Da Zaojun

Chapter 220 A Net of Heaven and Earth, Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations
Upon seeing the Magpie Bridge, Song Wuji roughly knew what kind of legendary secret realm this was, namely, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Legend has it that the Weaver Girl was the youngest daughter of the Queen Mother of the West. When she and her sisters descended to earth, the Cowherd stole her clothes. Because she had no clothes, she could not transform into a swan and could not return to heaven with her sisters. The Cowherd married her and they had two children.

The Cowherd learned of this news from his own old ox.

There's more to the story: the Weaver Girl secretly retrieved her celestial robes and flew back to heaven.

When the Cowherd returned, he was shocked to find that the Weaver Girl was missing. The old ox then made him skin her and made her into shoes and clothes. The Cowherd carried a carrying pole with baskets on both sides, and in the baskets were the two children he had with the Weaver Girl. He then chased after the Weaver Girl.

When the Queen Mother of the West saw that the Weaver Girl was about to be caught up, she used her golden hairpin to draw a Milky Way, separating the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

The magpie formed a bridge for the Cowherd, allowing the two to reunite.

On the surface, the story is about the Cowherd blaspheming the Weaver Girl, but there is a deeper meaning behind it, otherwise it would not have become one of the four great ancient legends.

The Cowherd represents men who farm.

The Weaver Girl represents female weavers.

The story of the Cowherd marrying the Weaver Girl actually represents the replacement of matrilineal clans by patriarchal agrarian society, and is a matter of the development of male rights and the issue of the continuation of bloodlines.

As far as mythology is concerned, it is an ancient people's fantasy about the constellations Altair, Vega, and Taurus.

The Magpie Bridge represents marriage. Whether it is a primitive matriarchal society where the mother is known but the father is unknown, or a patriarchal society where the father is known but the mother is not, neither is stable enough. Yin and Yang, the male and female heads of the household are equally important.

As for the ox, it was an important tool for men to plow, because it was used to domesticate the cattle species.

The symbol of the female weaver is her ability to weave clothes, representing the process of clear division of labor and cooperation between men and women.

Ancient mythology views the ability to weave cloth as something "stolen from heaven," meaning that only celestial weavers possessed the skill, which they then passed on to women, enabling them to weave cloth. This is a different legend from the Leizu system.

Song Wuji looked at the Milky Way Shuttle.

[Galaxy Shuttle. Mid-grade Magic Treasure]

The Queen Mother of the West bestowed upon her seventh daughter, the Weaver Girl, the magic shuttle used to weave the Milky Way Jade Belt. The Weaver Girl used the Milky Way shuttle as a model to invent the wooden shuttle, improving weaving techniques. It was once a spiritual treasure for the Queen Mother to refine merits. Later, due to the disorder of the Three Realms and Six Paths, it descended to the mortal world with the Heavenly Net Weaver Girl, falling from its rank. It can now weave the [Heavenly Net and Earthly Net].

[Tianluo]
The web of cause and effect, with cause and effect as its warp and laws as its weft, weaves order, covers a region, suppresses evil, and gathers fortune.

[Ground network]
The network of earth veins, with temples, stone tablets, and shrines as nodes, uses earth veins as the warp and water veins as the weft, covering a region. It can stabilize the land, purify evil spirits, and suppress the flow of fortune.

The Heavenly River Jade Belt... could it be referring to the Milky Way? Even if it's downgraded, it's still a mid-grade magic weapon.

It is much better than the low-grade magic weapons that Song Wuji possesses.

Low-grade magic treasures can only amplify the power of their master's supernatural abilities and spells by ten or more times, while mid-grade magic treasures can amplify them by a hundred times.

Of course, this amplification also has its limits. For supernatural powers that surpass the level of magic treasures, it would be quite good if they could be amplified even a little.

Spells, and corresponding magical artifacts.

Magical treasures correspond to supernatural powers.

This amplification can refer to either increasing the power or increasing the casting range. For example, Song Wuji's favorite Banana Leaf Fan can amplify both the range and the power, while the White Tiger Heavenly Gang Blade can only increase the power, not the range.

This Milky Way Shuttle fell from the Merit Treasure, and its internal workings and principles are unknown.

Song Wuji attempted to subdue him.

The magic shuttle came to life, transforming into a silver flying fish, preventing Song Wuji from catching it.

"Ok?"

It turned into a fish?

The Milky Way is also a river!
Let me swing twice!
Song Wuji took out a fishing rod. This fishing rod was forged by Song Wuji before he went into seclusion after he came out of the Netherworld. It was made with the spine of the Luohu Python and dragon, and some rare materials were added. The silk thread was obtained from the Weaver Girl of the Heavenly Net and had the power of cause and effect. The fish hook was a little more ordinary, but overall it was still a low-grade magic weapon.

With a flick of the lever, the Milky Way shuttle was anchored, and now it was time to pull back.

But at this moment, the shuttle suddenly spat out a spatial blade, tearing through space and escaping into the void.

Song Wuji was not about to be lenient with it. He had just acquired the [Heavenly Escape] supernatural power, and the fishing line and hook vanished into thin air, giving him no chance to cut the line.

Meanwhile, the powerful Dharma Gate remained steadfast, refusing to relax even for a moment.

After the magic shuttle disappeared into the sky, it did not go far away. Its spirituality was meant to protect the physical body of the Heavenly Weaver Girl.

A moment later, it emerged from the void as if leaping out of the water.

Seizing the opportunity, Song Wuji used the White Tiger Instant Kill technique to instantly teleport to its side, grab the object forcefully, and continuously channel his golden core power into it.

The magic shuttle struggled incessantly but could not break free. In the end, it chose to seal itself, its spirit retreating into the core of the magic weapon, yet it still refused to be used by Song Wuji.

Song Wuji sensed the power of the magic shuttle. The internal supernatural power of this shuttle was called "Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations," which ranked third among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Divine Powers. It possessed the ability to change celestial phenomena, conceal heavenly secrets, and influence the cosmic order and the trajectory of the fate of all living beings.

However, that was its full power at its peak, and only the Queen Mother of the West could unleash its full potential. Now it has fallen from its former glory and can only be used to weave heavenly nets and earthly nets.

This treasure only recognizes the lineage of the Queen Mother; it cannot be used if it is not inherited from the Queen Mother.

Of course, the Weaver Girl lineage, being direct descendants of the Queen Mother, can naturally use it.

Song Wuji thought to himself, "It's still a treasure for my own use, but even if I can't use it, it's still good for me to study the supernatural powers on it."

Then came the corpse of the Heavenly Weaver Girl, or more accurately, a "shedding corpse," since her primordial spirit had transformed into the faceless spider in the Rakshasa Karma City. According to the Heavenly Weaver Girl, she had entered the Buddhist sect, learned the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, and shed her skin like a cicada, actively transforming herself into a secret realm, which allowed her to survive the great cataclysm.

The Weaver Girl was a fifth-rank female official in the Heavenly Palace who had attained immortality. Her physical body contained immortal bones, but she fell to the mortal realm and transformed her primordial spirit, exhausting her immortal beauty. Her current corpse faintly showed a tendency to become a demon, otherwise it wouldn't have transformed into so many spiders.

Song Wuji put away the Weaver Girl's body, which he could later trade to the Heavenly Weaver Girl. He then entered the Magpie Bridge Secret Realm with Huang Qiaoyun.

Just as they entered the secret realm, a dizzying sensation struck, and the next moment, they found themselves in the wilderness.

The place was desolate and barren, with endless yellow sand, resembling the Loess Plateau.

(End of this chapter)