Misinterpreting the Scriptures

The Queen Mother Grass Little People told Shi Feiyang that the red-scaled, single-horned snake had been with him for more than three hundred years. It was a stupid snake, forever getting itself killed. He had already brought it back from the dead six times!

But the stupid snake was very obedient. He often sat on the single horn atop its head and had it carry him around to patrol the mountain forests.

Besides keeping a summoned beast, he had devised an even more ingenious means of protecting himself.

The black fungus beside him was called Immortal's Couch. It was an herb that closely resembled a lingzhi mushroom but actually contained a deadly poison. Queen Mother Grass had specially selected it and transplanted it nearby, watering and fertilizing it year after year until it grew plump and sturdy.

Mount Xiandu gathered the finest spiritual energy and abounded in medicinal herbs, drawing many herb gatherers. People often spotted the Queen Mother Grass Little People while he was out and chased him all the way home, or stumbled upon his doorstep by sheer accident.

At such times, the first thing visitors noticed was always the basin-sized black fungus. They would take it for a precious medicinal herb, while the Queen Mother Grass beside it looked far too inconspicuous and was dismissed as a weed...

Once they dug up Immortal's Couch, inhaling even a mouthful of its sap would poison them to death on the spot. Immortals with some cultivation could hold out a little longer, but mortals would faint merely from touching its leaves or taking a few sniffs.

With this trick, Queen Mother Grass had killed dozens of herb gatherers who coveted it, immortals and mortals alike.

It had also been more than three thousand years since he had transplanted Immortal's Couch beside him. Immortal's Couch had been dug up many times, its roots severed and leaves broken repeatedly, but under Queen Mother Grass's meticulous care, it continued to flourish, its poison growing ever stronger. It had now grown into a human shape, though it had yet to awaken its spiritual awareness and transform.

"You really are a clever little fellow," Shi Feiyang praised him sincerely. "Let me give you a name. You're as pitch-black as ink, so your surname can be Mo. And since you love leaping and racing about, I'll call you Mo Zhui."

The Little People did not care what he was called. He was a plant and did not even care whether he was male or female, so long as he could stay here safely. But since his powerful new summoned beast had chosen the name, he grinned with his tiny mouth and nodded cheerfully in agreement.

Immortal's Couch was also a three-thousand-year-old spiritual being. Though poisonous, poisons and medicines had always shared the same source: used correctly, they were medicine; used incorrectly, they were poison. Feiyang intended to "hatch" it too, so it could soon become a Little People running about.

Thus, whenever he cultivated, he diverted several rays of light and heat from the Divine Fire Core toward Immortal's Couch and infused it with a stream of Elixir Qi as well.

The Red-Scaled Strange Snake came to see Shi Feiyang the next day. Though he had three hundred years of cultivation, Sikong Hu had recently cut him in two, severely damaging his vitality. Climbing the bare, thousand-zhang-high Dinghu Peak took considerable effort.

The Red Snake still wanted to acknowledge Shi Feiyang as his leader. Nonhuman beings expressed their wishes very directly. He again made it clear that he wanted Shi Feiyang's protection and wished to learn cultivation methods from him. He was willing to do anything for Shi Feiyang, so long as it was within his power. He even intended to settle on the summit that very night and guard Shi Feiyang's door.

Feiyang did not want a strange snake guarding his door above his head. Wei Fengniang would arrive before long, and with the Red Snake's abilities, encountering her would only get him chopped into seventeen or eighteen pieces again.

"I'll teach you a cultivation method. Go back and practice it on your own. I have a tribulation before me. Once I've overcome it, come here again. If you've mastered the basics by then, I'll take you in."

He pressed his Dragon Claw against the top of the Red Snake's head, infusing him with a stream of Elixir Qi and a cultivation method.

Nonhuman beings were generally dull and foolish, their minds slow to awaken. Without instruction, they could only rely on instinct to muddle their way through gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon. Their progress was painfully slow, and most met with tribulation before their cultivation bore fruit.

Seeing that the Red Snake's constitution differed from his own, Shi Feiyang devised a cultivation method on the spot. He taught him to face the Greater Yang at noon each day, gather its radiance, draw in True Solar Fire, then spread it throughout his body to refine his form and substance.

Having received the Elixir Qi and cultivation method, the Red Snake was beside himself with excitement. He kowtowed to Shi Feiyang again in gratitude. "What tribulation faces you, benefactor? Please tell me when it will come. When the time arrives, even if I have to stake my life..."

"Staking your life would do no good," Shi Feiyang interrupted. "Go back and cultivate diligently. We'll meet again another day!"

He opened his mouth and blew out a strange wind, sweeping the Red Snake up and blowing him off Dinghu Peak. The snake tumbled and rolled through the air until he was flung straight into Lianjin Creek.

The day of his shedding drew ever closer. Feiyang cultivated while refining pills. Ten-Thousand-Year Queen Mother Grass could reattach severed limbs and bring the dead back to life—even a severed head could be attached again. Its medicinal effects were tremendous.

He told the Little People Mo Zhui of his predicament. Without another word, Mo Zhui immediately drew blood from his arm for Shi Feiyang to refine into medicine.

The sap of this Ten-Thousand-Year Queen Mother Grass could serve as the main ingredient in several kinds of Immortal Elixir. Feiyang obtained two small cups of it. Besides the Immortal-Skewering Pill, he also refined a batch of Fury Profound Pills to prepare for unforeseen emergencies.

That night, he had blasted Sikong Hu's physical body to death and captured his Primordial Spirit. Feiyang forced him to recite the original text of both Daoist scriptures.

By now, Sikong Hu had lost his former arrogance. He obediently recited the Twenty-Eight True Scripture and the Twenty-One True Scripture without omitting a single word, then begged Shi Feiyang to release him. "I was blind and offended the divine might of a True Dragon... But I've already died once and learned my lesson. I beg you, Dragon Gods, to take pity on the many years I spent cultivating and let me go for Reincarnation..."

"That sounds familiar." Feiyang memorized the contents of both scriptures and pondered them repeatedly, then had Sikong Hu explain their annotations. Sikong Hu had practiced these two scriptures for more than sixty years and could long since recite them backward. He knew every word intimately and had his own insights into each. His explanations ran to more than ten times the length of the original text.

After hearing all the scripture passages and explanations, Shi Feiyang compared them with the Lesser Book of Heaven and the Golden Seal Heavenly Talisman on the rock wall. He pondered for half a day, then suddenly laughed and told Sikong Hu, "You fool! You've twisted perfectly good Daoist School scriptures beyond recognition, yet you dare call yourself a sword immortal!"

Sikong Hu was displeased. He and Pu Miaomiao had devoted years to studying these two Daoist scriptures, and had cultivated sword arts and divine abilities according to their contents. They were Sword Immortals renowned throughout the region. How could they possibly have misinterpreted the true scriptures?

He could not help saying, "If you say my comprehension was lacking and I failed to fully grasp the scriptures' deeper meaning, I would concede that. But I believe I've understood at least seventy or eighty percent..."

"Wrong! Wrong!" Feiyang interrupted. "You were wrong from the very beginning! I knew something sounded strange when I first heard your nephew mention them, but he hadn't learned them in full. Now that I've heard you recite both books completely, I've finally understood. You never grasped their roots at all."

Sikong Hu wanted to leap up and bite the dragon, but forced himself to endure it. "Then please enlighten me. Where exactly did I go wrong?"

Shi Feiyang spoke with a hint of smugness. "You said two represents yi wood and eight represents xin metal, so the Twenty-Eight True Scripture is actually the Yi-Xin True Scripture, cultivating the Dao of wood and metal. That's wrong! You said three represents bing fire and seven represents geng metal, so the Twenty-One True Scripture is the Bing-Geng True Scripture, cultivating the Dao of fire and metal. That's even more wrong! Absurdly wrong! Taking the meaning of the entire text together with the additions and subtractions of numerology, you shouldn't be looking among the heavenly stems, yin and yang, and the five elements!"

"Let me tell you. One is greater yang, two is lesser yin, three is lesser yang, and four is greater yin. These are the generating numbers. Six is greater yin, seven is lesser yang, eight is lesser yin, and nine is greater yang. These are the completing numbers. Generation and completion—there must be both generation and completion, with the Four Symbols spiraling upward. You understand that, don't you? Three is the generating number of lesser yang, and seven is its completing number. The Twenty-One True Scripture is actually the Lesser Yang True Scripture. What it cultivates is lesser yang True Qi!"

"Two is the generating number of lesser yin, and eight is its completing number. The Twenty-Eight True Scripture is actually the Lesser Yin True Scripture. What it cultivates is lesser yin True Qi! Lesser yang belongs to wood and is true yang; lesser yin belongs to metal and is true yin. Metal and wood unite, pairing yin with yang. This is a Daoist School alchemical scripture for cultivating the inner core! Do you know what 'passing five' means? Do you know what 'seven reversions and nine returns' means?"

After this entire torrent of explanation, Sikong Hu could only stare, dumbstruck!