Zhang Liuxun spoke of the past, and despite his youthful face, he couldn’t help but reveal a trace of nostalgia.
“Back then, I originally practiced the Great洞 Heaven Sutra of the Celestial Master sect. In fact, the正宗 teachings of the sect were the Xiang’er Commentary written by the Celestial Master himself. However, since I wasn’t from the嫡派 lineage, I naturally had no chance to see it. It wasn’t until later, when I broke into the Divine Thunder sect and obtained their secret techniques, that I realized that all those符 talismans,丹 pills, and鼎 furnaces were nothing but nonsense, merely the result of later generations’ ignorance adding unnecessary embellishments!”
As he spoke, Zhang Liuxun looked at Mei Qing and said, “I don’t know what insights you’ve gained regarding the Divine Thunder Lightning Art. As for me, since I entered cultivation through the Celestial Master sect, I naturally took breath cultivation as my foundation. Every day I gathered vital energy without cease, refining and transforming my fundamental essence. Later, I also studied the internal cultivation methods of Dan Dao, drawing energy from within myself without involving external sources. However, whether it’s external energy gathering or internal丹 refinement, in the end, it’s merely cultivating one’s mental state and the pathways within the body. All that energy and丹 essence are just external matters—how could they become the fundamental path of cultivation?”
Seeing that Mei Qing looked somewhat confused, Zhang Liuxun explained further, “Imagine a person engaged in a fight, exhausting all their true essence. In the end, all they need is to rest and recover their breath, and they’ll naturally return to their original state. That true essence is nothing more than charcoal in a stove or water in a pot—it burns out quickly. But if the stove is large enough to hold plenty of charcoal, then it can ensure the fire burns hot enough. Selecting good charcoal is certainly necessary, but it’s never more important than the stove itself.”
“Nowadays, people cultivate in exactly the opposite way. They refine that tiny bit of true essence within their bodies over and over again, transforming it endlessly, while neglecting the refinement of meridians and physical form. They don’t realize that once the body is properly cultivated, the true essence within will naturally become abundant—limitless and inexhaustible. That is the correct path.”
As for the Dan School, it’s even more absurd. Ancient immortals may have formed the丹 internally, but the凝聚 of a金丹 should always occur naturally, like water flowing once the channel is ready. However, later generations have confused cause and effect. They treat the金丹 as the ultimate path, abandoning all external cultivation methods and focusing solely on internal refinement. They overlook the fact that, although the human body is a microcosm of the universe, the amount of spiritual energy one can generate internally is extremely limited. Compared to breath cultivation techniques, this approach is clearly inferior.
After listening, Mei Qing felt a resonance in his heart, yet he still expressed some doubts, saying, “I’ve occasionally considered this as well, but I’ve never dared to be so certain. The teachings of Fu Danding have been transmitted for a thousand years. If they were indeed a mistaken path, why wouldn’t the ancient sages have passed down the correct methods instead? And why would Fu Danding have become so widespread?”
Zhang Liuxun nodded and sighed deeply, “You’ve raised the very questions I once had, questions that troubled me greatly. It wasn’t until I discovered this place that I began to understand the truth.”
Zhang Liuxun’s eyes became distant, as if gazing far into the distance, “Facing the Jieshi cliffs, I look out upon the vast sea. Haha, who would have imagined that this sacred mountain Jieshi would sink beneath the ocean?”
“What?” Mei Qing exclaimed in shock, “Are we actually beneath the sea?”
“Exactly,” Zhang Liuxun replied, “Since the Qin and Han dynasties, people have often been puzzled about the location of Jieshi, unable to pinpoint where the mountain actually is. Since you’ve personally seen the inscriptions on Jieshi, you must know that we are indeed standing on the ancient sacred mountain. However, this place lies deep beneath the ocean. This ocean basin was formed when Jieshi sank into the sea.”
Mei Qing was stunned, never imagining he had come to a place beneath the sea. Thinking of it as an immortal’s hidden retreat, it indeed had extraordinary qualities. No wonder the spiritual energy here was so abundant.
Zhang Liuxun continued, “Jieshi has always been a sacred site for immortals. In ancient times, Emperor Qin, wishing for the prosperity of his nation, performed mountain-consecration rituals and inscribed stone tablets, naturally guided by cultivation experts. Yet even this wasn’t enough for Emperor Qin, who, following others’ advice, gathered all the gold and copper from across the land and brought it to Xianyang, casting twelve bronze giants to stabilize the national fortune and ensure eternal peace, prolonging the Qin dynasty’s rule forever.”
At this point, Zhang Liuxun’s lips curled into a sneer, “But Emperor Qin was merely an ordinary mortal, deceived by cultivation experts until his dying day! What he thought was the gathering of all gold and copper was in fact only a small portion. The real purpose was to transport the finest gold to the immortal’s hidden retreat, intending to cast nine sacred tripods for his own ambitions!”
Mei Qing exclaimed in shock, “Could this Jieshi be the place where those tripods were cast?”
Zhang Liuxun shook his head, “You could say that, though not exactly within this retreat. Another smelting site was established outside. The place where you first entered this retreat was where the tripods were cast. Since gold was gathered there from all over the land and smelted day and night, it was called ‘Qianjin Ye,’ the ‘Thousand Gold Smelting Place.'”
Upon hearing this name, Mei Qing was startled, murmuring to himself, “Qianjin Ye? So it was Qianjin Ye!”
Back then, when Yang Jin was dying, he had whispered the words “Qianjin Ye,” which no one understood. Upon arriving in Yongping, they had searched everywhere but found no one who knew who or what “Qianjin Ye” referred to. Only now, hearing Zhang Liuxun speak, did he suddenly realize that “Qianjin Ye” was a mispronunciation of “Qianjin Ye.”
At the time, the words “Qianjin Ye” had been clearly inscribed on the stone outside, but since Mei Qing had closed his five senses, he hadn’t known. Now, only through Zhang Liuxun’s words did he finally understand its meaning.
“If this place was indeed the ancient site of Qianjin Ye, why did it later become the domain of the Fragrant Sect?” Mei Qing wondered, though he decided not to ask, as this question was unrelated to Zhang Liuxun’s story about the tripod casting during the Qin dynasty.
“However, can worldly affairs truly be changed by a few tricks? Emperor Qin was notoriously cruel, and his dynasty fell after only two generations. How ironic that the one who cast the tripods gained no benefit, but instead was dragged down by the consequences. He only managed to cast one tripod before succumbing to the backlash of the accumulated resentment and violence, ending in nothing but a fleeting dream.”
As he spoke, Zhang Liuxun’s tone carried a sense of melancholy, perhaps recalling something painful.
“Oh? So who was the one who cast the tripods? Could it be…” Mei Qing’s heart stirred, suddenly suspecting a possibility.
“Exactly. It was none other than Xu Fu. Haha, who would have guessed that the thousand boys and girls he took with him, supposedly to seek the immortal mountains at sea, were actually brought here secretly to cast the tripods? How pitiful those thousand youths—believing they were following him in search of immortality, only to become sacrifices for the tripod, meeting their end with their souls destroyed…”
Upon hearing this, Mei Qing couldn’t help but shudder. No wonder Xu Fu suffered such a backlash. With such a rebellious and insane act, once the suppression of the Qin dynasty’s fortune was gone, how could human effort alone succeed?
“In my younger days, I was deeply fascinated by the whereabouts of Jieshi, but due to the busyness of life, I had no time to pursue it. It wasn’t until I obtained the Divine Thunder Lightning Art and made some progress in cultivation that I realized my heavenly tribulation was approaching. That’s when I decided to seek out a secluded paradise to refine my cultivation and prepare for the tribulation. After much searching, I finally found some faint clues here, which led me to retreat here and shut myself away. Never did I expect to discover many ancient relics of the tripod casting within Jieshi. Especially when I was preparing to discard my physical body and seek rebirth, I had the fortune to encounter some ancient legacies, which gave me a deeper understanding of the cultivation path.”
As Zhang Liuxun spoke, his eyes sparkled with excitement.
Mei Qing listened in silence. Thinking of how Zhang Liuxun, with his own strength, had unified the Daoist sects across the land, there was truly no one else like him in history. Hearing him recount his past now, it was impossible not to feel deeply moved.
Originally, Zhang Liuxun had intended to undergo physical transformation and then seek rebirth. However, after his soul separated from his body, he unexpectedly discovered the unfinished tripod and some remaining secret texts left behind by Xu Fu. This discovery led him to re-plan his path, seeking a new way forward.
Indeed, Zhang Liuxun was a genius unlike any other. The path he devised was truly beyond imagination. In his view, rebirth through reincarnation might be convenient, but it was full of uncertainties. One could never know what kind of body they might be reborn into or whether it would be suitable for cultivation. Before regaining the path of cultivation, one might encounter all sorts of disasters and die before achieving anything. In short, the path of reincarnation was essentially gambling with fate.
After studying the ancient secret techniques left behind by Xu Fu and combining them with various other skills he had previously learned, Zhang Liuxun devised a completely new path unlike any before him. He forcefully split a part of his consciousness and infused it into a magical artifact. Then, he lured a child who happened to pass by into this place, imprinting his commands and part of his cultivation techniques into the child’s mind. He then allowed the child to take the tripod and leave, seeking out suitable male and female partners to become the parents of his new physical body.
“This path, in fact, was extremely difficult. Not only did the man and woman need compatible fates, but they also had to practice secret techniques together to transfer the Yuan Shen within the tripod into the fetus’s mind. When the child grew up, he would not only possess an exceptional physique but also directly inherit my consciousness, returning here to reunite with me. Haha, that’s how we meet today.” Zhang Liuxun said this with great pride.
Upon hearing this, Mei Qing became deeply suspicious and interrupted Zhang Liuxun, “What you’re saying doesn’t quite add up. According to your explanation, I must be the clone you designed. However, I have no trace of the half-consciousness you mentioned in my mind. Clearly, everything you’ve said has nothing to do with me.”
Zhang Liuxun laughed, “What you say may have some merit, but you don’t understand that consciousness, when deeply embedded in the mind, is like memories from a past life—it doesn’t awaken immediately. If you don’t believe me, when the time comes for our memories to merge, you’ll naturally recall everything.”
After hearing this, Mei Qing became highly alert. He knew that the other party seemed to have some method of detecting his thoughts, so he forcefully suppressed his doubts, trying not to think too much, and instead changed the subject, “Another thing—according to your story, there was someone who took the artifact and was tasked with completing this mission. However, I’ve never seen such a person since my childhood. How can you be so sure it’s me?”
Zhang Liuxun laughed heartily, “What’s there not to understand? It’s no surprise if the tripod’s servant later encountered some misfortune. But first, you practiced the Divine Thunder Lightning Art, which was precisely what I had instructed the tripod’s servant to carry out. Second, do you know what that artifact is? It’s a subsidiary tripod forged here in ancient times and now resides within your Zi Mansion—how could there be any error?”
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