Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Outside the Lingxiao Palace, at the place where the Dao fell.

The Four Celestial Masters of ancient times were like the Four Heavenly Kings who guarded the Heavenly Gate and protected the Heavenly Pass.

The four celestial masters each occupy one of the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, or north.

Despite the onslaught of countless demons led by the four evil gods under the command of the Demon Buddha, not a single demon was spared from storming into the Lingxiao Palace.

But I saw it.

It seemed as if endless ferocious beasts and monsters were hidden within the sleeves of Ge Tianshi's robe.

There are ancient ferocious beasts, each with a hideous and malevolent appearance, even more ferocious than demons.

There are noble mythical beasts, exuding fragrance and vibrant colors, with lively and flowing light, which can cleanse evil spirits and malevolent energy.

There are treacherous spirit insects, such as the Gold-Eating Insect that can devour everything, real and illusory; the Six-Winged Golden Locust with wings like divine swords; the flying mantis with a longhorn beetle waving its pincers on its back; and the insidious Blood Mosquito with its swollen abdomen concealing a poisonous scorpion with a stinging tail.
There are innate spirits, celestial stone statues, fire demons, aquatic spirits, and tree monsters; they are ugly but tough, simple yet beautiful.

Master Xu was gentle and refined, more like an immortal than any other immortal, and more like a gentleman than any other gentleman. He perfectly matched the common people's imagination of immortals and gods. When he wielded his brush to paint in the void, his brushstrokes moved ghosts and gods to tears, and his paintings were astonishing.

The painting depicts mountains and rivers, their rolling motions eliciting the wrath of nature, causing mountains to collapse and floods to annihilate countless evil spirits.

The painting depicts the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon. The sun ignites a fire that burns the heavens, and the moon reflects a light that devours souls. The heavens and the earth merge together, like two walls suddenly closing together. It is as if the creator of the world has clasped his hands together, slapping away countless evil spirits.

The painting depicts various deities and saints, including spirited sword immortals, unrestrained immortals, valiant and solemn gods, and innately knowledgeable saints. All these immortals, saints, and humans wield thunderous methods, utterly crushing the evil forces.

Even demons, when depicting the myriad aspects of human nature, cannot escape the rampant desires of humanity, drifting and sinking amidst the desires of living beings, losing themselves in the process.

Master Sa's style is completely different from Master Xu's. In comparison, he is a complete villain. His own body is like a worm nest, with his mouth filled with dense, terrifying black clouds of Gu worms.

There are thousands of types of Gu: Bloodline Gu, Dung Beetle Gu, Locust Gu, Golden Silkworm Gu, Grass Gu, Picking Life Gu, Snake Gu, Lice Gu, Needle Gu, Wool Gu, Plant Gu... They are impossible to defend against and impossible to cure.

But what demons fear most are those Gu worms that have miraculous effects on them.

The Heartbreak Gu is used to kill demons, who also have emotions. In fact, because of their desire to devour living beings, their emotions are even stronger than those of living beings. Making them experience the pain of being cut off from emotions and desires is even more miserable than killing them.

Self-doubt: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of my existence? What is existence? Why do we exist?

Living beings are born from heaven and earth, bound by parents, race, and other ties. While these ties and constraints bind them, they can also use these relationships to prove and perceive their own existence.

Demons, on the other hand, are completely different. They are not born of parents, nor even born of heaven and earth. They are beings equally despised by all living things in heaven and earth. Their purpose seems to be only to destroy all living things in heaven and earth. As for what happens after the destruction, they have never thought about it.

Originally, they didn't think, acting only on instinct, living a muddled but carefree life. Now, when they start thinking, their barren brains begin to overload, and the meaning of their demonic existence begins to blur. When the demons doubt their own existence, they, which are already manifested in the world in the form of thoughts, instantly collapse and disintegrate.

This self-inflicted curse is truly the most vicious and cruel method used against evil spirits, making even the most powerful demons like the Demon Buddha grit their teeth.

It was precisely because of the existence of the Heartbreak Gu and the Self-Destruction Gu that, among the Four Celestial Masters in ancient times, the first one to be destroyed by evil spirits was Celestial Master Sa. In order to kill this Celestial Master, even a Heavenly Demon General suffered severe injuries and had to be nurtured for millions of years before he recovered.

The Four Celestial Masters each possessed unique skills; otherwise, in the ancient era, a time teeming with talented individuals and dazzling immortals, they would not have been able to stand out from the crowd.

They were the pillars that, together with the Human Emperor, led the human race to stand at the pinnacle of all realms, the overlords of all races, in an era when immortals and gods coexisted, witches and demons still existed, and dragons and phoenixes, though dormant, could soar through the heavens again at any time.

They shone not only in one era, but their brilliance shines from ancient times to the present.

Among them, the most dazzling was the Celestial Master, who could be seen in heaven but did not bow to the Heavenly Emperor, and who could stand alongside the Human Emperor on earth.

Their spirits are also under the greatest pressure at this moment.

Because while the Demon Buddha was fighting against the Great Evolution Dao Master, he was also diverting some of his divine thoughts to lead his elite evil gods in a joint battle against the Ancestral Celestial Master.

But when the black lotus beneath the Demon Buddha's seat transformed into countless black lotus petals, these petals instantly transformed into the appearances of ancient Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from the ancient sacred mountain, using the methods of ancient Buddhas and the Dharma of Bodhisattvas. It was unknown when, but the Demon Buddha had already taken all the ancient Buddha fruits buried under the Buddhaless Mountain into his own body.

Now, it is not only the Time Demon Lord who controls the Four Imperial Dao Patterns, but also the one who steals the Merit Dao Pattern controlled by the ancient Buddhist patriarch, and as the Merit Demon Lord, it will control the fortune of the ancient Buddhist sect.

This process began in ancient times. After destroying the ten thousand Buddhas of Mount Ling in ancient times, it had already accomplished most of its task. As a result, from ancient times to the present, Buddhism, which was once at its peak in ancient times and had the potential to surpass Taoism, has been in a state of decline and is even worse off than the demonic path.

This is something that cultivators in the present world can hardly change. As far as we are concerned, the Demon Buddha, who has absorbed the fortune of the ancient Buddhist sect, can only spare a small portion of his energy to deal with the Ancestral Celestial Master, which has greatly increased the pressure on him.

But the Celestial Master is the Celestial Master. Even though he is now only a heroic spirit, he is still a top-notch expert.

With a flick of his fingers, he created talismans, each one possessing unparalleled supernatural power.

The Five Thunder Talisman brings down five thunderbolts, relentlessly striking.

The Taiqing Xuantian Divine Light Talisman, with its two divine lights, Taiqing and Xuantian, crisscrossed back and forth like two unparalleled divine swords, slaying one demonic Buddha image after another.

The Man's Fortune is as Great as Heaven's Talisman. Ancient generals of the human court and brilliant civil officials of a prosperous era, even when facing evil Buddhas and demons, are fearless and undaunted.

The Heavenly Fortune Talisman brings good luck and divine assistance. The Celestial Master can borrow the power of heaven and earth. The ancient heroes of the Human Court have come, and the ancient gods of the Heavenly Court are not idle either. They have all thrown themselves into the battle against the evil spirits.

Each talisman was a testament to the profound knowledge and wisdom that earned the ancient Celestial Master the title of Ancestor of Talismanic Arts. The interplay of celestial and human fortunes was what made the Celestial Master the Ancestor of Celestial Masters—his ability to bridge the gap between the celestial and mortal realms. Seeing the Celestial Master's power, the Demon Buddha was once again astonished and silently cursed the Reincarnation Demon.

It is not true that Su Qingyan and his group in the Divine Realm made no contribution to the battle for the Lingxiao Palace.

In the Demon Buddha's plan, it wanted to spread its influence far and wide. The divine body and the Heavenly Emperor's Dharma body in the Lingxiao Palace were things it was determined to obtain. This was because it had gained tremendous benefits from destroying Mount Ling in ancient times, and it knew how much more fortune it could gain by taking the fortune in the Lingxiao Palace into its own possession.

However, it also has high expectations for the three directions of the Burial Immortal Realm, the Tianyuan Mainland, and the Abyss Secret Realm.

On Tianyuan's homeland, it made the Reincarnation Demon General hand over the evil rune it possessed, and poured a massive amount of evil energy into it, elevating it to the Four Imperial Evil Runes, giving rise to a new Heavenly Demon who transformed into the Free Heavenly Demon.

Given the power of this Heavenly Demon General, leading the demons, he should be able to launch a world-destroying demonic frenzy in Tianyuan's homeland, or at the very least, capture one of the two strategic targets: the Western Sea cultivation world or the Northern Tower of Babel.

Who would have thought that plans could not keep up with changes? First, the resistance of the various immortal kingdoms in the Western Sea was extremely strong. The Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom, the Penglai Immortal Kingdom, and the Xingsha Divine Kingdom all withstood the pressure from the demons.

Then, in the direction of the Tower of Babel, not only did the number of True Monarchs far exceed his expectations, but the Hehua Zizai Heavenly Demon, who already had the strength of the sixth rank peak and possessed the Four Evil-Controlling Marks, and was considered invincible below the seventh rank, encountered another opponent who was also considered invincible below the seventh rank!
This thing is none other than Black Wukong, created by the Demon Buddha himself!
The original plan was to release it from the abyss and merge it with the Great Sage Who Overturned the Sea, so that the two could be reborn and become the strongest henchmen in the hands of the demons, just like in ancient times.

Unexpectedly, when the ancients created Black Wukong, they did not completely remove the rebellious nature of the four great demonic apes. As a result, Black Wukong's divine consciousness merged with that of the Great Sage Overturning the Sea, and he suddenly broke free from their demonic control.

This Great Sage of the Overturning Sea is disobedient. Instead of helping the demons fight against the living beings, he helps the living beings fight against the demons, rebelling against the Heavenly Gang. He is truly hateful. Because of his betrayal, the resistance of the living beings in the Heavenly Origin Realm is greater than expected, thus thwarting the Demon Buddha's plans for the Heavenly Origin Realm.

Looking at the direction of the Burial Immortal Realm, the Demon Buddha didn't have high hopes for it. His original plan was to steal a piece of the land and make a fortune if he succeeded. If he failed, it could only be attributed to bad luck. Among all the heavens and myriad realms, the demonic forces were weaker than the living forces of all the heavens and myriad realms, so failure was to be expected. He was not disappointed.

To his disappointment was the direction of the Abyss Secret Realm. He had high hopes for the Reincarnation Demon because it had been cultivating in the Abyss Secret Realm for many years, and had absorbed most of the remaining power of the ancient underworld. Furthermore, it controlled the Six Paths Reincarnation Disc and most of the reincarnation Dao patterns. With the advantage of home field and Dao patterns, it seemed like a situation where victory was assured.

Unexpectedly, he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Su Qing within the Abyss Secret Realm, and ultimately had to decide the outcome through Dao patterns.

For this reason, the Demon Buddha gritted his teeth and sent his ten demon generals to support him.

These ten high-ranking demons are its elite troops, cultivated from ancient times to the present. If they hadn't been assigned to the Reincarnation Demon, their presence here would have put even greater pressure on the Celestial Master.

Of course, for now, the situation here is still under the control of the Demon Buddha.

Although the spirits of the Four Celestial Masters are powerful, they have been dead for many years, and their cultivation and magical power must be drawn from the outside world.

After a long battle, their ancient magical power had been exhausted. Now, the spiritual energy and inspiration they used to cast spells were mostly derived from the magical treasures and materials provided to them by Tong Chang.

The Celestial Master Tong Chang, who was being protected in the middle, looked at his trembling and desperate appearance and knew that the wealth he had accumulated over the years was almost insufficient to support him!

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Demon Buddha will surely take over the Lingxiao Palace!
But unexpectedly, life is always full of surprises.

The Four Celestial Masters felt exhausted and their use of supernatural powers and techniques was not as smooth as before.

The four celestial masters were so anxious that they pointed at Tong Chang's nose and cursed him!
"Are you even qualified? You've been the Celestial Master for so many years, and this is all you've accumulated? In ancient times, which of our Four Celestial Masters didn't make a fortune every day, richer than a country? You were given the position of Celestial Master, and this is all you've got? You don't deserve to be the Celestial Master!"

"It's my fault, it's my fault. When I descended to the mortal realm, I should have promoted my locust tree branch to a higher position. That thing may be a bit wicked, but it's a master at reaping benefits. It wouldn't be as useless as you! As a Celestial Master, being a good person isn't important; being able to get things done is!"

"Tsk tsk, what a fine seedling the Ancestral Celestial Master chose! Back in the day, I, Old Xu, reached the Nascent Soul stage in fifty years and the Deity Transformation stage in a hundred years. In less than ten thousand years, I had already reached the cultivation level of a seventh-rank Celestial Master. Ancestral Celestial Master, you chose this Celestial Master of the present world. So many years have passed, and he is still just a Nascent Soul cultivator, not even a Deity Transformation cultivator. Shameful, shameful!"

The other three Celestial Masters were heartbroken by Tong Chang's severely underpowered performance, and even the Grand Celestial Master was somewhat disappointed in him.

"Back then, I was afraid you would suffer in this world and not earn much, so I specially passed on the art of talisman making to you. Even if the Celestial Master's authority couldn't bring you any benefits, this art of talisman making should have been enough for you to make a fortune. How come this time when I needed you, you only had a pittance on you, not even enough for me to draw three or five talismans? It's only because we had some old resources left over from ancient times that we were reluctant to use them. Otherwise, relying on you, we would have disappeared long ago!"

The disappointment of the Celestial Master was the most painful for Tong Chang.

He felt wronged too. Ever since he discovered the Demon Buddha's conspiracy in the Abyss Secret Realm, he had packed up all the good things he had earned from Langya Immortal Island over the years and brought them here.

They were willing to go bankrupt just so that the Four Celestial Masters of antiquity could fight the Demon Buddha without restraint.

However, the Four Celestial Masters of antiquity were truly terrifying when they unleashed their full power.

Fifth-order spiritual plants, sixth-order fire seeds, ten-thousand-year-old snow lotus, dragon blood and phoenix feathers—these are all rare and precious treasures in the current Tianyuan Realm. They are top-quality goods that Su Qing has been asking him to buy for many years, but he has not agreed to.

In the hands of these few celestial masters, it can only be used by them to cast spells once or twice, and its power is only momentary.

Yes, it's not their fault.

These elderly people were born in ancient times, when the Tianyuan Realm was full of spiritual materials and countless Dao treasures. As guests of the Human Emperor and Heavenly Emperor, they naturally made a fortune.

However, during the decline of the Dharma in the Tianyuan Realm, Tong Changsheng even resorted to setting up a stall for a living, and fought with people over a few coins for a few stall fees. Only during the few hundred years of the Tianyuan Realm's revival did he enjoy a period of good life, but how much could he have accumulated in that short time?

It wasn't that he was incompetent, but rather that he was limited by circumstances!

Just as Tong Chang was feeling sad and frustrated, he suddenly saw a precious mirror fall behind him. The mirror was like a gold-devouring beast, spitting out magical treasures and objects!
Seeing this, Tong Chang almost burst into tears, knowing that all of this was thanks to the support from his fellow cultivators in the Western Sea.

"My good brothers, I, Tong Chang, will remember this kindness for a hundred years, no, a thousand years. Having experienced this once, for the next thousand years, as long as I, Tong Chang, remain in the position of Celestial Master, I will certainly not treat you unfairly!" (End of this chapter)