Traveling through countless heavens, an immortal being

Seeing Lear's incredulous mutterings, the blue ox standing a few steps behind him couldn't help but walk over to Lear's side.

……

Well, now another blue ox is left speechless.

The man and the ox stared blankly at the huge pit for a long time.

The blue ox turned its head and looked at Lear's unreadable face without daring to make a sound. It carefully retreated and hid behind the stone tablet.

It peeked out from behind the stone tablet, revealing its enormous bull head, and then withdrew its head back inside.

Qingniu muttered under his breath, "The master's expression is terrifying, let's stay away from him..."

Lear gazed at the large pit, took the red gourd he was carrying in his hands, opened the lid, and slowly tilted it downwards.

Having learned from experience this time, he estimated that he had poured out the gourd for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before sealing it and carrying the red gourd on his back. Watching the Zishui spring gushing forth again, the clear water flowing down the mountain along the dry riverbed with unstoppable force, he felt his Daoist mind was clear at this moment.

Lear sensed that the bottleneck in his cultivation of the Qi-based Longevity Technique was beginning to loosen...

…………

To align one's own heart with the will of Heaven, and to align one's humanity with the way of Heaven, is a teaching passed down from our ancestors. All things are mutually generative and mutually restraining; this is an innate instinct.

If you encounter someone in trouble and have the ability to help, you should do so; if you succeed, it is a sign of divine favor.

If you encounter someone in distress and have no means to help them, it is in accordance with the principles of nature to avoid harming yourself.

The principles are the same; just as all streams, rivers, and lakes in the world converge towards the sea, there are always patterns to be found.

……

Lear, sitting upstream of the Zishui Spring, suddenly attained enlightenment. As he slowly opened his eyes, the midday sun shone on him, casting a lingering, divine, and sacred purple aura around him.

If you look down from the sky, you can see a tai chi symbol formed by purple mist faintly appearing above Lear.

Li Er stood up with a smile, looking down at the crystal-clear yet inexhaustible Zi River below the cliff.

……

"Ox"

Upon hearing Lear's call, the blue ox quickly walked from behind the stone tablet to Lear's side.

The blue ox lowered its head and asked meekly, "Your servant is here, sir. Where are we going?"

Lear pulled out his dragon-headed cane, hoisted it onto his shoulder, mounted the bull's back, and patted it.

"Looking towards Zishui County."

"Follow the law"

The blue ox carried the Taoist priest up into the clouds and disappeared. Beneath the inscription "Source of Zishui," clusters of purple Ganoderma lucidum quietly sprouted from the spot where Lear had once meditated, adding even more spiritual charm to the source of Zishui...

................................................

Lear rode his blue ox and flew over Zishui County. The city was like a ghost town, with every household's doors and windows broken. The streets were littered with messy steamers and leaky baskets. The original bluestone pavement was mottled and terrifying with large patches of brownish-red bloodstains, making people feel very uncomfortable at first glance.

Trash clothes hung from the eaves and fell on the street, and Lear's eyesight had become very good since he started practicing the Qi-absorbing Longevity Technique.

He clearly saw several pieces of swaddling clothes, originally used to wrap babies, scattered around a stone mill in the center of a crossroads.

The dried bloodstains remaining on the stone mill clearly foreshadowed the fate of the children who should have been wrapped in swaddling clothes around it.

Lear couldn't bear to look any longer. Ignoring the desolate scene in the city, he ordered the blue ox to turn around and fly towards the group of buildings in the east of the city that, although the people were dressed in rags, they were still bustling with people.

……

Lear, hovering above the temple on his blue ox, stared expressionlessly at the frenzied crowd in front of the main hall below.

What left Lear expressionless was the altar in front of the main hall below, piled high with a mixture of human heads and bones.

Li Er almost laughed in anger when he saw the memorial tablet inscribed with "The Venerable Master Xianyou Tongfu, the Great Sage National Preceptor" placed on the small incense table in the center of the altar. He thought to himself, "How come this demon is stirring up trouble everywhere? We've even come all the way to the Zi River, and here we still have that demon's lewd worship."

As he thought this, he quickly made a hand seal, summoning a bolt of lightning that shattered the memorial tablet, before instructing the green ox to stop its cloud-like form on the roof ridge of the main hall.

The crowd below was stunned for a moment when they saw the national advisor's tablet shattered by a bolt of lightning. Soon, several people who seemed to be the leaders stepped forward and bowed to Lear, and began to introduce themselves and pay their respects one by one.

"Zhang Zhugui, a scholar from Zishui, Xu Tan, the deputy registrar, Wang Mian, the former clerk, Zhao Daman, the village elder of Linshan Village, and Chen Chang, the temple keeper of Lingtai Temple... pay their respects to the Immortal Lord."

Lear maintained his stern expression, his voice cold and stern as he looked at the leaders below the clouds and asked, "You are all prominent figures around the Zi River, how could you willingly associate with demons, worship evil spirits, and harm the innocent? Are you even human?"

Scholar Zhang Zhugui was the first to kowtow and beg for mercy:

"Immortal, please forgive us! We have no choice but to do this. If we had not taken the lead in offering sacrifices to the National Preceptor, where would we have the food and water to feed the thirty-odd people in this temple in this arid land?"

Clerk Wang Mian then said:

"Yes, we beg the immortals to show mercy and forgive us!"

Deputy Registrar Xu Qin also spoke up:

"If it weren't for our feigned compliance with the Grand Preceptor's disciple, not one of us in this temple would have survived. Immortal, please have mercy and spare us!"

Zhao Daman, the village elder of Linshan Village, and Chen Chang, the temple keeper of Lingtai Temple, both began to beg for mercy in unison.

……

Hearing these heinous criminals begging for mercy below, Lear was utterly disgusted. He flicked his sleeve and roared, "Shut up!!! Have you counted how many people in this county you have sacrificed? How many you have eaten? Have you counted? Now you beg for mercy from me... Ask yourselves! Did the people you harmed beg for mercy from you? Did you spare them?"

"Like a rat without skin, a person without manners; what use is a person without manners if not dead? You have committed such heinous and devastating acts, yet you expect me to forgive you, such wicked and vicious people who act like beasts despite your human form?! Wishful thinking!!"

The men who had been scolded by Lear knelt on the ground, not daring to raise their heads. They kept begging for mercy, fearing that the immortal on the cloud might summon lightning to strike them down if he was displeased. After all, they hadn't done anything good since they started worshipping the national teacher's tablet.

They're only begging for mercy now because they think the immortals will spare their lives since they're sensible.

……

Seeing their unrepentant behavior, Lear no longer wanted to waste words with these despicable creatures who wore human skin but did nothing but depravity. He summoned several bolts of heavenly lightning and pulverized these beastly demons into charred remains before descending from the clouds to stand before the trembling, kneeling people.

He told the people to get up and follow him to the large iron incense burner in front of the hall. With a flick of his sleeve, he swept all the incense ash and what appeared to be human bones out of the burner.

He placed the dragon-headed cane against the green ox, then took the red gourd from behind and poured water into the empty incense burner. Once the water was full, he randomly asked a commoner to fetch the grain that the Grand Preceptor's disciple had brought earlier, and poured the grain into the water in the incense burner. Only then did he instruct the surrounding people to dismantle the wood from the doors and windows of the front hall to light a fire and cook porridge.

……

After half an incense stick had burned out, the flames around the incense burner went out. Lear told the people to gather wood to light a bonfire for illumination. Once the bonfire was burning brightly, Lear went to the warm incense burner and asked the surviving people to find long ladles and bowls for serving rice, then served them porridge one by one.

Watching them sit on the ground around the campfire, wolfing down their food, Lear grew increasingly disgusted with the ever-present but never-seen Grand Tutor.

If you're going to be the Grand Tutor, just be a good Grand Tutor. Why do you have to resort to this whole "demon-and-monster" thing and bring trouble upon yourself? Now that Lear has the Vajra Bracelet and the Investiture of the Gods, once we reach the capital and meet the Grand Tutor, we'll definitely give him a "gift" he never expected!

................................................

The Imperial Preceptor's Residence...

The number of servants kneeling outside the Hall of Gathering Immortals had increased to three. Chen Ming's younger brother, Chen Zhi, was forced to squeeze out of the furnace-watching position by one of the clan members who was eager to get close to the "elixir".

Kneeling outside the hall, Chen Ming lowered his head and glanced at the smug and self-satisfied member of the imperial clan inside, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

Enjoy it!

That's a "good" spot; most people don't have that "fortune." He's smug, isn't he? But when the Imperial Preceptor goes mad and sweeps him into the alchemy furnace, I wonder if he'll still be so smug.

Chen Ming was relieved that his younger brother was safe for the time being. He silently prayed in his heart, thanking some great god for his great mercy in rescuing his younger brother from that demon's nest. He could only express his gratitude to each and every one of them.

"This disciple sincerely thanks the Three Pure Ones, sincerely thanks Buddha, and sincerely thanks all the great gods and immortals..."

................................................

Thousands of miles away in Zishui County, Lear, who had just left on his blue ox riding the clouds, drew a large circle in the sky above Zishui City with his dragon-headed cane.

After explaining to the surviving people via telepathy why they couldn't leave the circle, he told them where to get farming tools and seeds in the city, and that they should find a place in the city to settle down and cultivate the land. He also told them that the Zishui spring had resumed flowing and that the wells in the city would soon be able to draw water. Only then did he send the blue ox on a cloud to fly to the next city, wondering what the situation was like there...

The wind howled high in the sky, billowing Lear's Taoist robe. The fluttering hem and sleeves mirrored Lear's mood at that moment. The situation in the three counties of Jizhou he had just passed through was already so bad; who knew what might happen next?

Lear sighed, gazing at the distant horizon, and sighed softly...

The road ahead is long, let's walk and see...