20demayo Chapter 19: The body passed through the barrier; the coffin shop was right next door.
Chapter 19: The body passed through the barrier; the coffin shop was right next door.
"You! You're the dog! You're just a bully who relies on your master's power!"
Some people were so angry that they cursed under their breath.
Li Tingyun weighed the Qiankun bag in his hand and asked in return, "Who is the dog cursing?"
"The dog is cursing you, it's cursing you!"
"Oh, so it was the dog that was insulting me."
"You! You! You fucking..."
"Don't yell at me, I've been afraid of dogs since I was a child."
Li Tingyun picked up the Qiankun bag, walked to Mei Shiyu's side, and hid behind him.
Then, she raised her head and said aggrievedly, "Master, these adults are so scary. They even bully children, lie to me, scold me, and even try to hit me. They don't respect the elderly or care for the young. I think they call themselves 'propriety, righteousness, and integrity'—shameless! So shameless."
"..."
Everyone was silent.
I can't argue with that! I simply can't argue with that.
Even if a dozen mouths joined together, they couldn't argue with that!
Unable to win arguments or fights, everyone quieted down.
Mei Shiyu looked down at Li Tingyun, somewhat puzzled.
When did my apprentice become so eloquent and sharp-tongued?
Li Tingyun also realized that he had gone a bit too far with his words.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—that's simply not in the character of the protagonist, Yuan Che.
Not to mention he also blurted out all the elegant national essence he had accumulated in his head.
If placed in the original text, even if you dug out the protagonist's brainstem, washed and cleaned it, you still wouldn't be able to clear out so much garbage talk.
Li Tingyun decided to shut up; the more he said, the more mistakes he would make, so he simply stopped talking.
He quietly put away the Qiankun bag and tucked it into his waistband.
All the various things Master had purchased and the spirit stones he had collected were inside, but it didn't feel heavy at all. The treasures of the immortals were indeed useful.
Li Tingyun suddenly remembered that Mei Shiyu in the original story also had a storage ring, which he gave to the protagonist as a gift during the apprenticeship ceremony.
They were incredibly generous with their money.
That is a unique Bodhi precept!
One flower one world, one leaf one bodhi.
Mei Shiyu's Bodhi ring is definitely not comparable to other types of storage rings. It not only serves to store miscellaneous items, but also has a more ingenious function.
As the holder's magical power increases, the internal space of the Bodhi Ring can be expanded infinitely, and it can even build a private space inside, creating another world of its own.
There might not be a second one like it in the entire cultivation world.
Li Tingyun was very eager, extremely eager, but given that he wasn't the real protagonist and even his chance with Mei Shiyu was something he had to steal, he didn't know when the truth would come out, so no matter how much he envied her, it was useless.
At this moment, the people in the shop gathered in small groups, sighing and complaining. Some of the bolder ones went up to confront the captured shopkeeper, demanding to know how he could successfully enter and leave the Taiji Hall to retrieve the "Snow Lotus Seeds" from the Underworld Pool.
The shopkeeper arrogantly replied, "You? Don't even think about it! You're simply not qualified."
Eager to find a solution, the cultivator raised his fist, intending to teach him a lesson. However, before his fist could even touch the shopkeeper's gloomy, hanged-ghost-like face, the ice shards restraining his limbs began to slowly twitch, pulling him away from his spot.
The cultivator turned around and saw Mei Shiyu raise her hand to cast a spell, bringing the person to her side.
"I have something to ask you."
Mei Shiyu ignored the looks and thoughts of others, turned to look at the shopkeeper, and asked, "Since you are from the Taiji Palace, why are you in Yongjie Town?"
Why should I tell you?!
The shopkeeper was inwardly raging, but he stared wide-eyed at Mei Shiyu with astonishment.
Because what he blurted out next was not only not his true thoughts, but also became the most hidden truth:
"Taiji Hall...the Hall Master...he's gone..."
Mei Shiyu's gaze shifted slightly. "What did you say?"
Upon hearing the sound, Li Tingyun retreated to a corner, feeling a strange sense of unease.
He saw the shopkeeper's face contort, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't stop his mouth from opening and closing.
The shop owner slowly revealed the truth in front of everyone:
"The Palace Master used to frequently visit Yongjie Town to cultivate the Yin Meridian Heart Method in this extremely Yin place. I was responsible for relaying messages from the outside world to him. However, a few days ago, the Palace Master went to Lingxi Village, which is more than 300 miles away, and has not been in contact with me since."
"It is common for the Palace Master to be elusive, appearing and disappearing without a trace. We are not allowed to interfere with his actions. But this time is different. The Taiji Palace and the Four Symbols City have completely cut off contact with the Palace Master."
"The four city lords of Four Symbols City took turns questioning me, almost tearing me apart and rebuilding me, but I truly don't know the whereabouts of the Palace Master..."
The "Four Symbols City" he mentioned is the location of the Taiji Hall.
The Taiji Palace is located in the northern part of the continent. The central main hall is surrounded by four magnificent cities, known as the "Four Symbols Cities," each guarded by a first-rate master with unfathomable cultivation.
Mei Shiyu questioned the shopkeeper: "Since you mentioned Four Symbols City, which one of them are you from?"
The shopkeeper had given up resisting and said very awkwardly, "South... Vermilion Bird Temple."
The Vermilion Bird is in the south, its element is fire, and the city lord's name is Xia Changfeng.
The Vermilion Bird Temple is the landmark building of Vermilion Bird City in the south. For the people living in this city, Vermilion Bird is both a totem and a belief, and the Vermilion Bird Temple is their place of pilgrimage.
Li Tingyun still remembers these details clearly because the setting of Taiji Hall and Sixiang City in the text follows a very strong pattern.
Taiji gives rise to Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang give rise to the Four Symbols. The "Yin and Yang" refer to Yin and Yang, while the "Four Symbols" refer to the four symbols of heaven and earth, namely the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise.
The four symbols of heaven and earth represent the four directions of east, west, south, and north, the four elements of wood, metal, fire, and water, and the four seasons of spring, autumn, summer, and winter.
The layout of the Four Symbols City and the Taiji Hall subtly corresponds to the numbers of the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams, which is profound and mysterious, and follows the natural way.
The four city lords of the city are named Ye Juechun, Xia Changfeng, Lin Qiutan, and Xue Rendong.
Spring, autumn, winter, and summer; leaves, forests, snow, and wind—their spiritual root attributes are also quite consistent with the five elements and directions they occupy.
These individuals are known and feared by everyone in the cultivation world.
Mei Shiyu pondered, “You come from the Vermilion Bird Temple in the south, and the Yin-Yang Curse you cast is of the fire element. According to the principle of mutual generation and restraint of the five elements, only the snow lotus seeds that grow on the Black Tortoise Spirit Platform in the north can be used as the medicine to break the curse.”
In fact, these words are a detailed explanation of Li Tingyun's previous remarks.
Mei Shiyu continued, "There is a temple in the Vermilion Bird City in the south, and a spirit platform in the Black Tortoise City in the north. Further north from the Black Tortoise Spirit Platform is the 'Nether Pool.' Only snow lotus seeds that grow in the extremely cold and northern Nether Pool and have been cultivated for hundreds of years can cure the fire poison of the south."
Upon hearing this, everyone understood. In other words, they didn't actually need to venture into the Taiji Palace; they only needed to pick the snow lotus seeds from the Nether Pool outside Xuanwu City, north of the Taiji Palace.
But this is still a life-threatening extreme challenge.
"Shopkeeper, am I right?"
Mei Shiyu's questioning was not only directed at the shop owner, but also at his "apprentice".
Yuan Che was becoming increasingly unfathomable to him—why was he so familiar with the Taiji Palace?
In his previous life, Yuan Che and Taiji Palace were sworn enemies, their blood feud lasting a lifetime. Could it be that, as he once said, he secretly worked to learn everything about Taiji Palace just for the sake of the saying "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated"?
Faced with his questions, the shopkeeper could only nod honestly like a chicken pecking at rice, without hiding anything.
Remember, recall, go back, trace.
Upon seeing this scene, these four words clearly appeared in Li Tingyun's mind.
As long as one's cultivation level is high enough, one can rewind the past experiences of others; no secret can escape the eyes of a cultivator.
There is only one prerequisite: the other party's cultivation level is lower than one's own.
However, this kind of technique is completely the humiliation and crushing of the weak by the strong, because the human spirit is an extremely fragile thing, and the human brain is unable to withstand the impact of the spiritual consciousness of others that does not belong to oneself.
Those subjected to memory regression often fall into a state of confusion and mental breakdown.
Therefore, Mei Shiyu chose a gentler approach.
He didn't pry into other people's pasts; instead, he used the method of "memory regression" to force them to reveal the truth through a question-and-answer session.
Li Tingyun was filled with unease, fearing that Mei Shiyu might turn around and ask him about the Taiji Hall.
Unbeknownst to him, he had quietly retreated to a corner, but he dared not completely hide behind the wall as he fled.
After all, the entire house was surrounded by a protective barrier, and he was afraid that if he accidentally touched it, he would be burned to ashes by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire.
Learning from past mistakes, we dare not act rashly.
"Young man, what are you doing crawling into my way?"
A round, bulging belly protruded from Li Tingyun's side.
He looked up and to his right, where Wang Wu's full beard came into view.
There's a wall on the left.
Mei Shiyu looked over upon hearing the sound, and Li Tingyun forced a smile at him, transmitting his voice, "Master, I..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wang Wu suddenly sneezed, his round belly, full of elasticity, shoved forward heavily.
Li Tingyun was shoved against the wall by him.
He lost his balance and slammed his head against the wall, but incredibly, his body passed through the barrier!
Finally, he fell to the ground in the coffin shop next door.