Chapter 277

"Fellow Daoist Fan has helped us so much; I really don't know how to thank you," Lin Jue looked at Master Fan.

"A small effort, and we are neighbors, so why talk about thanks? Besides, I haven't thanked the two fellow daoists for the matter by the Wei River; I haven't forgotten that matter," Master Fan said. "What other magical arts are the two fellow daoists interested in? Just say the word."

"How could we be so embarrassed..."

As soon as Master Fan heard this, he knew there were indeed more, and he really didn't hesitate at all:

"Just say it!"

"It's the New Year; how could we trouble you to worry? Let's talk about it after the New Year."

"Fellow Daoist, you might as well say it first; I will think of a way after the New Year. During the New Year, no one else in the Ju Xian Fu is free anyway."

"..."

Lin Jue thought for a moment before saying:

"Fellow Daoist knows that after we came down the mountain, we were far away from our senior brothers, and communication is very inconvenient. My junior sister also misses our senior brothers very much. We heard from Lord Luo that there is someone in the Ju Xian Fu who has the ability to travel a thousand li a day. If we could exchange for this magical art, it would solve a major worry in our hearts."

Master Fan thought for a moment after hearing this:

"In the Ju Xian Fu, there are indeed strange people with the ability to travel a thousand li a day, but in fact, there is not just one, but two or three. The one commonly seen is 'Lord Shenxing,' but he is rarely in the capital; he travels between the north and south and the capital, bringing urgent messages for the imperial court."

"Two or three?"

"Anyway, there is more than one. As far as I know, the abilities of these few are all different," Master Fan said. "In any case, I will go and explore for the two fellow daoists."

"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist!"

"Fellow Daoist is too polite," Master Fan returned the salute. "By the way, this wooden plaque is really not enough to match your status. I talked to Vice Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Rites some time ago, and plus the fact that you used a small magical art to subdue the stone horse on the street a few days ago, the Ministry of Rites should soon change your name plaque. I guess it should be a silver plaque, and then you will be able to go to the Scripture Pavilion in the Guanxing Palace to read books."

"Doesn't this mean we owe you another favor?"

"Not at all."

After chatting for a long time, Master Fan left.

Lin Jue opened this "Five Elements Commentary."

The pages inside were also very old, but there were no signs of damage, and the handwriting hadn't faded. Besides the owner keeping it well, there should be other mysteries.

"Between heaven and earth, all things grow together without harming each other, and the Great Dao runs parallel without contradicting each other. The five elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; each of these five elements has its own strengths, generating and overcoming each other, circulating endlessly, which is the Great Dao of heaven and earth..."

"Metal is born from water and hidden in stone..."

Under each sentence, there were small characters with detailed annotations.

Lin Jue had read the "Yin-Yang Classic" and knew that these large characters were likely the content of the "Five Elements Classic." The content itself was not rare; it was like the Great Dao, visible everywhere and present everywhere. What was rare were the annotations made by sages later, which were the small characters below.

Therefore, this was actually a "commentary."

And the annotations on this commentary were clearly not just explaining the Five Elements Classic and translating it into easy-to-understand words, but also included the annotator's own deep understanding, as well as the application of the five elements based on this.

This was the method of cultivation.

However, this book was still not a straightforward, pure cultivation spiritual method, but only contained the cultivation spiritual method. That Fellow Daoist named Wan could realize the Five Elements Spiritual Method from this; it seemed his talent in this was truly very high.

But if he realized it himself, he would inevitably take detours.

Detours were small, but the forks were big.

So Lin Jue said to the junior sister: "I'll read this book first, and if there are no problems, I'll copy it for you."

"Understood!"

The junior sister didn't think much.

Lin Jue took the book back to his room, waiting for Master Fan to explore the Shenxing magical art for him, and also studying this Five Elements Commentary.

A few days later, the ancient book reacted.

Lin Jue immediately opened it.

"Whoosh..."

Five Elements Commentary Method, one of the Five Elements Spiritual Methods.

The Five Elements Great Dao is simple but hard to seek. Practitioners are often limited by their talent, making it difficult to walk this path, and even more difficult to achieve the true Dao.

Ancient sages wrote the "Five Elements and Five Qi Classic," describing the five qi of heaven and earth and the principles of the five elements. Later generations studied and annotated it for generations, gradually obtaining the essence of the Five Elements Spiritual Method. Because the annotations were different, different methods of seeking the Dao were extended, such as obtaining the "Five Elements Commentary Method" from the "Five Elements Commentary"—because the annotator was Ji Xianren He, it was also called "He's Five Elements"—and obtaining the "Five Elements Original Method" from the "Five Elements Original Meaning," the annotator of which had lost his name. However, various Five Elements Spiritual Methods were not like Yin-Yang Spiritual Methods, which had distinctions of size; they were just small differences in the path of seeking the Dao, running parallel and often intersecting, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

The Five Elements Commentary Method is slow at first and fast later, with powerful magical power.

"Slow at first and fast later, with powerful magical power?"

Lin Jue savored this sentence, staring at the ancient book and pondering.

In this way, his junior sister had already practiced the Yin-Yang Spiritual Method and had quite a bit of cultivation; if she specialized in the Five Elements Spiritual Method, although she would lose some cultivation, the loss wouldn't be low. Could it be that she could skip the relatively slow early cultivation process of this Five Elements Spiritual Method?

"Heh..."

Lin Jue shook his head and smiled.

If his talent wasn't in yin and yang but in the five elements, and if he hadn't also obtained many yin-yang mysteries and magical arts proficient in combat, he would really want to switch to the five elements with his junior sister.

Just as Lin Jue wanted to pinch the page and listen carefully, someone outside was suddenly calling him.

So he pressed his hand on the book and listened carefully.

It turned out to be Wu Lingshi.

Not in a hurry, he thought for a moment, then Lin Jue closed the book, blew out the night-watch lamp, and walked out.

Sure enough, just as Master Fan—

The Ministry of Rites had changed his name plaque from a wooden one to a silver one, directly skipping the copper plaque in the middle. And just as the rest period ended, Wu Lingshi sent it to him and took advantage of the fact that the New Year hadn't ended to wish him a late Happy New Year.

"In the past, the prime ministers of the Great You Dynasty built four scripture pavilions, called Biluo Pavilion, Emperor Yu Jian Building, Lingtai Pavilion, and Cangzhen Pavilion, all in the Guanxing Palace. If the True Person takes the silver plaque there, you can enter and exit Biluo Pavilion, Emperor Yu Jian Building, and Lingtai Pavilion at will," Wu Lingshi said to him. "During this period of the New Year, lasting until the Lantern Festival, the Guanxing Palace is very lively, and many people go to offer incense; the True Person can also go and take a look."

"That's good!"

Lin Jue looked at the pure silver name plaque in his hand, thinking.

Indeed, recently it was the New Year, and according to the customs of this time and place, people often went to offer incense to the gods, and he had been in the capital for so long but hadn't been to the Guanxing Palace to take a look.

It was just right to go and join in the fun.

And it just so happened that today he activated the Five Elements Spiritual Method from the ancient book; he only needed to copy it, and he could throw it to his junior sister to learn slowly. Lin Jue was also happy in his heart; taking advantage of the happiness to join in the fun was also a good thing.

After sending Wu Lingshi away, Lin Jue walked to the quiet room.

The wooden door was open. Inside, there was a long desk, and the female Daoist was sitting in front of the desk, holding a pen and writing the Fire Element Method seriously. Her loose Daoist robe was spread out like a flower on the ground.

"Junior sister."

The female Daoist then turned her head to look at him.

"Don't work so hard; he hasn't copied as fast as you've written. Recently, the capital is very lively; let's go out and visit the Guanxing Palace."

"Oh! Good!"

The female Daoist thought for a moment, exerted force with her legs, and stood up directly.

At the same time, Wan Xinrong was also in his courtyard, lowering his head and seriously copying that "Mountain Pressing Down."

In this process, he seemed to be reading and thinking, often stopping and showing a thoughtful look, and often his eyes would light up, as if he didn't know that magical power could be used this way, and that the five elements had such wonders.

Sometimes he even stood up, clapped his hands, and turned in circles.

A woman often came to the door to look at him, wanting to care for him, but he seemed not to know she had arrived. The woman often added tea and sent snacks and fruits to him, but he was completely immersed in it, as if he hadn't even looked at her once. The woman couldn't help but lean against the door, sighing secretly in sorrow.

She reached out and touched her face, which was gradually aging and losing its color, and the fat gradually increasing on her waist and abdomen, and then thought of the beautiful young concubine her husband had taken before the New Year, and her sorrow became even heavier.

For a moment, she only felt that she was becoming fat and ugly day by day, while her husband must be indulging in that beautiful young concubine at night, which was why he didn't even look at her during the day.

Thinking of the days of poverty and hardship in the past, a bit of sadness suddenly welled up in her heart.

Most men in the world are lustful; this is the nature of men, and she understood that. That tender young girl, let alone men, even she liked her when she saw her. But she heard that many people in the capital who had gained wealth, even if they took concubines, still respected their wives, at most spending the night with the concubines, and certainly wouldn't be like this, not even looking at their own wives of hardship during the day.

"Sigh..."

The woman suddenly thought again that during the New Year this year, she had heard a rumor.

It was said that eighty li outside the city, on a mountain, there was a god; if one went to pray sincerely, one could become thin, and many women had regained their beauty because of this.

The Guanxing Palace was not far from Lin Jue's residence. These few days, it was indeed bustling with people coming and going, and the blue smoke was like clouds. Such a lively scene was not common in small places.

Lin Jue strolled around and then went to the Scripture Pavilion.

Biluo Pavilion was accessible to everyone in the Ju Xian Fu. According to Master Fan, there were only some Daoist books inside, nothing strange. Lin Jue went to take a look, and it was indeed so.

So he went to Emperor Yu Jian Building and Lingtai Pavilion respectively.

He took a quick look and felt that there weren't many strange books in Emperor Yu Jian Building, mostly some mysterious matters of the Daoist school from the past, recording some strange things that happened around the capital.

Lingtai Pavilion was better.

It recorded some people who had become immortals, stored some works said to be written by immortals during their lifetime, recorded some biographies of gods, and recorded many great yaoguai of the world. There were also some extremely mysterious books, perhaps containing some mysteries and methods, but they were either written in an extremely mysterious way or recorded in the form of trivial matters, making them very difficult to understand.

Wanting to understand everything was not a matter of one day or one night.

Lin Jue naturally prioritized reading those he was interested in, or those that sounded related to him.

Such as Huizhou, Mount Yishan, Mount Qiyun.

He originally just wanted to see which great yaoguai had come out of Huizhou, whether there were records of the Corpse Tiger King, records of Emperor Yu Jian and Lord Yi Li, or even records of the Mount Yishan God or the founder of his own Fuqiu Temple, but he didn't expect that the first thing he saw when he opened the ancient book in his hand was Lady Yao Hua.

If so, he felt it was normal; at most, he could only say that she was worthy of being a great saint among yaoguai and an ancient great power, but looking further, Lin Jue was surprised to find a few words about his own ancient book.