Among the mountains, the wind rustles the leaves, but it does not disturb people.

Under the stone bridge, a mountain stream flows, and the trickling water seems to make a wonderful sound.

Beside the pavilion, young men and women in their sixties sit together, reading and discussing scriptures, and acting as teachers to each other; on the branches, yellow and light green, with purple wings and red beaks, the yellow sparrows compete with each other for beauty.

The beasts listen to the sutras, the birds hear the truth, what a harmonious scene! If you are in it, you will feel calm and at peace...

"Brother Lin, I heard that you have entered the state of Bigu Fasting. Congratulations, congratulations." An old man saw Lin Mo and came forward to congratulate him.

"Junior Brother Xue, you are not bad either. Master said that the road of cultivation is difficult and dangerous. In addition to perseverance, you need to share what you have with others to avoid going astray. Master also said that there are three thousand great ways, but only one way to immortality. Choosing the right way is the first difficulty, whether you can climb to the top is the second difficulty, and whether you can finally kill your inner demons and realize the truth is the third difficulty..."

"Brother, what you said is absolutely right."

At this moment, Lin Mo was talking to a white-haired and skinny old man. Although the other party was older, he regarded himself as his junior brother.

In the Heavenly Palace, seniority is not determined by age or time of entry, but by cultivation. The higher your cultivation, the higher your status, and you are the senior brother. If your cultivation is low, even if you entered the sect the earliest and are the oldest, you are still a junior brother.

Every month the master would check everyone’s homework and cultivation, and rank them according to their level of cultivation.

"Senior Brother Lin is now ranked twenty-third, which is much higher than last time. I believe that it will be just a matter of time before he reaches the top of the immortal path in the future." The old man was quite sweet-mouthed.

"Junior Brother Xue, you are not bad either. You are ranked within the top 100, right?"

"Yes, yes, but the road to immortality is long, and I don't know when I can reach the immortal realm and obtain the fruit of Taoism."

"Persevere, there will always be a day."

Next, the old and frail Junior Brother Xue asked about the puzzles he encountered in cultivation, and Lin Mo answered them carefully.

Similar scenes happen every day.

The exchange meeting with fellow students usually starts in the early morning and ends at noon. You can come or not, it all depends on your mood.

After dealing with Junior Brother Xue, Lin Mo opened the "Dao Lun" in his hand and began to ponder why he had gone astray before.

At this time, a Taoist priest came up the path. He had a bald forehead and a sunken face, and was ugly. Seeing him, others hurriedly packed their bags and respectfully called him Ninth Senior Brother.

Only the top ten disciples can be referred to by numbers, such as the eldest brother, the second brother, the third brother, and so on to the tenth brother.

To be ranked ninth is pretty impressive.

"Ninth Senior Brother is here!"

"Hello, Ninth Brother."

Everyone came forward to greet them, and Lin Mo also stood up to greet them. The Ninth Senior Brother nodded slightly in response, showing that he was a proud and arrogant person.

"I am here at the Master's command to preach to you. Now listen carefully."

"The path to immortality is to cultivate the body, the mind, the spirit, and the mirror. First, cultivate the body and strengthen the body. Only when the physique is strong can you practice fasting and cultivate the mind. The path to cultivating the mind is to immerse in the six desires and cut off the six desires... Most of you only cultivate the body and the mind. After that, you won't understand even if I tell you. So today, I will only talk about the methods of cultivating the body and the mind. Listen carefully..."

After saying this, the ninth senior brother began to preach aloud.

Most people listened attentively, but some were disdainful and whispered to each other, saying that this Ninth Brother was just reading from a script and didn't say anything useful.

"He is afraid that someone else will take away his ninth place. This is a mean person."

"Shh, keep your voice down. If you are heard, you will suffer the consequences."

Lin Mo did not listen carefully to Senior Brother Nine's sermon, but he did not whisper to him either. Instead, he stared at the "Theory of the Great Dao" in his hand and pondered.

Because you are in the fasting period, you don’t need to eat, just drink water.

"Brother Lin, you are already 23rd in the disciple ranking, just a little short of the top ten. We are all very optimistic about you and hope that you can go further in the next ranking."

The old and frail Junior Brother Xue handed over something when he left.

Wrapped in red cloth is a wooden sculpture with a peculiar shape.

"This is 'eye desire'. I asked someone to find it. Brother Lin, you can use it in your next step of cultivating your mind." Old Xue smiled. Lin Mo refused, but he insisted on giving it to him, saying that they would all be counting on you, Lin Mo, in the future, so giving him a little gift was nothing.

In this way, Lin Mo became his subordinate.

At nightfall, Lin Mo took out the "Eye Desire" and began to practice visualization.

When others passed by, they saw colorful lights in the house, as if there was something dazzling, but no one dared to approach, because they all knew that this was the senior brother cultivating his mind.

According to the rules of the Heavenly Palace, anyone who disturbs a fellow disciple in his practice will be killed without mercy.

In the room, the strange wooden sculpture that Lin Mo saw seemed to come alive, twisting and shaking, and actually turned into a beautiful woman. It really lived up to the saying that beauty is a feast to the eyes.

The beauty has a charming figure. If she is a pound more, she would be fat, and if she is a pound less, she would be thin. There is nothing wrong with her appearance, and her clothes are very seductive. She is said to be wearing clothes, but it seems that she is not wearing any. If she is said to be not wearing any clothes, some key points are still covered, giving a kind of looming beauty.

In short, it is eye-catching.

Lin Mo stared at the enchanting beauty dancing in front of him, her body as soft as a snake, and muttered, "I heard that women cultivate their minds, but this eye desire is a delicate and strong man. It's really interesting. The six desires of cultivating the mind need to be cultivated separately. Eye desire is eye desire, and the other five desires cannot be aroused. If you arouse them, you will fail and have to start all over again. It is indeed very difficult."

Well, anyone who can stare at such a charming person of the opposite sex without doing anything can be said to have reached a certain level of cultivation.

Lin Mo felt uneasy at the moment, and had an urge to pounce on him and pin him down.

"It seems that I can't make any progress today. I don't know where Junior Brother Xue got this 'Eye Desire' from. It's very strange."

Just when she was about to lose control, suddenly, the woman's face changed.

She became another woman.

She was equally beautiful, even prettier than the previous one, but Lin Mo's expression changed. The woman seemed to want to express something, but before she could, Lin Mo walked over and broke her neck in an instant.

With a click.

The colorful lights in the room went out instantly.

The broken wood sculpture fell to the ground, still in that strange and twisted shape.

Lin Mo looked around as if he was guilty of something, making sure that no one had seen what happened before he picked up the wood carving on the ground.

"To cultivate immortality, one must go against the will of heaven. Everything one does goes against common sense and logic. Can it really work?"

The wood carving in my hand is already a dead object.

On the next day, the damaged wood carving was returned to Junior Brother Xue.

"Failed?"

"Alas, it is hard to calm the mind. It is extremely difficult to cultivate the mind. I am still far from it."

"Brother, don't be discouraged. Cultivating the mind is not something that can be achieved overnight. I heard that the brothers who ranked in the top ten also failed many times before they succeeded in cultivating the mind."

"That's true."

"Brother, keep up the good work. We are waiting for your good news."

Time passes slowly, day after day.

In addition to practicing, Lin Mo also traveled with his good junior fellow apprentice, and visited all the scenic spots in the Heavenly Palace.

When everyone went to investigate, they found out that one of the disciples had gone astray in his practice and became possessed.

At this moment, I am having hysterics.

Being possessed by a demon does not only have one symptom. Some people faint, some cannot recognize people, and some go into a frenzy. Talking nonsense are minor symptoms. If you are unlucky, you may even attack people around you like a madman.

The first few can heal themselves, but the latter requires intervention from others.

The one I encountered this time was the last one.

That was a female disciple.

I have met him and had some dealings with him.

She was originally a gentle and quiet woman, but at this moment she behaved like a wild beast, roaring and cursing madly, her eyes were bloodshot, and her strength was terrifying.

Several male disciples couldn't hold her back.

"Let me go, you bastards! What kind of place is this? Let me go, damned! I'm going to eat you and kill you all."

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, a disciple asked Lin Mo for help.

"Brother Lin, please help Junior Sister He..."

Lin Mo nodded, stepped forward, stretched out his hand and grabbed the back of the other person's neck, pressed down, and pinned the female disciple to the ground.

"I'm going to kill you with a knife."

The woman was roaring on the ground.

Quite arrogant.

The surrounding disciples shook their heads upon seeing this. Some said how could Junior Sister He become like this? It seemed that she was in a hurry to achieve success in her cultivation.

Others said that it was okay, as Junior Sister He had also been possessed before, but she recovered slowly.

Finally, someone said that the path of cultivation is difficult and dangerous. Who hasn't gone astray? Slowly, you get used to it.

“Brother Lin, this is a calming talisman.”

Someone handed over a glowing talisman.

Because disciples often go astray, we always try to control them first and stick this talisman on their foreheads. This will calm them down and they will be back to normal within a day at most.

Lin Mo took it, turned the other person over, raised his hand and clapped it, then stuck the talisman on Junior Sister He's forehead.

At that moment, the female disciple who had been noisy before suddenly became quiet as if her bones had been pulled out.

“That’s enough!”

Lin Mo stood up, and the disciples around him immediately complimented him, saying that Senior Brother Lin would definitely be able to make it into the top ten in this ranking.

As for Junior Sister He, she was carried into the house by several female disciples and was given a day of quiet meditation.

No one cares about her anymore.

At night, the moon was high and the wind was still. A figure flashed past Junior Sister He's hut. She looked around vigilantly at first, waited quietly for a moment, and made sure that no one was following her. Then she pushed the door open quietly.

In the room, Junior Sister He was lying on the bed with a talisman stuck on her forehead, motionless.

The figure who came in looked over and reached out to pull the talisman off.

Junior Sister He immediately opened her eyes and was about to open her mouth, but the figure covered her mouth with his hand.

"Liu Dao, if you don't want to die, just be quiet and don't make any noise. Otherwise, I will kill you anyway if others don't."

Junior Sister He was startled and looked at the figure in front of her with horror.

He had seen this man during the day. It was this man who pressed him to the ground, and he knew nothing after that.

"It's me, the van driver!" Lin Mo said in a low voice.

A hint of excitement flashed in Junior Sister He's eyes.

Lin Mo let go of the other person's mouth, and Sister He immediately whispered: "Brother, it's you, but how did you become like this... and where exactly is this..."

He wanted to continue asking, but when he saw Lin Mo making a gesture to keep quiet, he dared not say anything.

"Don't ask, just listen to me."

"Junior Sister He" nodded quickly.

"How did you get in? Didn't I give you the car and let you go?" Lin Mo asked.

"Brother, please don't mention this. The guy on the tricycle probably mistook the van for a tricycle. When he was going down the mountain, he actually asked me where the brakes were and why he couldn't find them on the handlebars."

“Is it so awesome?”

"Who said it wasn't? As a result, we flipped over."

"That's right. It would be unfair if we didn't flip the car."

"After the car overturned, we heard a lot of strange noises, and then something seemed to rush over. I was so scared that I couldn't help but run away, and ended up getting lost. Then, I saw a light..."

"Okay, I got it."

Lin Mo didn't expect that these guys would have an accident while driving down the mountain.

This is fate.

At this time Liu Dao also found that his current appearance was not right. He had turned into a woman and was dressed very strangely, like an ancient person. He asked what was going on, it was too weird.

"Now listen to me. The me you see and your current body are not actually our original bodies. Well, it is possible that they are, but some force has affected your five senses and made you see something different."

"Then I..."

Lin Mo waved his hand, signaling the other party not to speak.

"Time is limited, so don't ask. At dawn, the 'Master' here will summon you. The talisman can brainwash you. If it fails, the Master will also help you. Then, you will become 'Junior Sister He' and forget everything in the past..."

When Liu Dao heard this, his lips trembled, and he must have been scared to death.

"But don't worry, I'm trying to find out the situation here. If I succeed, you will be blessed..."

"Then, brother, what if you fail?" Liu Dao couldn't help but ask.

"If you fail, you won't feel any pain. You can actually die peacefully."

"Brother, no matter what you do, I can help you with just one word. I will go through fire and water for you without hesitation!"

"You? I can't help you!" Lin Mo smiled and said, "I didn't come to you to ask you for help. I just want to find a test subject to do a small experiment."

(End of this chapter)