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Strange Stories

Chapter 157: Comparison between the old Taoists

Chapter 157 Comparison between the old Taoists The junior sister started to get up early and go to bed late every day to repair the road. Every day when she came back from repairing the road, she would bring some spiritual plants from the mountains. After Lin Jue informed his second and eldest senior brothers about the planting of the Danguo tree, he and the two of them took turns refining the spiritual plants brought back by his junior sister into spiritual liquid, which they then sealed in bottles for storage. This process can also be considered as practicing alchemy. Originally, Lin Jue's attainments in this area were relatively shallow, and he could only refine two or three bottles of spiritual liquid at a time. However, as he became more proficient in alchemy, the amount of spiritual liquid he could refine at the same time also increased. You can also take this opportunity to make a flying sword. It takes a long time to refine the elixir. When you are not proficient, you will be nervous all the time. It seems that there is no free moment in the whole day. You are tense every moment, refining the elixir and refining yourself. However, after becoming proficient in alchemy, you will have a lot of free time to spend freely. The second brother usually chooses to burn incense and play the piano for fun, while Lin Jue uses it to melt spiritual gold. It just so happened that there was a spiritual fire under the alchemy cauldron. The spiritual gold given by the mountain god was a fragment of the ancient emperor's alchemy furnace. It was indeed not an ordinary item. Before Lin Jue felt how hard it was, he felt how resistant to burning it was first. If it weren't for the recent preparation of spiritual liquid for the Danguo tree, the spiritual fire under the alchemy cauldron would have been burning day and night, including the extremely hot spiritual fire of Second Senior Brother, and it would have been difficult for Lin Jue to melt it.

Even so, it would take almost three days and three nights to melt it. After melting, it is divided into more than ten portions according to size and quickly injected into the mold to give it initial shaping. Before each forging, it takes another half a day to heat it red. "Ding...ding..." The crisp sound of iron hammering echoed in the mountains. Lin Jue was forging in the yard. The little fox was lying lazily beside him, accustomed to the sound and what he did, and didn't even look at him. But the cat in the distance couldn't stand it, lying in the distance with squinting eyes, and couldn't help trembling at every jingle sound, but felt helpless about it. At some point, Taoist Yunhe came to his side. The orange cat in the yard also came to him. "Boom bang bang..." The orange cat was so angry that he couldn't negotiate with him, so he raised his paw and punched his legs. Lin Jue paused for a moment and looked down at it. After it finishes beating, continue beating. “Ding, ding…” "This doesn't look like a weapon made for bean soldiers." Taoist Yunhe said behind him. When the bean soldiers were first made, the statues were almost half a palm tall, and the spears they used were also close to the length of a palm. If they were long swords, they would be about the same length as a finger. After the sacrifice and refinement, they would be of normal size. But what Lin Jue was forging at this time was a beautifully shaped small sword, which was less than two knuckles of the index finger in length. Although it had a handle, it had no guard. It looked like both a sword and a dart. Taoist Yunhe was experienced and could naturally see that this small sword was not suitable for human hands to hold and wield. “This is what I use for myself.” While forging it, Lin Jue burned it with spiritual fire to maintain the temperature, and at the same time replied to Taoist Yunhe: "I originally had six darts, which were very easy to use, but I lost two of them when I went down the mountain to fight the bear monster. The remaining four are not as sharp after being used for a long time, and my sword is also blunt. It happened that I learned bean soldiers from my third senior brother, so I came up with the idea of ​​making weapons using the bean soldiers method, refining them into beans for easy carrying, and summoning them when needed."

He paused for a moment: "I tried it a while ago when I was repairing the weapons for the Bean Soldiers, and it works." "Hehehe..." Taoist Yunhe was not surprised, but just smiled and said: "I also tinkered with this when I was young." "Master has tried it too?" Lin Jue became interested. "How was it?" "What's the problem? Don't you already know everything? This is the way to go." Taoist Yunhe said, "It's just that I'm not good at sword fighting, nor do I know how to control objects. The weapons I made with ordinary spiritual gold are not much different from ordinary swords down the mountain. Later, when I became more advanced in Taoism, I no longer needed these sword pellets, so I gave them to the bean soldiers." "Ding ding ding..." Lin Jue continued to type seriously. He was silent for a moment before speaking: "I have." After saying this, there was no response. I glanced at him and saw the old Taoist priest next to me just smiling without saying anything. The tinkling sound of the mountains continued to drift away. The old Taoist finally spoke again: “How many do you want to make?” "The spiritual gold given by the mountain god is enough for me to make twelve small swords, which can be used as darts and short swords. I can also make three long swords, which can be made into normal long swords by adding spiritual wood as handles." "Not bad……" The old Taoist smiled, and suddenly became interested, so he rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll help you too!" "what?" "Don't worry, I still have the strength!" So the jingling sound in the mountains became two. The production of bean soldiers is mainly divided into two parts: carving and refining. The former mainly tests the craftsmanship, while the latter tests the Taoism. Although the process of making weapons has nothing to do with carving, it still belongs to carving, and it still tests the craftsmanship. Speaking of craftsmanship alone, from Lin Jue's point of view, his master may not necessarily be better than his third brother. Of course he is much better than me. What makes the master powerful is his Taoism, which determines the effect of the sacrifice, which in turn directly determines the strength of the bean soldiers. However, he cannot use it at this time. What can be used is the master's fire magic - just a touch of his finger can produce a flame close to real fire. I am afraid that most goblins and ghosts will be instantly killed if they are touched by even a little bit of it. Under the burning of such fierce flames, the spiritual gold remained bright red, making it much easier to forge. The master even took the three small swords that Lin Jue had already prepared and were waiting to be refined, weighed them carefully, and only put one back. "This one is fine, but the details of these two are different, so they need to be adjusted." Taoist Yunhe said, "You must know that using this method to make weapons is more difficult than forging swords by blacksmiths down the mountain. Moreover, as long as there is a slight difference, it will become a bigger difference after it is summoned and enlarged, so you must be doubly careful." "Yes." How could Lin Jue not know this? It’s not because of lack of skills. "In the rivers and lakes below the mountain, most of the well-known sword shops are named after water, such as Longquan Tangxi. It can be seen that water has a great influence on the quality of swords." Taoist Yunhe said as he fought, "The blades of the Bean Soldiers must be sacrificed and refined before they can be summoned to sharpen. You must know this. However, after the blades are sharpened, if they need to be quenched, the water from the Fragrant Sand Well on the top of the Lotus Mountain is the best, and the Cinnabar Spring is second."

"Third Senior Brother also told me this." "Then he was reliable for once!" Taoist Yunhe smiled and said to him: "The way of bean soldiers lies in their refinement. The reason why bean soldiers cannot use ordinary gold and iron is not only because ordinary gold and iron cannot be refined, but also because the quality of ordinary gold and iron is not good enough. If a knife or sword as long as a finger is transformed into a sword of ordinary size, it will be even more unusable. Therefore, only spiritual gold can be used. “Although spiritual gold was used, after it was summoned and enlarged, it is only as hard as an ordinary sword, or even weaker. It needs to be refined to strengthen it. “So the best weapon for Doubing is made of gold. "The spiritual gold given to you by the mountain god is good, but if you can find the golden essence in the future, melt it again, add the golden essence, and fight again, then it can be used as a magic weapon." Lin Jue silently took note but asked again: "What is gold essence?" "It is the essence of the five elements, like the earth and wood essence you got before." Taoist Yunhe replied, "Just like the spiritual charm has rich and shallow points, the gold essence also has three grades, the higher the grade, the more essence it has." "How to find it?" "This is like the elixir in the mountains. It is in the world and depends on fate. You can only encounter it by chance but not by seeking it." "That's it..." When Lin Jue thought of this, he couldn't help but think of how many bean soldiers his master had made over the years, and how powerful the bean soldiers he had trained for his entire life must be. Then another curiosity immediately came to mind: "Master, all the masters of the past generations also practiced the method of bean soldiers. What about their bean soldiers?" "We are both Taoists, and you and I are master and disciple, so we can speak frankly. Just ask where your bean soldiers will go after you die." Taoist Yunhe laughed and said, "Of course, we will first ask them whether they are willing to leave or stay. If they leave, they will disperse. If they stay, they will be passed down from generation to generation." "This……" Lin Jue was shocked—— Fuqiu Temple has been passed down for so many years. Even if every temple master is not a specialist in bean soldiers, and only a few bean soldiers are left, that is still a scary number, right? That would be like sowing beans and making soldiers. Then continue forging. Twelve small flying swords less than two finger joints long and three small long swords almost as long as the middle finger were made one after another. Then one day, the dusty little sister did not come back until dark, and said to everyone in a tone of finally completing the task that she had finished repairing the road. …… Between Yishan Mountain, a stone staircase leads directly to Xianyuan Temple. The roadside is lined with strange peaks and rocks, steep cliffs, and the leaves of various plants have already turned yellow and red. A group of Taoists were walking among them. The one walking in front was an experienced Taoist priest. I saw a tall and majestic granite mountain in the distance, like a fairy mountain. There were palaces, pavilions, stone steps and corridors built on the mountain. There were also many monks, young and old, coming out to greet us. "Master Yunhe!" Young and middle-aged Taoists all bowed. Only the old Taoist with white hair and beard standing in the front said disdainfully to Taoist Yunhe: "Old Taoist, you finally decided to come to my Xianyuan Temple again?"

"For thousands of years, there has not been a decent road between our temples. Your rotten face is not worthy of me walking on this rotten road. But my disciple is hardworking and capable, and he built the road. I think this road may take hundreds or thousands of years to be used, so I will naturally be the first to walk on it." Taoist Yunhe said to him, "From now on, when your disciples from Xianyuan Temple go down the mountain and walk on this road, please remember that you are benefiting from my disciple." "Are you the first one to leave? I left once last night!" "Have you finished? It doesn't count if you haven't finished yet." "Why not?" "How can we calculate the beginningless and the endless?" "I can see that you are about to die!" Wangjizi seized the opportunity, waved his whisk, and aimed at Taoist Yunhe, "Can you survive this year?" "Going is ordinary, the spring breeze sweeps away the remaining snow." "Humph……" Wang Jizi turned around and walked behind him. Instead, his eldest disciple stood there, respectfully making a gesture of invitation to Taoist Yunhe and Lin Jue and his group behind him. …… In the enlightenment room in the backyard, the smoke from sandalwood was curling up, and there were tea and cushions on the table, with a group of Taoists sitting on the cushions. Lin Jue sat with his junior sister. In front of them were tea bowls containing a few camellia leaves and a large golden chrysanthemum. The tea was originally bitter at first, but the chrysanthemum made the taste a little softer, but also added another touch of astringency. All I heard was Taoist Wangjizi sighing, "Old Taoist, have you ever regretted what you did back then?" "Youth is always reckless." Taoist Yunhe raised the cup and blew away the tea foam, then drank the tea. However, he couldn't help frowning. He was used to drinking sweet water made from pine needles in the Taoist temple, so he couldn't get used to the coarse tea in Xianyuan Temple. The main reason is that the tea is too coarse. "Is it reckless? It's just self-righteousness!" Wangjizi said, "Nowadays, the world is dominated by incense, fire and gods. Those ancient spiritual practitioners who achieved enlightenment first have occupied positions in heaven. Do you think they are so kind? They want later people to achieve enlightenment and stand on the same level as them? You must know that the reason why they are gods and immortals and the reason why they are so high up is not because of their high level of Taoism or their strong magic power, but because, ah, because there are many mortals and Taoists below. The more mortals and Taoists there are below, the higher they stand." "We, the monks of Yishan, only lack the Great Yin-Yang Method." Taoist Yunhe simply said, "If it was you who listened to the immortal's teachings on Tiandu Peak at that time, you would also be unable to hold back." "How can it be that easy?" "It's just that you died a few decades earlier. It's no big deal. What's the big deal if you live a few decades longer than me? Aren't you not as good as me, and your disciples are not as good as me?" After hearing this, Lin Jue and his junior sister finally understood that this was the reckless thing they were talking about. At the same time, Lin Jue’s guess was indeed correct. His master’s imbalance of yin and yang was indeed caused by his failure in pursuing the Great Yin and Yang Method after listening to the immortal’s explanation of the profound principles of yin and yang on Tiandu Peak. At this time, Wangjizi's eldest disciple couldn't help but frown and asked: "What is the Great Yin-Yang Method?" Taoist Yunhe and Wangjizi looked at each other immediately but did not say anything further, because they knew that as soon as they started talking about it, there would be Taoists on the mountain to try it. The Taoists in the mountains are either bored and idle, or they are wholeheartedly seeking the truth and the Tao. No matter which one they are, they may not be able to resist trying the Yin-Yang Avenue. Lin Jue knows a little bit—

Nowadays, both the imperial court on earth and the Tianweng in heaven support the talisman school and suppress the spiritual school. As a result, there are fewer and fewer magic spells in the world, and many magic spells are even lost. Not to mention spiritual methods. At present, the spiritual methods practiced by the spiritual schools in the world are mainly the spiritual methods of heaven and earth, the spiritual methods of yin and yang, and the spiritual methods of the five elements. Among them, the spiritual method of heaven and earth is also called the spiritual method of mountains and rivers. You must absorb the spiritual charm of mountains and rivers, so you have to practice in the caves of immortal mountains, and you also have to travel more and absorb the spiritual charm of different mountains and rivers. People who have achieved success in this practice are almost all indifferent to fame and wealth and do not like disputes. Moreover, most of the famous mountains are now occupied by immortals as dojo, or have been conferred mountain gods, so the spiritual charm is also limited. There are big and small Yin-Yang spiritual laws. The progress of practicing small Yin-Yang laws is limited. This is the key reason why it has been difficult for disciples of Fuqiu Temple to become immortals. Big Yin-Yang laws are rarely circulated in the world. The Five Elements Spiritual Magic is good at fighting, but it does not live long. In short, each has its own limitations and difficulties. "There are probably only two or three Taoist temples that still practice the Great Yin-Yang Magic in the world today. Haha, there are probably more monsters that know the Great Yin-Yang Magic than the Taoists." Wang Jizi shook his head and laughed. "Bah! You guys are really good at wasting the best things!" Taoist Yunhe couldn't help but spit out a golden flower petal, then looked down with an upset expression, "What a pity for this top-quality golden chrysanthemum." "How good are you?" "Much better! I have a good disciple!" "..." He changed the topic with just a few words, and then said a few more words to make Taoist Wangji raise his eyebrows, and they parted unhappily with just a few words. (End of this chapter)