Chapter 272: Lishan Demon Sect

A series of magic mirrors shone down, like a stage light show, illuminating Ling Yun, who had been hiding her form, completely.

This mirror was a Wicked Mirror, capable of reflecting all the wicked karma committed in the past.

It was just that Ling Yun had not committed much wickedness after all; that she could cultivate in the Lishan Sect from a young age was the blessing she had accumulated over several lifetimes.

At this moment, she became infinitely small, while her surroundings seemed infinitely large; when she found herself in the position of being judged, she only felt that everything had a reason, and that it was a grievance.

The Judge spoke: "Who are you? Why do you trespass into the City God's legal domain?"

Asking what one already knows.

Ling Yun only felt that she could not open her eyes under this light; it seemed as if countless gazes were scrutinizing her.

She said: "I am Daoist Ling Yun of the Fenglei Gate of the Lishan Sect."

"I have come this time because a young doctor was frightened to death by a snake demon and lost his Soul, so I have come to search for it."

The Judge said: "Life, death, yin, and yang cannot be reversed. Since he has met this fate, it is a Calamity ordained by his life. Today you say he has a grievance, tomorrow another says you have a grievance; today you take this one away, tomorrow you take that one away. If you can't steal it, you snatch it; if you can't snatch it, you cause a scene... What do you take the Underworld laws to be?"

"Is this how your Lishan Sect teaches you?"

Ling Yun only felt these words were familiar; it was the same when criticizing the demons under Xu Jia's seat a few days ago. This one is a good demon and can be kept, but tomorrow, everyone will be a good demon, and evil demons will also become good demons. If one breaks out, the future troubles will be endless... It looks like 'education without discrimination' and 'equality for all living things', but in reality, it is biased.

Now that this was applied to her, she felt a tremendous sense of injustice, only saying: "I beg the Judge to be accommodating; there must be some misunderstanding in this!"

"Heh, Lishan Sect..." the Judge said: "Do you know that my Underworld laws, following the Fengdu lineage, revere the Northern Emperor Ziwei?"

"But my Lishan Old Mother gave birth to Ziwei and Gouchen, and even has ties to the Fengdu Northern Emperor!"

"Ties? My Fengdu Northern Emperor lineage has never recognized Lishan. You Lishan lineage were originally foreign Buddhas from overseas, first stealing the divine form of Nüwa, and then setting yourselves up as the mother of our Emperor Ziwei?"

"You are people of the Buddhist sect, using the method of replacing with Heavenly Demon forms to corrupt our Daoist legal lineage, tampering with the scriptures and classics of the Ancestors, and forcing them upon yourselves... do not make your greed look so ugly."

"You actually dare to include Gouchen, Ziwei, and even the North Star and other star lords and venerable gods into your Doumu system, insulting my Great General Tianpeng by making him a pig-mount under your seat, and now you dare to come here to cause trouble and chaos?"

This Judge was a Demon God of the Fengdu Netherworld pantheon, and he was the most incompatible with the Lishan Doumu sect.

Or rather, anyone in the Luofeng pantheon sneered at Doumu. One does not know how the specific divine-era struggles went, only that they were extremely intense, even to the point of death. It was only later that someone mediated.

It was like how the Buddha was inexplicably persuaded to accept the Peacock, whom he originally wanted to kill, as the Buddha-Mother; Emperor Ziwei also seemed to have swallowed this insult.

It is said that the Primordial Dao Mother replaced Doumu. Anyway, the incarnations of these gods are convoluted, but the lower-level traditions, disciples, and subordinates hate each other.

It is like two idols suddenly being shipped as a couple; except for the fans of the couple, everyone else is cursing: 'What kind of dog are you, daring to touch my brother?'

The Fengdu legal lineage is just like this; they look down on the Lishan Sect and do not acknowledge it as the Mother of All Stars, even going so far as to curse it directly as 'Heavenly Demons corrupting the Dao'. Even in the later transmission of the Dharma, they made requirements: disciples of the Fengdu lineage would go blind if they read Buddhist scriptures, become mute if they recited them, and if they cultivated them, they would lose their physical bodies and degenerate into ghost soldiers.

Hearing her sect being cursed like this—as a Buddhist-corrupted mongrel—Ling Yun immediately became angry: "My Lishan Sect is a famous righteous sect in the world, transmitted from the Shangjie; how could it be a Demon Sect? You, a mere county judge, dare to speak such wild words!"

When the Lishan Sect recruits disciples, how could they admit their own composition, dark history, or origin story? Moreover, the Lishan Sect of this world was transmitted from the Shangjie, which is to say, a branch; they themselves do not know much. It is like those heterodox paths: who is the ancestor? Which god is worshipped? Is the origin legitimate or not? These are not important; what is important is the spiritual efficacy. Only when it is efficacious will disciples build a Golden Body for you and compile myths and classics for you.

In short, the disciples believe that their home is a prestigious righteous sect, an Immortal Gate that manifests the Dharma, and they are even high and mighty when reporting their names.

It is like Sun Wukong saying to the outside world: "I am the Qitian Dasheng who wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace."

The other side sneered: "So it's just the horse-keeper Bi Ma Wen!"

In short, Ling Yun's mental defenses were broken.

Just as Xu Jia's mental defenses were broken when they cursed him as a heterodox path before.

But no matter what, the Lingbao tradition is a legitimate Register method descended from the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable, obtained from Longhu Mountain. Although it was bought with Flower Money, a lineage with an orderly transmission is still orderly.

You, a 'Heavenly Demon corrupting the Dao', claim to be a prestigious sect, on one hand saying you are the Star Doumu, and on the other hand saying you are a palace maid of Qin Shi Huang who obtained the Undying Medicine and established a tradition. That Qin Shi Huang is so awesome, is the tradition established by your palace maid a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times more awesome than Qin Shi Huang? Stop bragging!

Ling Yun was, after all, a Primordial Spirit out of the body, with the foundation of a Human Immortal; her Soul leaving the body was only equivalent to the level of a beginner Ghost Immortal. After arguing with the Judge and having her defenses broken, she fought back, but within two or three rounds, she was locked up completely by chains, captured into the Yin-Yang Department, and reported to the Yushan City God.

The Yushan City God said: "I told that Lingbao Heavenly Master before that this snake demon belonged to the Lishan Sect, and that Lingbao Heavenly Master had no reaction; I suppose he didn't know the inside story. I'll write a letter to the Xi'an City God. The Xi'an City God is also a Fengdu Demon God and hates these Lishan Sect people the most. I guess he will also make an issue of this, but why did it provoke this territory again? It's really troublesome."

"He wants to set up an altar and establish a sect, and it's the same place where Huang Muchun originally set up the Yellow Heaven Sect altar; naturally, there is a Calamity of establishing a sect and altar. However, observing his governance of the territory, it has a bit of the flavor of the Yellow Heaven Sect, but he hasn't set up the 'big pot of rice' yet."

The Great Heng Dynasty was supported by the Yellow Heaven Sect, based on governing the world through the Divine Path, and widely enfeoffed City Gods throughout the world. Although the previous City God was gone, he was a City God from the Great Ning Dynasty period, but he still knew some secret matters.

The Divine Path gathers the strength of the masses and likes to eat from the same boat, reclaim wasteland together, and control floods together, claiming to be a 'Great Harmony Society', reaching the time when the ancient Saint King governed the world, where the old are cared for, the young are supported, houses are distributed, wives are distributed...

And what kind of system was the ancient Saint King's? It was the system of selecting the Virtuous and abdication. Would the person sitting on the imperial throne agree to that? Moreover, the 'Imperial Power granted by the Divine' of the Divine Path governance is also like a knife... Therefore, not long after the founding of the Great Heng Dynasty, there was internal strife, and there was a struggle between gods and men. In the end, the 'family-owned world' continued, and the noble families, the scholar-officials, and the Emperor governed the world together.

Of course, Xu Jia is definitely not doing this kind of thing; rebelling is a capital offense, but the world is about to be in chaos, and he has no choice; he must definitely prepare to protect himself in advance.

"Lock this Ling Yun up with Chen Liuxian," the City God said. "The Yeyou god should go specifically to ask when this Chen Liuxian will be allowed to return his soul?"

After all, the Nine Palaces Immortal is descending to the world to undergo Tribulation, and there are still eighty-one difficulties; if he doesn't die in this life, he will definitely finish them, so it is not good to offend him. This Lingbao Heavenly Master also said there was a period of master-disciple Karmic Connection, although it seems shallow now, it also serves as a key to fighting the Lishan Sect.

Anyway, the Netherworld Demon God lineage is happy to see the Lishan Sect suffer.

The Underworld is not a monolith either; there are many factions: Fengdu, Buddhist, Wuyue...

Among the heavens, except for the Supreme Luo Heaven, which layer of heaven can escape human relationships and worldly affairs? Factional struggles? Especially with so many Emperors and Heavenly Venerables, these Emperors and Heavenly Venerables each have their own disciples, legal lineages, and traditions. These traditions are scattered across the heavens and worlds, competing for resources, and will definitely cause conflicts again...

What do the big shots want?

They don't want a genius cultivator. They want a reliable, capable 'one of their own'.

How can one become 'one of their own'? Present your 'letter of submission'.

Perhaps this is the fundamental reason why setting up an altar and establishing a sect will encounter a Calamity: to show your ability and submit your 'letter of submission'.

In the Yang world, at the medical clinic, all seven Life Lamps in the circle drawn with chicken blood were extinguished.

Ling Yun, who was performing the ritual, also lost her soul, and her physical body only retained its breath.

This shocked and frightened Yilei Daoren.

What should she do? For the first time, she experienced a feeling of despair, as if the whole world was isolating her and working against her.

Li Dafu was also knowledgeable: "This Daoist failed in her journey to the Underworld and also lost her soul; can't she be called back?"

Yilei choked with sobs: "My senior sister's Daoist Practice, it is impossible for her to fail in a journey to the Underworld. This means that Chen Liuxian's Soul was detained by a Ghost God or Demon God, and my senior sister was also captured by a Demon God."

On Xu Jia's side, the Yeyou god came to report this matter. Xu Jia said: "According to the Underworld laws, what punishment should be meted out to a monster that reveals its form and causes a person's death?"

"It should be the punishment of 'dismemberment'," the Yeyou god said. "Does the Heavenly Master have a clue about that snake demon?"

Xu Jia said: "She was captured by the Water Mansion's Yuan Jiangjun; you go and hook her Soul, and judge her however you should judge her."

The Yeyou god acted somewhat coy: "That Chen Liuxian..."

"The time for testing their husband-and-wife bond has naturally arrived; to sleep in the same bed in life and share the same grave in death—you need only let them face this life-and-death trial."

Xu Jia was expressionless, appearing completely indifferent.

"But that Chen Liuxian is on the Nine Palaces Immortal Register, and he also has a master-disciple Karmic Connection with the Heavenly Master."

"Is that so?"

Xu Jia said: "He has already rejected me twice before, and the Karmic Connection is nearly severed. His heart for seeking the Dao in this life is not strong; he is indulged in the love between a man and a woman, ignorant of great love. If he can awaken between life and death and see through petty love, this poor Daoist will naturally go to save him. The Yeyou god need only go back and explain this to the Yushan City God; this poor Daoist has absolutely no intention of going back on his word."

Upon hearing this, the Yeyou god said: "That is true. A Karmic Connection can happen once or twice, but not three times. To be unable to grasp such good fortune—it is a pity that I never obtained a human body and have no such good fortune to cultivate under the Heavenly Master. Otherwise, how would it ever be his turn?"

Xu Jia liked hearing this, so he said: "Ghost Immortals and Demon Gods can also rise in rank by performing meritorious deeds. Do not belittle yourself. This poor Daoist governs Yushan Dexing, and in the future, my influence will extend to the land of Xinzhou. My disciples and followers will all have to rely on the breath of the local City God."

Having said this, he took out some Wish Power Dharma Coins, ten in total, and gave them to the Yeyou god.

For a rank like the Yeyou god, an annual salary of thirty Incense Fire coins is standard, so these ten were already considered a lot. Therefore, he was very joyous, thanked him repeatedly, and went back to report.

Meanwhile, far away in the land of Xianyang, within the Lishan Sect, the letters from Xu Jia and Lingyun Daoren arrived one after another.

Xu Jia's was delivered through the City God system; the Xi'an City God treated it like a joke and sent a City God Temple priest to Lishan to be sarcastic.

After all, a female snake demon disciple seducing a man and harvesting his foundation to nourish herself was truly a scandal once it was brought to light.

However, Lingyun's letter was even more filled with righteous indignation. It stated that the two had been ambushed and lost their True Yin, and it also recounted how Xu Jia's sect was a nest of snakes and rats, supporting Demon Gods and harboring monsters...

This letter first reached the hands of the Lishan Sect leader. There were many branches under the Lishan Sect, and one of them was the Fenglei Gate, so the Lishan Sect leader directly summoned the Wind Thunder Dao Lord.

This Wind Thunder Dao Lord was a tall, large woman. Originally a farm woman with strange strength, she went up the mountain to cut firewood and was attacked by a leopard. She beat the leopard to death with three punches, accidentally fell off a cliff, ate a Wind Thunder fruit, and became ugly in appearance, with a bulging forehead and wings growing from her back. She was spotted by a bigwig of the Lishan Hidden Immortal Sect, who took her as a disciple and taught her the Thunder Law and Wind Method; she became this branch of the Lishan Fenglei Gate.

This tall, ugly Daoist Priest was the Wind Thunder Dao Lord, the Earth Immortal True Person: Yuan Wenying. She said: "What are the Sect Leader's instructions?"

The Lishan Sect leader Yin Cunxu gave her both the letters from Xu Jia and Lingyun: "Take a look."

Yuan Wenying then took the letters and began to read. The more she read, the angrier she became: "My disciple—how is it your turn to teach me what to do? Just because you have cultivated the Earth Immortal fruit, you are so ignorant of the world? My Lishan Sect lives in seclusion and rarely participates in these struggles for fame and profit, yet he treats us like a soft persimmon to be squeezed?"

"What are you angry about? That Liu Ruyan has had a Love Tribulation for three lifetimes, each more tragic than the last, involving who knows how many people around her; she has long been a disaster. You are just unwilling to let her go. Now that the man has a master-disciple Karmic Connection with this Heavenly Master of the Lingbao Lineage, and it has dragged you and me into it to fight to the death, what kind of logic is that?"

Yin Cunxu said: "But this matter must be resolved. You take my reasoning and go to the Jiangnan West Circuit. First, offer him an apology and acknowledge his Lingbao Lineage; second, ask him if he is willing to take Liu Ruyan as a daughter-in-law."

"But Lingyun and Yilei, they are both Earth Immortal Seeds, and they were just robbed of their True Yin like that..."

"This matter is not urgent; there will naturally be retribution. It is we who were in the wrong first, and he has seized the pretext. We must not let him make a big scene; there will be plenty of time to fight later."

"As for your two disciples, compensate them by letting them enter the Lishan Cave Heaven to cultivate for a period of time to shed their mortal hearts."

Yin Cunxu arranged it this way, and Yuan Wenying dared not disobey, though there was still a sense of resentment in her heart.

However, she did not know that the moment Xu Jia received those technological blueprints, his mind was already filled with thousands of ideas. His perspective had expanded, and he no longer cared about these sect struggles, nor did he care about such a disciple. In his heart, he had even developed a murderous intent.

She wanted to come and apologize, but she had to arrive within seven days. Within seven days, if those two stubborn fools did not awaken from their Love Tribulation and petty love, they would naturally become butterflies like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Xu Jia would then personally guide Chen Liuxian's soul to the next life to cultivate and continue their Karmic Connection.

That Lingyun and Yilei were just two add-ons; there was no need to care about them. Their Daoist Practice was too shallow, and it was not worth wasting any more effort to manipulate them.

Besides, Xu Jia had already vented his anger earlier. If this drags on, the readers won't like it and will just think it's filler.

(End of chapter)