Day and night tour

Chapter 425 The White Deer Alchemist
If the atmosphere of the conversation hadn't been rather serious, Yun Ziliang and Li Changxun would have almost burst out laughing.

"You can lie to people, you can lie to animals, but you're lying to both the mountains and the water. Is it true?"

Yun Ziliang found Zhou Xuan's words somewhat amusing.

Zhou Xuan said, "Whether it's true or not, I'll use my magic to see for myself, and you'll know."

Thinking is not as good as doing. Zhou Xuan was a pragmatist. He immediately closed his eyes and concentrated, just like an old monk in meditation.

Yun Ziliang stood up, grabbed a towel to wipe his sweat, and said, "Leaving aside whether Xuanzi's 'Harmony with Heaven' technique is effective or not, let's just talk about his patience—it's absolutely first-rate."

Whether a person can quickly enter a state of "meditation" is related to their ability to concentrate their mind quickly, and of course, it is also related to the surrounding environment.

If the surrounding environment is noisy, then it becomes much more difficult to "enter a meditative state," not to mention that the temperature inside the tower is extremely high at this time, and the scorching air currents are baking the whole body, making it difficult for people to sit or stand still.

Even under these circumstances, Zhou Xuan was still able to quickly enter a meditative state, demonstrating his extremely high level of mental concentration.

"At this moment, only I, with my human-made speed, can rival the Great Master."

Li Changxun's strange competitive spirit started acting up again, giving Yun Ziliang a headache.
"Changxun, how do you manage to be so incredibly cowardly yet still maintain such a high level of stubbornness?"

“…” Li Changxun.

……

Zhou Xuan was in a meditative state, imagining himself as a pebble lying quietly in a stream.

The changes that have taken place outside, and the hustle and bustle of the city, are no longer relevant to him.

"My heart is at peace; why should I care about the world's storms and the ever-changing clouds?"

Zhou Xuan seemed to have vanished from this world, merging into a new realm, truly becoming one with the heavens.

Hu~hu~
A gentle breeze swept over Zhou Xuan's body. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself standing at the bottom of the thirty-three-story tower.

He was still inside the tower, but it was as if he had entered a new world.

No monks could be seen inside the tower anymore, and on the originally plain white walls, one after another bas-relief of crows appeared.

"Raven?"

Zhou Xuan recalled that when he saw the "human and sheep being cooked together" at the inn, the baby had a "crow" tattoo on its belly, as if it were about to take flight.

He also recalled the words of the kind old man—when a baby is cooked with sheep, its soul will transform into a raven and fly into the Western Paradise, where it will be accompanied by the golden body of the ancient Buddha. After 360 years, it will be reincarnated and enjoy a life of wealth and honor.

"What the old man said was half true, and half of it was a lie spread by the Maha Temple to mislead the masses!"

The souls of those infants in Yunlu Town did indeed transform into ravens, but they did not enter the legendary "Western Paradise".

They flew into the Mahayana Temple.

"But what use do the Maha Temple have for the souls of these raven birds?"

Zhou Xuan walked to the wall and reached out to touch the raven relief. As soon as his fingertips touched it, the relief seemed to come alive and move as if it were about to take flight.

However, it's just a slight twitching; there aren't any large movements.

Zhou Xuan couldn't figure it out either, and continued walking forward.

He went up the stairs inside the tower to the second floor and saw that the central Buddhist hall was gone; in front of him was a dark iron wall.

He wiped his hand on the iron wall, and a dark substance appeared on his fingertips. When he brought it to his nose, it smelled of coal ash, a burnt smell mixed with the pungent smell of burning sawdust.

"How did the Buddhist hall become an iron wall?"

In the real world, the Mahakasyapa—the central part of each floor of the pagoda is an incredibly tall and vast Buddhist hall.

In the Buddhist hall, there are naturally Buddha statues, and this is true on every floor.

"Let's go up and take a look first."

Zhou Xuan wiped the coal dust off his hands with a handkerchief and continued upstairs.

The third floor was the same—no Buddhist shrine, only iron walls.

The fourth floor, the fifth floor, the sixth floor... all the way to the twenty-third floor—the highest floor that the Maha Temple opens to pilgrims. There are no Buddhist halls, only iron walls.

What's behind the iron wall?

Zhou Xuan's curiosity grew stronger, and he continued to climb upwards.

The twenty-fourth floor became the watershed for understanding the mysteries of the Maha Temple.

Zhou Xuan climbed to a high vantage point and, gazing into the distance, clearly saw that the surrounding area was enclosed by iron walls, forming a bottomless pit.

The depth of the pit is not simply from one to twenty-three layers; it extends deep underground.

Looking down into the pit, Zhou Xuan could only see boiling magma and fierce flames dancing within its deepest part.

The entire pit was like a giant furnace, and the Maha Temple was just a section extending out of that furnace.

“At first I thought that Maha Temple was a large alchemical furnace, but now I see that the entire Yunlu Mountain is the real alchemical furnace.”

At this moment, Zhou Xuan also remembered that when Li Changxun stepped into the mountain gate, he said that he smelled the scent of "elixir".

At that time, Zhou Xuan and his companions were still quite a distance from the Maha Temple.

Now that he knows that the entire Yunlu Mountain is a single alchemy furnace, Zhou Xuan feels that Li Changxun's behavior at the time makes sense.

"Using a mountain as a furnace, what kind of elixir is this Maha Temple trying to refine with such a grand scale?"

“Every 180 years, a relic will appear on the top of the pagoda of Maha Temple, and people from heaven will come to collect it.”

Zhou Xuan thought to himself, "That relic must have been forged in this mountain, but... such a large mountain, and such a long time of 180 years, could only produce one relic?"

He secretly sensed that something was wrong.

"Perhaps the claim of 180 years, and the claim of the Western Paradise, are both false claims used to deceive people and should not be taken seriously."

As Zhou Xuan thought of this, he looked out of the tower from inside.

He was somewhat taken aback when he saw the scene outside the tower.

In the real world, Cloud Deer Mountain is a riot of flowers and lush vegetation, but the scene he saw at this moment was quite different—

—The entire mountain is like a coal mountain, with scorched earth and withered bones everywhere. Where is there any sign of life?
"Yunlu Buddha Town and Yunlu Mountain, such wonderful places, have been turned into a dead land by this furnace."

"According to the records in the Yunlu County Annals and Town Annals, these pills were definitely sent to the heavens, but how exactly they were sent is unknown."

Zhou Xuan became increasingly alarmed as he looked at the scene.

He didn't bother to think about what kind of pills this mountain furnace was refining—anyway, the pills in this furnace tasted like the elixir of immortality that Li Changxun had described.

The celestial elixir in the heavens is different from the celestial elixir in the mortal world... As Zhao Wuyai said, mortal elixirs are all waste products, and what is refined is just a pile of garbage.

But Li Changxun's elixir was a true elixir of immortality; at least, based on Yun Ziliang's personal testimony, it was indeed incredibly miraculous.

This also shows that the elixir sent to heaven by Yunlu Mountain and Mohe Temple had a great effect.

He didn't even consider how the elixirs from the Maha Temple were sent to heaven.

He wouldn't even consider what the pills from the Maha Temple were made from to give them such miraculous effects.

"What was it made of? It's definitely not good material, it's not presentable to the public."

If the materials for alchemy were truly visible, Yunlu Mountain and Mohe Temple wouldn't need to hide so secretly; they could just openly and honestly refine elixirs, wouldn't they?

At this moment, the only question Zhou Xuan was pondering was—

"It seems I've stumbled upon another huge business opportunity."

People on Earth practice alchemy, doing so in secret.
The celestial beings, having received the pills, did not publicize it widely. Even a god-level being like Li Changxun only knew that every so often, cranes would deliver the pills from the Heavenly Kingdom.

He knew the name of the pill and had even taken it, but he didn't know where it came from, how it was made, or what its ingredients were.
This newly emerged dragon-seeking deity, less than a century old, knew nothing of anything of importance.

If the parties involved are unaware of something, then there must be something the heavens are trying to cover it up.

The fact that it's being covered up indicates that the matter is dirty and involves many shady dealings.

Zhou Xuan had a premonition that he was about to stumble upon an extremely wicked scheme in the heavens and the Kingdom of Well.

There was another kind of ugliness that he was about to see.

There is always so much ugliness in the world; all kinds of worldly conditions exist.

For ordinary people, it's good to be a little confused sometimes. If you don't know something, just pretend it never happened and live your life in a daze. That's fine.

Even if they actually saw it or stumbled upon it, they would pretend they didn't see or hear it, and keep it to themselves.
Anyway,

Nothing can be changed.

"Would it be a good idea for me to step down now?"

Zhou Xuan chuckled self-deprecatingly. He decided to abandon his obsessive pursuit of the truth and withdraw from the state of "being in harmony with Heaven."
Then he took Yun Ziliang and Li Changxun and left Mohe Temple, returning to Mingjiang Prefecture. He kept the secrets he had seen and deduced about the temple to himself. It was good to be confused for once.

"not good at all."

Zhou Xuan immediately shook his head and said to himself, "My situation is that I need to make things bigger and stir up the muddy waters of the world so that I can be safer."

He never forgot that he was the best vessel for the gods in the world. Those celestial beings, gods, and even their wills were all subject to some kind of restriction in the world and had no pure freedom.

Even a sorcerer god who can walk among humans needs to "drive" the Wine Master when traveling, and the number of times he can travel is also extremely limited.

“Those celestial beings, gods, and wills, how could they not also desire true freedom, and the key to their freedom lies within me.”

By possessing Zhou Xuan's body and replacing his will with the will of their Heavenly Venerables and Gods, they gained true freedom.

However, Zhou Xuan had not yet truly grown up at this time—just like the three-headed stone Buddha in Pengjia Town.

When Zhou Xuan first entered Mingjiang, the three-headed stone Buddha was capable of killing him, but because Zhou Xuan had not yet reached the point of three incense sticks burning, his abilities as a vessel were not yet that great.
The three-headed stone Buddha could only wait for Zhou Xuan to grow up.

Of course, after Zhou Xuanjin burned three incense sticks, he had already found many helpers for himself and destroyed the three-headed stone Buddha, which was something the stone Buddha had not expected at the beginning.

And it is the same now.

The reason why those Celestial Venerables and Celestial Gods did not attempt to seize Zhou Xuan's body was simply because Zhou Xuan's growth level was not as good as theirs.

This was also the safest period for Zhou Xuan.

"I need to extend the safe period a little longer."

Zhou Xuan needs time to truly grow, to grow to the point where even gods and celestial beings cannot kill him so easily.

How can the safe period be extended?

"Naturally, I'll stir up trouble. Once the waters are muddied, all the big shots, whether they're in the sky, on the ground, or hidden in various secret spaces, will come to me to settle things."

"If they need me, they naturally won't be able to kill me."

The invasion of the Buddhist Kingdom created a mess, forcing the Witch God to condescend and seek out Zhou Xuan to deal with the Buddhist Kingdom.

"If the internal and external troubles persist, the number of Celestial Venerables and Gods seeking my help will likely exceed just one or two—as long as they cannot kill me immediately... I will have time to grow stronger."
By then, who will be the hunter and who will be the prey is another matter entirely.

Zhou Xuan made his decision very quickly. Not only did he not leave the "thirty-three-story demon tower," but he also wanted to investigate the matter inside thoroughly.

His will grew ever stronger, and this determination even infected a book of "things"...

……

In Zhou Xuan's secret realm, the eldest and third children were fast asleep on the ancient book "Shangqing Cantongqi".

This book, "Cantongqi," always brings a sense of "mountain" to the eldest and third children.

In essence, these two children are ginseng from the mountains that have cultivated into spirits; they are a type of mountain spirit.

Water spirits in the mortal world are all fascinated by rivers, and mountain spirits in this world are naturally fascinated by mountains.

Lying on the "Cantongqi" (a Buddhist text), they smelled the fragrance of the earth and fell asleep. In their dream, they saw pear blossoms, apricot blossoms, and azaleas covering the mountains.
They heard the sound of earthworms burrowing in the soil.

The babbling brook, with its gentle, flowing sound, further accentuates the realism of this scene of birdsong and fragrant flowers.
The scent of the mountains made the two children forget all about playing games. Forget Monopoly and Ludo, those games taught by Professor Zhou Xuan, they were not as happy as having a "mountain dream".

But then, the dream ended.
That copy of "Cantongqi" seemed to flutter like a butterfly, using its pages as wings.

As soon as the ancient books took flight, the two children's dreams were shattered.

They were in a great hurry, jumping around like they were chasing butterflies, trying to snatch the ancient book down.

"Old book, old book, come down here, I'm counting on you to sleep."

"That's right, old book, I haven't even finished my dream yet, can you let me finish this dream?"

The two children, like addicts caught in a craving, became increasingly violent and impatient, frantically flipping through the pages of the book.

Meanwhile, Miss Wall, who was playing Monopoly nearby, saw the two dolls making a sound and immediately called for the engineer.

"Engineer, look at those two kids, they're hilarious! They're dreaming while reading the book, but the book is ignoring them."

Miss Wall had the mindset of a little child, but the engineer did not; she only glanced at it before spotting the problem.

"No... that book is flying around Boss Xuan, it seems to have something to say to Boss Xuan."

The engineer quickly shouted at the two ginseng dolls, "Stop fooling around, stop!"

"Never stop, is that a book? That's our dream."

The two kids are getting more and more obsessed.

When Miss Wall heard that "Book" was going to speak to Zhou Xuan, she was extremely protective of him. Immediately, she activated the black water, and two huge waves pressed down on Shenwa, making him unable to move.

"God of Blackwater, don't stop us, we want to pursue our dreams."

Blackwater completely ignored the two of them.

With Ginseng Child no longer chasing after the book, "Cantongqi" rested on Zhou Xuan's shoulder.

The words from the ancient book flowed down to Zhou Xuan's brow and entered his soul.

While Zhou Xuan was in a state of "harmony with the heavens," his soul was unable to communicate with the people in the secret realm.
But at this moment, after the words "Cantongqi" flowed into Zhou Xuan's soul, they transformed into an aged voice.

"The Book of the Three Kinds greets the Grand Master of Mingjiang Prefecture."

"Are you the Cantongqi?"

Zhou Xuan was inside the Maha Pagoda, pondering how to investigate the truth behind the "elixir" within, when he inadvertently heard a weathered voice.

The owner of the voice, however, said that he was "Cantongqi".

"Yes."

"How to prove it?"

Zhou Xuan only heard the voice but did not see the person, so it was hard to be sure whether the other party was the real "Cantongqi" or the ancient book that he had brought back to Jingyi Shop from Mr. Ye's headquarters.

The Cantongqi honestly replied, "I appeared in the form of an ancient book. Over the past nine hundred years, I have gone through many twists and turns, and was eventually obtained by Mr. Ye's otherworldly being, 'Dizi.' However, he did not understand what I was, only that I was somewhat mysterious, and placed me in the main library's archives."

"Then, by chance, I was brought back to Mingjiang Prefecture by you."

"It cannot be proven that you are a member of the Cantongqi yet. It's time for a quick question and answer."

Zhou Xuan is a professional swindler now. He deals with eagles every day. How could he possibly get his eyes pecked out by an eagle?
He immediately asked, "How many people are in the purification shrine?"

“Zhao Wuyai, Yun Ziliang, Xiao Fuzi, Li Changxun… and you…”

Who has seen you?

“You… Yun Ziliang.”

Why have I come to Huangyuan Prefecture?

"In order to find out how Master Xuelu resurrected his family back then."

"How many people are in my secret realm?" Zhou Xuan finally asked the last question.

This is a question that, apart from Yun Ziliang, his sister, his fifth senior brother, and his master—people extremely close to Zhou Xuan—is truly unknown to anyone in the world.

"Miss Wall, the engineer, the two dolls..." The Cantongqi recounted the names of everyone he had encountered in the secret realm.

Zhou Xuan, now convinced that he had attained the "Sympathetic Unity," asked, "I was in deep meditation, using the method of 'Harmony with Heaven' to comprehend the truth of this demon tower. What brings you here?"

Cantongqi did not answer directly, but asked seriously, "Great Master, I know that you are eager to investigate the mysteries of this tower thoroughly... I want to ask you—is your mind firm?"

"Absolutely determined!"

"If the mystery within this tower disrupts the business of the heavens, are you willing to investigate it thoroughly?"

"Of course." Zhou Xuan replied without hesitation, after all, he had already thought about these issues very thoroughly.

"If you find out the truth and learn the secret of the evil monk of Maha Temple's alchemy, would you dare to kill him?"

Zhou Xuan said, "What if I said I wouldn't dare?"

"Then I will return to the secret realm. Pretend I was never here, and consider me just an ordinary ancient book."

Zhou Xuan then asked, "What if I say I dare?"

The Cantongqi said, "I will help you reveal what kind of filth exists within the entire Maha Pagoda."

Zhou Xuan said, "I'm not afraid of anything. I dare to do all the things you mentioned. However, before we cooperate, you have to tell me who you really are."

After a few seconds of silence, Cantongqi said with a sigh, "I am Yunlu Mountain, the true mountain spirit—I once devoted myself to comprehending the Great Dao and followed the Daoist school."
I have never entered a Taoist temple to cultivate, nor have I ever been a Taoist priest, but I admire Taoist practitioners in the mortal world, and I have given myself the Taoist name—White Deer Taoist.

(End of this chapter)