Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Three Mountains Talisman Dao! The Most Formidable Under Heaven

Jiangnan Province, Maoshan.

One of the Ten Great Daoist Mountains under heaven, a 5A-rated tourist attraction, ticket price one hundred eighty yuan.

Pine and cypress hidden deep in the mountains, slender vines twining old trees, distant calls of secluded birds, clear springs murmuring gently. In the layered valleys, orchids and ganoderma encircle, moss grows upon every sheer cliff. The undulating peaks nurture great dragon veins—surely, here high masters conceal their names.

Before a simple and ancient Daoist temple, incense smoke curled upwards; an old Daoist with white hair and beard, dressed in coarse cloth, wearing straw sandals, leaning on a broom, was hunched over, sweeping the ground.

”Master, did you call me?”

Just at that moment, a youth dressed as a Daoist walked over from afar; as he approached, he bowed respectfully to the old Daoist.

The old Daoist continued sweeping the ground, as if he had not heard.

”Master...” The youth looked puzzled, called softly again, but still received no reply.

The old Daoist gripped his broom, gaze unwaveringly fixed on the ground, deaf to all around him, as if nothing in the world concerned him at all.

After a moment, the old Daoist finished sweeping and finally lifted his head.

”Little Qi Ji, you’re here.”

Speaking thus, the old Daoist set down his broom, walked over to the stone steps, and slowly sat down.

”Master, what were you just doing?” Qi Ji asked with a curious look.

”Cultivation,” the old Daoist said offhandedly.

”Cultivation? Sweeping is cultivation too?” Qi Ji couldn’t help but show a look of confusion.

”Walking, standing, sitting, lying—each is cultivation... Going up the mountain is cultivation, chopping wood is cultivation, sweeping is also cultivation... So long as one’s thoughts abide in the present, everywhere is cultivation...”

The old Daoist’s aged brows drooped, revealing a compassionate and sorrowful expression toward the world.

”Alas, nowadays people are poisoned too deeply by the Red Dust...”

”Going up the mountain is simply climbing the mountain, sweeping is just sweeping; while you are sweeping, you think of climbing, while eating, you think of work—your thoughts scattered, your mind forever leaks outward, ceaselessly draining your essence, qi, and spirit...”

At this, the old Daoist looked to Qi Ji: ”For cultivators, let stray thoughts not fly; always reflect inward, and you’ll find freedom.”

”Disciple has remembered.” Qi Ji folded his hands, bowed, and engraved every word of the old Daoist into his heart.

”Little Qi Ji, you have cultivated on this mountain since childhood; it is time to venture out and see the world.” The old Daoist’s tone shifted, suddenly speaking.

”Master wants me to go down the mountain?” Qi Ji was startled.

For cultivators, nothing is more taboo than the contamination of the Red Dust—especially direct heirs of the Great Mountains, seldom do they walk in the secular world.

”Refining the heart in the Red Dust; entering the world is also cultivation...”

The old Daoist paused, then continued: ”Our Maoshan Shangqing’s Talisman Dao is renowned throughout the world...”

”Yet you surely know as well—Talisman Dao has three schools. Since the Song dynasty, the world’s Talisman Dao has yielded to Zhengyi...”

Talismans occupy an extremely important status among Daoist Techniques, serving as one of the Daoist’s core means.

If spells are the Daoist’s language to commune with ghost gods, then talismans are the words that connect; their history traces even to antiquity.

Legend says that four thousand five hundred years ago, Cang Jie invented writing, observing the patterns of heaven and earth, scrutinizing the changes of Yin and Yang, linking the Void Realm, and obtained twenty-eight primal incantation characters; taking these as root, shaping script by the tracks of birds and beasts, the lay of mountains and rivers, thus creating pictographs that embodied civilization.

With the birth of script, mountains and rivers stirred with qi, rivers and seas surged, birds and beasts sang together, hundreds of ghosts wailed at night.

The Great Witch of the Human Race grasped the true meanings, inscribed Extreme Yang Characters onto peachwood, naming them ’Talismans’.

Two thousand five hundred years ago, the Hundred Schools contended, Witch Culture waned and merged into Daoist Family—until the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Celestial Master Tao Ancestor Zhang Daoling, enlightened by Laojun at He Ming Mountain, founded Zhengyi Alliance Mighty Dao and created the Talisman Book, thus began Talisman Dao.

Celestial Master Tao once said: ’Our family’s talismans—up, they can move heaven and earth; down, shake mountains and rivers—open, command dragons and tigers; concealed, summon ghost gods; with power, revive dead bones; with cultivation, transcend life and death.’

From then on, the Talisman Dao swept through the world, shining with brilliance.

Today, the genuine Talisman Dao has but three orthodox houses: [Maoshan Shangqing], [Celestial Master of Dragon and Tiger], and [Gezao Spiritual Treasure].

”Eighty years ago, at the Universal Sacrifice, a Great Tribulation befell the Daoist Sect; Dragon Tiger Mountain has since sealed its gates, leaving only incense burning once more...”

”But I hear that [Gezao Mountain] in this generation has produced quite a few promising talents...” the old Daoist sighed faintly.

”Beside them, Zhenwu Mountain’s Xia Weisheng, Zhongnan Mountain’s An Wuyang, Laojun Mountain’s Qi Delong and his brother Qi Dongqiang... they are all already famous abroad...”

”All these promising disciples have already ventured into the world for training.”

”Xia Weisheng!?” Qi Ji’s gaze sharpened slightly; three years ago, he’d followed the elders to visit Zhenwu Mountain and had met the senior sister Xia Weisheng—indeed outstanding and never inferior to men.

Especially her mastery of Five Thunders Righteous Method, showing much skill.

”Zhenwu has seventy-three transmissions, after ordinary tribulation comes ginseng... Master, I’ve heard that recently, Zhenwu Mountain held Jade Scroll Transmission—why was there no stir?”

Qi Ji couldn’t help but ask: ”It’s said outside that Zhenwu Mountain faces a Great Tribulation this generation and might not get through.”

”That is the Xuanmiao prophecy left by Zhenwu’s Ancestral Master... If it were truly fulfilled, it would be no good thing.”

The old Daoist shook his head, his cloudy eyes flashing with a glint of spirit.

”Chu Chaoran has already entered the Pure Yang Wuji Realm, but even he cannot withstand this Great Tribulation; I fear it will affect more than just Zhenwu Mountain...”

The old Daoist’s facial muscles quivered gently, worry slowly crawling over his face.

”It may well be another Great Tribulation for the Daoist Sect!”

”Master...” Qi Ji’s heart stirred, wanting to speak.

”We digress.”

The old Daoist waved his hand: ”Your journey down the mountain this time, begin with a trip to Yujing City...”

”Yujing City?”

”Yesterday there, word arrived—the Yin Mountain Sect people truly disregard rules, daring to commit violent acts at night, performing Yin Collection and Refining in the busy city!” the old Daoist said gravely.

”Yin Mountain Sect? Were they caught?” Qi Ji couldn’t help but ask.

Daoists, once attaining cultivation, strictly avoid using Skills among the common world.

”Yin Mountain Sect’s Gu Yuming is now brain-dead, lying in the hospital... He’s been contained...” the old Daoist sighed.

”Those who do much evil shall be destroyed by themselves; dared to act thus—surely doomed to divine retribution...”

”Most importantly, at the time he was performing Yin Collection and Refining, a righteous practitioner intervened—not only skilled in Taiyi Life-Saving Skill, but surprisingly knew some Northern Emperor Technique, though not yet fully competent.”

”Northern Emperor Technique!?”

Qi Ji’s brow twitched; though long secluded in the mountains, he too had heard the notorious fame of Northern Emperor Technique, said to be the Daoist Sect’s number one killing Great Skill—since the Daoist Great Tribulation eighty years ago, it’s vanished from the world.

”Your trip down the mountain, pay close attention; if you find this person, investigate their background; if possible, bring them back to the mountain.” the old Daoist instructed.

The affair of magical combat in Yujing City had been resolved; the chief culprit Gu Yuming had received his retribution, now a vegetative patient unlikely ever to wake again.

The only one to watch for is that practitioner bearing [Northern Emperor Technique].

”Disciple remembers!” Qi Ji nodded.

Rumble, rumble...

Just then, a loud explosion rang from the depths of the mountain, accompanied by billowing dust.

The old Daoist’s aged brows lifted; he looked toward the direction of the explosion and sighed deeply.

”Your martial uncle’s having another episode!”

Those who pursue the Path of Pure Yang Wuji—either go mad, perish, or become crippled... All perfectly normal; in every mountain and palace, who doesn’t have a few lunatics?

”Master, how did martial uncle get these injuries?” Qi Ji couldn’t help but ask.

He’d met this martial uncle a few times: astonishing ability and awe-inspiring cultivation, yet clearly half-crazed; once an episode strikes, becomes like a wild beast, barely controllable.

”He was afflicted in early years during magical combat with others...” the old Daoist sighed.

”What kind of person could injure martial uncle?” Qi Ji pressed.

This martial uncle’s talent ranks among the top in Maoshan Shangqing Sect—even as a youth, already a prodigy, renowned across the Ten Great Daoist Mountains.

”Divine Demon Holy Embryo!” the old Daoist spoke, mouth barely parted, uttering four words.

”The most fearsome Technique in the world?” Qi Ji visibly paled.

If the Northern Emperor Technique still had practitioners, then [Divine Demon Holy Embryo] truly only appears in legend.

”Does anyone truly practice this Technique in this world?”

”Over twenty years ago, a young man mastered this Technique...” the old Daoist declared with absolute certainty.

”If he isn’t yet dead, he should be over forty now.”

Saying this, the old Daoist paused briefly, aged skin revealing a trace of reminiscence.

”Divine Demon Holy Embryo—the world’s most fearsome... Back then, your martial uncle fell to this man...”

”Only a single move... Even thinking of it now is still utterly terrifying!”

Saying this, the old Daoist slowly closed his eyes, as if unwilling to recall those days gone by.

”Master, what exactly is so formidable about Divine Demon Holy Embryo?” Qi Ji pressed.

He had not expected that even his own sect elders had crossed paths with such legends—truly shocking.

”Harvesting intent as medicine—people like this have Primordial Spirits so powerful it defies imagination, truly beyond understanding...” the old Daoist said solemnly.

In his eyes, Divine Demon Holy Embryo wasn’t an ordinary Inner Core Technique; in fact, it wasn’t even devised for human cultivation.

”Just because their Primordial Spirits are so overwhelmingly strong, cultivating any Skill is effortless for them; the speed and progress are mind-boggling...”

Back then, the youth bearing [Divine Demon Holy Embryo] mastered countless Skills, his methods so numerous it chilled the heart.

”But cultivating this Technique has one enormous flaw...”

”And that is?”

”One must enter the Great Night!” the old Daoist intoned.

Night is not bright is the nightmare of all cultivators, but for those who cultivate [Divine Demon Holy Embryo], it is a tribulation they must face.

”Cultivating [Divine Demon Holy Embryo], falling into ’Night is not bright’, is called Tribulation... It’s their unique way of cultivation: after overcoming tribulation, their Dao Practice leaps forward...”

”It’s said, since ancient times, the strongest practitioners of this Technique have survived tribulation nine times.” the old Daoist said quietly.

”And what cultivation is that?” Qi Ji felt stirred, unconsciously asking.

”Surpassing Pure Yang Wuji, crossing the Three-Five Transformation—then you are among the Earthly Immortals!”

The old Daoist let out a long sigh and slowly opened his eyes: ”Back then, that youth had already overcome three tribulations—his cultivation unfathomable.”

”Entering ’Night is not bright’, and yet still coming through tribulation?” Qi Ji murmured softly.

He was a cultivator, therefore knew well how terrifying [Great Night] was.

Once falling in, Primordial Spirit falls silent, as if the heavens and earth went dark; never again would you emerge.

”Some who cultivate Divine Demon Holy Embryo, after falling into [Great Night], their Primordial Spirit develops overwhelming problems, perhaps never waking again for life...”

”Is it truly inevitable to fall into such tribulation?” Qi Ji asked.

”Once cultivating this Technique, you cannot stop; those with good fortune may forget everything and be an ordinary person, with bad luck—death and the collapse of their Dao is nothing rare.” the old Daoist intoned faintly.

”What if they do wake again?” Qi Ji asked casually.

The old Daoist paused slightly, looked at Qi Ji, and finally said in a low voice: ”Then they are the world’s most terrifying!”