Chapter 408 Shangqing Secret Techniques? I've learned them!
Ouyang Rong took out three autumn clothes made by Aqing from his bundle and put them aside.
Then take out the Mirage Beast Mask and a sandalwood pill box.
Inside the pill box was a top-grade Qi-replenishing pill, Black Dragon, which he had never had a chance to use since he had tricked Boss Li into giving it to him.
During this trip to Dagushan, I unexpectedly comprehended the Dingjian Divine Power "Dependent Origination and Emptiness," which saved me some trouble.
That's not bad, we can keep it and use it as the grand finale.
After all, at present, the concept of "dependent origination and emptiness" still relies too much on luck.
Ouyang Rong's skills were not yet proficient enough, and his understanding was not deep enough.
Not every place is like Dagushan, with its rich incense atmosphere accumulated over nearly a hundred years, and yet to be occupied by Buddhist practitioners, making it suitable for his "origin."
After putting away the Mirage Mask and the Ink Dragon, Ouyang Rong's gaze fell on the old book at the bottom of the open bundle.
The booklet was old and looked like a hastily handwritten copy. On the yellowed cover, there were two small seal characters written in a messy hand.
"Zhen Gao... Is it a decree personally bestowed by a true immortal? The name is quite arrogant."
It sounds like some kind of gimmicky Taoist scripture sold at a local street stall.
It came from that frivolous Taoist priest of unknown identity, so it should be related to the Sanqing Taoist sect.
However, when the book was discovered, it was wrapped in a pink bellyband by the frivolous Taoist priest, which made Ouyang Rong subconsciously feel that it was not an important thing, at least not a serious book.
However, just in case, it's best to do some research.
He pondered for a moment, then flipped through the Taoist classics on the bookshelf, but found no clues; they didn't seem to be the Taoist scriptures commonly found in the market.
"I'll ask my junior sister another day, or have Liu Lang inquire about it."
Ouyang Rong temporarily put away the book "Zhen Gao".
Finally, his gaze turned to the long sword case on the table.
He looked helpless, thought for a moment, and then opened a small crack.
A moment later, a streak of clear blue sword arc flew out of the sword case.
He had intended to soar to great heights, but Ouyang Rong, with a stern face, pinched him with two fingers and pulled him back.
The craftsman's body twisted and turned in strong protest.
Unfortunately, the sword master was even more despicable than it.
"I didn't let you out here to wander the streets. I'm keeping an eye on the equipment you dropped. If you leak your secrets, we'll all be captured. But you're doing fine, getting a new sword master and continuing to wander the streets carefree. I'm in big trouble..."
"Hey, you don't want to be known as the nemesis of sword masters, do you?"
After being given a long and earnest lecture, the craftsman hung listlessly beside the sword box.
Amidst the clear blue sword light, Ouyang Rong retrieved a snow-white longsword from the sword box.
He had just acquired the sword and his hand was stung by the sword energy, but as soon as he entered the clear blue sword light emanating from the sword arc above, the snow-white longsword immediately quieted down and lay obediently in Ouyang Rong's hand, as if it were bound and restrained.
With the master of a certain Hu woman absent, its sword aura was completely suppressed by the craftsman, a crushing defeat that was far superior to the master's.
Although it can't compare to the Dingjian sword, to be fair, this longsword is indeed of good quality.
Ouyang Rong examined it carefully.
Having previously clashed with Xue Zhongzhu at Donglin Temple, Ouyang Rong felt that this snow-white longsword was faintly imbued with spirituality and its sharpness was not much weaker than Dingjian. At that time, it was undamaged even in a head-on collision. Ouyang Rong pondered that it was even slightly stronger than the Moonlight Longsword, the legacy of the old swordsmith.
However, his only concern was that it seemed to be connected to the spirit of the candle in the snow...
However, given the distance and the solid pressure from the craftsmanship, their location shouldn't be revealed.
Ouyang Rong frowned slightly. Suddenly, he noticed two ancient characters faintly visible on the blade of the snow-white longsword.
"Zhi Shuang?"
He muttered curiously, "The name of the sword is quite elegant."
Ouyang Rong gripped the hard, cold hilt of the sword and examined it closely under the lamplight.
Just then, he leaned closer to take a closer look and discovered that a long golden hair was wrapped around the hilt of the sword.
Upon seeing the hair color, Ouyang Rong immediately knew whose it was.
A domineering figure with golden hair as bright as candlelight flashed before my eyes.
He twitched his lips, no longer in the mood to look, carefully burned away the golden hair, and hurriedly put it into the box. After leaving the sword box, he used the clear blue sword energy to suppress Zhi Shuang, which consumed too much of his dantian's spiritual energy. He was starting to feel the strain. In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, half of the spiritual energy in his eighth-grade dantian was already gone, so he had no choice but to put it away, as it was inconvenient for him to look at it any longer.
As for the other piece of thin cloth inside the sword box, Ouyang Rong ignored it and didn't take it out to look at it. He was also afraid that it might be separated from the sword box that suppressed his qi. The main reason was that the methods of the Yin Yang School's qi practitioners were strange. Even if it was burned to ashes, they might still be able to find it by following the clues. This was not the wilderness, and he couldn't expose Yinbingzhai, and he also had to maintain his harmless persona as the Chief Secretary of Jiangzhou.
Speaking of which, this Mo family sword box is indeed powerful. It was able to suppress the spiritual energy cultivation of Qiu Shenji, a top-level Qi cultivator from the military school, and it can still hold a craftsman whose Qi is soaring to the heavens. Not to mention "Zhi Shuang" and ordinary clothes.
He glared at the craftsman, then shoved the little guy back in. By the way, what kind of weird and wonderful stuff did we get from this trip to Dagushan?
Unbeknownst to Ouyang Rong, who was turning away to complain and go to sleep, a thousand miles away in a secluded valley in Yunmengze, a tall, golden-haired woman was meditating. The moment she took out the snow-white longsword "Zhi Shuang" from her home in Xunyang City, she suddenly opened her eyes, hovering a hundred feet in the air, gazing thoughtfully towards the south in the direction of Xunyang City.
As Ouyang Rong meticulously examined and "touched" the snow-white longsword, the ethereal Hu woman, who was squinting to sense it carefully, nearly stumbled and fell from mid-air. Below, in the peach grove, some Yue women with curious and puzzled expressions looked up at her. The blonde, mixed-race Hu woman, now without her sword, barely managed to regain her footing in mid-air. She covered her burning cheek with her hand, her emerald eyes blazing with fury as she glared at Xunyang City to the southeast, her voice icy and clenched:
"You lewd scholar, you have wasted your time studying the sages!"
...
The next morning, Ouyang Rong went to the Xunyang Prince's Mansion. After visiting Prince Li Xian, he found his junior sister who was sleeping in late.
Ouyang Rong walked into the courtyard.
"Get up, the sun's already high in the sky."
"Wait, senior brother, don't come in. I... I'm cultivating."
A hurried, delicate cry came from inside the courtyard, the voice tinged with a magnetic languor.
"It's freezing cold, you're probably hiding under the covers cultivating, right?"
Ouyang Rong was speechless and shook his head, but he still waited in the courtyard.
Half an hour later, Xie Lingjiang walked out with a serious expression, dressed neatly in his familiar red men's clothing, full of energy. However, Ouyang Rong looked a bit gloomy, as he had been waiting for a long time.
"We've only been apart for a short while, and you're already in such a hurry to come here. I wasn't enough with you on the way here. You're in such a hurry so early in the morning. Aunt Wei and Sister Guo'er will laugh at us again."
Upon seeing Ouyang Rong, the noblewoman Xie yawned and muttered a reproachful remark. Then, after looking around and seeing that there were no maids, she stepped forward, took his arm, buried her head slightly in his chest, and pinched his waist with her delicate hand under her sleeve.
Ouyang Rong was stunned. He gasped in pain, then realized that going directly to his junior sister's boudoir was indeed outrageous.
This isn't the girls' dormitory from his previous life, where he could freely wander around. Perhaps Ouyang Rong didn't think much of it, and no one in the mansion dared to stop him; he was used to it. But the maids and servants in the mansion might be secretly making fun of him somewhere.
Although my junior sister is used to dressing as a man, she is still a girl with a sensitive and delicate personality.
However, Ouyang Rong certainly couldn't explain that he wouldn't come to her without a reason, and that he hadn't come to be intimate with her... He nodded seriously, his tone embarrassed:
I missed you so much, I couldn't help it. I'll be more careful next time and come over during mealtimes.
"It's no use talking to you, you always do it again, humph, come on, your stomach is growling, you came over without even eating breakfast, really..."
Xie Lingjiang reprimanded him sternly, while Ouyang Rong behaved himself.
However, her tone didn't sound like a reprimand at all...
After a short while, Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang exchanged pleasantries and sat down together for breakfast. Only then did Ouyang Rong subtly inquire about the Three Pure Ones Daoist Sect.
"The Three Mountains of the South, the Blood-Dripping Daoist Sect... well, that is, the Three Pure Ones Daoist Sect. They have always kept a low profile. Apart from the Yuqing Daoists of Gezao Mountain, the Daoists of the other two mountains, Taiqing and Shangqing, are rarely seen at the foot of the mountain."
"However, there is a difference between Taiqing Sect and Shangqing Sect. Taiqing Longhu Mountain is aloof and secluded, similar to the path of Yunmeng Sword Marsh."
"The latter, Shangqing Maoshan, simply has fewer people. The disciples actively travel down the mountain, but the orthodox Taoist priests of Maoshan Ancestral Hall only have a few lineages with single-lineage transmission. With fewer people, the reputation is naturally not that great."
"But it is not without reason that it can be ranked alongside Taiqing Longhu Mountain and Yuqingge Zao Mountain, and be known as the Three Mountains of Talismans, with disciples of the same lineage sharing the same generational names."
Xie Lingjiang put down her porridge bowl and spoke softly:
"Because I know Senior Chongxuzi, I am more familiar with Gezao Mountain. As for Longhu Mountain and Maoshan, I am not very clear about them. However, you can ask Uncle Li and Sister Guo'er. When their family was first demoted to Longcheng, although they were down on their luck, they still had some connections with the temple. There was a senior fortune teller from Maoshan who frequently visited the Su residence. Later, they gradually lost contact."
"However, the Celestial Master's Mansion on Mount Longhu is now secretly communicating with Uncle Li quite often. Senior Brother should know about this."
Xie Lingjiang recounted the details with great familiarity.
Ouyang Rong nodded slightly: "Yes, the pill that restored my physique back then came from the Celestial Master's Mansion?"
“That’s right. In fact, Uncle Li’s influence is still the most effective, but I still owe him a favor.”
Xie Lingjiang made no attempt to hide anything:
"In fact, although the Sanqing Taoist sect has three mountain peaks, the ancestral halls are closely related and, in a sense, they advance and retreat together. They resist the southward spread of Louguan Taoist teachings from the north and monopolize the incense offerings of believers in the south."
"The Three Pure Ones Taoist sect share both glory and shame. If Gezao Mountain is the face, then Longhu Mountain is the substance."
"What about the Shangqing Sect of Maoshan?" Ouyang Rong asked with great interest.
Xie Lingjiang smiled faintly: "It's a shadow, walking down the mountain, doing things that are inconvenient to do in terms of appearance and substance."
Ouyang Rong pondered, "No wonder there are so few people."
He paused, then asked casually, "By the way, does Junior Sister know anything about the various Taoist scriptures and practices? I've heard someone mention something called 'Zhen Gao'..."
"Of course I know. The *Zhen Gao*? This scripture is no simple text; it is the most important Daoist text of the Shangqing Maoshan school." Xie Lingjiang nodded and immediately replied:
"This method can only be granted to the direct core disciples recognized by the Shangqing Ancestral Hall. Those who enter the inner sanctum can use many secret techniques, including the Shangqing's ultimate skill - the Divine Decree. However, casting the Divine Decree requires consuming a red and black talisman, which is also a secret treasure of the Shangqing Sect..."
"Where did you hear about the 'True Teachings', Senior Brother? It is said that it was orally transmitted by a celestial being from Shangqing a thousand years ago. Not many people know about this thing."
"The Supreme Purity Secret Arts and the Divine Decree are recorded in the True Scripture. Only Taoists who have cultivated the introductory practice of the Supreme Purity Sect, the True Scripture of the Great Cave of the Supreme Purity, can cultivate the True Scripture. Similarly, the Supreme Purity Secret Arts and the Jade Purity Secret Arts also require prerequisite practices, so the threshold is very high, ensuring that the Ancestral Hall's inheritance is not passed on to outsiders."
"It's just hearsay."
Ouyang Rong nodded calmly, but his heart was in turmoil.
Not long after, after having dinner with his junior sister and spending some time together, Ouyang Rong left the palace. On his way back, he frowned, puzzled:
"This tattered booklet is actually a Shangqing secret manual? What is the relationship between that Taoist and Maoshan? Could he be a direct disciple? But the Sanqing Taoist sect has a close relationship with the Xunyang Prince's Mansion, which can be considered as betting on the rise of the new dynasty. Why would they send a direct disciple of the Shangqing sect to act as a henchman for the Wei family? And such a frivolous and lecherous fellow at that?"
"Could it be a two-pronged approach, betting on both sides? But this method is far too crude and unsophisticated. Couldn't they have subtly pledged their loyalty to the Wei family and observed the situation? Why intervene so quickly, only to be caught red-handed by me now..."
"In addition, to cultivate the Shangqing Ultimate Skills in the True Teachings, one must first cultivate the introductory technique, the Shangqing Great Cave True Scripture."
“I can’t just give up my skills and start all over again, following the Taoist path.”
"Wait a minute, back when it wasn't even at the eighth rank, the merit purple mist could supply craftsmen and power the cauldron sword. Could this also be considered as a kind of use of the 'cauldron sword' divine power of 'dependent origination and emptiness'?"
"Doesn't this mean that the Purple Mist of Merit can act as spiritual energy, allowing one to overcome the threshold of some extraordinary techniques? It's quite possible, I'll give it a try."
Ouyang Rong had a flash of inspiration and immediately took action. He browsed through the "True Teachings," closed his eyes, held his breath, and circulated his spiritual energy according to the cultivation method.
A moment later, inside the merit tower in the Heart Lake, the cyan-gold characters above the small wooden fish changed, and the merit slowly began to be deducted.
At the same time, the spiritual energy within Ouyang Rong's body flowed smoothly and unimpeded, following the special pathways indicated in the "True Teachings".
"Available!"
Ouyang Rong's tone was both surprised and delighted.
"Wait..." He frowned slightly and muttered to himself:
"Although I can cultivate the 'True Teachings' and learn the Shangqing Secret Technique of Divine Mandate, according to my junior sister, each use of the Shangqing Secret Technique requires consuming a precious talisman with black background and blood characters. Where can I obtain such a talisman?"
Ouyang Rong searched through the old handwritten book called "Zhen Gao" but found no trace of the red and black talismans.
"That frivolous Taoist priest must have used a divine invocation... What a pity, he wasted a red and black talisman." He sighed softly, thought for a moment, then lowered his head to continue reading the "True Teachings," silently reciting them in his mind.
I'll steal a piece of Shangqing's secret technique first; after all, it's never a bad thing to have more skills.
Now that a new and wonderful use for the Merit Purple Mist has been developed, Ouyang Rong has decided to focus on a comprehensive approach.
However, if things continue like this, what if a wild swordsman who is proficient in all the unique skills of various schools appears in the future? Wouldn't the style be a bit abstract?
Never mind, this time I was "caught on the spot" by Xue Zhongzhu. Even with the new Dingjian supernatural power "Yuanqi Xingkong", I was still seriously injured in close combat and ran away in such a sorry state.
Ouyang Rong had no interest in offering his sword to the Empress or the court, and he lacked the standard equipment of a mature swordsman with a killing system such as a protector or sword attendant. Although he had the full support of the Xunyang Prince's Mansion, it didn't help him much in terms of Qi cultivation. On the contrary, he and his junior sister were the two pillars of the Prince's Mansion, and he had to protect them.
This swordsman is more like an orphan than a wild one; he's truly in a precarious situation and can only rely on himself. He needs to learn more to protect himself.
Holding the "True Teachings" in his hand, Ouyang Rong muttered to himself:
"A divine decree? Interesting. I'd like to see how it's performed..."
(End of this chapter)
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