Chapter 242: Refining the Water Ghost

Guiyu Po heard this, but she was reluctant to part with the glory and wealth of this Water Mansion.

She only said: "General, do not be alarmed. We ourselves have not harmed mortals; on the contrary, we have accumulated much Merit. Seizing the Water Mansion can only be considered a struggle of cultivation. If he wants to uphold righteousness, he has no grounds, for this cultivation world has always been like this."

"Furthermore, our offering is sincere. Those three pecks of gold sand are of immense value; one peck is over three thousand taels, so three pecks is ten thousand taels of gold."

"With ten thousand taels of gold, even a name should be smashed out of it."

"Lastly, we must drive Colonel Green Feather out of the mansion."

"Why drive him out?" Turtle General could not understand.

"If we don't drive him out, how can we clear our relationship? Once he leaves the Water Mansion, who can he rely on? Naturally, he will go to Poyang."

Colonel Green Feather was the Green Feather spirit who had previously held Xu Jia's visiting card and shouted that something terrible had happened.

This couple wanted to please both sides; on one hand, they bribed Xu Jia with gold, and on the other, they told the old Flood Dragon of Poyang about Xu Jia's news so that he could make preparations on his side.

……

How could Xu Jia not know that this old Yuan had sent three pecks of gold sand overnight? It was just that he himself was still carrying the debt of the Wealth God, so this money was taken by Jinchan Duobao.

At the same time, he told him to prepare the materials for the Jiao Ritual and Dharma assembly. To transcend ten thousand water ghosts, it would not only require ordinary Paper Boats and Lotus Lamps, but also some Magic Tools and spiritual objects. He needed to find at least forty-nine Daoists to chant scriptures and offer sacrifices to the gods together.

It was not just to transcend the water ghosts, but also to purify the Evil Qi of the Xin River and cleanse its own spirituality.

When Jinchan Duobao saw these three pecks of gold sand, the smile on his face widened, not to mention those pearls and several boxes of water jade gemstones.

"My master, how did you know I was short of money for turnover recently? I was almost at the point of a capital chain rupture."

Xu Jia became suspicious: "How are you out of money again? That shouldn't be."

"Post-disaster reconstruction costs money, right? You laid out a new Feng Shui Array in Dexing. Previously it was just a framework, but we occupied the most prosperous land; shouldn't we build commercial shops?"

"The winery is expanding; doesn't that cost money?"

"Does the construction of the Daoist temple on the mountain cost money?"

"Gathering so many spirit mediums and shamans, the foxes and weasels under our command... they also need money to practice Daoism."

"Especially your Daoist temple. You don't know until you start work, but once you start, a few days go by and ten thousand taels of silver won't even cover it."

Xu Jia: "Ten thousand taels of silver? Wasn't it said to be a simple construction?"

"If you want it simple, how can it truly be simple? You don't allow monsters or Ghost Gods to work; you only allow villagers and commoners to do the construction. Food and drink are a small matter, but just for the three mountains, the mountain paths are steep. Some sections require building plank roads, some require laying iron chains, and some require bluestone steps."

"The carpenters say that there are construction conventions for building Daoist temples. Since it's used as a Daochang, ordinary pine wood and the like are not sufficient; it requires good timber that has matured."

"The bricks must also be specially fired blue bricks, and the bricks must have lotuses, gourds, qilin, dragons, and phoenixes..."

"Although you said it should be simple, you previously said that we must worship the three hundred and sixty True Gods of the celestial sphere, and that the Body Gods are to be entrusted to the Daochang. So, we must reserve positions for them: Sanqing Dian, Yuhuang Gong, Caishen Dian, Yinyuan Dian, Doumu Gong, Leizu Dian, Wenjun Dian, Shuihuo Miao, Qinghua Gong..."

Jinchan Duobao pointed them out one by one: "At the very least, there must be three main palaces distributed on the three peaks, which are the Sanyuan Gong, respectively enshrining Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi Tianzun, and Lingbao Daojun."

"And each peak has its own Bajing Zhi Gong, distributed among several side halls."

Xu Jia nodded; it really needed to be planned well, otherwise there would be no blueprints if he wanted to add more later.

Jinchan Duobao was indeed putting in effort. For a palace and temple of this scale, ten thousand taels of silver was indeed just a drop in the bucket.

When the Jiajing Emperor built a palace, it cost more than two million taels of silver, although most of it was embezzled. For example, the wood for a main beam or pillar, cut from the mountains of Yunnan and transported all the way to Beijing, would cost one hundred thousand taels of silver, not to mention the construction that followed.

During the late Qing Dynasty, when Cixi celebrated her sixtieth birthday and wanted to build a garden, it cost ten million taels of silver.

With the current productivity, if one did not use the power of gods and ghosts, and if the funds were sufficient, it might take more than ten years, or even twenty or thirty years, to complete the construction of these palaces.

Even with the productivity of later generations, building such a Daoist temple on a high mountain would take three or four years to finish.

"These three pecks of gold, ten thousand taels of gold, converted into silver, is only less than one or two hundred thousand taels, which can roughly support the material costs for the initial stage."

Xu Jia asked directly: "For such a palace, how much silver do you think it will take in total to complete?"

"Fifty thousand taels at the minimum, and no upper limit at the maximum."

Because apart from the main structure, there are murals, caisson ceilings, sculptures, exotic stones, Magic Tools, and spiritual objects for consecration.

If it were to be more refined, and if the flowers and plants planted everywhere were also particular, then even more money would be needed.

The Tongtian Temple in America also cost billions; dismantling Ming and Qing ancient buildings to rebuild them, murals from Yuan and Ming palaces, antiques from various dynasties, Magic Tools from various lineages...

Anyway, practicing Daoism requires money, especially in setting up a Daochang, which is bottomless.

"Fifty thousand taels of silver as a base?" Xu Jia felt it was somewhat "detached from reality." If one tael of silver is calculated as eight hundred copper coins, and one copper coin is calculated as the purchasing power of one yuan, that would be four billion RMB.

Xu Jia felt more or less that this Jinchan Duobao might have embezzled.

Seeing the strange look in Xu Jia's eyes, Jinchan Duobao hurriedly said: "I did not embezzle!"

He only said: "Cultivating to become an Immortal is inherently expensive!"

Xu Jia thought about it and it was true. His own cultivation was already very cost-effective, thanks to the Primordial Spirit washing his body, which balanced his Human Immortal stage, and later he had some Karmic Connection, which led him to the Earth Immortal stage. Ordinary people cultivating to become Immortals would squander their family fortune in just a year or two, not to mention that Xu Jia now wanted to establish a sect and had received so many spirit mediums and shamans. Besides the spirit mediums and shamans, he had also gathered some Leftist Path and Miscellaneous School practitioners who knew magic, such as coffin makers, paper-craftsmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and bamboo weavers.

Adding them all up, in Dexing, Yushan, and the surrounding towns and villages, there were over a hundred lay disciples.

These people also needed to be given subsidies every month; otherwise, without benefits, it would be difficult to recruit them into the sect.

It was mainly because Jinchan Duobao was trading in Golden Toad Debt and acquiring a large amount of assets, which led to a shortage of funds. Thus, taking on the project of building the Daoist temple for Xu Jia also underestimated the extent to which money would flow like water.

At this time, Ao Jin Tongzi appeared: "Does Master need money? I have money."

"You have money?"

"That's right, we Dragon Carp are inherently in charge of financial luck. Many people get us tattooed, praying to change their luck and leap over the Dragon Gate. When I managed the Water Mansion, I accumulated a lot of wealth that sank to the bottom of the water."

It seems the Dragon Race really does like to accumulate wealth.

Ao Jin spat out a bag, embroidered with a pair of fish; it was a purple-gold double-fish bag.

He turned the bag upside down, and one could see gold sand piled into a small hill, as well as many pearls and gemstones... Seeing this, Jinchan Duobao hurriedly collected them into the Treasure Basin, his eyes glowing as he looked at Ao Jin, but he was also a bit vigilant: "My master, who is this again? Do you have other Wealth Gods?"

Ao Jin said generously: "I am the new attendant Master has taken in. I am not a Wealth God, but a Water Deity. I was originally the master of the Xin River Water Mansion, and now I am following Master to practice. These are the gold sand I have accumulated at the bottom of the water for hundreds of years. I wonder if it is enough for Master to build the palace?"

"Enough, enough!" Jinchan Duobao's tone was filled with envy and jealousy.

Xu Jia, however, patted Ao Jin's little head: "I've caused you to spend your savings."

"Master is even willing to let me use supreme treasures for cultivation; what is a little bit of gold sand? When this disciple recovers the Water Mansion, I will mobilize the shrimp soldiers and crab generals to collect more gold sand from the bottom of the river."

The more Xu Jia looked at this attendant, the more obedient, sensible, and cute he felt. Thus, the more he looked at Jinchan Duobao, the more displeased he became.

The Golden Toad sensed the danger with sensitivity and full awareness: "There is an extra green tea bitch by the Master's side, making it so I only know how to spend money and embezzle. This carp spirit, with her honeyed words, coaxes the Master into happiness; I fear I will have even less status in the future. Will she not replace me as the Wealth God?"

But giving up this money is impossible. His current realm, the Third Realm, requires accumulating as much wealth as possible to form a cycle, achieving money-begetting-money, using the small to gamble for the large, and forming a wealth lever—using one billion to pry ten billion, using ten billion to pry one hundred billion, or even the trillion-level, using his own capital to snap others' capital chains, and then annexing businesses just like big fish eating small fish.

What he is currently doing is wealth annexation, then establishing the Nine Great Wealth Treasuries, where the money within the treasuries rotates and forms a cycle, so there is no fear of the chain breaking.

It is also to pay off the Yin Debt of the 7,200 debt-ghosts that Xu Jia owes, completely finishing the "transformation of debt into assets."

……

With Ao Jin's financial support, Xu Jia does not need to worry about the massive funds for building the Daoist temple for the time being.

Seven more days passed like this, and the materials needed for the Dharma assembly were all gathered; the forty-odd Daoists were also assembled.

Xu Jia had originally intended to invite Elder Xianhuan of Jinshan Temple; this old nun is a True Cultivator, and they could hold a "Water and Land Grand Assembly" together.

Xu Jia himself follows a path unconstrained by Buddhism or Daoism, so he does not particularly harbor hatred for monks, and has even actively practiced a bit of Dharma.

However, since Elder Xianhuan closed the mountain gate last time, she has not opened it many times, only opening it on the first and fifteenth of every month.

Xu Jia then let the minor demons under his seat, who possess a century of Daoist Practice and can transform into human form, also participate in the ritual.

This is a ghost-refining ritual, not some god-worshiping ceremony where demons and ghosts cannot approach; they can also learn more by coming.

One could see a Dharma Altar set up by the river, with the Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella hanging above the altar, which was three stories high.

Xiaopangdun, Chen Gongming, Hu Jinhua, Huang Pipo, Lame Fox Hu Butang, Single-Testicle Fox Hu Duxiu, Bald-Tail Fox Hu Delu, and even Huang Silang and Huang Jiuniang, whom Xu Jia had used his tail to draw talismans on, were all putting on airs, already wearing Daoist robes and holding scriptures in their hands.

This scripture is the "Supreme Three Primes Scripture for Bestowing Blessings, Pardoning Sins, Resolving Calamities, Eliminating Disasters, Prolonging Life, and Protecting the Self." This scripture can eliminate unprovoked disasters and resolve grievances; it bestows thousands of auspicious blessings and delivers one from the nine sufferings.

Xu Jia must use this scripture to deliver these ten thousand water ghosts.

Underwater, Turtle General and Guiyu Po had already set their minds at ease: "It seems this Heavenly Master does things once he has taken the money."

The reason they sent the money was in the hope that Xu Jia would deliver the water ghosts.

Since Xu Jia took the money, he naturally has to do the work.

Moreover, Xu Jia still intends to collect and refine these water ghosts onto the Bingtian.

Currently, there are not many soldiers and horses on the altar, only the Yellow Heaven soldiers and horses, and the five hundred led by Yu Yaosheng have become a system, but the quantity is still insufficient.

Xu Jia plans to collect and refine some water ghosts who are unwilling to reincarnate and are heavy with Resentment Qi to serve as water altar soldiers and horses.

The commoners heard there was a Dharma assembly and arrived early; Paper Boats and Lotus Lamps had already been prepared in abundance, and the children were already playing with them.

Xu Jia wore a patchwork robe, ascended the Dharma Altar, grabbed a peck of the five grains offered on the altar, and recited the incantation.

This incantation is precisely the Food-Bestowing Incantation.

One saw Xu Jia recite the incantation and scatter it onto the river; immediately, many fish came to snatch it, much like baiting a spot for fishing.

But viewing it from the Dharma Realm, one could see that these fish all had water ghosts attached to their bodies.

It is just that these are all scattered water ghosts, not the water-master soldiers and horses that Xu Jia intends to collect and refine.

The water surface surged, and these water ghosts revealed their forms one after another.

Some of the children playing on the shore who had not closed their Heavenly Eye pointed at the water, following their elders: "Mom, there are ten-footed little friends playing in the water over there, I want to play too."

One saw his mother's expression change in fright, and she hugged him: "Play, play, play! They are all dead children, what is there to play with?"

Xiaopangdun had already put on a black mask representing a water ghost, held a fish drum in his hand, struck the drum, and made unclear sounds with his mouth.

This is "Ghost Talk."

The kind that Uncle Jiu can speak.

Because ghosts like to imitate the way birds speak, it sounds like birds chirping.

He is communicating with the spirituality of the entire Xin River, wanting to use the spirituality of the Xin River to gather all the water ghosts together.

Although Turtle General occupies the Water Mansion and self-proclaimed as a Water Deity, he has not actually obtained the recognition of the Xin River's spiritual will.

Instead, it was Ao Jin who obtained communication in a nearby pool; there was another person in that pool, namely Qiu Jinsha, who is a Ninth Rank Jinsha Creek deity and also cultivates the Dragon Path, but his background is inferior to Ao Jin's, and his Daoist Practice is ordinary. However, he has been with Xu Jia longer, and he said: "Ao Jin, wait until Master Xu delivers the water ghosts later and asks about their grievances; you should control the water ghosts and tell their grievances to Master Xu, so it will be easy for Master Xu to make a move."

Ao Jin's brow now had an extra Dragon Scale, and this Dragon Scale shone with luster, faintly extraordinary. This is precisely the "Virtue of River Water" Dragon Scale from the Five Virtues of Water cultivated with the help of the Imperial Jade. The Virtue of River Water lies in the ceaseless surging, meaning that as heaven moves with vigor, a gentleman should strive for self-improvement.

After he cultivated it, he was equivalent to an Eighth Rank Water Deity of the Form Realm, and his Daoist Practice was equivalent to an ordinary Earth Immortal, only he still had not mastered any combat techniques.

"Alright, Uncle Jinsha," Ao Jin said: "Once I take back the Water Mansion, I will distribute some Quanshen to you and let you become the Water Mansion Manager."

Qiu Jinsha was full of Joyousness: "Good child, I don't want the Water Mansion, you just need to tell me well how to cultivate this Water Virtue Art of the Deep Cavern; I also cultivate the Dragon Virtue and Water Virtue, but unfortunately, my progress is not great."

Ao Jin said generously: "That is easy to handle, Uncle Jinsha, I will definitely teach you well."

This little boy has unparalleled charm and has already won over several people.

Even a fox like Hu Jinhua, who likes to eat chicken and fish, likes Ao Jin very much upon seeing him and wants to help him take back the Water Mansion.

(End of this chapter)