Chapter 61: Clear and Mysterious Ancestor

  "I'm fine, just a bit injured." The master took a deep breath and calmed down the knot in his chest. He was more concerned about how I managed to escape from the Ghost King's mouth unscathed, so he pulled me along and asked in a low voice: "Young one, how did you manage to not get hurt at all?"

  I was stunned and inexplicably replied: "Could it be that Master is still expecting me to have something..."

  The master's face twitched, and suddenly a black line appeared on his face. At this time, someone spoke up: "I guess this is because the young master was too smelly, even ghosts didn't want to eat him. Ah, my waist! Young Master, in which life did I have a feud with you? You dealt with me so ruthlessly, if I don't die at the hands of ghosts, I'll die at your hands——"

  But Huang Kai sat on the ground, holding his waist and boasting loudly, but no one paid attention to him. If he was really kicked badly, what's the big deal? This is a hospital, isn't it? However, with this interruption, Master's anger subsided a bit, and he hummed: "You little brat, I'm asking you how you managed to escape unscathed, almost scaring us old folks to death."

  Looking back on the situation, I still have a lingering fear and can't help but laugh bitterly: "I didn't know that the Soul-Sealing Bell wouldn't work, and that ghost head didn't care at all. The Five Thunder Talismans given by Ninth Master exploded, but they only killed a group of evil spirits and had no effect on the ghost head. As for the Nine-Character True Words Spell, it was even more useless. I thought I was doomed for sure. At that time, there was no time to think about anything else. Luckily, my second yuan soul came out and saved my life."

  "Second Yuan Shen?" Master Shu Zu murmured, still somewhat disbelieving. He looked me up and down, but it seemed that this was the only explanation that could make sense of how I had managed to escape from Gui Tou's mouth. However, cultivating a second Yuan Shen was not something that just anyone could do. Not even Master Shu Zu or the older generation of our sect had been able to cultivate one. In this world, there were very few people who could cultivate a second Yuan Shen, and those who could take it to its limits were even fewer. The reason for this was that the second Yuan Shen was difficult to control, and clearly, I was unable to control mine.

  Master Shu Zu's thoughts turned, and he had already begun to suspect something. He couldn't help but let out a sigh: "I once read a passage in a Daoist scripture that said during the Eastern Jin dynasty, Ge Hong cultivated for several lifetimes before becoming an immortal. Although he was reborn each time, every lifetime was spent cultivating his second Yuan Shen, and only after many lifetimes did he finally become an immortal through the 'Wheel of Rest' method. If I'm not mistaken, your second Yuan Shen is probably also a remnant from your previous life."

  "We all know that the second Yuan Shen refers to the heavenly soul and earthly soul," Master Shu Zu continued. "The heavenly soul wanders in the void, so it's most likely that you have the earthly soul, which carries memories of your past life. You escaped the cycle of reincarnation in the underworld and were reborn with this second Yuan Shen, which is why it's so powerful yet uncontrollable. It has the memories of a previous life, just like an independent person."

  Master Shu Zu looked at me intently: "Little Hai, when will you become strong enough to refine your second Yuan Shen? If not, you'll never be able to merge with it and become one."

  "It is - it's okay." I smiled wryly and shook my head: "Not to mention controlling it, even sensing its existence is impossible. Luckily, every time I'm in the most danger, it appears to save me."

  "Little Hai, the second yuan Shen is insufficient because it cannot merge with you, just like water without roots. So it hides in your body and can't absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It's afraid that every time it comes out, it will weaken once. If it can't merge forever, it will eventually disappear. Little Hai still needs to work hard on his cultivation and can't always rely on the second yuan Shen. Once the second yuan Shen is merged, you will be able to obtain your previous life's cultivation."

  I was just about to speak and respond, when suddenly a voice emerged in my mind: "Hmph, don't understand and blindly talk, how can I be fathomed by these ordinary people?"

  "Ah——" I exclaimed, and could confirm that this was the Second Yuan Shen's words. It seemed to be able to sense things outside of my body, and it wasn't that it couldn't contact me, but rather that I couldn't contact it. I tried speaking in my mind, but there was no reaction at all. As I continued to think, I felt a sharp pain in my head, only to find that Master had slapped me on the back of the head. When I looked over, I saw Master's face dark with anger: "You numbskull, when Master is speaking to you, listen carefully!"

  Master Shu Zu didn't seem to mind, just shook his head and looked at the other Taoist priests. Earlier, he was only concerned about me and hadn't had a chance to see which Taoist priest it was. Now that he looked over, five Taoist priests were surrounding the one lying on the ground, chanting scriptures. It was clear that he was probably completely finished off. However, Master Shu Zu still asked in a low voice, "Yu Xū Dào yǒu, Qīng Yuán Dào yǒu..."

  A Taoist priest looked up and glanced at his uncle, sighed, believing he was indeed Yu Xū. His gaze fell on the Qingxuan, his face darkened as he shook his head: "The vital energy has been drained dry, even the soul..."

  Everyone fell silent for a moment. Although cultivators looked down on life and death, it didn't mean they wouldn't feel sad. After all, only soulless rocks wouldn't know sorrow. When fellow disciples died, it was always hard to bear. What's more, this one had ended up with a miserable fate, not even able to reincarnate. How could people not be moved?

  But some people don't think so, and suddenly a cold hum came into my mind: "Fool, this little Taoist priest is dead, but his primordial spirit has not been swallowed up, it's just been scattered around here, and they can't even detect it, a group of fools——"

  I was stunned and almost subconsciously shouted out: "The primordial spirit of Qingxuan Daozhang is still here, it's just been scattered..."

  But as soon as I shouted it out, I was stunned. What am I doing? I should tell Master, maybe Master would be more believable if he said it, but now it's all useless. Seeing everyone staring at me, I just lowered my head and silently recited the nine-character mantra in my heart: "I didn't do it on purpose." Seeing my appearance, Master coughed and said, "Perhaps my disciple is right, let's try it out, if it really works, can't we send Qingxuan Daoist friend to be reincarnated?"

  This is certainly a good thing, and the several Taoist priests' eyes flashed with precision. Yu Xū Dào Cháng also made a Taoist logic to me, obviously very grateful to me, but didn't say much, only forming a law array with the other Taoist priests, starting to attract Qīng Huàn's primordial spirit. Indeed, Qīng Huàn's primordial spirit hadn't completely dispersed, slowly being attracted into the law array, yet had already completely transformed into soul imprint fragments. No wonder ordinary people couldn't feel it, even their divine consciousness was somewhat confused. However, despite this, it still made Yu Xū Dào Cháng and the others very happy. Only after putting Qīng Huàn's primordial spirit in a gourd could they finally relax, making a Taoist logic to Shī Shū Zǔ: "Mǎ Dào Xiōng, that ghost king has escaped, and for the time being, it won't be easy to find his tracks. I think we should still return to the sect first, settle Shī Di's primordial spirit well, also let Shī Di's primordial spirit recover well, and in the future, also reincarnate as a human again."

  At this point, Shibo Zu and others also naturally didn't want to detain Yu Xu Daozhang and the others. They just returned a courtesy and sent them off. As they were leaving, Yu Xu said with a hint of hatred: "Ma Dao brother, if you find any trace of Gui Wang, be sure to let us know. I want to avenge Qing Xuan Shidi and eliminate the evil for the people."

  "Certainly, I dare not betray the trust of fellow Taoists." As Yu Xū and others left, but at the moment of departure, this Yu Xū Dao Zhang said to me: "Thank you for telling us, fellow Taoist. Our Qing Wei Sect owes you a favor, and we hope that one day you will come to our Qing Wei Sect as a guest."

  But after Yu Xudaozhang left, I pulled Nineteen Shibo aside and asked in a low voice: "What is Qingwei Sect?"

  "What's the point of telling you, I'll just tell you——" Shijiu Shibo told me about Qingwei Zong. It turns out that Qingwei Zong is also known as Qingwei Pai, a branch of the three schools of Fu Lu Shou, which originated in the Southern Song Dynasty and was passed down during the Yuan to Ming Dynasties. During the early Qing Dynasty, there were also inheritances. This school claims to have come from Qingwei Tianyu Qingyuan Shi Tianzun, so it is named after Qingwei. It is said that its teachings were transmitted by Yuanshi Tianzun and then branched out into four schools: Zhenyuan, Taihua, Guanling, and Zhengyi. After ten transmissions, the ancestor Shu Yu Jun combined the four schools into one and established the Qingwei Zong school.

  The Qingwei school has written works such as "Qingwei Yuanda Fa", "Qingwei Shenlie Mifa", "Qingwei Zhai Fa", "Qingwei Dan Fa" and "Qingwei Xuan Shu Zou Gao Yi". This school takes the practice of thunder methods as its main task, with the unity of heaven and man as its main goal. It emphasizes internal cultivation as its foundation, supplemented by external methods. It stresses that one must be sincere in their heart to be able to move heaven; one must cultivate internally to be able to manifest externally.

  It's a pity that the Qingwei Sect began to decline during the Qing Dynasty, and now it has become like this. The people who came just now are actually all the members of the Qingwei Sect. It's really pitiful to talk about it. However, the Qingwei Sect still has its outer sect, and the leader of the outer sect, Jia Zhenhong, is not only a successor of the Qingwei Sect but also a master of the Zhengyi Sect. He was appointed as the "Taishang Sanwu Dugong Jingjue" in Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, with the Buddhist name "Jia Sanyong" and the Taoist name "Zhenyuanzi". Moreover, he is also the second-generation successor of the Xiantian Ziranmen School of Taoism, with the Buddhist name "Xuanzhen". Additionally, Master Jia has inherited multiple branches of Taoist traditions, including the Mao Shan Sect, Shenxiao Sect, and Buddhist teachings. This shows that the decline of the Qingwei Sect is due to many reasons that cannot be revealed to outsiders. The key reason is that the Qingwei Sect's Taoist practices are not easy to cultivate, and even after many years of practice, one may not see any results. This is the real reason for its decline. Nevertheless, the Qingwei Sect still has a rare orthodox transmission in the Taoist world.

  Here is the translation:

  "Speaking of which, the 19th Master sighed: "Actually, in ancient times, Taoism was very prosperous. When Taoism was at its peak, there were a hundred schools competing with each other, including Hunyuan Sect, Nanwu Sect, Qingjing Sect, Jinhui Sect, Zhengyi Sect, Qingwei Sect, Tianshen Sect, Xuanwu Sect, Jingming Sect, Yunyang Sect, Xuanyou Sect, Yuheng Sect, Jindan Sect, Yuxian Sect, Lingbao Sect, Taiyi Sect, Quanzhen Sect, Zhengyi Sect, Zhenkong Sect, Tieguan Sect, Rixin Sect, Ziran Sect, Xiantian Sect, Guanghui Sect and so on. The three thousand great Taoist sects shone with splendor, but unfortunately, most of them have declined or disappeared by now. It's really sad and lamentable. Even the Qingwei Sect is considered not bad, at least it still has a complete lineage..."