Cultivating Immortality in Two Realms

Chapter 231 Cave Heaven and Paradise

Back in his tent, Fang Qing sat cross-legged and began to calculate rapidly.

Now that he understands the tricks played by Master Shiraki, he knows that as long as he steps in to "expose" the truth, capturing this person will be no problem at all.

After all, this master must have suffered a great loss of vital energy in order to escape.

But here's the question... how did I see through it?

Even if we push all the blame onto Sangji, there will still be a lot of troubles afterward. After all, it's not like the time when the emperor was far away in the White Bone Mountain.

If the many Dharma Kings of the Secret Realm were to inquire about this, it would indeed be difficult to cover it up without a suitable explanation.

"Master Bai Mu is also in a bad situation. Now that the Great Void is sealed off, he can't escape as easily as Master Zi Fu of the Xuan Tu Sect before... nor is he as skilled as Master Hong Yao before, who was adept at escape techniques... He can only fake his death to get away, and I even saw through his fake death."

"The key is that in order to fake my death, I lost a supernatural power and a Purple Mansion magic treasure... It was a heavy loss."

If I hadn't seen through him, he could have easily escaped when Sangji and I weren't around... He could have even followed us back to the Secret Realm, then possessed another's body, hidden for decades, and then acted as the newly promoted Purple Mansion True Person of the Bai family...

"Can we keep it for now, as a spare move?"

"Anyway, the effect of 'Hidden Forest' is the same as nothing to me, so I can do whatever I want with Bai Mu... The reason is very simple: Bai Mu Zhenren went to great lengths to fake his death and escape because he didn't want to continue working for the Hehuan Sect and the Secret Realm."

Fang Qing could then find Master Bai Mu and say, "Master, you don't want the Hehuan Sect to know about your affairs, do you?"

At that point, Master Baimu will have no choice but to submit to the Secret Realm and obediently become his Baimu Dharma King or Baimu Duzi...

However, this wouldn't benefit Fang Qing much.

"In any case, let's first inform Sangji and make sure that the boy possessed by Bai Mu Zhenren's supernatural powers doesn't leave our sight... That way, Bai Mu Zhenren won't be able to escape." Fang Qing didn't need to hide anything from the disciple he had converted, so he immediately communicated with the Dao Sheng Pearl and explained the situation.

"If Your Excellency does not wish to appear, this humble monk can do it for you. I will say that I can use the White Bone Mind Observation to see through this person's whereabouts... and then threaten True Man White Wood to go into hiding and become a henchman of the White Bone Path. In this way, the outside world will only think that True Man White Wood has already perished, and there will be no need to consider explaining things to the Dharma Kings of the Secret Treasury..."

Sanji offered a suggestion.

If Shiraki Makoto were intelligent, he would obviously know that this choice was best for him.

After all, if they were to join the Secret Realm, they would undoubtedly be dragged out immediately to serve as high-level cannon fodder in the attack on the Joyful Union Sect.

However, by only siding with the White Bone Sect, there is still a possibility of being concealed and successfully avoiding the great battle between the two sects.

For Sangji, even if it were exposed later, it would only be a matter of personal selfishness; the Secret Dharma King still had that much freedom. "Let's see first... at least I need to type out the 'Deer-Seeing Mantra in the Forest Stream.' This 'Hidden Forest' supernatural power is truly remarkable..."

After Fang Qing finished speaking, he sighed a little.

Among the elements of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and yin and yang, and the twenty-eight fruit positions, water-element cultivators have always been relatively weak among countless lineages.

Unable to win through magical combat, they naturally turned to unorthodox methods of survival, such as healing and hiding.

He calmed himself down and silently sorted out the spoils of the attack on the Bai family in Dongshui.

Although there is only one Purple Mansion Cultivation Method, there are many other Daoist scriptures and spiritual objects related to the [Ji Shui] (a type of Daoist practice).

If it weren't for Master Bai Mu's madness and the destruction of his own precious land by Dao Hua, then occupying this Dongshui region would have been able to continuously cultivate cultivators at the Dao Foundation Perfection stage of the [Jishui] realm, and then attempt to break through to the Purple Mansion realm! The Bai family of Dongshui was able to do this because they naturally had a set of experiences in cultivating [Jishui] Dao Foundation cultivators.

There were even resource production areas... well, those resource production areas are now obsolete, but those Taoist scriptures are still worth reading.

At least for Fang Qing, whose Dao foundation of "Positioning in the Wind" is not yet fully perfected, this is quite instructive.

As he was pondering, a gentle breeze blew by.

Sangji, carrying several thick volumes of Sanskrit scriptures, entered the tent: "Vajrapani..."

"I have met the Dharma King..."

Fang Qing stood up and clasped his hands together in a gesture of respect.

"Now that we've descended to the land of Dongshui, we need to explore the many hidden paradises and blessed lands here... The Bai family's three generations of Purple Mansions may not lack the ability to build blessed lands..." Sangji said seriously, introducing the next task: "There may also be traces of paradises nearby... This Sanskrit scripture records the names and traces of major paradises and blessed lands since ancient times... You can read them one by one." This was naturally what Fang Qing wanted to see, and he ordered Sangji to bring it.

"In accordance with the Dharma King's decree."

Fang Qing sat cross-legged and opened a scroll of Sanskrit scriptures.

Only Golden Core True Monarchs can create grotto-heavens, and their numbers are relatively small. Even so, from the primordial era to the present, quite a few grotto-heavens have appeared, the largest of which number over thirty, collectively known as the "Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens"! And the number of grotto-heavens that have appeared and been destroyed is probably close to three hundred and sixty…

He thought to himself with great emotion, "This world of Qi cultivation... is far too vast. There are hundreds of grotto-heavens alone, and surely thousands of blessed lands?" "And what lies beyond the Great Void?"

Fang Qing first looked at the overview of the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens, and Taihuang Heaven was prominently listed among them.

"The Earth element is the foundation, hence the cave heaven is extremely vast... Similar to this are 'Huangji Heaven', 'Guangyuan Heaven', etc... all related to the Earth Element Golden Elixir True Lord." "In addition, there is 'Chiming Heaven'... which was created by the Fire Element Golden Elixir True Lord."

"The 'Mysterious Heaven,' 'Azure Heaven,' and 'Purple Void Heaven'... are they possibly the result of a collaboration between several Golden Core True Monarchs?"

"Although there are many grotto-heavens, it is extremely rare for one to be located in one place... The probability of a hidden grotto-heaven in this Dongshui region is not high, but a blessed land is more likely..." Strictly speaking, the Bai family of Dongshui may have secretly built a blessed land as a place to retreat.

Otherwise, Shiraki Makoto's act of destroying his own precious land just for the sake of acting would have been far too swift and decisive.

"Hmm... These thirty-six grotto-heavens are hidden deep within the void, mysterious and solid, and are rarely shaken or revealed to the world... Last time, the 'Taihuang Heaven' had all the right timing, location, and people, and the Daoist Master Sanji took the initiative to open the gate, otherwise it would have been very difficult to open it..."

Fang Qing turned to the last page of the celestial scroll in his hand:

"The Thirty-Six Heavenly Grottoes are extremely difficult to open, and the number one, named 'Primordial Heaven,' is only known by its name in ancient times... it has never actually appeared." "On the other hand, the blessed lands below are frequently attacked and plundered by Purple Mansion True Persons... and then new Purple Mansion Great True Persons build blessed lands, making the records quite chaotic..." "There really are blessed lands that might exist in this Eastern Water Land!"

Fang Qing opened a file: "Yiling Blessed Land was built by the Yiling Sect back then. The Yiling Sect was active in the early years of the modern era, but later the number of Purple Mansion cultivators died out, so the sect naturally perished... However, its blessed land has never been prominent." Being able to produce Purple Mansion cultivators generation after generation, it is no ordinary Purple Mansion force.

In fact, many Purple Mansion forces rise and fall in an instant, relying on their exceptionally talented disciples to occasionally break through to the Purple Mansion level.

However, their fortune only lasts for one or two generations. When the Purple Mansion reaches its five-hundred-year limit, they will perish directly.

If a second Purple Mansion cannot be cultivated, it will naturally face the fate of being devoured by its neighbors.

"Could it be... that some Golden Core sect is pulling the strings behind the scenes?"

"Just look at how Moyun Cliff treats Pushan Jun, and you'll know that for the Golden Core Sect, the cultivators below are all leeks. The only difference is that those who have mastered Qi and those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage are just small leeks, while those who have reached the Purple Mansion stage have already grown quite strong... "In fact, some Purple Mansion forces may not even know that they are being used as pigs."

Fang Qing then thought of the curse above the [Zui Huo] fruit level.

The fact that such a lineage, which is so despised by gods and ghosts, has still been passed down clearly indicates that it is supported by some kind of will behind it.

For example, one needs to cultivate the Dao foundation of [Zi Huo] or even become a Purple Mansion cultivator in order to open a specific blessed land or grotto heaven.

If we really need to use talented people, we should definitely transfer them from outside the core faction to avoid attracting too much criticism within the sect.

This is a case of "better to die than for yourself."

"Besides that, there is also the Heshui Blessed Land, which was built by a rogue cultivator in the past. In order to open this blessed land, in addition to a certain blood sacrifice to shake the void and make the blessed land reveal its foundation, the most important thing is to have a destined person who cultivates its lineage and techniques as the 'key'..."

Although everyone knows that as long as you open the blessed land or the grotto, you can find all kinds of spiritual things inside, the key is that you can't open it!

Given the widespread scarcity of spiritual healing items in the cultivation of Qi, many True Immortals of the Purple Mansions covet these blessed lands, but very few succeed. In the end, it's always powerful forces like Moyun Cliff, Yin Corpse Sect, and Secret Treasury Domain that get their hands on them. Why?

However, it's precisely because there are so many highly skilled cultivators who can predict the future, and because the pool of talent is so vast, that they can find some resources for any particular lineage... These are all things that Golden Core sects originally kept in their own backyards, readily available for use. Now that it's Fang Qing's turn to do it himself, he's somewhat at a loss.

The Secret Realm is now attacking the Joyful Union Sect... the battles have been continuous, with countless deaths and injuries... there have even been celestial phenomena of Purple Mansions falling... the blood energy surge is definitely enough, but the remaining conditions are still somewhat difficult to meet...

"Especially since Master Heshui has been dead for countless years, who knows where his lineage is?"

Fang Qing was completely clueless.

It's that difficult to eat alone.

He pondered for a while, even secretly calculating, but still couldn't come up with many clues, after all, there were too few prerequisites...

"Hmm... those Golden Core sects, who can easily open blessed lands under their jurisdiction, must have another advantage... that is, they have a long lineage. They probably watched how those True Immortals established their blessed lands, and they know their descendants and lineages very well..."

"In other words, if a True Person of the Hehuan Sect wanted to open the Yiling and Heshui Blessed Lands now... it would be much easier." "No wonder the local Golden Core sects always take the lion's share of the profits when each blessed land and grotto-heaven opens... they really do have the means."

Fang Qing looked towards the direction of the Hehuan Sect, feeling slightly regretful.

The bottom line of many eminent monks in the Secret Realm has always been quite flexible, except for one particular time when they are especially resolute: when the Buddha's decree from the Great Snow Mountain descends! Unfortunately, this is exactly the situation they encountered at that moment!

It's not the right time to team up with Hehuan to eat the meat of the blessed land below.