Chapter 404: The Still Night at the Patriarch's Hall
In Luojing, not far from the east side of the imperial palace, there is a Taoist temple that is simple and elegant but also luxurious.
This is the Guizhen Temple, where the main altar of the Guizhen Sect is located. Because the Xu family made their fortune from this temple, after the founding of the country, they built it near the imperial palace to show respect for the Guizhen Sect.
But now, such a large Taoist temple has long been empty, with clothes, tables and chairs, incense burners, ritual objects, etc. scattered on the ground. The gates to the courtyard and the doors to the rooms are all open, whether they are good or bad, upside down or standing, as if they have experienced a war. In addition, it is very late at night, and it looks quite desolate, deserted, and messy.
The emperor Xu Chenggao looked at the scene in front of him, and his bitter smile deepened. He said to the queen and the young eunuch who followed him: "I thought that only those ministers were spineless and would side with whichever side was stronger. I didn't expect that the Guizhen Temple was also scattered like monkeys when the tree fell, and it was difficult to see loyal and righteous people."
"Strong winds know strong grass, and turbulent times know loyal ministers. Your Majesty, don't worry so much. There must be loyal and faithful people within ten households in my Da'an Dynasty." There were still tears on the face of the young eunuch.
There was no guard all the way. He walked from the palace to Guizhen Temple. Seeing the other palace maids and eunuchs who were scattered like birds and beasts, he slowly calmed down.
Xu Chenggao laughed: "You are well-read in poetry and books. Well, you can accompany me and the queen all the way here, which can be regarded as a loyal and righteous person. By the way, what is your name?" While talking, he and the queen supported each other and continued to walk to the ancestral hall.
"My name is Wei Jing." The young eunuch supported Xu Chenggao on the other side and answered in a low voice.
The three of them walked through the hall and soon came to the Patriarch's Hall. When they saw the lights shining in the Patriarch's Hall and the quiet and solemn appearance, they couldn't help but hold their breath, let go of their hands, lightened their steps, and walked into the hall carefully.
Although the footsteps were small, they aroused a response in the extremely quiet Patriarch's Hall. So when Xu Chenggao, Queen Ruan, and the young eunuch Wei Jing just entered the hall a few steps, they felt three eyes looking at them with a little surprise.
It turned out that there were three yellow-robed monks, two men and one woman, who knelt and confessed quietly and devoutly in front of the Patriarch's statue until Xu Chenggao and others came in and broke the silence, which woke them up.
"I am Zhou Wei, the poor Taoist, and I pay my respects to the emperor." The yellow-robed monk in his thirties had seen Xu Chenggao when he visited the Patriarch's Hall every year, so he stood up and bowed.
"I am Wan Xue, I pay my respects to His Majesty." "I am Xu Hongda, I pay my respects to His Majesty." The other two monks in their twenties naturally followed Zhou Wei and stood up to pay their respects.
Xu Chenggao was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that there were still disciples left in the Patriarch's Hall: "Masters, please don't be polite. Why don't you go with the others?"
Zhou Wei smiled faintly: "I am blessed by the sect to accept me as a disciple and teach me the true method. From now on, I can get a glimpse of the supreme immortal way. It is really difficult to repay the great kindness. I can only choose to live and die with the sect. As for Junior Sister Wan and Junior Brother Xu, I have been persuading them to leave, cherish their lives, and leave some incense for the sect's inheritance, but they didn't listen at all."
Wan Xue and Xu Hongda said in unison: "How can I fly away when disaster strikes?" The two of them were so tacit that they couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other.
After a pause, Xu Hongda said, "Although I am a distant relative of the royal family, my family members all died early. It was the sect that raised me and nurtured me. How can I escape at this time?"
Wan Xue nodded and said, "I also grew up in the sect. The world is so big, and I can only feel at ease here. Besides, some fellow disciples left with great pain to keep the incense, and they don't need me."
After hearing this, Xu Chenggao laughed three times, "Good, good, good, Guizhen Sect has loyal disciples like you, and there will be hope for revival in the future." Xu Chenggao's eyes were a little wet and his heart was very excited to see such a loyal person at the end of his life.
"I wonder why the emperor came?" Zhou Wei asked Xu Chenggao's purpose.
Xu Chenggao thought of himself and smiled sadly: "Those ministers and generals are waiting to surrender as soon as the Tianming Dongyuan Sect army arrives. I have no choice but to come to the Patriarch's Hall to see if I can ask the Patriarch to show up and overcome this difficulty."
Don't ask the people, ask the ghosts and gods. Somehow, this sentence appeared in Xu Hongda's mind, but he was relieved in an instant. This crisis was not caused by the people of the world, but by the ghosts and gods. There is nothing wrong with praying to the ancestor, but the Guizhen Sect has been established for more than 300 years. Only two hundred and sixty or seventy years ago, the Stone Patriarch appeared in Luojing once, and there has been no news since then. There is almost no possibility of his appearance.
Zhou Wei, Wan Xue, and Xu Hongda are not like Xu Chenggao who only practiced body training. They have already started to practice the visualization method in the "Return to the True Sutra". They are also familiar with various Taoist classics. They know that the so-called ascension is just an advanced stage of inducing qi. There are many realms above it before they can prove immortality, achieve the primordial spirit, and become a truly free and easy immortal.
Moreover, even if there are ancestors who are still alive, they practice the orthodox Taoism, not the Shintoism, and cannot sense other people's prayers. How could it be so coincidental that they appear.
However, at this time, they did not want to dampen Xu Chenggao's last hope, so they made way and signaled Xu Chenggao to kneel in front of the ancestor statue and beg: "Your Majesty, please."
Xu Chenggao straightened his clothes and walked solemnly to the statue of the founder. There were three lifelike statues standing on the stage. The middle one was an old man with white hair and eyebrows, wearing a black robe and holding a whisk. On the left was a young man in his twenties, wearing a green robe and a high hat. His face was ordinary but elegant, and he was stepping on green lightning. On the right was a cute and solemn girl, wearing a red dress and smiling gently.
After lighting nine incense sticks, Xu Chenggao bowed nine times, inserted the incense into the furnace, and then knelt in front of the statue of the ancestor, kowtowing and praying: "Xu Chengye, Shi Xuan, Xu Jinyi, the descendant Xu Chenggao sincerely prays here. The evil demons and heretics are now blindly attacking cities and territories, and the country is in decline and on the verge of collapse. If the evil demons and heretics succeed, the Da'an Dynasty will be gone, the Guizhen Sect will be difficult to survive, and the Taoist tradition will be cut off. Please show your spirit and save our Da'an Dynasty and the Guizhen Sect from the water and fire."
Xu Chenggao knew that the survival of the dynasty was a common thing in the eyes of the immortals like the ancestors, and they would not descend to the world for this. Only when the Guizhen Sect involved the Taoist tradition of the ancestors would the ancestors show their spirits, so he focused on the evil demons and heretics and the Taoist tradition.
A breeze blew, causing the smoke and burning incense in the incense burner to sway for a while, but unfortunately there was no abnormality afterwards.
Although Xu Chenggao had imagined the miracle of the ancestor responding to his prayers, he knew in his heart that the possibility was very small, so after a little disappointment, he continued to kowtow hard, while chanting: "Please come, ancestor, and save our Da'an Dynasty and Guizhen Sect from the water and fire."
He knew that the most likely ancestor to come was Shi Xuanshi, after all, he had appeared once, but at this time, the possibility of the other two appearing could not be completely forgotten, so he did not refer to any specific ancestor in the name.
Dong, dong, dong, Xu Chenggao's head hit the cushion and it made a loud sound. It was red and swollen in a short while, but Xu Chenggao didn't care and continued to kowtow: "Please come, ancestor, and save our Da'an Dynasty and Guizhen Sect from the water and fire."
The ancestor statue still had no reaction.
Xu Chenggao's forehead was broken, blood was flowing, and the futon was stained scarlet. He gritted his teeth and kowtowed without stopping, praying: "Please come down, Master Shi, and save our Da'an Dynasty and Guizhen Sect from the water and fire." There was only one thought in his mind, even if he died here, he would not give up, and the name he called gradually became Master Shi.
Seeing this bloody and miserable scene, Queen Ruan and the young eunuch Wei Jing held back their tears, covered their mouths, and knelt down, kowtowed together behind Xu Chenggao, but in front of them was not a futon, but a blue brick.
"Please come down, Master Shi, and save our Da'an Dynasty and Guizhen Sect from the water and fire." The voices of the two people gradually overlapped with Xu Chenggao's voice.
Infected by this pious scene, Zhou Wei, Wan Xue, and Xu Hongda looked at each other, walked to the side of Queen Yuan, knelt down, kowtowed and prayed: "Please come down, Master Shi, and save our Da'an Dynasty and Guizhen Sect from danger."
In the dead of night, this voice echoed in the Master's Hall, like a rolling stream, endless.
…………
On the second floor of Tianya Haijiao Tower, Shi Xuan was sitting cross-legged, with blood-red thin lines on his body looming, sometimes deep into his body, sometimes floating out of his skin.
After more than 30 years of slow blood transformation and integration, now is the critical moment for Shi Xuan's two bodies to merge into one.
Shi Xuan silently practiced the secret method, and his body exuded a fresh, pure, and vital light. As the red line rose and fell, Shi Xuan's face seemed to change between two and one.
When the red line penetrated deep into the body, Shi Xuan's face and body were normal, and when the red line penetrated the skin, another face appeared on Shi Xuan's face, and the body also turned into four arms.
Suddenly, countless clear light talismans appeared on Shi Xuan's body, one fell on each red line, and then the clear light was strong, and Shi Xuan seemed to be wrapped in a dense clear light cocoon.
After a moment, a purple light broke out of the cocoon, and then the clear light dimmed and gradually disappeared.
The purple light fell on the ground, revealing Shi Xuan's figure. Shi Xuan looked relaxed and happy to check himself. Now this body is full of strength, which is stronger than the master of refining the body. Even if the first-level Taoist magic hits the body, it is difficult to hurt the body.
Before Shi Xuan survived the catastrophe, he didn't have to worry about the problem of the body, so Shi Xuan walked back to the futon leisurely, sat down and closed his eyes to rest, but at this time, Shi Xuan felt that someone was calling him in the dark.
"This feeling should be someone praying devoutly in front of my statue with his real name?" Shi Xuan thought to himself.
Normally, only the Golden Immortal Daoist could sense his name when he was mentioned in his mind, while ordinary Shinto monks could only sense the prayers of their own devout followers.
After surviving the first heavenly tribulation, Yangshen Zhenren, who could be inspired by impulse, could not sense others' name when they were recited. After all, he was not a Shinto monk. Only long-term, non-stop, very devout, and supported prayers could arouse such a weak sense of heart and blood.
And Shi Xuan now indirectly possessed this kind of heart and blood sense through the Xiantian Bagua and Tai Chi diagram.