Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 48 The Ritual Begins, Enemy Traces Suddenly Appear (Please Read On)

Without looking in a mirror, Wang Cheng could clearly feel the three fires burning fiercely on his head and shoulders.

The top of the head symbolizes divine protection, which evil spirits and ghosts fear and cannot approach.
Right shoulder: known as the "nameless fire," illuminating the right side of a person's body;

People often describe anger as "a nameless fire rising," referring to this very fire. Experienced Shinto priests can sense this fire and see through other people's true emotions.

Left shoulder: Symmetrical to the right shoulder, it illuminates the left side of the body.

The three bright lights merged into one, illuminating the internal organs, allowing Wang Cheng to sense a faint glimmer of light emanating from his pitch-black physical dwelling.

Something is vaguely about to be born deep within my consciousness, but it's still lacking a lot of time and energy.

He didn't insist, slowly retracting the [Dragon Breathing Technique] and opening his eyes. The tent seemed to be struck by lightning, suddenly brightening.

His gaze casually fell on the incense burner next to him, and the incense burner immediately began to emit wisps of green smoke.

"After I lit the Heart Lamp, it could originally only be used to ignite talismans and other things specially refined by officials. Now it can easily ignite flammable materials and is not afraid of the cold winter."

As long as you don't lose consciousness, you won't freeze even if you meditate naked in the snow.

Those who hold official positions in the divine path cultivate their nature but not their destiny; their ability to interfere with reality through their minds grows stronger as their official rank increases.

Even after the physical body decays and one dies from weapons, the spirit can live on forever and be conferred the title of ghost, god, and earth deity by the Twenty-Four Solar Terms!
When one reaches the level of the Heavenly Consort, the ability to move mountains and clouds with a single thought is no mere fantasy.

The three lower grades of cultivation: building a dwelling, lighting a lamp, and purifying the life fire to yang.

When the lamp of the heart is lit, the three fires of fortune, prosperity, and longevity are pure Yang, which means that one is qualified to worship the Great Dao, receive the Qi of the Dao, and open an altar to bestow ordination.

There's no need to wait until the Rain Water solar term. As long as he doesn't mind the impact on his future spiritual path, he can immediately "sell official positions and titles" for his master, Shen Yuting, by burning a stick of incense for him.

Of course, Wang Cheng would not choose to do this unless absolutely necessary.

Once Han Shushu takes up her post at the Sea Salader, he will return to Moon Harbor before the [Otter Sacrifice Fish] to complete his promotion ritual.

The ritual requirements for "Bai Shuilang" are much simpler than those for "Hailiaozi". It doesn't require a large-scale event and is basically not difficult for him.

Wang Cheng leaped up from the prayer mat.

Seeing a spare monkey brain sea urchin in the bucket next to him, he quickly dug it out and ate it all.

The Pure Yang Realm of Life Fire has reached the limit of the lower three grades. Unless one is granted a title and ennobled, the growth of mental light will not be significant.

But after collecting ten monkey brains and sea urchins, he finally awakened his first true skill: the eye in the brain!
A surge of heat rushed into my brain, then transformed into a refreshing coolness, settling into the pineal gland, which resembled a degenerated eye, located in the center of my forehead.

Boo!
It felt as if an invisible eye had suddenly opened in my brain, and strange double images from different layers appeared in the brain.

A silver vertical line also lit up between his brows, as if he had really gained an extra vertical eye.

Wang Cheng quickly closed his eyes.

It was discovered that even without sight, one can "observe" the surrounding scenery with the skin, ears, nose, and tongue, even more clearly and in greater detail than what the eyes see.

Its sensing range is also quite large, enough to cover every corner of a sailboat, leaving no blind spots.

They even saw through the animal skin tent to see the outside world.

Although it has no color, only black and white lines and outlines, it is enough to detect the enemy's moves first and not be afraid of a sneak attack.

"On the bloody battlefield amidst a hail of bullets, even ordinary officers with enhanced senses are still in danger of being killed by stray bullets, and wish they could sleep with one eye open."

"With this eye in my brain, even if I end up at sea, piloting a warship and using linear tactics to fight in formations, I will definitely be the last one to survive."

I lifted the windproof curtain and stepped out of the tent.

Just as I had imagined, everything outside was a vast expanse of white.

Tomorrow marks the third phase of the Great Cold, and heavy snow has already fallen in the north, even in this remote place.

But with his eyesight enhanced by the inner eye in his brain, Wang Cheng could not only easily see through the snow curtain a mile away, but even the countless fluttering snowflakes around him appeared to move in slow motion. Clang—!
Suddenly, the ring-pommel sword at his waist was drawn. With a flash of light, a snowflake was neatly sliced ​​in two and fell into Wang Cheng's outstretched palm, quickly melting away.

With his life fire reaching pure yang and the awakening of his inner eye, his control over his physical body reached the limit of mortals, and his swordsmanship also made great progress.

A line of blade light, like a silver dragon, continued to crisscross, slicing countless hexagonal snowflakes into snow powder in mid-air.

"If you put your mind and eyes on an ordinary person, even if they have never learned any fighting skills, they can become a master swordsman just by relying on their instinctive physical control."

"It's possible to defeat armored soldiers with just a bamboo stick."

But Wang Cheng also knew that his skill might seem miraculous to ordinary people.

But in the eyes of those swordsmen, knife-wielders, and officials who specialize in close combat, it probably doesn't amount to much. Their unique skills and special techniques are designed for cold weapons, and they can disregard technique and overcome all other skills with sheer force.

The "Eight Blades of Breaking Waves" technique, which can only be considered a common skill, is fine for laying a foundation for officials of the lower three ranks, but it falls short when it comes to the struggles between officials of the seventh rank and above.

"Fortunately, Bai Shuilang's skills are not entirely in swords and weapons; he is just good enough for close combat."

He turned his head to look at the Zhang brothers' tent next to him.

Through the eye in his mind, he saw the two brothers burning incense and worshipping the talisman [Craftsman's Silver], which was born from the craftsman's will and could be used as a "money printing machine".

He muttered to himself:

"Heaven has the Money Star, Earth has the Money Spirit. Yin and Yang create and mold, achieving balance. Heaven and Earth, different yet the same form. I now refine and forge, Guan Bo clearly transmits the wind and fire, achieving the original, the beneficial, the auspicious, the prosperous, the virtuous, and the auspicious. So be it!"

The inner light emanating from his body resonated with the precious light of the silver craftsmanship, and their energy continuously interacted and refined each other.

This was the task Wang Cheng gave to the Zhang brothers after they lit the lamp of their hearts.

Wang Cheng was already prepared to personally lead them and all his subordinates in the Water Squad after he received his ordination and was officially appointed to a higher rank.

This invaluable "Craftsman's Silver" is equivalent to a talisman for the water-ranking officials of their lineage. Disciples worship it twice a day, morning and evening, to suppress the lineage's fortune and to set up an altar for their disciples to receive ordination and stand in line.

The true identity of the Prince of Jinghai's heir cannot be exposed, and the elite personal guards specially trained for him in the Five Peaks Banner cannot be retrieved for the time being.

But as long as he has the French lineage, it will be enough for him to control a direct line of forces whose fates are intertwined.

Compared to the traditional imperial guards who were bound by blood ties and hometowns, these French soldiers, even if some were lost, could be gradually replenished.

Wang Cheng glanced at the sky and saw that it was getting late. He didn't disturb the Zhang brothers and went back to his tent to rest and recuperate.

the next day.

It is also the first day of the five days before and after the "Water Marsh Belly Firm" pentad of the Seventy-Two Pentads.

Wang Cheng and Han Shushu went into the water again to begin the ritual for the sea snatcher's advancement.

Wang Cheng didn't need to do much; he simply relied on his good swimming skills and, as usual, checked the underwater area to make sure there was no danger before letting Han Shushu and her helpers work together to salvage the sunken ship.

We will then use these salvaged porcelain pieces to build the Water Class Dharma Altar, and the specific time for the ordination ceremony will be tomorrow morning.

This time, while Wang Cheng, who had nothing to do, was still hesitating about whether to continue fishing for sea urchins, the sea bream that had been his guide for a long time took the initiative to find him.

"Gurgle, gurgle," it kept blowing bubbles.

It swam around him quickly, as if it had something urgent to do.

Wang Cheng subconsciously followed.

Meanwhile, neither Wang Cheng nor Han Shushu, who was salvaging the sunken ship, had yet discovered it.

In the midst of heavy snow with extremely low visibility, a sailing warship from Yingzhou in the north was sailing smoothly and steadily towards the small island, with a clear objective and no deviation. It seemed that the voyage would take at most another day.

And on the mainmast of this warship hung a Five Peaks Flag!
(End of this chapter)