Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 902 Goodbye to the Golden Country

"Ok?"

Chu Tai, who was observing the heaven and earth, suddenly discovered a familiar breath descending from the Western Sacred Mountain and heading towards the Western Desert.

"I didn't expect it was someone I know."

By silently observing the cause and effect, Chu Tai immediately understood the origin of the owner of that breath.

It is a yellow-haired sable mouse that was practicing at the foot of Lingshan Mountain. It heard the monks in the mountain say that merits can lead to enlightenment, so it went down the mountain to seek merits in order to achieve enlightenment as soon as possible.

The place he was heading to was also interesting; it was the country of Shali, where the sun sets.

Chu Tai was not willing to come into contact with the powerful beings in this world for the time being, so he planned to start with the yellow-haired sable and take a step forward into the territory of the Shali Kingdom.

As soon as he arrived here, Chu Tai felt something was wrong.

'The aura of this place?'

After looking around and reaching out to absorb a breath of air, Chu Tai was surprised to find that the power here actually had some traces of spiritual and turbid air.

It’s just that the sea water here is turbid and extremely inclusive, able to carry a lot of filthy and evil spirits, so the turbid air does not leak out and is confined to this place.

Chu Tai walked to the beach and observed carefully.

The churning sea was pitch black, with countless concepts of nothingness, emptiness, chaos, end, and destruction swirling in it.

"Hundong Zun?"

Chu Tai narrowed his eyes slightly, and felt the aura of a great celestial queen and holy emperor.

This emperor himself was an ancient water god in the heaven of immortality, and mastered many great ways of water. But after the Emperor of Heaven fell asleep and the Black Emperor lost control, he obtained the root of water veins from the Black Emperor and sat in Guixu, becoming the god corresponding to the nothingness after all destruction.

But its duty is to suppress concepts such as nothingness, the end, and destruction. It can be said that its existence is the greatest mockery of what it symbolizes.

Moreover, after this person who mastered the great way of water was sublimated into a god symbolizing nothingness, the end, and destruction, he sublimated concepts such as flow, change, and cycle from the principles of water.

In the past, Chu Tai was actually a little curious about the difference between this person and Bu Kedao and Huang Quanyuan.

After all, all three will eventually guide all things to nothingness, destruction, and the end. At most, there are some differences in the form of expression, but the final results are highly overlapping.

According to the normal theory of Tao Fruit, the three should not devour each other, but should converge into a higher existence like the Three Pure Ones and Tathagata Buddha.

But now, after experiencing the devil's principles, Chu Tai began to understand the key.

The many principles of the twenty-two post-saint emperors in the Xianxian Daohua Great Heaven, apart from their superficial meanings, probably also have certain concepts that are intended to target the power of the sky demon and prevent this guy's power from affecting outwards and dragging the entire Xianxian Daohua Great Heaven into the abyss.

Therefore, although Hundong Zun, Bu Ke Dao and Huangquan Yuan will all guide all things to nothingness, destruction and the end, this is not their ultimate goal.

The unspeakable is the spirit's move towards nothingness. The concept of all the unknowables, all the doubts, all the errors, all the distortions, and all the confusions is itself a means to counter the Great Way of the Devil, directly pushing all its demonic nature into the category of the unknowable, the unspeakable, and the incomprehensible.

'This can also explain why the power of the Unspeakable is the most powerful and troublesome. The power of the other post-saint emperors will also be distorted and changed when entering his body. This thing may be the second layer of protection system left by the Emperor of Heaven.'

Huangquan Abyss represents the transition of matter into nothingness, and is a collection of concepts of decay, decline, aging and extinction that all things will eventually perish. It also contains a little bit of the sleep of all things, eternal purity, and the power to carry the remaining emotions of all things.

'This guy's power should be used to consume demonized matter and stabilize souls. If this guy's power is also related to Hundong Zun, perhaps it also involves the redemption of demonized souls?'

Chu Tai couldn't be sure, but he could see 70% to 80% of the final power of Hundong Zun from the sea in front of him.

Hundong Zun's nothingness means that energy goes into nothingness, but his identity as the controller of water veins gives him another very important job.

The flow, change and cycle combined with nothingness are essentially using the characteristics of nothingness, destruction and the end to wash away some of the principles of the devil and recover some of the power as much as possible. If it is related to the Yellow Spring Abyss, it may also be a way for the immortals to show their Taoism and save the dead souls.

'If the two are really related, then their names really echo each other.'

Thinking this in his mind, Chu Tai squatted down and wanted to scoop up some sea water and carefully observe the sea water here to see if there were any things like souls in it besides the precipitated spiritual energy and turbid air.

But before his palm touched the sea water, a roar rang out.

"Who told you to stay there? Take your hand back, take your hand back!"

The roar echoed in the surroundings. A limping old man staggered towards this direction. He stared at Chu Tai's palm, waved the crutch in his hand, and roared: "Don't you want your hand anymore? If not, you can give it to someone else. Don't let it get dirty with sea water! It can't be repaired, and it can't be used again!"

'Um? '

Chu Tai stared at the old man. The aura around him was a little strange, a little turbid, a little filthy, but also contained some merits, good deeds, and a hint of Buddha's light.

Many auras mixed together, chaotic and intertwined, like a tangled mess, not like a normal person.

Seeing the old man approaching him, Chu Tai bowed and said, "Greetings, old man. I am a traveler from another place and I don't know the taboos here. Please forgive me."

Hearing this, the old man looked Chu Tai up and down and said in a cold voice: "Our Shali country is located in the land of sunset, on the shore of the Dead Sea. If you want to come here, you have to go through three layers of sandstorms. Taoist priest, you are well-dressed and obviously a person with great magical powers and abilities. You should not be afraid of the water of the Dead Sea. It is me, an old man, who is meddling in other people's business."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tai hurriedly explained that he had just arrived and was not aware of the dangers of the Dead Sea.

"It is precisely because I am not clear about it and I am curious that I want to get in touch with you. If you know anything, please let me know."

As he spoke, Chu Tai took out a few pieces of gold and silver and handed them to the other party.

Glancing at the gold and silver, the old man looked a little strange. He looked at Chu Tai again and asked, "You really don't know?"

Chu Tai begged for mercy repeatedly and handed over the gold and silver in his hand.

The old man shook his head and said, "There is gold everywhere in my country of Shali, so we don't need these yellow and white things. Since you are not here for gold, I will talk to you."

"The water of the Dead Sea contains boundless filth, which can kill the living and make the dead disappear. Even if a great immortal came, he should not touch it lightly."

The old man seemed to be worried that Chu Tai would disagree, so he added: "I didn't say that, it was said by the Taoists who came to us to ask for gold in the past." "Oh?"

Chu Tai became interested and asked, "Although I can see that there is something wrong with the sea water, I cannot determine whether it can really harm the Great Luo Immortal. Since the Taoist priest can see it, he must know the solution. Why didn't you ask him for help?"

"Why didn't you ask? You don't know, those guys said everything was fine before they received the gold, but once they got the gold, they all ran away. I don't know what the king was thinking. He was cheated again and again, and he was unwilling to accept the fact that most of those people were scammers."

"If you ask me, only the method brought by one master is somewhat useful. The rest are only useful for one or two days, and then they are useless."

After hearing this, Chu Tai also looked back at the past of this land and saw many familiar faces.

There are Zhenwu, Zhang Tianshi, Lu Dongbin, Zhang Guolao, Guanyin, Manjusri, Samantabhadra, and even Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has specially sent an incarnation here.

But none of their methods could deal with the problem here. Preaching, teaching, setting up formations, or leaving behind magic weapons were of any avail. At most, they could suppress the filth accumulated in the water of the Dead Sea for five or six days, and then it would return to its original state.

It was not until Tathagata Buddha himself came down to earth and passed down the Thunder Sound Drum Method, and took advantage of the disaster caused by sunset, that a glimmer of hope was given to this place.

Therefore, the people of Shali have increasingly believed in Buddhism in the past two years, but the king is still not satisfied and continues to seek help from foreign Taoists and monks every day, hoping that the people can live a better life.

Chu Tai, who knew why these people were unable to deal with the problems here, looked at the old man and asked, "Since the water of the Dead Sea is so filthy, why did you bring these barrels here?"

Chu Tai pointed to the wooden barrel that the old man had abandoned on the side when he arrived.

He smiled and said, "For what else? For livelihood. This Dead Sea is vast, but not even a drop of it can be drunk. It also pollutes the surrounding groundwater system, making it difficult for plants to germinate. Ordinary people will get sick if they drink too much."

"After the master passed down the wonderful method, at sunset every day, when the sea water boils, the sound of thunderous drums echoes all around, which can make part of the sea water purer, and that is the part we can use. I come here every day to place wooden barrels, and come back to collect them after sunset. As long as there is some clean water in one barrel, it can be exchanged for food for half a year."

As he said this, the old man walked back and moved the wooden barrel.

Chu Tai stepped forward to lend a hand, and after placing the wooden barrels one by one, he was taken back to the city by the old man.

When passing a stall halfway, I suddenly heard a shout: "What kind of shady shop is this! I paid half an ounce of gold for a bowl of food, and you're trying to fool me with muddy soup!"

Turning around, he saw a young monk holding a bowl of turbid substance mixed with mud and water.

"Another stranger!"

Seeing this, the old man shook his head, looked at Chu Tai and said, "Today is interesting. A Taoist priest came, and a novice monk came. I don't know who I will meet later. It seems that the king is going to be happy!"

At the same time, the waiter looked innocent and asked the monk, "But whose water is not like this?"

"I don't believe you. You must be deceiving me. How can such muddy water be drinkable? Let me see the source of the water. I want to see how you usually cheat people out of money!"

The little monk refused to give in, and the waiter had no choice but to fetch a large piece of semi-wet soil from the kitchen, wrap it with some rags, put it in a container, press it with stones, and squeeze out a small bowl of muddy water bit by bit, saying, "Look, isn't it always like this?"

The young monk was dumbfounded and murmured, "Is this how you all get water?"

"If you don't do this, how else can you get water? If you want cleaner water, you can let it settle for a while, or go to the beach every night to see if anyone is lucky enough to collect a bucket or two of clean water. But the price of that water is not something that can be exchanged for half a tael of gold. You can only exchange it for food."

"How could this be?"

The little monk stared blankly at the two half bowls of muddy water on the table, as if he had lost the ability to speak.

Seeing this, Chu Tai stepped forward, paid him with gold and silver, and took him away.

After the waiter collected the money, he was stunned for a moment when he saw the two people leaving. He looked at the water on the table, swallowed his saliva, and asked, "Sir, your water!"

"We're not thirsty for now."

Chu Tai responded, and the waiter's eyes lit up and asked, "You really don't want to drink?"

Seeing this, Chu Tai knew what the other party was thinking. After confirming it again, he added: "I'll give it to you."

"real!"

The waiter couldn't believe it. After getting a positive answer again, he picked up the bowl of water with a happy face and drank it directly.

When he picked up the second bowl, he licked his lips, carefully took out a clay pot from the side, and poured the muddy water into it.

"What is he doing?"

The young monk still didn't react.

The old man glanced at the young monk who was pulled over by Chu Tai and said casually, "You are asking about the waiter. If I am not mistaken, he is the third son of the Lu family. His mother was greedy for water a few years ago and did not leave the Dead Sea before sunset. She was deafened by the sound of the boiling sea at sunset. She seemed to have contracted a strange disease a few days ago and could not move. This boy probably wants to take the water back."

"So what can a little water do?"

The young monk murmured inquiringly, and the old man sneered, "You outsiders don't know the value of water. There are so many things that can be done with that half a bowl of water."

"You know, we are a country of gold. We lack everything except gold. You can buy a bowl of water for half a tael of gold. This is the rule set by the king. But there are limits on buying water. A person can buy a maximum of three bowls of water worth half a tael of gold a day. After three bowls of water, it is no longer worth half a tael of gold. You have to exchange it for food."

"It's also fortunate that the kings of all generations have some ability to find ways to get some food from other places. Otherwise, everyone wouldn't be able to buy three bowls of water a day."

The old man looked at the palace in the center of the city, which was not much taller than other buildings, and said, "So, even though everyone thinks that you Taoists and monks are probably all liars, they still let the king invite you and put on a show with you."

Pointing to the palace, the old man said: "You can just go there and someone will entertain you."

Then the old man dusted himself off and walked back without looking back.

Chu Tai and the little monk looked at each other, walked forward about ten feet, and were taken into the palace by several guards to meet the king of Shali.

The king was wearing a linen robe and had a thin figure. He did not look like the ruler of a country, but more like an ascetic.

(End of this chapter)