Chapter 6 You must hold on tight!
"That's right."
Taiyi Zhenren clapped his hands.
With two sharp taps, he showed no astonishment at the peculiarity of Pingyu's fate, only praise for his beloved disciple's perfect explanation: "Before you arrived, I had already examined this object. There are some characters engraved next to the round hole on the surface. I wonder if you two noticed them?"
Pingyu and Nezha exchanged a glance and said in unison, "That's exactly what we wanted to ask!"
The boy frowned: "Master! You have clearly taught me all the human and demon languages, but I still can't decipher the words on it."
"Because those are the characters for 'heaven,' you foolish disciple."
Pingyu saw the immortal stroke the boy's head, patiently saying, "These are the characters belonging to the 'Heavenly Court' that your teacher has not yet taught you."
Heavens...?
She watched this touching scene of teacher-student affection from the sidelines, then looked up at the sky.
The sky in her mind was white, without the cycle of day and night, and the clouds drifted lazily like a thin mist. Except for the waterfall-like torrent of water cascading down, everything seemed still. But where did this waterfall in the sky originate? Before coming to this world, Pingyu was just a high school student. She believed in materialism and that any unusual phenomenon could be explained by a principle.
To her, there was no civilization above the clouds, only an atmosphere as thin as plastic wrap.
Above the nine heavens, beyond the nine skies, exists a civilization of gods.
The Jade Palace in the heavens, with its twelve towers and five cities.
Pingyu withdrew his gaze and asked the immortal, "What exactly is written on that stone plate?"
"Demons and monsters, evil spirits and demons..."
"Twenty-four ghosts".
"But why is there a gate to the underworld inscribed with celestial script in my sea of consciousness?" she asked. "I am just a mortal, even less than an ordinary mortal."
“You are no ordinary person.” Upon hearing that the matter was related to the Heavenly Court, Nezha also put away his playful expression: “In your destiny chart, the four Gui are the most Yin water, and the three Hai can open the Heavenly Gate.”
The boy stood beside his master, exuding the aura of a cultivator. His clear black and white eyes stared at Pingyu's face as he said solemnly, "Pingyu, you are a disciple."
The girl froze when she heard the last word.
"What does this mean?" Pingyu asked Nezha for an explanation. "The Taoist priest who delivered me said the same thing when I was born."
The Taoist priest said to her mother, "Your child has the destiny of a celestial being, a child sent from heaven."
The adults always said she was too young to know many things. But these things, which were being kept from her, were related to Pingyu's life. She decided to take this opportunity to find out all the questions in her heart.
“A child is a little fairy who has descended from heaven.” The girl’s expression was serious, but because she was still childish, her cheeks were round like buns, making her look serious and cute. Taiyi Zhenren felt that she was quite pleasing to the eye, and for Nezha’s sake, he was willing to explain to her word by word: “A fairy child is born by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. He must complete his destiny in the mortal world before he can return to the heavenly court after death and ascend to become a high immortal.”
"What if we can't finish it?" Pingyu asked.
"Then they will die young and be reincarnated. The child will be reborn nine times until the task is completed. If the task is not completed after nine lifetimes, the child will never be able to return to heaven."
"Heaven will send down new celestial children to take over his destiny."
Taiyi Zhenren continued, "I had heard of this long ago in the Heavenly Realm. Because King Zhou of Shang was tyrannical and immoral, war raged and famine was rampant in the mortal world, and even the ghost messengers were overwhelmed. Those who died unnatural deaths harbored deep resentment and could not be reincarnated. The yin energy nourished by human resentment has dimmed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, allowing demons and monsters to break through the seal of the gates of hell. Therefore, in the human world today, demons roam freely and plagues occur frequently."
"This gate of hell is in your sea of consciousness..." The immortal looked down at the little girl who was only up to his knees. His tone was clear and light as a cloud, but it sounded like a loud bell to Ping Yu.
It truly is a case of "Heaven and Earth being ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs."
The Great Dao is ruthless; even immortals are merely tools to be used.
Her destiny was to be a door that suppressed all ghosts.
Pingyu's feelings were complicated. The True Man Taiyi had said that children born under the celestial banner were destined for early death, and next year would be Pingyu's year of tribulation. No wonder the Taoist priest said at her birth that he and she had a master-disciple relationship. Pingyu was a celestial child, born to cultivate.
As long as she can get past the age of twelve, she can cultivate magic arts, travel around to capture demons and accumulate merit, and return to the heavens a hundred years later.
But what if we can't make it through?
Pingyu just turned eleven last month, an age when even a maid needs to wait outside to use the restroom, let alone someone as young as her who fell into the pit. Sending such a young child to fight against a hundred ghosts would truly be the death of her!
Although the girl was upset after hearing these words, many others were delighted.
From the moment he learned that the stone slab in Pingyu was the gate to hell, the light in Nezha's eyes never dimmed.
It's both a destiny to attract ghosts and a fate sealed at the gates of hell...
Wouldn't I have endless amusement to find by being around this coward?
Nezha, already troubled by the endless demons he couldn't exorcise, was overjoyed. He immediately said to Taiyi Zhenren, "Master, can you help her? Demons are rampant and the people are suffering. If Pingyu doesn't fulfill his destiny, another hundred years will pass before the next reincarnation!" He spoke eloquently, as if his only concern was for the common people. But Pingyu saw a crimson ribbon swaying wildly behind him, the Hun Tian Ling whipping around like a cat's tail plotting something wicked.
Taiyi Zhenren was well aware of his little disciple's character, but he did not expose what Nezha was thinking. Instead, he shook his head and said, "Everyone has their own destiny, and I have no master-disciple relationship with her."
Nezha: "But I want to help."
Master Taiyi immediately changed his tune: "But this concerns the lives of all people, and I cannot ignore it. Fine, let's help this child this once!"
Having said that, the immortal took out a book from his whisk.
Pingyu knew that Taiyi truly doted on Nezha, but he never expected it to be to this extent.
Just as immortals regard mortals as insects, Pingyu can be saved if Nezha wants to.
The words on the book cover are from the mortal world, but the ink has faded due to its age.
The text above reads "Three Hundred Talisman Techniques You Can Easily Learn".
Pingyu: ......
Honestly, it looks like a pirated copy.
Taiyi Zhenren, without glancing to the side, handed the book to Pingyu.
"Since you are a virgin, you will have the pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth stored within your body. You must rise at cockcrow every day, meditate and regulate your breathing for three incense sticks, and then draw the talisman according to the instructions in this book. Remember, the talisman must be drawn in one go without interruption. You will know whether the talisman is successful or not after you finish drawing it."
Pingyu took the book and held it in his arms.
She tried to ignore the seemingly absurd book title and bowed respectfully to Taiyi Zhenren: "Thank you, Immortal."
.
.
.
After leaving the sea of consciousness, Taiyi Zhenren did not linger in Pingyu's room because he had important matters to attend to.
Pingyu placed the book on the bedside table and sighed deeply.
"well......"
Before she could finish sighing, she heard a voice beside her: "Sighing all the time will turn you into an old woman."
Pingyu was startled, only then realizing that Nezha was still beside her. He lay on Pingyu's bed, seemingly oblivious to the traditional boundaries between men and women. The boy rested his chin on his hand, smiling as he looked at her.
The girl couldn't help but ask, "Why are you still here?"
Nezha's expression changed instantly, his eyes darkening: "You're kicking me out?"
No, not at all.
His anger had created a heavy cloud of resentment, which dissipated with Pingyu's denial.
The boy's moods seemed to change in an instant.
Ping Yu brushed away the Hun Tian Ling that was leaning closer again: "But your master has already left, and the python demon on my body has been dealt with. Ping Yu can't think of any reason why the Third Young Master would stay."
"The python demon is gone, but aren't there other monsters?" Nezha sprang up from Pingyu's bed with a somersault. Pingyu was sitting, while he was standing; the height difference meant she had to look up to meet his gaze. Nezha looked down at the girl, adopting a lecturing tone: "Today you have received your destiny, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the world. The python demon you vanquished is just one of many demons. If you rest for even a second longer, another innocent person will be devoured by demons."
"Pingyu, how can you sit still like this!"
Pingyu felt that the sentence sounded familiar.
Her lips twitched, and she spoke bluntly: "Third Young Master, it's better to distinguish whether you truly care about the world or are driven by personal desires."
"It doesn't matter anyway." Nezha wasn't annoyed at all that Pingyu had seen through his thoughts.
“You summon ghosts, and I’ll kill them. That way, I can not only save the world but also relieve boredom. Otherwise, with your body, which is smaller than a bean sprout, you probably wouldn’t even be enough to fill a monster’s teeth.” He sat back down on the couch, pointed at himself at the girl, and said, “Although you’re quite stupid and don’t run away when you see a monster, well, luckily I’m kind-hearted and willing to help you.”
A note from the author:
Everyone, do you find the pacing slow or the plot boring? If possible, could you please add this to your favorites and leave a comment? I'll definitely write more after receiving comments! [eyes sparkling][eyes sparkling][eyes sparkling]
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