Chapter 293 The Power of Merit: A rough outline of "Lin Feiran" immediately comes to mind...
The array inside the room glowed faintly, and no detail could be seen from the outside. It seemed that nothing was amiss. Suddenly, a faintly lit figure appeared outside this secluded disciple's quarters.
The Grandmaster had already returned from the temple, but his expression was not as cheerful as usual.
Although Zhang Chunhe had some connections with the esoteric sect, in the eyes of the disciples who chose to stay and the elders, he still maintained an unassailable prestige, which is why this farewell took so long.
In any case, at least in the eyes of the public, his protection and support of Daohe Palace was genuine. Before his death, his remarks about "cultivating one's own virtue" had already spread to various sects and factions.
At least on the surface, the collusion with the esoteric sect was his doing alone, and had nothing to do with Daohe Palace. His death was merely an act by Daohe Palace to clean house. From then on, it was difficult for people to verbally condemn him as before.
But with the world in chaos now, what's the point of factional disputes?
When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.
As the grandmaster walked along the familiar corridor, his pace gradually slowed. He finally stopped, turned around, and gazed at the boundless darkness. The direction he was looking in was the Valley of Pilgrimage.
After a moment, a hint of worry and contemplation finally appeared on Wenya's face.
Although he received his ancestors' dying wish to select someone to open the Iron Khitan Book and find out the variables in an attempt to stop the Heavenly Rift, in fact, before that, he only knew about the Heavenly Rift and the existence of the Dao Lord. As for other things, he knew very little.
He was once one of those who tried to mend the rift in the sky, but like other cultivators in the Sword Realm, he couldn't mend anything. Fortunately, he could slow down the speed of the ice pillars, which bought him a lot of time.
He passed away too early. In order to protect the Iron Khitan Book, he voluntarily left his soul in the Sword Realm of Daohe Palace and did not enter the Pilgrimage Valley. Therefore, he slept there for hundreds of years and knew nothing about the outside world.
He originally intended to visit an old friend during that trip to the Flying Flower Gathering, but after meeting the Patriarch of Medicine, he learned some unexpected things...
He recalled what had happened in Chuncheng, and then remembered Zhang Chunhe's last words. He couldn't help but feel emotional, and a soft sigh escaped his lips.
He raised his hand, bowed deeply in that direction, and then turned and walked into the courtyard.
He had to ask Lin Feiran what exactly was written in the Iron Khitan Book, and whether it could be the solution to their current predicament.
All the disciples are now in the temple to see Zhang Chunhe off, so only one lamp is lit under the eaves of the dormitory, while the interior is completely silent, as if it is still asleep.
The grandmaster felt suspicious and sensed a trace of strange aura, as if left by the Dao Lord. He thought to himself that something was wrong and immediately transformed into a wisp of ink and went forward. There was an array in the room, which dimmed and turned dark the moment he approached, but it did not stop him from entering.
He strode into the room and immediately met a pair of deep blue eyes and a rather eerie scene.
Ru Xian sat at the table, looking up at himself. His right hand held a brush, and beside him was a dish of light and fragrant blue ink. A scroll was unfolded on the table, with only a few strokes outlining the figure. Although it was just an outline, the figure's movements were already clear.
Ru Xian dipped the tip of her pen in the snowflakes and nodded, saying, "Since you are my grandmaster, please take a seat. This formation was not originally meant to protect you."
Lin Feiran also looked over, bowed to his grandmaster, and then looked away.
Upon hearing this, the grandmaster paused, quickly shifting his gaze from the painting to Lin Feiran, who was sitting cross-legged inside the room, facing a young Taoist priest.
He was somewhat surprised and didn't understand why this young Taoist would suddenly appear here, but after his gaze swept over the two of them, he had a rough idea of the current situation.
So he said nothing, but walked over and sat down next to Ru Xian, his gaze slowly turning to the young Taoist boy.
He was one of the cultivators who competed for the spiritual vein in the Flying Flower Society.
Lin Feiran and he seemed to be locked in a standoff, neither of them speaking. The grandmaster thought they were discussing some secret matter, and his expression gradually became serious.
After sitting for a while, just as he was about to offer his help, he heard Lin Feiran ask, "Can you move now?"
After Ru Xian finished filling in the remaining lines, a rough outline of "Lin Feiran" appeared on the paper. He looked at it from left to right and was very satisfied, so he nodded: "It's ready."
The Grandmaster asked at the opportune moment, "What is this?"
Ru Xian's hands did not stop, but she raised her lips and said, "When you see something as precious and shiny as a treasure, you naturally have to draw it as a memento."
Despite being described as a treasure, the image drawn on the paper in ink is none other than Lin Feiran.
Bringing treasures he has his eye on back to his nest and hiding them is an instinct ingrained in the blood of the peacock clan, just like the scattered pearls and jade in his room and the spiritual treasures placed in his treasure vault. It is almost an instinct for him.
When he saw Lin Feiran's appearance, he was extremely fond of her. If it were a real treasure, he could naturally take it back. However, she was a human, and it would be a pity to take her back. He couldn't do that, so he could only paint her into a picture.
This kind of thing had happened before, and Lin Feiran understood it very well.
After Fu Yin said something about crossing the line, she actually held back the words that were about to come out, waiting for the snow to fall like a draft. She did whatever he said.
Fu Yin finally couldn't hold back any longer. She glared angrily at Ru Xian, then turned to Lin Feiran: "Aren't you going to ask? Don't you want to know what merits are for?"
Upon hearing this, the grandmaster finally understood, and his gaze slowly shifted to Lin Feiran.
Lin Feiran replied, "Didn't you say this issue crossed the line? If you were to tell me directly, you might end up like Zhang Chunhe."
Fu Yin felt a lump in her throat. He was so nervous that he was ready to risk his life for hers, but she was quite relaxed!
"Then... then you won't ask?" He had never met someone like Lin Feiran before, and he really couldn't figure her out.
"Of course I'll ask." Lin Feiran raised her hand, and the floating spiritual light in front of her dispersed, flickering in the room like fireflies, passing over Fu Yin's indignant brows, and she said again.
"However, we should ask the question in a different way."
A fluorescent light flickered in her clear eyes, revealing a silent, profound stillness.
"I want to know, do Zhang Chunhe and Prince Qingping have nearly equal achievements?"
The way she asked the question was so clever, completely avoiding the core of her achievements. It seemed like she was asking a completely unrelated question, but the answer behind it was exactly what she wanted to know.
Fu Yin was taken aback, her gaze shifting several times before she finally whispered, "...Yes."
He seemed to say nothing, only uttering a single word, but he knew in his heart that he had already said everything.
The grandmaster frowned slightly. He knew nothing about the matter of the Prince of Qingping, but after thinking of Zhang Chunhe, his gaze began to change. After making a guess, he immediately looked at Lin Feiran and asked.
"Feiran, do you mean that Prince Qingping is like Chunhe...?"
"Yes." Lin Feiran felt a great weight lifted from her heart and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She said, "Grandmaster, I think this achievement is the reason why Zhang Chunhe was able to be Wei Changzai's master and disciple for nine generations."
Zhang Chunhe's ability to be reborn nine times could not possibly be due to some extraordinary opportunity.
He did not actually approve of Tantric Buddhism, nor did he deign to associate with it, but he still chose to go along with it, which shows that Tantric Buddhism had an irresistible allure for him.
For him, what could be more important than bringing Dao and Gong back to their peak?
If Tantric Buddhism can take him back to the past, allowing him to start over, try and fail repeatedly, and make choices again and again, then what reason would he have to refuse?
If Tantric Buddhism could do this to him, why couldn't it do it to others?
With such immense temptation and terrifying power, how could one not make the most of it, using it as bait to lure many highly skilled cultivators into the trap?
Lin Feiran stood up, raised his hand and waved it, and the scattered spiritual light fell like a meteor shower, landing in Fuyin's hand.
“You divide the cultivators who have joined the esoteric sect into different classes. For those cultivators whose level is not high enough, or even ordinary people, you just use making wishes as an excuse. Just like what I saw at Jinling Ferry, they have no idea about rebirth.”
But for cultivators like Zhang Chunhe and Qingping Wang, you should tell them the truth and use their merits as a reason to make them willingly serve you.
"By obeying the instructions of the esoteric sect and accomplishing what it requires, you can accumulate merit. Once your merit reaches a certain level, you can petition the Dao Lord for rebirth. This is your most valuable bargaining chip, isn't it?"
Fu Yin kept his eyes downcast. He said nothing, yet he said everything.
Lin Feiran looked at him, took two steps forward, and continued, "At that time at the grand banquet, when facing a Divine Travel Realm cultivator like Ru Xian, you were not afraid at all, treating him as nothing, and only focused on attacking me."
I originally thought that you siblings were just different from the others in temperament, having a boldness and willfulness that they didn't have, but now I realize that's not the case.
You know you can be reborn, so you are not afraid of death. Eliminating the outcasts will earn you merit, so you attack me without hesitation.
For the siblings, everything was for the sake of achievement, so that they could remain immortal, gain enlightenment through constant rebirth, and wait for the opportunity to break through to a higher realm.
Fu Yin remained silent, while Ru Xian raised her eyebrows in surprise. However, the Grandmaster's expression remained unchanged, showing no surprise except for being somewhat lost in thought.
After a moment, Fu Yin chuckled and said, "There's one mistake. The reason we were so disrespectful to him back then wasn't entirely because we weren't afraid of death."
Fuxia and I have been stationed in the demon realm for a long time. Every time, we only see the same scenery, meet the same people, and hear the same things. We have long been numb and even disgusted.
The same goes for him.
Therefore, when they saw Ru Xian again, they no longer felt any fear or vigilance.
At this point, Fu Yin paused, looking up at Ru Xian, who had already stopped writing and was blowing ink.
“You should not know that you were not supposed to be alive today. Every time we cultivate in the Northern Territory, we hear news of your death on some day. You never slackened in your cultivation, but you died suddenly.”
After your death, the demon capital was filled with spirit banners, and the funeral bells tolled for months. Later, the envoys dispersed, the demon capital fell, and your remains were long gone, blown away by the wind.
Such a person, destined to die, is hardly frightening.
Ru Xian paused slightly, but quickly realized what was happening. His gaze shifted to Lin Feiran, and he understood.
Without her, he would probably have failed to break through to the next realm and died a violent death by now... Such an ending is no different from what he originally envisioned.
However, Lin Feiran's reaction at that time was as if she already knew.
Ru Xian's gaze shifted slightly as she looked down at the painting before her, her eyes filled with contemplation.
On the other side, Lin Feiran spoke again.
"One last question: What is the purpose of your search for the spiritual veins of heaven and earth? Or rather, for whom are you searching?"
This question should be even more taboo than before, but Fu Yin did not seem as troubled as before. He looked back at Lin Feiran with a calm expression.
“I don’t know, but I can tell you that from the moment I, or rather all nine swords, first joined the esoteric sect, our most important task was to find the whereabouts of the spiritual veins.”
And I am certain that everything the Holy Maiden did was for the sake of the Dao Lord.
Lin Feiran frowned slightly: "When did you join the esoteric sect?"
Fu Yin remained silent for a moment, perhaps considering his words. He looked at Lin Feiran, sighed slightly, and then said, "My brother and I joined the Secret Sect a year before the Emperor ascended the throne. However, we were unable to witness the coronation ceremony again."
As Lin Feiran pondered his words, a sudden thought flashed through his mind: he had never seen the coronation ceremony again, which meant that he had not been reborn before that time.
The fact that Fuyin and her brother have two souls in one body must be because they suffered some kind of serious injury during their cultivation. Fuxia died and had to borrow the body of her twin brother Fuyin to contain her soul and survive.
Given Fu Xia's temperament, if she could be reborn, wouldn't she return to the moment she was attacked and avenge herself?
But they didn't go back. Does this mean that the rebirth method practiced by the Dao Master is also subject to limitations?
Lin Feiran said with some surprise, "I didn't expect you to add the next sentence."
Seeing that she understood his implied meaning, Fu Yin said no more: "It was just a casual remark. That's all I know. If you understand, then listen; if you don't, then forget it. As I said before, as long as you don't cross the line, I will answer you."
At this point, he extended his hand to Lin Feiran: "I have made my sincerity clear in every detail, and you have asked all your questions. Now it is time to tell me how to separate the soul from the body. I would like to know what unheard-of method you have found."
Lin Feiran chuckled softly, stood up and walked to the table, took the paper and pen from Ru Xian's hand, and began to write.
"It's not that I've never heard of it before; it's just a little trick I tried on a whim when I was young."
Before long, she handed Fu Yin a letter covered in writing. He unfolded it and his expectant expression suddenly froze between his brows. Then his gaze turned cold and he looked at her angrily, throwing the paper away.
"You're kidding me?!"
On the rustling paper, a sword manual was neatly written in small regular script, titled "Six Strikes of the Divine Palace".
Lin Feiran bent down to pick up the paper and said, "I don't like playing tricks on people."
Fu Yin, who was originally bound to the ground by the formation, actually managed to get up halfway in his anger and charged forward a few steps: "I am also a sword cultivator. Do you think I don't know that this is the sword technique of your Daohe Palace!"
"All the laws of the world are nothing more than derivative techniques of one begetting two, two begetting three. Strictly speaking, they have no moves; they are not swordsmanship, but rather magic."
Lin Feiran did not retreat. With a slight turn of her other hand, the Golden Wave Sword flew into her hand. As she turned her fingertips, a light suddenly appeared in the dimly lit room, and a Thunder Sword exactly the same as the Golden Wave Sword appeared in front of her.
"The sword that is copied appears to be formed from lightning, but it can release sword energy and carries the same sword intent, so it is no different from the sword itself. In essence, the Six Strike Techniques of the Divine Palace is nothing more than extracting a wisp of sword energy, taking shape from it, and using spiritual power to create another spiritual sword."
With a flick of her wrist, what was originally just one lightning sword instantly transformed into six, filling the room with dazzling light, all illuminated by the lightning.
Lin Feiran stood among them, a smile on her face, doing what she did best. She always inadvertently revealed a bit of spiritedness.
"The difficulty of the Six Divine Palace Techniques lies not in the sword moves themselves, but in how to extract sword energy from them and transform it into form."
With a flick of her wrist, the six thunder swords vanished as if they had never existed, demonstrating the extent to which she was adept at using them.
Fu Yin watched this scene with a sense of bewilderment.
Lin Feiran continued, "I used to wonder, is it only for practicing swordsmanship? What about knives, daggers, or arrows? In the end, I found that any weapon is fine, as long as you know how to use it."
Later, a fellow student casually asked me, "Can people be transferred out?"
As a fellow sword cultivator, Fu Yin was speechless with astonishment, finding it hard to imagine who would say such a thing.
Lin Feiran said, "At that time, some people were obsessed with cultivation. After hearing this, I was also curious, but I still didn't take any action. It might not be useful. If it were useful, I might lose my soul if I wasn't careful."
Fu Yin didn't speak, but Fu Xia stepped forward and said in a loud voice, "You guys tried!"
Lin Feiran was silent for a moment: "He stole a Soul-Stabilizing Pearl, saying he believed in my abilities. Plus, he's young but bold, and he kept saying I could do it, only I could do it..."
Fortunately, the result was good.
At first she was cautious, but nothing happened, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief. At least Wei Changzai was alright and hadn't lost his mind. He wasn't panicked at all, and even encouraged her expressionlessly, patting her shoulder and saying to try again next time.
If there's a next time, there will be a next time.
Lin Feiran tried it for two years until one time, when Wei Changzai was momentarily distracted, they realized that a person's soul could also be extracted using this method.
Fu Yin remained silent for a long time. He looked at the paper that Lin Feiran handed him. In addition to the sword manual, there was a simple circle drawn at the bottom.
Lin Feiran pointed to that spot: "This is an array, which is extremely important. For a low-level cultivator, the most important thing after the soul leaves the body is to maintain it. The reason you haven't separated your bodies yet is probably because of this."
She took out a needle case, gestured to him, and said in a continuous manner.
"While using the extraction method to remove your sister, insert needles into your nine yang orifices. As her soul leaves your body, insert needles into your nine yin orifices in reverse. First, immobilize her, then draw her in. At the same time, use an array to maintain her soul and guide it into her physical body. Then seal her soul with needles. This process will be successful."
Lin Feiran spoke very casually, as if saying that every meal must have side dishes, but the techniques, formations, and medical knowledge mixed in were not something that could be spun and boasted about after only learning a little bit.
Even more surprisingly, the idea of giving it a try actually sprouted in his mind.
Fu Yin snatched the paper back, thinking of the vow Lin Feiran had made, and pursed her lips, saying, "I'll believe you this time. If this method doesn't work, then you can wait to break your vow and break through your realm!"
He carefully retrieved the paper: "Now, let me leave immediately. I need to choose a suitable body!"
Lin Feiran immediately said, "You must not harm anyone. If you kill innocent people for this, even if you break your vow, I will not extract your souls."
Fu Yin glanced at her and said nothing more. As soon as Lin Feiran nodded, Ru Xian broke the formation and let him fly away.
The grandmaster withdrew his gaze and looked at Lin Feiran again: "What do you think?"
Lin Feiran sheathed the Golden Wave Sword and pondered for a moment before saying, "Grandmaster, perhaps the Dao Lord's abilities are not as vast as you and I think."
She looked up at the two people in front of her and asked, "Tell me, what kind of person would need a spiritual vein of heaven and earth?"
Author's Note: [Kiss]
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