Chapter 82: The Bean Soldiers are Nearing Completion (Thanks to the Alliance Leader

Warm winds of a sunny day bring the scent of wheat; green shade and secluded grass surpass the time of flowers.

Yet at the foot of Mount Yishan, braving the summer sun, a group of Daoist priests were laboriously making their way.

The four sturdy Daoist priests in front carried a divine statue using two shoulder poles; the path was too narrow, and they often stepped into the weeds. Behind them, a donkey carried bamboo baskets, each containing a cat statue, and the five younger Daoist priests following behind each carried a back-basket, which also contained a cat statue.

A group of cats and one fox followed by their side.

Those carrying the cat statues were fine, as they weren't very heavy, but the human statue carried by the four senior brothers in front was simply too heavy.

The divine statue had been made in Yixian County; it had been transported all the way from the city, but only the first part of the road could be traveled by cart, and for the rest, it had to be carried by human labor.

Even for the cat statues, carrying them all the way was no easy task.

"Sigh..."

Cultivating the Dao is one thing, but since they neither refined their bodies nor became immortals, this labor was also somewhat torturous.

In this regard, Lin Jue actually agreed more with his Third Shixiong—

There was clearly a mountain village at the foot of the mountain; they could have easily paid the villagers to help with the transport. The Daoist temple was not short of money recently. This way, the villagers would put in the hard labor but earn money, and the Daoists could also have an easier time.

It was a win-win situation.

But his First Shixiong did not think so.

"It really is thanks to you, and you've all worked hard." A hemp-colored cat walking in front took small, nimble steps, occasionally having to trot for a bit. "If we had to carry them ourselves, we definitely wouldn't be able to."

"Your abilities, Daoist friend, lie elsewhere," Lin Jue said, wiping away sweat.

"You can speak." The hemp-colored cat looked at him seriously. "You are now the third favorite Daoist of the entire Fuqiu Temple."

"Who is the first?"

"It must be your Master; he grew up with me!"

"So you are that old, Daoist friend."

"That's right! By rights, you should call me Senior!"

"Then who is the second?"

"Hmm? What second?"

"The second favorite person."

"Oh!! There's a second in between!"

"..." Lin Jue was momentarily choked up and felt somewhat helpless, but he still raised his hands in a salute. "Many thanks for the kind affection of you, Senior."

"What is kind affection?"

"..."

Just then, a voice came from the front:

"We are almost there!"

Lin Jue looked up and saw that they were indeed almost there.

A new temple appeared in the woods.

Fortunately, the temple was built at the foot of the mountain, so they didn't have to climb.

The few Daoists were panting with exhaustion, but they didn't rest and walked straight into the temple in one go.

The temple had already been built and was quite well-made. The plaque and couplets were inscribed by Liu Gong, a virtuous and highly esteemed man from Yixian County who was skilled in calligraphy. Now, only these divine statues were missing.

The senior brothers placed the human-form divine statue of the Fourth Aunt in the main position, and Lin Jue and the others placed the cat statues they had carried on both sides below.

It was the Fourth Aunt who became a deity, but as the saying goes, when one person attains the Dao, their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Since the Fourth Aunt had become a deity, she naturally had to bring all her descendants into the temple to share in the incense offerings.

They adjusted the positions and set them up properly.

The many cats watched them move.

Lin Jue finally breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the temple.

"Congratulations to the Fourth Aunt and the cat Daoist friends; this can be considered attaining a positive result," the First Shixiong said from behind. "In the future, by cultivating on the mountain and receiving incense offerings at the foot of the mountain, the Fourth Aunt will have many children and blessings. If someone comes seeking help, she only needs to send a few descendants to handle it. With several mountain villages nearby, the incense will be enough to maintain her divine position and dharma body."

"We naturally know this!"

"If managed properly, you might even be able to spread your reputation further. By then, people from Yixian County and even the surrounding areas will come to seek help, and perhaps more temples will be built, and the incense will spread even wider."

"We know this too!"

Hearing the voices, Lin Jue looked up into the distance.

Villages could be faintly seen in the distance.

Although Mount Yishan was remote, there were mountain villages at its foot. The closer ones included Gang Village, and further away were several villages with "Pit" in their names. All had quite a few people, and every year there was a temple fair.

Through this Fourth Aunt, he had also learned a little about the divine system of this world.

The Fourth Aunt had become the smallest kind of deity, which meant she could only have a legal identity, have a name in heaven, and be recorded by the human imperial court, allowing her to legally collect incense offerings. As for her divine duties and responsibilities, it depended entirely on her own management and her believers, and her divine power also relied on her own accumulation.

Such minor deities were quite hardworking.

Hardworking and trembling with fear.

If one didn't do a good job, someone like Liu Gong in the city, who was virtuous and highly esteemed, could occupy the moral high ground and tear down your temple, and you would be helpless.

There was no way around it; even yaoguai have a limited lifespan.

The Fourth Aunt was truly nearing the end of her lifespan, which was why she had to seek the path of incense and divinity. After becoming a deity, as long as the incense did not cease, she would attain longevity; if the incense ceased, she would gradually dissipate.

Looking back at history, not even that far, just a few hundred years ago, there were many deities who were no longer worshipped by anyone and had no name in the world; most of these deities no longer existed today.

Therefore, this was a method, but also a shackle.

If Lin Jue were to follow the path of the Fulu Sect, even if he succeeded in his cultivation and achieved full merit, and was ranked among the immortals after death, it would probably be the same.

"In order for the Fourth Aunt's incense to flourish, we still need to notify the villagers at the foot of the mountain and tell them that their temple is built and they can come to seek the Fourth Aunt's help in catching mice, driving away ghosts, and warding off evil. If Daoist friend Ma San has nothing else, we will be leaving first," the First Shixiong's voice continued from behind.

When Lin Jue turned back, the group of cats had already jumped onto the divine altar, each examining their own statue.

These cat statues were all very simple and could not be considered lifelike, but the statues were painted with oil colors, so one could roughly judge whether it was oneself by the color.

Of course, there were those who found the wrong one—

Two cats were looking at one statue at the same time, looking serious, as if they hadn't noticed anything wrong, perhaps even thinking that this statue corresponded to both of them.

"We have nothing else to do, it was just too much trouble and bother for you Daoist friends. Later, we will definitely come to your door in person with gifts to thank you," the hemp-colored cat said very politely.

"That won't be necessary," the Third Shixiong said.

"I know," the hemp-colored cat glanced at him. "We won't bring you any mice."

"Then we are leaving."

"Go slowly."

Among the several cat yaoguai, the hemp-colored cat was the most polite; it jumped down from the divine altar and sent them off with its tail held high.

Taking a trip to the village at the foot of the mountain, soaking in a hot spring, and eliminating their fatigue, they would return to the Daoist temple refreshed just in time for the evening breeze.

Lin Jue took out a wood carving.

The wood carving was less than a palm high and was in the shape of a martial artist, wearing armor and carrying a long sword. Except for the lack of facial features, the details were very well done, and it was even painted with oil colors.

Most importantly, the wood carving already had spiritual aura.

The Third Shixiong took the wood carving and examined it for a moment, then nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad. The details were a bit off from a real person, but you've corrected them all today. It's good, it's good. Reaching this step, in the future, after you go down the mountain and meet a woman you love, you can carve one according to her appearance; you will definitely be able to capture her heart."

"Third Shixiong, let's talk about serious matters."

Lin Jue was already used to it and his expression remained calm.

"How is this not a serious matter?"

"How is this statue?"

"Sigh..."

The Third Shixiong sighed and shook his head before saying:

"It's ready.

"Reaching this step, your 'carving' step can be considered an entry, and you can directly start the ritual refining.

"Ritual refining is a time-consuming task that must be done every day. As time passes, after ritual refining, every time the statue shrinks by a fraction, it becomes a bean soldier that grows by a fraction, until it can turn into a bean soldier as tall as a person. At that time, the statue will have just turned into a round bean.

"Ritual refining must be done with heart; this determines the physique of the bean soldier. The higher your Dao cultivation, the deeper your attainments, and the longer you refine it, the more powerful the bean soldier will be. If you can cultivate to become a Great Power, the bean soldiers can also fight against Celestial Soldiers.

"As for later, how to change this wooden armor into iron armor, and how to change the wooden sword into a steel sword, I will teach you slowly later."

Then he taught Lin Jue the method of ritual refining.

Lin Jue had also studied it once in the book.

So every day when he returned to his room, or in the gaps of his cultivation in the mountains, he would refine this wood carving whenever he had free time.

Carving beans into soldiers is a Wood and Metal element technique, and Lin Jue had only learned the Wood element so far. Having previously consumed the Wood element spiritual aura from the Earth-Wood Essence, as well as the peach gum gifted by the Peach Yaoguai, Lin Jue also had some insights into the Wood spiritual aura. Sure enough, every day he refined it, the statue shrank by a fraction and became rounder. After a month, it had become a bean.

At this time, summoning it out, it was already a sturdy armored soldier.

It was just that the armor was wooden, and the long sword was also wooden.

This armored soldier could not move either.

Lin Jue took it to find the Third Shixiong again.

"Oh! You refined it so quickly?" The Third Shixiong was slightly surprised and happily continued to tell him, "If you want the bean soldier to move and have intelligence, to know what to do and what not to do, you need to invite a remnant soul into it to be your bean soldier."

"Where can I find one?"

Lin Jue had long known that bean soldiers needed remnant souls, and he also knew the general methods and precautions, but he still needed to ask him for advice.

"Don't be in a hurry.

"First, if you want the bean soldier to be able to fight, besides refining to make the bean soldier's physique stronger, you also need skill, so naturally you have to find the remnant soul of a martial artist.

"But you also need to know the key to why our 'Carving Beans into Soldiers' is not classified as an evil art."

Lin Jue had naturally heard it once.

However, listening to the Third Shixiong explain it again from a different angle was not a bad thing, and there might even be gains. After all, the Third Shixiong specialized in bean soldiers and had deep attainments and insights into this technique, and he might not lose to the person who recorded this technique in the ancient books.

"This is the three points:

"First, bean soldiers mostly only invite remnant soul obsessions, not ghosts, because bean soldiers are small and cramped, and they lie still for a long time. Remnant souls have no consciousness and can endure it, but ghosts find it very hard to endure;

"Second, bean soldiers have no binding effect on remnant souls, which is why we say 'invite', not detain; they can leave at any time.

"Third, the practitioner has no binding spell on the bean soldier; it can listen to you, or it can not listen.

"Now do you know why I am very respectful to my bean soldiers?"

The Third Shixiong said to him with a smile.

"I know."

"You must know that remnant souls are not ghosts. Even if they are relatively complete due to obsession, it is difficult for them to understand human speech; they can only feel emotional character. Therefore, even if remnant souls are all lingering in the world and unwilling to leave, if you want to invite them into the bean soldier, you must also interact with them with heart."

The Third Shixiong said this extremely difficult thing very easily:

"Therefore, throughout history, most of the bean soldiers of those who practice Carving Beans into Soldiers have temperaments that match their own: if you are a murderous person without Dao, you have to find those irritable and bloodthirsty remnant souls; if you are a gentleman, you have to find those remnant souls with justice and persistence, so that their hearts can match, and they will voluntarily follow you and be your bean soldiers."

"What if one changes their nature in the middle?" Lin Jue asked.

"There are such examples. When young, one is full of righteousness and worries about the country and the world, so they attract remnant souls who also died for the country to voluntarily follow and attach themselves. When they get older and gain power, the person changes and becomes the kind of person their younger self would have dealt with. The remnant soul senses this change and naturally leaves, and the bean soldier refined for half a lifetime becomes useless."

"Truly wonderful..."

Lin Jue sighed sincerely.

"It is best to find the remnant soul of the bean soldier yourself. Next month we will set off to Mount Mingzhou for a grand meeting. If we happen to meet one on the road, that is naturally good; if not, it doesn't matter."

The Third Shixiong said to him very kindly:

"I know of a Hero Slope. Decades ago, a great figure with a very good reputation was framed by treacherous officials and sentenced to death. Many chivalrous people in the jianghu, just hearing about it, went to rescue him halfway for the sake of righteousness. They fought a bloody battle for two hours without anyone retreating, and all died there. They were unwilling to die, turned into remnant thoughts, and refused to leave, and had nowhere to go. If you also have some chivalry, you can try to invite them there."

"I know."

Lin Jue had originally wanted to have a bean soldier before the Vegetarian Offering ceremony, so he would have some confidence when encountering anything, but it seemed unlikely now.

And looking at his sturdy and powerful armored soldier who couldn't move, he was really a bit anxious.

Thinking of the Third Shixiong's bean soldiers made him even more anxious. ===== CHAPTER 83 =====