Chapter 108 The Book of Hidden Immortals

"Why did Master leave the Hidden Immortal Sect and enter the Tongwei Sect?"

"What do you mean leave? Tongwei was originally a branch of the Hidden Immortal Sect. I founded many sects. Have you heard of the Wushan Sect? Back then, it was full of yao (demons)...."

"Yao (demons)?"

"What's so strange about yao (demons)? You're a demon yourself. Compared to demons, yao (demons) are a bit more approachable."

Ji Xiang, with the little Shen girl, followed Zhang Sanfeng away from the mountain gate. During their flight, they entered a secret place, a deep valley where the sound of reading could be faintly heard. A road led into it, one of the three hundred Wudang roads built by the imperial court in the past. Large stones paved the ground, extending forward to the Tongwei Temple. The temple gate was not large, with seven tiled rooms, and the air was thick with the smoke of incense.

"Who is reading?"

The little Shen girl raised her head and asked with curiosity. Zhang Sanfeng perked up and clapped his hands at Ji Xiang, saying, "She can hear that sound, that's really good. The child you had the Celestial Master send last time could also hear it. You've brought two people with superior natural talent, which counts as two great deeds you've done for our sect."

"Grandmaster Grandpa, what is this sound?"

The little Shen girl immediately tried to build a relationship, calling him Grandmaster Grandpa. Zhang Sanfeng's eyebrows relaxed, and his mood improved:

"The Tongwei Sect was founded during the Chenghua era. This place was originally where a hermit ghost cultivated."

"What you hear is the sound of his reading that he left here. The sound is engraved in the cliffs and stone walls, and has continued for nearly a hundred years."

The little girl was astonished.

The Chenghua era was a very, very long time ago.

Ji Xiang also knew about this hermit ghost. It was said that he had cultivated to the realm of pure yin, the highest level of ghost immortality, corresponding to the realm of pure yang.

To be able to cultivate to the level of pure yin in the human world, which is full of yang energy, was truly astonishing. But he failed when he tried to ascend, and his soul scattered. All that was left to the world was the lingering sound of this hidden scripture.

"If you can hear it, listen to it more. This scripture has a very significant effect on stabilizing the soul."

"Throughout history, countless people have tried to reach immortality, but few have succeeded. It is too difficult to become an immortal in the current Biao Shanhe (Surface Mountains and Rivers)."

As Zhang Sanfeng spoke, he spat at Ji Xiang again: "It's all the fault of you demons."

"Since the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is not abundant, the tribulations of the demon trials should be lowered appropriately."

Ji Xiang listened to the old man's shamelessness and responded shamelessly, "Master, that's not true. Corpse liberation doesn't require demon trials. You can easily fall asleep and wake up as an immortal."

He thought to himself, if he performed corpse liberation now, he would wake up directly in the twenty-first century.

"Master says it's difficult to become an immortal, but your cultivation is that of a true immortal."

Zhang Sanfeng, without turning his head, said, "How many immortals remain in the human world?"

"Do those who haven't awakened count?"

Ji Xiang asked.

Zhang Sanfeng shook his head: "No, I'm talking about those who have awakened. How many immortals do you know about now, besides those who have awakened through corpse liberation?"

"Two corpse liberators, the Celestial Master, one Song immortal, and three unknown people, one of whom has a strong demon aura."

"Now it seems that one of the three unknown people is you."

Ji Xiang responded. Zhang Sanfeng led the two into the Tongwei Temple. There were quite a few disciples in the temple. At a glance, there were seventeen standing as punishment. The children of the craftsmen households brought by the Celestial Master from Shuntian Prefecture were also among them, with their hair combed like adults, holding scriptures and standing at the door, listening to the stern reprimand of a Daoist in a green robe.

The Daoist in the green robe had copper rings on his ears, walnuts in his sleeves, and bells on his wrists. When he shook them, they emitted a long, unbroken sound like thunder.

Seeing Ji Xiang return, the eyes of the children of the craftsmen households lit up, but when the Daoist in the green robe continued to reprimand them, they quickly lowered their heads again.

Ji Xiang smiled knowingly, met the Daoist in the green robe, and exchanged greetings.

"Junior Brother Ji's cultivation is complete, and he's returning to Wudang? That's a bit too fast."

"Responding to Senior Brother Lian, not yet, I'm returning here...."

Zhang Sanfeng interrupted their catching up, and ordered the Daoist in the green robe: "Buyun, bring those two sleeping little fellows to my room."

The Daoist in the green robe responded, told the disciples to continue standing as punishment, and then went to the backyard of the temple.

At this time, the three entered the rooms in the temple. Zhang Sanfeng pulled three futons, one for each person, and sat down slowly, saying:

"Besides that, is there anyone else?"

Ji Xiang thought for a moment: "Xu Fu, he's still alive, but in my perception, he's not one of the eight immortals."

"Xu Fu... oh, that old thing doesn't count as an immortal. He was an immortal when he was in Dongying, but he's not anymore once he comes out. Just a fake immortal. It is said that he imitated Dong Zhongshu back then, gathering national fortune to add to himself, wanting to create a unity of heaven and Tao. At that time, the Tao of Heaven was very close to the human world. Xu Fu hoped to create a divine kingdom on earth, but something went wrong, causing his own body to be trapped on those islands and unable to come out. He can't go back to Li Shanhe (Inner Mountains and Rivers) either, so he's just eking out a living in Biao Shanhe (Surface Mountains and Rivers). I don't know the details."

"He once sought out Dongfang Shuo, trying to join him, but ended up turning against him. The alchemists are also divided into two factions now. Generally, those who couldn't make it under Dongfang Shuo went to Xu Fu, just like Canghai Jun at the end of the Qin Dynasty, picking up scraps everywhere."

"Of course, I'm not just talking about Xu Fu alone. There are others, those before the Jin Dynasty. Their cultivation methods are different from yours, so you, as a demon, may not be able to sense them, just like you said that corpse liberation immortals don't need demon trials. After all, demon trials didn't exist before the Jin Dynasty either."

"But strictly speaking, the true establishment of demon trials was in the early Song Dynasty. Although the cultivation world in the Jin Dynasty already had the concept of demon kings, the turmoil in between lasted too long. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they had their own cultivation methods, not relying on the grace of their predecessors, so the Tang immortals were special."

"Later, in the Song Dynasty, before that, whether they did good or bad deeds depended entirely on their own thoughts. Until some people came out at this time and said that this wouldn't work, that it had to be standardized a bit, so they connected with the divine position of the Yuanshi Tianzun, and finally managed to pull in a group of demons from somewhere, and thus there were demon trials."

Ji Xiang was thoughtful: "A method of becoming an immortal other than corpse liberation?"

Zhang Sanfeng: "Here, we have to talk about earth immortals."

"Earth immortals practice the Golden Elixir Great Dao, but they do not possess the techniques of heavenly immortals. We now use the completion of the Golden Elixir as proof of entering the realm of earth immortals, and ascending through Chong Ju (Soaring Ascension) as proof of entering the realm of heavenly immortals."

"As Ge Hong said, when form and spirit unite, one is a person or a thing; when form and spirit separate, one is a spirit or a ghost."

"The foundation of the immortal path lies in the state of being both separated and united! Union means riding the clouds and dragons, referring to heavenly immortals; separation means corpse liberation and transformation, which is corpse liberation immortality! Heavenly immortality is the ultimate birth, corpse liberation is the ultimate death. Taoist cultivation is not like Confucianism, which adheres to the middle way, but rather the yin and yang techniques of two extremes. If you want to achieve great success, you must either be born or die!"

"As for earth immortals, they have neither the form of corpse liberation nor the talent of heavenly immortals. They only roam the human world and do not possess great supernatural powers. In fact, it is the middle way, a path prepared for those who cannot become heavenly immortals and dare not perform corpse liberation, which is the current path of cultivation, namely the art of the Golden Elixir."

"Therefore, some cultivators who have not fully become heavenly immortals or transformed into earth immortals will gradually see their form and spirit decay. This is because earth immortals rely on refining their form to reside in the world. If they do not become heavenly immortals, their form and spirit will gradually decay with the passage of time, the decline of their cultivation, the harm of miasma, the immersion of various impure qi, incense poisoning, and many other phenomena."

"And these cultivators who have cultivated half the form of a heavenly immortal, such as Xu Fu, their form and spirit must have been changed many times, because their form and spirit no longer belong to the human form, but have the form of an immortal. However, the Biao Shanhe (Surface Mountains and Rivers) does not have an environment to support the immortal form, so the decay of the form and spirit is a normal phenomenon. While the external form decays, the mind will also decay, and eventually become a monster that is neither human nor immortal."

"The same is true for heavenly immortals who descend to the human world. When they arrive in the human world, they are immortals who have been demoted. Immortals who achieve immortality in the human world can go up to the Li Shanhe (Inner Mountains and Rivers), but they cannot easily come down. Even if they come down, they need to destroy their past immortal form and retreat from their realm. This is the same principle."

"These immortals before the Jin Dynasty, because the cultivation methods at that time were not unified, some people cultivated a complete form of heavenly immortality, but did not have the power of an immortal. They resided in the world for a long time without immortal power, and eventually annihilated the foundation of their existence, leaving only an unconscious illusory form and spirit. At this time, it cannot be said that they are still alive; some cultivated the power of heavenly immortality but did not have the form of heavenly immortality, so their original form and spirit gradually decayed. Such people can be called fake immortals, but because they do not have the form of an immortal, they are not worthy of the name of an immortal. Fake immortals are just our true immortals' general term for them. To say that they are immortals is actually not very appropriate."

Ji Xiang suddenly realized.

So that's what the so-called pseudo-immortals and fake immortals shown on the Inner Vision God Tablet on the Second Grade Immortal Pill meant!

Those who reside in an immovable place and are called immortals are false! Immortals are unrestrained, traveling to the Canghai (Eastern Sea) in the morning and resting on Kunlun at dusk. Those who only possess immortal power in a certain place are pseudo-immortals.

Those with decaying form and spirit, merely possessing power, are called fake! Because the nature of an immortal is imperishable, those who are decayed are not immortals, so it is said that those with power but no form are fake immortals.

At this time, the tiled door slowly opened.

The Daoist in the green robe brought the two people in. The two were closing their eyes, walking in like controlled puppets. Zhang Sanfeng reached out again, and two rotten futons flew out from under the Three Pure Ones statue. The Daoist in the green robe gave a light reprimand and sat down. The two landed on the futons, lowered their eyebrows, closed their eyes tightly, breathed steadily, but seemed to have lost their three souls and could not wake up.

Ji Xiang also saw his three Corpse Gods. The three little Corpse Gods wandered behind him, having already lost their feet, looking as lonely and helpless as wandering souls, but they had no self-awareness and only acted according to Ji Xiang's orders. At this time, the three gods returned to their positions, transforming into three streams of incense qi and returning to Ji Xiang's body.

Zhang Sanfeng stroked his beard: "It's strange, are these three corpses yours, or my disciple's?"

Ji Xiang inhaled the incense, and respectfully responded: "They are mine."

"I have the technique of living people's three corpses, so I can naturally use it on myself."

Zhang Sanfeng's face suddenly changed, pointing at Ji Xiang and saying, "That's why I'm most afraid of things like you!"

The Daoist in the green robe was a little puzzled at this time. Why was his teacher pointing at his junior brother and scolding him, and saying "things like you".

Zhang Sanfeng looked at the Daoist in the green robe, waved his hand to let him out, and after the green robe retreated, Zhang Sanfeng cursed again: "I finally managed to cut off the three corpses, and I'm most afraid of encountering things like you, causing my three corpses to be reborn!"

Ji Xiang chuckled: "So that's it! Master is an immortal who has cut off the corpses, so the reason for fearing the disciple is here."

Lu Wang once mentioned that there are many methods of becoming an immortal, and cutting off the three corpses is one of them, and it is more demanding. Only those with great perseverance can succeed, because the Corpse Gods are said to be the gods sent by heaven to monitor everyone's body. They have the same origin as the human body itself and are difficult to kill. Once the three corpses are cut off, the name of death can be eliminated, and no yin techniques in the world can be added to the body, making it an immortal and indestructible body.

Seeing Zhang Sanfeng's stern face, Ji Xiang quickly changed the subject and talked about the Daoist in the green robe:

"I never thought that Senior Brother Lian's aura would be so restrained, with no divine light visible, leaving only a point of clear light between his brows. It is obvious that he has achieved great success in refining the spirit, and is not far from the state of pure yang shining brightly."

"So you want to open a door of convenience for him?"

The old Zhang said without good humor.

"That won't work, this disciple has not yet cultivated to that realm."

Ji Xiang also admitted frankly that his cultivation was not enough.

Zhang Sanfeng wanted Ji Xiang to open a door of convenience for Lian Buyun, but Ji Xiang had not yet found a way to help people cheat on exams. At most, he could interfere with small demon trials. To interfere with large demon trials, like Lu Wang, would require the examinee himself to have committed great crimes before the demon kings from the heavens would descend, but that was because he had reported it to the higher-ups.

Ji Xiang admitted that his cultivation was still far from being able to help people pass the demon king's tribulation.

As for Zhang Tianshi's case, it was purely accidental, an extra operation that could only be performed during his own exams, and could not be done again.

When Zhang Sanfeng heard Ji Xiang saying that he reported to the higher-ups, his face changed again.

"You say you can also slander people to the demon kings?"

Ji Xiang: "I'm just reporting the various good and evil deeds in the human world, how can that be called slander?"

Zhang Sanfeng: "Isn't that the job of the Corpse Gods? You're not a demon at all, you're a Corpse God who has become a spirit!"

Ji Xiang: "Then Master, those of you who cut off the three corpses and become immortals must all be great villains."

Zhang Sanfeng was quite angry: "Demons also cultivate!"

"Of course, demons have their own cultivation techniques."

"Is it the Yuqing Hidden Scripture!"

"!"

Zhang Sanfeng obviously didn't know the details of Zhang Tianshi's soaring ascension, but he said the name of the Yuqing Hidden Scripture for demons, and Ji Xiang was slightly surprised, but then his expression relaxed.

"Why are you not surprised that I have revealed the subtleties of your cultivation?"

Zhang Sanfeng deliberately asked, and Ji Xiang replied frankly: "A Qing Immortal from Li Shanhe (Inner Mountains and Rivers) once said the name of the Demon Extinguishing Scenery Technique, and stated clearly that this scripture should not appear on human cultivators."

Zhang Sanfeng snorted, and then explained: "Demon Extinguishing Scenery, Yuqing Hidden Book, I have only seen it in the classics in the past. This is the first time I have encountered someone who truly cultivates it. It was once rumored that those with great talent in Qing wanted to cultivate this scripture, but the results were extremely tragic deaths, with their souls devoured by ten thousand demons."

"So the conclusion was drawn that the Yuqing Hidden Book is a scripture for demons to cultivate, not something that mortals should cultivate. But you also know that there is no Yuqing Taoism in the world, only Taiqing and Qing Taoism. The Yuqing Taoism is the source of the Qing Taoism, but it can also be said to be a branch. After all, there are too few Yuqing cultivators, so they are classified in the Qing Taoism."

"And Yuqing has a Hidden Book, so Taiqing and Qing naturally also have Hidden Books. Among them, the Qing Hidden Book is the Qing Ancestor Scripture, also known as the Ancestor Talisman...."

Ji Xiang: "I have heard of it. It is said that the Qing Ancestor Scripture has already appeared in the human world, but I don't know where it is. The two branches of the Qing faction are interfering in human affairs for this reason. Yuqing cultivates demons, what does Qing cultivate?"

"Cultivating ghosts, cultivating the path of ghost gods."

Zhang Sanfeng stood up and pointed at the two people who had been sent in and were sitting on the futons: "The situation that these two people are encountering now is related to Qing techniques."

Ji Xiang looked at Feng the scholar and Fox Xiaoshi, and frowned deeply: "I have already gone to Qing Maoshan (Mountain) and caused a big disturbance. I have never seen this kind of magic."

"You disturbed Qing?"

Zhang Sanfeng was taken aback: "You have the guts to do that. Do you know that there are two large heavenly palaces, six small heavenly palaces, eleven flying ascension peaks, and two Celestial Heart realms behind Qing?"

"Don't look down on Taiqing Taoism in Biao Shanhe (Surface Mountains and Rivers). The power of Li Shanhe (Inner Mountains and Rivers) is not weak at all!"

Ji Xiang was surprised: "I killed a Qing side ancestor and seriously injured a Qing third ancestor. This disciple doesn't think they are that powerful."

Then he thought of something, and suddenly asked curiously: "Speaking of which, when this disciple seriously injured the Qing third ancestor, I used your Rootless Technique."

"What! The Rootless Technique? How do you know my Rootless Technique? Everyone else in the world besides me who knew my Rootless Technique is dead. I have never taught it to you!"

Zhang Sanfeng was shocked. He had passed down the Rootless Song, but he had not passed down the Rootless Technique to anyone since the Zhengtong years. He had even changed his name several times and rejuvenated himself to wash away the identity of Zhang Sanfeng.

Ji Xiang claimed to have used the Rootless Technique to severely injure the Qing third ancestor. Zhang Sanfeng did not doubt that he was boasting.

"This is true. This disciple did not lie. There are many strange things about the Qing faction. They divide their own people and go to seize the Yin Mountain Dharma Realm, create the Biyou Palace, and abandon the Qingping Sword. However, what Master said about the Qing Hidden Scripture being a technique for cultivating ghost gods, the Qing seizure of the Yin Mountain Dharma Realm seems to make sense...."

"You really injured the Qing third ancestor? Is it that Xu Changshi!"

"It's Xu Changshi."

"How did you learn my Rootless Technique?"

"This disciple is a demon. Demons naturally have great wisdom. How can I not learn it? After comprehending the void, I naturally mastered it."

Ji Xiang boasted without breathing. Zhang Sanfeng took a blank talisman and pointed at it, saying, "Write it for me."

Ji Xiang transformed a stream of lead qi from his body, operated the root nature of heaven and earth, and wrote it on the blank talisman with divine script. When Zhang Sanfeng saw it, he was immediately lost: "It really is my Rootless Talisman!"

"How can the Hidden Immortal's secret that is not passed down be known by a demon!"

Then he was a little annoyed: "You used the Rootless Technique to injure the Qing third ancestor. I really don't know whether to laugh or scold. If it were the past, I would definitely praise you, but now, how can the Hidden Immortal Sect afford such a behemoth!"

Ji Xiang was stunned and was about to apologize when Zhang Sanfeng stamped his feet and sighed:

"You can't kill anyone by hitting them randomly like this!"

"Wait, I'll send a message to your grandmaster, the Fiery Dragon True Man, and tell him to assassinate the Qing third ancestor immediately so that our Hidden Immortal Sect can be safe for a while! Strike while the iron is hot, and retaliate before he retaliates against me."