Ninety-Five, Divine Merit Nine Turns

  This seeker of the Way picked up a monkey on the road and made it his registered disciple, without any delay, he only let Liu Ling settle his affairs and then took Liu Ling straight to Mount Kunlun.

  Upon arriving at Mount Kunlun, a group of junior brothers were already waiting in front of the mountain gate. Seeing Xun Daozi, they all came over to pay their respects, with extremely joyful expressions.

  Xun Daozi and the other junior brothers paid their respects, seeing that each of their cultivations had greatly increased. Among them, several people had reached the Taiyi Scattered Immortal realm, while the others were only one step away from entering the Taiyi realm. He was also somewhat surprised by the natural talent of his junior brothers.

  Those who have crossed into the realm of Taiyi are Nanji Xianweng, Yuding Zhenren, Taiyi Zhenren and Guangchengzi. Among the rest, Chi Songzi, Yunzhongzi, Cihang Zhenren and Lingbao Dafa are slightly higher in their Daoist practice; the remaining six are on the same level.

  Xun Daozi also had Liu Ling come forward to pay his respects to the crowd of fellow disciples, saying he was one of his own formally accepted disciples.

  Liu Qing's younger brother respectfully came forward one by one, knocking his head and paying respects, addressing him as Shifu.

  Many fellow disciples also spoke well of Liu Zong and saw him off with courtesy.

  After the fourteen junior brothers had all paid their respects to Liu Ling, Xun Daozi finally looked up towards the mountain gate, where several dozen people were standing with tense and excited expressions, it was unclear why.

  Xun Daozi turned his face towards the fourteen junior brothers in front of him, with an inquiring expression.

  Guang Chengzi saw Xun Daozi's face and immediately stepped forward, saying: "Brother, behind us are the new disciples and registered disciples of our master. Just now, our master asked us to come and welcome you, but they found out. Because they had heard about your reputation, they were eager to see you, so they all followed us over, just to catch a glimpse of you earlier."

  Xun Daozi heard that these were all his master's disciples, and immediately smiled and beckoned to the crowd standing far away.

  Dozens of people on that side saw Xun Daozi waving his hand, one by one with a happy expression, hurriedly walked over, paid their respects in front of Xun Daozi, and called him Shixiong.

  Xun Daozi returned a courtesy, looking at the dozens of people in front of him who were excited, with varying levels of cultivation. Some had reached the Tianxian realm, while others had just surpassed the Xuanshen realm. However, it could be seen that each and every one of them had good character and exceptional innate talent. Among them, there were actually two individuals from different ethnic groups, namely the two cultivators who had just surpassed the Xuanshen realm, and they were also the ones with the most excited expressions.

  Xun Daozi immediately became somewhat curious and pointed at the two of them, asking: "You two are humans, right? Do you have names?"

  The two of them suddenly knelt down in front of Xun Daozi, calling out: "Human cultivator Yunzi (Baocan) pays respects to Human Guardian Xun Daozi, Immortal!"

  Xun Daozi's heart skipped a beat, how did he become the protector of the human tribe? However, his expression remained unchanged, and he stretched out his hand to help the two up, saying: "No need for excessive courtesy, you two are now under my master's tutelage, just call me Shifu. What are your names, Yunzi and Baocan?"

  One of them replied respectfully: "My brother and I pay homage to our master, who has bestowed upon us the titles: Out-of-Cloud Child, Embracing-the-Remnant Child. My title is Out-of-Cloud Child, my younger brother's title is Embracing-the-Remnant Child!"

  Xun Daozi looked at the two people in front of him. Yun Chui's face was elegant, with a single braid and wearing a gray Taoist robe; Bao Can's eyebrows were thick and his eyes were large, with a rough complexion, his hair tied back, and wearing a black Taoist robe. The two were the only two Xian cultivators among these dozens of people, while the others had at least reached the Di Xian realm in their cultivation. Towards these two human disciples, Xun Daozi felt a faintly different emotion in his heart, and immediately took out over ten pieces of "Wu Daozi Tea" to give to them: "These few tea leaves are for you two. When your cultivation has not made any progress, use one piece. If there's any problem with your cultivation, come find me!"

  The two thanked and retreated to one side. Next to them, Guang Chengzi and the other fourteen disciples looked at Yunchuanzi and Baocanzu with envy on their faces.

  Xun Daozi took out some 'Wu Dao Cong Cha' and shared it with the new Shidi, who one by one happily accepted and thanked him.

  Xun Daozi took some 'Wu Daozi Tea' and shared it with Guang Chengzi and the other fourteen fellow disciples, also making Guang Chengzi and the others extremely delighted.

  Surrounded by his fellow disciples, Xun Daozi entered the Jade Void Palace, while Liu Ling was left outside by Xun Daozi.

  He bowed to Yuanshi, then greeted Rengong and said, "Master, I have taken in a new disciple on my journey. I've come to report it to you!"

  Yuanshi opened his mouth and said: "You can call him in, I want to see him!"

  Bai He Tongzi went out and summoned Liu Ling into the Jade Void Palace.

  Liu Liu followed behind Bai He Tongzi, walking in with a cautious pace, looking around with wide eyes, her eyes filled with surprise.

  Xun Daozi shouted: "Liu Ling, don't you hurry over to pay respects to your ancestor!"

  Liu Ying immediately knelt down on the ground upon hearing Xun Daozi's shout, his head knocking against the ground with a loud thud, repeatedly calling out: "Greetings to our ancestor master, greetings to our ancestor master!"

  At first glance, it's a gibbon! In his heart, he secretly wondered why Xun Daozi had accepted a gibbon as a nominal disciple. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the Six Eared Macaque among the Four Apes of the Mortal World. After another moment of silent calculation, this Six Eared Macaque indeed shared some affinity with Xun Daozi, so he no longer paid it any mind and said: "You may rise now!"

  Liu Ting listened and said with her mouth: "Thank you, Master Ancestor, thank you, Master Ancestor!" She stood up and stood behind Xun Daozi.

  Yuanshi looked at the crowd of disciples in the Yu Xu Palace and was quite satisfied. Seeing that all the disciples were present, he opened his mouth and said: "The other day, I was with your Shibo and Shishu, and I felt that our Xuanmen Sanjiao had no protective deity technique. So, I spent 100 years gathering the power of your Shibo, Shishu, and my own master to create a protective deity technique. This technique is a method created for battle, borrowing from the Wu Yao two tribes' methods of refining their physical bodies, combining it with our Xuanmen's body-refining techniques, and also incorporating our Xuanmen's yuan-shen cultivation techniques, making it a powerful divine technique. This technique can change depending on the person cultivating it. If one focuses on physical body cultivation, this technique is called 'Jiuzhuan Xuangong'. If one focuses on yuan-shen cultivation, this technique is called 'Jiuzhuan Yuangong'. Both 'Jiuzhuan Xuangong' and 'Jiuzhuan Yuangong' have the same effect of cultivating both physical body and yuan-shen. To cultivate this technique, one's natural talent and willpower must be extremely good to achieve any results. If one can successfully cultivate nine cycles, they will gain the ability to open up the heavens and prove their dao through their power. After cultivating this technique, one can obtain several divine techniques for battle, including 'Fatiandi', which allows one to exert their physical body's combat strength to the extreme; 'Dixie Bian Shu', which grants the 72 transformations of Dixie; 'Tiangang Bian Shu', which grants the 36 transformations of Tiangang; 'San Tou Liu Bi'; and 'Huashen Qian Wan'. I want to choose someone to pass this technique on to, to serve as our Xuanmen's protective deity. This technique is our Xuanmen's protective deity technique and cannot be privately transmitted. You are all present, so take some time to discuss and consider who can become our Xuanmen's protective deity and cultivate this divine technique."

  As soon as the words fell, all the disciples were quiet and contemplative, also thinking whether they were suitable for practicing this divine ability.

  In his heart, Xun Daozi had already selected a few candidates for this divine art. This divine art was indeed extraordinary and not many people in the past had cultivated it. Yang Jiaolong was one of them, while Sun Wukong's cultivation method was said to be the Buddhist "Eight-Nine Mysterious Art", which was also a powerful martial art. Some people even said that Yang Jiaolong also practiced the Buddhist "Eight-Nine Mysterious Art". In many books, it was written that Yang Jiaolong's cultivation method was sometimes referred to as the "Nine Turns Mysterious Art" and sometimes as the "Nine Turns Primordial Art". Now it seemed that this was actually one art, but due to differences in emphasis, different names were used. Xun Daozi himself did not want to cultivate this divine art, his own "Zhou Tian Gong" should be superior to this divine art. However, for those who cultivated this divine art, Xun Daozi thought that Yu Ding Zhenren, Huang Long Zhenren, Bao Canzi, and his own disciple Liu Ling, the six-eared macaque, were all good candidates. Yu Ding Zhenren was transformed from jade, with a hard body and excellent innate abilities, and a strong and resolute personality, making him an ideal candidate for this art; Huang Long Zhenren was transformed from the primordial yellow dragon, with a powerful physical body, cultivating this art would bring out his full potential; Bao Canzi was of human origin, not as gifted as Yu Ding Zhenren or Huang Long Zhenren, but Xun Daozi saw in him an unyielding and resolute spirit, pure and focused, which would allow him to achieve success in cultivation; Liu Ling, the six-eared macaque, one of the four monkeys of chaos, had extraordinary innate abilities, with some refinement of his temperament, cultivating this art would be like tailor-made for him.

  Yuanshi spoke up on the cloud platform: "You can think carefully, who can be the guardian of my Xuanmen and cultivate this divine skill?"

  The crowd of disciples looked at each other, for a moment they didn't know how to answer.

  Xun Daozi saw that all the fellow disciples were silent, turned around and bowed to Yuanshi: "The disciple recommends Yuding Zhenren, Huanglong Zhenren, and Baocan Zi, three fellow disciples, to practice this Hu Jiao Shen Gong, as the protector of our Xuanmen."

  Yuánshǐ smiled slightly and said: "Speak your reasons!"

  Xun Daozi smiled slightly and looked at the crowd of junior brothers again, seeing that they were all staring at him. Yu Ding Zhenren, Huang Long Zhenren, and Bao Canzi were even staring at him with wide eyes, filled with doubt and surprise. Xun Daozi turned around, bowed his head, and explained his reasons one by one. Of course, he added some persuasive words to justify recommending Bao Canzi to practice the divine technique. For example, he said that the human body was weak, and practicing this divine technique could see if there would be any achievements, so that the master could improve the technique later; naturally, when it came to this point, he sincerely asked Bao Canzi if he was willing to try practicing, and Bao Canzi expressed his gratitude with tears in his eyes.

  Yuanshi listened and nodded slightly, the other disciples also listened with shining eyes. Yu Ding Zhenren, Huang Long Zhenren, Bao Canzi however listened with a stunned expression, never thinking that his senior brother would understand him so well, and even actively recommended that he practice this powerful Douzhan Shen Gong, in his heart arose a sense of knowing and meeting, and in his heart an uncontrollable feeling of emotion.

  Yuanshi nodded and said, "Alright, I'll do as you say. This divine technique will be passed on to Yuanding Zhenren, Huanglong Zhenren, and Bao Canzi - the three of them." As soon as he finished speaking, three beams of light flashed and entered the foreheads of the three people. Immediately after, another beam of light flashed and entered Xun Daozi's forehead.

  "The origin of the sound rose: 'This divine work is good for you to cultivate, if there is anything unclear, you can come and ask me. The seeker who holds this method can decide for himself who to pass it on to. Those who receive the method are not allowed to privately transmit it without permission!'"

  Everyone bowed and shouted: "Obey the teacher's orders!"

  PS: Thanks to the village cadres for their rewards. It's Chinese New Year, wishing everyone a happy new year, good health, and a harmonious family. To old friends, I wish you all the best in the coming year, great prosperity, thriving careers, and a fulfilling family life. And to those single friends, may you find your perfect match in the coming year.