One Qi Chaoyang

Chapter 5: Dreaming

Zhao Fuyun looked at Zhu Puyi, who was obviously frightened and fidgeting.

He frowned slightly, thought of a possibility, and asked, "Does the master dream at night?"

"Dreaming? Not recently." Zhu Puyi paused and asked, "Does the teacher think someone cast a spell on me?"

He was also a person who had practiced cultivation. Although he had not achieved anything, he knew that many names of spells were related to dreams.

"Sir, have you had any dreams before?" Zhao Fuyun asked back through his words.

"When Zhuang Xiange died, I went to see him. I had a dream that night. I dreamed that I was standing at the door of his room, looking at the corpse on the bed. I couldn't move. I just kept looking at him." Zhu Puyi said nervously, with a hint of fear on his face.

At this time, he had changed his self-reference from "this official" to "I".

"What happened next? Was there anything else?" Zhao Fuyun sat down and asked while pouring a cup of tea into the cup.

"The next day, I felt like there were bugs all over my body. Even when I was awake, I could still feel bugs flying around me! I thought someone had cast a spell on me, but the symptoms gradually eased and I don't feel anything now."

"Teacher, do you think I have been under a spell?" Zhu Puyi stopped and walked up to Zhao Fuyun and asked.

Zhao Fuyun picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said, "It is normal to dream about something at night, but I would rather believe that you were married in your dream on the first night."

"After that, you always felt that there were bugs flying around you. It's because something entered your body. Do you feel any discomfort?" Zhao Fuyun said.

"I don't feel any discomfort, but I often wake up between the hours of midnight and 9 p.m. when I sleep at night. I feel like someone is watching me. But all along, I have always thought that it is because I have seen Zhuang Xiange's death and I am afraid, so this is the case." Zhu Puyi said.

"How about defecation?" Zhao Fuyun said.

"Huh, the teacher is also proficient in medicine?" Zhu Puyi asked in surprise.

"I haven't studied it specifically, but cultivation is about taking care of your body and mind, so some of the principles are the same."

"My urination and defecation are fine, everything is normal," said Zhu Puyi.

"I think I understand." Zhao Fuyun said.

"What is it?" Zhu Puyi asked anxiously.

"The Gu God enters the dream and hides in the soul. The soul hides in the liver. The time when the Qi and blood flow is between Zi and Chou. Because the liver and soul are different, adults will wake up at this time and feel that they are being spied on. When you are affected by this method, you feel that there are flying insects around you. This means that it is not the 'Nightmare Ghost' hiding there, but the 'Gu God'."

Zhu Puyi's eyes widened, while Zhao Fuyun looked into his eyes, as if he was looking through his eyes at his liver soul, or at the existence behind him, and said, "There is nothing unusual in your eyes, sir. Fortunately, the 'Gu God' has not laid eggs in the human body yet."

"Well, can it be solved?" Zhu Puyi was a little anxious.

"It's very troublesome. The person who casts the spell has a strong ability to control the Gu God. I can try it." Zhao Fuyun said.

However, Zhu Puyi hesitated and said, "I heard that if you don't disturb some things, they can live in peace. If you disturb them, it will be like disturbing a beehive..."

"Yes, that's true." Zhao Fuyun said. He looked at the worry in Zhu Puyi's eyes but didn't say anything to comfort him.

"That……"

Zhu Puyi stood up, waving the palm-leaf fan in his hand quickly, and said, "Teacher, are you sure?"

"There is some confidence, but it's hard to say it's absolutely certain." Zhao Fuyun lowered his head and drank tea.

Zhu Puyi turned around twice and said, "Teacher, do you think I can solve this problem if I go back to the city?"

"There are countless talented people in the city, and there should be someone who can solve it. Do you want to go back to the city, sir?" Zhao Fuyun asked.

Zhu Puyi really wanted to, he had applied for transfer long ago, but it was not approved unless he resigned from his post.

He knew that if he ran back to the city to treat his illness, he would definitely be scolded by the Lord of the City.

He looked at Zhao Fuyun, who was drinking tea with his head down and looking calm and composed. As a man who had been in the officialdom for a long time, he immediately thought that he was a disciple of Tiandu Mountain, not an ordinary child of a small family. So he said with a ruthless heart, "Teacher Zhao is a top disciple of Tiandu Mountain. I am afraid that there are not many people in the entire Nanling Prefecture who can compare with Teacher Zhao. Please ask Teacher Zhao to cast a spell for Zhu!"

"Thank you for your compliment, sir. I'll go to your bedroom first." After Zhao Fuyun said this, he entered Zhu Puyi's bedroom and took a look around. He didn't find anything else unusual, so he picked up a few strands of hair from his bed.

Zhu Puyi didn't notice.

"Then please have a good rest tonight, and I will help you out tomorrow!" After Zhao Fuyun came out, he bowed to Zhu Puyi and turned to leave.

Zhu Puyi could only see him off from behind. He wanted to say something, but he didn't want to appear too afraid of death, so he didn't ask any more questions. When they reached the door, he said, "Then I will be waiting for Teacher Zhao tomorrow."

Zhao Fuyun suddenly thought of what the big-eyed man said and asked, "Did Zhuang Xiange ever say that he wanted to issue a decree to abolish the Black Temple in Wuze County?"

Zhu Puyi thought about it and said, "He did say that he would ban all the black temples here in the future, but that was just a private talk and it is impossible to implement it now."

Zhao Fuyun nodded slightly and strode away.

……

In a dark house in the city of Wuze County.

There was a table on the north side of the room, and on the table was a large black jar. In the jar was a white ball, which was a silk cocoon. Inside was the silkworm Gu that he had raised for decades. Compared with other Gu at the beginning of breeding, the combat power of the silkworm Gu was almost negligible, but after it formed a cocoon, it became a top-level Gu.

When it comes to this level, they call it the 'Gu God'.

On a flat bed in front of the urn, an old man was sitting cross-legged on it. His name was Ma Wulang, but everyone called him Ma Canshi.

He suddenly opened his eyes. Just now, he heard a conversation through the consciousness of the Gu God hidden in the soul of the county magistrate.

"Tomorrow, I'll see how you solve it. If you do, it will cost him his life. Don't blame me then!" The old man hummed the Wu Ze dialect.

He was very confident in his silkworm poison and couldn't help but hum a local folk song from Wuze.

"A bug from afar got lost in the misty forest. A stinky kid from the city fell into the winding river..."

……

After Zhao Fuyun came to Wuze County, he only started to drink tea and dew and stopped eating grains. Because raising poisonous insects was a common practice here, he was afraid that he would be poisoned by someone when he ate grains outside for the first time, so he took fasting pills and abstained from food.

On weekdays, you can just drink some rain and dew, and eat the essence of heaven and earth to nourish your body. He stood by the window, holding a cup of smoking tea, looking at the vines climbing in the small courtyard outside, thinking in his heart.

When we were going down the mountain, the Taoist master said, if something cannot be done, then don't do it, just close the door and practice.

However, the official mission document issued by the court clearly stated: "Protect the life of the county magistrate, assist him in implementing the establishment of the Daozi Academy in the Great Zhou Kingdom, and educate the area."

If he returned without doing anything, allowing the nightmare ghosts and poisonous monsters here to run rampant and the killing of the county magistrate to happen again, it would not only be a disgrace to himself, but also a disgrace to Tiandu Mountain. He believed that if he returned to the mountain like this, even if he had established a foundation, he might not be able to enter the upper house and become an inner disciple of Tiandu Mountain.

When he thought of this, he made a decision in his heart.

He wanted to use his position as county magistrate to test the attitude of the locals.

He closed the doors and windows, turned around, and took out a cloth bag from the suitcase.

There were several things packed in the cloth bag, divided into different categories.

He first took out a small cloth bag, inside of which was a small wooden statue. It was a statue carved from the heart of a date tree that was struck by lightning. The head of the statue was charred and smooth, while the neck, chest and shoulders were red and carved to look like a robe.

Wood produces fire, and when struck by lightning, it also contains a trace of extremely yang energy, making it perfect for carving the statue of the Red Flame God.

For ordinary people, the Red Flame God is a guardian of the home and a ward off evil spirits.

But for cultivators, it can be used to set up formations.

A true cultivator who understands the law should not fight head-on with others, but should learn to borrow the law. In a one-on-one fight, how many people can he beat? Only those who know how to borrow the law can defeat demons and monsters with overwhelming force.

The divinity of the Red Flame God is of the yang and fire nature, which can overcome evil.

He didn't think of waiting until tomorrow, but wanted to do it tonight.

In the eyes of serious Xuanmen cultivators like him, these Gu are still far from being real "gods", but they can already be called nightmare monsters. If they are good, they are called spirits or ghosts.

Although the Taoist masters in the Taoist temple always spoke of poisonous insects in a disparaging manner, in his opinion, these were things that the Taoist masters could despise, but he was only a Xuan Guang cultivator who had not yet established his Taoist foundation, so he must not take it lightly.

If you want to help County Magistrate Zhu clear the "Gu God" in his liver soul, you have to let the Yin God enter his dream, which still falls into the category of marriage dream.

His own soul is not that strong, and may not be able to defeat the 'Gu God' hidden in the county magistrate's liver soul, so he needs to rely on the power of 'Red Flame God'.

Place a small incense burner in front of the Red Flame God and burn incense devoutly.

He then took out cinnabar and yellow talisman paper, and with sincerity, drew a fire talisman, inscribed with the name of the Red Flame God. This was not a simple fire talisman, but a Red Flame God Talisman. When it was finished, it emitted a red glow under the light.

He folded it into a hexagonal shape and held it in the palm of his left hand, and then held a few strands of hair picked up from County Magistrate Zhu in his other hand.

He sat cross-legged there, and beside him was a wooden statue of the Red Flame God, to whom he worshipped day and night. This could protect his body from being penetrated by any dirty things when his soul left his body.

He closed his eyes and calmed his body and mind. He was not in a hurry, but was waiting for County Magistrate Zhu to fall asleep.

Finally, he felt that the time was about right and County Magistrate Zhu should have fallen asleep.

The heart stores the spirit, the liver stores the soul. When the spirit and soul travel together, they can travel thousands of miles in an instant and even sneak into other people's dreams when they are at a high level.

Of course, his magic of allowing his soul to enter dreams was something he had practiced for a long time. Many magic spells are a skill that requires practice makes perfect, just like a spider hanging on a thread to cross to the other side. It requires extremely subtle control of the soul, and not getting lost.

He felt the scent of the hair in his hand, following a hint of sensation from somewhere in the dark. His soul seemed to be passing through a void of illusion, and the scene in his eyes changed.

He appeared outside a temple.

When he saw the temple, he immediately knew where it was.

This was the temple outside the city, but he soon came to his senses and realized that he had entered Zhu Puyi's dream.

The first difficulty in entering someone else's dream is to enter the dream of the soul, and the second difficulty is to wake up in the dream of others.

Anyone who has not yet reached the level of spiritual practice will have dreams when they fall asleep, but many people don’t remember them when they wake up.

In order to practice entering dreams, Zhao Fuyun lived in the capital city for half a year before he could successfully enter other people's dreams. Then it took him another month before he could wake up quickly from the dream.

Looking at the gloomy and obscure Chijun Temple, Zhao Fuyun became more alert. Perhaps the death of Zhuang Xiange shocked Zhu Puyi too much, so in his mind, this temple has become an ominous place.

So it became like this in his heart, the fear turned into a dream, and the "Gu God" hid here, probably not only to monitor Zhu Puyi, but also to let the "Gu God" grow in this nightmare.

He was thinking about how to break the dream, but he had already arrived at the door of the temple. He turned his body to the side and squeezed through the crack in the door.

The first thing that catches your eye is the statue in the temple.

In reality, it was a brand new statue, but here it was mottled and seemed to have been severely eroded by something. Not only did the statue not have the fiery charm of Chi Jun that could suppress all evil spirits, but it instead had a gloomy feeling.

As if it were a statue of an evil god.

But after Zhao Fuyun saw this statue, he immediately had an idea.

The existence of the statue means that Zhu Puyi still has the status of "Chijun" in his heart. It's just that the statue of Chijun in the temple in reality could not protect Zhuang Xiange, so the statue of "Chijun" was also covered in dust in his heart.

He thought this through, pondered it, and then he knew what to do.

When he was practicing in the mountains, he tried his best to expand his magical powers.

So he also learned spells such as "inviting gods", "consecration", "secret blessings", "praying" and "blessings".

He stood in front of the statue, raised his left hand to the height of his eyebrows, and began to recite the "Red Flame Residency Sutra". He wanted to invite the god into his dream.

His voice gradually changed from subtle to loud, and a ball of red light shone from the palm of his hand. That was the red flame talisman that he had held in his hand before he fell asleep. Because the name of the Red Flame God was written on the talisman, it was just the right medium for communicating with the 'Red Flame God'.

He felt the flame in his palm grow stronger and stronger, like a piece of charcoal held in his hand, the light shining through his fingers and dispelling the dark and evil spirit in the temple.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a buzzing sound in his ears, and then he saw many black-headed insects flying in from the door on the side of the statue. The black eyes on each black-headed insect were weird, as if they could frighten people's souls.

(End of this chapter)