PDLP Chapter 113 Master Li is a god!
Chapter 113 Master Li is a god!
In the north, at the Hu family compound.
Inside the main hall, seven or eight men and women of different ages sat on either side. Among them were elderly men with white hair and beards and cloudy eyes, as well as middle-aged men in their prime with calm and composed demeanor.
They were all heads or elders of various families in the Northern Shamanic lineage, and at this moment their faces showed obvious worry and confusion.
In the main seat, Hu Yun changed out of the dark blue cotton-padded jacket she had worn on the way and put back on her usual dark red embroidered jacket. Although her face still showed signs of fatigue, her eyes were brighter than ever before.
"Sister Hu, what serious matter has happened that you called us all here so late at night?"
Sitting to Hu Yun's left, the first person in the group, an elderly man in a thick sheepskin coat, spoke first, "He didn't explain clearly over the phone, only saying it concerned the life and death of our shamanic lineage? Are those old guys in the mountains up to no good again?"
The speaker was Liu Dayuan, the head of the Liu family, who was a few years older than Hu Yun and had always been short-tempered.
Everyone else looked at Hu Yun, waiting for her answer.
Hu Yun took a deep breath and did not immediately answer Liu Dayuan's question. Instead, she looked around at everyone and slowly said, "Dear uncles and brothers, I have invited you all here today because there is something of great importance to discuss."
She paused, her tone becoming extremely solemn: "This matter concerns the future path of our shamanic lineage, and even... determines whether our lineage will live or die."
Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall changed their expressions.
"Young lady Hu, stop keeping me in suspense," Liu Dayuan urged.
"Don't rush, Brother Liu." Hu Yun looked at him, then at the others. "Before we get down to business, I need to ask: have all the younger members of your families received those peach wood plaques that the Night Watch sent out?"
Upon hearing this, the room fell silent for a moment, and then the atmosphere became somewhat subtle.
"I've received it..."
Wearing a dark blue cotton robe, Bai San Niang, the head of the Bai family who looked to be in her early fifties, spoke up:
"It's a good product. After wearing it, I can really feel that the dirt around us is gone, and the kids sleep much more soundly at night."
She hesitated for a moment, then continued, "But Sister Hu, what does this have to do with the lineage of shamans? The things the Night Watchmen give us are good, but they are ultimately external things, and the quantity is limited. It's hard to say whether there will be more in the future. Our own fundamental problem... is still not solved."
These words resonated with everyone.
The problem with the lineage of shamans lies in the imbalance of their contract with the spirits.
Since the end of the Dharma era, immortals have found it difficult to improve their spiritual cultivation by accumulating faith through good deeds. They can only absorb the life force of their disciples to maintain their own existence, leading to increasingly severe backlash.
The contract is an ancient one, and unless the deity actively terminates it or the deity dies naturally, the disciple who has become a spirit medium cannot unilaterally end it.
This creates a vicious cycle: the more power one borrows, the heavier the backlash; the heavier the backlash, the shorter one's lifespan; when the disciple dies, the immortals find another...
In the past twenty years, the average lifespan of disciples of the Northern Shamanic lineage has been less than forty years! Moreover, the more talented and compatible the disciple is with the deities, the faster they die!
This is why Hu Yun previously said there was "no successor"—not that no one was willing to learn, but that learning it would be suicide!
"Bai San Niang is right," sighed an elder from the Huang family. "No matter how good the Night Watchmen's supplies are, they can't save our foundation."
As Hu Yun listened to everyone's words, an indescribable expression appeared on her face.
She waited until everyone had finished speaking before slowly saying, "What if I told you... that I found a way to solve this fundamental problem during my trip?"
"What?!"
The room erupted in chaos!
"Miss Hu, are you serious?!"
Everyone stood up excitedly, even the most composed elders were breathing more rapidly.
Hu Yun raised her hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.
Once the room had quieted down again, she said, word by word, "This method was suggested by a master."
"A master? Where is this master?" Liu Dayuan asked eagerly. "Longhu Mountain? Or Maoshan? Would they be willing to pass on their secret, orthodox cultivation methods to us 'heretical' practitioners?"
Hu Yun shook her head: "Neither."
She looked at everyone and said, word by word, "It is Qingfeng Temple, Master Li."
The people in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Master Li? Which Master Li?" Bai Sanniang asked in confusion. "Among the highly skilled people I've heard of, I don't recall anyone with the surname Li..."
"Yes, I've never heard of Qingfeng Temple before."
"Sister Hu, have you been scammed?"
Hu Yun was not surprised by the doubts raised by the crowd.
She took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "This Taoist priest Li is the master who made those peach wood plaques issued by the Night Watch."
These words were like a boulder thrown into water!
"What?!"
"Those magical artifacts...were made by this Taoist priest Li?!"
The crowd became excited again.
The person who could create such a divine object is definitely not simple!
"Sister Hu!" Liu Dayuan's eyes widened. "This Taoist priest Li... is he really willing to guide us?"
Hu Yun nodded, then shook her head.
"Master Li didn't explicitly give me guidance; he just gave me a direction and a few words."
She repeated Li Jun's words verbatim:
"Not relying on the strength of beasts, but on the strength of gods."
"With divine might, I subdue the wilderness of immortals."
"The union of divine beasts may lead to a way of balance."
The hall was completely silent.
Everyone is pondering these words.
"Not relying on the power of beasts... but on the power of gods..."
"With divine might, I will subdue the wilderness of immortals..."
"Divine beasts unite..."
A light gradually appeared in the eyes of the elders.
"Brilliant!" The elder from the Huang family slapped his thigh. "Most immortals are transformed from mountain spirits and wild monsters. Although they possess intelligence, they are difficult to eliminate, and the root of the backlash lies in this! If we can use higher-level divine power to control and subdue them, or even merge with them... perhaps we can truly solve the problem of backlash!"
"But where can we borrow this 'divine power'?" Bai Sanniang asked. "We shamans worship various ancestral spirits, but the ancestral spirits themselves..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant.
In the Dharma-ending Age, even those powerful immortal ancestors have fallen silent. Where can we find "divine power" to borrow?
Hu Yun then slowly spoke: "Master Li, you are a god."
These words were spoken calmly, yet they struck like a thunderclap!
"Sister Hu, what... what do you mean by that?" Liu Dayuan's voice changed.
Hu Yun looked at everyone with an extremely serious expression: "There are some things that Mr. Qin of the Night Watchman previously instructed us not to spread casually, but now, with Mr. Qin's permission, I can tell everyone here."
She paused, then began to speak:
"Master Li's surname is Li and his given name is Jun. He is currently practicing asceticism at Qingfeng Temple in Lu County."
"But he has another identity: the only being in the Great Xia Dynasty who has surpassed the Refining Void and Integrating Dao Realm, a true immortal god residing in this world!"
"One talisman summoned nine bolts of heavenly lightning, instantly killing a half-step S-rank silver-armored corpse."
"A peach wood sword made on the spot flew a hundred miles away on its own and annihilated the eight-armed evil spirit in the mid-stage of the Void Refinement Realm, which even Longhu Mountain could not deal with."
"A pair of Spring Festival couplets and two door god statues guarded the Kunlun camp, manifesting golden-armored divine generals who slaughtered more than seventy elite superhumans from various countries."
"And just yesterday, on New Year's Eve, Master Li's cultivation practice triggered a vortex of spiritual energy that covered several provinces and affected the world."
With each sentence Hu Yun spoke, the faces of everyone in the hall paled a little more.
After she finished speaking, the entire main hall fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, as if they had heard something out of a fantasy.
But they knew that Hu Yun would never joke about something like this!
"Beyond... Refining Emptiness and Merging with the Dao?"
"One talisman...instantly kills a near-S-rank?"
"Cultivation that triggers a global vortex of spiritual energy?"
Any one of these things, if it got out, would be enough to shake the entire cultivation world!
Now, Hu Yun is telling them that all of these things were done by the same person?
That... Master Li?
"So..." Liu Dayuan's voice was hoarse, "Sister Hu, you mean... the 'god' we need to borrow is... that Taoist Priest Li?"
Hu Yun nodded emphatically.
"That's right. Although Master Li didn't say it explicitly, who else in this era could be the 'god' in 'the power of the gods' besides himself?"
Her gaze swept over everyone: "Moreover, Master Li specifically mentioned the harmony of divine beasts, and these 'beasts' naturally refer to our immortals."
"This is clearly an implication that we can try to use his name to control and intimidate the immortals!"
The people in the hall looked at each other, their hearts pounding.
Using the name of that being who is suspected to be a terrestrial deity, or even a higher-level being... to command the immortal they have a contract with?
That's an incredibly bold idea!
Hu Yun continued, "So my idea is that we can modify the original prayer in the invocation of immortals to convey commands by using the name of Master Li. Of course, we can't call him by his name directly, so we'll use Master Li as a substitute."
She looked at everyone: "Do you all think... this is feasible?"
Silence fell in the hall once again.
does it work?
In theory, if that Taoist priest Li is truly as unfathomable as Hu Yun described, then using his name might indeed be able to intimidate the immortals.
But what if... it doesn't work?
"Young lady of the Hu family," Liu Dayuan suddenly spoke, his eyes resolute, "my Liu family is willing to be the first to try!"
Everyone looked at him.
Liu Dayuan gave a bitter smile: "Not trying is also a dead end. My eldest son, who just turned forty last year, died vomiting blood because the backlash from the one he contracted with was too severe. My grandson is only eighteen this year, with the best talent, but the immortal he contracted with..."
"That 'Third Master Chang' is the most troublesome one. Every time he borrows strength, he drains thirty percent of his life force! At this rate, he won't live past twenty!"
Liu Dayuan suddenly stood up: "Either way, I'm going to die, so I might as well take a gamble! If I succeed, the future of my Liu family will be bright! If I fail... I'll just give up my old life!"
Hu Yun's eyes were slightly red.
She knew the "Third Master Chang" that Liu Dayuan was talking about. He was the most irritable, strongest, and most difficult to deal with among the many immortals contracted by the Liu family.
"Brother Liu..." Hu Yun took a deep breath, "Since you're willing, then... let's start by trying with this 'Third Master Chang'!"
She looked at the others and said, "Everyone, this matter needs to be witnessed by all of you. Those who are willing to go, set off now. Those who are not willing to go, I will not force them."
After a while.
Everyone in the hall stood up.
"Let's go together!"
"My Huang family will go too!"
"The Bai family is going too!"
"Sister Hu, we believe you!"
Looking at everyone, Hu Yun felt a warm current welling up in her heart.
"good!"
She nodded emphatically.
"Then let's go to 'Third Master Chang's' cave now!"
"Let's see if this path bestowed by Master Li can be successfully traversed!"
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