Chapter Three is actually an infinite flow story.
The chilling wind outside grew even stronger. Jiang Liu calmed his restless mind, offered three sticks of incense to the statues of the Three Pure Ones, placed the peach wood sword left by his master across his knees, knelt on the prayer mat, circulated his vital energy throughout his body, returning it to his dantian, and repeatedly chanted the purification mantra: "I wash my body with the sun, refine my form with the moon, immortals lift me up, jade maidens accompany me, the twenty-eight constellations unite with my form, a thousand evils and ten thousand impurities are cleansed by the water. Heavenly Venerable Lingbao, comfort my body, my soul, my five internal organs, the Azure Dragon and White Tiger, with their majestic ranks, the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise, guard my body, so be it!"
With a loud "bang" behind him, the temple door was blown open by a strong wind. Strangely, the incense in front of Jiang Liu remained in a straight line, with the smoke rising three feet high, seemingly disappearing between the mouth and nose of the statue.
There are gods watching from above! Even fierce ghosts dare not easily approach Qianlong Temple, except for those ghost cultivators who have achieved success in their cultivation.
Jiang Liu was also a Qi cultivator who had entered the ranks of cultivators and entered the gate of refining essence into Qi, but he only had a body full of Yuan Qi and magic power, lacking the supernatural power to slay demons and eliminate evil!
A chilling wind rushed into the Taoist temple, causing Jiang Liu to shiver. He tightened his grip on the peach wood sword, revealing his nervousness. Gusts of cold wind enveloped him, giving him the sensation of lying in snow, and a shiver ran through his nostrils.
"It's eerie and sinister; it must be either a vengeful ghost or an old zombie! Sigh! We'll deal with whatever comes our way and see how it goes!"
Jiang Liu sat cross-legged before the statues of the Three Pure Ones, chanting the purification mantra, his eyes closed. Time passed slowly, and the air grew increasingly cold and decaying, utterly eerie!
"Damn it, my soul from my past life has dragged down my Dao heart in this life. My willpower is still not enough!" Jiang Liu gave a bitter laugh, feeling a chill down his spine, his hair standing on end, his fists clenched tightly, almost jumping off the futon, grabbing his weapon, and going to confront those inexplicable things outside!
A hoarse voice, carrying a chilling aura, rang out from outside the mountain gate, piercing through the temple and filling the entire Taoist monastery. It reached Jiang Liu's ears, making him shudder: "Master Xuanming, I heard yesterday that the thousand-year-old corpse demon from the White Bone Cave in Huaiyin has attacked. I wonder if you are unharmed! I, Qingming, am late; please forgive my tardiness. I have a Soul-Nourishing Pill here as a token of my sincerity..."
"The Azure Netherworld Cult of Shuangfeng Mountain? It's him!" Jiang Liu frowned, searching his memories to find the person. He knew he couldn't wait any longer; if no one responded, the cultist would surely know something had happened at Qianlong Temple, and he would be in grave danger!
Clearing his parched throat, Jiang Liu called out loudly, "Please wait a moment, Daoist Master, I'll open the door right away!"
The evil Taoist outside the mountain gate frowned. Just as he was thinking, he saw the wooden door in front of him slowly open, revealing a handsome young Taoist priest with a wooden hairpin in his hair bun. He was wearing a blue Taoist robe, which was washed a little white, but it was clean and neat.
"Greetings, Daoist Master!"
Seeing the young Taoist priest perform the salute with composure, the evil Taoist Qingming became even more puzzled, thinking to himself, "How can the young Taoist priest be so calm? Could it be that the old Taoist Xuanming is unharmed? Impossible! No matter how powerful his lightning control technique is, he couldn't possibly fight beyond his level... Could it be that the thousand-year-old corpse demon hasn't reached the Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation realm? The City God of Huaiyin has misled me..."
"Master, what brings you here?" Jiang Liu asked again, his eyes filled with innocent wonder.
"Yes! Is Fellow Daoist Xuanming here?"
"Master is injured..." As soon as Jiang Liu said this, a glint flashed in Qingming Xiedao's eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
“…I am resting quietly. If you have important business, why don’t you rest at the temple for the night? I will introduce you to my master when he wakes up tomorrow! I can’t bear to see my master too tired, please don’t take offense!” Jiang Liu said neither humbly nor arrogantly. When he mentioned his master’s injury, his face showed some worry, but when he said he couldn’t bear to see his master tired, his face was full of concern!
Jiang Liu stepped aside, preparing to invite the gaunt, sinister-looking Taoist priest inside.
The evil Taoist Qingming coughed and said in a hoarse voice, "I was also worried about Fellow Daoist Xuanming's safety, so I rushed here overnight, and I apologize for disturbing you. Now that you are alright, I am relieved. I have other matters to attend to and cannot stay any longer. This is a Soul Nourishing Pill. Please give it to Daoist Xuanming for me. Tell him that after your guidance last time, I have suddenly realized my mistakes. Once you have fully recovered, I will come to visit you again to apologize!"
As he spoke, he took out a small white jade bottle from his bosom. Jiang Liu bowed, accepted the bottle, and said, "It's already late at night. Why don't you rest at the temple for the night, Daoist, and leave tomorrow?"
"No, no!" Qingming Xiedao waved his hands repeatedly and said, "I have other important matters to attend to, so I won't disturb you any longer!"
After saying that, he turned and headed down the mountain without looking back!
With a creak, Jiang Liu closed the gate and collapsed behind it, his vest completely soaked.
If Jiang Liu's memory serves him correctly, that skinny Taoist is a cunning and ruthless individual. At the fifth level of the Refining Essence into Qi realm, he is skilled in refining elixirs, and his magical artifact, the White Bone Banner, can steal a person's essence in the blink of an eye.
Shuangfeng Mountain is more than a hundred miles away from here. This person is the abbot of the Shuangfeng Mountain Taoist Temple. Although he secretly uses living people to refine magical treasures and is very harsh and exploitative to the people at the foot of the mountain, he has protected this land from the invasion of demons and monsters.
This evil path has many supernatural powers and methods. How could Jiang Liu, a mere newcomer at the first level of Qi Refining, possibly be a match for it!
"Life truly is like a play, and it all depends on acting skills! This empty city stratagem can only work temporarily; strengthening our own power is the only way to succeed!"
Jiang Liu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, knowing he had fooled him for a while, but the man would eventually realize what was happening. If he still didn't have the strength to defeat him by then, he would truly be doomed! Jiang Liu didn't believe that, tempted by the spiritual vein and the Nine Heavens Thunder Orthodox Method, he wouldn't want to possess it.
His sudden visit tonight has already explained everything. It's just that his master's influence is still strong, and he doesn't dare to make a move before figuring out the truth!
As for abandoning the sect and fleeing, Jiang Liu had considered it, but the body he had just possessed wouldn't allow him to leave. The legacy of Qianlong Temple and his master's deep-seated hatred had become Jiang Liu's inner demons. Only by accomplishing these two things could the two souls be completely merged.
Moreover, where can one escape to? Without the support of the spiritual veins, the cultivation speed will be greatly reduced. When the Nine Heavens Thunder Orthodox Method he possesses is leaked, and without the strength, his fate is predictable.
As for going to Longhu Mountain, that's a thousand miles away, and there are countless demons and monsters there. Jiang Liu is sure his small body won't be able to handle it!
"I should focus on improving my strength! If I were strong, I wouldn't be in such a sorry state! Under the Nine Heavens Thunder, no schemes or plots are effective. Alas! My supernatural powers are strong, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and even water dripping on stone takes time to wear it down. I can't build up my fighting strength in a short time, so I need to make plans soon! Fortunately, I've been practicing the Cleansing Mantra for over ten years, cleansing my body daily and refining my form monthly. My physical strength is approaching that of a post-natal martial artist who has achieved minor mastery of body refinement. My blood and qi are abundant, and I have the strength to lift a thousand pounds. But martial arts can't be mastered in a day either; it requires hard work!"
This world of gods and demons is not limited to just one power system: Taoist magic and supernatural powers. Although Jiang Liu has been focused on cultivating Taoism for more than ten years and has only ever been as far as the small town at the foot of the mountain, he still has some understanding of various cultivation systems.
In the Great Tang Dynasty of the Central Plains, the generals in the army could split mountains and rivers with a wave of their hands and cut rivers with a kick. Their blood energy was overwhelming, and their physical bodies could withstand attacks from divine powers and magic. If they had an epiphany and entered the Dao through martial arts, their strength would be several times stronger than that of ordinary cultivators.
Martial arts realms are divided into acquired and innate realms. The next step from the innate realm is to refine essence into qi, thus entering the ranks of qi cultivators.
Those innate martial artists possess strength of ten thousand jin, while those acquired martial artists possess strength of a thousand jin. Even though Jiang Liu has already mastered Qi cultivation, he would find it difficult to win in a physical fight against acquired martial artists who primarily focus on combat and killing.
Sometimes, the level of one's cultivation realm is not directly proportional to their strength, especially among lower-level Qi cultivators. Even a Qi cultivator who has cultivated for decades can be instantly killed by a volley of arrows from an army of mortals.
Although Jiang Liu cultivated the "Purification Mantra," cleansing his body daily and refining his form monthly, his physical body had reached the acquired realm, achieving the state of refining essence into qi. His physical strength and blood energy were more than ten times stronger than ordinary people, but he did not understand the art of killing in martial arts, possessing only superhuman strength.
There were also Confucian scholars who cultivated their character through reading, possessing an aura of righteousness that made them impervious to evil. The supernatural powers of great Confucian scholars were enough to suppress demons at the Refining Essence into Qi realm. With sharp words and scathing criticisms, they could kill people, slay demons, exorcise monsters, and even judge an emperor as tyrannical! When the Tang Dynasty opened its imperial examinations, the number of people cultivating their character through reading increased dramatically, subtly rivaling Buddhism and Taoism.
There are also the mechanical beasts of the Mohist school, the Gu poison of the Witchcraft school... all the schools of thought in the pre-Qin period had methods for subduing demons and monsters.
But no matter how they change, they all follow the same principle. Whether it is martial arts or Confucianism; whether it is demons or monsters; whether it is Buddhism or Taoism, they all lead to the same goal: refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for their own use. Therefore, they are all called Qi cultivators!
Jiang Liu stood up, and the night wind made him shiver as he felt the cold sweat on his brow.
Following my memory, I arrived at a quiet room, the place where my master secluded himself, which was also the entrance to the spiritual vein. Above my head was a luminous pearl the size of an infant's fist, emitting a bright light that illuminated the seven or eight square meter room.
He pulled a bronze Bagua (Eight Trigrams) from his pocket. It was about the size of a palm, covered in mottled patina, and looked utterly unremarkable. In his previous life, it would have been indistinguishable from the kind of imitation sold at a roadside stall. But there was no doubt that this was the key to opening the passage into the spiritual vein.
"Click!" Jiang Liu placed the Bagua on the ground. With the help of the faint light emitted by the luminous pearl above his head, he could see that there was a groove in the ground there, which matched the Bagua perfectly.
Jiang Liu followed his master's example and channeled a wisp of lightning power into the Bagua. Immediately, he heard a rumbling sound of mechanisms turning from underground, along with the heavy thud of rusted copper and iron rubbing and colliding! It seemed that the corresponding mechanism had been activated.
The bronze Bagua and the lightning power of the Nine Heavens Thunder Orthodox Method are both essential for entering and exiting the spiritual vein; neither can be missing.
The last time they activated the mechanism to enter the spiritual vein was a year ago. Given the cultivation levels of Jiang Liu and his disciple, there was no need to specifically mine spirit stones; the spiritual energy leaking from the vein was sufficient for their cultivation. More importantly, this was only a small spiritual vein; violent mining would only deplete it, a short-sighted approach that was unacceptable. Jiang Liu waited quietly for a while, when suddenly he heard an indescribable, thick, and murky sound, like someone who hadn't breathed in a hundred years greedily inhaling air. Immediately afterward, he heard a loud "whoosh!"
A slight tremor ran through my feet as all the mechanisms were activated. In the center of the quiet room, a narrow, sloping passage slowly opened up, leading downwards.
Jiang Liu took the luminous pearl and slowly walked down. After descending nearly a kilometer through the narrow underground passage, Jiang Liu was immediately greeted by a breathtakingly beautiful sight.
"It's so beautiful! My memory of it wasn't quite right, but seeing it with my own eyes is truly breathtaking!"
At this moment, multicolored lights appeared before his eyes, suppressing the light emanating from the luminous pearl. Inside a hundred-square-meter underground cave, clusters of exquisite crystals bloomed everywhere, like lotus flowers in full bloom. These things ranged in size from the size of a finger to the size of a palm, each one exceptionally eye-catching. Jiang Liu couldn't help but admire them, feeling an urge to pluck them and examine them closely.
"Is this what spirit stones are? And it's just a small spirit stone vein, with low to medium grade spirit stones. How magnificent would high-grade or even top-grade spirit stones be?"
If Qianlong Temple really couldn't be saved, Jiang Liu had considered completely destroying the spiritual vein, but... but he didn't have any storage bags or similar magical treasures; in his memory, such spatial magical treasures were very rare.
"What a pity! So many spirit stones..."
Jiang Liu stroked the largest spirit stone, preparing to break it off and carry it with him for emergencies. Just then, a mechanical and rigid voice sounded in his ear: "High-energy crystal detected. Begin absorbing energy..."
"who?"
To Jiang Liu's astonishment, the spirit stone vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"I absorbed it? The system has appeared?" Jiang Liu's heart pounded violently: "System system! My cheat system has arrived! Datafication? Character templates? Main god? AI?"
"Please continue to draw energy?" It was still the same mechanical voice.
Without a doubt, Jiang Liu used both his hands and feet to plunder the spiritual vein.
The spirit stones in the spiritual vein disappeared at a visible speed. After Jiang Liu had absorbed nearly half of the spirit stones, a joyful voice rang in his ears again: "Energy absorption complete... Initiating the generation of dimensional gates and opening of dimensional passages. Please prepare for traversal!"
In an instant, a massive bronze gate appeared before them, covered with mysterious patterns that were strange and unpredictable. It seemed to have been carved by man, yet it also seemed to have been born naturally.
"Damn! So it's not a time-travel story, nor a system story, but an infinite flow story!"
"Hey! System, which world have I traveled to?"
Before Jiang Liu could react, light burst forth from the bronze door. Energy surged within the ancient and mysterious door like a torrent, instantly forming a vortex. Jiang Liu had no time to prepare; he frantically stuffed several spirit stones into his robes before being sucked in. His vision was then filled with dazzling light, while his consciousness gradually blurred until he was completely lost…
Chapter Four: Time Travel
"Awoo..."
A mournful wolf howl came from afar, startling Jiang Liu awake. Before him lay dense bushes, shadowy figures, a chilling wind, and an eerie night. The branches and bushes danced wildly in the night wind, and the air was thick with the chill of the night.
"What world have I entered? System? God? AI... Answer me!"
After a flurry of activity, there was no response whatsoever.
Jiang Liu had no choice but to give up. He then sensed the world and frowned, thinking to himself, "The spiritual energy is so scarce, almost non-existent! This is a world in the Dharma-ending Age!"
In the Dharma-ending Age, spiritual energy is depleted, cultivation is difficult, and few cultivators achieve success!
For cultivators, the abundance or scarcity of spiritual energy directly determines their cultivation speed and strength. A human life is but a hundred years. Even in the spiritually rich world of Journey to the West, and even with a small spiritual vein to aid cultivation, Jiang Liu still spent over a decade to reach the Refining Essence into Qi realm. His master, Daoist Xuanming, also spent over a hundred years cultivating to the peak of the Refining Essence into Qi realm.
For a mortal to cultivate immortality is as difficult as ascending to heaven!
Life is finite, but the Dao is infinite! To pursue the supreme Dao within a finite life—this is the cultivation path of a Qi cultivator!
Qi cultivators have a much longer lifespan than ordinary cultivators; in the late stage of refining essence into qi, their lifespan can reach three hundred years.
For the vast majority of Qi cultivators, Qi Refining to Spirit Transformation is the end of their realm. They live for thousands of years, yet they painfully witness the unattainable Supreme Dao ahead.
If one achieves sudden enlightenment and enters the realm of Refining the Spirit and Returning to Emptiness, and does not engage in combat with others, one's lifespan is three thousand years. Those who reach the pinnacle of Returning to Emptiness can even live to be close to ten thousand years.
As for refining emptiness and merging with the Dao, although one cannot achieve immortality, one's lifespan is beyond imagination.
Refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, refining spirit into emptiness, and refining emptiness into the Dao—these are the four realms of a qi cultivator! Only after merging into the Dao and passing through a great tribulation can one achieve the position of a Great Luo Golden Immortal and enter the realm of longevity... Only after settling karma and severing the three corpses can one achieve the body of a Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal, thus transcending the mortal realm, becoming untouched by karma, escaping reincarnation, and remaining indestructible through countless eons.
Among all the gods and Buddhas in the Journey to the West world, how many can actually refine their emptiness and merge with the Dao to overcome the great tribulation and achieve the position of Great Luo Golden Immortal?
Not counting the ancient monsters who have cultivated since the beginning of time, there are only two later cultivators: the Buddha of the West and the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Court.
Those Golden Immortals, Mysterious Immortals, Heavenly Immortals, and Earthly Immortals are nothing more than powerful cultivators. In the Journey to the West world, one who refines Qi into spirit can be called an Earthly Immortal, one who refines spirit into emptiness can be called a Heavenly Immortal, one who refines emptiness into Dao can be called a Mysterious Immortal, and one who attains Dao becomes a Golden Immortal.
Even a Golden Immortal cannot transcend reincarnation and remain indestructible through countless eons! Once their lifespan ends, they can only be reincarnated.
However, those with profound cultivation can ensure that a spark of spiritual light remains in their souls during reincarnation, and their memories of their previous life are preserved after reincarnation, but they can only rebuild their supernatural powers and techniques.
For a mortal to cultivate immortality and achieve the rank of Earth Immortal is already an immense achievement!
According to Jiang Liu's perception, the spiritual energy in this world is less than one percent of that in Qianlong Mountain. Even if there are blessed lands containing spiritual veins, their spiritual energy content probably cannot exceed that of Qianlong Mountain. However, the scarcity of spiritual energy is relative to the Journey to the West world. Compared to his previous life on Earth, it is much better. In his previous life on Earth, there was absolutely no spiritual energy, which directly cut off the path of cultivation.
Since there is spiritual energy, there must be cultivators, which makes Jiang Liu somewhat hopeful.
"What a huge moon! Wait, this starry sky... Am I back on Earth?"
As for the Dao of Stars and Celestial Phenomena, it was obtained by integrating memories. Jiang Liu looked at the starry sky. Although the moon was bright and the stars were few, he could still distinguish the Big Dipper. There was a full moon overhead, like the moon on the fifteenth or sixteenth of the lunar month. Because of this, it seemed to occupy half of the night sky in his mind.
Jiang Liu adjusted his equipment: a peach wood sword, the only magical artifact left by his master, called the Thunder Tribulation Sword. It was crafted from the heartwood of a peach wood demon that failed its tribulation. A charred mark remained on the hilt, a remnant of the demon's destruction by heavenly lightning during its tribulation. The sword was entirely bronze-colored, exuding an ancient aura. After decades of relentless refinement by his master, it had already possessed a trace of the spiritual essence of thunder tribulation. If not for the corruption of the corpse demon's demonic energy, it would have reached the level of a superior magical artifact, only a hair's breadth away from becoming a spiritual weapon. Now, the trace of heavenly tribulation lightning it had nurtured had dissipated under the corrosive influence of the corpse energy, and its quality had plummeted from superior to inferior.
However, this low-grade magic weapon was enough for Jiang Liu. Even if a trace of the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning's spiritual essence remained, Jiang Liu would find it difficult to defeat the Azure Netherworld Evil Path with it. It's like an ordinary person holding a large Guan Dao; what use is it if they can't wield it? Only in Guan Yu's hands was the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade a weapon capable of taking the head of a general amidst a vast army.
As for the other magical treasures passed down from the sect, they were all destroyed in the battle that night.
As Jiang Liu touched the Thunder Tribulation Sword, he suddenly felt a message appear in his mind. This was a phenomenon that had never occurred before in the Hidden Dragon Temple, and it was definitely related to that mysterious voice.