Huangdi Sijing

  Zhu Hong knelt in the dark smoke, kowtowing non-stop: "Senior brother! Senior brother spare my life! Even if you hate me so much, you can't use me to sacrifice this Six-six True Yuan Gourd! If Master were still alive, he would definitely not agree with it! Senior brother, please spare me! I'm willing to give the Heavenly Book to you..." Before he could finish speaking, he was sucked into the gourd.

  When he came out of the gourd again in the form of a soul, Zhu Hong completely lost his courage to confront Yue Qing. A small man over a foot tall knelt on a mass of black cloud: "Master! Master have mercy! I'm willing to tell you everything I know, just don't torture me with various fragmented spells, and it's best if you can let me go. If not, even if my soul flies away, Master, as long as you ask, I will answer without reservation!"

  He is now left with only his soul, and has become the yin god in Liu Liu's true yuan gourd. His life and death are controlled by Yue Qing's thoughts, and this gourd was personally refined by him, knowing that there are 36 kinds of soul-refining techniques inside, each one more terrifying than falling into hell.

  The scene of the twelve Yin gods being captured and trained by him at first is still vivid in his mind. They were originally quite accomplished sword immortals, but he had taken their living souls to refine them, and all their memories and thoughts had disappeared under the endless burning thunder. They became muddle-headed and turned into Yin demons that only knew how to obey humans. He deeply understood that if he fell into that state, it would be a thousand times more miserable than having his soul dispersed! It was as terrifying as the legendary Avici Hell.

  Yu Qing didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and immediately activated the spiritual key. The black cloud that Zhu Hong's body was in suddenly revealed countless lightning bolts, which shattered his entire body into a cluster of black smoke. In the next moment, it instantly recovered, but before he could speak, the thunderbolt appeared again and shattered him.

  After dozens of times of life and death, Zhu Hong was left with only miserable cries and wails. Yue Qing asked him again: "What's the deal with that lamp?"

  "That lantern was stolen from the Taiyi Palace along with the Daoist scriptures back then. I heard Master say before that it's the Xuanmen Treasure recorded in the first volume of our sect's Daoist scriptures."

  "Xuanyuan Zhenjing Volume 1? Do you know where it is?" Yue Qing asked coldly.

  "I don't know! I don't know!" Zhu Hong hastily denied, "The Heavenly Book only has Master cultivating it, even Si Kong Zhan and Xu Fei Niang and Tuo Tuo Dashi also only know a part of it. Fa Yuan Shixiong should know one or two spells. On that day, I begged Master in all sorts of ways and finally got the Eight Scenic Splitting Spirit Technique. These years, I have been relying on this technique to evade the pursuit and revenge of fellow disciples. I am willing to tell Shixiong the complete technique, just please pity me and don't torture me anymore." After finishing speaking, he started sobbing again.

  Yue Qing immediately asked him to recite the incantation of the Eight Scenic Divided Spirit Technique without missing a single word. The more he listened, the more suspicious he became. This technique was vastly different from the Five Tai Sect's Daoist methods that he knew, yet it was incredibly profound and authentic, a true orthodox Daoist technique. However, Zhu Hong didn't have the foundation of years of cultivation to master this technique, so his practice was unorthodox and only useful for evading enemies and hiding from heavenly retribution, but still had some effect.

  According to Yue Qing, Taiyi Hunyuan Zushi had already attained the Tao in the late Tang and early Song dynasties. At first, he practiced the demonic teachings of the Northern Demon Cult and was a central leader, along with Dongfang Moxiu's Wuxing Zunzhe and Xifang Mojiao's Chiliao Laofu, who were all contemporaries.

  Later, he and Lie Huo Zushi were practicing a treasure on Mount Hua when they coincidentally obtained a fragment of the heavenly book left behind by Chen Tuan Laozu in the stone wall, called "Taiyi True Explanation". The above is all the secret method of Chen Tuan Laozu's performance of Hetu Luoshu and Taiji Bagua. He then began to practice both Taoism and magic, and later took his junior brother Si Kong Zhan out of the Northern Demon Sect to establish the Wutai Sect.

  Due to the departure of the two, the Northern Demon Sect quickly declined, while the Wudang Sect began to develop and grow, gradually becoming on par with Kunlun and other sects. Later, during the end of the Song Dynasty, they obtained a heavenly book from the depths of the northern sea, which was said to contain explanations of the great principles of the universe, and Taiyi Hunyuan's master suddenly enlightened, his magical powers rapidly advancing, and the Wudang Sect also began to develop and grow, becoming the leader of the Taoist sects under the heavens.

  Taiyi Hunyuan Zushi compiled his life's learning into a book called "Hunyuan Secret Canon", also known as "Taiyi Hunyuan Jing". He took the most profound and mysterious heavenly scripture, which he obtained at the latest time, as the first volume. It is said that this is the overall outline of the entire scripture, and only by obtaining this can one cultivate and verify the Golden Immortal position. Unfortunately, except for himself, no one else has ever seen the full appearance of this book.

  He had practiced the "Ten Demon Scriptures" in his early years as a demonic cultist, which became the middle volume of the scriptures. The "Taiyi True Explanation" he obtained at Mount Hua became the lower volume. He also gathered fellow disciples to summarize their knowledge of alchemy and elixir refinement into the lower volume. Only then was it a complete "Hunyuan Secret Manual". If Yue Qing wanted to revive the Wutai Sect, she had to find the upper volume and inherit the complete Taoist lineage. Otherwise, without the Golden Immortal Taoist lineage, no matter how many disciples or powerful magical artifacts they had, they would ultimately be just a second-rate or even third-rate sect.

  Because the world's Taoist sects have a complete method of cultivating into heavenly immortals, only those who can ultimately ascend to the immortal realm through flight can become a first-rate sect recognized by everyone. To become an orthodox and great sect within the Xuanmen, one must have direct physical ascension, achieving the Golden Immortal position and establishing a Taoist lineage!

  Yue Qing has practiced the middle and lower volumes, and can be considered a dual cultivation of Taoism and Demonism. The vast majority of disciples in the Wutai Sect cultivate in this way, but some are eager for rapid progress and focus on cultivating demonic powers, such as Qiye Longfei who has already defected to the White Bone God Sect. Others emphasize foundation and focus on cultivating mysticism, such as Fahuan Jinshen Luo Han who is still guarding Mount Wutai.

  Yue Qing sank into thought for a moment, then put Zhu Hong back in the gourd and took out the new deputy scripture book. As he flipped through it, he found that it was full of secret methods for refining treasures and elixirs, some of which were accompanied by intricate illustrations: Tianmo Zhuxian Sword, Bailin Zhuxian Sword, Wudu Sword, Jiuzi Mu Yinhun Sword, Shenyin Sword, Xuandu Yu Jing Sword, Taiyi Yin Yang Sword, Taiyi Five Smoke Luo, Taiyi Sixteen God Banner, Taiyi Nine Palace Flag Gate... Ten Demon Refining Hell Wheel, Twelve Du Tian Shen Sha, Liu Liu True Yuan Gourd... In addition to magical artifacts and elixirs, there were also various thunder methods, such as Wuxing Shen Lei, Taiyi Shen Lei, Hunyuan One Qi Tian Lei, Da Xiao Zhutian Secret Magic Yin Lei, etc.

  Yue Qing tightly grasped the book. If all the magical treasures on it were refined, why would Hunyuan Zushi be beaten to death by the three immortals and two old men? Why would Wutai Sect suffer a crushing defeat?! The materials needed for these things are mostly extremely rare heavenly treasures and earthly riches. Many of them have never been heard of or seen before. Even with his 300 years of cultivation experience, he could only barely understand half of it. He couldn't help but sigh deeply as he stroked the book.

  Yue Qing lived in the cave mansion of Zhu Hong, where he could calm down and study the new Taoist scriptures he had obtained. The four-door mountain was hidden and desolate, with few immortals or mortals coming here, allowing him to focus on researching the scriptures and sorting out his chaotic memories and thoughts, planning his future path.

  Yue Qing gave the cave to Si Tu Ping to live in, and every day he would decoct some Huang Jing and Shou Wu with dried fruits and wild vegetables into a clear, fragrant, milky liquid for Si Tu Ping to drink. The child was quite obedient and never naughty, following Yue Qing's teachings to practice qigong every day, and even had time to play on his own, able to entertain himself for half a day with just a few wooden blocks and a basin of clear water.

  Yue Qing took out the six-six true yuan gourd, and according to the method recorded in the scriptures, he made an offering and refined it. The power of this gourd was incredibly great, if it could be truly refined, even the Three Sages and Two Ancients would not be able to withstand it. However, the method of refining it was too sinister, requiring the use of thirty-six rootless children to cultivate, capturing their souls and using the heavy torture emitted by the gourd to repeatedly temper them into formless yin demons, a cruel and inhumane method.

  Moreover, the eight characters of the birth date of those thirty-six boys and girls are strictly regulated, from mouse to pig, all must be occupied, the month and time cannot be different, and during the ritual, not even a slight mistake can be made, it is extremely difficult to succeed.

  Zhu Hong stole the book and treasure, resulting in the death of Taiyi Hunyuan Zushi. He knew that the sword immortals of both Emei and Wutai sects could not tolerate him, and he was unwilling to hide forever in this desolate land of Simen Mountain. Therefore, he made up his mind to refine this treasure into a powerful tool to deal with his enemies from the past and his fellow disciples who came to capture him.

  He has already completed the external gourd refining, and all 72 arrays inside have been fully set up. The earth evil spirit symbols that suppress the array eyes are also in place. The yin demons inside have also been successfully refined by one-third. There are a total of twelve, four main and eight secondary ones. Looking back at that time, if it weren't for himself obtaining the Taiyi Five Smokes Net ahead of time, he would only be able to flee in disarray when facing these extremely evil yin demons.

  Although the true yuan gourd's power was formidable, Yue Qing did not intend to continue refining it. Not only was it troublesome and tedious, but also because of his repeated failures in refining the Shen Yin Sword three times, he had gained some insight into the obscure heavenly way and good deeds that his master had repeatedly pointed out to him, which were invisible and unheard.