Da Zaojun

Chapter 191 Seventh-Rank Ritual: Feast for Ghosts and Gods - Yang Zhaizhu

[By making the uniquely flavored sour soup, you will understand the five flavors of sourness and gain the trait: Strive for First Place]

Strive to be first: One must strive to be first in everything! How can a great man remain subservient to others for long? If one is not inferior to others in this life, why not avoid the limelight? Eating a large amount will restore physical strength, slightly increase power, and excite the mind.

Song Wuji didn't expect that because of Lin Fajing's arrival, the Beggar Clan elders would feel "resentful" and complain to Song Wuji, while also asking when Song Wuji would go down to the Netherworld to pass the five trials. Regardless of whether they obtained the God of Wealth's artifact or not, they would leave Taichang City and go to the next place to establish a branch.

It was precisely because they were spewing sour grapes and making sarcastic remarks that they said things like, "They're from the orthodox Taoist sect, disciples of the Celestial Master, while we're just the lowest of the low..."

"We helped you out of our distress before, but now that you've colluded with the Daoist sect, our 'Life-Gathering Sect' is the lowest of the low, and we're afraid it will offend other people's eyes!"

"It's just a pity for those widows, orphans, the lonely, and the disabled. They too had shed blood and suffered injuries. It's pitiful that they joined our Beggars' Sect, and from then on, they were treated as inferior..."

But when they said these things, Song Wuji didn't feel awkward at all. On the contrary, his eyes lit up: "Yes, yes, yes! That's the feeling, that's the taste!"

So sour!
It's like three lemons coming to life.

With this realization, Song Wuji was able to make this pot of strange-tasting sour soup. It had a slightly sour smell, but it was very fragrant and contained the internal organs and offal of demons.

This perfectly matches the characteristics of a beggar's disciple: having no good food to eat.

After stopping the three beggar elders from drinking the soup, their eyes turned red, and they huffed and puffed excitedly: "How come we're the lowest of the low, while he's the true master of the three religions! I'm so not convinced!"

Despite their resentment, they didn't dare to attack. Instead, they began to compete internally, teaching the Beggar Clan disciples of Taichang City more advanced martial arts and mental techniques, even things that elders of their level couldn't teach—things that could only be learned by those at their own level.

It was at this moment that Song Wuji's eight-piece culinary puzzle of becoming a gourmet chef was finally completed.

The three types of eighth-rank rituals complement each other, elevating Song Wuji's three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit. Originally, although the values ​​of the three treasures were high, they were merely piled up and were slightly loose.

At this moment, however, there is a subtle sense of primordial unity.

"Could this be the Three Treasures in Harmony, the Primordial Golden Elixir that Lin Fajing spoke of? And does it correspond to his Talisman Golden Elixir?"

Song Wuji sensed that when the values ​​of the three treasures exceeded 20, the three treasures would merge into one, and he could reach the state of the Hunyuan Golden Core that Lin Fajing had mentioned.

At the same time, the rituals for the seventh rank also appeared.

There are three more rituals than the eight-rank ritual.

There are only two rituals for the seventh rank.

One is [Feast for Ghosts and Gods], which was also mentioned by the three elders of the Beggar Clan before.

He had to pass five trials: the first was the Gate of Hell, the second was the Wild Dog Barrier, the third was the Mirror of Retribution, the fourth was the Barrier of Relatives and Friends, and the fifth was the Barrier of His True Self.

Once you pass the five trials, you can cultivate the Yin Spirit, at which point you can host a banquet for ghosts and gods.

From then on, he was considered to have truly graduated from the Kitchen God lineage, and the food he ate was something that even gods and immortals could enjoy, no longer just earthly flavors.

Even the spirits and deities who roam the human world give the Kitchen God some face, after all, they are obliged to those who feed them.

These deities do not include celestial gods, but they do include earth deities.

For example, the Earth God, the City God, the Mountain God, and the River God.

At the same time, it is also necessary to collect Yellow Spring Mud, and refine it according to good and evil karma, to make the Good and Evil Jar, which represents the divine function of the Kitchen God "Si Ming Ce".

Before a person is reincarnated, it is determined how much food they will eat in their lifetime, whether they will be able to eat delicacies from the rich and powerful, or they will only be able to eat coarse food.

Another type of seventh-rank ritual is called [Yangzhai Master].
This is an authority that leans towards the humane side, and it is actually in line with the ritual of "passing on the fire and gathering fuel".

However, unlike before, when the power was biased towards fire, this time the power is biased towards "the power to protect the house".

One must become the Kitchen God of "ten thousand houses" and this Kitchen God must be the "head of the household" personally acknowledged by the homeowner. If he is not the head of the household, he will not enter the house.

This is the true meaning of "every household's stove fire".

At the same time, they also had to collect the smoke from thousands of cooking fires to refine "ascending clouds".

To prepare for the sixth-rank ritual [Imperial Kitchen Master], this ritual requires a trip to the Heavenly Palace to feast the celestial gods, much like the seventh-rank ritual of feasting the ghosts and gods. As for the Yang house master… that's hard to say. In Taichang City alone, it's unlikely there will be ten thousand households in a short time, unless they safely reproduce for a generation, meaning at least ten years, or they need to spread the Kitchen God's faith in a secret realm. If that's to be accomplished, then they need to expand their territory.

To feast ghosts and gods, one must descend to the underworld. The most important thing is to collect Yellow Spring Mud and refine the Good and Evil Jar. At the same time, one obtains the authority of "fixed food and fortune," which determines a person's fate in the next life based on the karma they committed in their previous life. The standard for measuring this fate is food, which is food and fortune.

In other words, there are two steps.

After thinking for a moment, Song Wuji decided to perform the Netherworld Ritual and feast the ghosts and gods first, since he had been preparing for this and had collected a lot of things.

And coincidentally, during this period, Taichang Realm was relatively stable with no unstable factors, except for the neighboring evil god.

After much deliberation, Song Wuji decided to act quickly. The longer he delayed, the more likely he was to encounter the very thing he feared.

Because Song Wuji had already asked Lin Fajing about his opinion on the Emperor's Dew, and whether this celestial phenomenon would occur frequently.

But Lin Fajing said, "All blessed lands have passages that connect to the upper realm. Some parts of the celestial realm still persist, while others have fallen to the mortal world and evolved into secret realms."

"These celestial phenomena were once governed by the gods. The Thirty-Three Heavens are like thirty-three layers of sieves, filtering the primordial energy from chaos layer by layer before it is introduced into the human world. For example, sunlight filters out the endless true fire of the sun. Otherwise, it would be like the scene of ten suns in the sky, just like when Hou Yi shot down the sun in ancient times."

"The Emperor's Dew is currently a tonic, but in the future, it may evolve into the Taiyin Ice Soul. The chill contained in the moonlight is enough to freeze and shatter the soul."

"This is just the beginning. Whether it's natural disasters or strange phenomena, or even peerless demons and evil gods, they will all recover after licking their wounds."

"Whether or not they conquered heaven and earth and destroyed order, they are definitely the ones who most want to control the order of heaven and earth. Once they rebuild the order, it will be a great world of demons, dominated by the demon heavenly court, the demon underworld, and the demon human world!"

"On the next full moon night, there will surely be even more imperial dew flowing down to earth! Look at the weeds in the wilderness, they can grow as tall as a person in a day, and the wild beasts have all become several times their original size. It is the spiritual essence that flows down from the heavens to the earth contained in the light of the sun, moon and stars."

"Right now, the most powerful demons might only be at the seventh rank, but in a few months, the most powerful demons might be at the sixth or fifth rank! They'll conquer more and more territories and acquire more and more fortune..."

Lin Fajing said, "So you should hurry up and increase your cultivation. The old man hopes you can go down the well and help continue to suppress the demon dragon. He thinks that they can free up their hands to recover from their injuries and restore their cultivation, so that they can gain a foothold in advance. Although we are the immortal path and you are the human path, the immortal path is actually a branch of the human path. Humans are on the mountainside."

Song Wuji replied, "Alright! I agree to this. Once I'm out of the Netherworld, I'll go down into the Fire Well. I wonder if I could tell you the cultivation method of the Fire Talisman Golden Elixir in advance, so that I can preserve my life in the Netherworld."

Upon hearing this, Lin Fajing clapped his hands and cheered, "The task the old man gave me is finally complete!"

He immediately took out a bronze mirror, chanted a spell, and two Taoists appeared in the mirror. One of them was Lin Fajing, the abbot of Tiezhu Palace whom Song Wuji had met before. Lin Fajing was the same name as Lin Fajing, and they were of the same generation, and might even be relatives. After all, the talisman sect did not have any taboos about marrying and having children, and many of them had Taoist partners.

Another Taoist priest had completely white hair, but his face was like that of an infant, and he looked somewhat like Tang Guoqiang's version of Yuanshi Tianzun.

Although Song Wuji couldn't see the exact cultivation level through the mirror, he was certain it was not low. After all, even Lin Fajing was a fifth-rank cultivator, so as his master, he must be even more powerful.

"Old man, I've already coaxed him into agreeing to repair the Eight Trigrams Fire Array and reinforce the seal at the Red Pillar Fire Well! Hurry up and bring out the method for making the Fire Talisman and Golden Elixir, and if you happen to have any magic treasures or divine weapons, spare me a couple!"

The old Taoist priest with white hair and beard chuckled and said, “Fa Jing, you have done a good job in this matter and should indeed be rewarded. However, I am here to guard the cave. Otherwise, if the followers of the Chaos Demon God had discovered the entrance, I fear they would have slaughtered countless people. Your Yin-Yang Demon-Slaying Sword is already a magic weapon and is more than enough. Now, hand over the Shadow God Mirror to that Lord Song and let me explain.”

Lin Fajing casually tossed the Shadow God Mirror to Song Wuji.

Song Wuji was speechless for a moment.

“Lord Song, the most important thing for the human realm to grow stronger is actually the dragon vein, and specifically the dragon vein originating from Kunlun Mountain, which is the ancestral dragon.”

"Now that Kunlun Mountain has collapsed, there is no more Ancestral Dragon in this world. As for the True Dragons, most of them were serving in the Heavenly Court. With the fall of the Heavenly Court, the fate of these True Dragons is unknown."

"Only demonic dragons, evil dragons, and flood dragons still exist in the world."

"Although the dragon suppressed beneath the Stanley Fire Well is a wicked dragon, it is very close to a true dragon. While it may not be able to nurture a powerful ruler like Qin Shi Huang or Emperor Taizu of Han, who could once again unify the human world, it can at least contend for the world!"

“The Lord of the Realm can try to persuade him to willingly give up his food.”

"Actually, he did not do any evil. Back then, his whole family was killed by Master Xu. There were more than 300 dragons in total, and only he was left. He was persuaded to save him and was thus suppressed here."

"The Master said that he will commit evil again after his birth. Although we have been trying to persuade him to do good, we cannot resist his desire for revenge. In the end, it will be nothing more than slaying the dragon again. His fate is predictable and his future is clear at a glance."

"If the Lord of the Realm can persuade him not to cause trouble in the world, he will have survived his last tribulation. When the human world is rebuilt and the world is unified, that will be the day he ascends to heaven from his trapped position, and he can transform from a wicked dragon into a true dragon."

"Of course, if he doesn't listen to advice, we can also use the Eight Trigrams Fire Formation to refine the stubborn one. However, since it's not his choice, we will both have great karma in the future. What we owe him will eventually become a hidden danger and overturn the results."

(End of this chapter)