Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 248 Drawing a Fortune Stick. (First Update!)

Osmanthus blossoms float on the eaves, the night is still and quiet.

Bathed in moonlight as night falls, the Taoist temple exudes a unique ancient charm amidst its flying eaves and intricate corners.

The vegetation, uneven like mountains, shelters the iron horse pavilion, and all sounds of nature mingle in the air. The mountain wind comes from all directions, making clothes flutter.

Chen Zhentao stood alone in front of the hall, looking up at the sky, silent and unmoved.

Suddenly, a dark cloud drifted in, completely obscuring the frosty moonlight.

The entire Wanshan Temple seemed to have fallen into an abyss, instantly plunging into a gloomy atmosphere.

As the shadows fell, Chen Zhentao withdrew his gaze from the sky and slowly looked toward the main hall's gate.

It’s midnight!

The next moment, he quickly straightened his already neat robes, then took a step and walked into the main hall.

Upon arriving at the palace entrance, Chen Zhentao exerted a little force, and the seemingly tightly closed palace door silently slid open, revealing the scene inside through the gradually widening gap.

This is an extremely spacious and secluded hall. In the shrine directly opposite the hall entrance, there is a statue of a deity seated on a throne. The deity is majestic and imposing, wearing a twelve-tassel crown with incense pouches hanging on both sides. He wears a black robe with yellow tassels and red shoes, and holds a tablet in his hands. The fine beads on the tassels hang down to his chest, obscuring the face of the deity. His appearance is not clear, and only a glimpse of his fair skin can be seen through the gaps.

Judging from the costume and appearance of this deity, it is quite similar to Yama, the King of Hell in the legend of the underworld.

Chen Zhentao pondered quietly for a moment, then stepped across the threshold. Instead of immediately entering, he bowed deeply and said respectfully, "Believer Chen Zhentao greets the Master of Dream View."

"The believer has come to seek a fortune stick."

After speaking, he said no more, but stared intently at the figure sitting on a lotus cushion below the shrine.

The figure, dressed in a jet-black Taoist robe, blended almost completely into the dimly lit hall. Without careful observation, one might not even notice that there was someone on the prayer mat.

Her graceful figure revealed her to be a female Taoist priestess. Her dark hair was simply tied up, with a long bamboo hairpin inserted horizontally. She carried a sandalwood whisk in her arm, its three thousand strands as white as snow, hanging down beside the lotus-shaped cushion like quietly blooming Udumbara flowers.

The main hall was completely silent. Chen Zhentao could clearly hear his own heartbeat. He suppressed his anxiety and waited patiently.

The figure sitting upright on a lotus cushion in front of you is the abbot of Wanshan Temple!
He called him "Master of Dreams" because...

Before his thoughts had even settled, a gentle, calm voice reached his ears: "Do good deeds and help others; the great way is to rectify one's heart."

"What brings you here, layman?"

"Marriage? Path of cultivation? Or life and death?"

Chen Zhentao snapped out of his daze and, not daring to be negligent, immediately replied respectfully, "Reporting to the Abbot, the believer seeks the path of enlightenment!"

"I wish to draw a foundation-building divination slip!"

In the deep darkness, the master of the dream temple still had his back to the temple door. He seemed to nod slightly, but made no other move. However, on the long table next to him, a divination tube floated up out of thin air.

The way the divination stick floated up was quite peculiar. It didn't seem like it was being drawn in by magic from afar. Instead, it was as if an invisible figure was holding it and walking step by step to Chen Zhentao, handing it over.

The lottery tube hovered in the most convenient position for Chen Zhentao to draw lots, and then quietly stopped.

The divination stick container looks very dull, as if it has been through many years. Its original bamboo green color has long since faded away, and now it is full of the turbid yellow and dark black of time.

The bamboo skewers inside are also very old.

Chen Zhentao quickly examined the bamboo skewers inside and found that they were all old and identical, with no difference in details.

The voice of the Dream Master came again: "Each person can only draw once."

"You can only draw one lot."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhentao nodded slightly, then immediately raised his palm and drew a stick from the container.

This matter concerns his future, and even with his background and status, he couldn't help but hesitate. He first set his sights on the bamboo stick he most wanted to draw, but just as his fingertips were about to touch it, he stopped abruptly and tried to grab another one. But soon, he changed his mind again...

After much hesitation, I finally gritted my teeth and chose the bamboo skewer I had initially set my sights on.

"In youth, I was proud of my soaring talent, but now my arms are covered with fallen chrysanthemums."

Looking at the two lines of poetry on the bamboo stick, Chen Zhentao frowned slightly. This fortune slip didn't seem very good.

But he still held up the bamboo stick with both hands and said respectfully, "The believer has drawn his stick. Please interpret it, Abbot."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Zhentao suddenly felt his hand go empty. The bamboo stick had already appeared in the hands of the Dream Master under the shrine.

The next moment, the Dream Master's serene voice rang out: "This is a winning lottery ticket."

"What you seek is the path to enlightenment, the foundation you are building." "The meaning of the divination is that you were quite successful and full of ambition when you first entered the path of enlightenment, but now your luck is about to run out, and you will definitely encounter some setbacks in this foundation building."

"Fortunately, the abundance of yellow flowers is a scene of autumn, corresponding to the harvest season, so the final wish can be fulfilled, and this foundation building will surely be successful."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhentao's expression remained unchanged, and he immediately asked, "May I ask the Abbot, where should a believer establish their foundation? And what level of foundation can they establish?"

The voice of the Dream Master quickly followed: "Since you are a disciple of the Xuanyuan Pavilion, and your most triumphant moment was when you joined the Xuanyuan Pavilion, this foundation building should naturally be done within the sect, with the protection of the sect's fortune, and by rekindling the youthful spirit of those days, you can maximize your chances of success."

"As for the grade of the Dao Foundation, there are three grades of Dao Foundation: Heaven, Earth, and Man. You drew the middle lot, so the Dao Foundation you built will naturally be of the Earth grade."

Upon hearing that he was to establish his foundation in a sect, rather than within the Wanshan Temple, Chen Zhentao immediately frowned. Then, upon hearing that he had drawn a middle-ranking lot and could only establish a low-grade foundation, his face immediately darkened.

But soon he recovered and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your guidance, Abbot. I will take my leave now."

With that, Chen Zhentao left the main hall without hesitation.

Upon reaching the outside of the hall, he immediately cast a complex incantation, causing his aura to change. His originally pure spiritual energy began to become mixed and impure.

Afterwards, Chen Zhentao cut open his palm and used his spiritual blood to quickly inscribe runes on his face and hands.

After a while, his exposed skin was covered with strange patterns, looking like some kind of colorful snake.

Sensing the change in his own aura, Chen Zhentao took out a special talisman and affixed it to his forehead.

This talisman, with its green background and black patterns, exudes a cold and bizarre aura, giving people a sense of elusiveness and ethereal emptiness.

After making these preparations, Chen Zhentao turned around and walked back into the main hall.

This time, as soon as he stepped across the threshold, a wisp of eerie green flame erupted from the talisman between his brows and began to burn fiercely.

The flames were fierce, but they did not burn Chen Zhentao at all.

Without hesitation, Chen Zhentao quickly spoke before the talisman had completely burned out: "I am Lu Maohong from Taiping County. Greetings, Master Meng."

"I have come here to seek a fortune stick."

After he finished speaking, he waited quietly, just like before.

The abbot remained seated on a lotus cushion with his back to the temple entrance. Perhaps due to the talisman between Chen Zhentao's eyebrows, the abbot seemed not to recognize him at all. This was Chen Zhentao's second time coming to draw a divination slip, and he immediately replied: "Do good deeds and help others, follow the righteous path."

"What do you want?"

"Marriage? Path of cultivation? Life and death?"

Without hesitation, Chen Zhentao immediately said the same thing as before: "What I seek is the path of enlightenment!"

"I wish to draw a foundation-building divination slip!"

The Dream Master nodded slightly, and the divination sticks were once again delivered to Chen Zhentao by an unseen figure.

At the same time, the abbot's reminder rang in his ears: "Each person can only draw once."

"You can only draw one lot."

This time, Chen Zhentao drew his lot very decisively, taking out a pale yellow bamboo stick directly from the container.

The slip of paper also bears two lines of small characters: "Double silk threads form a rope to tie a silver bottle, a hundred-foot cold spring is reached by a well pulley."

This time, the divination slip seems even more ominous.

Chen Zhentao frowned, raised the bamboo sticks with both hands again, and said in a deep voice, "Please interpret the divination slips, Abbot!"

The next moment, his hand was empty, and the bamboo stick had appeared in the hands of the Dream Master.

The fortune teller seemed to glance at the divination slip before speaking indifferently: "This is an unfavorable divination slip."

"What you seek is the path, what you seek is the foundation."

"'Two threads form a rope to tie a silver bottle, and a hundred-foot cold spring is reached by a well pulley,' this is a description of your foundation building process. The whole process will be extremely dangerous, just like a silver bottle tied to a well with a silver thread. If you are not careful, the thread will break and the bottle will shatter."

"But such a situation, though extremely precarious, is not necessarily a certain death."

"Even in the face of death, there is still a glimmer of hope for survival."

"Once successful, one can establish a foundation for one's character and moral integrity."

"The site for foundation building must avoid Taiping County, which you are stationed in..."

(End of this chapter)