Chapter 18: The Daoist Gate Under Heaven

  Cheng Jun was taken aback in his heart, raised his head and said: "You are indeed knowledgeable, even knowing about soul searching."

  "Senior, you can't——!" The Soul Searching Technique is a technique that searches for the soul of a person. Although it's not demonic, it's even more cruel than demonic techniques. After searching the soul, the seven souls are scattered, the three spirits are incomplete, and the soul cannot be reincarnated. It can only fall into the mortal world, be purified by yang energy, turn to dust, and never be reborn. He dislikes Chong Yuan, but he can't bear to see his junior brother, who grew up with him, end up like this. In a state of urgency, he hastily stops him.

  Cheng Jun turned his head and glanced at him, his eyes not particularly sharp, but still a sudden jolt in his heart. He calmed himself down and stepped forward, saying: "Senior, it's not worth being so angry..."

  Cheng Jun Dao said: "Whether he is guilty or not has nothing to do with me, I just want to know something."

  Chong and Mang hastily said: "He is not dead yet, wait for him to wake up and ask him, he will certainly not dare not answer."

  Cheng Jun smiled and said, "I'm too lazy to ask him."

  Chong and E's faces were covered in cold sweat as they said: "He knows most of the things I know, whatever you want to ask, I dare not refuse to answer."

  Cheng Jun Dao said: "Are you answering for him?"

  Chong and Dao said: "The junior should do his best."

  Cheng Jun Dao: "Is there anything you know that you haven't told me?"

  Chong and Jie said: "We have spoken without reserve."

  Cheng Jun was satisfied in his heart, this was exactly what he wanted to hear. He said: "Indeed, then he is useless, you can kill him."

  He turned pale and hastily said: "You keep him, just in case I don't know something, and you can wake him up to ask...". Before he finished speaking, a white shadow flashed by, and his head instinctively dodged. With a sudden whoosh, a sword aura grazed his cheek and disappeared into the snowy ground without a trace.

  Zhang Wuji's soul was still reeling, and he only felt a stinging sensation on his cheek, with fresh blood flowing down. It turned out that he had been injured by the sword energy earlier, but didn't feel it at the time, only realizing it afterwards. He felt a surge of pain. As he looked up in shock, he saw Cheng Kun staring at him, saying: "You said you didn't dare kill people with your own hands, so I'll take care of him for you. You said there was no need to search his soul, so I won't search his soul. You said that not even killing him was necessary, but I couldn't kill him - are all the things in this world decided by what you say? What qualifications do you have to lecture me?"

  Although young, he had been through countless battles and had walked the thin line between life and death many times. However, he had never felt this kind of powerlessness before. Clearly at a disadvantage, he should have drawn his sword to counterattack, but facing Cheng Jun's calm and expressionless eyes, he felt his entire body being suppressed, without any thought of resistance. He trembled and said, "Junior... had no intention of offending Senior. Junior will follow Senior's orders." He picked up the sword and walked to Chung Far's side, the long sword in his hand slightly trembling, his lips moving as if reciting a mantra.

  Cheng Jun saw him like this and knew he still couldn't bear it, saying: "Do you still remember what you said to me when we were rushing to the distant place? You said that if one must kill, then kill without seeking comfort for oneself. If you really think he deserves to die, then kill him quickly and cleanly, with no regrets. If you think he doesn't deserve to die, even if you hesitate a hundred times and say a hundred deceitful words to yourself, it's still self-deception, and you can't avoid being haunted by his ghost, unable to rest day or night. You understand this principle yourself, do you still need me to persuade you?"

  With a rush and a blink of his eyes, he immediately opened them, the long sword swung out, with a soft "hiss" sound, like entering rotten wood, fresh blood splashing everywhere.

  Chong and Chang let out a sigh, silently picked up the head of Chong Qing who had rolled to the side, placed it on Chong Yuan's body, and with a burst of lightning in his palm, pressed down on the icy surface. With a loud rumble, the snow opened up a large hole, revealing the ground below. He stood up, pushed Chong Yuan into the pit, and with a spell, formed an earth whirlpool under Chong Yuan's body, slowly pulling him down. After a while, the ground finally returned to calm, completely erasing any sign of human presence. Chong and remained silent for a moment before looking up and saying: "Please ask, senior."

  Jing An stood quietly to the side, waiting. Seeing him finish all this, he said: "Is that it? I had guessed as much earlier when I rushed far away - this immortal bone is the hope for rebirth and transformation. Aren't you interested in Jing Yu's immortal bone?"

  Chong's face twisted in disgust, "That's just Chong Yu's wild fantasy - I'm not hiding anything, if there was a divine technique that could change one's fate right before my eyes, of course I would do everything in my power to get it. But relying on just one or two speculative phrases, you want me to go and desecrate the corpse of someone I know? It's really nauseating."

  Cheng Jun smiled and said: "Is it a wild guess? Do you have the Easy Tendon and Bone Tempering Scripture on you?"

  Chong and Dao said: "There is." He reached into his sleeve and took out a thin booklet, handing it over with both hands.

  Cheng Jun took it over, flipped it open with one hand, and asked, "First, tell me about the origin of your sect. Is it a Taoist transmission?"

  Chong shook his head and said, "Senior is joking. If we were Taoist successors, why would we have wandered for decades without even a place to settle? We are scattered cultivators. Our ancestors once became registered disciples in a Taoist temple, according to our master, they cultivated up to the seventh level of the Taoist realm, but unfortunately did not obtain the orthodox transmission of the Taoist school. After leaving the sect, they traveled extensively and established their roots in Guangzhou. Later, several generations of disciples were passed down, with our master ranking in the middle due to his mediocre talent and slow progress, he didn't gain recognition and left the sect after becoming a senior cultivator, wandering around seeking opportunities. He took us two disciples under his wing, also roaming the four seas as home, without even establishing a single Taoist temple."

  Cheng Jun nodded and said: "Indeed a loose cultivator." This can be considered as the survival template of many loose cultivators.

  Today, the Taoist world is the world of Taoism. As long as a practitioner practices Taoist methods, they are considered a Taoist practitioner. However, true Taoist successors have stricter definitions.

  In the Taoist palaces, schools, and temples below, formally registered disciples who practice can be called Taoist successors, and they are also known as orthodox Taoist successors.

  After an orthodox Taoist successor becomes a master, if they cannot stay in the sect to take on official duties or continue practicing, and instead leave the sect to establish their own school, accepting disciples, these disciples are called second-generation Taoist successors.

  The disciples of a second-generation Taoist successor can also be called second-generation successors, but only one person can inherit this branch as a second-generation successor. Other disciples who leave the sect and accept disciples can only be called third-generation successors. Similarly, third-generation successors can have one branch of transmission.

  Orthodox, second-generation, and third-generation successors are collectively referred to as Taoist successors.

  Apart from this, the general disciples of the third generation of transmission, there is no longer any talk of endless fourth and fifth transmissions. This is called individual cultivation. No matter how many generations it is passed down to, it is still individual cultivation, and there is no difference with those who are registered as disciples in a Taoist sect or with cultivators who unintentionally embark on the path without transmission.

  The door of the Taoist school is extremely strict, and the disciples who are passed down by the Taoist school are considered to be the biological children of the Taoist school. The scattered cultivators are like adopted children. As for the legitimate transmission disciples, it goes without saying that the Taoist school is now in its heyday, and the whole world is a Taoist temple. The legitimate transmission disciples can have whatever they want: wealth and nobility with imperial appointments, resources with offerings from all over the world, respect and admiration from the people, and skills with the inheritance of the Taoist school. Even the second- and third-generation disciples in the Taoist school have certain rights and many offerings to support them, and they also help each other, relying on each other, which is extremely beneficial for their cultivation.

  There are only loose cultivators, regardless of their background, who are all without dependence or support, and have no affiliation. The Taoist sect has clear regulations that loose cultivators are not allowed to open Taoist temples under the banner of the Taoist sect, occupy land, collect offerings from the people, hold official positions in the imperial court, and even when receiving rewards for completing tasks issued by the Taoist sect, the rewards will be lower than others. In this way, all the easy ways to obtain resources are blocked, and loose cultivators can only go to remote mountains and dangerous places to explore and seek wealth and glory through adventure.

  Only after making certain achievements or donating a certain amount of wealth, and obtaining the consent of the Taoist sect, can a lone cultivator establish a Taoist temple in a remote area. However, it has a special name called "Conglin Taoist Temple". Compared to ordinary Taoist temples, it is one level lower in terms of benefits and one level more relaxed in terms of restrictions. The only thing that cannot be refused is the borrowing of Taoist sect's transmission people to hang their signs, which is considered half-official. Many lone cultivators' lifelong pursuit is to work hard and struggle to occupy a place with good spiritual energy, establish a Taoist temple, open up a few acres of spiritual fields, accept several apprentices, and no longer have to worry about anything else. After that, they can cultivate peacefully for a few years, and whether they can make further progress depends on the will of heaven.

  But it's just such a small wish, one or two out of a hundred can be fulfilled, and most are either drifting away for life or dying halfway, unless they secretly build a Taoist temple in a desolate place like the Purple Cloud Temple, taking a gamble that the Taoist sect won't discover it - if discovered by the Taoist sect, it's not just a matter of demolishing the temple, from top to bottom, including Yuehua Old Dao and the Dao children inside, no one can escape. The Taoist sect is so overbearing.

  So when Cheng Jun first saw the Purple Cloud Temple, he would be surprised - how dare the Taoist priest Yue Hua establish a wild Taoist temple on top of Wanma Temple? It's also because the monks at Wanma Temple don't understand the situation. If they report to the authorities down the mountain, within a few months, this Purple Cloud Temple will surely be razed to the ground.

  Cheng Jun pondered on one hand and read a book on the other, asking: "What is your master's cultivation? Are there any other people in the Taoist temple?"

  "Two years ago, Master's cultivation was already at the third level of entering the Dao. That's what Master himself said. But after I came back, I felt that his cultivation had made progress again, but my own cultivation is not enough to see it clearly."

  Cheng Jun nodded. Generally, the art of divination can only reveal cultivation levels lower than one's own. To investigate those with higher cultivation levels, a special technique is required.

  "Master only accepted two disciples, and now I'm the only one left. There's also Chong Ming, who was brought back by Chong Yuan just a few days ago, but he hasn't made any progress in his cultivation due to his limited talent. As for the four Taoist boys serving Master, they haven't learned any Taoist skills. Qing Feng and Ming Yue have learned secular martial arts and often do errands for Master. Chun Feng and Hua Yu don't practice martial arts, but instead serve as Master's personal attendants, yet they are more trusted."

  Cheng Jun roughly understood and thought to himself: In fact, that Taoist temple doesn't have any powerful masters, it's just that I don't know what level of cultivation Yue Hua has reached now. He must already be in the middle stage of entering the Tao, which is quite a bit troublesome. However, there is still one thing that doesn't add up - "Yue Hua Daoist, can you make breakthroughs in array formations?"

  He shook his head and smiled wryly, "As for my master - in terms of cultivation skills, he's just average. If there's anything special about him, it's only that he has some skill with talismans, but even that may not be better than others."

  Cheng Jun Dao said, "That's indeed strange. The way the Lingyun Array is set up has a unique touch to it." In his past life, he was a master of array techniques, and while he wouldn't dare say anything about other areas, his attainments in array techniques were universally recognized as being among the top three in the world. With just one glance, he could see that the Lingyun Array's brushstrokes were not something an ordinary cultivator could compare to; although it hadn't transcended the boundary between heaven and man, it was still at the pinnacle of the mortal realm.

  Chong and Dao said: "This is also a strange thing. I remember that my master's heart was only for bitter practice, and the formation method of this kind of miscellaneous learning that consumes energy, my master always sneered at it. I recognized this array, but after traveling to the south and opening up my horizons, I barely managed to recognize it. Master... how could he suddenly have such a big handwriting?" His expression was worried, obviously also puzzled in his heart.

  Cheng Jun smiled and said: "Maybe he has met a noble person." He paused for a moment, then asked: "Yue Hua Dao Ren, do you have a dao companion?"

  He raised his head and said, "Never."

  Cheng Jun unexpectedly said: "Really?" In his heart, he secretly thought: Strange, then who is she?

  Chong nodded and said: "When I left, the master had not yet had a formal dao companion." As he spoke, he suddenly clapped his hands and said: "But if there was one, it must be that person."