Chapter 287: Words Unbecoming of a Subject

Zhang Fajing saw the earth shaking and mountains swaying over there; it was the Shunji Longwang throwing a tantrum. He had been resealed, but after all, these were methods left behind a thousand years ago; it would be bad if he managed to break free.

He immediately took out a Supreme Orthodox One Dragon-Tiger Spirit Talisman and stuck it onto the Bajiao Zhenjiao Jing, which had been fused shut by the iron pillar.

The movement was mostly quelled, but there was still a rumbling sound; the earth was making noise, and all the commoners in the city could hear dragon roars from the well—a low, deep sound that left neither chickens nor dogs in peace.

Xu Jia then continued the sealing, sticking the "Supreme Lingbao Jingming Dragon-Slaying Sword Talisman" onto the well. The little Shunji dragon sensed this familiar aura and thought Xu Xun had brought the genealogy to kill dragons again, so he dared not move recklessly. The dragon roars stopped, leaving only an occasional whimper or the sound of a dragon tail sweeping through water.

"This seal is still not secure. I must cast eight iron pillars to lock this well; only then can I ensure he won't cause trouble."

Xu Jia had wanted to kill him, but he had no direct way to do so; killing the thousand-year-old black fish spirit Anji Furen was already considered the greatest achievement.

However, it was enough to sweep away all the little flood dragons in Poyang.

Zhang Fajing went again to the Laoye Temple in Laoye Bay and took back the Heavenly Master's decree. The commoners knelt and kowtowed one after another: "Heavenly Master, living god! Heavenly Master, sir!"

He then ruthlessly threw those temple shamans, whose backing had collapsed, into the water, where they were swept away and killed by the whirlpools of Laoye Bay, vanishing in an instant.

Zhang Fajing said: "I am not a living god, nor am I your master. The one who subdued the wicked flood dragon is another Heavenly Master!"

He then carefully explained the cause and effect, first telling of Father Xu scolding the dragon, and second, of Xu Jia slaying the dragon.

Just like the legend of Li Bing and his son, once these words spread, Poyang naturally had its own legend of the "Xu Father and Son."

And what was Xu Jia doing? He dispatched Yuan Jiangjun and Ao Jin to enter the Water Mansion to rescue his old father.

Because Zhang Fajing had laid out a Heavenly Net in advance, with thirty thousand Heavenly River water troops intercepting the key waterways, not a single one of these little flood dragons escaped. Soon, those who surrendered surrendered, and those who were caught were caught. Knowing the situation was lost, they were each as docile as quails.

As for the others, those who were cut, slashed, blown up, or roasted were also mostly dealt with.

After waiting a while, Yuan Jiangjun turned into an old turtle and carried Father Xu out on his back. Although he looked a bit disheveled, he was otherwise unharmed.

He was just a bit stunned, looking at the countless corpses of aquatic creatures on the water's surface, then looking at Xu Jia, who only had half his clothes left, opened his mouth, and asked: "You did this?"

Xu Jia saw that his old father's chest was filled with noble spirit, reaching through his entire body; his physiognomy had shed its calamitous aura and given birth to "nobility." His fate had changed; from now on, he was no longer a mortal.

It is very difficult for ordinary people to cultivate nobility; it is usually something brought by fate.

A small number of people, after passing through a calamity, see through many things and gain enlightenment, which can then give birth to nobility.

The highest form of nobility is power and status, followed by wealth, and then by purity.

But none of these compare to the strength of resolving a calamity and gaining self-realization, such as Wang Yangming, who attained enlightenment at Longchang.

The lower limit is founding a sect, the upper limit is being hailed as a sage or ancestor.

Xu Jia carefully checked his father; apart from a few oil splashes and some blisters from burns, there were no other issues, so he said: "Didn't I come to save you? Any later, and you would have been in the frying pan."

"That's right, such a big pot, and I weigh over a hundred catties; if you were to fry me through, wouldn't it be two or three hundred catties?"

"This is strange, oil has always floated on water; how can one set up a stove and burn oil under the water?"

"That is the Poyang Water Mansion, which is another Cave Heaven Blessed Land; it is much the same as on land."

Xu Jia took out a red date, breathed an immortal breath onto it, chanted a couple of spells, and gave it to Father Xu to eat.

Those burns all vanished; the scabs fell off, and the skin was very smooth.

Over there, Yu Yaosheng brought the inner elixir that the black fish spirit had been melted into over to Xu Jia. This inner elixir was not truly condensed "Dharma Power"; it was a type of outer elixir, formed by the black fish spirit's long years of gestation, just like a clam's pearl. Fish also have "fish pearls," which are not the condensation of essence, energy, and spirit.

This has been mentioned before: Golden Core is a state. "Golden" refers to the nature and spirit being like true gold, a point of pure yang; "Core" refers to the three treasures being mixed and unified, without lack or leakage, not having leaked a single bit.

The inner elixir of a monster and the Golden Core of a cultivator are ultimately different. However, even so, this inner elixir was still a treasure.

Especially after being refined by thunder and fire, with impurities and yin-quality removed, only the yang-quality remained.

It is a superior Precious Medicine. One only needs to set up a pot, pour in pure water, put this inner elixir in, and boil it for a period of time to extract some of the essence of the inner elixir, then bathe in it to temper the physical body and absorb the medicinal power within.

Of course, if one had a top-tier Alchemical Furnace and connected it to earth fire, using spirit mushrooms and small horses as medicinal essence, with this inner elixir as the medicinal mother, Xu Jia estimated it would not be difficult to refine a furnace of "Earth Immortal Pills." That is, if a Human Immortal Peak expert ate this pill and was guided, they would become an Earth Immortal True Person, using this outer elixir to trigger the Qi of their inner elixir and reach the realm of minor success in the Dao.

"Heavenly Master, the black fish spirit's body was melted by thunder and fire into the well under the Laoye Temple. The black fish spirit cultivated the essence of Kan water. After merging into that well, the well gained a thousand years of fortune and has now given birth to a Spirit Spring eye."

"Truly, when one monster dies, all things grow. Back then, the Centipede Dragon was suppressed and turned into Wugong Ling. Now that this black fish spirit is dead, it has actually pointed out a Spirit Spring."

Zhang Fajing had finished explaining to the commoners by this time and said to Xu Jia: "It is inconvenient for my Primordial Spirit to travel; I will leave the subsequent cleanup entirely to you, fellow Daoist. Beneath this Poyang Great Sea lies a Dragon Nest, which is formed by the essence pouch of heaven and earth. Therefore, Poyang Lake receives the essence of heaven and earth. Throughout the dynasties, it has bred powerful monsters that need to be governed. Fellow Daoist, you must manage it properly."

Xu Jia conquered Poyang precisely because of its superior geographical location. Now that he had manifested his holiness before the people and subdued the wicked flood dragon and fish monsters, he did not need to worry about incense fire and faith. The local government forces would likely support Xu Jia in establishing the Dao and preaching here; after all, they are the ones most afraid of death. Since ancient times, those in power have hoped for longevity, while the common people at the bottom have hoped to die early and be reincarnated.

"Then, fellow Daoist, please lend me these thirty thousand Heavenly River water troops to command for now. Once Poyang is stabilized, I will return them."

Zhang Fajing retorted: "Given your style, fellow Daoist, I fear it will be a case of borrowing without returning. However, as a Heavenly Master, it is indeed embarrassing to have no one under my command. I recall that in Min and Yue, there are still some Lingbao-lineage small altar Dharma traditions. They are descendants of the branches of the Lingbao lineage that were cut off in this realm, and some were left behind by Heavenly Master Xu when he preached the Dharma back then. If you spread the Dao to the south in the future, you can reclaim them, and then you won't have to worry about having no one to use."

Xu Jia indeed had the thought of "Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou." Being called out directly, his ears turned a bit red. He stubbornly said: "I can refine my own troops; fellow Daoist, don't tease me. So many aquatic monsters have died in this battle; if I take them to refine water ghosts, I can certainly refine one hundred thousand."

Immediately, the Jiujiang Shuidi within Xu Jia emerged from his body, interacting with the water Qi of Poyang, collecting nine types of water quality: Kan water, Gui water, Ren water, True water, Pure water, Mysterious water...

The inner sage interacted with the outer sage, communicating with the Water Official among the Three Officials. The nine Water Emperors were originally empty forms, but now, suddenly, a Dao Register was added as a core, and they became "True Gods of Heaven and Earth," temporarily acting as officials of the Dongyuan Fu of the Water Official.

Dongyuan Fu governs all water mansions and dragon palaces in the lower realm, as well as all water gods, water immortals, water-marsh dragon gods, aquatic monsters, and spirit ghosts.

Although Xu Jia's Jiujiang Shuidi is a Body God, it can also interact with external Qi and temporarily act as a True God of Heaven and Earth.

This caused all waters to return to their positions: heavenly water returned to heaven, earthly water returned to earth, and the water of You Ming returned to You Ming. The Three Realms and the nine rivers were all settled.

Seeing this, Zhang Fajing nodded: "Then I will leave it to you, fellow Daoist."

Having said that, the golden clouds paused, and like a flash of lightning, his Primordial Spirit returned to his body, residing back in Longhu. The two generals, Zhao Yuanshuai and Xin Huan, on his altar also returned to their positions accordingly. Only the thirty thousand water troops he had ordered were divided to the Jiujiang Shuidi to subdue the remnants of the Poyang Dragon Palace.

Xu Zhiyuan had also opened his "Heavenly Eye" at this moment and saw things in the Dharma Realm that he could not see before.

He couldn't help but ask: "Can gods and ghosts secure the state?"

Xu Jia asked in return: "Not asking the common people, but asking ghosts and gods?"

He then said: "These are originally existences from two different worlds. Only when the mind moves is there a response, but things are not something that can be accomplished just by thinking or bowing."

After saying this, he told the story of "I wish to go to the Beihai" and told Father Xu: "The thoughts of gods and ghosts cannot interfere with reality; they can only change a person's thoughts and cognition. In fact, they are illusions, demonic realms, and all kinds of distracting thoughts. Therefore, cultivation is the cultivation of the heart, which is also the correction of right thoughts. If you are not moved by them, you cannot be intimidated or subdued by them, and you can see gods without bowing. Because you are your own god; rather than bowing to gods to accomplish something, it is better to do it yourself. The help of ghosts and gods is the icing on the cake, not charcoal in the snow."

Father Xu nodded and said: "That's true, it is still human effort that matters. But if there are such monsters everywhere, how can one use human effort?"

"Now the country is on the verge of collapse, and the laws have been lost. If there were laws, governing the country according to the law, constantly improving, and having less heaven's wrath and people's grievances, then the aura of evil spirits would be less. Monsters would have no corresponding environment to nourish them and would have to flee into deep mountains and old forests or run to overseas, and naturally, they would not stir up demonic atmosphere."

"Because everyone believes in the justice of this world, believes that justice will neither be absent nor late, and that there is retribution in this life, there is no need for retribution in the next life. Since there is no need for retribution in the next life, there is no need for gods and Buddhas to manifest. Since there is no manifestation of gods and Buddhas, there will be no monsters appearing that require gods and Buddhas to subdue."

Xu Jia said: "If you, my old father, practice what you preach, that is also a beginning. Kongzi said, 'Knowing it cannot be done, yet doing it,' even if there are thousands of people, I will go. If you have a compassionate heart, courage, perseverance, and the heart to make a Great Vow to change the world, it is not difficult."

Xu Zhiyuan heard this and said: "This set of yours is not the speech of a subject; be cautious, be very cautious. Otherwise, if the monsters cannot kill you, then gods and Buddhas will surely come to kill you."

What Xu Jia described made Father Xu yearn for it, but he sighed in the end: "Demons, ghosts, and monsters can never be wiped out completely."

(End of this chapter)