One Qi Chaoyang

Chapter 26: Refining the Evil

Zhu Puyi was there alone drinking and telling his own story.

He said that his family was actually a family of practitioners, and everyone had the opportunity to practice, but he could not sit still because there was no one urging him and no one was hitting him with a stick so that he could not stand up.

When we were young, brothers and sisters all played together. But as we grew up, we started to separate. Others entered a state of meditation and were able to condense their magical powers, so we had less time to play together, and we no longer studied together.

They all had to learn the theories of cultivation and acquire knowledge of the law, while I began to learn the ways of business and how to manage the common people, so that in the future I could assist the monks in the clan in managing the local area.

"You know what? Originally, this was supposed to be the place where a cousin from our clan came to serve as the county magistrate."

"It is a consensus in the court that a chief official must have practiced cultivation. Although there is no need for assessment, he needs the recommendation of the chief officials of various places before he can enter the Jingque Dao Palace."

"Only after three years in the Imperial Palace will one be assigned to serve as an official in another place. Some people like to serve in the imperial court, because they can always be exposed to the teachings of some great figures, so they will try their best to stay there. Some people prefer to have fewer restrictions, so they like to serve as the chief official in other places."

"Coming to Nanling Prefecture as the county magistrate, I should have chosen a Taoist from the Jingque Taoist Palace to come here."

"Our Zhu family was chosen, but our Zhu family's Daozi didn't want to come, so he was injured in a fight with others. But he was afraid that the higher-ups would say he was unwilling to come on purpose, and he didn't want to lose this credit, so they asked me to write an application to replace my cousin and come here."

Zhao Fuyun listened without answering or asking any further questions. He clearly had no cultivation, so why could he replace the Zhu family's Taoist priest? There was no need to ask. If he had no connections above and was named to come here, but could not be replaced directly, then there were the following methods.

It must be a lie that Zhu Puyi also has cultivation skills and is willing to come here on behalf of the injured person.

Zhu Puyi continued, "I applied for transfer back several times after I came here, but the government office refused. I know that my family doesn't want me to go back. They want me to die here."

When Zhu Puyi said this, he burst into tears.

"My old mother and my children are at home. If they want to live a stable life, I have to be here."

The night deepened as Zhu Puyi kept chattering. He finally got drunk and staggered back home. Zhao Fuyun lay there, as if he had heard everything, but also as if he had heard nothing and was just asleep.

He remembered someone saying that if you open a history book, you will see the word "cannibalism" written between the lines.

No one can deny that humans form associations to resist alien species, but in the same way, large countries eat up small countries, all wanting to make their own people happy. Within a country, associations and classes are formed, eating up different classes, and even as small as a family, everyone is a relative, but there can also be oppression.

Within a family, even parents will have different feelings towards their own children.

If someone asks you to take one thing from your body before you can be spared, many people will choose your hair. If hair is not an option, they will choose their fingers. No one will choose their head. All the possessions on your body can be divided into different levels.

Zhao Fuyun was not unfamiliar with all of this. Among the royal family of the Zhao clan, everything looked prosperous on the outside, but inside, there were also miserable people.

The night dew fell on Zhao Fuyun's body, wetting his clothes. When a ray of light fell into the courtyard, he opened his eyes, but did not take in the morning glow.

When he came back yesterday, he felt hot inside because he had been asking the Red Flame God to stay for too long. He could not consume the morning glow for at least three days, and could only absorb the Yin dew at night to wash away the excessive heat in his body.

He has not yet established his foundation, so he needs to pay attention to the balance of yin and yang.

This is also the reason why he slept outside last night. Although he was sleeping, he was also practicing.

Back in the house, he began to think about what to do next.

It can be said that the local stubborn forces in the entire Wuze County have been burned once, so the next things can be done.

Establish a Taoist temple, cultivate true evil spirits, and then form talisman seeds in the body to build the foundation of Taoism.

As for the cultivation of Zhensha, after obtaining the Fire Lamp, he had a clear plan in his mind.

Many small sects have their own evil pools, in which the condensed evil energy can be used by disciples of the sect or sold to other people.

Some noble families would also occupy some places where evil spirits were gathered, which could be considered a kind of cultivation resource for their family.

However, large sects like Tiandu Mountain don't seem to care about this. Once a disciple reaches a certain level, they will let him go down the mountain and gather his evil spirits on his own. No matter how he gathered his evil spirits, whether they were given by others or stolen by himself, as long as he returns after building his foundation, he can basically enter the inner sect and become a true disciple of Tiandu Mountain.

However, this time it was a little different, because this group of Xuanguan disciples were not allowed to run around in the mountains. Instead, they were assigned places and had missions to accomplish.

He came into the room and looked at the ancient blue-black lamp on the table. He didn't know what material the lamp was made of, but that was not the point.

The key point is that he must make this "fire of catastrophe" something "edible".

Just as people can eat many things, but they all need to be steamed and cooked before they can be eaten.

From the perspective of true evil, this 'calamity fire' is a top-level 'treasure material' for condensing true evil, but it is also a terrifying thing, so one needs to be careful.

The first step is to neutralize it, or in other words, to train its "wildness". The best way to do this is to integrate it with incense. The incense and the power of vows can put a rein on the fire without damaging its fiery nature.

He thought of a place, the Chijun Temple outside the city.

So he began to think about it in his mind, and that night he found Zhu Puyi again and told him that he was going to move to the Chijun Temple outside.

Zhu Puyi certainly didn't want Zhao Fuyun to be far away, and couldn't help but say: "Teacher, if you are not here, this, this, this, Zhu... will be unable to sleep or eat well!"

"I'm just outside the city, only a few steps away. If you feel scared, you can move to the temple outside the city." Zhu Puyi seemed to be tempted by Zhao Fuyun's words, but after thinking for a while, he said, "Let's wait and see. Maybe the people here have been scared by the teacher and dare not act rashly!"

"Okay." Zhao Fuyun took out a coin from his arms and said, "Your Excellency can carry this coin with you."

"Money for amulets." Zhu Puyi knew about it. He also had amulets on him, but he had never been able to protect himself before, so he didn't have high expectations for this thing. "Yes, carry it with you. Some small ghosts don't dare to get close to you." Zhao Fuyun said.

"The teacher's amulet must be unique." Zhu Puyi certainly would not refuse. After he took it, he pulled out a small brocade bag from the clothes around his neck, took out a piece of talisman paper folded into a triangle, and then put Zhao Fuyun's Chijun Fire Talisman Coin made of red copper into it.

Zhao Fuyun saw the triangular talisman folded in his hand. The aura of the talisman had almost dissipated, and only his own human energy remained.

"Every day at noon, hold the Red Lord talisman in your hand and recite the 'Red Lord Praise Sutra'. Then your aura will be entangled with the talisman. It will not only protect you better, but also keep the Red Lord aura on the talisman."

"However, you must remember that it is best to recite it around noon, because the Yang energy is at its most abundant at this time. It is best not to recite it at night, because night is when people fall asleep. If you recite the Red Lord Sutra, your body and mind will easily become hot and you will have difficulty falling asleep, which will affect your sleep. Of course, if you feel an inexplicable chill or fear at night, you can recite it."

He kept Zhao Fuyun's words in mind. No one told him these things when he got the amulet before.

"There is one more thing. I want to build a Daoziyuan. How about it be located in the Chijun Temple?" Zhao Fuyun said.

"That place is not big, is it big enough?" Zhu Puyi said after thinking for a while.

"I guess there won't be many people at the beginning. When there are more people, we can expand it." Zhao Fuyun said.

Seeing that Zhao Fuyun had made the decision, Zhu Puyi wrote a notice, but there were not many people here who could read, so no one read the notice when it was posted there.

He understood that even though Zhao Fuyun had intimidated the people here, they might not necessarily listen to him.

He also needs to form a team for the yamen, otherwise, his yamen will be just a decoration and people here will go to their respective ancestral halls to solve problems when they have problems.

Zhao Fuyun came to the Chijun Temple again and looked at the statue in the temple. This statue was a stone statue. Zhao Fuyun didn't know where Zhuang Xiange got the stone to carve it.

The difference between stone statues and wooden statues is that stone statues can last for a long time, while wooden statues are prone to cracking. If they are left standing there and their surfaces become cracked, they will inevitably become ugly and need to be replaced.

He looked at it carefully and finally decided to make some changes himself. The stone statue was carved very roughly. Apart from the head and neck, the body was almost a stone pier and could only be regarded as a semi-finished product.

He wanted to find a craftsman who could carve stone, but found that Zhu Puyi couldn't find anyone working in the city, and talking to him was of no use, so he went to find one himself.

He went directly to the house where he had bought the lamp before. There was no one at home, and then he came to the well next to it.

There were some women washing clothes there. When Zhao Fuyun appeared there, those who were talking suddenly became quiet, and some of them even stood up.

Zhao Fuyun saw the fear in their eyes. He had bought so many lanterns here. Although everyone was cautious about him that time, they did not show much fear. Otherwise, so many people would not have sent lanterns to him without his permission.

This time, Zhao Fuyun clearly felt their fear. Apparently, he had killed too many people and burned too many poisons and ghosts a few nights ago. So they knew that this seemingly kind teacher was actually a scary person.

Of course, Zhao Fuyun would not kill their closest relatives. He killed those important figures in Wuze County, who should be the people they usually respected.

"Well, I want to find a craftsman who can carve stone statues. I want to recarve the statue of Chijun outside the city. Do you know anyone who has such skills?"

Everyone was silent, no one spoke.

"I will pay him money. Not only money, but I will also give him a Red Lord Talisman Coin." Zhao Fuyun paused here. Seeing that everyone's eyes were interested in doing something, but no one spoke, he smiled and said, "If anyone knows him, please tell him to come to me directly."

After he finished speaking, he left without staying there for long. He knew that these people were frightened, so he left and went back to wait.

After her husband came back from fishing, You Qiuniang told her husband about this.

Her husband frowned and said, "Although you are out of the fifth degree of mourning of the You family and have no right to enter the You family ancestral temple to worship your ancestors, you are still surnamed You. He killed your You family's You Lingpo, and you are still passing messages for him?"

You Qiuniang was silent for a moment, then said, "I'm already married, and I don't know how to practice cultivation, so I can't manage the affairs of the You family. The last time the teacher bought our lamps, the ten cents just made up for the gap in our purchase of a new boat. I think the teacher gave too much. They were just two lamps, how could they be worth much? He only gave ten cents."

"Besides, I heard that the teacher stayed in his room all night and didn't come out. It was everyone who insisted on breaking into his room. This can't be blamed on the teacher."

You Qiuniang said as she gutted the fish with a knife and cleaned it.

"That's what I mean." Li Shuiyun said, "But he has killed too many people. Wuze is so small. If we talk about it, which family doesn't have a grudge against him?"

"If you have a grudge, go ahead and take revenge if you want." You Qiuniang said.

"Who dares? With the instructor's ability, no matter how many poisonous insects he sends, they won't be enough to burn him. As for those little ghosts kept in the dark room, they can't even get close to him. What I mean is, if you go to help him at this time, you will be criticized by everyone." Li Shuiyun expressed his concerns.

When You Qiuniang heard this, she paused and said, "I don't care. I will go and tell my brother later. He has learned stone carving from the master. The teacher said that he will pay him and give him a Chijun talisman. I heard that carrying such an amulet can protect you from being disturbed by nightmare ghosts. If you have it, it will be safer to fish in the river. You don't have to worry about the water ghosts in the river."

After hearing this, Li Shuiyun was also moved. There is fog on the Wu River all year round, and the yin energy is heavy. Although there are many fish here, many people are drowned every year.

Although every fishing boat carries their own little ghosts or poisonous insects for self-defense, there are still victims.

"Go ahead and tell your brother this news. He has been carving ghost statues for others, which is very likely to attract evil spirits. If he can earn a Red King Talisman Coin to protect himself, it will definitely be a good thing. I heard that the Red King Talisman Coins outside are extremely rare and can be used as heirlooms."

"Go ahead, I'll kill the fish..."

Li Shuiyun pushed his wife aside, sat down and started killing fish.

There was one thing he didn't say. Today on the Fog River, one of the people who went fishing together did not come back. The empty boat was floating on the river. He was not far away when he saw a dark shadow sitting in the cabin. The dark shadow also saw him. He could not see the other person's true appearance clearly, but he saw the dark eyes, which were extremely terrifying.

(End of this chapter)