Chapter 27: Mountain and River Deities, Hear My Command, Come to the Altar at Once

Xu Jia directed the few of them to set up the altar.

Because they needed to "call the mountain," they had to know the mountain's name to complete the ritual, so he asked the group: "Does this Back Mountain have a name?"

Hu Jinhua had already inquired about it and spoke up: "This mountain is called Jijuezi Mountain; it looks like a chicken's foot, with three prongs forming a peak. It isn't very tall, only about thirty or forty zhang."

Xu Jia nodded: "Since it has a name, it must have a spirit. After all, if a person calls out, there will be a response. This makes things much easier."

Over there, Niu Congcong had already finished setting up the Dharma Altar according to Xu Jia's instructions.

Normally, a Dharma Altar is meant to revere deities, but here there was only a scroll of the divine lineage, and the source of that lineage was his own past-life temple, the "Xu Shigong Temple."

Therefore, revering the deity meant revering himself, so Xu Jia skipped that step.

But the Pure Altar Ritual could not be omitted.

Xu Jia chose the "Xun Water Cleansing Altar."

This was relatively simple: first, consecrate the Dharma Water, then spray the Dharma Water around the four sides of the Dharma Altar.

Xu Jia then pinched the hand seal, held the cup, and while spraying water, chanted the Cleansing Heaven and Earth Divine Incantation.

After cleansing the altar, he inserted incense in the four corners.

Next, he used wine to soak angelica, then infused it with cinnabar, took a needle to draw blood from Niu Congcong's fingertip, and Hu Jinhua also voluntarily squeezed out a drop of blood.

After grinding these materials together into ink, Xu Jia began chanting the Dharma incantations, starting with the Three Cleansing Incantations: Cleansing Mouth, Cleansing Heart, and Cleansing Body.

Before chanting, he did not forget to tell Niu Congcong and Hu Jinhua to remember well, so that when they opened an altar in the future, they could follow his example.

After finishing the incantations, Xu Jia had Niu Congcong, Hu Jinhua, and even the many foxes kneel and offer incense, chanting: "Homage to the Dharma Lord, Xu Shigong!"

Xu Jia stood to the side and chanted the "Praise Incantation."

Once Xu Jia finished, he could clearly hear the prayers in their hearts and remotely sense the Golden Body temple from his past life.

Unfortunately, despite several attempts, he could not establish a connection.

It seemed that the last time he connected, it was sheer luck that allowed him to borrow Dharma Power.

Seeing that he hadn't borrowed any Dharma Power, Xu Jia narrowed his eyes slightly, ignored it, and directly picked up his brush to draw the Talisman.

Although he had no Dharma Power himself, he could directly draw upon the Dharma Power within Hu Jinhua's body.

Having her worship him just now was precisely to establish that connection.

That "Position of Dharma Lord Xu Shigong" faintly emitted a sense of light.

It resonated with Xu Jia himself.

Xu Jia then chanted the Incantation for Consecrating the Brush, and immediately the brush moved like a dragon or snake, first drawing the "Five Elements and Five Directions House-Pacifying Talisman," namely the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and also Gouchen.

He then called for Sha Er Zhu to cooperate with the ritual—after all, this house was his, not Niu Congcong's—and by using his status as the "owner" to set up a barrier, they could achieve the effect of pacifying the Four Symbols, fixing the Five Elements, and keeping out demons, spirits, and evil entities unless invited.

When the time came to hold the mountain-calling ritual, some of the evil ghosts, malevolent spirits, and Evil Qi in the mountain would be blocked.

Only the true Mountain God would be invited.

Sha Er Zhu followed Xu Jia's instructions, bowing and offering incense in the four directions; as he bowed, Xu Jia chanted the Pacifying the Land Incantation and the Four Symbols Divine Incantation.

Circling the house, he burned the Azure Dragon House-Pacifying Talisman, Vermilion Bird House-Pacifying Talisman, White Tiger House-Pacifying Talisman, and Black Tortoise House-Pacifying Talisman in the east, south, west, and north, respectively.

He also burned the Gouchen House-Pacifying Talisman in the courtyard.

That made a total of five protective Talismans.

When it came time to draw the "Summoning Mountain God Talisman" to accompany the mountain-calling ritual, he was not so casual; it was even much more solemn.

One saw Xu Jia pacing the Big Dipper steps, pinching a sword-finger, and chanting to the drawn Talisman: "By the order of the Lushan Dharma Master, I proclaim to all spirits: Mountain and river deities, hear my command! Where is the local master, the Mountain God of Jijuezi Mountain? Come to the altar at once! Jijiru Luling!" Xu Jia's body had not fully recovered, and after such a bout of ritual work, his face turned even paler.

Fortunately, drawing the Talisman only drained his "divine intent." Xu Jia was someone who had nearly cultivated a Yang Spirit; although his health bar was short and his internal Daoist Practice was low, his spirituality was high and his Soul was robust, so he was merely a bit short of breath.

Using the Turtle Breath Hibernation Method to steady his breathing and resting for a moment, Xu Jia handed the "Summoning Mountain God Talisman" to Niu Congcong: "We are spending the night here, and my Calamity will also be triggered here in advance. Are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" Niu Congcong was completely fearless.

Xu Jia nodded: "Very well. When dusk arrives, I will begin the ritual to call the mountain. At the same time, I will extinguish two of your Life Fires, giving you 'Yin-Yang Eyes' so you can communicate directly with the Mountain God, helping you enter the 'Enlightenment' state of Shamanism to observe that Ten Thousand Things Have Spirits and hear the sounds of nature."

"Hu Jinhua, you shall enter the Dharma Realm and prepare to cultivate the fierce soldiers. Follow my instructions to refine the Evil Qi of the mountains and rivers to serve as a vessel for your evil thoughts."

"Du Xiu, you three, protect Hu Jinhua with all your might; do not be negligent."

Xu Jia issued his orders, and they were all very submissive.

Dusk arrived quickly, and Xu Jia once again paced the Big Dipper steps, pinching a sword-finger.

Niu Congcong burned the Summoning Mountain God Talisman, with a lit stick of incense stuck on his head, and Xu Jia moved his sword-finger: "Extinguish!"

Niu Congcong shuddered, and the Life Fires on both his shoulders went out.

Because of this, he saw the dim scene where the Dharma Realm and the mortal world overlapped after dusk.

For a moment, he was surprised and curious, intending to look around.

But Xu Jia shouted: "Don't lose focus! Repeat after me!"

"By the order of the Lushan Dharma Master! I proclaim to all spirits: Mountain and river deities, hear my command! Where is the local master, the Mountain God of Jijuezi Mountain? Come to the altar at once! If you do not arrive, you shall be destroyed; if you do not listen, you shall die! Jijiru Luling!"

In an instant, the mountain wind howled as if muffled thunder had been stirred up, and then all the birds became restless and took flight one after another.

On Jijuezi Mountain, there was no Mountain God in the true sense, but there were plenty of lonely ghosts, wild spirits, demons, and various divine evils.

Xu Jia's ritual was like poking a hornet's nest, causing them all to arrive at once.

The Evil Qi and Yin Qi accumulated in unknown places were all stirred up.

A sudden thick fog permeated the mountain, and within the fog were layers of ghostly shadows, some appearing like beasts, others like human figures.

The dogs raised by the villagers at the foot of the mountain were barking wildly at first, but they didn't bark for long before they were trembling and fled with their tails between their legs.

The village shrine emitted a red light, connecting with the kitchen stoves of thousands of households, so every home seemed to have a bit of light.

Jijuezi Mountain had no so-called Mountain God, so these divine evils believed that whoever answered the altar and fulfilled the command was the Mountain God of Jijuezi Mountain.

Hu Jinhua sank her mind into the Dharma Realm Daochang and began refining the evil energy according to Xu Jia's instructions.

What she saw were layers of ghostly shadows in front of the big tree, circling the house but unable to find an entrance.

These ghostly shadows included animals, humans, and some that looked like trees or vines, while others were masses of Black Qi; they all stared fixedly at this residence.

The number was fully over a hundred.

Even if Xu Jia installed the Four Symbols and Five Elements, set up the altar and hall, and hid the entrance so these ghosts could not enter, if they rioted... that would definitely not be a good thing.

What Niu Congcong saw was even more terrifying; he saw the overlap between the Dharma Realm and reality, hazy and indistinct.

But it was precisely this haziness that gave people room for imagination.

Ox ghosts, pig ghosts, snake ghosts, and also tiny, thin chicken ghosts, cat ghosts, dog ghosts... all contained yin and carried baleful energy, eyeing things covetously.

(End of this chapter)