"One day, I will catch you and make you wish you were dead."
Jiang Liu left White Tiger Ridge, and the White Bone Demon was completely helpless against him. After determining the direction, Jiang Liu prepared to go and find the Wuzhuang Temple, the ancestral temple of the Earth Immortals.
According to my memories from my previous life, before the Three Battles with the White Bone Demon, there was the Wuzhuang Temple. Therefore, the Wuzhuang Temple must be located east of White Tiger Ridge, and not too far away.
With this information, Jiang Liu naturally had to search for it carefully.
Chapter 254 The Vanished Wuzhuang Temple
Zhenyuan Daxian, the ancestor of earth immortals, whose Taoist name is Zhenyuanzi, cultivates at Wuzhuang Temple on Wanshou Mountain in Xiniu Hezhou. He is a primordial demon god born before the beginning of the universe, and has now reached the level of a quasi-saint through his cultivation.
Since the Great Tribulation of the Investiture of the Gods, sages have not appeared, instead cultivating in seclusion in the Thirty-Three Heavens. In this world, quasi-sages are the strongest.
A sage, after attaining enlightenment and severing the three corpses, achieves the state of Hunyuan (Primordial Chaos), and is thus a sage, also known as the Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian (Primordial Golden Immortal). They rule the universe, enduring countless eons without being diminished, and remaining untainted by karma. They are eternally present with Heaven and coexist with the Dao. Sages are the most important part of the Heavenly Dao, the foundation upon which it is maintained.
The Great Dao is fifty, and the Heavenly Evolution is forty-nine. The sages master these forty-nine Heavenly Daos.
Below the level of a sage, all are but ants. If one cannot attain sagehood, even if one comes infinitely close, one will still remain an ant, unable to achieve eternal life. For a sage, they can be eliminated effortlessly; any number are useless. A sage is in harmony with the Dao, and there is no question of qualitative change arising from quantitative change between a sage and a non-sage. For a sage, countless eons, even if crucial, are merely a game of chess; no matter how many cycles of cosmic reincarnation occur, they cannot affect him in the slightest.
After Hongjun, there were six sages in total, collectively known as the "Six Sages of the Heavens": Laozi, Yuanshi Tianzun, Tongtian Jiaozhu, Nuwa Niangniang, Zhunti Shengren, and Jieyin Shengren.
Below these six, there are not many Quasi-Saints who have survived countless eons. Among them, four Quasi-Saints are still active in the world. One is the Styx Ancestor who controls the Blood Sea and created the Asura race; another is the Western Buddha Mother, the Peacock King Kong Xuan; another is Zhenyuan Daxian who is a ruler of the world and possesses the Ginseng Fruit Tree; and the third is Lu Ya Daoren, who possesses the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife and frequently intervened during the Investiture of the Gods.
There are demons, Buddhas, Taoists, and monsters.
In an era when no sages appeared, these four represented the strongest fighting force and were divided into four factions.
Jiang Liu first heard of the Styx Ancestor in Jiangnan Road of the Tang Dynasty. Gui Li of the Ghost King Sect was following the Styx Ancestor's decree and wanted to establish a Ghost Kingdom.
Like Zhen Yuanzi, the Styx Ancestor was one of the innate demon gods of the primordial world.
The sea of blood will never dry up, and the River Styx will never die.
Near the Six Paths of Reincarnation, since the beginning of time, the Hell of the Underworld was created, containing the Netherworld Blood Sea. Within this Netherworld Blood Sea, a placenta was naturally conceived, later becoming the patriarch of the Styx River, possessing great supernatural powers. He gave rise to the Asura race and had several disciples, including: Mara, the Deva of Desire, Brahma, and Shiva. Mara is also the Asura Demon King, and others include Indra, Vishnu, Ruthora, and the Demon Mother, all possessing great supernatural powers.
He was born with two swords, Yuan Tu and A Bi, both of which are among the most powerful and deadly treasures in the world, on par with the Zhuxian Sword. He also possesses a twelve-petaled blood lotus, along with the twelve-petaled golden lotus platform of the Western Guide Daoist and the twelve-petaled black lotus of the Demon Ancestor Rahu, making a total of thirty-six innate chaotic lotus platforms.
Later, a six-winged mosquito Taoist was raised in the sea of blood. It bit the lotus platform of the guide and sucked away three rank. So later it was only said that the lotus platform of the guide had nine ranks.
The Styx River also has the Xuan Yuan Water Control Flag, one of the Five Banners, which is a top-grade innate spiritual treasure.
Wealthy, powerful, and influential, the Styx Ancestor was the most powerful being below even the Sages since the Great Cataclysm. However, his life began to turn difficult after Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva arrived at the Blood Sea. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vowed not to become a Buddha until hell was empty. He frequently stayed by the Blood Sea, copying scriptures and chanting Buddhist mantras, trying to convert the Asura race. He was a pawn of the Western Paradise, and as the saying goes, the Asura race is among the Eight Legions of Devas and Asuras in the Western Paradise.
Kong Xuan, as the son of the primordial phoenix, possessed unfathomable strength. However, the phoenix clan had declined since the Great Calamity of the Dragon and Phoenix, and no matter how powerful he was, he could not amount to much. Just like the current dragon clan, who had become the water gods of the Heavenly Court, they had no truly formidable figures.
During the great calamity of the Investiture of the Gods, Kong Xuan was subdued by Zhunti, converted to the Western religion, and became the Peacock King.
His strength shone brightly during the Investiture of the Gods. When he served as the marshal of the Yin Shang Dynasty, he blocked the Zhou army at Jinji Ridge. His ultimate move was the Five-Colored Divine Light, which was divided into five colors: blue, yellow, red, black, and white. The Five-Colored Divine Light was said to be able to sweep away anything. It drove away the Taoist Ran Deng, whose cultivation and magic power were above those of the Twelve Golden Immortals. Even Lu Ya could only run away when faced with the Five-Colored Divine Light.
As for Lu Ya, he was the last three-legged golden crow in the world, the son of the ancient demon emperor Di Jun, and the nephew of Donghuang Taiyi.
During the Investiture of the Gods, Lu Ya Dao Ren used the magical artifact, the Seven Arrows of Nailhead, to assassinate Zhao Gongming, thus eliminating a major threat to the Chan Sect. He also broke through the Blazing Flame Formation of the Ten Deadly Formations, being the only one to break through one of the Ten Deadly Formations without needing cannon fodder. Later, he was captured by the Three Immortal Sisters of Sanxiao Palace, but even after his Niwan Palace was sealed, he broke the seal and escaped as a beam of light. This demonstrates that Lu Ya Dao Ren's strength far surpasses that of all the immortals of the Chan Sect.
Afterwards, Lu Ya Dao Ren fought Kong Xuan one-on-one and escaped unscathed. He killed Yu Yuan with the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife and, together with the immortals of the Chan Sect, broke through the Immortal-Slaying Formation and the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation. The Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife and the Seven Arrows of Nailhead, two deadly weapons, once used, would kill their target, and there was never a record of them missing.
Lastly, Zhen Yuanzi possesses the "Earth Book," the membrane of the earth, making him the strongest defender in the world.
Moreover, in Zhen Yuanzi's Wuzhuang Temple, there is a ginseng fruit tree, a top-tier innate spiritual root created from the very beginning of time. It is harvested only once every ten thousand years, yielding only thirty fruits. Just smelling the fruit grants one three hundred and sixty years of life; eating one grants one forty-seven thousand years of life.
With this ginseng fruit, all cultivators in the world would want to befriend it. After all, without becoming a sage, one's lifespan will eventually run out. There are only two spiritual roots in the world that can increase lifespan: one is the peach of immortality from the Heavenly Court, and the other is this ginseng fruit.
Zhenyuan Daxian held a prominent position. His disciples explained, "The Three Pure Ones are my master's friends, the Four Emperors are my master's old friends, the Nine Luminaries are my master's juniors, and the Yuan Chen are my master's guests." Zhenyuanzi only offered incense to the characters "Heaven and Earth," for which his disciples said, "The ones above deserve our respect; but the ones below cannot bear our incense offerings."
In general, Zhenyuan Daxian is an extremely powerful character in Journey to the West.
Jiang Liu searched back and forth between Liusha River and Baihu Ridge three times, but there was no trace of the legendary Wuzhuang Temple.
Wuzhuang Temple has disappeared!
"Can't find it! I can't find it at all!" Jiang Liu stood on the bank of the Liusha River for the third time, and had no choice but to give up the search for Wuzhuang Temple.
If the Daoist temple of a Quasi-Saint is hidden in the void or has a large array set up, Jiang Liu, with his current strength, would naturally not be able to find it.
The inability to find it has no impact on Jiang Liu.
Having abandoned Wuzhuang Temple, Jiang Liu prepared to return to the Tang Dynasty. With his current strength, he naturally had nothing to fear from the Jing River Dragon King and his family. He also needed to teach his two disciples, retrieve the seventh-grade cultivation manual of the "Dan Ding Liu" sect from the palace, and, more importantly, the Journey to the West was about to begin, and how could Jiang Liu possibly miss it while in Chang'an?
Chapter 255 The Demonic Path of Sha Wujing
The Journey to the West is about to begin, and Jiang Liu is unwilling to miss it.
"On the way back, you can stop by Gao Lao Zhuang, and then go to Wuzhi Mountain to touch the monkeys' heads..."
To return to the Tang Dynasty, one must first cross the Flowing Sand River. At first glance, the river appears like a sea, with no end in sight.
Eight hundred miles of quicksand, three thousand miles of weak water. Even a goose feather cannot float, and reeds sink to the bottom.
Standing on the banks of this vast and mysterious river, looking out, a thin layer of fine sand rolls on the surface of the river. A gentle breeze caresses the sand, making it dance on the water, stirring one's thoughts.
The 800-li Liusha River is the territory of General Sha Wujing, the Curtain-Rolling General.
The position of Curtain-Raising General seems far inferior to that of the Twenty-Eight Constellations. Kui Mulang is essentially a security captain in Heaven, so is the Curtain-Raising General really just a servant of the Curtain-Raising General? Of course not…
Curtain-raising, seal-holding, ceremony-keeping, and pen-writing. These four positions are not technically demanding, and these four types of people have little real power. But no one looks down on them. Whether in the Heavenly Court or the mortal palace, these four types of people are all the Emperor's inner circle, enjoying the Emperor's favor and receiving his complete trust.
Therefore, the position of the Curtain-Raising General is not important in terms of rank, but it is a position that people envy and flatter because he is a confidant of the Jade Emperor.
As for why he was banished to the mortal realm, there must be a hidden story. Could it really be because he broke that "glass cup"? Jiang Liu preferred to believe that this was a traitor planted by the Jade Emperor during the journey to the West.
Jiang Liu could abuse Kui Mulang at will, but after thinking for a moment, he decided he was unwilling to deal with Sha Wujing.
Just as the river was about to leap away, the surface of the river began to churn and boil, and then a terrifying-looking monster stood on the water.
At first glance, Jiang Liu thought it was a monster. But upon closer inspection, he realized it was a human. It wasn't unusual for a human to look like this; Jiang Liu had seen the Green-Robed Ancestor before, whose face was just as terrifying.
This person had fiery red hair, fluffy and messy, and eyes as big as light bulbs. He had an indigo face that was neither black nor blue, wore strange and unusual clothes, had nine skulls hanging from his neck, and held a precious staff.
It stood menacingly on the water's surface, about ten feet tall.
This appearance clearly indicates the result of practicing demonic techniques, and even more specifically, external demonic techniques.
“You’ve come back and forth three times, that’s extremely strange. If you want to cross the Tongtian River, ask the Ancestor if I will allow it…” As he spoke, the nine skulls under his neck shook and said, “You are also a cultivator, so your head can be used to refine magical artifacts, and become my tenth bead.”
Jiang Liu looked at this Sha Wujing, who killed people and took heads to refine treasures at the drop of a hat. Was this the same honest and simple Sha Wujing who had been known for his terrifying appearance?
"That string of skull beads, wasn't it said to be the ninth reincarnation of Jin Chanzi? It seems that's not necessarily true. Judging from what he said, it should be the head of a cultivator. This is a demonic weapon-forging technique! Demonic path? Did he become like this because he cultivated demonic techniques? Could it be that he was banished to the mortal realm by the Jade Emperor because he cultivated demonic techniques?"
The gods in the Heavenly Court are not all from the Investiture of the Gods; some are cultivators who have joined the Heavenly Court, serving as both Qi cultivators and civil servants.
Jiang Liu looked the demonized Sha Wujing up and down, his gaze finally settling on the staff in his hand. This weapon wasn't the crescent-shaped shovel he'd seen on TV since childhood; it was a stick, resembling a rolling pin magnified dozens of times.
"The Bodhisattva has instructed you, the pilgrims, to embark on this journey to the West, and you..."
Before Jiang Liu could finish speaking, the demonized Sha Wujing grinned and charged forward.
"What Bodhisattva? You're a pilgrim on a pilgrimage! Eat me first and then talk!"
In an instant, the staff in his hand swung over. The staff was covered in rays of light and auspicious colors, clearly indicating that it was not just a weapon, but a superior magical artifact.
What Jiang Liu didn't know was that this treasure staff was called the Demon-Subduing Treasure Staff. It was made from the Moon Palace's Solo Immortal Wood, crafted and polished. Its exterior was inlaid with precious stones and shone with radiant light, while its interior was filled with golden auspicious energy. It was a black stick shaped like a rolling pin, weighing 5,048 catties. Its full name was the Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff, also known as the Demon-Subduing Treasure Staff or Demon-Subduing Staff.
This staff was bestowed upon Sha Wujing by the Jade Emperor when he was appointed General of the Curtain-Raising Army. He carried it with him at all times, and its size could be changed at will. It was also effective in subduing demons. After Sha Wujing was demoted to the Flowing Sand River, he still carried the staff with him.
Such a treasure was not confiscated. There must be a conspiracy behind this.
Jiang Liu could tell at a glance that this demonized Sha Wujing possessed exquisite staff skills and immense power. Coupled with the golden light on the staff, he was probably at the fifth level of Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation.
Sha Wujing unleashed a torrent of bloody stench, his staff lashing out in a furious barrage. Jiang Liu, meanwhile, slowly moved his hands, simultaneously unleashing a terrifying aura. The power of the Five Elements condensed, and a colossal mountain appeared out of nowhere, its five fingers like mountains, its boundless grandeur and magnificence causing Sha Wujing's very soul to tremble.
Faced with Sha Wujing, the demonic Sha Wujing from Journey to the West, Jiang Liu had no intention of killing him. Instead, he used the "Five Finger Mountain" technique for pure suppression. At first, the Five Finger Mountain was blurry, but it quickly became clear, resembling a mountain range or a pillar of heaven.
The majestic mountain pressed down upon the demonized Sha Wujing.
At this moment, a terrifying aura swept across all directions, centered on the river.
The mountain suppressed the attack, instantly colliding with the magic staff. Instantly, the world was filled with raging waves, beams of light, and rampant power, leaving no peaceful place under the sky.
"boom"
An immense roar shook the heavens and earth, sending shockwaves in all directions.
The Five Finger Mountain remained condensed and unyielding, causing the sky to split and the earth to tremble.
The demonic Sha Wujing was sent flying hundreds of meters away. His bones cracked and popped, clearly indicating that many parts of his body were broken and completely deformed.
Jiang Liu stood tall, unharmed, his Taoist robes fluttering in the wind. He strode through the void, light and graceful, covering a hundred meters in a single step, as if shrinking the earth to an inch, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Sha Wujing.
At this moment, the demonic General Curtain-Roller, his eyes filled with horror, immediately tried to burrow into the Flowing Sand River and escape. But Jiang Liu's palm trembled, its power pressing down in all directions, heavy as the sky, hovering above his head.
Two sharp beams of light shot from his eyes, and the Five Finger Mountain pressed down, causing people's minds and souls to tremble.
Jiang Liu didn't care about the "Demon-Slaying Staff," but he wanted to find out whether the nine skulls were the nine incarnations of Jin Chanzi.
After examining it for a while, Jiang Liu lost interest and muttered to himself, "As expected, it's not a demonic artifact!"
"I am the Curtain-Raising General of Heaven, you cannot kill me!" The demonic Sha Wujing gritted his teeth and looked at Jiang Liu, then said, "Take this bone bead if you want!"
Just as Jiang Liu was trying to get some information out of him, a white cloud flew in from the west, and a voice came from within the cloud.
"Fellow Daoist, please show mercy!"
Chapter 256 Too Much Talk Leads to Mistakes
A white cloud drifts on the river, revealing a young man in his early twenties dressed in white. He looks refined and has a gentle smile on his face. He is very handsome, with eyes as clear as water and a hint of divine brilliance in them. He can be described as having a refined and elegant appearance.
The man carried two weapons on his back. Jiang Liu glanced at them and knew they were two Wu hooks.
The Wu hook is like a sword, with a curved blade resembling a hook.
Jiang Liu had a sudden thought and thought to himself, "The Wu Hook Twin Swords are not commonly used in Journey to the West. The most famous one is Muzha, whose appearance fits the description. Has Guanyin Bodhisattva also come?"
With a thought, he secretly searched all directions, but found no movement whatsoever.
"Greetings, fellow Daoist!" The young man, who resembled Muzha, bowed respectfully to Jiang Liu before saying, "I am Huian Xingzhe, a disciple of Guanyin Bodhisattva of Mount Putuo in the South China Sea. This demon was originally the Curtain-Raising General of the Heavenly Court. He committed a grave error and was imprisoned here by the Jade Emperor, where he suffers the pain of being pierced by a sharp arrow every seven days. His sins have been forgiven, and Guanyin Bodhisattva has sent me to guide him. Please, fellow Daoist, do not harm him."
Huian Xingzhe is none other than Muzha, the second son of Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and the second elder brother of Nezha, the Great God of the Three Altars and Seas. Originally a disciple of Samantabhadra, he followed Guanyin Bodhisattva to cultivate after the Investiture of the Gods. This was not a change of allegiance. Both Samantabhadra and Cihang Daoren were among the Twelve Golden Immortals under the tutelage of Yuanshi Tianzun.