books44 Chapter 166 Kun Gang Has a Remaining Gold from Yu Pu (5)
Chapter 166 Kun Gang Has a Remaining Gold from Yu Pu (5)
“Sigh… but your father doesn’t think highly of this Taoist priest, nor does he like the name he gave you.”
"That's because, before him, there was another Taoist priest who also visited your home."
"The two of them left one after the other."
The vendor slowly said, "The Taoist priest who came first was really bad at speaking. It was clearly an auspicious day, but he had to say some unlucky things, cursing you that your birth date was inauspicious, your fate was bad, and that you would bring disaster to the Ji family."
"This stinky Taoist priest has visited the Ji family before. He showed up the year before last, on the day of the young master's wedding. He never says anything nice, and he said some very unpleasant things."
Therefore, Li Tingyun's father had no friendly attitude towards any of the Taoist priests.
Ren Pingsheng was almost kicked out on the spot as soon as he entered the door.
Unfortunately, the old lady was very devout. She was a believer in Taoism and was wary of the prophecy spoken by the Taoist priest before her. She insisted that it was better to believe it than not to believe it, so she asked Ren Pingsheng, who arrived later, to help the Ji family solve their problems.
Not only did he seek a proper name for his grandson, but he also wanted to have his fortune told to predict his future.
Ren Pingsheng politely declined the request to tell Li Tingyun's fortune.
Not just anyone can consult a fortune teller.
Children and the elderly cannot be counted; this is an unspoken rule within the Taoist community.
An elderly person's yang energy is waning, and they are already half-buried in the ground; their fate is predetermined and there is no need to calculate it. A newborn child's appearance is not yet finalized, and their birth chart is unstable; to speculate on good or bad fortune would be detrimental to their growth.
Ren Pingsheng couldn't understand why the Taoist priest who had come before him had broken the rules by reading the birth chart of a one-year-old baby and saying that he was cursed.
They probably had ill intentions.
He told the Ji family: Don't believe it! That person might be some self-taught Taoist priest who's just making things up out of thin air!
Ren Pingsheng, adhering to the rules, refused to perform divination for Li Tingyun, who had just turned one year old. However, he kept a close eye on his father, Young Master Ji, and with a quick calculation, he uttered the words, "Trouble is brewing."
To say he's having bad luck is because there must be some villains around him causing trouble...
Before he could finish speaking, he was kicked out again.
Li Tingyun's father was truly fed up with one stinky Taoist priest after another ruining his joyous occasion.
"There are villains around you, right?" In his opinion, Ren Pingsheng is definitely that "villain"!
Ren Pingsheng was driven away by him, but was later invited back by the old lady.
Upon returning, Ren Pingsheng refrained from saying what he shouldn't have, and also from saying what he should have. He simply pointed at the chubby young master Ji, whose two hands could barely lift him, and with a hopeful glint in his eyes, he discussed something with him:
Could you let me raise this child? I think he has great potential; why don't you come with me and become a Taoist priest?
Once again, Ren Pingsheng was kicked out.
He entered and exited the Ji family's gate three times.
Ren Pingsheng was not actually a good-tempered person.
He was extremely famous in the cultivation world, considered top-tier, and had never been treated like this before.
In the past, he would have already stormed off.
Despite being humiliated at the Ji family's house, he showed no resentment whatsoever. He came in and out three times, always with a smile on his face and a friendly demeanor.
"He wants to take you away and make you follow him to become a Taoist nun—how can that be allowed?"
"Madam, Young Madam, Old Master, Young Master, your whole family is unhappy. Such a young child, just giving him away to be raised by someone else, no one would agree to that!"
"When he saw that there was no hope, he didn't force it. He just stayed at your house for a few days and then left the city with his little apprentice."
Just as the vendor said, Ren Pingsheng did not insist.
He was a discerning judge of character, with a keen eye for talent. Apart from his eldest disciple, whose mediocre abilities led to a failed teaching experience for him, he brought all twelve of his disciples back to the sect only after he had a good eye for them.
He originally intended to end things there, with Mei Shiyu as his last disciple. However, fate had other plans, and he encountered another extraordinary talent in the Ji family. If he hadn't recognized Li Tingyun's exceptional talent, he wouldn't have had such patience.
Unfortunately, geniuses are rare and hard to come by.
Ren Pingsheng couldn't resort to force.
Cultivating immortality requires a series of fortuitous events, and since the Ji family is absolutely unwilling, it means the time has not yet come and their worldly ties have not been severed.
A hardline approach is not advisable.
"Before he left, he left you some kind of treasure, saying that if you want to cultivate immortality in the future, you will definitely need it."
As for what kind of treasure it was, the vendor didn't know either; he had only heard of it but had never seen it before. "It looks like a piece of gold?"
He wasn't sure, and he might have remembered it wrong. After all, the Ji family wasn't short of money, and gold probably wasn't much of a treasure to them.
“It’s a mountain spirit coin made of gold from Lishui,” the drought demon said.
The saying "Gold is produced in Lishui, and jade comes from Kunlun" is true. The precious gold from Lishui and the beautiful jade from Kunlun Mountain are both treasures.
Countless high-level cultivators use Lishui gold as the main material to forge their own divine weapons.
What Ren Pingsheng left to Li Tingyun was a protective item cast from auspicious gold from Lishui—a Mountain Spirit Coin, specifically for exorcising demons and warding off evil. It could dispel demonic obstacles from all directions, cleanse the mind, and purify the spirit.
It sounds mysterious, but it is actually very useful, because it has a special function—purifying demonic energy, yin energy, evil energy, etc., and transforming them into spiritual energy, which is necessary for cultivating immortality.
Anyway, it's a one-of-a-kind celestial treasure, that's for sure.
The Ji family kept it a secret, fearing that the child would be abducted, and never gave Ren Pingsheng the opportunity to test his spiritual roots. However, he could tell with just his two eyes that Li Tingyun had a special physique. Not only was his ability to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth incredibly strong, but he was also naturally able to attract turbid yin energy for his own use.
Whether one is righteous or evil, whether one cultivates immortality or demonic power, is entirely up to him.
Ren Pingsheng was afraid that he would go astray and waste such a promising talent, so he gave him this Mountain Spirit Coin, both to protect him and as a token.
He promised that if he had his own opinions and was willing to embark on the righteous path of cultivation in the future, then his previous statement about accepting disciples would still stand, and the gates of the Dao Xuan Sect would always be open to him.
But then too many unexpected things happened.
The most tragic case is that when Li Tingyun was eight years old, his spiritual root was dug out, and even though he was a genius, he was completely turned into a mediocre person.
Losing one's spiritual root means losing the aptitude for cultivation. It becomes difficult or even impossible to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Even if one puts in 100% effort, the results will be less than 10%. Even if one tries one's best, one can only end up with a sloppy outcome.
In the pursuit of immortality, if one's efforts are utterly defeated by talent and one cannot accept reality, one will eventually drive oneself insane, or even to death. This is why sects place great importance on spiritual root testing when accepting disciples.
Li Tingyun should have realized long ago that he had no chance of cultivating immortality since he lost his spiritual root. But he was most confused when he should have been most clear-headed. He actually thought that he could still be saved and that he still had a chance to get back on the right track.
It's not that he was confused; it's just that his spiritual root was dug out, and he almost thought he was going to die. But when he was miraculously rescued, the fragrance of plum blossoms carried by the breeze made him dizzy. In his dazed state, he actually believed Mei Shiyu's extremely irresponsible words: "You are made by polishing jade, and no effort is wasted."
Mei Shiyu was young at the time, and he didn't understand that sometimes, no matter how much you "toughen up" someone, they will never succeed, and no matter how much hard work you put in, it will all be in vain.
He casually said, "You have to work hard! Hard work will definitely pay off!" And that made this stubborn little kid, who was impossible to sway even with eight oxen, fight desperately for it, refusing to turn back even after hitting a wall, and not giving up even when he reached the Yellow River.
At that time, Li Tingyun genuinely wanted to cultivate immortality. Perhaps someone like him and Mei Shiyu were not on the same path at all, but countless times he longed to walk with him, hoping to reach the same destination and not go down different paths.
Li Tingyun had traveled this long road from Lingxi Village to Daoxuan Sect. Fortunately, he was not alone; he had Wangcai by his side. This big yellow dog, which he had taken from the village entrance, had become a spirit halfway through the journey and transformed into a top-grade spirit pet with a fire spirit root!
The two, a man and a dog, wandered the world together. Wangcai's fire control skills helped Li Tingyun a lot. If he could control fireballs more precisely and not always give his master a trendy afro, that would be even better.
Without his spiritual root, Li Tingyun could not learn many spells. Of the many paths, he specialized in one: talismans.
The rest—sword forging, alchemy, weapon forging, etc.—required excellent teachers and were extremely expensive. He couldn't solve any problem that could be solved with money.
All that's left is drawing talismans and chanting incantations; I can learn a little bit of that anyway.
As the saying goes, "A spark of inspiration is all it takes to create a talisman; people waste ink and cinnabar in vain." To draw a talisman, nothing else is needed but comprehension, memory, and skill in wielding the brush.
A good memory is essential because there are many types of talismans and the runes are complex. Writing a single wrong stroke could render the talisman useless, have the opposite effect, or even lead to self-destruction.
The skill required to wield the brush is because talismans emphasize beauty. The brushstrokes should be varied and sharp, with strokes appearing in all directions. First, one must master good handwriting. The writing must have spirit, with all the elements of strength, structure, and flesh being indispensable. Otherwise, it will just be "ghostly scribbles," a waste of cinnabar and yellow paper.
But the most important thing is that "spark of inspiration," that is, comprehension. People with high comprehension do not need to memorize so many runes created by their predecessors. They can create countless new runes on a whim, doing whatever they want, at will.
What a coincidence! Li Tingyun's comprehension is as obvious as a louse on a bald head. Spiritual roots can be plundered, but no one can take away his mind.
His memory is also exceptional, just like his father's; he can remember everything he sees and memorize it instantly.
As for the characters...
It's often said that "handwriting reflects the person," but that's not always true. He's a really wicked person, but his handwriting is absolutely amazing!
His beautiful handwriting was all thanks to his childhood training, which his father developed by whipping his palms with willow branches.
As soon as Li Tingyun could hold a pen, he began to practice calligraphy. His father held his hand and taught him stroke by stroke. The calligraphy models he copied were all written by his father himself.
The father and son's handwriting is similar, and it is in line with the style of calligraphy used by the imperial tutors of the Liang Dynasty to teach the princes.
Why does Li Tingyun have the surname Li?
Because their "Ji" family were originally related to the royal family.
He should have been surnamed Li.
His grandfather was the younger brother of the Emperor of Liang, born of the same mother. He was framed by a few words of slander from the wicked empress, and his blood was spilled in court, and his entire family was executed.
His grandmother, six months pregnant, escaped death under the protection of her loyal followers. She then went into hiding, concealing her identity and waiting for the opportunity to clear her name.
However, their family was truly plagued by misfortune. They were at odds with the Empress Dowager in court, and they also encountered the Yuan clan in the countryside. They were repeatedly plotted against and met with terrible deaths.
There are too many injustices, and there's simply nowhere to seek justice.
Both were driven to the brink of despair, both carried the burden of a blood feud, and both embarked on the path of cultivation. Li Tingyun suffered greatly, yet received no favor from heaven.
At a young age, he wandered around for four years. When he was twelve, he participated in the Dao Xuan Sect's entrance trial and won first place in a fair and square manner. However, he was questioned by everyone and could not gain recognition. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he fell off a cliff and died, ending his lifespan.
He was like a chess piece abandoned by the laws of nature. Every move he made was wrong. He tried to persevere, reflected on himself, and correct his mistakes, but it was all in vain. In the end, he could only curse the bullshit laws of nature!
Li Tingyun developed a strong sense of rebellion against the Way of Heaven.
In the depths of hell, the feeling reaches its peak the instant the soul is torn apart.
"That darling, what mountain spirit money... do you still wear it on your body?" The vendor looked the drought demon up and down. Anyone with eyes could see that he was completely "smooth," without any extra ornaments.
"It's been damn long gone, I don't know where it went."
The drought demon has no concept of the Dao.