Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 129 The Clever Use of the Yin-Yang Diagram: Zhu Sihai's Altar
Zhengcheng Sanxian Hall

Suddenly, a dazzling red light flashed in the room filled with mist.

Li Wushou staggered out of the red light, walked directly to the incense table, took three sticks of incense, and stuffed them into his stomach. He took a deep breath of the fragrant smoke, veiling his face in it again, then tore off the skin covering his face and covered his belly with it.

The skilled wire moved swiftly, repairing most of the damage, but due to the limited length of the wire, some parts were not completely mended.

There was no time to worry about that now. Li Wushou hurriedly put on his clothes and left it to heal on its own.

He got up, took a bundle of clothes from under the table, threw it towards the direction of the red light, and shouted loudly in an old voice:

"Tonight, Zhu Sihai plotted to seize the City God's position, ceding the East City School Guard Camp to the Eternal Mother as a sacrifice to the School Guard, hoping for the Eternal Mother's descent. Now that the Eternal Envoy is dead, the Eternal Mother's descent has failed. However, Zhu Sihai's daughter, Zhu Liuli, has entered the Spirit Sealing Path. The spirit she has sealed is an Inner Sparrow with golden eyes that devour souls and red eyes that are bloodthirsty. There are also strange sparrow eggs that can parasitize. Now, I need the two of you to hold Zhu Liuli off for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. I will then go and kill Zhu Sihai. Once Zhu Sihai is killed, the crisis will be averted!"

"Buzz buzz~!"

The package suddenly trembled and emitted a series of buzzing sounds, but Li Wushou did not wait for a reply. He opened the Laogong acupoint in his palm, and the Yin-Yang power burst out of his body and rushed into the mist! The package disappeared instantly. Li Wushou knew that the other party had arrived at the East City School Guard Camp.

With a flick of his sleeve, a path opened up in the side room, revealing a yin-yang diagram lying quietly before the meditation cushion where Li Wushou usually sat. This diagram was the one he had obtained from the Paper Goddess's white paper Taoist temple during the last rescue of the Civil Official.

After intermittently infusing himself with pure Yin and pure Yang energy during this period, Li Wushou discovered a mysterious connection between himself and the Yin-Yang diagram.

After trying it out, he realized that within a certain distance, as long as he unleashed enough power to resonate with it, he could instantly return through the Yin-Yang diagram. He had just returned to the Three Immortals Pavilion using this method.

However, because he still wanted to send the person back to the East City School Guard Camp to stall Zhu Liuli, he had no choice but to remove one of his kidneys.

This ensured he had enough strength to return, and also ensured that there were residual forces in the camp for marking, so that people could be accurately sent out.

It looks pretty good now, but it's a pity about my newly grown kidneys.

However, I've been eating well lately, so a new one should grow soon.

Recalling the scene tonight, Li Wushou felt quite fortunate. Before leaving the Three Immortals Pavilion, he naturally made various contingency plans.

One of the questions is whether Zhu Sihai might use a diversionary tactic to target the hidden inner cultivation method of the Golden Elixir.
Li Wushou is not Zhu Sihai; he is unaware of Zhu Sihai's schemes, so he can only make more contingency plans.

Unexpectedly, instead of being lured away from the mountain, he encountered a direct and open scheme. Fortunately, the result was good, even somewhat beyond Li Wushou's expectations, since the mysterious sparrow was trapped outside the city by Li Wushou.

However, this time would certainly not be long; the time it takes for an incense stick to burn is the final time limit that Li Wushou sets for himself to resolve his troubles.

The tattered belly was finally glued back together, and the phlegm in his abdomen no longer leaked out. Li Wushou gently rubbed his belly, turned around and changed into the dark blue robes of the High Priest. The phlegm on his face dissipated, revealing his true appearance.

Then he walked towards the door; it was time to deal with Zhu Sihai.

Li Wushou pushed open the door to the side room. The courtyard outside was a chaotic mess, as if the sky and the earth had been blended together.

The three-legged square table turned everything upside down; otherwise, he wouldn't feel at ease if no one was home.

With one step, Li Wushou disappeared into the courtyard.

The city lord's mansion was completely silent.

In the inner courtyard, a tall altar stood silently.

The altar is nine feet high, extending over the eaves. Sitting atop it, one can see most of the city lord's mansion.

Zhu Sihai, dressed in a green robe and wearing a headdress with upturned wings, sat cross-legged on the altar. Instead of gazing into the distance, he lowered his head and stared at his own abdomen.

After a long while, a lark flew out of his sleeve, and with a shake, it grew to more than a foot long. The lark went straight into Zhu Sihai's blue robe, and a moment later, it took out a blood-soaked wooden plaque from it.

Judging from its appearance, it looks like a shrine, but there are no words on the wooden plaque, which makes it a bit puzzling.

Zhu Sihai, with a blank expression, took the wooden plaque handed to him by Yun Que. After Yun Que let go, she disappeared into Zhu Sihai's blue robe.

During this period, Zhu Sihai was in extremely poor condition. This was not only because he was about to die and his physical body was withering away, but also because he was nurturing these wooden tablets in his body. These wooden tablets had consumed too much of his flesh and blood, so much so that he was now finding it difficult to hold them.

But Zhu Sihai's heart was filled with fervor. Trembling, he took out a piece of longevity paper from his chest. When he unfolded it, the paper was exactly the same as the wooden plaque, clearly cut from the same pattern.

Zhu Sihai cut open his palm, extracted three drops from the remaining amount of blood essence, and evenly applied them to the wooden plaque. Then, he carefully pasted the longevity paper onto the wooden plaque, making sure it fit perfectly without any mishap!
Rubbing the altar slightly, a line of text suddenly appeared on the blood-stained paper, which read: "The position of the Righteous God of the Five Directions City Gods and the Realm of the Domain"!
The handwriting is exactly the same as that on the City God's tablet!
Zhu Sihai examined it carefully for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before tossing the shrine behind him. The shrine stood firmly upright on the altar.

Below the altar, Steward Zhu was also busy. He lit an incense stick, and the smoke swirled around the three school guards.

The three school guards, their pupils turning white, were stunned. They slowly followed behind Steward Zhu until they stood upright in front of the altar, at which point they slowly came to a stop.

Zhu Sihai, standing on the altar, opened his eyes, looked down at the courtyard, and seeing the three people standing still, calmly spoke:
"Let's light the incense!"

"Yes, City God!"

Steward Zhu respectfully accepted the order, then formed a hand seal, blowing all the incense smoke into the lungs of the three guards. Taking a step back, the three guards drew their long swords with a "whoosh" and plunged them into the insteps of their feet. The strike was extremely powerful; the swords pierced through their feet and embedded themselves in the ground, firmly fixing their bodies to the ground.

Blood spurted out, but the three remained unfazed.

Standing to the side, Steward Zhu, with quick eyes and hands, used his palm as a knife to slice across the necks of the three men. Their heads flew off instantly, and three larks suddenly flew down from the altar, carrying the three heads in their beaks before flying back to the altar.

Then, like arranging fruits, the three heads were placed in a triangular shape in front of the City God's altar.

The three headless school guards trembled violently, their blood gushing out like a fountain, turning the ground beneath the altar into a barren wasteland.

After the blood stopped gushing out, Steward Zhu, who was waiting nearby, took out three "longevity paper" blood incense sticks that he had prepared beforehand and stuck them into the necks of the three headless school guards.

The incense sticks, upon contact with blood, spontaneously ignite without fire, instantly producing a large plume of smoke.

"City God, the incense is ready!"

Zhu Sihai surveyed the scene, seeing the smoke rising to the altar's shrine. With some difficulty, he spoke to the three larks beside him:

"Rumor has it that the Paper Goddess, the Tree Goddess, and the Six-Eyed Master of Blood Buddha Temple have officially begun their discourse!"

After saying this, Zhu Sihai's chest heaved as he gasped for breath. He was too old, so old that even speaking a complete sentence was becoming difficult.

This made him miss the vibrant feeling of his prime even more. Fortunately, he was about to become a god, and from then on, he would be free from the shackles of the physical body and have a bright future ahead!

Upon hearing this, the three larks bowed their heads and removed a feather from their chests. They then coughed up a mouthful of blood, which sprayed onto the feathers. The three larks visibly withered and turned to ashes in the blink of an eye.

The three wings, sprayed with blood, burst into flames and vanished from the altar.

A moment later, the divine tablet on the altar suddenly trembled.

Three enormous plumes of incense smoke appeared out of thin air and swirled around the altar.

If someone were to look down over the entire city of Wufang, they would find that in the Blood Buddha Temple in the south city, in the Soul Burial Forest outside the north city, and in the White Paper Taoist Temple outside the south city, there are altars that are extremely similar to those of Zhu Sihai.

The main figures at the altar were the Six-Eyed Monk, the Tree Goddess, and the Paper Goddess!

Although the main altar attendants were different, the shrines erected behind each of them were exactly the same as the one behind Zhu Sihai, with a crimson background, covered with blood-stained paper, and inscribed with: "The shrine of the Righteous God of the Five Directions City God Domain!"

Zhu Sihai gazed at the incense smoke swirling around the altar, a smile playing on his lips.

According to the original plan, if the transition was smooth for seven days, Jia's rice shop would be able to sell rice throughout the entire Wufang City.

But he knew that the problem with the rice might be discovered at any time, and then the City God Temple would probably rather let the people starve to death than allow them to eat their rice.

In comparison, it's easier to attack from outside the city.

He had long ago used the Paper Goddess and Tree Goddess to control a large number of villagers by planting paper rice with talismans. As for the South City, it was just an unexpected bonus. The City God Temple was arrogant and conceited, threatening the Blood Buddha Temple to maintain the stability of the South City.

The Six-Eyed Monk went with the flow, setting up a soup kitchen and openly mixing talismanic rice into it.

It's a bit of a pity for the villagers outside the west side of the city. Lin You had been searching for the whereabouts of the Wen Shenguan in the west of the city, and Zhu Sihai dared not make any rash moves, fearing that the other party would see through his scheme.

However, Jia's rice shop has been selling a lot of rice in the west of the city these days, so Zhu Sihai doesn't find it too unacceptable.

So even though it was three days earlier than expected, Zhu Sihai was still full of confidence.

Everything is the best arrangement!

Zhu Sihai's expression was resolute. The altar behind him trembled slightly, and the incense smoke enveloped him, merging with him as if they were one.

Zhu Sihai inhaled a mouthful of incense smoke and groaned in pain. It was indeed extremely painful for a flesh and blood body to consume incense, but with the protection of a divine position, how could mere pain stop him from cultivating the Yin God?
After swallowing another large amount of incense, Zhu Sihai suddenly shouted, "Yin Shen Cheng!"

Incense smoke billowed, and blood light seeped from the altar, drawing in Zhu Sihai's spirit. Unlike Xiao Panshan's difficult childbirth, Zhu Sihai's was extremely smooth!

The spirit suddenly left his body and perched in front of the altar, taking a deep breath at the human flesh incense burner beneath the altar. Unlike before, Zhu Sihai was now filled with joy.

With hands forming a mudra in front of his chest, a cloud-like Dharma body suddenly appeared in the sky, the moonlight shining on it as if it were plated with a layer of silver.

This was the first time Zhu Sihai had seen the entire Five Directions City from this perspective, and he was deeply moved. Was this the perspective of a god? He slightly bowed his head, peering out from the clouds, and his Dharma body slowly spoke:
"As the City God, I am deeply moved by the suffering of the people in all directions, and have specially opened this altar to relieve their suffering."

"Citizens of the Five Directions, please worship me!"

(End of this chapter)