She is devoted to cultivating immortality

Chapter 94 Do you want to burn incense for me or visit my grave?

"But what I don't understand is, how come you, a mere mortal, seem to know us so well?"

"I can't say I know much about it. I've read a book written by a Taoist named Qingyu. It records his life experiences. Things like this are not uncommon. First they seduce, then they give them some sweet treats, and then they relax to the extreme, and then they suddenly show their cards. The contrast between the before and after is so strong that it's enough to scare people. Haha, I just thought it was a story before, but now I find that it's actually true."

"So you have such good fortune. The Taoist Qingyu you mentioned must be a cultivator. Why don't you practice with him?"

"I just got his notes, I never met him in person."

"There is no record of the practice method in the notes?"

"No, I'm ashamed to say that my original intention for reading this book was actually to study the art of painting."

"I heard from Luluo earlier that you seem to be a painter. I wonder if you could let me see your calligraphy."

"No, not everyone can see what I draw."

In this extremely strange environment, Xie Lian and Miss Zhang actually started chatting.

The two of them looked calm and composed, with no signs of major emotional fluctuations.

Zhong Haoyuan who was standing by was completely stunned by what he heard, and he looked at Xie Lian with a look of awe as if he was looking up to a mountain.

"You are indeed aloof and arrogant, and have a bad temper. I admire you very much, but you seem to have forgotten one thing. I am a transformed demon, and you are just an ordinary person."

Miss Zhang's patience was exhausted. Black hairs began to emerge from her pores, and then eight huge spider legs extended from her back.

Seeing this scene, Zhong Haoyuan also fainted.

This was beyond his endurance.

Xie Lian sighed softly.

"I'm not letting you watch it because it's for your own good... Well, since the lady asked, I'll just follow your wish."

······.·
As he spoke, Xie Lian placed the "Golden Crow Picture" on the table.
But the spider spirit didn't dare to answer it.

Xie Lian was so calm and composed, but no matter how you looked at him, something seemed amiss.

"Could it be that she is a hidden master?"

The spider hesitated.

If Xie Lian's cultivation was much higher than hers, then she would definitely not be able to see the point.
But she has already become a transformed demon.

No matter how you look at it, Xie Lian is just a mortal.

If he really concealed his cultivation level, even if he was not at the True Immortal level, he was most likely close to this level.

But how could she possibly bump into a person of this level?

She was not stupid. She specifically targeted poor scholars passing by and tested them many times because she was afraid of provoking a powerful being.

If Xie Lian was really a person of that level, how could he go to a ruined temple to take shelter from the rain? And hang out with these ordinary people?
All kinds of speculations came to her mind, and the spider spirit became more and more afraid to make a decision, so she asked cautiously.

"Do you know the Heavenly Fairy, the Protector of the World, the Holy Mother Cang Yun?"

Xie Lian raised his eyebrows.

"Isn't it the portrait you just came in to worship?"

The spider spirit stared into Xie Lian's eyes, trying to see something.

"We are all believers of the Virgin Mary. Hundreds of years ago, I received her guidance."

"Oh? That portrait is actually a real person. I thought it was just a made-up image of a god."

"Your Excellency doesn't seem to know everything. You haven't even heard of the name of the Holy Mother of Cangyun Ridge."

"I am ignorant, but why did you bring up this Virgin Mary? Do you want me to know that you have a backer?"

"It seems that I have thought too much. Your Excellency doesn't even know the Virgin Mary, so you can't be a powerful person."

The spider spirit breathed a sigh of relief.

Walking here, he didn't even know about the Virgin Mary. That meant that even if Xie Lian was hiding something, his level was definitely not high.

"Miss, you are really cautious. You clearly covet me in your eyes, but when the time comes, you become cautious. Why are you afraid that I will play dumb and eat the tiger?"

Xie Lian looked at her with a half-smile.

It is not difficult to guess what this monster is thinking.

"When practicing in this world, you should always be careful."

There was a fierce light in the spider spirit's eyes.

"You are still so calm even when you are about to die. I am ashamed of myself for your composure. If I were a big shot of the human race, I would want to promote you just for your composure. But unfortunately, I am a demon. I just want to eat you and see what your flesh tastes like!"

After being delayed for so long, Green Ivy has become impatient.

Now that he saw that his eldest sister had finally revealed her true colors, he was the first to pounce on him.

She grabbed the "Golden Crow Picture" on the table and said viciously.

"I want to see what you drew. What on earth is it that you hide it like a treasure and won't let me see it? I want to tear it into pieces in front of you!"

She was really full of malice, tearing it with great force, not wanting to look at the painting at all, but wanting to destroy it.
But how could it tear up the "Golden Crow Picture"?

I used a lot of strength, but didn't damage it at all.

This made it look incredible.

“What the hell is this!?”

She suddenly unfolded the scroll.

But at this moment, the spider spirit felt an unprecedented great terror.

"Don't open!!!".

Green ivy opened the scroll.

"What a big tree!"

This was the first thought that came to it.

The hibiscus tree is really huge. This is everyone's reaction when they see it for the first time.

Is there such a big tree in the world?

Then, it noticed the Golden Crow.

The Golden Crow stood proudly, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

The green ivy has eaten quite a few people, which can be considered as a murderer, but it feels that the evil energy it has accumulated is as small as a firefly in the eyes of this strange bird that has never seen it before.

The Golden Crow is a legendary and extremely ferocious beast. How could a little vixen look directly at it?
The moment it saw the Golden Crow's eyes, its consciousness was immediately pulled into the world in the painting.

Tweet!
The little golden crow flapped its wings and flew up. It was still very young, with its fur not fully grown yet, but it naturally had the aura of a king.

Green Radish's heart was trembling, and at this moment it could no longer move at all.

This was the suppression from the origin of its bloodline. It was just a fox spirit, and even if it had cultivated to become a true immortal, it would be subdued by the Golden Crow in an instant.

Cultivation cannot make up for the distance between bloodlines. This repressive force comes from biological instinct.

"What kind of monster is this?"

It has many questions, but it never has the chance to ask them.

Because the next moment, its body was set on fire.

A ray of true fire from the sun gushed out from the world in the painting. The fox spirit had no time to react, and her body and soul were burned into nothingness.

"Chirp!!!"

The little golden crow stood with its head held high, flapping its still tender wings, and rushed out directly from the world in the painting, carrying with it the blazing true fire of the sun.

Since its birth, it has wanted to reach the outside world.

This is the instinctive pursuit of freedom.

The world in the painting is too small, and what really attracts it must be the outside world.

But it also knows that living in the world of the painting is the best option until it reaches adulthood.

Opportunities to come out don't come often.

Therefore, it wants to take this opportunity to take a good look at the outside world.

boom!
The Golden Crow rushed out of the world in the painting. The spider spirit closest to it realized the great terror and tried to escape, but it was too late.

Little Golden Crow knew who the enemy was and locked onto it early on.

"Senior, spare my life! I am a believer of the Holy Mother, please don't kill me!!!"

How could she not realize that she had provoked someone she absolutely could not afford to offend?

What she thought was just an ordinary person turned out to be a being beyond his imagination.

In front of this golden flame, she didn't have the slightest intention of resisting.

But how could Little Golden Crow care about her cries?
The Golden Crow was already extremely ferocious, and now that it had rushed out of the painting, it was bound to start a killing spree.
There was a dazzling flash of fire, and the spider spirit instantly turned into a torch, and then disappeared into nothingness.

Chi la la!
A golden flame exploded, automatically locking onto all the fairies.

"Spare your life!"

The goblins fled for their lives.

The entire Xiaoyunzhuang instantly became a Jedi.

I don’t know how many goblins came out, but there are at least hundreds of them. Most of them have not refined their transverse bones yet. They are all the descendants of these goblins.

The bones and blood food left over by the fairies such as Green Radish on weekdays are left to these younger generations to deal with.

They have been raised by spider spirits since they were young, their values ​​are severely distorted, and they are extremely murderous.

If it grows to a human form, the damage it causes will definitely not be less than that of the spider spirit.
But now there is no such opportunity.

The Golden Crow has already flown out and is soaring freely in the sky.

Strands of the sun's true fire fell like rain wherever it flew past.

If you touch it, you will die. If you touch it, you will die!
In an instant, there was widespread grief and the entire Xiaoyun Village was on fire.
The true fire of the sun seemed to burn everything, wiping out all the filth in this place, and the golden flames dyed half the sky red.

The Virgin Mary, who was already very close to this place, suddenly stopped.

"That is..."

She looked towards the direction of Xiaoyunzhuang and felt a sense of fear.

She was sure that the destination ahead was her.

A trace of her spirit is preserved in her portrait.

This is enough to prove that the Zhuangzi in front must be related to her believers.

But at this moment, this wisp of divine thought had dissipated, and when she felt the evil spirit coming from the front, she couldn't help but have a guess.

"My followers caused the trouble?"

"What kind of existence can create such a big commotion?"

"Does this person not know my name, Zhu Qingqing? Or even if he knows it, he doesn't care about it."

All of a sudden, all kinds of speculations came to her mind. Zhu Qingqing was a little scared and even had the urge to turn around and leave.

But in the end, I was still unwilling to give up.

The jade bracelet that was destroyed was her hope for enlightenment, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was her life and property.
She could tolerate anything except this.

"I, Zhu Qingqing, have never provoked any enemies over the years. Even if my followers have offended you, you can't be so cruel, right? You directly destroyed my treasure for enlightenment and cut off my path to enlightenment. What's the difference between such an act and directly killing me?"

Zhu Qingqing thought about it for a while, and finally reached out.

But the momentum at the beginning is gone.

She forgot her original intention of finding someone to "ask for an explanation" and instead decided to see what the situation was.

Even if I die, I should die knowingly, right?

The entire Xiaoyunzhuang was on fire.

Except for the five scholars, everything, even a piece of dry grass on the ground, was ignited by the true fire of the sun.

The little golden crow was having fun, releasing his power wantonly.

And just at this moment, Zhu Qingqing finally arrived.

When she saw the burning golden flame, her heart almost stopped beating.

"What kind of fire is this?"

There was a look of disbelief in her eyes.

The golden flame is noble yet violent, extremely strong and masculine, and is naturally endowed with the aura of the king of fire.

This couldn't help but make her think of something.

A rumor I heard many years ago came to my mind.

"It is said that there is an extremely strong flame in the world, born in the center of the sun. This fire is the true fire of the sun and is the king of all fires."

The fire burned fiercely and the temperature soared suddenly.

But Zhu Qingqing felt cold in her heart.

The Sun's True Fire is just a legend and should not exist in this world.
If you want to obtain this fire, you must go deep into the center of the sun, but is there anyone in the world who can do this?

Even true immortals regard the sun as a forbidden area!
But look at this golden flame, it is exactly the same as described in the legend, so if it’s not the real fire of the sun, then what else could it be?

Zhu Qingqing even forgot about her own affairs.

The unexpected discovery of the Sun's True Fire gave her an unprecedented fear.
Omg.

I, Zhu Qingqing, am just a cultivator who dreams of becoming an immortal. Why did you let me discover such a horrible thing?
Why does the Sun's True Fire appear?

Who is driving you?
She was not interested at all, trembling with fear, and just wanted to leave this place.
But at this moment, a strong sense of majesty descended from the sky. Looking up, I saw a strange bird covered in the true fire of the sun.
It flew excitedly in the air, releasing more and more Sun True Fire, as if it wanted to burn the entire mountain to ashes!

"So the Sun's True Fire is controlled by this strange bird. What kind of creature is this? Why have I never heard of it?"

Zhu Qingqing's eyes were filled with fear.

Once the news of the existence of a creature that can drive the sun's true fire spreads, the whole world will be shocked.

Tweet!
The Golden Crow finally came out to have fun, but it was not satisfied with just burning down Xiaoyunzhuang. Its inherent ferocity made it want to set fire to more things.

It noticed Zhu Qingqing, but didn't take her seriously. It glanced at her fiercely, almost frightening her to the point of collapsing on the ground.
In its eyes, nothing can't be burned. Under the true fire of the sun, everything is nothingness. If the entire mountain is razed to the ground, Zhu Qingqing will naturally not be able to escape.

But at this moment, a helpless voice sounded.

"Have you had enough of the trouble? Come back soon."

The speaker was Xie Lian.

After Little Golden Crow rushed out of the world in the painting, he did a very good job and only burned everything in Xiaoyun Manor, but did not harm the five scholars at all.

But then something went wrong with the script.

This little guy seemed to be having a blast, his fierce nature bursting out, and he even had the urge to set the whole mountain on fire.
It may not have any bad intentions, it may just think it's fun.

But Xie Lian did not dare to be careless.

Thinking of the legend of "Houyi Shooting the Sun" in the previous life, he immediately knew that he must not let the little Golden Crow continue to make trouble.

He is still young now, but he is already so fierce. What will happen to him when he grows up?

Isn't this going to destroy the world?

So he immediately spoke up and asked Little Golden Crow to come back.

Tweet!
The little golden crow let out a pleading cry.

Xie Lian's words woke it up immediately, and it tried to get its master to soften his heart and allow it to play for a while longer.

But Xie Lian was very determined and didn't give it any chance.

Helplessly, he could only fly back dejectedly, along with the sun's true fire that covered the mountains and fields, and flew back into the painting.

This scene happened to be seen by Zhu Qingqing.
"This strange bird actually has an owner!?"

She subconsciously looked at Xie Lian, and immediately felt that he looked familiar.

Isn't this the young woman who offered incense to her?

In an instant, everything became clear.

"It was because of this person who burned incense for me. Her worship directly destroyed hundreds of years of my incense accumulation, causing me to suffer a great loss of vitality. However, my jade bracelet, which was a treasure for enlightenment, actually helped me to resist most of the backlash. If not for this, I would have died on the spot!"

She just felt like God was playing a joke on her.

What kind of existence is this person?

And what is she, Zhu Qingqing?
How could I be worthy of her worship?
I used to feel unwilling to destroy the treasure that would lead to enlightenment, but now when I think about it, I just feel fortunate.

At least I'm alive
"Hey, isn't this the Heavenly Fairy, the Protector of the World, the Holy Mother Cang Yun?"

Just when Zhu Qingqing had figured out the whole thing and was still not coming back to her senses, Xie Lian spotted her.
It looked familiar immediately.

I immediately remembered, isn't that the person in the portrait?

I thought of the spider spirit who kept saying that the Virgin Mary was her backer.

Xie Lian instinctively became alert.

"Is this person here to cause trouble?"

But the next moment, she looked surprised.

Zhu Qingqing shuddered all over. Xie Lian's simple address almost made her Taoism heart collapse.

"Senior, please don't make such jokes."

In the past, Zhu Qingqing wished that her name would be known to everyone.

But now, when Xie Lian said it, she felt as if she couldn't even lift her head.

She couldn't even bear Xie Lian's incense offerings, so the words "Holy Mother" sounded even more shameful to her. Thinking of the horrifying scene where Xie Lian had just driven the Golden Crow to burn everything, she couldn't help but tremble. How could she dare to call herself a goddess?
In front of this person, one is simply humbled to the dust.

"What? Aren't you the Virgin Mary? The group of goblins here were bragging about you."

Xie Lian spoke the truth without exaggeration.

But to Zhu Qingqing, it sounded extremely harsh, with a strong sense of sarcasm.

"It's not worth mentioning my humble name... By the way, Senior just said that there is a group of goblins here?"

"Well, they must be your followers. Your portrait is hanging in the main hall. Haha, I came here by chance and was dragged by them to burn a stick of incense for you."

"What, it's them!?"

Zhu Qingqing's eyes were almost bloodshot.

She finally figured out who the culprit was!
If the spider spirit and green ivy were here, she would definitely strangle them and question them harshly.

"Who do you think I am? Am I worthy of this incense offering? Do you want to burn incense for me or visit my grave?"

Xie Lian asked curiously when he saw Zhu Qingqing's angry look.

"What happened to the Holy Mother?"

Zhu Qingqing shuddered again and begged.

"Senior, please don't mention the words 'Virgin Mary' anymore. How can I be worthy of being called 'Virgin Mary'? Previously, you almost killed me with a stick of incense."

Xie Lian was stunned. She had never expected this to happen.

Zhu Qingqing smiled bitterly. It was really no wonder that this person was the only one who knew nothing about it.

If we have to blame someone, we have to blame those ignorant believers.

She gathered her thoughts and recounted what she had experienced.

"My followers are so ignorant that they actually asked you to burn incense for me. My hundreds of years of incense foundation have all vanished because of this one worship. Even the treasure for enlightenment is no longer in existence. This is really an unprovoked disaster for me!"

After Zhu Qingqing explained the whole story, she let out another miserable laugh.

Where does this make sense?

I was in seclusion and didn't provoke anyone, but I ended up suffering a disaster.
The blow this time was so great that she might not be able to recover even in a thousand years. With her path cut off, she didn't know where to go next.

But Xie Lian didn’t feel sorry for her at all. He looked her up and down and said calmly.

"Unforeseen disaster? In my opinion, you are far from being unforeseen."

Zhu Qingqing's expression froze.

"There are many paths in the world. If you want to take the path of becoming a Taoist through incense and fire, no one can stop you. This is your own choice. But if you take this path, you should bear the corresponding consequences. Take the goblins in Xiaoyun Manor for example. They use your name to harm people everywhere. Are you not responsible for the countless bones in Xiaoyun Manor?"

There was a hint of coldness in Xie Lian’s eyes.

"Your Excellency feels that you are innocent. But don't you think that without your support, these demons might not dare to act this way."

"Let's not talk about anything else. The spider demon kept saying that not only did she have a close relationship with you, but she also received your guidance in the past."

"The moment you receive incense from others, you have already taken on the karma. You only want the benefits of the way of incense, but don't want to get involved in any harm. Is there such a good thing in the world?"

Xie Lian knew the method of achieving enlightenment through burning incense.

After all, she was not a novice in spiritual practice. Through reading "Qingyu Miscellaneous Notes", she knew that the way of burning incense was very popular in the southeastern coastal areas of Qian Kingdom.

Due to their closed-minded and superstitious nature, local fishermen are very superstitious about various gods.

Many of these gods are mountain spirits and monsters of dubious origins. They deceive people into believing in them, improve their cultivation, and even harm people at one point.

Therefore, two or three hundred years ago, the Qian government launched a plan to cut down mountains and destroy temples in coastal areas, and it is unknown how many "evil gods" and "immoral sacrifices" were destroyed.

But the actual effect is minimal.

The local people's minds were severely eroded, and before long, other "gods" took away their incense.

Many monks who want to follow the path of incense and worship will go to the coastal areas. The ignorant people there are good leeks that provide faith and can be harvested one after another.

But Taoist Qingyu did not think highly of this method.

In fact, the method of becoming a Taoist through burning incense can be classified as a crooked way in the eyes of orthodox monks.

Hearing this, Zhu Qingqing was startled, but still somewhat unwilling to accept it.

(End of this chapter)