I want to embrace the moon for nine days

In the West Kunlun Mountains, most of the peaks are more than a thousand feet high.

From the middle of the mountain upwards, the accumulated snow is impacted by air currents. Over the years, it turns into an ice layer harder than rock, leaving no grass growing.

However, at the top of the highest and largest peaks, the mountain is deeply sunken, like a basin, where it is spring all year round with birds singing and flowers blooming.

With pearls as lamps, jade as streams, ancient trees towering into the sky, and palaces in clusters, the practicing masters and goddesses all use magical instruments, fly on gauze, discuss Buddhism, chant scriptures and fight with magic. It is like a fairyland on earth.

Suddenly, a rainbow streaked across the sky, flying far over the mountains. At the end of the rainbow, thousands of petals floated down, with a pleasant fragrance, like the smell of burning sandalwood pellets.

A Kunlun disciple raised his hand to catch the petals, but saw the petals penetrate his palm, float to the ground, and disappear after falling to the ground. It turned out to be an illusion.

"Heavenly Fragrant Illusionary Flower, the deity has transformed into a rainbow?!"

Many Kunlun disciples were shocked, screamed in surprise, and flew high into the sky with the help of magic weapons to watch.

The rainbow originates from the top of West Kunlun Mountains. There are tens of thousands of Buddhist caves and statues carved out on the steep cliffs. They represent the Buddhist deities chosen by successive masters of Kunlun Mountains during their practice.

The deity communicates with the practitioner, and over time, a bit of the practitioner's mental power will remain in the Buddha statue. If the practitioner makes any mistake or encounters a disaster, the Buddha statue will sense it and show strange signs.

Such strange phenomena are often confined to the mountain walls, so there are special disciples under the mountain walls who are responsible for guarding and recording them and passing them on to the authentic masters of Kunlun for processing.

However, today's rainbow phenomenon broke through the Buddhist cave on the mountain wall, crossed over several mountaintops, and alarmed thousands of Kunlun disciples.

This is a scene that only appears when a great figure who has reached the Three Disasters realm dies.

The rainbow seemed real and illusory, and finally penetrated the rocks and entered the hollow space of the mountain.

From the outside, the mountain is still a mountain, but from the inside, a magnificent tower has been hollowed out inside the mountain. It has a total of seven floors, and each floor is a hundred feet high.

Each of the pillars supporting the rocks are carved into statues of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, sky-supporting strongmen, fierce ghosts, Yakshas, ​​and treasure-holding masters.

Yellow, red, green, and black cloths hung down from the beams on each floor, as if hundreds of thousands of flags and curtains were floating beside the statue.

The smallest type of cloth is four feet and eight inches square, and the largest piece of cloth is forty-eight zhang long and twelve zhang wide.

It is embroidered with bean-sized Buddhist scriptures with gold and silver threads, densely packed without any space. They were embroidered by the nobles of the Kunlun countries who pierced their fingers with blood, kneaded the gold and silver, and carefully embroidered them. After being consecrated by the Kunlun disciples, they were offered as sacrifices.

The interior of the tower was covered with a soft halo because of the presence of these scripture cloths, and did not appear dark.

Helian Peng, the Dharma King of Kunlun, was wearing a Buddhist crown, had a face as white as jade, and was dressed in red. He sat alone on the seventh floor of the pagoda. Suddenly, he opened his eyes slightly and raised his right index finger.

The rainbow flying from outside the mountain stopped at his fingertips and condensed into a blurry flame.

"Reclining Buddha monk?"

Helian Peng stared at the flame for a moment and called out softly, "Yin Guang!!"

On the sixth floor of the pagoda, an old monk with brown skin and wearing a yellow robe woke up from his meditation, pushed away the consort who was entangled with him, put on another outer robe, the lapels and corners of which were all decorated with gold ornaments, then flew up, went up the stairs to the seventh floor, and saluted behind the Dharma King.

"Tianzhu Yinguang, I greet the Dharma King!"

The Kingdom of India was originally known as the source of Buddhism, and during the reign of the Maurya King, the country was also at its peak. Unfortunately, it later split and fell into mediocrity.

This great Master Yin Guang was originally a national teacher of India and not a Buddhist. However, in order to practice higher-level mental methods and achieve success in his career, he switched to Kunlun.

Who would have thought that the authentic Kunlun Sect was very different from the Indian Buddhism of Sakyamuni? After he, a pagan, converted to Buddhism, he actually thrived like a fish in water. He compiled a large number of new scriptures for Kunlun, tamed the people of various countries, and explained bliss to his disciples in a very interesting way. Therefore, he was highly respected by everyone in Kunlun.

The monk Kunlun, the Reclining Buddha, and he treated each other as equals and called each other brothers. The monk even petitioned the Dharma King and granted him permission to enter the sixth floor of the Great Treasure Pagoda where the Dharma King was in seclusion to practice meditation and enjoy himself.

Helian Peng flicked his fingertips, and the ball of rainbow flame flew in front of Yin Guang, blooming on its own, bursting out intermittent pictures.

Master Yin Guang realized that the Reclining Buddha monk had encountered two powerful enemies one after another and died in a fierce battle. He was shocked, frightened and angry.

"Brother Wofo is in charge of Kunlun, which concerns the dignity of our Kunlun Sect. This vengeance must be avenged!"

Master Yin Guang shouted, "Please ask the Dharma King to issue an order to unseal the elders of all generations and gather the elite of Kunlun. Yin Guang is willing to be the vanguard and punish them with all kinds of punishments to kill them and offer sacrifices to Brother Reclining Buddha!"

Helian Peng turned his back to the dark light and looked forward. Layers of golden curtains overlapped and fell, blocking his sight. After a moment, he said, "This revenge must be avenged, but it shouldn't be that all of Kunlun came out."

"I will give you a decree. Go to the Danube River in the west and look for the Styx disciples. Based on our old friendship, ask the Styx Grandma to come out and kill these two young men."

The dust in the air floated and condensed into a scroll of command.

Master Yin Guang raised his hands and respectfully accepted the decree, but hesitated: "I heard that Grandma Minghe, ever since she was scared away by Pu Qunsheng's flying sword, she never wanted to set foot in Middle-earth again."

"If I want to ask her for help, should I prepare some generous gifts?"

"My decree will explain everything. It will dispel all her concerns."

Helian Peng replied calmly, "But you have considered it carefully. Etiquette is indispensable. Go to the treasure house and choose it yourself."

Master Yin Guang received the order and left.

Helian Peng sat in silence for a long time, chanting a mantra for the reclining Buddha monk. Then he took out a seven-inch-long vajra from his sleeve and stared at it for a moment.

This vajra is not like other vajra, it has statues of bodhisattvas and strong men carved on it, and has seed mantras added on it.

Instead, it is engraved with the patterns of Lycoris radiata, and there are countless indistinguishable insects among the flowers. There is also a Forgotten River flowing through the flowers.

"Grandma Minghe, it's been many years since we last met..."

Helian Peng put the treasure pestle back into his sleeve, and his attention was still focused on the object hidden behind the layers of curtains.

Originally, there was one attempt among many to select a successor to the Flower God Pure Land to help nourish the flower, and indeed, a disciple was selected whose talents were extremely compatible with the Flower God Pure Land.

Unfortunately, something went wrong before it could grow to its best.

It still depends on Helian Peng himself to take charge, activate the pure land left by the great master Kunlun, the mental power left by generations of disciples, and stir the sea of ​​suffering to irrigate the flower and spy on the root of the underworld.

Wherever his eyes went, the layers of scripture curtains rippled like water waves and separated to both sides.

There is a gray-white statue with a lion nose, a wide mouth and a transcendent appearance, sitting on the throne in a relaxed sitting posture. Although the skin and clothes all over the body are like mottled rocks, it still has an unfathomable aura.

And on the top of this statue, there is actually a flower planted in the rock. The petals are nourished, and the breath of the underworld is floating in them, deep and timeless, pointing directly to the origin, and in order.

Its shape is like a lotus, but it has only three petals, appearing a little incomplete.

………………

In Kunlun Mountain, a decree went westward.

Outside the city of Xiangyang, a letter was handed to Bao Zheng.

In the letter, Fan Zhongyan briefly mentioned that Kunlun had long been in collusion with the Lotus Sect and might have ill intentions, and that the acting head of Kunlun and the head of the Lotus Sect were both dead.

Fan Zhongyan had also sent a letter to the imperial court, asking the royal family to use secret means to contact the top leaders of Emei and inform them. After Bao Zheng read the letter, he sent the messenger away, and after a while, he decided to focus on the matter at hand.

Because the situation in Xiangyang was more serious than anyone had expected.

Bao Zheng, Gongsun Ce, and Zhan Zhao were all in disguise at this time, rushing to the remnants of the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains to spy on the situation.

Soon after they entered the forest, Gongsun Ce took out a compass and tapped it gently with the handle of his feather fan to determine the direction.

The three continued to sneak and stopped on a hillside. They pushed aside the lush branches and leaves and saw a tall building built on a cliff dozens of miles away.

There is an old saying that if you stand in a tower a hundred feet high, you can pick the stars with your hands.

This tall building is built on a cliff, which makes it look even steeper and more grim. It is surrounded by clouds and mist, and seems to reach the sky.

That was the Chongxiao Tower built by King Xiangyang.

"I don't dare to alert the enemy. The last time I came here alone to investigate, I only dared to wait and see from this position. Although I felt something was a little strange, I couldn't figure out what it was."

Zhan Zhao pointed to the deep valley below the cliff and said, "Based on my intuition, there are many sinister and overbearing auras in that valley. It may be related to the strange diseases in various places in Jingxiang."

Bao Zheng stroked his beard and watched with a solemn expression. He closed his eyes and the crescent moon on his forehead suddenly glowed slightly.

The crescent moon on his forehead was the result of his study and practice, as well as his sincere concentration. Even before he took charge of Wenqu Pure Land, he had the ability to distinguish between good and evil, truth and falsehood.

It can also look directly into a person's soul without harming the body, and can even temporarily capture the soul of a dying person.

After he arrived in various places in Jingxiang and visited the people, he originally just wanted to inquire about the clues of the rebellion in the Xiangyang Palace. It was because of the existence of the crescent moon that he made an unexpected discovery.

Many common people, on the surface, look similar to the poor people in other places, suffering from overwork, back pain, and death in middle age. But in fact, they have strange souls and are plagued by strange diseases.

He saw with his own eyes that after the death of several middle-aged men, their souls neither returned to the underworld nor were they taken in by ordinary monsters who arranged materials and practiced methods in advance. Instead, they escaped into the ground, ignoring any physical obstacles and flew away quickly.

That's why they decided to investigate and locked onto the unusual places in the remnants of the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains.

"There are tens of thousands of coffins hidden in the deep valley. The people in the coffins are wearing armor, but it's not the style of our Song Dynasty. It looks more like..."

Bao Zheng opened his eyes, and the light on his forehead faded. "It looks like the army of Northern Han."

More than a hundred years ago, there was war in Kyushu. Many forces were fighting for supremacy on the lands of Han and Tang dynasties, and Northern Han was one of them.

When Zhao Kuangyin was still the commander of the imperial guards for the Later Zhou Dynasty, he launched several expeditions against the Northern Han. However, the Northern Han paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty, borrowed reinforcements, and carried out large-scale military service internally, making it quite stubborn.

It was not until Zhao Guangyi came to power that the southern countries had been annexed by the Song Dynasty, and with the help of Emei, they were able to divide their troops into several routes, defeat the army sent by the Liao Kingdom at Baimaling, and besiege the Northern Han capital Taiyuan.

That war involved many people. The chief leader of Emei, Pu Qunsheng, and the great demon king Wu Ling Sheng Mu, who was worshipped by the Liao Kingdom at that time, personally took action.

Our Lady of Wuling was defeated and had to fulfill her bet, so she was not allowed to go ashore. From then on, she traveled to the South China Sea, collected treasures in the waters of Zengmu Shoal, and built the Palace of Our Lady of Thousand Flowers and Brocade. She even refused to return to the Liao Kingdom, and the two of them only kept in touch through letters.

As for the army, the Northern Han received personal instruction from the Mother Mother Wu Ling and trained 30,000 flying silver-armored soldiers. Each of them could communicate with the breath of the underworld for nourishment, devour souls, be brave and fearless, reconnect broken limbs, and fight endlessly.

The Song Dynasty army suffered heavy losses, and Zhao Guangyi secretly transported Zhao Kuangyin's body to Xizhou Mountain outside Taiyuan City.

With the help of Zhao Kuangyin's cultivation during his lifetime and the mental power associated with the Song Dynasty's Taizu, he combined it with a secret medicine to blow up Xizhou Mountain and disrupt the underworld atmosphere of the entire Taiyuan.

They also diverted floodwaters into the city, using living water to cure the dead air, and finally defeated the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty.

This war resulted in the deaths of many innocent people, but Zhao Guangyi was very jealous of his real enemy, the Flying Silver-Armored Soldiers. He was unwilling to kill them all, so he gathered the remaining soldiers and suppressed them in secret.

As the son of Zhao Guangyi, King Xiangyang was granted the title of King of Xiangyang after Zhao Guangyi's death. He secretly dug up these remnant soldiers, transported them to the Daba Mountains in the Qinling Mountains, and tried to offer sacrifices to them.

The flying silver-armored soldiers are not living people, but more like corpse demons. There are layers of forbidden spells in their bodies, which confuse the residual souls absorbed into their bodies, making them act according to the restrictions, drive their limbs, and go into battle to kill the enemy.

The King of Xiangyang secretly placed talismans at the people's water sources to absorb the souls of the sick and dead people into the bodies of the silver-armored soldiers. He has made these flying silver-armored soldiers even stronger than before.

But communicating with the aura of the underworld is the key to the silver-armored soldiers' endless combat power.

He built Chongxiao Tower, recruited many followers, and also wanted to improve the set of talismans for "communicating with the underworld" so that they would not be easily interfered with by means such as blasting mountains and releasing floods.

Gongsun Ce was well-informed and well-versed in all the unusual events of the past five hundred years. When he heard Bao Zheng mention that the weapons and armor of the Northern Han Dynasty were hidden in the deep valley, he immediately made some associations and expressed his own inference, which was consistent with the truth.

"The flying silver-armored soldiers can only devour souls on the battlefield, but since he can collect souls with talismans underground, I'm afraid that when these silver-armored soldiers cause chaos, they can directly capture souls from outside the battlefield and use them."

Gongsun Ce was worried, "To deal with the King of Xiangyang, we must first find a way to break the magic spells he has in various places."

"The Chongxiao Tower is where many of their disciples work together to deduce and practice magic. We must be able to find out the clues and know the steps of the magic they use, and then break it."

Zhan Zhao frowned, then relaxed his brows and said generously, "It's really urgent, let me give it a try."

"No!"

Bao Zheng stopped him. "The King of Xiangyang is very powerful, and he has a guest from the East Sea. The layout of Chongxiao Tower is unpredictable. It is not advisable for Guard Zhan to take the risk alone!"

Gongsun Ce pondered carefully: "First, we can report this matter to the court, and second, maybe we can find some friends in the martial arts world."

"There are several masters over there who can be invited. There are also five heroes on Xiankong Island who can be invited."

A hundred miles away from the mouth of the Wusong River, there is an island called Xiankong Island. There are five sworn brothers on the island, known as the Five Rats in the martial arts world.

Although among the five, only the youngest one, "Golden-Haired Rat" Bai Yutang, is a land-walking immortal, but the Xiankong Formation that the five brothers practiced together has its own mysteries. It was created with the help of the natural spiritual land Xiankong Island.

If we invite all five of them together, plus Zhan Zhao, we may be able to explore Chongxiao Tower.

"Your Excellency can try to invite the King of Xiangyang to the banquet. Guard Zhan, you don't have to rush in directly. As long as you can make some noise and delay for a while, I can use the five ghosts in the Five Ghosts Heavenly Net Fan to check the inside of Chongxiao Tower, absorb the aura of their calculation talismans, and combine it with the symptoms of the strange disease that Your Excellency has seen through, and reversely deduce the true appearance."

The fan in Gongsun Ce's hand has endless uses, and he felt quite confident when he said this.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhan Zhao suddenly became alert, and Bao Zheng also turned his head to look.

I saw a few more figures appear in the forest at some point.

"Since Mr. Gongsun is confident, why wait any longer?"

The person who spoke was a strange young man, but everyone had already recognized that Beixia and Zhihua were among the people behind him.

Moreover, even Ouyang Chun was enveloped by the aura of this young man, which allowed him to quietly approach and appear in this forest in an unpredictable manner.

Su Hanshan looked towards Chongxiao Tower, his eyes full of demonic shadows, and continued, "I can see everything in the tower and the valley like seeing fire."

"Now that I'm here, there won't be any more twists and turns!"

(End of this chapter)