The Journey to the West has not yet begun, but judging by the time, Kui Mulang has been in the mortal realm for eight or nine years.
To the east of Baoxiang Kingdom lies the territory of the White Bone Demon, and to the west are the Golden Horn and Silver Horn Demons. I wonder if Laozi's two attendants have descended to the mortal realm yet. Even if they haven't, that old fox is not someone to be trifled with!
"The Holy Mother of the Third Princess... Hey, don't go!"
Jiang Liu looked up and saw that the Third Holy Mother had already leaped up and was about to ride the clouds away.
"Cultivate here for now! When I have time and remember you, I will come back to take you back to the Tang Dynasty!" After saying that, he turned into light and left. After he left, a small jade bottle and three spirit stones quietly floated in front of Jiang Liu.
Jiang Liu gave a wry smile, then put away the spirit stones, picked up the jade bottle, lifted the jade lid, took a sniff, and revealed an expression of intoxication.
"The Heaven-Mending Pill, a mid-grade Heaven-level elixir... and it was personally refined by Laozi! It can actually compensate for the impurities of the acquired Dao body and refine the innate Dharma body. Laozi's elixir is truly incredible!"
Jiang Liu sighed, put the pill into his storage space, and then headed towards the capital of Baoxiang Kingdom.
The Journey to the West provides a detailed description of the Kingdom of Baoxiang: Auspicious clouds and smoke enveloped the land, while a gentle breeze and bright moon swayed gently. The towering distant mountains unfolded like a magnificent painting; the murmuring streams splashed like jade. The arable fields stretched out in rows, and the abundant new shoots of fragrant herbs provided ample sustenance. Several families fished and angled along the winding streams, while woodcutters gathered two loads of pepper from the two peaks.
The city walls are vast and the towns are fortified; the households are scattered and carefree.
Looking out over the river, one could see towering pavilions with nine stories high, and numerous tiered platforms stretching for thousands of feet, making it comparable to the ancient city of Jinling in the Tang Dynasty.
Since he was already there, he decided to make the best of it. In this place surrounded by monsters, Jiang Liu naturally proceeded with caution, disguising himself as a mortal and entering the city to blend into the mundane world.
Just half an hour after Jiang Liu left, a gust of wind blew rapidly from the south.
A gust of wind swept across the ground, revealing a burly man in a yellow robe. He muttered, "Was that the Third Holy Mother who just flew in? What's she doing here? Could it be that the Jade Emperor found out I secretly descended to the mortal realm? Impossible! Even if I were exposed, heavenly soldiers and generals would come to take me away!"
The burly man then showed a hint of surprise, sniffed, narrowed his eyes, and exclaimed in astonishment, "The Heaven-Mending Pill? It's actually the Heaven-Mending Pill... Hmm, there's also the scent of another person... Let me smell it more closely!"
In an instant, the burly man in the yellow robe revealed a wolfish face, his nose twitching slightly. He looked up at the capital of Baoxiang Kingdom and said in a deep voice, "Where did they go! I no longer need that Heaven-Mending Pill, but it is of great use to my wife and two sons. Let's go and see!"
Wolf demon!
This person was none other than Kui Mulang, the Yellow-Robed Monster who descended to the mortal realm.
As he spoke, he transformed back into human form and followed Jiang Liu into the capital of Baoxiang Kingdom. In the desolate wilderness, Jiang Liu's aura was naturally easy to identify, but once inside this bustling mortal world, even with a wolf's nose and being a celestial being, it would be difficult for him to find Jiang Liu in a short time in this metropolis of hundreds of thousands of people.
Jiang Liu was unaware that a powerful demon had followed him. He was sitting on the top floor of a restaurant, surrounded by fine wine and food, with two beautiful blue-eyed women from the Western Regions serving him. He was drinking his wine with great boredom.
The shopkeeper said this wine was a tribute wine from the Kingdom of Baoxiang, with the reputation of "famous throughout Baoxiang for 30,000 miles, and its taste is the best in the three realms." Jiang Liu drank it and the fragrance lingered on his lips and teeth for a long time.
Through the window, one could see two people engaged in a fierce battle on a raised platform below.
A sword and an iron spear clashed countless times in an instant, the sounds of their weapons exploding incessantly.
With Jiang Liu's discerning eye, he could naturally see that both of them had entered the Dao through martial arts and had already broken through to the Innate Realm. In this land surrounded by demons, it was quite normal for the people to be fond of martial arts.
After eating and drinking to his heart's content, and hearing that there was a hot spring in the city, Jiang Liu soaked in the hot spring for an hour, put on his newly bought Baoxiang Kingdom clothes, and disappeared into the moonlight.
This unintentional act only made Kui Mulang more bewildered. Looking at the trembling mortal in front of him, he said, "Are you sure these are clothes left behind after someone soaked in the hot spring? What did that person look like?"
"My lord, I truly do not know!"
Meanwhile, Jiang Liu lay in a luxurious inn, gazing at the starry sky through the large window. Suddenly, dark clouds rolled in from the east, completely obscuring the bright moonlight.
"Holy crap, there really is a monster!"
The rolling black clouds, like ink spreading in water, instantly enveloped half the capital. A chilling wind howled, and an eerie aura permeated the air. Immediately, blaring alarms blared throughout the city.
Jiang Liu clearly sensed that all the lights in the houses went out instantly, and even the brightly lit restaurants and taverns were plunged into darkness. Clearly, the invasion of demons was nothing new in Baoxiang Kingdom; there was no panic, no riots, only boundless silence.
Just then, Jiang Liu heard a wolf howl that resounded through the heavens and earth again, and the dark clouds churned a few times before slowly receding.
Upon hearing the wolf's howl, Jiang Liu immediately sat up.
"Kui Mulang? Why is he here instead of staying with his wife in Wave Moon Cave?" At this thought, Jiang Liu broke out in a cold sweat.
He quickly filled in the blanks in his mind, and then, recalling the demonic aura he had just witnessed, he rubbed his temples.
Kui Mulang's absence from his beloved wife must mean he sensed the arrival of the Third Holy Mother and followed her there.
"He's probably looking for me! That dog's nose! He'll find me sooner or later. Luckily, the Third Holy Mother left behind a few high-grade spirit stones, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable! Heaven spirits, earth spirits, send me to an ideal world..."
As he spoke, a high-grade spirit stone disappeared into Jiang Liu's palm.
Suddenly, a colossal bronze gate materialized before them.
Chapter 184 Great Zen Temple
The night was desolate, with a crescent moon hanging in the sky. Under the moonlight, the mountains seemed endless, the snow on the peaks had not yet melted, and the cold wind howled, but what greeted us was a majestic aura like a giant dragon coiled around.
"What a magnificent mountain! In terms of feng shui, this must be a dragon vein that stands out from the rest of the world! A blessed land! Why is it so desolate, with ruins everywhere?"
Jiang Liu scanned the area with his divine sense but found no humans, only some snakes, rats, and foxes hiding in the snow-covered caves. A chilling night wind howled past, and snow piled up on the treetops, creating a sense of desolation.
"Such a strange environment, coupled with a ruined temple, could it be Lanruo Temple? But that doesn't seem right! Although Lanruo Temple is dilapidated, the main hall is still intact... Besides, I haven't detected any ghosts or demons!"
Awooo... Awooo!
The howl of a wolf rang out, but it was far different from the howl of the Kui Mu wolf that Jiang Liu had just heard, and it did not evoke any fear in him.
Click!
The crisp sound of the tile breaking was exceptionally clear in the night sky. Jiang Liu faced the endless ruins, and with a wave of his hand, the broken tile landed on his palm. It was a dark bluish-black color, with carved patterns and mottled marks from the erosion of time.
"How magnificent and grand this temple complex is! It's truly unimaginable that such ancient temples have been reduced to ruins!"
"Where... exactly is this place? What world is this?"
The ruins stretched to the horizon. As the river flowed deeper, a huge iron incense burner could be seen from time to time. However, judging from the huge fist imprint on the iron incense burner, Jiang Liu knew that this world was not simple.
There were also many destroyed Buddha statues. Looking at the ruins, Jiang Liu could imagine how glorious this place had once been!
"This was originally a Buddhist kingdom!"
Jiang Liu exclaimed that he could even see a huge mountain wall that had been cut open and carved with a half-body statue of Buddha. One of the Buddha's toes was as tall as a person! A person standing on his body could only look up at him!
These carvings, resembling the Lingyun Giant Buddha in Leshan, formed a series of ten thousand Buddha images on this cliff, but most of them were destroyed.
Jiang Liu silently passed by a martial arts training ground. Looking at the vast square and the footprints accumulated over time on the large bluestone, he knew that this Buddhist kingdom possessed extraordinary martial power.
"The persecution of Buddhism! Historically, there were three emperors, Wu Zetian, and one emperor who persecuted Buddhism, and this place is no less so!"
Before Jiang Liu lay a forest of collapsed pagodas. He frowned and said, "They don't even spare the burial ground of deceased eminent monks! This is going too far!"
The Pagoda Forest is the burial place of eminent monks, which is also the graveyard of laypeople. After the death of eminent monks throughout history, they were cremated, and their ashes were placed in urns. Then, tall pagodas were built to enshrine the ashes and relics. Monks who were able to be buried in the Pagoda Forest after death were all monks of extremely high attainment.
But they were all destroyed, destroyed by human hands.
Jiang Liu suddenly stopped, looked back at the endless ruins, and whispered, "Could this be the Great Zen Temple?"
The Great Zen Temple, the foremost Buddhist temple in the "Yang Shen" world, is located in the Great Qian Dynasty of Zhongzhou. Standing for a millennium, it boasts numerous masters, immense power, and overflowing coffers. Even lighting incense requires riding a horse, and its ever-burning lamps illuminate the entire world. The Great Qian Dynasty, coveting its wealth and treasures, has allied with its arch-enemy, the Supreme Dao, and others, requiring the combined strength of the entire nation to apprehend it.
It is worthy of being destroyed.
"...Is this the world?"
Stroking his chin, Jiang Liu frowned and muttered, "The Yangshen World has far more monstrous powerhouses than Doupo and Shushan! Thunder Tribulation experts can generate pure Yang energy with a single thought, create sparks and arcs of electricity with a single thought, create a world with a single thought, shatter the void on a whim, and refine their souls to become gods... So, my Earth Immortal cultivation is equivalent to the early stage of Thunder Tribulation, and since I cultivate both martial arts and immortality, I should be considered a half-human immortal!"
Jiang Liu rode the wind, standing high in the sky overlooking the entire ruins, and said, "But I'm still far from the Yang God realm that has undergone nine tribulations of lightning! Not to mention reaching the other shore!"
The primordial spirit traveled through the ruins, and then the true body landed in front of the ruins of a grand hall. The stones on the ground suddenly trembled, and then floated into the air one by one. These fragments of stone combined to form a stone tablet three zhang high.
On the stone tablet, the three characters "Da Chan Temple" are written in a vigorous and powerful style, exuding an aura of dominance over all living beings.
"Yang Shen... Da Chan Temple!" Jiang Liu's divine sense spread out, and the giant stele crashed down.
"I remember there was a treasure in these ruins that the protagonist later obtained. It should be inside the mountain! I can give it a try..."
Upon realizing this, Jiang Liu's primordial spirit began to burrow into the ground. Being underground was naturally much more difficult than being in the air.
The divine soul within the Yang spirit is composed of an invisible and intangible thought, capable of flying through the sky, burrowing underground, and entering the sea without hindrance. However, when it is truly put into practice, there are many differences.
The soul feels most comfortable in the air.
When it enters the water, there will be viscous resistance, and the resistance will increase as you go deeper.
Even a ghost immortal can only dive to a depth of a thousand feet in the ocean at most; they cannot go any deeper.
When escaping underground, the resistance is even greater, more than ten times greater than in water. Even passing through a wall consumes a significant amount of spiritual energy; how much more so when escaping underground?
However, Jiang Liu's method of cultivating Qi in his primordial spirit is different from the method of cultivating the soul in the Yang spirit.
Qi cultivators practice the path to immortality, aiming to attain the status of a saint. Earth Immortals, though only at the lowest level of immortality, are still immortals. Their souls are immortal, and even in reincarnation, they can retain a sliver of spiritual light.
Jiang Liu forged the Five Elements Cauldron Body, which, when combined into one, became the Cauldron Body of Life Creation. This talent endowed his primordial spirit with the power of the Five Elements, and earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magical ability) was just one of his supernatural powers.
However, the supernatural powers that his primordial spirit can achieve are beyond what his physical body can do. For example, he has only grasped a sliver of the Five Elements Escape Technique, specifically the Fire Escape Technique.
Jiang Liu's primordial spirit descended a hundred feet into the earth, and he immediately felt a sudden, overwhelming pressure from all sides, completely enveloped by a thick, chaotic aura. Jiang Liu was naturally unafraid of this pressure. He swept his senses across the area, and layers of rocks, water vapor, and even underground springs and rivers came into view, but he found nothing unusual.
This is quite normal. This Great Zen Temple has been explored by countless people over the past twenty years, including many powerful cultivators with the cultivation level of lightning tribulation, but all of them have found nothing.
When others attempt to probe the earth with their spiritual senses, they are most afraid of encountering underground magma and fire. Their spiritual senses would either be instantly destroyed or severely injured. However, Jiang Liu's fire-based supernatural abilities have reached a high level, so he is least afraid of fire.
As the primordial spirit descended zhang by zhang until it reached 600 zhang underground, a strange fluctuation suddenly appeared in its perception.
Chapter 185 Earth Vein Dragon Soul
"Found you!"
With a single movement of his primordial spirit, he arrived in a void, and immediately felt a sense of ease throughout his body, as the earth's binding force on his primordial spirit was completely eliminated.
This is a hazy void, seemingly endless in scope, but the actual physical space that can be perceived is not large; the rest seems unreal, or rather, exists between the real and the unreal.
"This is the underground palace of the Great Zen Temple? An underground palace that no one has found for decades? To carve out such a small void world six hundred feet underground, how powerful must this person be? Is this the power of a Yang God?"
The small space was brightly lit, as if it were daytime. But even if it were completely dark, it would have no effect on the primordial spirit. With a slight sense, it was discovered that the source of the light was in the very center of the space. There was a cylindrical step there, on which sat a sphere. The sphere emitted a strong light, illuminating the entire small space in a pure white and translucent manner.
"This aura?" Upon sensing it, Jiang Liu's main body, still amidst the ruins, revealed a faint smile and murmured, "It's actually the earth vein dragon aura that has already developed sentience..."
Within the void of the underground world, just as the primordial spirit sensed the crystal sphere and the dark golden treasure suppressed beneath it, a blinding light suddenly erupted from the sphere, which contained the energy of the earth's veins!
Whether it was dazzling or not had no effect on the primordial spirit, but Jiang Liu immediately felt it; his primordial spirit was instantly stimulated and scorched by the intense light!
If an ordinary person had not mastered the Five Elements of Fire, being exposed to this scorching light would inevitably damage their primordial spirit. But for Jiang Liu, this was not a problem.
In an instant, a flame no weaker than the scorching light ignited on his primordial spirit.
The blazing sun burns the heavens!