Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 94

On August 12, the 423rd year of the Qianfeng reign of the Immortal David, Empress Cixi celebrated her birthday. It was a time of great virtue from the gods and it was a good time to offer sacrifices and to celebrate the wedding.

The newly built ancestral hall of the Chongming Sect has finally come into use. The statues of the ancestors of past generations can finally be moved out of the cramped and low little houses and moved into the spacious and bright grand hall that exudes a faint sandalwood scent.

Standing outside the black wood gate, you can see that there are three layers of statues in the middle of the hall. The top layer is the Three Pure Ones of Taoism, the ancestors of Taoism; the second layer is Zhang Zushi, the founder of Chongming; the third layer is the other five deceased masters.

There is a large wooden table under the statue of the founder, on which are placed an incense burner, Dharma flags, and a large bell with a list of names.

Walking into the Patriarch Hall, the floor paved with fine green jade shines with a warm color. On the candle holders on both sides that run through the entire room, there are thousands of green lamps burning, and the curling smoke makes the six statues of the Patriarchs wearing cloud robes and hibiscus crowns look more solemn and sacred.

There is a blue dragon swimming in the sea carved on the beam, and a real phoenix patrolling the sky on the pillar.

Zhou Jiashi was now tidy and clean, completely different from his usual busy appearance in the fields.

He was wearing an indigo Taoist robe and a Hunyuan scarf on his head. He stood in front of the ancestral hall with a determined look in his eyes. He made a Tai Chi seal with his hands raised to his eyebrows, with his right hand below and his left hand above. He touched his back with his head and performed the ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows.

Pei Yi asked for three sticks of incense, and Master Zhou Jia took them with his head bowed, thanking his senior brother. He stepped over the prayer mat with the Seven Star Steps, walked to the incense burner, and inserted the incense with his right hand.

After lighting the incense, Master Zhou Jia returned to the prayer mat, made the lotus seal with his hands, and bowed again in a standing position.

At this time, Yuan Jin, who was sitting under the statue of the founder, had a solemn expression on his face and struck the large bell. The sound of the bell was clear and melodious, like a spring, flowing through everyone's hearts.

After three chimes, Kang Dabao took out the yellow silk that he had written on it and walked to the statue of the founder alongside Zhou Jiashi. After standing and bowing, he unfolded the yellow silk and said in a deep voice, "Disciple Kang Dabao, I am here to report to the founder today. I have a disciple named Zhou Yixiu, who is honest, loyal, talented, and respectful and frugal. Therefore, I will take the position of the seventh-generation head of the Chongming Sect, teach on behalf of the master, and bring Zhou Yixiu into my family."

Putting away the yellow silk, Kang Dabao took Zhou Yixiu's hand and walked to the statue of his teacher, where the latter bowed again.

After the chime sounded three more times, Zhou Yixiu stood up again, and heard Kang Dabao say with a gentle smile: "Junior Brother Zhou."

"Zhou Yixiu greets the head senior brother." Zhou Yixiu also smiled and greeted Pei Yi, Yuan Jin and Jiang Qing one by one.

The younger generation who were watching the ceremony also came up to pay their respects to the newly appointed "young" master.

"I never thought that my father, who is over 70 years old, could still join the sect." Zhou Xinran looked at Zhou Yixiu's serious and solemn expression and laughed.

Half a year after the Zhou family moved from Xuanwei City to Chongmingzong, they have completely gotten used to life here.

Although Chongming City is remote and a bit poor, the Zhou family, as relatives of immortals, live a life of luxury here and do not need to be as cautious as they were in Xuanwei City.

Zhou Yixiu and his daughter were also highly respected here and lived a comfortable life.

Zhou Yixiu's attainments as a farmer have reached the upper level of the first rank. It should not be difficult for him to become an ordinary worshiper in some large foundation-building clans.

But the longer he spent with the people of Chongming Sect, the more he felt that he should settle down here.

Kang Dabao had been in contact with Zhou Yixiu for a long time, and he also felt that he was a rare and kind person. Now that the sect was really short of people, he could be brought in to strengthen the sect.

Kang Dabao discussed it with several fellow apprentices and originally wanted to hire him as a priest, but after doing the math, they felt they could not afford the price for long-term employment, so they tentatively asked him if he wanted to join the sect.

Unexpectedly, after asking this question, the two parties hit it off immediately.

Zhou Yixiu had worked as a farmer for countless families in his life and had seen all the deceptions and intrigues among the wealthy families.

After the disaster, he wanted to find a place to settle down and live out his retirement. It was also great for him to be able to join the Chongming Sect, a harmonious sect, and become a formal disciple.

If he didn't have this intention, why would he take the initiative to help Kang Dabao cheat more spiritual honey from the female cultivator of the Lu family?

Since "the man has feelings and the woman has intentions", it is natural for Zhou Jiashi to become the fourth junior brother of the head of Kangda.

In addition to the representatives of the three nearby families, there were also two monks watching the ceremony in the hall. They all showed some envy when they saw Zhou Yixiu joining the Chongming Sect.

They were both around 40 years old. Their cultivation was not high, one was at the fourth level of Qi training, and the other was at the second level.

The tall and white man was called Wei Gu, who was at the fourth level of Qi training and was a first-class lower-grade formation master. With this skill, he had originally lived a very comfortable life in his hometown of Jingnan Prefecture.

Who would have thought that one day after getting drunk he spoke out of turn and actually talked about the Yuan family's foundation building in public in a tavern or teahouse.

When he sobered up, he had completely forgotten about it. It was not until the next day when he went to the market to set up a stall as usual that a drinking buddy mentioned it to him and he suddenly remembered it.

In fact, those words may not have reached the ears of the Yuan family. Even if they did, Wei Gu's words at the time were not excessive, and the Yuan family might not have the leisure to cause trouble for him. But Wei Gu himself became more and more afraid, so he took his family and traveled across mountains and rivers, leaving the hometown where he was born and raised for half his life, and went to Pingrong County to make a living.

Wei Gu had just arrived and urgently needed to make some spiritual stones to support his family, so the price he asked for was low.

Kang Dabao happened to feel that some of the sect's minor formations were incomplete and needed to be supplemented, so he invited him.

The short and yellow-faced man is called Mo Ku. There is nothing much to say about his experience. He is just another mortal who embarked on the path of cultivation by accident. After nearly twenty years of practice, he is still lingering on the second level of Qi training.

He had been hanging around in Chongming Market for some time, but couldn't afford the spirit stones for renting a house. He hadn't yet mastered the skills of a farmer and hadn't yet entered the rank. He didn't have the courage to learn from those desperate monks who went into the mountains. He used his magic tools to hunt animals and collect herbs, so he was picked up for free by Master Kang without spending a penny.

Now he is tending the spiritual field with Kang Rongquan so that Zhou Yixiu can focus more on cultivating the spiritual locust trees.

Mo Ku had no objection at all to the fact that he did the work but earned nothing.

For a poor and helpless cultivator like him, he could live in a spiritual place without paying spirit stones. He could practice in peace in his spare time, eat half a bowl of spiritual rice from Kang Rongquan from time to time, and listen to Zhou Yixiu's experience in spiritual plants.

Compared with the days of wandering and struggling to practice in the past, this is not exploitation at all, it is a blessing!

If Kang Dabao treated Mo Ku too well, he would have to wonder if he was being targeted by an evil cultivator who was waiting to use his flesh, blood, and marrow to refine magical instruments and evil skills.

Because of his experience of working in Chongming Sect these days, Mo Ku has a clearer understanding of the leader Kang Dabao.

This is a leader who is quite stingy with himself but very good to his disciples.

He is fair, kind to others, and somewhat soft-hearted. Although all his disciples obey and listen to him, it is more out of love than fear.

Among the other members of the Chongming Sect, apart from Jiang Qing who is a bit arrogant and Yuan Jin who has a bad temper, there are no bad people with sinister personalities.

If he could join such a sect like Zhou Yixiu, he would not suffer any loss. Not to mention that he was willing to take Kang Dabao as his senior brother, he would also be willing to take Kang Rongquan as his master.

"What a pity, they look down on us." Mo Ku just sighed softly in his heart and made up his mind to take good care of the spiritual fields of Chongming Sect, so as not to lose this job that he had obtained with great difficulty.

Zhou Yixiu's initiation ceremony lasted from noon to sunset. Chongmingzong had not had such a lively occasion for many years, and it also helped Kang Dabao and others to review the fasting and offering rituals.

After the initiation ceremony, a small Taoist meeting was held, and Wei Gu and Mo Ku naturally didn't want to miss it. After listening for a long time, seeing that everyone on the stage had talked about a lot of valuable information, Wei Gu felt that it was not good to listen in vain, so he also went on stage to talk about some knowledge about formations.

Mo Kuze was worse. He didn't even understand a lot of what others talked about. He just memorized them and planned to review them when he went back. He didn't have any insights to show for his speech on stage.

After the two of them finished listening to the meeting, they both felt that they had gained a lot and returned in high spirits. After the meeting, the two of them walked together to their respective residences. They now had similar circumstances in Chongming Sect and had a good relationship recently, so they could be considered to be keeping each other warm.

Wei Gu was the first to sigh: "This formation is about to be completed, and I don't know where to go next."

The Chongming Sect is a small clan now, and it will definitely not spend spirit stones to support an external formation master for a long time.

This made Wei Gu a little worried whether he could find another comfortable host.

It is true that "God will never let a craftsman starve". Wei Gu may not have to worry about business after he leaves, but it will be difficult to find another owner who is as quick to settle accounts as Chong Mingzong.

Don't be fooled by Kang Dabao's stingy appearance and the price he offers is not high. But as long as you do your job well, he will do his job well and will not deliberately find fault with you to deduct the betrothal fee. This makes him a kind customer.

Mo Ku beside him heard his complaints and sighed, "I just heard from the young master of the Ye family that the world is in chaos now. That County Lord Xie suddenly gained power and acted very recklessly. A few days ago, the state court ordered all counties to send people to serve in the state court, so he went directly to several markets in the county to capture scattered cultivators and gathered 30 people. As a result, our fellows from Pingrong County encountered the unfortunate incident of the spiritual formation collapsing when they went to the mine, and they were all buried in it. Until now, no one knows whether they are alive or dead."

"Huh." Wei Gu's face turned bad after hearing Mo Ku's words. When he was practicing in Jingnan Province before, the Yuan family often recruited their forces and independent practitioners to participate in corvee labor and military affairs.

The corvée is not bad, it is all rough work like mining and construction. Although it is tiring, the Yuan family is concerned about their dignity and will not use the conscripted monks to death. After the corvée is over, you may even get a few spirit stones.

But if they were conscripted into the army, that would be bad. The Yuan family was willing to pay money, but they were also willing to sacrifice lives.

Wei Gu's luck was not very good. He was once recruited by the Yuan family and participated in a military campaign.

However, Wei Gu could be considered lucky among all the bad luck. Because he had a skill, he only did miscellaneous work in the rear assisting high-level formation masters, so he had never been to the front line of the formation.

But he had witnessed the tragic scene of the cultivators fighting in formation, and he was still frightened. If Yunjiaozhou also launched a large-scale conquest under the rule of the Immortal Dynasty, wouldn't they, the rootless and wandering cultivators, be the ones who suffered?
"Alas, the world is so big, where can I practice in peace?"

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(End of this chapter)