Chapter 244: Peaceful Way Method

As the two armies clashed, a sudden cry of "Kill!" rang out; though it was clearly on the water, Xu Jia saw a phantom image of fire.

It was a naval battle between the armies of the Great Heng Dynasty and the Great Ning Dynasty from years past, where fire attacks were used, burning a great many to death and drowning a great many more.

These two armies now revealed their forms, appearing as ghost ships upon the river, with ghost fire flickering on the vessels and water ghosts and burn-scarred ghosts covering the decks, numbering roughly four or five thousand.

By comparison, the small boat Xu Jia had transformed from a Paper Boat seemed pitiful and far too small.

Many could see these ghost ships, and their expressions all changed, especially the Taoist priests of the scriptures; for them, forty-nine were enough to deliver the water ghosts, and although these forty-nine were somewhat "watered down"—with a portion actually being spirits and monsters—it was already considered sufficient.

The Yue people's army, though eerie, numbered only eight hundred-odd, less than a thousand, and had already been sent to be subdued by the Yellow Heaven Sect troops dispatched by Xu Jia.

But to deliver these four or five thousand water ghosts, unless a blockade was well-established and a scripture troupe of four or five hundred Taoists performed the Jiao Ritual together, it would be difficult to resolve well.

One exerts as much strength as one has; these four or five thousand water ghost troops, having died by drowning and burning, possessed immense Resentment Qi. With fire above and water below, it was the hexagram of "Not Yet Balanced." By dying in this hexagram, they instead achieved life after death, with long Yin Life, and were able to retain a portion of their spiritual intelligence and reason. It was a form of "Water Fire Already Balanced," a sort of alternative "Refining Degree"—only it was refining the living into ghosts, rather than refining ghosts to allow them to reincarnate.

This army's soul-bodies were more powerful and ferocious than ordinary troops.

Beneath the water, the Yue people's army saw them coming and their expressions changed; the Yue shaman leaders and generals all had the intention of retreating three stages.

But the Yellow Heaven soldier Yu Yaosheng would not let them slip away; Yu Yaosheng also knew a difficult opponent had arrived, so he was even more intent on a quick victory.

"Peaceful Way Method!!"

The Yellow Heaven Warriors summoned by Yu Yaosheng were originally just ten-foot-tall giants in yellow armor, but after casting the Peaceful Way Method, their forms changed drastically. The Yellow Heaven Sect troops merged with these Yellow Heaven Warriors to become giants, with Yu Yaosheng sitting in command atop the giant's head, looking quite like a mechanical puppet.

Its core was the Yellow Heaven flag that Yu Yaosheng had previously intended to hand over to Xu Jia.

Xu Jia was also startled to see this mecha; observing it closely, he discovered it was not a true mecha, but a technique of "Spirit-Ghost Integration," turning the Yellow Heaven Warriors from the Scattering Beans to Form Soldiers into a part of this Yellow Heaven giant. It was like an external elixir that could attach to a Yin Spirit, thereby transforming into a giant image.

Moreover, this was merely a mecha within the Dharma Realm, not reality, but it still gave Xu Jia a shock.

He had originally thought the Yellow Heaven Sect was merely ordinary, never expecting they possessed such technology. He had only been thinking of refining troops and giving them things like Firearms to transition from cold weapons to hot weapons, yet this Yellow Heaven Sect was already driving mechas.

However, as mentioned before, the Yellow Heaven Sect's teachings were passed down from the Shangjie, and Qin Shi Huang had already founded the Immortal Qin Empire in the Form Realm; it was not strange for the Yellow Heaven Sect to develop these things—it was he who had been conservative.

This time, it was truly a case of beating up primitives.

Before the Yue people's army could react, this Yellow Heaven mecha held a massive talisman-patterned Gourd, and Yu Yaosheng, utilizing the Capture Water Essence Talisman passed down by Xu Jia and augmenting it with Yellow Heaven Sect Daoism, shouted loudly: "Capture!"

The shaman general leading the Yue people's army was taken away.

Subsequently, chains of Talismans emerged, binding the Yue dragon that had been animated by the dragon dance.

"Will you not surrender at once!"

Maintaining the integrated mecha of five hundred Yellow Heaven sectarians plus the Yellow Heaven Warriors from Scattering Beans to Form Soldiers was extremely draining on Dharma Power. If not for the Incense Fire offerings received during this period and the Water-Fire Refining Degree, which had caused their Dharma Power to gradually align with the orthodox Taoist Ghost Gods, they would never have been able to use the Peaceful Way Method while camping in the Dharma Realm, and could only have employed some ghost arts.

The Yue people's army still wanted to resist, but without their leader, they instead reverted to their demonic ghost ferocity; unable to restrain themselves, they began to deform, turning into monstrous ghosts that looked like humanoid crocodiles.

Seeing this, Yu Yaosheng hurriedly cast the "Lushan Cold Ice Hell Great Method" just passed down by Xu Jia!

With a wave of the Dharma flag, he connected to the Cold Ice Hell, and immediately, Cold Ice Hell ghost demons performed their work. Layer upon layer of ice mountain and snow cave illusions appeared, with cold winds howling and transforming into wind blades and frost swords... In the Hell, there were countless snow ghosts and ice zombies suffering the punishment of the Cold Ice Hell; those who were cruel and heartless in life, cold and indifferent, those who devoured the estates of the childless, bullied orphans and widows, or never performed a single act of kindness and stood by while others died, all fell first into the Cold Ice Hell before entering the Hungry Ghost Path.

The Lushan Five Prisons Great Method was an extremely dangerous side-door technique of Lushan. Once mastered, one could personally descend to the underworld, pass through the Five Prisons, and reach the various offices of the underworld to obtain the summons and achieve the status of a Ghost Immortal. Although it was the lowest of the Five Immortals' achievements, it was still a type of Immortal, far better than some wandering master or Yin Master.

Moreover, not all Ghost Immortals are the same; this kind of Ghost Immortal capable of passing through the Five Prisons is different from those who gain the Refining Degree and generate Yang through the true Yang of high Daoism. Those are Water-Fire Ghost Immortals, not Five Prisons Ghost Immortals.

Five Prisons Ghost Immortals also have some status in the underworld and can hold positions in the underworld's combat departments, commanding the Fengdu troops. Water-Fire Refining Degree Ghost Immortals, however, generally go to the Qinghua Jie, to the side of Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun, to serve as a heavenly being of the Qinghua Jie. Generally, they still need to reincarnate, and those who possess a Daoist register can continue to cultivate to become a Nangong Refined Immortal; this is quite similar to the Five Prisons Ghost Immortal.

The cold air instantly froze these deformed Yue people's troops into blocks of ice.

Yu Yaosheng was secretly surprised; how could the Lushan Five Prisons Great Method be so powerful?

Although the Lushan Five Prisons Great Method was a side-door path, its power was immense, and furthermore, Xu Jia had drawn upon many methods and improved it when he mastered it; now that it was taught by an Earth Immortal Heavenly Master, it naturally possessed its own might.

If arranged into an array, it could even turn a large area into a living hell.

After gathering the Yue people's army into the Gourd one by one, Yu Yaosheng could no longer maintain the Peaceful Way Method. The warriors transformed from yellow beans disintegrated one after another, turning back into beans, which he collected back into his bean pouch. The five hundred troops also appeared faint, clearly having exhausted too much.

Yu Yaosheng wanted to look toward those ghost ships, thinking to perform another meritorious deed, but Xu Jia summoned him back.

Yu Yaosheng returned to the altar: "This subordinate has not failed the mission; I only ask the Lord to light an Incense Burner, and I can fight again!"

He then poured the Yue people's army from the Gourd into a jar Xu Jia had prepared in advance.

Seeing this, Xiaopangdun hurriedly covered the jar and applied the Talisman.

Xu Jia said: "I have already seen your abilities. Your army is skilled in Daoist arts and arrays, and is not suited for frontal combat; there is no need to force it. Your Peaceful Way Method is very interesting; if the Daoist arts of the original Yellow Heaven sectarians were all like this, this poor Daoist cannot fathom why they were defeated."

Yu Yaosheng could not say either; the Yellow Heaven Sect rebelled with a momentum that swept everything, laying the foundation for the Great Heng Dynasty. At first, the Yellow Heaven Sect was renamed the "Peaceful Way," and its status within the Daoist gates was extremely high. Later, the Great Heng Dynasty was overthrown, and the Yellow Heaven Sect lost its status.

One can only say that Heaven's mandate has its limits.

That fleet of ghost ships, four or five thousand troops strong, did not accept the Dharma Treasure passed down by Xu Jia, yet they did not drag those water ghosts into the water either; they only collected the food transformed from the five grains onto their ships, as if replenishing their provisions.

Xu Jia sent Xiaopangdun out again: "You go and talk to them."

Xiaopangdun let out an "Ah?" Just now, when talking to the Yue people's army, they said they were willing to surrender, and you wanted to fight.

This one clearly was not willing to surrender, and you want to talk? But he still braced himself and went up. A burst of drumbeats sounded chaotically, and Xiaopangdun shook his head and swayed. Suddenly, a gust of Yin wind blew past; his face turned sallow, his expression became fierce, and he looked at Xu Jia. "Stinking Taoist, I advise you not to be ungrateful and overestimate your own strength."

Xu Jia chuckled.

"Detain!"

Various Demon Gods appeared beside Xu Jia—the Five Elements Demon God, the Charming Woman Demon God, and the Nine-Child Ghost Demon God. These Demon Gods detained the spiritual avatar that had possessed Xiaopangdun's body, revealing it to be a monster with a flood dragon's head and a human body, wearing armor.

Ghost demons, after staying in the Dharma Realm for too long, will all undergo deformation. It is normal for this thing to have absorbed a bit of Dragon Qi and dragon breath from staying long in the Dharma Realm beneath the Xin River, or even in the rift space between the Dharma Realm and You Ming, and thus undergo this deformation.

"What are you doing?"

This soldier soul, detained by the Demon Gods, could not move and entered a straw man on the altar. Immediately, the straw man came to life, struggling and moving, unable to break free.

In front of the straw man was a bronze basin with water. Xu Jia waved his hand, and through this, he bypassed the obstruction of the ghost mist to reveal the scene on the ghost ships.

There were forty or fifty ghost ships, each with a hundred or so troops, each one having a flood dragon head or a tiger head, wearing armor.

The ghost fire flickering with a ghostly green light made them appear even more ferocious.

The leading ship was even larger, accommodating over five hundred people, and on it was a military flag inscribed with "Dragon-Tiger Water Fleet."

The leading ghost general had a four-clawed dragon pattern on his armor, and there were even eunuchs beside him.

"The Dragon-Tiger Profound Qi of the imperial court." Xu Jia recognized the reason they had transformed into dragon and tiger images; these were regular troops, not some rebel rabble.

By logic, such troops should have been absorbed by Fengdu into the Six Heavens Great Demon army system. The Six Heavens Great Demon army system consists of the souls of those who died in battle throughout the dynasties; even the manifestations of the dragon court from Imperial Temple sacrifices are incorporated into the Six Heavens Great Demon army after a change of dynasty.

All the famous ministers and good generals are inside, and like internal strife or raising poisonous insects, those who crawl out from within can quickly obtain the rank of Ghost God, becoming Yin Spirits of the underworld or Demon Gods.

This is the source of the "hundreds of millions" of infinite soldiers and horses in the underworld.

In the Heavenly Court system, this type of soldier and horse belongs to the "cannon fodder" category, but within the Dharma Realm's lineage, these are considered "regular troops." After all, the soldiers and horses enshrined on one's own altar are either the remnant souls of mountain bandits who were exterminated or the remnant souls of local peasants killed in uprisings; how could they compare to these water-borne soldiers and horses that are fully equipped, have generals and strategies, and even bring their own "large ships"?

Even the Dharma teacher altars of the Cao Gang and Pai Sect that Xu Jia visited in his past life did not have such elite troops enshrined on their altars. They were all collected water ghosts or boatmen of that sort...

Xu Jia is not very familiar with the history of this world, but now as an Omniscient Earth Immortal, he has managed to discern their origins.

In the final years of the Great Heng Dynasty, the country was destroyed several times, and then local clan royalty would restore it, wanting to reclaim it.

Among them was the "Prince of Nanchang," who trained water-borne soldiers and horses in Poyang and entered the Yangtze River from Poyang.

But soon, due to the outbreak of internal conflicts, it did not succeed. This person is not the Prince of Nanchang, likely a son of the nobility, but he can still be considered the "orthodox Qi fortune" of the final years of the Great Heng Dynasty.

However, most of their soldiers and horses were lost in the lands of Poyang and the Yangtze River; that they ran to the Xin River is indeed somewhat unexpected.

But they have ships and are not ordinary Earth-Bound Spirits, and the water areas of the Dharma Realm are interconnected; it is normal for these ships to drift to the Xin River.

Xu Jia placed a Paper Boat into the water basin, and suddenly, among the many soldiers and horses in the Dharma Realm, a large ship appeared.

These ghost demons were surprised, but they saw a person walk out of the ship. This person was none other than Xu Jia, though it was not his true Primordial Spirit, but a method of "paper person substitution."

The Paper Boat in the basin signifies stability, unafraid of stirring up wind and waves; it is also a "youth version" of "scooping the moon from the water," and is part of the same set as the previous image-projection technique in the basin.

These all belong to the category of heterodox Daoism and are not orthodox methods.

However, when Xu Jia performs them, it is somewhat mysterious, as it involves traversing space within the Dharma Realm.

"The Daoist on the shore!"

"I am the Daoist Xu Jia, a Heavenly Master of the Lingbao school. I wish to establish a Lingbao Zongtan on Sanqing Mountain and set up three Bingtian outside the Zongtan. You all have an affinity with my water-route Bingtian; why not surrender, receive the incense fire on the altar, and avoid drifting and wandering?"

"You Daoist have some skills," said the Flood Dragon-headed general wearing four-clawed python-pattern armor. "But you are far from being able to subdue us. However, this general is willing to give you a chance."

"The current Great Ning pseudo-dynasty is exhausted. As long as you are willing to assist the descendants of our Great Heng royal family in restoring the nation's destiny, this general is willing to listen to your orders, and even tell you about the treasure hidden in Poyang."

Xu Jia chuckled. Thinking of reversing the wheels of history? Don't even think about it. Moreover, these thousands of soldiers and horses are dead; they aren't even living troops, yet they want me to help them rebel? Are they out of their minds? They don't even show any sincerity when painting a pie, yet they want someone to work for them.

Furthermore, Xu Jia wants to subdue soldiers and horses that will be obedient; he does not need them to have too much of their own will.

Xu Jia did not listen to his nonsense. With a wave of his hand, the phantom of the Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella appeared, and the three Primitive Demon Rings were revealed.

"Golden Ship Universal Salvation Array!"

Those heavenly beings controlled the Universal Salvation Golden Ship transformed from the Paper Boat, forming an array that merged with the Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella. With Xu Jia's paper person incarnation as the core, he immediately sealed off the Xinjiang Dharma Realm.

The Three Sovereigns Umbrella sacrifices to the Three Sovereigns and also combines the power of the Three Officials, Three Primes, and Three Talents.

The Three Officials and divine officials in the sky saw this, but could not see the foundation; they did not see the evil aura within, but instead praised: "This Lingbao Heavenly Master is actually able to receive the gratitude of ten thousand people, being gifted a Ten Thousand People Umbrella, and has cultivated such a treasure of Divine Path protection. His future Achievement will surely be extraordinary."

They also bestowed the Dharma Power of the Three Officials, mixing it with the power of the Daoists' Jiao Ritual scriptures and incantations, amplifying the power on the Dharma Altar and bestowing it upon Xu Jia's true self.

Suddenly, the golden ships driven by the three thousand six hundred heavenly beings all changed from small boats into three-story warships. The various Yin demons, Heavenly demons, and Boundary demons within the Ten Thousand People Umbrella, along with the Five Elements Demon God, the Nine-Child Mother Demon God, and the Charming Maiden Demon God, all manifested as heavenly soldiers and generals, surrounding those ghost ships.

These demons are evil if the heart is evil, and upright if the heart is upright. With the blessing of the Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella and the power of the scripture and Jiao Ritual, there was not a single trace of Evil Aura.

"Everyone, abandon the ghost boats and enter my golden boats. Once you enter the golden boats, you will be ferried to the Gold Altar, avoiding thousands of sufferings and hardships."

(End of chapter)