A year ago:

"The Tao is endless, and the Tao is endless?"

One day, Qiu Shaohu suddenly asked when he was finishing memorizing the classics that Lianmo asked him to recite today.

In the island of forgetfulness for a year, there is nothing else to do every day except for the usual cleaning and endorsement, which is not lackluster, but there are no surprises.

The area where he is located is a "forbidden place", so naturally there will be no disciples to disturb him.

And it wasn't until a year after he came here that he didn't know about this forbidden place engraved with classics, called "Gu Yingting." ”

"The valley has to be one to earn, all things have to be born to one, and the Tao is 'the Tao gives birth to one, one life to two, two to three, and three to all things', since this place is named after 'Gu Ying', it proves that the people who founded this place took this as the foundation of the Taoist system, but why has it become a forbidden place now?"

This question was not answered.

"Are you trying to ask about the extent of the avenue?"

And now this question, Lian Mo is willing to answer it for him,

"The Dao system is all-encompassing, and the Forgotten Island is called 'Xianmen Zhengzong' by the world, but at best it is just a branch of the Great Dao. The way to seek the Tao is not only to drink frost and clear the valley, chant the scriptures and meditate, but to view it broadly, the world is not a person who seeks the Tao. It is the way for literati to read and write, it is the way for warriors to refine bones and strengthen tendons, it is the way for doctors to hang pots to help the world, and even businessmen to make money and pursue profits. ”

"If that's the case, if I drink wine and eat meat every day, rest and sleep, can I also become a great way?" Qiu Shaohu said a little tricky.

Lian Mo glanced at him and said, "In the past, there was a sloppy immortal, cynical and game-like Hongchen, who was indeed as informal as you said, and finally achieved the Great Dao. However, leisure can seek the Tao, but it is not a pleasure or a bad work. ”

"In the final analysis, for power, fame and fortune, the inferior are intoxicated and cannot extricate themselves, and naturally there is no hope for them to succeed in their lives; The middle-grade people sway between temptation and restraint, trembling as if facing the abyss, although they can peek into the road, but it is difficult to become a climate in the end; Those who are of the highest grade chase but do not possess and enjoy without sinking, then they are naturally people of the Tao. ”

"You're going to ask me that, and at the end of the day you're still a little skeptical. But I can tell you, like the emperor in the world, even if he is not a person with the Tao, he must have the ability to control the Tao, after all, he can hold the fate of tens of millions of people in the hands of one person, but it is much more powerful than many people who have practiced for a hundred years. Unfortunately, I am also a person outside the world, and I don't know much about earthly things. ”

"Simply with the method of forgetting the island, how many means of seeking the Tao are there? The books I have read make a clear difference, but they are not very detailed. Qiu Shaohu asked again.

"The cultivation of the island of forgetfulness is roughly divided into four types: Danding, Changsheng, Qimen, and Wandering Soul. And each of them, subdivided into multiple ways, are all classified as 'Shinto'. ”

"The art of Danding is based on the beginning qi and is divided into internal and external Dan methods. Neidan is to take itself as the furnace, to practice with the qi of yin and yang, and if the golden pill is completed, the road can be obtained. The art of Wai Dan is often referred to as alchemy, and some people in the outside world have developed gunpowder and other killing things from it. ”

"The art of immortality is the one that the disciples of Forgetless Island practice the most. The day after tomorrow will return to the congenital, return to the basics, and achieve the goal of eternal life. It's like dust, and what he practices is similar to mine, but it's still different. The method of 'Taiming' that I seek is aimed at forgetting one's feelings in Taishang. And the dusty 'Yuantong' is seeking to condense the original heart. ”

"As for the art of Qimen, there are very few cultivators on the island of Forgetfulness, but there are many in the world. However, most secular people think that mystical divination is the root of Qimen, and it is rare to find a great way, but it is not worth mentioning. ”

"And the art of the wandering soul has long been completely extinct on the Forgetless Island."

"Why is that?" Qiu Shaohu said: "All belong to the way of God, is there still a distinction between superior and inferior?" ”

"There are no superior skills, but there are trade-offs. The art of the wandering soul uses its own soul out of the body, like a ghost, too mysterious, and often attracts ominous covetousness. If it is a complicated world outside the island, it can also be used as an experience, but it is too inconsistent with the purpose of quiet and inaction on the island. ”

Lianmo said: "In the various paths of the Dao, I can't completely summarize with you, after all, in your eyes, I may have great powers, but in the Ninefold Dao Realm, I am only a twofold Taiqing realm, I have not yet reached the supreme, and I can't get a glimpse of the whole world." ”

"Listen to your point, there is already a sense that the clouds have opened and the fog has dispersed. However, there are so many ways to say that you seem to miss one point. Qiu Shaohu said: "In Gu Yingting's classics, there are also many records about the wonder of the starry sky, but why is it that at most divination is carried out according to the method of the stars, but no one uses the stars as the way to cultivate?" ”

"Because for thousands of years, there has never been such a person on the island of Forgetting." Mercy Mo gave him a deep look.

"What people feel and understand can be the way. But the heavens and stars are hard to see and untouchable. Therefore, some people say that the starry sky itself is a taboo; Others say that it is not a power that belongs to this side. ”

……

The morning light reflected on Qiu Shaohu's face through the bed, and Qiu Shaohu woke up suddenly.

Sitting up from the bed in the inn, he could still recall the conversation he had just dreamed of with Mercy Mo.

Unintentionally, she really said that the method of Xingchen's cultivation may really belong to a "taboo".

The star map that Qiu Shaohu accidentally obtained from his childhood, originally only had a fragment of the corner of Jiuye Juntian on it, and it was only revealed after absorbing the power of the starry sky of the Star Reflecting Stone. I'm afraid that its damage is also related to this "taboo".

The nakshatra positions on the star map fragment do not correspond to the existing star charts at all, why is this?

The first reason Qiu Shaohu could think of was that the fragmentary star map was actually an ancient star map. Heaven and earth change, the vicissitudes of life, and the stars in the sky are not static, if so, it can directly explain the differences between them.

But in this way, there are new problems. If you practice based on this, what should you do next? Where can I find the Ancient Star Atlas to complete it?

And if this fragment is really the direction of the ancient stars, today's starry sky is long different from the past, why can it still attract the power of the stars?

"There is no way to go astray, but until the end, how can you know that the road to death is not a smooth road? What you think may not be feasible, and what you do may not be feasible. Before the end of the matter, who can know whether the outcome will be good or bad, is it necessary to be stopped because of the unknown for a while? Qiu Shaohu decided to put aside these distractions for the time being, remembering that the matter of the Lingchuan Sect was more urgent at the moment, and decided to continue to prepare for it.

The things he bought yesterday were put aside, Qiu Shaohu took out one by one, first took out a few pieces of good yellow paper, folded them and cut them into thin strips, and then took an inkstone, which was filled with water, and carefully spread the paper strips underneath. Then he took out a piece of cinnabar stone, knocked it into powder, and then melted into the water of the inkstone, which instantly melted into a blood-red color, and even the yellow paper under it was almost invisible.

Qiu Shaohu took the brush and touched the paper below through the red water, and with a slight stroke, a complete rune appeared on the paper, and then gently picked out the paper with the tip of the brush, and at the moment of contact with the air, he could immediately feel that the cinnabar rune was full of the breath of the sun.

This method is based on the Dragon and Tiger Dan Sutra, which can avoid contamination of miscellaneous gases in the air when drawing and writing runes. After Qiu Shaohu drew ten runes in a row in this way, he calculated that the time was almost up, and put down the work in his hand for the time being. Come to the window and open the window, this time happens to be the time of Mao, the sun is just born, and it is also the moment when a new round of yin and yang meet between heaven and earth.

Qiu Shaohu grasped the time while using the compass to calculate the appropriate direction, and finally found the location of the "earthquake". At that moment, he took out a few iron pellets that he had bought in advance, first pierced a hole in them with a sharp blade, then poured them with lead sand, and then sealed them with mercury. Placed in the direction of the "earthquake", there is a faint thunderous sound in it.

After the "Red Sun Talisman" and "Thunder Washing Bead" were prepared, Qiu Shaohu took out the most incredible thing from the compass space - an entire iron furnace. He traveled through several workshops before a blacksmith was willing to sell such a thing for his livelihood.

A few pieces of charcoal were thrown in to set it on fire, and the blazing temperature gradually raged indoors. Qiu Shaohu threw the few ordnance short knives he bought into them one by one, and when the fire calcined them softly, he carefully stretched them slowly with pliers.

Although the forging techniques of these knives cut corners, the materials are still first-class high-grade military steel. Even if it is rolled into a thin filament, it does not break. When it becomes the thickness of a hair, it is not only tough, but also full of elasticity. Even if the force is loose after bending, it can be restored immediately.

Qiu Shaohu wound these filaments around each bearing, and then installed the bearings on the four prepared deadbolt brackets, tied a hook claw at the other end of the filament, and then touched the bracket switch slightly.

With a "snap", the hook claw drove the wire far away, deeply embedded in the wall in the distance.

It turned out to be even better than he had thought, so he put it all away and took something new out of the compass.

Then he saw something else, was slightly stunned, and then carefully took it all out and placed it solemnly on the table.

Respectful gaze, as if these last sustenances were his life.

It wasn't anything strange on its own: a withered seed, a broken model of a watermill, a coin, a broken pen, a leaking jar of crickets, and finally the compass he had taken off his neck that had long since stopped working.

These were all relics of Yundi Village, and they were things he couldn't let go.

"You have been with me for so long, how many ups and downs, and now only these cold utensils are left." Qiu Shaohu's eyes imperceptibly turned sharp yellow-brown again, like a wolf's pupils.

At this moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Guest, I have a letter for you." Xiao Er shouted outside the house.

"Letter?" Qiu Shaohu was surprised that he had just arrived at Chaomen and settled down, who would write to contact him?

After getting the letter and opening it, I saw Di Ying's name written on it, and at the same time, I wrote it in hand:

"The matter of the Lingchuan Sect has now been clarified, please go to the Huangtian Pavilion to talk about it."

The agreed event was three o'clock tonight.