Celestial Master lineage of gods basically encompasses the structure of the Heavenly Court and the Underworld.

Of course, why would they cooperate with you? Because you have received the talisman mandate of the Taishang Daozu. Xu Jia is the same. Why? Because the "Taishang Yuchen Lingbao Dao Origin Register" is a mandate transformed by the Lingbao Sage, hence it possesses this power. The Lingbao lineage is called the "Central Alliance".

This is not the "middle" of upper, middle, and lower, but the "central" of the center. In this way, it is actually promoting or demoting ghosts and gods as "local officials".

Besides this third-tier Register, a fourth-tier Register was born. This Register is the "Taishang Three-Five Dugong Register", which counts as a proper Zhengyi lineage Register. This Register is linked to "governance"; it is a Register for governing territories. Receiving this in Zhengyi makes one a Seventh Rank Daoist Official, capable of governing a county.

This Register has the use of "sub-Registers", which can be divided into General Register, Medical Register, Child Register, Wealth Register, and Literary Register. It is most useful for assembling a team. When it comes down to it, this is actually the so-called "Outer Register", but strictly speaking, there is no distinction between inner and outer for Registers; it is merely a distinction of "God Immortal Household Registration", following the ancient household registration system, with distinctions between farmer households, artisan households, and military households.

In fact, all can ascend in rank and become immortals. Just as Wang Mintong said, one need not place too much importance on the Register tier; self-cultivation and self-verification are what is real, otherwise, it is difficult to achieve the Heavenly Immortal Great Dao. In fact, whether it was the Shangqing or Lingbao lineages, they both recognized the shortcomings of the Longhu Register system before separating from the Celestial Master Dao.

Only then did the Yellow Court Inner Landscape method of cultivating inner gods appear, to distinguish itself from the Longhu Register system's reliance on outer gods.

After these four tiers of Registers were revealed in sequence, the Taishang Yuchen Dao Origin Lingbao Register further differentiated into a fifth-tier Register. This Register is the "Wuyue True Form Chart", which can mobilize the troops of the Wuyue. After mastering it, one can command all mountain gods and Earth Deities, and can also intimidate tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves. It may correspond to the Lvshan Wuyue Method that Xu Jia previously practiced. The so-called "True Form" also carries the meaning of "refining the soul into a true form".

The sixth Register is the "Taiwei Nine Heavens Immortal Inspection Talisman", which perhaps corresponds to the "Lvshan Ascending to Heaven Great Method" that Xu Jia previously practiced. With the Primordial Spirit traveling to the Dharma Realm, as if receiving a mandate from the Nine Heavens and the personal arrival of the Emperor of Taiwei, it carries the meaning of inspection. It is also known as the "Nine Heavens Celestial Court". Obtaining this Register allows one to become a judge, possessing the power to report, record demerits, and even directly punish True Gods who violate laws and discipline; if they are not True Gods, one can directly kill them.

These are the first six tiers among the twenty-four-tier Register methods, representing the Human Immortal Register.

To generate the seventh-tier Dharma Register is to reach the Earth Immortal Register. Starting from the thirteenth-tier Register, it is the God Immortal Register method. Starting from the nineteenth-tier Register, it is the Heavenly Immortal Register method. Until the twenty-four-tier Register method is complete, it forms a lineage of the Great Luo Orthodox School.

Xu Jia originally thought that he might be able to be conferred up to the Earth Immortal tier, or even the God Immortal tier, but in the end, he stopped at these six tiers of Registers and could not continue to completion.

It seems that in the eyes of this "Dao Origin General Register", Xu Jia is solid at the Human Immortal realm, but at the Earth Immortal realm, there may be some water.

However, the Dharma Power of the Earth Immortal realm is in the Golden Body of his past life, and his Primordial Spirit also experienced "washing the body with spirit" some time ago, forcibly balancing with the physical body to achieve harmony of yin and yang and the unity of spirit and flesh.

Xu Jia finished receiving the Register and was savoring the aftertaste, forgetting that it was still a critical moment outside, as a Dharma King demon had come to kill him.

He heard a "groan". It turned out that the nearly five hundred years of Daoist Practice that Hu Agui had accumulated since opening the brothel, because he listened to the Greed Demon in the Treasure Basin and forcibly tried to harvest the Vajravarahi of the Dharma King, ended up being sucked dry instead.

That "Huan Xi Jin Gang" with the image of a pink skeleton, after the continuous "offerings", the Joyousness receded, leaving only "grim white bones". Hu Agui's true form was also revealed; it was actually a "Three-tailed Red Fox". In fact, it did not just have three tails, but these three were real, while two were illusory. For a fox to cultivate to nine tails, it follows the "three-three" count: one, three, six, nine—four stages.

If he cultivated to six tails, he would be considered: Earth Immortal realm, counted as a demon immortal, a Loose Immortal.

But now the two illusory tails were directly destroyed. The remaining three real tails, one large and two small, like a petal or a leaf, swayed and oscillated in the wind, as if withering in the wind, and his body also slumped down limply.

As for the few small demons on the side, except for Huang Pipo and Hu Jinhua, who were carrying Sheng Ying and operating the Fire Dragon Pills, spraying iron lotus seeds, and bombing wildly to gain some advantage, others like Hai Sanniang, Jingchi, or Qiu Jinsha were not good at fighting. Even though they had refined the Chang, they were still suppressed and beaten by those evil-transformed gods and ancestors, looking quite disheveled.

And the Treasure Basin under the Golden Toad was restless, clearly communicating with the demon inside the Dharma King. It is estimated that it wanted to use the Dharma King's hand to escape. It is a double-crosser after all; even if it signed a contract with Xu Jia, it thought that if an outsider killed Xu Jia, the contract would lose its effect, or if it got out by its own ability, it would not have to abide by the agreement Xu Jia made to release it.

Xu Jia looked at the chaotic scene of demons dancing and thought that among the six-tier Registers just conferred, the three that could deal with these evil gods—"Capture Mountain and Water Essence Chart", "Wuyue True Form Chart", and "Taiwei Nine Heavens Immortal Inspection Talisman"—all possessed power.

But the Capture Mountain and Water Essence cannot capture gods, and the Wuyue True Form Chart requires opening an altar and performing rituals in advance to mobilize the heavy power of the Wuyue, so only the Taiwei Nine Heavens Immortal Inspection Talisman can be used for expedient action.

Thus, Xu Jia activated this Register, and instantly understood a Divine Ability and magic art, which is the method of "Calling Names to Impeach Gods".

Of course, this method does not require calling the correct name. It is like the Zijin Red Gourd of Taishang Laojun; as long as there is a response, one can be impeached. It is just a matter of how long the control lasts.

Xu Jia did not know the Dharma King's true name, so he just called out: "Vajravarahi!" He saw the Tiangang Great Sage's Inner Thunder rise to the throat, emitting a huge momentum like a Lion's Roar.

Like a thunderclap on flat ground, let alone the fact that the Dharma King's Vajravarahi body stalled for a moment, interrupting the harvesting, which allowed Hu Agui to gather his spirit, use the final Intermediate Body Achievement to disperse the Huan Xi Jin Gang Dharma Body, dissipate it into nothingness, return to his physical body, and save his life.

Xu Jia had previously experienced the Centipede Dragon evil god incident and knew that these evil gods were not originally evil gods; they only had such reactions after receiving resentful incense. Therefore, he directly guided the Tiangang True Qi, and with the help of the Taiwei Nine Heavens Immortal Inspection Talisman, drew a "Prohibit" character curse in the air, and then spoke softly.

With the help of the Dharma Altar, he mobilized the Spirit Machine of the entire Yushan, and coupled with the recent Register conferment, Xu Jia's perspective entered a "third party", which is the so-called "God's eye view". This is the manifestation of possessing "mind consciousness" and also a manifestation of a powerful Primordial Spirit.

The powerful strength and control allowed Xu Jia to possess huge Dharma Power without borrowing the Dharma Power of his past life. With this "Prohibit" character struck out, these evil gods were suddenly as if hit by "time stop", and no magic arts or Divine Abilities could be used. Sheng Ying directly sprayed fire to burn them, spitting out iron lotus seeds carrying the power of Tiangang Thunder Law, burning these ghosts and gods until they were in pain. The Black Qi and blood-red on their bodies seemed to turn into eerie fuel.

The Vajravarahi transformed by the Dharma King was also about to be burned, but her body was like glaze and did not fear fire. She just took a deep look at Xu Jia, confirming that Xu Jia was now only a Human Immortal, not the Earth Immortal cultivation she had previously judged, so she did not choose to retreat. First, she was confident in her own Intermediate Body Achievement, and second, she had just harvested Hu Agui and obtained the Great Joy offering, causing her cultivation to skyrocket.

Although Hu Agui had nearly five hundred years of Daoist Practice, after the Joyous offering, less than one-third remained, but it was purer, which was equivalent to adding a hundred years of cultivation out of thin air.

That Greed Demon might have had the heart to deceive, but one thing he said was not wrong: the Great Joyous Diamond and Vajravarahi showed a trend of complementarity. If either party obtained the cultivation of the other, they would take a step further in their achievement and obtain Transference of Consciousness Achievement.

And this Dharma King's cultivation greatly advanced, which precisely corresponded to the "greatly advanced power" mentioned by the Daojing Greed Demon. The demon would be afraid of being controlled in turn and deliberately cause trouble.

But the difference is that at this time, the Daojing Yin Demon under the Golden Toad was seducing the Dharma King's true self. As long as the Dharma King summoned him to cultivate together, he could promise to help control the three demons in his body, and the original body of this Daojing Yin Demon also practiced the Secret Path, which could support the Dharma King.

And the Golden Toad was trying hard to suppress the Yin Demon. Duobao only regretted learning the Wealth Scripture and not learning fighting Divine Abilities; otherwise, he would have hacked this Yin Demon to death. If Xu Jia were harmed to death, he would have no future in this life.

The three Heavenly Demons inside the Dharma King were also seduced and talked to by the Daojing Yin Demon: "Three brothers, my move is only to escape. Once I escape, I am willing to be driven by you three brothers, and together control this Dharma King, letting him cultivate bitterly, and eventually, his entire Daoist Practice will be divided by us. You take ninety percent, and I only need ten percent!"

This Yin Demon was deceiving on both sides—no, adding Xu Jia's side, it was already three-sided deception, maneuvering in between. Even if there was no opportunity, it would create one to escape from the Treasure Basin.

This is precisely Xu Jia's true third Demon Examination. As a person who practices the Dao, he signed a contract with an Yin Demon, thinking he could play with the Yin Demon, but in fact, he was just playing with fire.

Regardless, this Dharma King noticed the Golden Toad. Seeing the Golden Toad was entirely golden, draped in Seven Treasures, and full of wealth, he was already full of greed and secretly thought: "My sect is just lacking this kind of Wealth God!"

Thus, he did not intend to leave, but pretended to agree, calmed the restlessness of the three demons in his body, and immediately performed a secret technique.

He saw that Vajravarahi had a pig's head and a human body, with five skulls on her head and a string of skulls hanging around her neck. She held all kinds of Magic Tools and Buddha Treasures with eight arms, and only the two hands in front of her chest made a "Great Mudra".

The Great Mudra is a supreme secret transmission, an action of the Secret Path that predicts the operation of the universe, possessing great Dharma Power and might. Coordinated with the Vajravarahi Heart Mantra, the five skulls on Vajravarahi's head instantly changed from a grim state to a Five Buddha Crown, emitting five rays of light, which represented Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt.

The five lights turned into a big hand, as if the Tathagata Buddha was suppressing Sun Wukong, and slapped toward the Zongtan.

Although many Daoists did not understand, their six senses were amplified, and the hair on the back of their necks stood up. Only Wang Mintong said: "Continue chanting, don't worry about anything else!"

Xu Jia was not afraid of this Great Mudra at all. He just saw the clues from the Five Poisons. It seems that this Dharma King only summoned three demons and did not summon all five. Otherwise, if the demon art were completed and the Five Poisons were resolved into the Five Aggregates, he would probably have achieved "Arhat".

Although everyone says "put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot", it is not so easy to turn from a demon to a Buddha. Every time one demon is summoned, it will break the balance of the previous three demons. The three demons will not give up the benefits they have obtained. To summon the fourth demon, one must pay four more parts of the price: three parts to appease the three demons, and the remaining part to give to the new demon. Moreover, if the three demons are exclusive, the demon realm of the fourth demon must be higher to maintain balance. Therefore, now that the three-legged balance has formed the most stable pattern, this Dharma King did not try to summon other demons, and he was not willing to let the Yin Demon in the Treasure Basin under the Golden Toad enter his body, because he already had the Greed Demon in his body; what was missing was the Doubt Demon and the Arrogance Demon.

He planned to subdue the three demons in his body, then use the three demons to capture the remaining two, sign an unequal contract, and then proceed to the next step of cultivation.

Therefore, although the Great Mudra looked powerful, in fact, two fingers did not have the true method, and three fingers were released with the help of the demon's power.

Xu Jia transformed into the Tiangang Great Sage. Suddenly, the Law of Heaven and Earth appeared on the Dharma Altar. A "Tiangang Great Sage" appeared, holding a precious sword in one hand, a firearm in the other, and accompanied by a Thunder Sha dragon horse on his left and right.

And on the Dharma Altar, Xu Jia also took out the homemade porcelain bottle of Tiangang Outer Thunder, in addition to the Fire Dragon Pills.

That Tiangang Great Sage was precisely Xu Jia's body god merging with the altar, borrowing the true power of the Big Dipper's Breaking Army Star, in the image of the Protector Dharma Altar Shen revealed by the Dharma Altar.

From now on, the chief Lingguan Protector of Xu Jia's lineage will inevitably be this Tiangang Great Sage. It is not impossible that in the future, just as the Zhenwu belief evolved into Xuantianshangdi, he will also change from Tiangang Great Sage to "Emperor of the East Wind", who often delivers East Wind express, and whose mission is always fulfilled.

He saw the Tiangang Great Sage blast the firearm, and a sharp explosion sounded; the Great Mudra was directly blasted to pieces.

The Dharma King's face changed, and the three demons in his body were shocked: "Thunder Law! He knows Thunder Law!"

It was just like a thug with a controlled blade encountering a policeman with a gun.

Xu Jia mimicked the Wry-Mouthed War God, curling his lips into an arc, and sneered: "Before the Register Conferment, I was afraid I couldn't beat you, but if I still can't beat you after the Register Conferment, wouldn't I have received the Register in vain?"

He moved his physical body directly, threw the porcelain bottle toward the place where the Dharma Realm of Vajravarahi had landed, and shouted: "The times have changed!"

The porcelain bottle exploded upon hitting the ground, revealing a mushroom cloud several zhang high, and the Vajravarahi of the Dharma Realm was instantly engulfed in thunder-fire, turning into powder. The next moment, the Dharma King's physical body, far away in the Dexing temple, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his face filled with terror! The Inner Three Demons within his body went into a riot! Furthermore, blood poured from his seven orifices.

On the other side, everyone looked at Xu Jia, who had thrown the explosive, and swallowed their saliva. The Daoists of Shanju Guan even thought to themselves: "Our Jade Porcelain Divine Thunder" doesn't have such great power either!

They were completely unaware that Xu Jia had combined modern gunpowder with Daoist metaphysics and improved it significantly. The Yushan Ancestor only invented it; to truly carry it forward, one must rely on Heavenly Master Xu! From now on, whichever temple has an evil god, just throw a thunderbolt and blow it up! Why bother with so much else.

(End of this chapter)