Chapter 155: Comparison Between Old Daoists

The junior sister began to go out early and return late every day to build the road, and every day when she returned, she would bring back some spiritual plants from the mountain.

After Lin Jue told the second and eldest senior brothers about planting the Dan Fruit tree, he took turns with them to refine the spiritual plants brought back by the junior sister into spiritual liquid and store them in bottles.

This process could also be considered practicing alchemy.

Originally, Lin Jue's attainments in this area were relatively shallow, and he could only refine two or three bottles of spiritual liquid at a time, but as his alchemy became more proficient, the amount of spiritual liquid he could refine at one time also increased.

He could also make flying swords while he was at it.

Alchemy took a long time. When he wasn't proficient, he was always nervous, as if he didn't have a moment of free time all day, his mind always tense, and alchemy was also refining himself. However, after his alchemy became proficient, there was a lot of free time in between to use as he pleased. The second senior brother mostly chose to burn incense and play the qin for pleasure, and Lin Jue used it to melt spiritual gold.

It just so happened that there was spiritual fire under the alchemy cauldron.

The spiritual gold gifted by the Mountain God was a fragment of an ancient emperor's alchemy cauldron, and it was indeed not an ordinary item. Lin Jue hadn't felt how hard it was yet, but first felt how heat-resistant it was.

If it weren't for the fact that he was preparing spiritual liquid for the Dan Fruit tree recently, and the spiritual fire under the alchemy cauldron was never extinguished day or night, and there was also the second senior brother's incomparably hot spiritual fire, it would have been a difficult task for Lin Jue to melt it.

Even so, it took almost three days and three nights to melt it.

After melting, he divided it into more than ten portions according to size, quickly injected it into the mold to make it initially take shape, and before each forging, he had to spend half a day burning it red again.

"Ding... ding..."

The crisp sound of blacksmithing echoed in the mountain.

Lin Jue was forging in the courtyard.

His own little fox was lying lazily on the side, long since accustomed to this sound and what he was doing, not even looking at him. On the contrary, the cat in the distance couldn't stand it, lying in the distance with its eyes narrowed, unable to help trembling every time a clanking sound came, yet feeling very helpless about it.

At some point, Daoist Yunhe came to his side.

The orange cat in the courtyard also came to his side.

"Peng peng peng..."

The orange cat was really angry and couldn't discuss it with him, so it raised its paws and slapped his leg with a series of cat punches.

Lin Jue stopped for a moment and looked down at it.

After it finished hitting, he continued to hammer.

"Ding, ding..."

"This doesn't look like a weapon for bean soldiers," Daoist Yunhe said from behind.

When bean soldiers were first made, the statues were almost half a palm high, so the spears and lances used were also close to a palm long, and if they were long knives or long swords, they were about the same length as a finger. After refining, they were normal size.

But what Lin Jue was forging at this time was a beautifully shaped small sword, about less than two finger joints long. Although it had a grip, it had no handguard, looking both like a sword and a throwing dart.

Daoist Yunhe was experienced and could naturally see that this small sword was not that suitable for a human hand to hold and wield.

"This is for my own use."

Lin Jue said while forging, using spiritual fire to burn it to maintain the temperature, and at the same time answered Daoist Yunhe:

"Originally I had six throwing darts, which were very handy, but I lost two when I fought the bear demon down the mountain before, and the remaining four were not as sharp after being used for a long time, and my long sword was also chipped. It just so happened that I learned bean soldiers from the third senior brother, so I had the idea of using the method of making bean soldiers to make weapons, and after refining them, they would become beans for easy carrying, and I would summon them when needed."

He paused after saying this:

"I tried it when I was repairing weapons for bean soldiers a while ago, and it works."

"Hehehe..."

Daoist Yunhe was not surprised, just laughing: "When I was young, I also tinkered with this."

"Master has tried it too?" Lin Jue became interested. "How was it?"

"What 'how was it'? Don't you already know? This path is passable," Daoist Yunhe said. "It's just that I'm not good at sword fighting techniques, nor do I have the method of controlling objects, and the weapons made with ordinary spiritual gold are about the same as ordinary knives and swords down the mountain. Later, when my cultivation was higher, I didn't need these knife and sword pellets, so I gave them all to the bean soldiers."

"Ding ding ding..."

Lin Jue continued to hammer seriously, was silent for a while, and then spoke:

"I have."

After finishing, he didn't get a response.

A glance from the corner of his eye showed the old Daoist beside him just laughing, laughing without saying a word.

The clanking sound in the mountain continued to drift away.

The old Daoist finally spoke again:

"How many are you going to make?"

"This piece of spiritual gold gifted by the Mountain God is enough for me to make twelve small swords, which can be used as throwing darts or short swords, and I can also make three long swords, adding spiritual wood as handles, made into the style of normal long swords."

"Not bad, not bad..."

The old Daoist laughed, and suddenly his interest was piqued, so he rolled up his sleeves: "I'll help you too!"

"Ah?"

"Don't worry, I still have strength!"

So the clanking sound in the mountain became two.

The production of bean soldiers is mainly divided into carving and refining. The former mainly tests craftsmanship, while the latter tests cultivation.

Although the process of making weapons has nothing to do with carving, it still belongs to carving and still tests craftsmanship. Speaking of craftsmanship alone, in Lin Jue's view, his master is not necessarily better than the third senior brother.

Of course, he is much better than himself.

What makes Master powerful is his cultivation. Cultivation determines the effect of refining, which directly determines the strength of the bean soldiers. However, it's not useful at this time. What is useful is Master's fire-element spells—a point of his finger is a flame close to true fire. I'm afraid that most demons and ghosts will directly have their souls scattered if they touch it.

Under such flames, the spiritual gold is always red and bright, making it much easier to forge.

Master even took the three small swords that Lin Jue had initially made and was waiting to refine, weighed them carefully, but only put one back.

"This one is okay, these two have differences in details and need to be adjusted," Daoist Yunhe said. "You must know that using this method to make weapons is inherently more difficult than a blacksmith forging knives and swords down the mountain. What's more, as long as there are subtle differences, they will become bigger differences after being summoned and enlarged, so you must be doubly careful."

"Yes."

How could Lin Jue not know this?

It was just that his craftsmanship wasn't enough.

"In the Jianghu down the mountain, most of the famous knife and sword shops are named after water, like Longquan and Tangxi, so you can see that water also has a significant impact on the quality of knives and swords," Daoist Yunhe said while hammering. "The weapons of bean soldiers must be refined before being summoned and sharpened. You must know this, but after sharpening, if you want to quench, the water in the Xiangsha Well at the peak of the lotus is the best in this mountain, and the Cinnabar Spring is second."

"The third senior brother also told me this."

"Then he was reliable for once!"

Daoist Yunhe laughed and said to him:

"The Dao of bean soldiers lies in precision and shrinkage. The reason why bean soldiers' weapons cannot use ordinary gold and iron, besides the fact that ordinary gold and iron cannot be refined, is also because the quality of ordinary gold and iron is not enough. If you use a small knife or sword as long as a finger to turn it into a normal-sized knife or sword, it will be even more unusable, so you can only use spiritual gold.

"Although spiritual gold is used, after being summoned and enlarged, it is only as hard as ordinary knives and swords, or even worse, so it must be refined to strengthen it.

"Therefore, gold essence is the best for bean soldiers' weapons.

"The spiritual gold gifted by the Mountain God is good, but if you can find gold essence in the future, melt it again, add gold essence, and forge it again, it can be considered a divine weapon."

Lin Jue silently remembered it but asked another question:

"What is gold essence?"

"It is the essence of the five elements, like the earth and wood essence you have obtained before," Daoist Yunhe answered. "Just like spiritual aura has a distinction between dense and shallow, gold essence also has three grades: upper, middle, and lower. The higher the grade, the more essence it has."

"How to find it?"

"This is like the Dan Fruit in the mountain. In the world, it depends on fate; it can be met but not sought."

"Is that so..."

Thinking of this, Lin Jue couldn't help but think about how many bean soldiers Master had made over the years, and how powerful the bean soldiers he had refined in his life must be.

Then he immediately had another curiosity:

"Master, the ancestors of the past also practiced the method of bean soldiers, so what about their bean soldiers?"

"They are all people who cultivate the Dao, and you and I are master and apprentice, so I can speak directly. You just ask, after this old Daoist dies, where do your bean soldiers go," Daoist Yunhe laughed and then said, "Naturally, I first ask them whether they are willing to leave or stay. If they leave, they disperse; if they stay, they are passed down from generation to generation."

"This..."

Lin Jue couldn't help but be shocked in his heart—

Fuqiu Temple has been passed down for so many years. Even if every temple master didn't specialize in bean soldiers, and only a few bean soldiers were left, that would be a terrifying number, right?

That would truly be scattering beans to become soldiers.

Then he continued to forge.

Twelve small flying swords less than two finger joints long and three small long swords about the length of a middle finger were forged one after another. Then one day, the dusty junior sister didn't return until dark and said to everyone in a tone that she had finally completed the task, that she had finished building the road.

Between Mount Yishan, a stone-stepped road leads directly to Xianyuan Temple.

By the side of the road are strange peaks and rocks, cliffs and precipices, and the leaves of various plants have long been yellow and red.

A group of Daoists walked among them.

Walking in the front is an old Daoist.

I saw a tall and majestic granite stone mountain in the distance, like an immortal mountain, with palaces, pavilions, corridors, and stone steps built on it, and many young or old Daoists came out to greet them.

"Daoist Yunhe!"

Young Daoists and middle-aged Daoists bowed one after another.

Only another old Daoist with white hair and beard standing at the very front was disdainful, saying to Daoist Yunhe: "You old Daoist, you finally decided to come to my Xianyuan Temple again?"

"For thousands of years, there hasn't been a decent road between our temples. Your rotten face isn't worth me walking this rotten road. However, my disciple is hardworking and capable, and built the road over. Thinking that this road will likely be used for hundreds or thousands of years, I naturally have to be the first to walk it," Daoist Yunhe said to him. "From now on, when the disciples of your Xianyuan Temple go down the mountain and walk on this road, remember, it's because they are basking in the light of my disciple."

"You walk the first? I walked it once last night!"

"You finished walking? It doesn't count if you didn't finish."

"Why doesn't it count?"

"How can it count if there is no beginning and no end?"

"It looks like you are about to end!" Wangji grabbed the opportunity, waved his whisk, and aimed at Daoist Yunhe. "Can you make it through this year?"

"Going is ordinary, the spring breeze sweeps away the residual snow."

"Hmph..."

Wangji turned and walked behind him.

It was his eldest disciple who stood in place, respectfully making a gesture of invitation to Daoist Yunhe and Lin Jue's group behind him.

In the Enlightenment Room in the backyard, the blue smoke is sandalwood, there are tea and tea mats on the table, and a group of Daoists are sitting on the mats.

Lin Jue and the junior sister sat together. In the tea bowl in front of them were a few pieces of mountain tea and a large golden chrysanthemum. The tea fragrance was bitter at first, and the chrysanthemum made the tea taste softer, but it added another touch of astringency.

Only heard Daoist Wangji sigh leisurely: "You old Daoist, have you ever regretted what happened back then?"

"Youth is always reckless."

Daoist Yunhe raised his cup and blew the tea foam lightly, then drank the tea, but couldn't help frowning. He was used to drinking pine needle sweet water in the temple, but he was a bit unaccustomed to the coarse tea of Xianyuan Temple.

Mainly because this tea was too coarse.

"Is it reckless? It's just self-righteous!" Wangji said. "Now it's the world of the incense divine Dao. Those spiritual cultivators who achieved Dao first in ancient times occupy positions in the sky. Do you think their hearts are that good? Let later people also achieve true Dao and stand in the same place as them? You must know that the reason they are immortals, the reason they are high above, is not because their cultivation is high or their magic power is strong, but because, heh, because there are many mortal Daoists below. The more mortal Daoists below, the higher they stand."

"We Mount Yishan cultivators just lack the Great Yin-Yang Method," Daoist Yunhe said after listening. "If it were you who heard the immortals preach on Tiandoufeng at that time, you wouldn't be able to help it either."

"How could it be that easy?"

"It's just dying a few decades early, it's no big deal. What if you live a few decades longer than me? Isn't your cultivation still not as good as mine, and your disciples not as good as mine?"

Lin Jue and the junior sister heard this and finally understood that the recklessness mentioned was this matter.

At the same time, Lin Jue's guess was indeed correct. Master was indeed because he heard the deep principles of the Yin-Yang Dao preached by the immortals on Tiandoufeng, and failed to pursue the Great Yin-Yang Method, which led to the imbalance of Yin and Yang.

At this time, Wangji's eldest disciple couldn't help frowning and asking:

"What is the Great Yin-Yang Method?"

Daoist Yunhe and Wangji immediately looked at each other, but didn't go deep into it, because they knew that as long as they started, there would be Daoists on the mountain who would try it.

The Daoists in the mountain are either idle and bored, or they are single-mindedly seeking truth and Dao. No matter which one, they may not be able to resist trying that Great Yin-Yang Dao.

Lin Jue knows a little bit—

Nowadays, whether it is the imperial court on the ground or the Heavenly Lord in the sky, they support the Fulu Sect and suppress the Spirit Method Sect, so there are fewer and fewer spells in the world, and many spells have even been lost.

Not to mention spiritual methods.

At present, the spiritual methods of the Spirit Method Sect in the world are mainly based on Heaven and Earth Spirit Methods, Yin-Yang Spirit Methods, and Five Elements Spirit Methods.

Among them, the Heaven and Earth Spirit Method is also called the Mountain and Water Spirit Method. It must absorb the spiritual aura of mountains and waters, so it must be practiced in immortal mountain caves, and it must travel more and take different spiritual auras of mountains and waters. Those who have achieved success in this Dao are almost all indifferent to fame and wealth and do not like disputes. Moreover, nowadays, most of the major famous mountains are occupied by immortals as dojos, or they are sealed by mountain gods, so the spiritual aura is also limited.

Yin-Yang Spirit Methods have a distinction between large and small. The progress of the Small Yin-Yang Method is limited. This is the key to why it is difficult for generations of disciples of Fuqiu Temple to become immortals. The Great Yin-Yang Method is rarely circulated in the world.

Five Elements Spirit Methods are good at fighting, but they are not long-lived.

In short, each has its own limitations and difficulties.

"Nowadays, there are at most two or three temples in the world that still have the Great Yin-Yang Method. Heh, I'm afraid there are more demons who know the Great Yin-Yang Method than Daoists," Wangji shook his head and laughed.

"Bah! You are still good at wasting the best things here!" Daoist Yunhe couldn't help spitting out a golden chrysanthemum petal, looked down, and felt uncomfortable. "It's a pity for this top-quality golden chrysanthemum."

"How much better are you?"

"Much better! I have a good disciple!"

"..."

A few sentences diverted the topic, and a few sentences provoked Daoist Wangji to raise his eyebrows, and a few sentences broke up unhappily. ===== CHAPTER 156 =====