I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 381 To be buried alive, to be buried dead

In the open-air tomb, Xu Qing, now restored to his original appearance, sat alone on the altar, his posture imposing.

Beneath his boots lay fragments of a statue, mixed with the flesh and blood of a corpse demon.

Xu Qing drew the sword given to him by the Demon Exorcist Lord with a backhand, its green blade piercing the ground more than three inches deep. His unrestrained and bold appearance was more like that of a bandit than a bandit!
Leaning on his sword hilt, Xu Qing looked up at the dark clouds and mist rolling in from the horizon.

A furious roar, like thunder from the heavens, came from a thousand miles away, accompanied by an unyielding, thick aura of corpses!
The eight generals and their 100,000 undead soldiers and generals either rode on skeletal ghost horses or crawled out from the underground river veins.

The desolate graves and the vast forest of steles, a true mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, are surging in like a tide with the wrath of the Heavenly General, seemingly about to completely submerge Xu Qing on the altar.

"Second brother—who are you to dare injure my brother!"

Xu Qing squinted and looked out. In the swirling dark clouds, a golden-armored general with white eyebrows and beard, and a burly figure like a mountain, appeared.

The other party, filled with rage, crashed to the ground like a cannonball, kicking up dust for miles around.

As the old general with white eyebrows finished speaking, another scholar dressed in a scholar's robe and holding a scroll of the Taiping Sutra flew down to the front of the temple.

Xu Qing looked up and examined the two corpse demons, each over a hundred feet tall, and immediately used his Heavenly Law to shout, "You brothers are nothing but withered bones. As a funeral master, I couldn't bear to see your remnant souls wandering around, so I kindly helped your brother pass on. Instead of thanking me, why do you blame me?"

Upon hearing this, the Heavenly General frowned, while the Human General beside him suddenly changed his expression and said sternly, "Nonsense! My brother is the incarnation of the Yellow Heaven, carrying out the decree of the Immortal Nan Hua to relieve the suffering of the people and to act on behalf of Heaven. You plotted to kill my second brother; you must be a lackey of the Han court!"

"Brother, do not listen to outsiders. Let me take their heads and avenge my second brother!"

Before the words were finished, the Taiping Sutra in the hands of General Ren Gong unfolded, and the small golden characters inside swirled like snowflakes. In an instant, dozens of golden characters such as the characters for thunder, fire, and kill flew out.

At the same time, General Ren Gong proclaimed with thunderous force, "Wind, thunder, divine fire, annihilate all souls, incinerate all spirits!"

Hundreds of thunder serpents and firebirds, accompanied by forbidden spells that could kill and destroy souls, rushed straight at Xu Qing, but since Xu Qing's soul and body were one, the General Ren Gong's ability to make his words come true was useless against him.

The only things he needed to pay attention to were the thunder serpents and firebirds formed from the merits and incense offerings.

Instead of retreating, Xu Qing advanced, his sword moving nimbly as he used the Xuan Nu Sword Technique to defend against the opponent's attacks, all the while glancing at the Taiping Scripture in General Ren Gong's hand.

That scripture did indeed possess some merit, but over the thousands of years, much of it has clearly been depleted.

However, if placed in the secular world, these incense offerings would still be enough to support the General in establishing a temple.

However, it depends on who you compare him to. Compared to Xu Qing, who holds the power of countless offerings, the offerings of General Ren Gong are like the leaves falling in an autumn forest, sparse and insignificant.

Even if Xu Qing randomly picked out a deity from any of the various temples, they would have ten times the incense offerings of the Taiping Dao.

Seeing that General Ren Gong was flipping through the Taiping Sutra faster and faster, Xu Qing felt a surge of joy.

The corpse demon clearly only saw that he had the aura of a corpse and the body of a corpse monster, but did not know that he was the expert in incense burning.

The offerings of merit and incense are like raging fire to evil spirits. The general in front of him wants to burn him to death using the Taiping Sutra.

Xu Qing continued walking, saying, "Why is it that your scriptures only go out and never come in?"

Xu Qing, with a murderous intent, said, "Because you are all corpse demons burdened by karmic obstacles, you only know how to do evil and not good. It's a real pity for the Taiping Dao of yesteryear."

General Rengong's expression changed again: "I have accumulated merit, and the Way of Peace is a sacred religion. My brother and I are both destined by Heaven to save the world. You demons have neither merit nor destiny, yet you dare to speak so recklessly!"

After saying that, General Ren Gong did not give Xu Qing a chance to speak again. He made a tough decision and took all the incense in the Taiping Sutra in his hand!
Regardless of wind, rain, thunder, lightning, or even mountains of knives and seas of fire, as soon as this writer opens his mouth, golden seal characters will leap out from the scroll, transforming into supernatural powers and spells, truly making the law follow the words!
At the same time, the general, dressed as a scholar, ordered his troops to form a fierce formation of 100,000 corpse soldiers and charge towards the ruins of the altar.

Beside him, the Heavenly General, who was watching the battle, was filled with demonic energy. His face was twisted and changed, and it seemed as if he heard the petitions of the people and the whispers of ghosts and demons, trying to tempt him to kill all those who stood in his way.

On the altar, Xu Qing looked at the scholar standing on the moral high ground, bathed in the scriptures of peace, and suddenly chuckled.

"Just because you occasionally stand in the sunlight, you think others can't see your face and therefore can accuse you?"

Xu Qing laughed: "Then I'll show you what the sun is."

The next moment, a dazzling golden light appeared from the mountain of corpses formed by the gathering of 100,000 undead soldiers.

Then, the image of a secular deity appeared from among the tombstones and steles.

At this moment, Xu Qing wore a five-phoenix crown, a fairy robe, and a jade-like cloud-shaped shawl. The patterns of intertwined flowers and longevity mountains and seas engraved on the edges of the robe were more exquisite than before.

Even the character "保" (bao, meaning to protect or preserve) on the skirt now has a dragon and a phoenix flanking it, and the Goddess Baosheng, whose fame has spread throughout the world, has been given a new look!

Aside from his clothes, a green branch sprouted from the blood-red bottle in Xu Qing's right hand, and the jade-colored ruyi in his left hand was adorned with auspicious dragon and phoenix patterns.

The moment the true form of the Blood Lake Dharma Realm was revealed, the ancient Yin River Road, which had no sun or moon, seemed to have a great sun rising.

The corpse soldiers and corpses that surged toward Xu Qing were like rats in a ditch that couldn't see the light of day, struggling and howling as they tried to burrow back into the ground and return to the tomb and stele forest.

The statue of Baosheng Niangniang, towering over a hundred feet tall, stood atop the altar. At this moment, anyone who came would feel that Xu Qing was the deity who should be worshipped on the altar.

General Rengong raised his head and looked at the divine image of the deity standing on the moral high ground, bathed in golden light. He was somewhat dazzled. He really couldn't see Xu Qing's appearance clearly, nor could he tell whether this person was a god or a ghost.

Not to mention the General of the Human Realm, even the all-knowing General of the Heavenly Realm had never seen such a scene!

How did that young man, who was covered in corpse energy and looked even more like a corpse demon than the two brothers, suddenly become a god standing in the light?

Regardless of what the other party might guess, Xu Qing reached into the mother gas bottle, took out the green branch, and flicked it out.

The next moment, the blood lake surged, incense smoke rose like clouds, and the usually gloomy Yinhe Ancient Road was unusually illuminated with colorful light.

Under the glow of the sunset, 100,000 corpse soldiers lay on the ground, wailing, their bones and flesh rising into smoke.

The scroll in General Rengong's hand instantly lost its luster, and the golden seal characters were no longer at his disposal.

Offerings of incense and prayers only suppress evil spirits, but will not harm the most holy and virtuous people.

At this moment, in the eyes of the Taiping Sutra, Xu Qing has been listed as a senior, and a senior with great merit, great perseverance, and great vision.

That is far beyond the Great Teacher of Virtue, an existence that even the Great Teacher of Virtue should admire.

"You want to compare merits with me?"

Xu Qing showed no mercy. In the instant that the general was distracted, the Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand shot out like a rainbow, striking straight at the top of the general's head.

Before the sword even arrived, the corpse energy on General Ren Gong's body had already reversed and dissipated.

Xu Qing persisted and stepped forward, but just as he was about to reach out and touch General Ren Gong, General Tian Gong, with white beard and hair and wearing golden armor, suddenly stood in the middle, blocking his way with his sword.

"Who exactly are you? In this chaotic world, with traitors in power, why do you come to cause trouble for my Taiping Dao instead of helping the people? Do you think I've encroached on the offerings of my fellow Daoists?"

Xu Qing frowned, finally realizing something was wrong.

According to the Exorcist Master, the Heavenly General failed to achieve his great ambition in his lifetime, so he instructed the followers of the Way of Peace to use the evil arts of burning thatch and breaking cauldrons to open the path to the underworld and borrow the power of the corpse. Later, in Guangzong, he used the resentment of the lives of 100,000 soldiers to forcibly transform himself and his two brothers into corpse demons that were neither human nor ghost.

But Xu Qing felt that this might not be true.

However, whatever the shady dealings were, it all happened thousands of years ago. Xu Qing might glance at it briefly in a flashback, but as for the present...
“General of Heaven, you have been dead for many years, and the world has gone through several dynasties. There is no longer a Way of Peace in the mortal world, nor is there a Han Dynasty.”

"Only the Five Turbid Worlds, which are trapped by the Nine Netherworld Corpses, are the Heavenly Generals, who are the Corpse Demons created by the Corpses and used as pawns to infiltrate the mortal world!"

The Heavenly General's expression changed drastically, and the demonic voice in his ears grew even louder. He vehemently denied it, saying, "You must be my inner demon. You are deceiving me, and I will surely eliminate you!"

Xu Qing shook his head, unwilling to say anything more.

These demons, whose spirits have been corrupted, are like seasoned harlots in the world of pleasure, having long lost their innocence.

Trying to reason with the other party is tantamount to persuading a prostitute to reform; the corpse demon would probably laugh at him if he heard that.

"Speaking of which, I have some kind of karmic connection with General Tiangong from another lifetime. In that case, I will use this bowl to send the general on his way."

As they spoke, Xu Qing took out a bowl of rice from the Cat Immortal Hall's Dharma Realm. At this time, the bowl of rice was already the Cat Immortal Hall's most treasured possession, and the amount of merit contained within it was no less than that of the Living Man Scripture.

The moment the Heavenly General saw the bowl of rice, his eyes widened instantly.

"This bowl was clearly destroyed by me, how could you possibly possess it?"

Xu Qing, who was preparing to draw incense and perform a ritual for the deceased, paused what he was doing.

The old general in golden armor before him said in a deep voice, "When a bushel of rice appears, it will surely be a year of great calamity, with corpses strewn everywhere and bones filling the roads."

"Bowls are meant to save people, but their presence in the world inevitably brings war, famine, and disaster. What else could they be but an evil object?"

General Tiangong suddenly stepped forward, glaring at Xu Qing and said, "I am devoted to the people, yet I am not favored by Heaven. My master, the Old Immortal Nanhua, said that I am destined by Heaven, but I have been repeatedly defeated. I cannot understand why."

"When we reached Guangzong, our army was in dire need of provisions, but this bowl of rice was nowhere to be found at the crucial moment. This shows that in times of great calamity, evil will surely emerge. What else could this bowl be but a demon?"

Xu Qing said with a strange expression, "If you say that, then I'll say this bowl is a treasure that saves the world. In years of great disaster, this bowl will appear to save people."

"Furthermore, do you really understand how to use this bowl?"

The Heavenly General said coldly, “How could I not know! This bowl is an instrument of the Heavenly Way, a treasure of the Yellow Heaven. It is imbued with the life force of the Greedy Wolf Star, which gives it the shape of rice grains; it takes the moistening energy of the Moon Star, which gives the rice its translucent white color; and it combines with the earth's energy, which gives it the fragrance of rice.”

"As long as the stars in the heavens continue to circulate, the rice grains in this bowl will grow back as soon as they are taken out, making it inexhaustible!"

"If not for that, why would I have placed all my bets on this bowl? It's a pity that despite my lifelong wisdom, I was ultimately harmed by this monster!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and asked, "Who said this to the general?"

"Naturally, it is my master, the Immortal Nanhua."

"."

Xu Qing was completely speechless.

"General, you've probably been fooled by some charlatan. This bowl isn't inexhaustible; it's just a container for storing rice. How could it possibly be something that appears out of thin air?"

"The rice in the general's bowl back then was probably put there beforehand by that old swindler from Nanhua."

Xu Qing clicked his tongue and said, "Let me guess, he must have told the general that all the grain collected in the future can be put in a bowl for the army, right?"

"."

The Heavenly General stared wide-eyed, as if struck by lightning.

"Impossible! How could the teacher lie to me? He couldn't possibly be lying to me! You are my inner demon, you are the one deceiving me!"

"Me, lying to the general? Would I lie to the general about the merit I've accumulated in this bowl of rice?"

"Merit?" The Heavenly General finally noticed the anomaly: "How could you possess so much merit?"

As Xu Qing walked, he said, "A bushel of rice is a treasure for storing grain and helping the world. If you want to accumulate merit, you should store up more grain and help the world more."

"I will pass on the method of cultivating new grains, which will cause the grain production of the world to increase dramatically. This is the correct way to use the rice bowl."

"You are spreading falsehoods! The Immortal of Nanhua would never deceive me. Don't try to fool me!"

"."

Xu Qing, who had finally reached General Tiangong, smiled with relief.

"I did lie to you, but it wasn't a lie. I just wanted to save the temple some offerings, that's all."

As he spoke, Xu Qing decisively reached out his palm towards General Tiangong, but the corpse demon in front of him reacted even faster than he did.

The Heavenly General grabbed Xu Qing's wrist, and the corpse energy and demonic aura emanating from his body surged towards him like maggots clinging to bones.

Even though Xu Qing possessed the body of a flying zombie and had cultivated for a thousand years, the excessively dense corpse aura still caused his magical power to reverse and his corpse energy to swell.

Is this an attempt to kill him with nasty luck?

Xu Qing never expected the Heavenly General to have such a move.

Unfortunately, the other party was ultimately a step too slow.

"May the general rest in peace."

Almost at the same time the corpse demon entered his body, the pages of the Salvation Scripture in Xu Qing's mind also began to flip rapidly.

"This is."

The Heavenly General trembled, and the demonic influence that had affected his mind and the great power that allowed him to survive even after death receded like a receding tide.

At this moment, although General Tiangong was filled with endless fear, his consciousness from his previous life instantly returned to normal.

The flashing lights in his mind were almost synchronized with Xu Qing's flashing lights. In the blink of an eye, General Tiangong understood everything and broke free from the control of the Nine Netherworld Corpse.

But at the same time, he is also about to face real death.

"I see. Thank you, fellow Daoist."

At a certain moment, the Heavenly General, as tall as a mountain, suddenly knelt down. As he lost all his power and was about to return to the underworld, he lowered his head and forced himself to utter a sentence.

When a person is about to die, his words are also good.

After glancing at the corpse of General Tiangong, Xu Qing suddenly turned his head and focused his gaze on General Rengong, who was dressed in a scholar's robe.

Seeing the demon who had just used strange supernatural powers to eliminate his elder brother stride towards him, General Rengong said as if he were insane:
"We are the messengers left behind by the Lord of the Nine Netherworlds in the Yin River. You have angered the Lord of the Nine Netherworlds, and you will not have a good end either!"

Xu Qing chuckled and said, "Don't be in such a hurry. If you can be as polite as your older brother later, I might even build you a cenotaph."

As you turn the page of the Sutra of Salvation, the life of General Rengong is revealed.

After reading it, Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, already understanding the situation.

On his deathbed, the scholar before him also left behind a single sentence:

"I'm sorry, elder brother. Thank you, fellow Daoist, for helping us to be freed."

Xu Qing said helplessly, "Fine, after this matter is over, I will build a cenotaph for you all."

To bury someone while they are alive and to provide them with a grave after they die is considered to accumulate good karma.

(End of this chapter)