Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 293 Window Paper, Talisman Master

In the movie "The Life of the God-Slaying Grandmaster"

There is a scene depicting the creation of this "回"-shaped building.

This architectural complex was referred to as "Remembering the Red Chamber" by the Great Venerable of the Gods.

The white curtain facing Li Wushou was made from the skin of a thousand fair-skinned women, and could accommodate a thousand minds sinking into it at the same time.

These women were all carefully selected by the Great God-Slaying Venerable, and even meticulously cultivated in the world of rouge. The texture of their skin, pieced together, forms a natural inscription talisman.

Because of its power to captivate the soul, Li Wushou hadn't paid close attention to the white curtain beforehand, assuming it was just an ordinary curtain.

I only noticed its difference when I saw the scenes of the construction of the Dream of the Red Chamber in the movie.

At this moment, the Three Immortals Pavilion protected his mind and spirit. Li Wushou focused his attention and observed, and sure enough, the white human skin curtain was divided into a thousand pieces.

The Blood Buddha Temple was filled with guests, their minds captivated by the scene, which only illuminated about one-tenth of the area of ​​the curtain.

Because the total number of people who entered the Red Makeup Sacred Domain from the Blood Buddha Temple's main hall, including Li Wushou, Tree Goddess, and Paper Goddess, was only one hundred and thirty-two.

Li Wushou and the other two shared a human skin, so at this moment the human skin curtain was lit up in a total of 130 areas.

At this moment, various films and television shows are being performed in an orderly manner in these areas.

Unlike Li Wushou, who was aware of his own limitations, the guests who were completely absorbed in the play were mesmerized and immersed in the characters they were playing.

Whether it was the three Nascent Soul True Monarchs, the Blood Bodhisattva, or the somewhat strange boy with heterochromia, they were all the same.

These films were also different from the film scenes that Li Wushou experienced.

Some are related to the Great God-Snatcher, but most are from the mental perspective of the Great God-Snatcher's opponents. Others are completely unrelated to the Great God-Snatcher, similar to the stories of seeking immortality and enlightenment in Wu Zhuangyuan's vernacular stories.

One incident after another, scene after scene, all kinds of things.

He quickly swept across the curtain, and the inscriptions outlined by the texture of a thousand pieces of skin were sorted out by Li Wushou one by one. A talisman clearly appeared in Li Wushou's mind.

Li Wushou quietly observed the talisman, his mind racing.

Li Wushou found this talisman somewhat familiar!

When the High Priest of the Luotou Clan was seeking the Dao in the Immortal Mountain, he learned the art of talismans—the Divine Stealing Talisman!

Later, this God-Stealing Talisman, after being haphazardly altered and pieced together by the old beggar, became a completely new talisman, which Li Wushou used to steal the spirit of the Abdominal God and refine it into his own golden elixir.

It can be said that it helped Li Wushou achieve enlightenment, which is why Li Wushou was deeply impressed by it!
The talisman on the white curtain, made of skin texture, is remarkably similar to the God-Stealing Talisman from Immortal Mountain and the talisman drawn by the old beggar.

In other words, the talismans of the latter two should be derived from this talisman!
However, the Divine Seal Talisman from Immortal Mountain was a simplified version, while the old beggar's version retained some elements and added others.

Besides this God-Seizing Talisman, the God-Controlling Talisman and the God-Capturing Talisman contained within the Animal-Eating Technique inscribed on the Donkey Taoist can also be seen in this talisman.

Clearly, these talismans have absorbed the essence of the talismans in this white curtain!
It's clear who's behind this fishing scheme; it's definitely Mount Bulao!

The fragment of the Crimson Sacred Domain should have been obtained by the Immortal Mountain long ago. They had already absorbed the inheritance of the God-Stealing Grandmaster and had mastered and applied it skillfully for a long time.

By bringing it out now and drawing in all the forces, large and small, from Pudu Island, it is likely similar to what the Porcelain Venerable lineage of Immortal Mountain did in Huazhou—preparing for their entry into the world after the great changes in the world.

From the twelve continents overseas to the supply islands beyond Fubo's territory.

Judging from this widespread expansion, Mount Bulao should be aiming straight for Fubo Domain!

It cannot be ruled out that, at this very moment, the other side is also employing some other means within the Fubo Domain.

Because even Li Wushou didn't know how many veins the Immortal Mountain actually had!

He has only come into contact with the lineage of the Porcelain Venerable and the lineage of the Food Venerable. He doesn't know much about the Food Venerable lineage, except that he has witnessed the bizarre and cruel Taoist practice of eating animals.

However, this time, Li Wushou guessed that it was very likely that someone from the Food Venerable's lineage was behind it.

Whether it was the meat served at the Blood Buddha Temple's birthday celebration or the connection between the God-Catching Talisman and the White Curtain Talisman, all the clues pointed to the lineage of the Venerable Eater.

The other party went to great lengths to capture everyone's attention and focus into the film through the lens of "Remembering the Red Chamber," so it shouldn't be for the purpose of killing!
Indiscriminate killing in a remote place like Huazhou, which is half shrouded in eerie mist, is one thing, but Pudu Island is close to Fubo Domain. Killing these people would only expose the Immortal Mountain itself and serve almost no purpose.

So what is it about Pudu Island that would make Bulaoshan plot against it?
One possibility is the shipping lanes, and the other is the people stationed at various major powers' outposts!

If they could control Pudu Island and the minds of the leaders of various forces, Immortal Mountain would not only gain access to the Fubo Domain and the outer sea, but also use it as a base to corrupt and control more and more people in each family.

It's important to understand that any force capable of setting sail for the Twelve Continents is not a small force in the Fubo Domain; at the very least, they must be of medium to high caliber to have the qualifications and ability to get a share of the spoils in this exploration!

Therefore, the film should contain hidden methods of controlling other people's minds?
Li Wushou gazed at the stage and made his own judgment!

He then began to recall his experience, but strangely, he did not detect any mind manipulation techniques. Comparing the other films on the screen, Li Wushou did not find any films that were the same as his experience.

Could it be because I'm on the third floor?
In that case, it seems that we can only find this method of concealment in other people's movies.

Li Wushou thought for a moment, a vertical line appeared between his brows, and a constantly trembling Tai Chi Dao field emerged from his divine aperture and floated in the room.

With a thought, the Tai Chi Dojo flew directly out of the Yi Hong Lou through the window behind it, rushing towards the place where the boundary energy was dense!
The ever-churning boundary energy within this sacred realm is something the Tai Chi Dojo desperately desires.

While Blood Bodhisattva and the others are still distracted and in the movie, and no one is competing with him for it, he'll eat it first.

Anyway, it won't stop him from finding the hiding place of the Immortal Mountain!
He then focused his mind on the Three Immortals Hall, and placed a stick of incense in front of the wooden plaques he hung in the White Paper Taoist Temple and the Burial Soul Forest.

For reasons unknown, when the old beggar moved his memorial tablet, he also extinguished the incense sticks at the White Paper Taoist Temple and the Burial Soul Forest!
Li Wushou had just sensed the thoughts of the two people and confirmed that Yi Honglou indeed regarded the Paper Goddess and the Tree Goddess as a whole with him.

The movie these two are experiencing now is the same one that Li Wushou just saw.

However, the roles they played were not the Great God-Slaying Venerable, but rather the perspectives of the Red-Makeup Senior Sister and various women similar to the Red-Makeup Senior Sister.

Therefore, although he did not believe that the mind-manipulation techniques of the Immortal Mountain could work on the Tree Goddess and the Paper Goddess, Li Wushou still lit incense in preparation for reviving their minds.

Because it was too tragic!
The Great Venerable of Divine Deception always went from surprise to disappointment when faced with a woman who resembled Senior Sister Hongzhuang, and in the end, he desperately tried to peel away her mind in an attempt to find Senior Sister Hongzhuang's shadow.

So, both the Tree Goddess and the Paper Goddess were now stripped bare and felt utterly hopeless!

The rising smoke from incense rewrapped the wooden plaques inscribed with "White Paper Taoist Temple" and "Burial Forest of Souls," causing the Paper Goddess and Tree Goddess to stir and gradually revive.

Seeing this, Li Wushou nodded slightly, then focused his attention back on the white human skin curtain.

Like a deity, they looked down upon the guests of Blood Buddha Temple, experiencing scene after scene of a movie.

As the scenes in the shadow play slowly changed, Li Wushou analyzed and examined each human skin one by one.

One breath, two breaths later, Li Wushou finally discerned a clue in a scene from a movie!
This scene is somewhat related to a scene in the movie about Li Wushou's life as the God-Snatcher.

It should have occurred after the Great Venerable of Seizing Gods achieved the Transformation God status, during the period of refining the world and eliminating demons.

That year, he encountered the greatest obstacle before achieving the status of a great master.

A bewitching spirit capable of seeing through people's hearts perfectly portrayed the image of his beloved senior sister, to the point that the Great Venerable of Gods almost believed that his senior sister had been resurrected.

Ultimately, the Great Venerable of Godhood detected the flaw in the opponent's mind and realized something was wrong.

After slaying the evil spirit, Li Wushou experienced the complex state of mind of the Great Venerable of God-Seizing!

Even in his later years, when he watched the movie "Dream of the Red Chamber," he repeatedly questioned himself: if he had simply indulged in debauchery back then, perhaps he would have been happier?

After countless disappointments, the Great God-Stealing Venerable began to miss that almost unbelievably realistic dream!
Therefore, it is clear that this evil spirit must be extremely special.

The shadow play depicted within this human skin is a reenactment of the life-or-death struggle with the God-Snatcher from the perspective of this demonic being.

Unlike the Great Lord of the Gods, who hesitated, struggled, and wavered, this demon was single-mindedly focused on killing him, eating him, and becoming him!

There's nothing wrong with this scene; the problem is with the ghost in this scene!
To be precise, it was the eyes of this bewitching spirit. Within the few breaths that Li Wushou was looking down at, the eyes of the other party faintly flashed with a deep blue light several times.

This is quite different from the alluring peach blossom pink eyes seen through the perspective of the Great Venerable Li Wushou.

Moreover, Li Wushou felt that the gaze was somewhat familiar. Suddenly, he had a thought and remembered the boy with heterochromia sitting on the second floor of the building on the right.

Is he the one taking the eerie perspective at this moment?
This kid is indeed extraordinary!
The other party now seems to be just like Li Wushou, who noticed the abnormality earlier; he has clearly sensed something is wrong. However, his mind is not yet clear, and he is probably just instinctively struggling to break free from the shadow play's restraints.

Although it has not yet broken free, judging from the increasingly frequent glint of its azure eyes, it is only a matter of time before it breaks free, given enough time.

This surprised Li Wushou even more.

You should know that Blood Bodhisattva cultivates Buddhism, and these bald-headed people are all masters of manipulating minds. Moreover, judging from their seats, Blood Bodhisattva's soul should even be superior to that of this heterochromatic-eyed boy.

But even now, Blood Bodhisattva is still immersed in the shadow play on the screen.

Although Li Wushou didn't know which piece of human skin the Blood Bodhisattva was immersed in, judging from the occasional smile on the Blood Bodhisattva's lips, it must be a beautiful dream of becoming an immortal!

What's going on with this kid?
At that moment, it wasn't just Li Wushou who noticed the boy's abnormality, but also the human skin curtain, or perhaps the dark hand hidden behind it, corrupting everyone's minds.

The other party had clearly noticed that the heterochromatic-eyed boy was trying to break free from the shadow play.

So it moved!
A series of dark shadows, barely visible to the naked eye, slowly converged along the lines of the skin's texture towards the human skin where the heterochromatic boy was located.

These dark figures were hidden within the shadow puppets of the shadow play. Even Li Wushou's divine soul could only vaguely sense something wriggling within the shadow puppets, but could not see it clearly.

It was only after he used his special vision to carefully part the surface of the skin that he noticed these tiny black shadows, which were as fine as hairs even under his special vision, within the texture of the skin.

These shadowy figures stretched along the texture, transforming into black lines that took root on the demonic creature in the shadow play. Li Wushou then realized that the demonic creature was originally connected to many such black lines, which together formed a strange inscription, resembling talismans or a magic array!

This film is less a natural performance and more a result of manipulation by these dark threads behind the scenes.

This scene looks just like a shadow puppet show in an ordinary teahouse!

As more and more black lines took root in the shadowy figure of the demon, the demon's eyes, which had been gleaming with azure light, returned to their original peach blossom pink appearance.

Clearly, the boy with heterochromia's mind had been re-bound and suppressed!
Realizing this, Li Wushou began to trace the black lines in reverse.

The black lines were very long, extending beyond the human skin curtain. Passing through another layer of human skin, Li Wushou discovered that the figures in the shadow play within this skin also had similar black lines embedded in them.

However, the black lines on the other person's body were much fewer than those on the heterochromatic boy's body, even less than one-tenth of the other person's.

Li Wushou guessed that this was probably a scene where the mind of a Golden Core cultivator was attached.

The other end of the black line on this character is clearly the same place as the other end of the black line connecting to the heterochromatic boy.

A glint flashed in Li Wushou's eyes, and he began to concentrate intently on combing through the paper.

The black lines were so fine and intricate that even with special vision and focused observation, it was an extremely mentally taxing task for Li Wushou.

The overall difficulty should be similar to that of Chen Gou'er's Counting.

If something goes wrong, you have to start all over again!

It took almost the time it takes to drink a cup of tea for Li Wushou to finally pinpoint a piece of the human skin curtain.

This section also features shadow puppetry, and it looks no different from other human shadow puppet shows.

However, the black lines extending into the 129 puppet scenes all emanate from this piece of human skin.

Li Wushou then realized that he had been misled by his own assumptions.

Having experienced the shadow play of the Great God's life, Li Wushou subconsciously felt that the shadow play he and the Tree Goddess and Paper Goddess had experienced should also be within this screen composed of a thousand human skins.

But it seems that's not the case now!

The shadow play that Li Wushou experienced must have been special, and not performed on the human skin screen in front of him.

Therefore, from the very beginning, it was not the shadow puppet show experienced by Li Wushou and the Tree Goddess and Paper Goddess that formed the 130th image, but rather the shadow puppet show of the mastermind that Li Wushou has now identified that forms the 130th image.

In other words, the other party was mixed in with a large group of shadow puppets from the very beginning, and presented to Li Wushou.

From the very beginning, Li Wushou's mind was never drawn into this human skin curtain!

His mind truly fell into the human skin curtain after experiencing the life play of the God-Slaying Grandmaster.

Li Wushou was quite certain that this scene had exceeded the expectations of the black hand huddled in the human skin, and that the other party was likely unaware of the changes that had occurred to Li Wushou.

"Cough cough."

Inside the Three Immortals Pavilion, the old beggar coughed a few times, then spoke earnestly:
"You noticed, didn't you? I'm not joking about security!"

That little thing from Immortal Mountain didn't even notice you entering the Crimson Makeup Sacred Domain. You were invited to this room as soon as you entered the Sacred Domain.

The room on the third floor must be where the Great God of Deception reminisced about the past.

Below is merely a stage for him to watch the show. Why would a great master put his most cherished memories on a stage for everyone to enjoy?
This place has probably been ransacked by Mount Bulao countless times, but they overlooked one area.

Li Wushou nodded slightly and glanced at the window in front of him. It was a sliding window that opened up and down, with a layer of white paper pasted on the surface, which blocked his view. It was also the only way for his mind to be drawn to the human skin curtain.

"So that scene from just now was hidden behind this window paper?"

Hearing Li Wushou's inner murmurs, the old beggar sighed inwardly, "It's over! He's become even more cunning!"
He had hoped that by revealing the secret, he could get Li Wushou to loosen his grip and make more concessions on the benefits of the Blood Buddha, but he didn't expect that a mere reminder would be enough to make him think of it.

With a sigh, the old beggar felt somewhat helpless, but he quickly began to explain:

"This is not paper. If I'm not mistaken, it should be the skin of the God-Slaying Grandmaster, which is how he managed to evade the repeated raids by the Immortal Mountain."

"It was precisely because of this disguise that I moved your memorial tablet; that little thing still can't find you at all."

The old beggar was also suffering inside. Li Wushou's murmurs on the hill in the south of the city had frightened him quite a bit. These days, he had been thinking about how to let Li Wushou experience more of the benefits of being a human being.

That's why he wanted to use the puppet show of the God-Slaying Grandmaster to let Li Wushou experience human emotions and love.

Unexpectedly, he ended up shooting himself in the foot!
Li Wushou understood the old beggar's explanation, but he still didn't grasp the significance of the old beggar's actions. In his view, it was more like a prank by the old beggar.

He didn't intend to hold a grudge; he simply took this opportunity to expose the old man and the young man's secret plot to kill the Blood Buddha.

So now he has no intention of haggling with the old beggar and simply ignores him!

Don't be fooled by the old beggar's pitiful and sincere appearance; it only shows how guilty he is.

As long as there's nothing they're hiding from me, it's better to let things cool down for now. Anyway, the more guilty they seem, the more I'll benefit in the end.

With his gaze returning to the paper window of the God-Slaying Venerable, even Li Wushou couldn't help but utter a word of wonder.

He had put his mind under full alert, ready to enter the human skin curtain, but the other party had quietly intercepted him without him even noticing.

Can a single piece of skin really make such a difference?
Li Wushou gained a deeper understanding of the Great Venerable's power.

With a thought, he took the Tree Goddess and Paper Goddess back to the Three Immortals Hall.

Li Wushou shifted his gaze from the skin of the God-Slaying Grandmaster and reached out to break off the window in front of him. He put the window paper along with it into the Three Immortals Hall, intending to study it slowly at a later time.

Let's deal with the mastermind behind the shadow puppet show first!

The mastermind hidden behind the human skin curtain was extremely pleased.

Although he came from the Beast-Eating Dao lineage of Mount Bulao, he was also the most outstanding talisman master among the Nascent Soul and even Divine Transformation cultivators of Mount Bulao.

Over the years, he has comprehended many talismans in this theater of the Great God-Slaying Venerable.

The techniques of seizing gods, controlling gods, and capturing gods all originated from his handiwork.

These talismans not only have unique functions, but they can also perfectly complement the Taoist magic of the Animal Devouring Path. The Mountain Lord, Venerable Devouring, also praised them highly and simply bestowed this fragment of the Dharma Domain upon him.

Black Hand was overjoyed. He foresaw that once he reached the Nascent Soul stage, he could use this fragment of the Dharma Domain as the foundation for his own Dharma Realm.

Therefore, he specially changed his Taoist name and called himself "Talisman Master".

Since then, he has frequently used fragments of the Law Domain as bait for hunting.

Those prey he targeted all thought they had stumbled upon a stroke of luck. Once inside his domain, they would either be eaten by him or enslaved by him.

He enjoyed the feeling of hiding in the movie and enslaving other people's minds, which made him feel like an omnipotent god!

This time, he was acting on the orders of the mountain lord to lay the foundation for the Immortal Mountain's entry into the world.

After weighing the pros and cons, he chose Purdue Island, and with that person's tacit approval, everything went very smoothly.

After enslaving these people, he can use Pudu Island as a base to radiate his influence throughout the Fubo region. This time, he must make the most outstanding contributions so that he can stand out among his disciples.

Only in this way can one gain the mountain lord's reward, obtain sufficient resources, and attempt to reach the Nascent Soul stage.

Moreover, he had just discovered a pleasant surprise, which made him even happier.

After suppressing the mind of that heterochromatic-eyed boy, he never expected that a boy who looked like he had no cultivation would have such a profound divine soul origin.

What shocked him even more was that the other party's soul possessed a beast-like alertness. Despite not being able to detect anything unusual in his mind, his instincts fiercely resisted.

This surprised him even more, as he considered anyone who entered this sacred domain to be his prey.

The more talented someone is, the better, because that way their value will be higher when they are enslaved!
However, he analyzed that the reason why the other party was able to resist was not only because of his extraordinary soul, but also because the other party had not eaten the talisman meat prepared by the "animal-eating method".

The other party was probably the only one among the 129 people, apart from the three Nascent Soul True Monarchs who came later, who had never eaten the talisman meat.

But this did not affect his status in the hearts of the talisman masters!
After all, the three Nascent Soul cultivators who didn't eat the talisman meat performed far worse than their opponents.

There's definitely something fishy about this heterochromatic kid!
From the perspective of the spirit he had previously enslaved, it seems that the other party was abused by his obese parents.
Why not cherish such a gifted son and instead mistreat him?
Moreover, this boy with heterochromia was willing to endure it all and didn't kill them after so long.

This left even the most experienced talisman masters somewhat confused about the family's situation.

However, it's normal for children to have some naivety and delusions, and he didn't intend to delve into it. So, with a thought, he directly extinguished the obese couple's interest.

With a thud, the boy's parents, who were sitting below the stage, collapsed to the ground and died of grief.

He's not a child; he can't stand being wronged, even if these two are just targeting his pre-arranged puppet.

After crushing the two people to death, the talisman master was about to calm himself down when a sense of dread suddenly arose in his mind.

His spiritual power radiated outwards, covering the entire courtyard with his mind.

But they found nothing!
Suddenly his pupils contracted slightly as he looked towards the third floor where the Great God-Slaying Venerable reminisced about the past.

He remembered that the window used to be in good condition!

(End of this chapter)