The copy of the universe from the journey to the west

Chapter 159: Tianshi Taoist Temple, Fall and Corruption (asking for monthly ticket)
Lu Chen looked at the old man in front of him curiously and asked, "According to you, old man, is Xinglin Zhenren in this deep mountain?"

Lu Chen pointed outside the window, at a hill in the distance.

The weather is excellent today and the visibility is very clear. Even across the Yangtze River, you can vaguely see the mountains dozens of miles away.

That is Mount Lushan, which is known as one of the innate holy places for seclusion in the modern world.

"nature."

Mr. Xu nodded, and then coughed twice before continuing, "I also recently found the descendants of Xinglin Zhenren. From his descendants, I learned where Xinglin Zhenren might be living in seclusion."

Lu Chen became interested and asked, "Oh, where is it?"

Mount Lushan is so huge that there is so much to find just by talking about Mount Lushan itself.

Dong Feng lived during the Jian'an period, which is more than two hundred years later than now.

Mr. Xu smiled but said nothing.

Lu Chen looked around and naturally understood. He smiled and said, "I am Lu Xiuchen, with the courtesy name Ruchen, and I am from the Lu family of Wuqian, Dongxing."

Lu Chen did not introduce his own Dao lineage.

He is not in the mountains now.

If you don’t have a Taoist registration list and say you are a monk but don’t have a Taoist registration, you will be arrested.

Besides, there is not much use in saying that you are from the Shaoyang Sect.

Who knows Wang Xuanfu’s name?

On the contrary, the Lu family, whose ancestors were former ministers of the Eastern Wu and a century-old noble family, has a reputation that is actually more useful than the name of the Taoist lineage.

"Descendant of the Lu family."

Sure enough, after hearing about Lu Chen's background, Mr. Xu suddenly realized something and his eyes softened. He then smiled and said, "Since he is from the Lu family, that's even better. By the way, I met a Lu family member in Mount Lu at the beginning of the year. Lu Xiujing, do you know him? By the way, he looks mature. He should be your cousin, right?"

Lu Chen was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the cousin in his memory had already started traveling around the mountains.

In the original body's memory, Lu Xiujing was actually arranged by his family to live in Jinling City.

But now he appeared in Lushan, Jiujiang, which must have meant that he had already started his journey of traveling and his life of seeking the truth.

"Of course, Lu Xiujing is my cousin. However, I'm afraid you have misunderstood. The Lu Xiujing you know may not be the same as my cousin. My cousin Xiujing is one year younger than me. He has a very good face and a handsome appearance. I'm afraid he is not the mature person you mentioned."

Lu Chen shook his head.

Hearing this, Mr. Xu smiled and stroked his beard, then said, "Oh, that's because I'm old, I may have remembered the wrong person, Xiu Jing is a very kind and handsome boy. Don't blame me."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "It's okay. Does the old man think that I am a real Lu family member?"

Naturally, he knew what Mr. Xu said.

It's nothing more than wanting to test him and see if he is really a member of the Lu family.

Lu Xiujing is not very famous, and this happened half a year ago.

Those who know Lu Xiujing’s true appearance are most likely real members of the Lu family.

Since he has made the test, Lu Chen doesn't mind making his words more clearly.

Mr. Xu did not look embarrassed and nodded slightly: "Of course, now I can cooperate with you. We should not talk too much here. Just follow me..."

"No need."

Lu Chen suddenly shook his head.

Mr. Xu was caught off guard by Lu Chen's sudden interruption. He frowned and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Lu Chen smiled and said, "It's nothing, but since the old man didn't even want to tell me his real name, I feel there is no need for cooperation."

Old man Xu frowned and looked at Lu Chen: "Are you kidding me?"

“No.”

Lu Chen shook his head: "I have already stated my identity, why don't I ask about your identity?"

Mr. Xu was stunned for a moment, opened his mouth, and said helplessly: "I'm afraid I can't tell you about my identity."

Lu Chen just looked at him.

Old Man Xu understood, and after a while, he nodded slightly: "Since Mr. Lu doesn't believe me, then let's forget about this matter. Goodbye."

Then he said no more, slowly stood up and walked away.

"Lord God, why don't you cooperate with him again?"

The invisible face next to him asked, "I think this little guy might really know where Dong Feng is."

Lu Chen's expression did not change much, and he said quietly: "If it is just a normal search for someone, do you think you still need to test the other party's identity?"

The man with the face looked thoughtful: "This... is of course not necessary. To normally look for someone, you just need to travel together. If it's just a relationship of finding a companion, it won't be so troublesome... Does the Lord think that this Xu is in trouble?"

Lu Chen nodded slightly: "Although he is an alchemist, he has a sick aura on his body, and if I hadn't guessed, he is hiding his name now, so he dare not mention his full name. Even, it is unknown whether his appearance is real or fake."

From the Gui Zang Guanjing technique, it can be seen that Mr. Xu has no ill will towards him, but Mr. Xu himself carries the evil aura of death and illness.

His deathly aura is comparable to that of Taoist Mingyuan on Mount Taihe in the real world.

From this we can see that his death is approaching, and he will be killed by someone else.

This means that he must be in trouble.

Although Lu Chen is in the Purple Mansion Realm, comparable to a peak mage, he doesn't want to get into trouble for no reason.

"However, we can try to find out from him whether he really has any traces of Xinglin Zhenren." Lu Chen thought for a while and said.

Ren Liansong agreed with this: "He has a sick aura, which is probably why he is looking for Xinglin Zhenren, so he probably has the general location of Dong Feng in his hands."

He holds a deity status and has also occupied the position of City God.

Although he cannot see other people's emotions, and because of the missing body of the City God, his supernatural powers are not as strong as before, but the most basic authority of the god still exists, so it is no problem for him to see some things like fortune and illness.

Lu Chen nodded and looked at Mr. Xu again.

The latter seemed to not care at all about Lu Chen's non-cooperation and returned to his seat.

It didn't take long before he paid the bill and left.

"Go ahead." Lu Chen said calmly.

"Yes, God Lord."

Ren Liansong immediately followed.

Lu Chen did not use his divine sense or paper man incarnation. After all, these were dead objects. If Old Man Xu had a magical weapon that could block divine sense detection, the divine sense would be useless.

Besides, this is Xunyang City. Just by visiting the inn, you can encounter a cultivator like Mr. Xu. Who knows if there will be other cultivators?
Just in case, it's best to let someone catch up with you while you're relaxed.

If an accident occurs, the human face can also return through the Yin-Yang realm.

Not all places have City Gods.

For example, there is no City God in the opposite side of Xunyang City. When we just entered Xunyang City, Ren Liansong had already gone in to investigate.

Chaos is the tone of most areas in the Yin-Yang Realm.

For example, the situation in Lantian County is entirely due to the existence of a distorted city god transformed from a human face.

After catching up with Old Man Xu in a relaxed manner, Lu Chen was not idle either. He planned to visit several Taoist temples in Xunyang City first.

The first place we visited was the branch Taoist temple of Tianshi Dao in Xunyang.

The Tianshidao Taoist temple here is very prosperous, with a tall door lintel and an open red door. Two ghosts in white robes are standing at the door to welcome pilgrims who come to worship.

Yes, in this era, there is no such thing as Taoist children in the Tianshi Dao. Those who enter the Tianshi Dao, as their initial position, is a ghost soldier.

Above them are the ghost officials, who correspond to the official Taoist priests, and above them are the managers of the Tianshi Dao in a region, who are called Jijiu.

Jijiu is the middle-level management of Tianshi Dao.

Just as Lu Chen was about to enter the Taoist temple, he was stopped by someone.

"Brother, my name is Liu Zishun. May I ask if this is the residence of the Heavenly Master?"

A young man with dark skin and wearing an ill-fitting scholar's uniform called out to Lu Chen.

His posture was a little awkward, and his body was trembling when he spoke, as if he had something to hide.

Lu Chen glanced at the man, and then seemed to understand something. He pointed at a plaque on the Tianshi Taoist Temple and chuckled, "Isn't it written here? Why, you can't read?"

Liu Zishun's face suddenly turned red, and his already dark cheeks became even darker: "I... I just didn't see it. Thank you for telling me."

Then he gave Lu Chen a salute.

When he was about to leave, he was stopped by Lu Chen again. Liu Zishun couldn't help but look at Lu Chen and said nervously: "Brother...Brother, I really can read."

Lu Chen: “…”

Seeing him stuttering nervously, Lu Chen was speechless and said, "Whether you can read or not has nothing to do with me."

Liu Zishun was stunned for a moment, then realized that he was too nervous and coughed twice: "Brother, what do you want me to stay with you again?"

Lu Chen smiled and said, "Nothing, I just want to tell you not to go to the wrong door."

He pointed to the gate of Tianshi Taoist Temple.

The Taoist temple has three doors, a main door in the middle and two secondary doors on both sides. If you don’t know, you might think this is a government office.

"Oh, about this, I know that you can't enter the main gate."

Liu Zishun nodded and said, "Thank you for your reminder though."

"Do you really know?" Lu Chen looked strange.

Liu Zishun nodded seriously: "Of course."

"If that's the case, then it's fine."

Lu Chen waved his hand: "Go ahead, but don't be nervous. The more nervous you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes."

Liu Zishun looked at Lu Chen strangely, but he just thought it was a kind reminder from Lu Chen.

So naturally he didn't say much. After clasping his fists and bowing, he stepped into the small door on the left.

But as soon as he approached, he was stopped by a ghost in white.

"Stop! Who is coming?"

The ghost soldier in white was a little arrogant and looked down at Liu Zishun.

Liu Zishun was stopped suddenly and was a little nervous, but somehow he thought of what Lu Chen said to him, "Don't be nervous."

His confidence instantly rose, and he bowed: "My name is Liu Zishun. My mother is ill, so I came here specially..."

"I didn't ask you that!"

The white-clothed ghost interrupted Liu Zishun impatiently, and pointed to the other side: "Go over there, this is not a place for strangers."

Liu Zishun turned his head with some confusion and looked to the side.

Behind the door on the other side, I saw a statue with a green face, fangs and a ferocious look.

Next to the statue, there is a black box.

Everyone who comes in will worship the gods and throw some money into the black box.

Then another ghost in white took out a small wooden sign and handed it to those who had paid the incense money. Liu Zishun understood instantly.

This person was not deliberately intercepting me, but I just went to the wrong place!
Not to mention that the main door is not allowed, even entering through the small door has its own rules!

He saw that there were fewer people entering from the small door on the left, and most of them were dressed appropriately. There was no obstruction to entering and exiting. They only needed to show a small token.

The small door on the right side can be seen at a glance as one that belongs to poor people. Not only do you have to pay to enter, but the signs you get are also ordinary wooden signs.

This Tianshi Taoist temple doesn’t allow entry without payment?

Liu Zishun shook his head secretly, feeling confused.

What he heard in the village was not like this. The old people in the village said that anyone can enter the Tianshi Taoist Temple, and the chief priest inside will diagnose and treat diseases for free.

"Get out of the way!"

At this moment, several more people came over. The white-clothed ghost pushed Liu Zishun away, and then said to the pilgrims who showed their iron plates: "Wulian Tianzun, the laymen please come in."

It is a world of difference from the attitude towards Liu Zishun.

Liu Zishun was angry, but he didn't dare to say anything. He could only go to the small door on the right. Under the contemptuous gaze of another ghost in white, he put a few copper coins into the box and got a tattered wooden sign, then he was able to enter the temple.

"No wonder Wei Huacun betrayed the sect, Kou Qianzhi turned from love to hatred, and even my cousin, after achieving enlightenment, insisted on launching drastic reforms to the Tianshi Dao."

Behind Liu Zishun, Lu Chen saw all these scenes clearly and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

The attitudes of these two white-clothed ghosts made Lu Chen understand what the Tianshi Dao was like at this time.

In front of whose Taoist temple would there be a Taoist boy standing at the door like an evil slave, arrogantly staring at the strange pilgrims who come to worship the gods?

One leaf can tell the coming of autumn.

If a lowest-level white-clothed ghost has this attitude, then is there any need to talk about what the higher-level ones are like?

With a wave of his sleeves and a trick of concealing the truth, the ghost in white handed a wooden sign to Lu Chen. In his eyes, Lu Chen had already obediently gone to worship the gods and offered money, and he also generously threw a two-liang silver coin into the box.

Therefore, the wooden plaque that Lu Chen obtained was also very exquisite, unlike the old wooden plaque that Liu Zishun obtained - even two corners were broken.

Lu Chen sensed that there was a trace of the aura of a cultivator on the wooden sign, which should be the anti-counterfeiting mark.

"Brother, is this your first time here too?"

Lu Chen came in right behind Liu Zishun, and Liu Zishun couldn't help but widen his eyes when he saw that Lu Chen also had a wooden sign in his hand.

Lu Chen said: "Any questions?"

"No no."

Liu Zishun realized that there was ambiguity in his words and bowed quickly.

"Haha, now you know you've walked into the wrong door, right?" Lu Chen said with a smile.

Liu Zishun thought of the question that Lu Chen had just asked him if he knew where to enter the Taoist temple.

His face turned red, and he could only smile bitterly and said, "Sorry, brother, I was rude to you."

Lu Chen smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay, it's okay, it's harmless anyway. Well, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

Waving his hand, Lu Chen walked in another direction.

Liu Zishun just thought that Lu Chen was a little strange. No matter whether other people were poor or rich, as long as they came into the Taoist temple, they would have some awe.

The feeling Lu Chen gave him was like those scholars who went on a spring outing to their village.

I feel extremely relaxed and my mentality is also very detached.

But then he put this idea out of his mind. He still had to ask the Taoist priests to rescue his mother.

……

Lu Chen walked around in the Tianshi Temple and spread his spiritual sense. There were indeed a lot of Taoists here. Even the county city was not within the Taoist temple, and there were more than thirty Taoists.

However, most of them are white-clothed ghost soldiers, there are only a few black-clothed ghost officials, and as for the green-clothed priest who is higher up, there is only one.

The white-clothed ghost soldiers are all ordinary people, while the black-clothed ghost officials all have weak breath fluctuations, which means that the black-clothed ghost officials are all practitioners, but their cultivation is not very deep.

Only the green-robed priest's aura was heavier, and he didn't seem to be inferior to that old man Xu.

But to Lu Chen, they were all not worthy of his attention.

Moreover, this chief priest looks like an immortal, but he is actually corrupt. Now he is in the main hall, with a big belly, exorcising evil spirits for a rich man who looks a little uneasy, but is actually normal.

Exorcism is dancing, and that dance is just like a shamanic dance, which made Lu Chen shake his head repeatedly.

This dance seems to be of no use, but in fact, it is of no use at all!

The chief priest is just fooling people!

Lu Chen was too lazy to care. Zhou Yu beat Huang Gai - one was willing to fight, the other was willing to be beaten.

He is too lazy to worry about these boring things.

Afterwards, Lu Chen found the room where the chief priest was held by locking his breath.

Using the invisibility technique to hide his body, Lu Chen strolled and came directly to the room where the priest was giving the libation under the nose of a Taoist priest.

Lu used his divine sense to search the room and sensed a secret room. Lu Chen found it very quickly, opened the secret room and walked in.

There were many antique calligraphy and paintings placed in the secret room, and there were two large boxes full of gold, silver and financial reports alone.

Lu Chen looked bored, but there were some medicinal herbs and the like. Lu Chen waved his sleeves and took them away!

Instead of leaving the people's money to the greasy-faced priest, it would be better to use it to refine pills for himself.

After taking the herbs, he turned and walked out of the secret room, searching again with his divine sense.

There is no study room in this temple. There are only a few books in the chief priest's room that look brand new and seem like they have not been checked many times.

Lu Chen took the book in his hand and took a look at it, and found that it was a necessary book for the Tianshi Dao priest.

It contains some systems of sacrifice and rituals, or methods of exorcising ghosts and demons.

Moreover, they all seem to be very civilian. They do not use magic power to exorcise demons, but use some very common items to solve the problems according to the habits of those demons and monsters.

Of course, the level of the demons you deal with cannot be too high.

For example, using glutinous rice to deal with some low-level white zombies and black zombies is okay, but if you use it to deal with the flying drought demon, then you are asking for death.

Or maybe it could be some kind of witchcraft dance to summon gods.

Today's Tianshi Dao is still a type of primitive Taoism. When Zhang Ling cut down mountains and destroyed temples, many methods of primitive witchcraft were inherited by Tianshi Dao and have been passed down to this day.

This is also one of the reasons why many Taoist sects are becoming increasingly dissatisfied and impatient with the Tianshi Dao.

There is internal corruption, and the methods used in their cultivation are too primitive and they don't know how to adapt. They have reached the point of being eliminated.

"If the Tianshi Dao doesn't change its ways, it will really be over."

Lu Chen shook his head and put the book down again. He took a copy of "The First Volume of Zhengyi Mengwei Talismans" in his hand and opened it to take a look.

This was one of the few gatekeeping methods that the Tianshi Dao had at that time.

What is recorded in it are all the talismans used for practice of the talisman school.

The practice of Tianshi Dao also focuses on the primordial spirit, but it is a method of cultivating inner talismans.

When entering Taoism, one must receive the ordination certificate before being called a practitioner of the Heavenly Master Dao.

In lineages like the Louguan School, although they also practice talismans, they practice external talisman techniques, that is, the art of drawing talismans.

However, the Tianshi Dao requires receiving the talisman into the body.

Daily practice means cultivating talismans. When the talismans are upgraded, your cultivation level will be upgraded.

"So I feel that the black-clothed ghost officials of the Heavenly Master Dao have some cultivation, and it is because of these talismans."

Lu Chen understood: "No wonder there are not many true practitioners of Tianshi Dao now. You can become a practitioner by practicing talismans. You don't need to practice in the middle. You can become stronger by absorbing the power of incense. When you are promoted, you can bribe the higher-ups and get the opportunity to be promoted. Everyone does this, so naturally not many people are willing to truly preach the gospel."

The talismans of Tianshi Dao are all claimed to be from the gods in heaven.

After receiving the ordination, one is considered to have a rank in the heavenly court.

And now it seems that this is indeed the case. It is obvious that these talismans cannot be cultivated just by wanting to.

Every time the talisman advances, it is necessary to return to Longhu Mountain for advancement.

I can't advance by myself.

"So the scroll of the deity position in Longhu Mountain is at least the position of a celestial god." Lu Chen guessed, touching his chin.

Judging from the limited space, it takes a hundred years to separate the throne of an earthly god from the throne of a heavenly god.

The Tianshi Dao further weakened the status of the earthly deity.

Instead of allowing it to become a local deity, it was transformed into talisman seeds.

But even if the power is divided, the Tianshi Dao has so many branch temples, Taoist temples, and there are Taoist priests who are ordained or promoted from time to time. Ordinary scrolls of deity positions cannot support them.

"This method is not easy to do, and not everyone with the God Scroll can do it. The Heavenly Master has its own unique methods."

Lu Chen put it down. He had no idea how this method was used.

Anyway, this is what Tianshi Dao does, and as long as the Dharma lineage comes from Tianshi Dao, it seems that talismans will also be taught.

It’s just not as comprehensive and powerful as Longhushan.

It must be that Tianshi Dao has its own unique secrets.

Lu Chen searched for a while but found no clues about Xinglin Zhenren Dong Feng.

However, his divine sense was shaken, and he realized that there was news from the human-faced man.

Lu Chen's expression changed, and he immediately left the Tianshi Taoist Temple and came to the outside world.

A human face floated over: "Lord God."

"Why don't you come to the Taoist temple to look for me?"

Chase Lu asked.

"Don't blame me, Lord God."

The man with the human face quickly introduced, "There is a Tianshi Dao's libation wine in the Tianshi Dao Temple. Although the Tianshi Dao's libation wine talisman is not as good as the real earthly god's throne, the Tianshi Dao Temple is his home. If I go in, it's like a god visiting another god's home. I will definitely be discovered, so just in case, I won't go in."

Lu Chen nodded.

The chief priest is responsible for sacrificial offerings, prayers, and fasting rituals.

In the early days, Tianshi Dao used "zhi" as its unit. Although after the era of three pieces of paper and five dou of rice, the history of "Twenty-four Zhi in Shu" gradually faded away and the names of palaces and temples emerged, but as the fame of Tianshi Dao spread, it became known to the whole world.

The current Yizhi is actually equivalent to an administrative district of Tianshi Dao, which is led by Jijiu.

It can be said that the Jijiu is the highest administrative chief of a region. In terms of status, he is actually on the same level as the City God of the Yin-Yang world.

Of course, if we talk about strength, then the City God who possesses the authentic earthly deity position definitely has greater power.

But this is the human world, and it’s also a Taoist temple of the Heavenly Master, so there must be some bonus.

At this time, if the human-faced man, who did not have much divine power, entered the Taoist temple, he would definitely be discovered.

"This is just an ordinary Tianshi Taoist temple. If it were the area where other evil priests or even the chief priests of the head of the government were, I'm afraid with my current strength, I would be discovered as soon as I entered their diocese."

Ren Liansong explained his grievances to Lu Chen, sounding a little aggrieved.

(End of this chapter)