Chapter 7: Exorcism (2)

  The unity of heaven and earth is the highest state in Taoist cultivation. The Taoist emphasizes the naturalness of the Tao, everything originates from yin and yang and returns to nature. The great Tao is effortless, and it is pure and clean in the world. In the Taoist law, the unity of heaven and earth is a kind of application of understanding the heavenly way, which can artificially create a chaotic and effortless environment, eliminating all existence that is not in harmony with nature.

  This is the highest control of a small world, and it is also the ultimate heart method for Taoist disciples. However, because of its unparalleled great power, it is extremely difficult to practice. Moreover, once it is used, the requirements for the realm of law are also very high. In history, many Taoist disciples thought they had attained the Tao without reaching the realm and forcibly used the Great Harmony of Heaven and Earth, only to be injured by the powerful backlash. Lightly, their Taoist practice was completely lost, and severely, their spirit and body were both destroyed. Therefore, in Taoism, the Taoist disciples who can learn the heart method of the Great Harmony of Heaven and Earth are not ordinary.

  Chang Ming naturally didn't know the twists and turns within, nor did Su Tian have more than a faint idea, so he didn't know what "Tian Di Da Tong" meant. He just thought it was one of Qing Xuan's casual moves. No wonder, Qing Xuan only stretched out his right hand, casually pinched a seal, and unlike before when summoning thunder, the sky and earth didn't change color. There was only a clear, mysterious light enveloping the entire hall.

  Changming faintly felt a slight discomfort in the Mudan Palace, but he only thought it was due to his own overwork. In fact, this is a congenital intuition shared by martial artists, who will have some subtle omens when encountering a crisis or being in a desperate situation. Changming was completely unaware and didn't consider the danger at all; he didn't know that once he entered the realm of Tian Di Da Tong, it was equivalent to putting his life in someone else's hands. If Qingxuan wanted him to die, it would be just a thought away.

  The hall was filled with a soft, silvery glow, as if moonlight had spilled all over the floor. Changming didn't know what Qingxuan was doing, but he couldn't shake off a faint sense of unease, fearing that the thousand-year-old drought demon hadn't been eradicated after all. "A centipede dies but doesn't stiffen; how much more so for a thousand-year-old monster?" The words that suddenly flashed into his mind made Changming shiver with fear.

  Under the dim light, the marble tiles on the floor of the hall emitted a faint, cold glow. It was as if Li Bai had said it himself, "I suspect it is frost on the ground." However, gradually, Changming started to feel something strange. At first, he thought it was just his own illusion, but later he really saw that there were thin threads of black air scattered on the tiles, like insects hiding in the ground, stirring and wanting to drill out of the mud after being startled. "What! Is this?" Changming's eyes widened, almost bursting with surprise. Clearly, he had been shocked to an unprecedented extent.

  Qing Xuan remained calm and composed, as if he hadn't seen anything. With a very natural movement, he pinched his right palm together again, changing to another hand seal. At the same time, he let out a loud shout "Gather!"

  His expression was calm and collected, yet it contained an unmatched majesty, as if everything in the world was under his control. The black air on the ground seemed to be boiling water vapor, all rising into the air, and indeed, just like Qing Xuan had said, gathering towards one place. However, the black air on the ground continued to rise, finally stopping in mid-air, forming a square of several feet.

  Just as Changming thought it would gather into a ball, the black air unexpectedly changed shape and turned into a huge face. The entire face was dark and eerie, especially its eyes, which seemed to have no pupils, but Changming felt like he was being stared at no matter where he went. However, when he gathered his courage to look, he found that the face's eyes were empty and vacant. The surroundings fell silent, Qingxuan closed her eyes as if nothing had happened, standing still like a statue.

  Changming seemed to be the only living person here, and the atmosphere suddenly became gloomy and oppressive. Changming was so suppressed that he couldn't even move. "Hehe" A sudden eerie and evil laugh. Changming was startled and almost jumped up. "What is this!?" Changming looked around and finally saw the evil ghost mask, its eyes suddenly gleaming with a sinister light, staring straight at him.

  "Ah! —— Dao Zhang!" Chang Ming could no longer bear it and let out a sharp cry.

  "You wicked obstacle, don't you dare stop!" Qingxuan, who had always been calm and collected, suddenly blurted out these words, a stark contrast to his previous nonchalant demeanor. The entire phrase was stern and majestic, coupled with the cold and eerie aura surrounding him, as well as the silver moonlight draped over his body, making him seem like an immortal under the moonlight.

  In a flash, Qing Xuan appeared in front of Chang Ming. With a stretch of his sleeve, he blocked the ghost face's gaze towards Chang Ming. "Be careful with your internal energy, hold onto your origin and guard it well, its gaze is very treacherous." Chang Ming reminded him in a low voice.

  "This is the Star Constellation Lower Realm. You dare to lay hands on me!" The ghost face's evil mouth curled up, and his ominous words echoed throughout the space, accompanied by the eerie atmosphere and the occasional transmission of sinister laughter. Chang Ming couldn't suppress the numbness on his scalp no matter how hard he tried to calm down. The internal energy in his meridians was also frantically surging out of control, and if he couldn't contain it, he would likely fall into madness.

  Qing Xuan glanced around, his icy smile growing louder, but he remained unmoved. On the contrary, his face was calm, and he smiled faintly. He pinched a spell with his hand and said, "Settle!" Unbelievably, all sorts of strange phenomena around him, including the chilling laughter, ceased immediately. The surging energy inside Chang Ming also stopped its turbulence, and under Chang Ming's deliberate control, it finally returned to the Dantian.

  "What? This... this is the realm of the Tao! Impossible, impossible!" The ghostly face seemed to have suddenly seen something unbelievable, and although it was still gloomy, it revealed a thick layer of astonishment.

  Qing Xuan stroked his beard with his left hand and said calmly, "You're just a greedy wolf from the lower realm, barely considered a killing star. Even if you borrowed the thousand-year Dao lineage from the body of the drought demon, do you think you can be lawless? Your Star宿金身 has already been shattered by my thunderous methods, yet you still dare to risk your life in a desperate bid, truly laughable."

  "Old cow nose, stop spouting nonsense, let's see the real thing!" The ghost face's words were cut off mid-sentence as its aura suddenly surged. The thick black fog around it churned restlessly, and the eerie, sinister smile and shadowy figures that had been hidden earlier reappeared. What made people even more uneasy was that the space around the ghost face seemed to be subtly rippling, as if the very fabric of reality was unstable. Chang Ming, an outsider, couldn't see through it, but in Qing Xuan's eyes, this was clearly a sign that his Heaven and Earth Grand Unity formation was on the verge of collapse.

  But even so, Qingxuan's face was still calm and tranquil, without a hint of tension. "The Tao gives rise to one, one gives rise to two, two gives rise to three, and three gives rise to all things." His tone was as usual, calm and composed, yet these four simple sentences carried boundless profundity.

  A gigantic black and white Bagua emerged from under Qing Xuan's feet, and everything around him came to a standstill. It wasn't just the sound that was quiet, but the entire space, the entire world had come to a halt in time. No matter how turbulent the demonic energy was, once it came to a standstill, it was like the moon shining over the great river, and the surging tides of the Qiantang River couldn't have any impact on the beauty of the moon in the sky.

  The space that was fluctuating frequently just now has returned to its original calm state in this "quiet" situation. The ghost face is also floating quietly, and it's unclear whether it's stunned or the result of Qing Xuan's spell.

  But even so, for the ghost face, it's just a seal at most. Like an evil fire that can burn the world, now it's just locked in a certain mountain cave, and letting it go out is two different things. Qing Xuan obviously also knows this, and this is the most crucial and difficult part.

  "At noon, the three meditated together, and the ghosts and gods were shocked." Just as Changming felt that everything had come to a standstill, his soul still unsettled, he was about to catch his breath. But then he heard Qingxuan's hands forming a seal, her head bowed in recitation. These four sentences were calm and bland, seemingly without any sharp edges.

  But in Changming's eyes, that evil ghost face actually trembled after hearing these four sentences. The entire ghost face was shocked, or perhaps more accurately, it was terrified.

  "Self-noon, water-child-cow......" Changming's inner heart was puzzled, slowly grasping the two sentences of Qingxuan's spell just now. These are the twelve earthly branches, which can represent time, and in Feng Shui, they can also represent direction. Changming had been with Su Tian for a few years, so he had some understanding. The six earthly branches respectively represented the three fires of the south and the three fires of the north, forming the six fires of the south and north. "Three meditations gather, ghosts and gods are shocked......" Changming's heart recited again, suddenly seeming to think of something, and abruptly lifted his head up.

  At this moment, the ghostly face no longer had its previous vigor and was somewhat shriveled up. Around it were evenly scattered three tiny flames that emitted a faint glow. The flames were only a tiny bit large, but the ghostly face seemed to be extremely afraid of them, desperately trying to dodge. At this time, a completely changed scream came "It's actually Samadhi True Fire! Samadhi True Fire!"

  Samadhi True Fire, this only appears in legend. In the beliefs of Taoist children, the first of the Three Purities, Taishang Laojun's alchemy furnace has been burning for thousands of years without extinguishing, which is Samadhi True Fire. The classics record that Samadhi True Fire can burn all things, almost without exception, and is also the nemesis of all yin evil things. Similarly, because of its nature of burning everything, there are strict regulations in Taoist disciples, this fire can only be ignited in mid-air, cannot fall to the ground, otherwise it will become a world-destroying fire. Because of its harsh requirements for Taoism, those who can summon Samadhi True Fire are extremely rare.

  Qing Xuanlang laughed and pinched a spell on his hand, merging the three flames into one. In an instant, the rolled-up black air was ignited, and the firelight was blazing. The name of the Samadhi True Fire was great, but Changming didn't feel the imagined heat wave rolling around, and he felt more mysterious about the immortal technique.

  These short two days, Changming has really experienced too much. He stared blankly at the flames in mid-air, listening to the occasional bursts of sparks and explosions, lost in thought. After a long time, the flames grew smaller and smaller, finally turning into a wisp of smoke that dispersed. The Greedy Wolf Star, a thousand years of Taoist practice, had vanished from the world like this.

  "Wú Liàng Tiān Zūn", Qing Xuan pinched the orchid, and softly declared a Taoist name. The outer clear light around his body also faded away, and the entire mansion regained its peaceful feeling, without any discomfort or eerie feeling.

  "I'm afraid your brother's remains were accidentally scattered by my palm strength, and I apologize for that. However, since the matter here has been settled, let's choose a good day to let them rest in peace soon. Having disturbed you for so long, I should also take my leave." Qingxuan bowed slightly towards Changming and said.

  "This is where, Daozhang is worried about the family's affairs, why go out in the middle of the night? It's better to rest for a night and leave early tomorrow. Changming naturally couldn't let him go, how could he easily let go of such an excellent opportunity? He hurriedly pulled Qingxuan back."

  Hehe, Qingxuan smiled and gently shook his head, pried open Changming's wrist, patted it, and turned to walk away. Changming only felt a slip on his hand and didn't know how he was freed by Qingxuan. He hurriedly chased after him, just in time to see the bright full moon hanging high outside the hall, its cool light casting a glow over the ground. The evening breeze rustled through the bamboo leaves in the courtyard, causing them to sway back and forth as if someone was dancing with abandon. Changming looked around but aside from these sights, where was Qingxuan's shadow?