Da Zaojun

[The Guardian Deity of the Purple Bamboo Forest on Luojia Mountain. Snake]

This green python, though resembling a python, has the appearance of a dragon. It has no feet, no horns, and its entire body is a vibrant green.

Emerging from the depths of Yaochi, he looked at Song Wuji and said, "I have no intention of remaining in the position of the Snake; I should ascend to the position of the Azure Dragon of the Eastern Heaven."

Looking at her aura, Song Wuji said bluntly, "Aside from being covered in green, which makes you somewhat like a dragon, you have no ability to prove your dragonhood."

The snake, enraged, retorted: "Bullshit! Green snake - green dragon - green dragon - blue dragon, this is the right path!"

"The Azure Dragon is born from the mating of a dragon and an Azure Pheasant."

"Although you have refined these dragonfish, you have not followed this path of transformation."

"The Azure Dragon governs the changes of water and wood, and can cause floods and control the wind."

"The Azure Dragon is the symbol of the Yang Jia of the East, while the Green Dragon is the central pivot of all things in the heavens."

"Your form is a dragon with a snake's head, without feet or horns. It is a creature like a blue dragon or a blue dragon, but in reality, it is still a snake."

"fart!"

The snake's body grew taller, seemingly about to become hundreds of feet tall all at once.

[Measure people]
The snake's ability to measure people is such that if it is taller than a person, it will eat that person and be very happy; if a person is taller than it, it will be discouraged and become self-conscious.

The earliest version of Snake.

However, in this context, it means judging people based on their level of cultivation. Those with lower cultivation are not qualified to give advice, but those with higher cultivation will be respected.

This snake practiced at the Guanyin Luojia Mountain temple in the South China Sea. It did not achieve enlightenment, but seeing that those who came and went were all great gods, arhats, and venerable ones, it gradually became arrogant and thought it had some spiritual attainment. It was unwilling to just stay in the purple bamboo forest, entwined with bamboo as a bamboo viper.

Just like the goldfish in Guanyin Pond, although they practice Buddhism, they lack samadhi and thus become spirit kings.

However, Song Wuji transformed directly into the Xuanming True Dragon.

The snake was immediately stunned: How handsome! How magnificent!
The Xuanming True Dragon is one of the nine true dragons, representing the Great Dao of Xuanming Water.

The dragon is the head of all scaled creatures, so it naturally evokes a sense of beauty, strength, power, and grandeur in her.

Although there is a dragon in the Chinese zodiac, it is a docile dragon that mainly stirs up clouds and mist, unlike Song Wuji who has the majestic body of a true dragon.

"I believe you! I believe you! Please teach me how to be a dragon, brother!"

The snake tried to coil around him, but Song Wuji transformed into human form and said profoundly, "The great path of the snake is no less than that of the dragon. Have you ever heard of the Heavenly Snake, the Transformation Snake, or the Ba Snake? These ancient true spirits are no less powerful than true dragons."

"What you must do is to vindicate the serpents, to establish them as true spirits separate from the true dragons!"

Song Wuji's persuasive words, combined with the fact that his [measuring people] ability had just been restrained, made the Snake believe that whatever Song Wuji said was correct and that he was a first-rate authority, so it listened to him.

He immediately spat out something: "This is something I found in the Jade Pool. Please teach me the Great Dao of the Heavenly Serpent."

[Plain-colored Cloud Border Flag]

The treasure held by the Queen Mother of the West in the Jade Pool split into thirty-six handles, protecting the Jade Pool in the thirty-six heavens.

Song Wuji was genuinely delighted this time: "Good, good, good! Snake, I knew there was no reason for Dragon to be ranked ahead of you. This time you should be ranked ahead!"

"As for the Heavenly Serpent Path, let me tell you, there's only one secret: size!"

"What is the Heavenly Serpent? It is a great serpent that encircles the sky, which can encompass the vast universe and all things in heaven and earth."

"Is that so?"

The Snake (巳) seemed to be deep in thought.

Song Wuji, however, forgot about her as well.

The oxen, horses, dragons, and tigers are not here; they have already descended to the mortal realm to become demons.

Now, only the Monkey and the Rat remain in the Heavenly Palace.

These two wanted to emulate Sun Wukong by stealing elixirs and peaches of immortality, so they entered Laozi's Tushita Palace, where he refined elixirs. Song Wuji was also somewhat hesitant to go, after all, this was the place of the biggest boss in Heaven, but if you were to ask where in the Heavenly Realm there were the most treasures, this place would be it.

But Song Wuji is probably gone forever.

However, if we don't go looking for them, we'll have to find other suitable candidates to complete the twelve zodiac signs, which is too troublesome. It's better to just use this set.

Once you collect all the necessary items, you can directly obtain the sixth-rank position of [Yuan Chen Siming]. Below that is the fifth-rank position, which is considered the head of a small department in the Heavenly Court.

So Song Wuji summoned the Dog (戌): "Rat (子) and Monkey (申), what are their abilities and backgrounds that made them dare to steal treasures from the Tushita Palace?"

The Dog said, "The Rat is most often found in the kitchen. It is said to be one of the three beasts of the Kitchen God: cockroach, rat, and fly."

“That must be an illegal workshop,” Song Wuji said. “My kitchen is always clean; there are absolutely none of these three types.”

"However, if we were to say which of the twelve zodiac animals is most closely related to humans, it would definitely be the Rat."

In his previous life, Song Wuji had heard that rats were intelligent and could understand human speech. He said that if he bought rat poison, he should not tell the rats, because if they heard him, they would lose their intelligence.

"Shenhou is a golden tamarin. Shen means gold, and he is also known as Lord Shen. He was selected from the demon immortals of the lower realm. He is skilled in swordsmanship and is a first-class sword immortal. He is the most powerful among us."

"Speaking of which, Shen Gong was also enlightened by Laozi, but he was unable to subdue his restless mind, so his achievements were not as great as those of the Great Sage."

Let's take a trip to the Tushita Palace.

The dog said, "The Supreme Lord is merciful. I estimate that there is not much danger. He is probably trapped somewhere."

"Even if the Heavenly Court falls, the three Dao Ancestors are still beyond the mundane world. The places where they manifest, the palaces they occupy, are already the constant places of the Great Luo."

"Now that we are not here, we are probably just detached from worldly affairs and not caught in the calamity."

Song Wuji said, "I do have a past relationship with Master Xu Jia. I wonder what position Master Xu Jia holds in Laozi's court?"

"Naturally, it's to watch the cowherd."

"Alright then," Song Wuji said, "I knew he had quite the nerve!"

"When the Heavenly Palace fell, the ox was the first to kick him, kicking him from the Ninth Heaven all the way to the Netherworld, shattering his bones."

The dog said, "If it weren't for my reputation, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to withstand his kick."

Song Wuji was dumbfounded: "I thought he had a lot of influence!"

The dog said, "His face may not be as great as mine."

He immediately said, "Very well, if you don't mind and are willing to crawl through the dog hole, you can enter the Tushita Palace."

Song Wuji said, "You can crawl in first, and then open the door from the inside. Why do I have to crawl in?"

"Exactly! Exactly!" said the Rooster. "That old dog is really wicked, putting him at the bottom of the rankings."

The dog said, "That's true, but only a person can open the gate of Laozi, which is locked. I can't."

"Try it!"

The group wandered around and eventually made their way to the Tushita Palace.

Laozi had many temples, such as the Eight Views Palace, the Tushita Palace, and the Taiqing Palace, each with a different purpose.

The Eight Views Palace was the place of daily residence, the Tushita Palace was the place of alchemy and weapon crafting, and the Taiqing Palace was the place of preaching and expounding the Dharma.

Dog, familiar with the route, led Song Wuji to the main gate, which was locked.

So we went to the back door, and next to the back door, there was a dog hole.

This was the working channel that the Dog Dog used back then as [Fushidoji].

(End of this chapter)