"All right!"
Lin Bai agreed without a second thought.
"Seventh Brother!"
"Little Brother!"
The three middle-aged men who had emerged from the house all paled.
But Lin Bai briskly handed Sun Chen a roll of yellow paper. It held the ancestral spell his father had entrusted to him three months earlier.
Sun Chen did not take it, but instructed Ao Ding, "Take it and make a copy."
At his words, Ao Ding unrolled the yellow paper.
Hm?
Strange cloud seals flowed and danced across it.
Yet under the scrutiny of his left eye, he could immediately comprehend these spells—and they seemed to share the same origins as the Register Script he had glimpsed between heaven and earth while tempering himself in fire.
"What? Can't you copy it?" Sun Chen asked, somewhat puzzled when he still did not put pen to paper.
"No, I just thought the register script used in this spell was different from what I learned at the Seven Spirits Sect-but it... it resembles the script I saw while hanging upside down."
Sun Chen glanced at the paper and smiled. "This is the 'Three Heavens Great Grotto True Seal,' the fundamental Dao script of the True Realm of Mountains and Seas. Every law in this realm can be controlled through the three heavens true registers. The talismans and registers developed by the six lineages of immortals, buddhas, demons, devils, gods, and ghosts were all adapted from the true realm's Dao script. The register script you learned at the Seven Spirits Sect is the Guangfa Sect's 'upper image nine mysteries seal registers,' while what I use is the 'great unity pure yang seal registers.'"
Understanding dawned on Ao Ding's face, and he copied the seal-script spell into his cultivation manual.
At that moment, a wisp of elusive fortune drifted from the auspicious cloud above the Lin residence and, following the copied spell, settled upon Ao Ding.
This is...
Ao Ding's heart stirred, and he looked at Sun Chen.
Sun Chen said nothing aloud, explaining through the Shared-Knowledge Spirit Voice Spell so that only the two of them could hear. "This is the 'Hundred-Curse Fortune-Gathering Secret Rite.' It means little to cultivators pursuing gang refining or elixir cultivation, but for a cultivator who enjoys spells as you do, it is an orthodox path to becoming a True Person. Even if something unexpected happens in the future and you are driven out of the Guangfa Sect, losing its true-disciple Dao arts, you can still travel the mortal world. Gather its scattered, lost spells and draw upon the fortune of three thousand mantra words to forge a 'ten thousand mantras Dao embryo.'"
Sun Chen had truly put considerable thought into this "uncut jade of cultivation," Ao Ding.
He knew Ao Ding had a chance to attain the Dao even without him. He, on the other hand, had sought someone to perform liberation by violence on him and, in his rivalry with Wang Weilong, forcibly dragged Ao Ding into his feud with the Nethermoon Wolf Court.
Since that was the case, he had to prepare for Ao Ding both what Wang Weilong could offer and what he could not.
If Ao Ding successfully entered the Guangfa Sect, this fallback path he had arranged might never be needed. Or it could serve as a way for Ao Ding to temper his character during light joining and divine illumination.
But if his attempt to find a master went poorly, this secret rite of gathering fortune and spells could let Ao Ding attempt the True Person Realm on his own.
Moreover, rather than hurrying back to the Immortal Tomb to make preparations, Sun Chen had led Ao Ding through the mortal world, following karmic connections and practicing the Dao, because he also wanted to teach him as much common knowledge of the cultivation world as possible. That would keep him from being cheated by schemers on his future journey to the Guangfa Sect to seek a master.
Why had he taught him the Thousand-Li Marsh Spirit Spell?
Wasn't it so that when Ao Ding went to seek a master in the future, he would not have to take needless detours or wander alone from one end of the world to the other? He could simply ride a carriage with Qingji guiding the way, traveling straight from Sun Chen's Immortal Tomb to his destination.
What did fledgling cultivators with meager attainments fear most?
Not knowing the way and taking the wrong road!
Hadn't Lu Xiu lost his way all the way to the Jiaxia Kingdom while heading to the Heavenly Stone Sect?
With the Qingji escorting him, the first obstacle to finding a master would be resolved.
As Sun Chen explained "hundred-curse fortune gathering" to Ao Ding, he gently tapped the wine flask.
An ape's cries seemed to echo within the flask. As Sun Chen repeatedly washed and refined it with his magical power, it gradually transformed from a clay flask into a translucent little jade flask with two handles and carved dragons.
At the sight of the jade flask, Second Brother Lin could not help blurting out, "Such fine, lustrous jade-now that's our family heirloom! If we sold it, it would fetch ten thousand in gold!"
"Sell it?" Several brothers beside him glared angrily.
Second Brother Lin quickly shut his mouth.
Their family's Dark Sweet Wine Flask had come from the ape master. It was a magical implement with a proper lineage, the foundation upon which their household had been established. How could they sell it?
After working on it, Sun Chen returned the wine flask to Lin Bai.
"Place this flask above your father's head. On the seventh day after his death, the wine worm will fly into it, and he can become a 'Wine Immortal.' Immortals of this kind are unlike us practitioners of orthodox methods and the true Dao. By comparison... he would be similar to that bird we encountered, or those princesses. On the first and fifteenth of each month, he can also emerge from the flask and reunite with you."
Joy spread across Lin Bai's face at these words, and he repeatedly bowed to Sun Chen in thanks.
Sun Chen laughed heartily and, disregarding the Lin Household's attempts to keep him, swept his sleeve and led the two youths away.
On their way out, Lu Xiu asked curiously, "Senior, was the Daoist who left that written judgment three months ago also a True Person?"
Giving him a deep look, Sun Chen said meaningfully, "Even if he wasn't, it shows that his attainments were profound and that he understood heaven's workings."
Sun Chen led the two away from the Lin residence, but did not immediately leave Lingcheng County. Instead, following a faint spiritual impression, he took a detour to a painting shop called Pure Mystery Studio.
Before entering, Sun Chen gently raised his hand. An invisible current of air wrapped around the three of them, slowly carrying them out of the crowd's sight and into a corner.
Feeling the magical power upon him, Ao Ding silently pondered, An invisibility spell? If only I could learn it...
He wanted to look with his left eye.
But two quarter-hours had passed since he activated it at the Lin Household. His left eye felt somewhat swollen, forcing him to close it for the time being.
"Ha-want to learn the Concealment Mantra? I'll teach you tonight."
Sun Chen pointed at an ink painting on the wall.
"Come, I'll take you to the Spirit Market now. As luck would have it, Ling City has an entrance."
The second obstacle to seeking a master on the road to the Guangfa Sect-what should he do if he needed cultivation supplies along the way but did not know where to buy them?
Next, Sun Chen intended to take Ao Ding to a Spirit Market and show him how cultivators traded and purchased goods.
Seeing the surprise on the two youths' faces, Sun Chen said smugly, "Where did you think the Spirit Market's entrance would be? Like the Jiaxia Kingdom or my junior sister's residence, in some dharma realm or spiritual domain that you enter after walking in circles? No, no, no-the Spirit Market is indeed a dharma realm opened by the Golden Court Sect. But a dharma realm need not use a spiritual vein or spiritual node as its entrance. A book or a painting can also serve. I'll teach you both a 'Spirit-Seeking Secret Art.' This is a spell specifically for sensing the Golden Court Sect's dharma realms, an essential means of traveling the cultivation world."
Worried that Lu Xiu might be too slow-witted to learn it, Sun Chen used a mind-transmission art to seal the secret art directly into their Niwan Palaces.
"You needn't learn it right now. Study it at your leisure later."
He reached out and gently brushed the ink painting. The bamboo grove within swayed in the wind, and he lifted it like a bamboo curtain. A golden gate of rippling light extended a rainbow bridge beneath their feet.
"Come! Let me show you the world!"
Sun Chen led the two onto the bridge and through the gate. Heaven and earth inverted before their eyes, and suddenly they arrived in an immortal realm radiant with Dao qi.
Jade-green waters flowed among the clouds like an inverted river of stars, forming nine waterfalls that hung like curtains across the immortal realm.
Ao Ding looked up. The three stood before a stone archway inscribed with the words "Azure Pool Immortal Market," with a couplet on either side:
"Nine waterfalls hang as curtains; azure heavens and cloud billows reach the golden palace. A thousand merchants gather at market; the sights of the spirit heavens converge upon the jade terrace."
Though he could not open his left eye for the moment, Ao Ding could still feel the spiritual power flowing through the stone archway.
Sun Chen laughed brightly. "Well? Isn't this immortal scenery a hundred times finer than that Jiaxia Kingdom?"
This was Lu Xiu's first time seeing a Spirit Market and setting foot in an immortal realm. Dazed, he did not hear Sun Chen at all.
Ao Ding, after all, had spent six years at the Seven Spirits Sect and had some grounding in such things. Though he admired the Spirit Market's pure, ethereal atmosphere, he was not as overwhelmed as Lu Xiu.
Beyond the stone archway, a main street roughly ten zhang wide ran from one end of the Spirit Market to the other. Numerous shops and storefronts lined both sides like scales on a fish or teeth in a comb. Besides human cultivators, all manner of spirits and strange beasts bustled to and fro.
"Hmm-this Spirit Market isn't large. It probably only serves a few nearby commanderies and counties?" Sun Chen calculated on his fingers and understood.
This Spirit Market had nine ink paintings serving as entrances, spread across five commanderies and four counties. Cultivators and spirits from these regions all gathered and traveled here. But compared with the Ten Continents and Hundred Kingdoms of Central Desolation, these few commanderies and counties were far too insignificant.
Suddenly, a breeze blew past. The waterfalls amid the clouds rolled like pearl curtains, scattering endless sweet rain below.
Watching the fine rain drift down, Ao Ding slowly held out his hand.
Ting-
A drop of sweet rain landed precisely upon his fingertip.
Gazing at the translucent droplet, Ao Ding faintly discerned a cloud seal.
According to Senior, this should be the "Three Heavens Great Grotto True Seal"?
Its meaning should be "water."
Ao Ding smiled and carefully studied the true cloud-seal script. The true heaven golden gang that periodically rampaged inside him abruptly became peaceful...
Sun Chen started, then sighed. "Connection realm-you've stabilized your cultivation in a single day, even faster than I did back then!"
"It was all thanks to you, Senior-in only a few days since leaving the Seven Spirits Sect, I've advanced from the qi-seeding connection realm to the mystic gang thoroughfare realm-"
Ao Ding bowed solemnly to Sun Chen.
Had he not left the Seven Spirits Sect with Sun Chen, how could he have had such an opportunity?
Sun Chen's expression grew somewhat complicated, and he said slowly, "I calculated that you and I still have some slight karmic connections in Lingcheng County and must stay here a few days. I'd originally thought you could stabilize your cultivation over these days and transition into the connection realm..."
Who would have imagined the boy would consolidate it in a single day?
"Never mind. I'll formally teach you some spells, then. Weren't you very curious before about my Concealment Mantra, Size-as-You-Will Mantra, and Nine Winds Mystic Light Cloud-Riding Art? I'll teach you all of them over the next few days."
The third obstacle to Ao Ding's search for a master after Sun Chen's death-what if he encountered demons, devils, ghosts, or monsters while traveling alone?
He had to teach him some means of self-defense.
Surely he couldn't-
Really let a "True Disciple of the Six Sects" swagger about every day wielding the Northern Yin Dharma Mantra?
Sun Chen and the Six Sects of the Immortal Gate couldn't bear that humiliation!
Then Sun Chen turned to Lu Xiu. "You've only just entered the seed qi realm, and your foundation remains shallow. As your senior, I ought to shoulder the responsibility of supervising you. Over the next few days, you must practice diligently and temper your innate spiritual power into true qi. Once you enter the connection realm and upper realm, you can take a Qingji carriage straight to the Heavenly Stone Sect."
If he let a fourteen-year-old boy who had only just set foot on the path of cultivation wander about aimlessly, what if something like the Jiaxia Kingdom incident happened again and he strayed into spirits' territory?
With the intention of looking after a junior, Sun Chen planned to carefully chart a course for Lu Xiu and put him aboard a Qingji carriage.
"When you two practice the Dao in the cultivation world in the future, you must also retain this kind intention of 'caring for fellow practitioners.' Remember, the Six Sects are one body, and the immortal schools cultivate together. Provided you don't endanger yourselves, help your fellow practitioners wherever possible. We humans can drive off demons, subdue devils, and hold sway over the true realm precisely because of this fellowship."
The two youths nodded quickly.
It was precisely because seniors of the immortal schools guided their juniors, planting seeds of kindness... and when those juniors' wings had fully grown, they gave back the good fruit of those seeds and continued planting seeds of kindness for those who followed. Thus the flame passed from one generation to the next, good deeds flourished without end, and the immortal schools could surge onward like the heavenly river, prospering through the ages.
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