Chapter 1118

As Shao Yong felt the sensation of the supreme principles of heaven and earth sliding across his soul, he felt as if the mysteries of the entire heaven and earth, the entire netherworld, were laid wide open before him!

"So that's how it is. No wonder there is no cultivation in this netherworld without a True Fate!"

"Because the netherworld has earth but no heaven, branches but no stems, fortune but no fate..."

"Before human souls fell into the netherworld, this place must have been a form of earth-qi that contradicted the world of the living and could not exist! It was precisely because human souls fell here, becoming the first ghosts, that they brought the power of the Heavenly Stems to the netherworld, allowing it to become a world!"

"The One generates the Two, the Two generates the Three, and the Three generates all things!"

"In the world of the living, the Taiji generates the Two Forms, and the Two Forms generate the Three Talents... The Yin-Yang Primordial Taiji opens up the Two Forms, and the Yin-Yang of the Two Forms generates and transforms the Three Talents of 'Heaven', 'Earth', and 'Man', and the Three Talents then generate all things in heaven and earth."

"But in the netherworld, isolated Yin finds it hard to generate Yang. When the 'Man' of the Three Talents falls into isolated Yin, it then generates and transforms the Three Talents of 'Heaven', 'Earth', and 'Ghost', thus creating all things!"

"Therefore, the essence of Fate Cultivation is to penetrate heaven and earth to become a ghost!"

"Ghosts without fate are the lowliest! Among the five types of beings in heaven and earth, ghosts are not even included!"

"Because ghosts have no fate, they cannot be counted as living beings. Without fate, they are easily controlled, and their consciousness cannot even 'change'; they can only endlessly repeat the experiences they had before they died."

"They must steal a person's 'qi' to gradually recover their consciousness, but even so, a ghost's consciousness remains stagnant. The tyrannical remain forever tyrannical, the cowardly remain forever cowardly, and even their reactions to certain things are fixed."

Shao Yong recalled the circumstances of his own death.

At that time, his soul, within his ancestral home, had subconsciously and endlessly repeated the activities of his life.

Paying respects and greetings to his ancestors were all stylized and routine; every day, the gestures, expressions, and even the words used to greet the old ancestor were exactly the same.

Just like a character in a play...

Until the old ancestor calculated the heavenly secrets for him and wrote his fate.

Then, he wrote the calculated fate on yellow paper, placed it in a silk pouch, pressed it down with the seal buried with him, and instructed him not to open it to look.

"I only have a sixth-rank fate, and although I am well-versed in some heavenly calculations, I can only provide you with a simple fate assessment."

"But I can only assess a seventh-rank True Fate, and your True Fate rank is even more precious; in the hands of a Fate Master, it can be determined as at least sixth-rank."

"The sixth and seventh ranks are a chasm in fate, so you must carry the pouch with the fate assessment I made for you; it will help you sense your True Fate, but you must never open it. At other times, stay at home and study, and never let the City God or Judge assess your fate, otherwise your fate rank will be greatly damaged, and there will be many obstacles in your future fate cultivation!"

"If you are fated to meet a Fate Master, you must have him assess your fate personally."

"Only then should you burn the pouch. Remember, you must never open the pouch. If you know the fate I assessed for you, your True Fate will be fixed, and it will be difficult to change it again!"

Thinking about it now, the old ancestor truly had great expectations for him.

"The netherworld has no Heavenly Stems, so it needs the 'True Fate Heavenly Stems' of the living world combined with the 'Empty-Death Earthly Branches' of the netherworld to form a ghost fate!"

"Assessing fate is to manifest one's hidden fate rank, so that 'Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, and I know'!"

"Once the fate rank is manifested, its Heavenly Stems are known to the heaven and earth of the netherworld, and the qi of Empty-Death will endlessly entwine around it, refining the soul into a ghost. Finally, the stem of the True Fate and the branch of Empty-Death combine, transforming into a 'Ghost Fate', and one gains ghost-rank cultivation in the netherworld!"

"So, the old ancestor assessed my fate, making a portion of the power of heaven and the Heavenly Stem attributes hidden in my True Fate known to the netherworld, and the qi of Empty-Death entwined, refining me into a ghost. But the old ancestor knew I had a sixth-rank True Fate and didn't want me to have only a seventh-rank ghost rank, so he told me not to look at the fate in the pouch. In this way, I didn't know my own fate rank, so I would instinctively resist the qi of Empty-Death, delaying the arrival of the ghost fate!"

Shao Yong was indeed a seed for scholarship.

The so-called true transmission is but a single sentence, while false words fill ten thousand books.

His Shao family ancestor had been refining the path of heavenly calculations for hundreds of years, yet he was not as good as Qian Chen, whose single sentence allowed Shao Yong to step into the threshold of a Fate Master.

Now, he only lacked the basic skills of heavenly calculations.

If the Shao family ancestor had been fortunate enough to hear Qian Chen's explanation of the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the path of Empty-Death, he would likely have stepped into the threshold of a Fate Master in one go.

Shao Yong excitedly wanted to write down these principles, only to find that the ink on the bamboo slips was gradually fading; those principles could not even be put down on paper.

Seeing this, Chen Jintian was even slightly jealous, and he opened his mouth to say: "Fellow Daoist Qian's words involve the great secrets of the netherworld. If you were the heaven and earth of the netherworld, would you allow all living beings to know your secrets? So look..."

He woke up the old servant driving the carriage beside him, a down-and-out miser.

"Have you heard anything?"

The old servant said suspiciously: "At first, I seemed to hear a bit, but later, I don't know why, I became drowsy. That Master Qian seemed to have said something, but I can't remember a single word!"

The miser woke up with a start, looked at Qian Chen with a solemn expression, and said: "I heard that Immortal Master Qian speaking, and just from the first two sentences, I knew it was the immortal method of the fate path, incomparably precious, so I wanted to remember it firmly."

"But every time I heard a word, I became infinitely sleepy. In the end, I couldn't hold on for too long and fell into a deep sleep. I only heard the beginning; it seemed to be the path of the Stems and Branches!"

Chen Jintian's expression was complex, and he sighed: "Four cultivations of hidden virtue, five of reading books. I originally thought that this fifth path of the fate path, reading books to change fate, was a capability only possessed by high-level people who understood the secret methods of Buddhist Prajna and the moral light of the Daoist gate! I didn't expect it was because the books they read weren't good enough."

"You heard Fellow Daoist Qian preaching, and although your fate rank is lowly and you only remembered a few lines of text, you already have signs of changing your fate!"

He waved his sleeve, and the clear pool beside them suddenly became as calm as a mirror, letting the miser go up to look. Sure enough, his sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked face, which originally had a mouth the size of a needle tip, had already split into a gap, like a rat's snout.

His entire appearance no longer resembled a mosquito or insect, but rather a rat.

The weight of his down-and-out fate had already upgraded from a mosquito or insect to a rat or sparrow!

Chen Jintian laughed: "Do you see? If the fate rank is not enough, even if Fellow Daoist Qian speaks the supreme principles of heaven and earth, they cannot hear it. Being able to barely hear one or two is already enough to initially change their fate!"

Qian Chen was silent. In fact, what Chen Jintian and Shao Yong heard was not even one or two percent of his explanation of the supreme principles of this netherworld.

Qian Chen's fate rank had not yet been assessed; after all, since ancient times, in heavenly calculations, no one assesses their own fate. This is the first taboo, but Qian Chen's own Daoist rank meant his fate had already broken through the first rank.

And Qian Chen's relationship with the Supreme was somewhat strange, so his fate could not be guessed even by himself.

But as long as one percent of his fate resembled the Supreme Dao Zangshan Laozu!

Then his fate rank was not just supreme, but rule-breaking!

The entire netherworld, heaven and earth, the universe, and the countless realms of the cosmos could not bear to manifest his fate...

Just now, when he recited the Heavenly Stems 'Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding', it fell into the ears of Chen Jintian and Shao Yong as Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding.

But if that Kundun of the Tai Sui Alliance had heard it, it would be—Yanfeng, Zhanmeng, Rouzhao, Qiangyu, Zhuyong, Tuwei, Shangzhang, Chongguang, Xuan'e, Zhaoyang!

Every name was the Great Dao they dreamed of.

For example, the Heavenly Stem Xin, also known as Chongguang, Taibai, Qiming...

It is the fundamental heavenly fate and the location of the Great Dao of a Heavenly Court Emperor, Star Lord, and the confidant of the Jade Emperor, known as the Daoist of the Great Emperor Chongguang, Taibai Jinxing.

Just this one word contained an infinite Great Dao, but it was difficult for the two of them to obtain even one ten-thousandth of it in their ears.

Chen Jintian probably obtained less than one percent.

Even Shao Yong, using the hidden virtue accumulated in his previous life, obtained no more than two percent of the principles Qian Chen explained.

As for that miser, his previous life's evil debts were so deep that Qian Chen did not like him, so he could not even understand the few sentences he remembered. Although it seemed he had changed his fate, in reality, what he obtained was not even as good as the old servant with the hard-working fate of driving the carriage.

It is just that the sage's education does not avoid the wise, the foolish, or the unworthy. The path of reading books, or 'morality', does not distinguish between evil debts and good fate; it is a power that elevates everyone.

So even if Qian Chen did not like him, he would not cut off his right to receive education.

First fate, second luck, third feng shui, fourth cultivation of hidden virtue, fifth reading books.

In fact, it is the path of the five virtues: merit, fortune, sage virtue, hidden virtue, and morality!

When Qian Chen explained it before, every word and sentence contained relevant principles, but the path of the five virtues was even more mysterious, so even Shao Yong could not hear it.

Of course, what Chen Jintian said about heaven and earth's taboos was also one of the reasons.

If it weren't for the sage's path of moral education, the heaven and earth of the netherworld would probably not want them to know a single word. The Empty-Death of heaven and earth and the Yi-Zi ghost fate that Qian Chen spoke of contained certain principles that the heaven and earth of the netherworld were extremely wary of.

They truly had the power to overturn the netherworld and cause chaos in the cycle of reincarnation!

It's just that no one could obtain the demonic nature beneath these principles...

Seeing this situation, Shao Yong couldn't help but sigh: "Fate rank... is indeed the most fundamental and precious thing in the netherworld. Understanding these principles of Brother Qian, I now feel I can even assess my own fate!"

Chen Jintian hurriedly stopped him: "No, assessing one's own fate is one of the three great taboos of a Fate Master. The fate assessed is neither human nor ghost, and will surely encounter misfortune!"

"Even a second-rank Fate Master, once they violate this, will find it difficult to even reincarnate!"

Hearing this, Shao Yong trembled all over and smiled bitterly: "Brother Qian?"

Qian Chen shook his head: "I have only just died and know nothing about the path of the Fate Master. How can I assess your fate?"

Hearing this, Chen Jintian smiled bitterly: "Fellow Daoist Qian says he knows nothing about the path of fate cultivation, but his previous words pointed directly to the Great Dao. I have been a fate cultivator for half my life and didn't even know the principles of Empty-Death."

Shao Yong let the old servant bow and offer the heavy gift, which was a piece of purple bamboo.

It was entwined with a qi of hidden virtue and was a treasure of hidden virtue.

There is no spiritual energy in the netherworld; the only thing that can be called spiritual energy is human spiritual emotion.

Therefore, the natural treasures of the netherworld are the manifestations of the five paths of fate cultivation, such as fate treasures, luck treasures, yin dwellings, treasures of hidden virtue, manuscripts by great scholars, Daoist spiritual light, and Buddhist true words!

Chen Jintian sighed: "Fellow Daoist Qian's previous words were worth more than countless Buddhist true words and moral spiritual light; they are already supreme treasures!"

"I was fortunate enough to hear them because of you, how could I dare to accept such a heavy gift again?"

"The True Fate I assessed for you earlier, I didn't dare to speak directly, because after the fate assessment, your True Fate manifests, and before it can condense into a ghost fate, it will attract the covetousness of countless evil cultivators, and someone will cast spells to seize your True Fate!"

"Therefore, the process of assessing fate and fixing fate must be as fast as possible."

"Anyone who knows the path of fate cultivation usually needs to nourish their fate first! Nourish the True Fate in a feng shui yin dwelling, accumulate ghost luck, until the fate nourishment is successful, then find a Fate Master to assess the fate, reveal the True Fate to heaven and earth, and then achieve the ghost fate yin rank in one go!"

"This was originally a taboo that only Fate Masters knew."

"But listening to what Fellow Daoist Qian said..."

Chen Jintian paused slightly and smiled bitterly: "True Fate is transformed from the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches of the living world. The netherworld has branches but no stems. Once the True Fate is exposed, its Heavenly Stems will attract the qi of Empty-Death! Empty-Death is a great misfortune! Naturally, it will bring countless disasters! Therefore, one must shorten the time between assessing fate and fixing fate, and as soon as possible, induce the 'Empty-Death' to combine with the Heavenly Stems in the True Fate to transform into a ghost fate!"

He carefully looked at Shao Yong's appearance and suddenly said sternly: "Not good, the secrets you heard are too astonishing, and you have already been faintly tabooed by heaven and earth."

"Do you feel now that your spiritual light is flourishing, your wisdom is enlightened, and it seems as if countless inspirations, thoughts, and insights are surging into your heart?"

Shao Yong was slightly stunned and said: "Yes! But... but isn't this a good thing?"

"This is heaven and earth trying to kill you with kindness. What Fellow Daoist Qian said is a great secret of the netherworld, and it has fallen into your ears, becoming a taboo of heaven and earth. Therefore, it makes your spiritual light endless, allowing you to understand the path of the Fate Master by yourself. In this way, your comprehension will become stronger and stronger in these few days, and sooner or later you will be able to comprehend your own fate rank by yourself. This violates the taboo that a Fate Master cannot assess his own fate. It will logically lead to your eradication. At that time, you won't even be able to have your soul scattered!"

Shao Yong pondered slightly and indeed touched upon a bit of his own True Fate.

Can't think! If I think any more, I will really manifest my fate rank!

He hurriedly said: "Please, Fellow Daoist Chen, assess my fate quickly..."

Chen Jintian said: "Assessing your fate is a small matter; I have already calculated your fate rank. But after assessing your fate, how to fix it? Hooking the 'Ghost Fate' out of the netherworld... Oh! My attainments in the path of the Fate Master are not deep. Hooking the Ghost Fate is the saying of most Fate Masters. It means that the Ghost Fate is hidden in the void, hidden in the heaven and earth of the netherworld, as a nether number, unknowable, invisible, unperceivable, and unsearchable."

"Only by using the True Fate to fish for it... this is called fishing for the Ghost Fate!"

"The qi mechanism nourished by the yin dwelling, the luck treasures of the netherworld, and the treasures of hidden virtue all bring a kind of invisible power. It is hidden and ominous, which we call ghost luck. It needs luck and hidden virtue to restrain it, otherwise, it will encounter misfortune. Accumulate hidden virtue, induce ghost luck, assess True Fate, and then use True Fate to combine with ghost luck to fish for the Ghost Fate, achieving the body of the ghost fate yin rank. This is the principle of a Fate Master assessing and fixing fate for others!"

He sighed: "It wasn't until I heard what Fellow Daoist Qian said that I realized that the so-called ghost luck is the Empty-Death of the Earthly Branches. The qi of Empty-Death is naturally ominous."

"It turns out that this thing is not the ominousness contained in the qi mechanism accumulated by the yin dwelling and the luck treasures and treasures of hidden virtue, but the qi of Empty-Death attracted by the exposure of the True Fate!"

"Just this one secret is enough to overturn the path of the Fate Master..."

Chen Jintian already admired Qian Chen to the extreme, raising his guess about his fate rank to at least the third rank.

A third-rank fate rank, even if Qian Chen had not yet assessed his fate, fixed his fate, manifested his True Fate, combined his body with the ghost rank, and possessed the fate rank wonders and fate supernatural powers of a Fate Master, to assess and fix his fate would require at least a third-rank Fate Master!

But just based on his rank, 99% of the fate cultivators in the netherworld could not hurt him.

Of course, without obtaining the ghost fate, Qian Chen could not display the fate rank wonders and fate supernatural powers...

Chen Jintian closed his eyes and pondered, then suddenly said: "Having heard a word from Fellow Daoist Qian, my understanding of the path of the Fate Master has greatly advanced, and I have already understood another principle of fate cultivation."

"The reason why fishing for the Ghost Fate requires so much luck and hidden virtue is because ghost luck, which is Empty-Death, is a thing of great misfortune. The moment it appears, it will seize the Heavenly Stems of your True Fate. If you cannot suppress it, you will have a portion of your True Fate seized!"

"So, one needs to burn great luck and hidden virtue at that moment to neutralize its great misfortune, thereby using True Fate to suppress Empty-Death and combine with the ghost rank!"

"The method of fishing for the Ghost Fate is to assess fate!"

"After assessing the True Fate, sacrifice the assessment text to the netherworld, expose the True Fate as much as possible, and the qi of Empty-Death will naturally seek it out... Therefore, I want to repair your face and change your appearance, so that the great luck and hidden virtue you have accumulated will burst forth, inducing the True Fate and luck, thereby attracting the qi of Empty-Death, suppressing its great misfortune, and using True Fate to combine with the ghost rank!"

Chen Jintian brought over a brush, eyebrow knife, and razor, and laid them out beside him.

In the pavilion connected by the winding corridor, the two sat opposite each other, listening to him say: "The methods of changing fate and inducing luck in physiognomy include eyebrow repair, head shaving, slimming, fattening, mole dotting, appearance changing, and face changing, as well as the heart-physiognomy methods of setting ambitions, reading books, constant smiling, and sorrow."

"The heart-physiognomy method has a higher intent, and since appearance is born from the heart, it is a superior method with no aftereffects. The appearance-changing method enters from the outside to the inside and induces luck very quickly, but all have aftereffects."

"Now, naturally, we cannot use the slow method..." Chen Jintian picked up the eyebrow knife beside him and smiled: "Allow me to repair your eyebrows and dot your moles!"

That eyebrow knife was surprisingly also a fate treasure!

Chen Jintian carefully observed Shao Yong's three halls and five eyes, compared the eyebrow shape, and said: "Your eyebrows are as stretched as a brush tip, flowing like clouds and water. They are superior middle-peak eyebrows, with a blunt start, thick middle momentum, and a neutral and peaceful end. They are an excellent eyebrow shape. It means the momentum starts slowly and bluntly, and after the brush is lifted, the accumulation is deep, carrying great momentum, the luck is extremely thick, and in old age, the luck is long-lasting, showing even more sharpness."

"This was originally an excellent eyebrow shape, but now that we want to induce luck, we have to change it!"

"How to change it?" Shao Yong asked curiously.

"Change it to knife-pen eyebrows. The knife-pen is like iron, with sharpness fully exposed! This way, it secretly matches your previous brush-peak eyebrows, and can also induce luck in advance, causing your accumulated hidden virtue and luck to burst forth completely, fixing a sixth-rank noble rank, an immortal rank!"

Chen Jintian carefully shaved the eyebrows, repaired the shape, and finally used a kind of pitch-black luck treasure ground into ink.

That pitch-black luck treasure had all kinds of bad luck and evil rushing towards them.

"This is a luck treasure transformed from ten years of bad luck. I want to use it to smear your eyebrows, using the bad luck and misfortune to stimulate your fate rank to counterattack, inducing luck in advance."

Chen Jintian explained.

Shao Yong hardened his heart, closed his eyes, and let him smear the pitch-black, foul-smelling luck treasure onto his eyebrows.

After repairing his eyebrows like this, Chen Jintian brought a glazed mirror for him to see, which was also a fate treasure.

Shao Yong saw the brand-new self in the mirror.

The originally thick eyebrows were much thinner, like knives and swords, neutral and peaceful. With this pair of extremely heroic eyebrows added to his simple and honest face, his image changed drastically, bringing with it a kind of vigorous heroism and sharpness!

Shao Yong frowned, looked at himself who was one point more handsome in the mirror, and smiled bitterly: "It's strange!"

Chen Jintian brought a fate treasure brush and used the little ink left over, mixed with cinnabar, gold, and mica to adjust it into a golden-black lacquer.

"This bad luck ink is a luck treasure condensed from a feng shui evil house. This house has already devoured the True Fate and great luck of dozens of house owners, thus condensing an evil toad hidden in a dry well in the courtyard. After I learned about the evil house, I went to seal it, dug two feet and eight inches in the dry well, and obtained the toad! Because it was too evil, it was a seventh-rank evil fate. I thought I couldn't subdue it, so I took the toad venom from its ears to obtain this treasure of evil luck."

"Zhu Sha is a luck treasure nourished by a sixth-rank Yang-Harmony Zhu Sha House, which governs fire luck and induces manifestation. Its momentum is like fire, making your luck burst forth like adding oil to fire!"

"Gold is a luck treasure nourished by a fifth-rank Golden-Beam Green-Tile House, which governs gold luck and wealth!"

"Mica is a Daoist luck treasure, a luck treasure refined by a fifth-rank Fate Master who was a Daoist elixir master in his previous life. His fate rank is like an elixir furnace, capable of collecting many kinds of luck to refine luck treasures. He is a great figure among Fate Masters!"

"I was fortunate enough to meet him and bought some mica and Daoist luck treasure spiritual medicine. This luck is a rare virtuous Daoist luck, governing smoothness and satisfaction..."

These luck treasures were adjusted in Chen Jintian's hands, finally turning into a golden-black ink lacquer.

"Now, dotting the mole to change your fate..."

(End of chapter)