Chapter 342

For the sake of caution, Qian Chen put away all the magic treasures of Daoist Yu Chen and Li Er, and only hung an iron sword he had casually picked up from the demonic secret treasury obtained in the first Samsara world.

If pawned, it would be worth a hundred taels of silver.

He hung the iron sword with its sharkskin scabbard casually on the bow of the boat. The Boy of Many Treasures finally had days where he was empty-handed, without magic treasures or money.

Because he could not leave the boundaries of Zhong Shan and Xuanwu Lake, Qian Chen didn't even have spirit grains or a cauldron, so he could only hold a bamboo pole he had picked up and fish at the bow of the boat.

On the small boat, Qian Chen tapped the water surface with the bamboo pole, splashing two or three drops of water. Then, he swung the bamboo pole in his hand, splitting the water droplets in mid-air and blooming into water marks like green lotus petals.

At the bow of the small boat, the bamboo branch in his hand transformed into layers of sword shadows.

Qian Chen's figure seemed drunk yet awake, wild and uninhibited. His figure transformed into many phantoms at the bow of the boat, true and false mixed, indistinguishable from each other.

Finally, countless phantoms withdrew their stance simultaneously. The bamboo pole tapped the lake surface one last time, and a green lotus exploded, then spread in all directions. Soon, on the nearby twenty-odd acres of lake surface, countless green lotuses bloomed, covering the water visible from the small boat.

Qian Chen didn't even use a trace of magic power, but purely with sword technique achieved this magnificent scene like a spell.

Inserting the bamboo pole back into the boat cover, Qian Chen withdrew his hand and nodded with satisfaction. Now the Green Lotus Zang Zang Jian Ge was pure and simple; no one would ever be able to detect traces of his other set of sword techniques.

For the past few days, Qian Chen had been tempering his true qi and magic power with the pure Yin-Yang qi of Xuanwu Lake, while purifying his sword techniques, grinding away all traces of his original sword techniques from the Green Lotus Zang Zang Jian Ge. He had cultivated diligently like this for seven days.

His entire external pill magic power, magic treasures, and even the Gold and Silver Boys and the Ear Dao God were all used to suppress the spirit treasure iron ring.

Now it was almost impossible to suppress.

After tonight, even if Sima Shi had any arrangements in the Samsara lands, Qian Chen had to return to the Yuntai Blessed Land.

Although the timing was tight, Qian Chen was not anxious. He even had the leisure to bask in the morning light of the Mid-Autumn Festival at the bow of the boat. As the water mist on the lake curled and dissipated, Qian Chen saw another small boat in the distance slowly sailing in this direction.

He chewed on a blade of grass, sat at the bow, and watched a middle-aged scholar, elegant and refined, standing at the bow of his boat just like him, gazing at the morning sun slowly rising over Zhong Shan in the east.

The scholar's small boat sailed to the side of Qian Chen's boat. He looked at Qian Chen and smiled slightly: "Little brother has some refined interest, also coming to watch the sunrise over Xuanwu Lake?"

Qian Chen revealed a bitter smile, cupped his hands and said: "This junior has met Daoist Priest Tao!"

"Oh?" The middle-aged scholar smiled gently: "You recognize who I am?"

"A dignified Primordial Spirit master coming to Xuanwu Lake for a boat ride at this time, there shouldn't be anyone else!" Qian Chen said bluntly, with an expression of 'I've seen through it all, so stop pretending.'

"I was wondering what kind of teammates that girl would meet in the Samsara lands. I didn't expect her luck to be even stronger than mine, actually meeting the true transmissions of the Supreme and Lingbao lineages in the second world, and becoming good friends."

"However, your ability to cause trouble is simply too strong!"

"When I was at your realm, let alone penetrating the law to fight the Yang Spirit and insulting the Yin Spirit, even being able to contend with a Primordial Spirit master for a moment, or wanting to refine a first-rank external pill unprecedented in history, was all wishful thinking..."

"Amazing!" Daoist Priest Tao praised.

"You've only been in the capital for a few days, and you've provoked everyone, whether they can fight or not, and you even dragged my daughter into the water!"

Qian Chen looked left and right, discovering that although Xuanwu Lake was quiet, it had one disadvantage: the conversation was too private, and there wasn't even a chance to change the subject.

He could only helplessly spread his hands: "Teammates! How can teammate matters be called dragging someone into the water? If the Ning Ning Shimei has any trouble in the future, I will also do my best to help..."

"She is still grounded in the Princess Mansion in the imperial city!" Daoist Priest Tao's tone was not happy.

Qian Chen suddenly raised his head and said: "How dare they! This junior will kill his way into the imperial city right now, behead that old thing Sima Shi, and rescue the Ning Ning Shimei!"

"Enough! I will naturally settle accounts with that old thing of the Sima family for my own daughter!" Seeing that he was becoming increasingly outrageous, Daoist Priest Tao interrupted him: "However, your origin is unknown, and there is something fishy about you..."

"How can the Daoist Priest say that." Qian Chen smiled: "This junior is a true disciple of the Louguan Dao, under the Supreme Gate, both being true transmissions of the Three Pure Ones. There is nothing more innocent than that!"

"The Louguan Dao was exterminated three years ago. You disappeared one month before this incident occurred. At that time, you were still a disciple of the Longxi Li family. Two months later, you appeared in Guangling Wu Kang County and became Qian Chen. A Daoist sect introductory disciple needs at least a hundred days to establish the foundation. Where would you have the time to join the Louguan Dao?"

Qian Chen said calmly: "Reporting to the Daoist Priest, the villain who abducted this disciple is the same person who slaughtered the Louguan Dao. After they slaughtered the Louguan Dao, they snatched the Louguan town-sect spirit treasure, but because the seniors of the Supreme Dao pursued it too urgently, they had to transfer this treasure to me, waiting to come back and take it later!"

"Samsara Guide?" Daoist Priest Tao saw through the key point at a glance. Seeing Qian Chen nod slightly, he raised his hand and said: "Qingcheng has told me everything about what happened later! In just one Samsara world, you broke through the sensory realm, then found the Earth Sha in Jiuzhen Commandery, refined an external pill, and finally joined forces with Qingcheng and Yan Shu to defeat that villain Miaokong."

"And in the end, you even dared to pursue and kill him, ending him in a Zho-Guang projection world..."

Daoist Priest Tao's tone was complex, and he shook his head: "Such encounters are truly the unlucky appearance of a person facing a tribulation. I really don't know if it's a blessing or a curse for Qingcheng to be your teammate!"

"Is Sima Shi colluding with the villain who slaughtered the Louguan Dao?" Daoist Priest Tao asked back.

Qian Chen said affirmatively: "Collusion must exist, but I don't know how deep the collusion is, or if he participated in the planning of the Louguan Dao's extermination. Now it seems they are only colluding with someone or some people in the Samsara lands, wanting to plot to seize the spirit treasure on me!"

Tao Hongjing nodded slightly: "Don't worry, the spirit treasure Dao Chen Pearl is a personal transmission of the Supreme Dao Ancestor, and its status is extraordinary. It represents one of the orthodoxies of the Supreme Three Branches! You carry this object and have even obtained its recognition, so you are the heaven-ordained ancestor of the Louguan revival."

"I wouldn't dare to plot to seize it. Otherwise, if I ascend to the Tianshi Palace in the future and the Daoist Lords of your Supreme Dao surround me, I wouldn't be able to defend myself!"

"I also know a thing or two about why Sima Shi wants to plot to seize this treasure!"

Qian Chen immediately became interested. Although he had guessed many things, there were still too many ambiguities about the beginning and end of the matter, so he said: "Please enlighten me, Daoist Priest!"

"Daoist Priest, Daoist Priest, haven't you also been a Tianshi?" Tao Hongjing smiled: "If you don't mind me being presumptuous, why not call me Uncle-Master?"

Qian Chen followed the flow and immediately changed his words: "Please enlighten me, Uncle-Master!"

Tao Hongjing, who was completely unaware of how much of an advantage he had taken, sat down at the bow of the boat, hugged his knees and said: "This matter starts from more than fifty years ago, when the Sima family's great backer, Sima Yi, who was vaguely the number one Primordial Spirit in the Central Lands, went abroad to visit friends and did not return for decades."

"The Sima family's style was domineering before, and they acted perversely for a period of time, relying on the two old ancestors sitting in their clan. One was the Grand Marshal Sima Zhongda, who contended with the Martial Marquis five thousand years ago, and the other was his son, Sima Shi."

"After Sima Yi disappeared, the Jin court didn't take it seriously at first. After all, it is common for Primordial Spirit masters to visit friends for ten, twenty, or even a hundred years."

"But this matter is not simple. Six years later, Sima Yi sent a letter to the Sima family. This letter was extremely secret, but based on the Sima family's later performance, it should have been to inform Sima Shi that he was trapped abroad and to order him to find a way to rescue him!"

"Soon, a high-level expert in the Central Lands calculated that Sima Yi was trapped."

"And before that, Wang Dao succeeded in impacting the Primordial Spirit. To strike at the Wang family, the Sima family forcibly married Princess Xinan to Wang Xianzhi, even forcing Wang Xianzhi to break his own legs, and still refused to let go when he refused to serve. This matter was the Wang family's greatest shame. Not only did Wang Xianzhi hate it deeply, but it also caused Sun En to completely break with Wang Xianzhi, and Sun En also felt deeply ashamed."

"The noble families had long been suppressed by the Sima family, and the high-level experts in their clans who were close to the Primordial Spirit were always suffering disasters for no reason. If it weren't for the spirit treasures suppressing the family heritage, I'm afraid the several major noble families would almost be unable to maintain their status."

"After Sima Yi was trapped, only Sima Shi remained in the Sima family to suppress the situation, while the noble families had two Primordial Spirits, Daoist Priest Zhang and Wang Dao. If Daoist Priest Zhang could not interfere in court politics, then since Wang Dao attained the Dao, the Wang family had become the model for noble families, and a group of noble families united behind the Wang family to contend with the Sima clan!"

"Xie An of the Xie family has also been only one step away from the Primordial Spirit in recent years."

"In such a situation, Sima Shi was forced to be unable to leave Jiankang City. One reason is that inside Jiankang City, he can mobilize the true dragon of the Great Jin's national fortune at any time, fearing no attack from any Primordial Spirit master, or even the siege of several Primordial Spirits."

"But once he leaves the Jin capital, he might be besieged and killed!"

"Secondly, if there is no Primordial Spirit suppressing the Jin capital, I'm afraid the Sima family wouldn't even be able to sleep peacefully. Sima Shi was trapped in Jiankang City, and the court confidants in various places were constantly being removed by the noble families, and the city gods and other deities planted in each city were also being pulled out bit by bit."

"In such a situation, let alone rescuing Sima Yi, in a few decades, after Xie An attains the Dao, I'm afraid the Sima family's power would fall into other hands, or even face the worry of being usurped, just like the Sima family usurped the Cao family in the past. But to break this situation, either Sima Yi escapes on his own, or the Sima family must cultivate a second Primordial Spirit. One Primordial Spirit sits in Jiankang, and the other can make a move at any time, looking after each other, to contend with the noble families' Primordial Spirits!"

"For this reason, decades ago when the Emperor ascended the throne, they specially chose Sima Shao, who was of the imperial clan, had excellent character, but the lowest cultivation, to succeed to the throne. At that time, we even thought the Sima clan wanted to ease relations with the noble families, which is why they chose Sima Shao, who had a gentle temperament and high virtue."

"But who would have thought that just the day before yesterday, Sun En discovered someone practicing demonic evil arts in Jiangzuo!"

"The three of us Tianshis decided to investigate this matter, which led to the evidence Sun En released that he was going to rebel, allowing Zhang Huaien to obtain it and use it to test the Jin court. Daoist Priest Zhang and I investigated in secret and discovered that they had laid out plans decades ago, plotting to help another person of the Sima family ascend to the Primordial Spirit!"

"They let Sima Shao succeed to the throne just to prevent his cultivation from being too high, facilitating that person to break through to the Primordial Spirit with the help of the Southern Jin's fortune. It is even more likely that they let him collude with the Demon Sect and switch to demonic cultivation, using the various quick-success evil methods of demonic cultivation to impact the Primordial Spirit and break through the life-and-death barrier!"

"The so-called seizure of the throne by the eight clan sons and the Emperor's serious illness were all just to cover people's eyes!"

Qian Chen said with a solemn expression: "Who is that person?"

"Emperor Wu of Jin — Sima Yan, who failed to impact the Primordial Spirit back then and thus underwent corpse-dissolution!" Tao Hongjing said coldly: "The Supreme Dao Chen Pearl is a supreme treasure for subduing inner demons and guarding the Dao path. For cultivators who switch to demonic cultivation, its significance is even greater than for Daoist sect cultivators."

"If Sima Yan can get the help of the Dao Chen Pearl, the greatest tribulation of attaining the Primordial Spirit will naturally dissipate."

"Even Sima Shi has a chance to go further... So you know why the Sima family wants to ignore our Daoist sect's reaction and take action against you!"

Qian Chen sighed: "It really is a crime to possess a treasure!"

"Our Daoist sect is not easy to intervene in this matter. When the Primordial Dao Ancestor established the Heavenly Court to govern the world, he divided the authority into three. The Heavenly Court operates the divine path and governs heaven and earth, while human dynasties are served by the human path and governed by the Heavenly Court."

"And our Primordial Dao is responsible for monitoring all gods and the Heavenly Court. Therefore, if the Son of Heaven loses virtue and the national fortune is to end, it must be sacrificed to the Heavenly Court, asking the Jade Emperor to issue an edict. Our Primordial Dao assists human dynasties and monitors all ghosts and gods in the world. The only thing we cannot do is interfere in the rise and fall of human dynasties. We can only report the loss of virtue to the Heavenly Court for punishment!"

"So even if Sima Yan acts perversely, as long as he does not leave Jiankang and has the protection of national fortune, we cannot do anything to him for the time being!"

Only then did Qian Chen suddenly realize why the Daoist and Buddhist sects just accepted it when the Emperor supported the demonic path during the Great Tang. And with such a big commotion in Jiankang, there was no intervention from the Daoist Primordial Spirits...

"Since you are a descendant of the Louguan Dao and have been slandered by the Sima family, and we are both true transmissions of the Three Pure Ones, I cannot just stand by and watch. So if you have the heart to glorify Louguan, I can send you back to the Supreme Dao. It's just..."

Qian Chen saw Daoist Priest Tao looking unusually embarrassed, his eyes lit up, and he said with interest: "It's just what?"

Daoist Priest Tao said with a wry smile: "It's just that the various Primordial Spirits of the Supreme Dao all thought the Louguan Dao lineage had been exterminated, and they have all sent their own excellent disciples to walk the world."

"On one hand, they are investigating the villains who exterminated Louguan, and on the other hand, they are also looking for the Daoist books and relics of the Louguan Dao seniors. When the time comes, under the auspices of the various Primordial Spirits of the Supreme Dao, a competition will begin to select one person to take charge of the Louguan Dao lineage, and the others will serve him as the Sect Master to rebuild the Louguan Dao lineage..."

Qian Chen's eyes widened. What a group of Supreme Dao fellow practitioners! I didn't expect you thick-browed and big-eyed people to also covet the direct identity of the Louguan Dao!

Daoist Priest Tao covered up: "Of course, Junior Nephew, you executed the villains who slaughtered Louguan and even obtained the recognition of the Dao Chen Pearl, so you are the undisputed first choice to take charge of the Louguan Dao lineage."

"But if you want to obtain the recognition of the seniors, you will inevitably have to suffer some grievances!"

Qian Chen shook his head and said: "Why should I suffer this bird's anger? If I am here, Louguan is here. Even if they establish ten more lineages, they won't be the Louguan Dao."

He brandished his sword and said: "Besides, Sima Yan offended me, yet still wants to attain the Primordial Spirit? How can there be such a good thing? When I execute Sima Yan, the name of the Louguan Dao will naturally be glorified in my hands. By then, I want to see which Primordial Spirit will still have the nerve to intervene!"

Hearing this, Daoist Priest Tao nodded slightly: "If you can establish a mountain gate without relying on the Supreme Dao, this is also a way..."

"Since you have such heroic spirit, I should also help you. But you are not allowed to let Qingcheng down!" At this moment, Daoist Priest Tao's tone turned severe, and then, without waiting for Qian Chen to answer, he laughed loudly and turned to leave.

"Ning Ning Shimei and I don't have that kind of relationship!" Qian Chen hurriedly defended: "Daoist Priest... Uncle-Master, wait, I still have a spirit treasure here, please help me seal it!"

"Meddlesome!"

Tao Hongjing gave a muffled hum: "You still dare to look down on my daughter?"

Qian Chen spread his hands: "With the Great Dao ahead, it's too late to support each other as Dao companions, so how can I have the heart to get entangled in romantic feelings? In this life, I only wish to be free and unfettered, seeking the Great Dao, and have no other thoughts!"

"Hmph!" Daoist Priest Tao snorted coldly: "I thought the same way before, and didn't I still meet her mother?"

"Bring the thing here!"

Qian Chen took out the Vermilion Bird Fire-Tipped Spear. Seeing the iron ring bound on the spear, Daoist Priest Tao smiled: "So it is the Heaven Heart Ring. This ring is Yin and Yang, sensing each other. Even if you go to the Samsara lands, you might be plotted against by others using this. And the true spirit mark on the ring has not been erased, so it is just like an external incarnation of a Primordial Spirit master."

"You can't even sell it!"

Daoist Priest Tao took the Fire-Tipped Spear, reached out and wiped the iron ring, then turned his hand and stuck this talisman on it, handing it back to Qian Chen: "It's done!"

"That's it?" Qian Chen was somewhat incredulous: "What about the external incarnation of the Primordial Spirit master?"

"You used one of my true talismans, so you should repay it tenfold. I've recorded it in the account. If you dare to treat Qingcheng poorly, I will come to your door to collect the debt! You won't be able to escape even if you hide in the Samsara lands." Daoist Priest Tao joked.