Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 332 Emperors Take Turns, Kings Wear White Hats (Seeking Monthly Tickets at the End of the Month)
A clear, melodious chime reached my ears.

Everyone left the side hall where they were resting and gathered together in front of the alchemy room.

They were again blocked seven steps away by Lu Yunchen and the White Scale Guards who were on duty there.

Before the door was even opened, everyone could already smell the suddenly strong and intoxicating aroma of medicine.

Just a light sniff makes me feel much lighter, and greatly relieves the weakness and pain caused by old age, illness, and old injuries.

It couldn't help but shine brightly in everyone's eyes.

"A miraculous medicine! It's absolutely a miraculous medicine! It's completely different from those lead and mercury pills that the emperor used to make us try."

"This time it's truly a success!"

As everyone gasped in surprise, blue and red clouds above the alchemy room coalesced into the shape of a dragon and a tiger, emitting terrifying roars and howls. Then, the dragon and tiger, having engaged in intercourse, suddenly rushed into the alchemy room together.

boom!
The surging Dao Qi instantly broke through the door of the alchemy room that had been sealed by talismans.

The crowd saw Emperor Shaozhi, dressed in a Taoist robe and exuding an air of otherworldly grace, standing guard before the slightly trembling alchemy furnace amidst the misty immortal fog, switching hand seals to harmonize the Yin and Yang energies of the dragon and tiger.

He suddenly gave them an order:

"My ministers, each of you write a poem to assist me."

"Sir, obey the order!"

The ministers who came to observe the ceremony were well prepared.

Whenever a ritual was held in the palace, Emperor Shaozhi would order several court officials, including Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet and Hanlin Academicians, to compose prayers.

Then select the most eloquent and fitting memorial to burn.

Everyone knows this is an essential item.

They all took the paper and pen offered by the palace servants and quickly wrote dozens of poems, which were soon placed on the table in front of the alchemy room.

Each resonates with the complex energy of heaven and earth here.

Before long, one of the green poems stood out amidst the surging energy, rising slowly without wind.

The others looked unsurprised at an ugly figure in Yan's faction.

"It's him again."

“These treacherous Yan faction members are adept at guessing the emperor’s intentions.”

With a short neck, a plump, white body, blind in one eye and lame in one leg, he was completely out of place with his father's tall and imposing figure.

You could say he was ugly, but you couldn't help but marvel at his genius.

Whispers arose:

"I heard that this person not only has an amazing memory, having been able to remember everything he saw since childhood, but also has an astonishingly solid knowledge base, especially skilled in practical matters such as laws and regulations and economic affairs."

Not only was he incredibly energetic, but he was also exceptionally clever, with his greatest talent being understanding the emperor's mind.

"The emperor loved reading, and when he encountered something he didn't understand, he would write it down on a piece of paper and ask the cabinet to explain it."

Even the chief minister and the second minister often couldn't understand it, but Yan Donglou could immediately give the answer, and even know which book, which page, and which line it was in.

He didn't seem like a privileged second-generation rich kid who hadn't even passed the imperial examinations; instead, he seemed like a well-read, worldly-wise old fox.

Although he did not enter officialdom through the imperial examination, he was highly valued by Emperor Shaozhi, so much so that he was given the power to draft proposals and the position of Junior Grand Secretary.

From then on, he regulated Yin and Yang, and at the young age of forty-eight, he had already become a Confucian scholar of the upper third rank.

Although what he cultivated was neither the spirit of bloodshed nor the righteousness of a hero, but merely the most ordinary scholarly atmosphere, it was already extraordinary.

He is particularly skilled at presenting memorials and prayers to Heaven during religious ceremonies, and has even awakened the divine power of the Thunder Department [to present a memorial to the Nine Heavens].

By writing the incantation, one can ascend directly to the Ninth Heaven Palace to summon the Daoist Qi and the manifestation of heavenly soldiers and generals.

call--!
Yan Donglou's "Qingci·Qidan Chapter" was quickly burned in the fire, and the sound of reciting it also rose into the sky.

"I, a descendant of the Dao, am filled with utmost respect and trepidation. I bow my head repeatedly and respectfully submit this petition to the Highest Divine Heaven, the Nine Heavens Supreme God, and the Three Officials at the Jade Throne."
Your Majesty: You possess a divine and sacred bearing, inheriting the great lineage; you cherish a lofty and magnanimous spirit, diligently studying the profound mysteries of the universe.

To establish oneself in accordance with the laws of heaven and earth, one must personally tread the celestial altar; to cultivate oneself in harmony with the sun and moon, one must fast one's mind in the Jade Palace.

The furnace fire burns eternally, tirelessly day and night; the eight-tiered cloud-shaped gongs ring out regularly, revered by ghosts and gods.

The green words drew forth the clear, ethereal Daoist Qi from the Nine Heavens, which flowed down into the furnace. The restlessness within the furnace subsided, and the dragon and tiger united, transforming into a pill.

"Form an elixir for me, by imperial decree!"

The emperor's seal changed, and the doors to the alchemy room closed again.

After a while, he finally came out, carrying a golden dew-collecting plate in his hand and with his sleeves flowing.

This dew-collecting plate, also known as the "Golden Bronze Immortal Dew-Collecting Plate," is a bronze vessel cast by Emperor Wu of Han to collect sweet dew.

It fell into his hands long before Emperor Shaozhi had even ascended the throne.

The specific effects were unknown to outsiders; all that was known was that the emperor treasured this plate immensely, and no one was allowed to touch it. The officials and their families, who had been blessed with a touch of divine energy, finally managed to tear their gazes away from the dew-collecting plate and the gleaming red elixir within it.

He immediately bowed down:

"Greetings to Your Majesty."

"Greetings to the Supreme Great Luo Celestial Immortal, the Purple Extreme Longevity Emperor."

Emperor Shaozhi, beaming with joy, nodded to his ministers and said:
"No courtesy, please get up."

Then, with expectant eyes, he looked at Prince Jing, Han Zaizhen, who was pale-faced in the crowd:

"My son, the opportunity to become an immortal is just around the corner, why don't you come and take the elixir?"

Prince Jing hurriedly stepped forward, his hands trembling as he accepted the "Five Organs Returning to Truth Pill" bestowed by the emperor.

I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but it feels like the internal organs of a living person are throbbing slightly. When I put it to my mouth, it slides into my stomach before I can even swallow it.

His heart began to pound violently, his blood seemed to boil, and his pale face instantly regained color.

"My son, quickly refine it."

Upon hearing this, King Jing immediately knelt cross-legged on the ground in front of everyone and used the cultivation method transmitted from outside the wall to absorb the medicinal power, thus embarking on the path of life cultivation.

"The Purple Mansion is not an illusory realm, but a palace where blood rises and falls. The Heart Lord is not a deity, but an abyss where a crimson dragon dwells. Those who enter my sect must use thirty-six kinds of immortal elixirs as a guide."

When you first start refining your essence, the two paths of sex and life are basically the same: building a dwelling and lighting a lamp.

The difference only appears when one advances to the middle third rank in one go. In the cultivation of life force, this stage is not called "qi cultivation" but "corpse guarding".

The skin covering King Jing's entire body rippled like water.

Then came the flesh, bones, meridians, and internal organs. They all seemed to come alive and twitch slightly.

The reason why the practice of cultivating both body and mind is so popular is that the two have a natural yin-yang harmony.

The fifth-grade sexual cultivation technique has an extraordinary ability to control the body; King Jing has broken through all the barriers of skin, flesh, tendons, and bones.

Wow.
In the end, the sound of a surging river could be heard in his blood, and a plume of hot, steaming blood and qi rose from above his head, clearly indicating that he had refined his life-force into his very bones.

"Great, great, great!"

The eyes of the God of the State gleamed with a mysterious light, revealing the son's cultivation process. Through observing his aura, he watched the ever-growing flames of fortune, prosperity, and longevity within him.

Thoughts swirled in my mind:

"Throughout history, the sea ban has been enforced, yet the emperors have never fully pursued the elixir of immortality."

The imperial archives contain secret manuscripts left by emperors throughout history in their pursuit of immortality. Although they are scattered and unsystematic, they still offer glimpses into the past two thousand years.

It is said that before the establishment of the Three Officials Alliance in the pre-Qin period, there was still a path of immortality in this world.

It can cause woodworms to breed and transform into butterflies, allowing the physical body to undergo a metamorphosis and sublimation of life essence, just like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. Therefore, it is also called "Feathered Immortal". The highest level can be cultivated to the first-grade immortal rank, just like the divine path.

Legend has it that there are immortal beings on land who live to be eight hundred years old.

"But in that great upheaval at the turn of the Qin and Han dynasties, the rules of the human world were changed, the old qi of the six heavens was expelled, and the righteous qi of the three officials began to rule the human world."

From then on, he devoted himself to the path of the gods. Even the mighty Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han could only reach the first rank at best.

Only the vast ocean beyond the walls retains some remnants of ancient times.

But it is also the source of all upheavals and evil spirits, fraught with danger, where the entire nation could be in peril if things go wrong.

For two thousand years, it has remained shrouded in mystery. After each exploration, the most frequent comment left by the dynasties was: 'As long as a system is functioning properly, do not try to interfere with it.'

Today, I have finally been able to glimpse the wonders of immortal cultivation and life force.

The combination of this cultivation method and the elixir seems to have no problem. Cultivating it to the equivalent of the first level of the sixth-grade Corpse Guardian realm can instantly extend one's lifespan by sixty years.

Wonderful! Wonderful indeed!

Everyone around was also watching Jing Wang, who was testing the medicine, intently trying to glean the secrets of longevity from the changes in his aura.

Only when the moon was bright and the stars were few did King Jing finally exhale a deep breath.

He stood up, his joints cracking, and in just a few hours he had grown a head taller, exuding an aura of domineering power that seemed to defy the heavens and the earth.

Everyone stared wide-eyed and pricked up their ears, anticipating the historic moment when the sacred artifact would finally find its rightful owner.

However, before Emperor Shaozhi could speak, Prince Jing bowed to him:
"Father, from now on the Immortal Dynasty will continue, and the Crown Prince is superfluous!"

With the aid of elixirs, an emperor's reign can last for thousands of generations.

Therefore, I now wish to ask Father Emperor for one more thing.”

As he spoke, to the astonishment of the assembled officials, he pulled a white monk's hat from his robes, put it on his head, and laughed loudly:
"Father, please accept your death!"

(End of this chapter)