Chapter 401 Craftsmanship and Supernatural Powers, Origin and Emptiness
Faced with the curious gazes of the crowd.
Li Li didn't say much.
After discussing it for a while, he began to coordinate and assign tasks.
First, he addressed the two Xianbei men:
"Murong Qi, Murong An, first move the coffin to the open backyard. This is bait; we'll wait for the rabbit to run into the tree stump."
"You two go back to the rooftop and keep watch. The view is wide open. Observe the sky above the courtyard for any movement of the cauldron and sword, to prevent this person from sneaking in and carrying out the sword-laying act. If you find any movement, shout to warn them immediately."
"yes."
The Xianbei Murong brothers exchanged a glance, revealing their gleaming white teeth. As if thinking that they could break the neck of a legendary, rare swordsman with severed meridians tonight, their smiles carried a chilling undertone.
They watched as the Murong brothers went to carry the coffin out of the mourning hall and placed it in the open courtyard where the autumn wind was blowing.
Li Li turned and said:
"As for Master Miyin and Daoist Xi, you two can do as you please. However, please remember the precautions I just mentioned and be careful of this young man. Judging from his previous act of disguising himself as the Sixth Young Master, he is extremely cunning and skilled in deception and ambush."
The frivolous Taoist priest, known as Master Xi, sat down on the ground, took out a platinum talisman and a water pouch from his sleeve, and said with a smirk:
"Hehe, the true strength of the swordsman lies in the Divine Power of the Cauldron Sword, which is a top secret. His weakness is also obvious: he is as fragile as glass."
"If one has the support of an established sect, and can build a complete system with sword protectors and sword attendants to protect the sword wielder and prevent others from getting close, coupled with an unbreakable sword formation, then once a cauldron sword is unleashed, one will be invincible."
"If that's the case, we'd better back down. Even if we doubled our strength, we still couldn't beat him."
"But then again, even the most skilled swordsman has flaws in his sword formation. When the New Cauldron Sword and its divine abilities were created, Qi cultivators throughout the world might not have been able to understand its secrets, making it difficult to break and easily leading to their deaths."
"But once the experience of our predecessors is summarized, the Qi cultivators of the world and the established forces on the mountain are not to be trifled with. They can always find a way to counter the moves. This is a battle of wits and courage."
"Throughout history, those legendary swordsmen who once dominated the world but ultimately met their end were all killed by others who figured out and cracked the sword's divine power... It's just a pity that every time the problem was solved, countless Qi cultivators lost their lives."
Master Xi chuckled and shook his head:
"However, according to your description, this person doesn't seem to be a sword protector or sword servant. Otherwise, it would be ridiculous for him to run around with a cauldron sword all day long."
"This person is both unruly and reckless, always acting alone."
"Third, you have revealed his Dingjian Divine Power ahead of time. He is called 'Returning Home' and he started with a sword manual for poor scholars. The Dingjian Divine Power of poor scholars was already revealed three hundred years ago during the Liu Song and Northern Wei dynasties. Now it seems that this person is not the one with the spirit of this new Dingjian, but rather he took advantage of the situation and intercepted the Sixth Prince to become the sword wielder."
"These opportunists, ha, looking back, the process of killing Zhao Rushi is also very clear. They used the legendary 'Return to the Past' sword to kill her. No wonder there was no trace of her. The only slightly strange thing is that this cauldron sword killed her without leaving any sword energy behind..."
"There are some things to be careful about. Apart from that, I have already thought of a way to solve this problem."
"If I were that person, I would definitely try to sneak in first. With only the cultivation of the eighth or ninth rank, facing opponents of the seventh or sixth rank, of course I would have to set up my sword in advance. Haha, interesting. Like a rat, let's play with him for a bit."
"I rushed to Xunyang City before my senior brother, and I didn't expect to have such a gain."
"Qi cultivators are already going against the natural order, and the swordsman's killing power is too strong. 'Stealing' the divine weapon is even more against the natural order. In Buddhist terms, it means that one's merits are lacking."
"Every person in history who slays the swordsman has received great fortune. This great fortune is of little use to ordinary martial arts practitioners, but it is especially useful for practitioners of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism to break through a certain important rank, hahaha."
He chuckled softly and pointed at the crowd:
“Old bald monk, Murong brothers, this swordsman’s head is mine. If you dare to try, feel free to do so.”
After speaking calmly, the Taoist priest took off his sword, pricked his fingertip, and dripped blood onto a black talisman with red characters on his hand.
The talisman spontaneously combusted, and he inhaled the dark red ash along with a wisp of smoke. The Taoist priest tilted his head back and calmly drank a mouthful of cool water.
Li Li glanced sideways at the frivolous Taoist priest drinking the talisman water.
The secret seal camel also opened its eyes and looked at his red and black talismans.
This is a Taoist priest who received ordination from the ancestral hall of the Three Mountains Blood-Dripping Taoist sect.
If I'm not mistaken, the red and black talismans are the ultimate talisman techniques of the Maoshan Shangqing Sect, one of the three major talisman sects in the south.
Taiqing, Shangqing, Yuqing.
Each sect's unique martial arts technique is different, but all require a talisman to use.
The Taiqing Thunder Technique requires a vermilion talisman.
A red and black talisman is needed for the Shangqing to summon the gods.
The Jade Purity Divine Pill requires a platinum talisman.
The identity of this frivolous Taoist priest has been confirmed without a doubt.
However, it had been a long time since the Secret Seal Monk had seen such an arrogant Maoshan Taoist. He was quite different from the low-key, demon-slaying, and righteous Taoist he was used to. He wondered what kind of Taoist he was and how the Wei family had managed to get him to come.
Li Li nodded in satisfaction: "As Master Xi said."
He couldn't really control the frivolous Taoist, because... this Maoshan Taoist had come to him on his own initiative, offering to help for free.
"Amitabha."
With a shout, the ascetic of secret seal stood up and, without making any special preparations, went out into the open courtyard.
He sat cross-legged in front of Zhao Rushi's coffin, chanting scriptures softly, his eyes filled with sorrow.
Li Li, Master Xi, and the Murong brothers vaguely heard that the old monk was reciting the same scriptures as Shandao and the others in the main hall.
Master Xi's eyes held a hint of disdain, and he smiled faintly: "As expected of a Buddhist, you are truly sincere and compassionate."
The ascetic master Miyin ignored him and continued to convert the dead.
Li Li didn't say anything and turned to prepare other matters.
It's normal for experts to have some quirks.
...
In the distance, inside the newly built Sutra Copying Hall.
Ouyang Rong looked up, frowned, and silently stared for a while at the "arc" in the sky above his head.
Before tonight, every time he brought his crafts to Dagushan, the little guy had never shown any signs of consuming incense smoke.
Tonight is the first time this has happened.
Ouyang Rong knew that the craftsman was greedy.
Whether it was when it was still in the sword-forging furnace, or when the first sword-washing process absorbed the essence of the Dragon City and Yunmengze, causing a flood.
When Ouyang Rong killed Qiu Shenji out of a fit of resentment, Qiu Shenji drained all his spiritual energy, merits, and spirit, almost turning him into a vegetable.
This is clearly indicated.
But I never expected the little guy to eat so much. After all, he's not young anymore. He can't just pick up and eat anything on the ground outside, especially "qi" that has nothing to do with Ouyang Rong himself.
However, at this moment, it seems to even consume the incense smoke of Buddhist temples, showing no restraint whatsoever. Ouyang Rong is no longer sure what its "recipe" is.
"That's a bit outrageous, but it makes sense. I almost forgot that you're actually one of the main culprits behind the floods in Longcheng over the past few decades. You can even consume the ethereal vapors of Yunmeng Marsh, let alone the scent of incense..."
Ouyang Rong slowly withdrew his gaze, rubbed his chin, and muttered to himself:
"But why couldn't you eat incense before, and now your appetite is so big? What happened to change..."
Before tonight, Ouyang Rong had concluded that the recipe for the craftsmanship could only consume the Qi within Ouyang Rong's own microcosm, or the Qi that was closely related to and connected with him.
For example, the spiritual energy refined in the dantian, the resentment of the poor scholar, and even the purple mist of merit are all deeply bound to Ouyang Rong.
This range even includes the sword energy of the craftsman himself.
That's right, it doesn't even waste a single bit of its own clear blue sword energy, focusing on a clean-up operation.
Each time it goes for a stroll outside, before returning to the sword box, it can subtly absorb the sword energy back without leaving a trace.
The craftsman conceals the sword's aura, making it appear as an ordinary sword, yet it kills without leaving any trace of life—this is the principle behind it.
Ouyang Rong had discovered this long ago; coincidentally, he also possessed this ability to gather and retain energy and produce and consume it himself.
So I've always felt a bit uncertain about it. Is it because I became a sword wielder and was "infected" by the craftsmanship?
As for whether it's possible that the opposite is true, and that he actually corrupted the craftsmanship, Ouyang Rong couldn't think of that in the short term.
Inside the main hall.
On the head of the golden Buddha statue, the craftsmen leap with joy, swallowing the incense smoke from all directions.
Below, a young man in a scholar's robe sat alone before the Buddha, head bowed, muttering to himself:
"Since we came up the mountain today, you have been restless, running amok in the sword box and making quite a commotion, which has disturbed my peace of mind."
"After leaving the underground palace, the commotion intensified..."
He stared at his palm.
Not long ago, when they were eating at A Qing's place, the little guy kept talking non-stop. Ouyang Rong thought it was because he had seen A Qing, who was a person with strong destiny energy, and wanted to eat A Qing's energy.
Of course, Ouyang Rong couldn't let it cause trouble. After meeting A Qing, he put his finger to his lips and shushed her, which was also a warning to the little guy who was revisiting the place.
He paused for a moment, then murmured:
"Now it seems I wronged you. You're hungry too, aren't you, watching us eat? But when did this craving start, to the point where you can even swallow the scent of incense?"
"Could it be a change that occurred after I advanced to the eighth rank, and is related to the craftsmanship sword technique and innate divine power that I am currently seeking?"
"It's very possible, but why did it only react to the incense smoke from Dagushan Mountain and not to other types of smoke? Could the incense smoke be related to us in some way...?"
"Wait a minute, back then you used the old swordsmith's sword furnace rooted in the Butterfly Creek water vein to draw water vapor, are you now also using something to draw incense vapor, and the most likely medium... is me."
Ouyang Rong clenched his fist loosely, looked up and asked himself:
"And what connection do I have with Dagushan...?"
At this point, he suddenly turned around, glanced in the direction of the Pure Land Palace from where he had come from, and suddenly remembered his conversation with Xiuzhen not long ago.
"I understand, it's a matter of cause and effect."
"According to the Buddhist teachings of dependent origination and emptiness, what connects me to Donglin Temple on Dagu Mountain is a 'dependent origination'."
"When conditions arise, people gather; when conditions cease, they separate."
"You used the sword master's connection as a medium to establish a relationship with the incense offerings nurtured by Donglin Temple, thus avoiding rejection and gaining access to enjoy the incense offerings."
"If we compare the merit purple mist, the spiritual energy of the dantian, and the indignation to a home-cooked meal, then what we are doing now is not just picking up whatever we can find to eat, but rather having a free meal voucher from a restaurant and enjoying a hearty meal."
He sighed softly and muttered to himself:
“In the past, I have always sought to understand myself and subconsciously believed that the general direction of crafting one’s innate supernatural power is to draw on the ‘qi’ possessed by the sword master himself.”
"Looking back now, the most dangerous approach was to make the craftsman swallow his resentment. Instead, the true direction of one's innate supernatural power is to use a predestined connection to absorb external energy!"
"Before reaching the highest grade, the spiritual energy within the body of the sword master is ultimately limited, while the capacity of the mythical cauldron sword to bear spiritual energy is almost as vast as the ocean."
“Nurturing a sword within the small world of the human body is a minor path; nurturing a sword within the vast world of the sun and moon is the true path of craftsmanship.”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Ouyang Rong couldn't help but ask the old swordsmith who had long since been cast into the furnace to consecrate his sword:
"With just one corresponding origin, one can devour all the energies of the mortal world. Old sir, is this the Dingjian Divine Power you designed? Even if you give it to the frail and helpless Aqing, as long as you borrow the origin once, you can still make all the Qi cultivators in the world fall."
A person's sudden enlightenment sometimes happens in an instant.
Before the Buddha statue, the young man in the sapphire blue scholar's robe loosened his fist and stared blankly at his palm.
A crescent-shaped sword hung silently above his head, radiating a blue glow, as if in a dream.
In the next instant, a tiny, hair-like gap appeared in the roof above the main hall, and the "craftsman" vanished in a flash.
A short while later, on Dagushan Mountain, in a high, unseen place in the dark, howling night wind, an "arc" appeared out of nowhere.
If you look closely, this is also the place where Xue Zhongzhu once used the Crimson Lotus Sword Seal to overlook Dragon City.
The person she had been searching for was no longer there, but the cauldron and sword she had sought a thousand times returned.
In the vast sky, a slender "arc" begins to devour everything in its path.
After a short while, I felt the vast incense smoke, as boundless as the ocean, compared to the spiritual energy of the small world around me.
Ouyang Rong sighed, tossed aside the water pouch, and gave up on swallowing the pill.
He carefully put away the ink dragon, stood up, without carrying the empty sword box on the table, nor did he recall the flying sword in the sky.
Freed from the constraints of the swordsman's short, weak, and meager spiritual energy, the craftsman was able to break free from the previous distance of more than ten feet and roam freely in the vast void.
Ouyang Rong strode out the door empty-handed, wearing a bronze mask that did not transform his body.
Before long, he walked straight into the main hall.
As he calmly passed by the monks, including Shandao and Xiufa, who were chanting sutras with their eyes closed, he ignored all the exquisite arrangements that had been made in the main hall and simply picked up three sticks of incense.
Ouyang Rong walked to a coffin in the backyard. Under the astonished gazes of Li Li and the others, he slightly bowed and offered three sticks of incense to the coffin and the dead body. Then, he glanced sideways at the ascetic monk Miyin, who was chanting sutras to guide people, and nodded gently.
"All forms are illusory. If one sees all forms as non-forms, then one sees the Tathagata... What a wonderful Diamond Sutra, what a wonderful phrase about seeing the Tathagata."
He made a comment, then turned to face the crowd:
"I am revisiting this place tonight and have come across a question that I cannot understand. I would be grateful if you gentlemen could enlighten me. There is no need to rush to answer; take turns. If you answer correctly, you may leave. If you cannot answer, I beg you gentlemen to die."
He spoke slowly and deliberately, and seemed a little embarrassed towards the end.
Everyone in the courtyard stared in disbelief at the young man in the sapphire blue scholar's robe wearing a bronze mask.
Li Li, Master Xi, and the Murong brothers immediately became alert and looked around.
In the courtyard where the cold wind howled, there was only a lonely coffin and the cold moonlight on the ground.
There was no sign of the cauldron and sword they had been wary of around the main hall, including in the sky.
Everyone couldn't help but look again at the young man in the bright red robe who walked up to them and humbly asked for their advice.
No way, are you looking to die?
(End of this chapter)
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