Chapter 328: Bi Fang

"By imperial decree, let the Zhengyang Thunder General descend with all speed!"

The Zhengyang Leigong is one of the two Leigong who captured the Wufeng Shizhe last time; the other is the Jizui Leigong.

However, by this time they have already been installed into the Dharma lineage, and some disciples who practice related Thunder Law have set up Thunder Altars for them, honoring them as Ancestors of the Thunder Altar.

Heaven and Earth have the transformations of yin and yang; the True Yang thunderbolt striking down corresponds to the True Yin.

A bolt of lightning the size of a bowl fell from thin air, the boom of which could be heard for over a dozen miles.

The commoners beneath the volcano could not help but look up, their faces filled with fear, wondering if the sacred mountain was about to erupt.

But unfortunately, it was not; the lightning strike was diverted by the meteorite, much like water washing over a stone, until it was channeled into the ground.

The meteorite even glowed with a bright, clear light, creating an effect similar to a Thunder-Fire Refining Palace.

Xu Jia sensed it through his spiritual connection; there was a shallow intent inside, or rather, a spirituality, that was thirsting for this lightning.

Xu Jia was not sure what it was, but since it wanted lightning, that was not difficult.

Thus, he summoned the two dragons, the Golden Flood Dragon and the Silver Flood Dragon, into the sky. Before long, golden light flickered and silver snakes danced wildly, gathering cold and warm air currents and the two Qi of yin and yang to form a mass of dark clouds.

Not long after, the two dragons mated, their horns touching; from the tips of their Flood Dragon Horns, lightning was immediately released, suddenly falling down like a silver vase shattering and water bursting forth, landing upon the meteorite.

After striking hundreds of times, both dragons were exhausted; although the cold and hot Qi masses in the Cloud Void were endless, they still required spirituality to be catalyzed and moved.

Fortunately, Xu Jia sensed the changes in the Spirit Machine and the geomagnetic properties.

In mythology, lightning has always been mysterious; many primitive sacrificial altars and temples were built in places frequently struck by lightning, as it was believed they were closer to communicating with Heaven and possessed more of the energy of Heaven and Earth.

In fact, places frequently struck by lightning store a lot of static electricity, and combined with the altered magnetic field, it truly gives people a different feeling, even allowing for better meditation.

This was the origin of the Blessed Land and Cave Heaven; humanity yearned to master the power of lightning.

Xu Jia mobilized the Thunder Law to strike the meteorite crater, which sat atop the volcano; the heavenly thunder hooked into the earth fire, and at this moment, it also awakened the Mountain God of this dormant volcano.

Anyone would wake up if they were struck by lightning hundreds of times for no reason and given a round of electrotherapy, and they might even curse their mother.

The volcano's spirit was not a stone monster or a magma giant; on the contrary, Xu Jia was very familiar with its appearance.

It looked both like a fire-breathing dragon of the West and a Bi Fang of the East.

This creature had green feathers, but possessed the fleshy wings of a prehistoric pterosaur; it looked like it had one leg, but it actually had two. It could spit fire from its mouth, and on its back, it carried something resembling a model of a volcano, inside of which was boiling magma.

Xu Jia felt as if he had dreamed his way back to the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The great bird soared into the sky from the volcano, bringing up countless black smoke, and then dove down through the smoke, heading toward Xu Jia.

Wusachi's face turned pale: "How did the divine bird come out too?"

They worshipped the volcano, but believed this great fire bird was the messenger of the Mountain God, not knowing that this was the Mountain God itself.

As the great bird charged over, Xu Jia dodged, felt the flame Qi, and sighed: "Good fire!"

This fire was Stone Fire, Wood Fire, and Heavenly Fire; it was the Samadhi True Fire. Stone Fire is easy to understand—it is the fire from deep underground; Wood Fire is also easy to understand—it is the fire of firewood, also extended to mean sacrificial fire; Heavenly Fire was likely brought here by the falling meteorite.

These three fires are the Outer Samadhi True Fire, as opposed to the Inner Samadhi, which is heart fire, kidney fire, and bladder fire.

Cultivating the Fire Mansion involves various Fire Gods; Taiyang Xingjun is one, Huode Xingjun is another, and there is also the Huofu Xingjun... there are quite a few Internal Scene Body Deity Appearances that involve fire.

Xu Jia exclaimed that it was good fire, not sighing at the Divine Ability, but sighing at the verification and the cultivation.

The great bird had been awakened and was in a fit of rage; it crashed over again, its green feathers replaced by green flames.

Even the volcano vibrated slightly, which was likely related to its emotions—it was burning with rage.

Fearing that the volcano might truly erupt and cause a disaster, Xu Jia tumbled and turned, landing on the great bird's back, and sighed: "O Phoenix, O Phoenix, why has your virtue declined? How have you fallen to this state?" Just like the Flood Dragon, it had a fondness for oral decrees; spiritual birds like the Phoenix also shared this sentiment. Xu Jia was a Heavenly Master and God Immortal, and with his Jade Sound, he asked into its soul, melting its fiery temper like spring wind melting snow.

The great bird landed, and the volcano stopped vibrating. A female voice emerged: "There is no longer a Phoenix vein in this world, only a Dragon vein. I searched for a long time and found this volcano to cultivate the Fire Virtue, but they were unteachable; while I slept, they performed bloody sacrifices, defiling my spiritual light. I wanted to be reborn through fire, but I had no certainty."

"You must be the Heavenly Master from the Central Plains that the savage tribe's shaman spoke of. Can you grant me a proper sacrifice and proper worship?"

Although this great bird was not a Phoenix, it contained the heritage of the Phoenix kind. Before the Qin and Han dynasties, the Phoenix was highly revered, such as in the Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, and Zhou Dynasty.

After the Qin, with Qin Shi Huang as the Ancestral Dragon, the Phoenix gradually became a synonym for the Empress. Later, Confucianism recorded it as the bird of the Five Virtues, and it also gained the name of the Confucian divine bird.

But in the very beginning, the Phoenix, like the Flood Dragon, also had to cultivate with the help of Earth Veins; one was a Dragon Vein, and the other was a Phoenix Vein.

In the Central Plains, the only Phoenix vein is the Qianling Mausoleum of Wu Zetian; the rest are of no consequence. Going further back, there is the Phoenix singing at Mount Qi in the Zhou Dynasty; Mount Qi is also a Phoenix vein.

Xu Jia had just said that Luzon was the manifestation of the remaining Qi of China's Dragon vein flowing into the sea. Now, observing it again, it truly had the appearance of a Phoenix vein, though not large in scale. It mainly relied on the volcano and Fire Virtue. There are differences between fires; some are Heavenly Fire, which is the fire of the sun—this is the Vermilion Bird, the most precious. Next is the mountain-burning fire, which corresponds to divine birds like the Bi Fang.

"When did you come here?" Xu Jia inquired.

"I have been here since the Qin era."

"What is your name?"

"They all call me Marong," the fire bird said. "I should have been called Bi Fang in the beginning."

"I see. If you receive my proper decree, can you be reborn through fire?"

"No, it would only help clear the influence of the blood sacrifices. It has been too long, over a thousand years. At first, their sacrifices could not make me feel anything, but later, sometimes I would become muddled. They believed I had two forms: one when I was awake, the angry me, and one when I was asleep, the calm me. This was a misunderstanding, but over time, the fake became real. Now my soul is splitting, and my personality has been affected."

"Until one day, this meteorite fell from the sky, and I refined the true fire it carried, which could burn away those troublesome thoughts, but I could never eradicate them completely."

"Some time ago, some people were acting sneakily and held a sacrifice, which deepened the defilement."

"That must have been the Longevity Sect." Xu Jia recalled the time when the Yushan Mountain God was wild and mad; it was because he had fallen into a trap, held an evil sacrifice, and lit resentment incense.

However, it seemed that this had little effect on this volcano spirit, a Phoenix subspecies.

(End of chapter)