txolops Chapter 117 Star Constellation Killing Intent
Chapter 117 Star Constellation Killing Intent
Chapter 118 Star Constellation Killing Intent
I have benefited greatly from this experience and my knowledge has expanded significantly.
After perusing dozens of jade slips containing cultivation insights, Shen Feng walked to a row of secluded bookshelves.
The jade slips here are covered with a thin layer of dust, indicating that they are rarely visited.
The bookcase label reads: "Records of Gods and Spirits of Heaven and Earth".
Shen Feng's heart stirred. In the world of Journey to the West, gods and Buddhas are high above all, but those who actually deal most with cultivators and demons are the grassroots gods who are scattered throughout famous mountains, rivers, and county governments.
Sun Wukong would frequently summon local deities and mountain gods to inquire about the road conditions.
The functions and bottom lines of these grassroots deities are directly related to the safety boundaries of Fan Yuan's future actions; he still feels lingering fear after the last time he stole the remains of the White Bone Demon.
He picked up a jade slip and immersed his consciousness into it.
The jade slip contains a detailed record of the basic deities appointed by the Heavenly Court, including the Earth God, the City God, the Day-Roaming God, and the Night-Roaming God.
"The land deity is in charge of the feng shui of a place and protects the water and soil of a region. They are often virtuous people in the mortal world who have performed good deeds and are granted titles after death, or mountain spirits and wild monsters who have been recruited by the Heavenly Court. Their position is humble and their magical power is weak, but they can escape by borrowing the energy of the earth's veins."
Shen Feng continued reading, focusing on the description of the scope of the Land God's responsibilities.
"The duty of the land is to monitor the stability of the earth's veins, record the changes in the fortunes of mortal dynasties, and protect mortals from large-scale demonic disasters. As for the struggles in the cultivation world and the devouring by demons, if they do not affect the foundation of mortal life or sever the vitality of a place, they will not pay attention to them."
Seeing this, Shen Feng's tense heart finally relaxed completely.
The records on the jade slip are very clear: the local gods such as the Earth God and the City God are essentially civil servants used by the Heavenly Court to manage the mortal world and maintain the operation of the earth's veins.
They didn't care at all about the fighting and killing among ordinary cultivators.
The cultivation world is a dog-eat-dog world. Today you kill me, tomorrow I kill you. As long as you don't slaughter the city or drain the veins of famous mountains and rivers, the local earth god won't even bother to give you a second glance, let alone report it to the higher-level city god.
"Only when a cultivator does something major that overthrows a dynasty or causes widespread suffering will the Earth God use the earth's veins to report to the City God, who will then report to the Heavenly Court."
Shen Feng put down the jade slip; for him, this was excellent news.
This means that as long as he acts with restraint and does not cross the bottom line of the Heavenly Court's management of the mortal world, he can make some noise in secret using his clones without attracting the attention of the Heavenly Court to his main body.
Shen Feng put the jade slip back in its original place, turned around and walked to the next row of bookshelves, continuing to immerse himself in the books in this row.
Fan Yuan snapped out of his daze from his clone, Shen Feng.
"Wave Moon Cave, Yellow Robe Monster."
He silently recalled that in the original Journey to the West, Kui Mulang descended to the mortal realm, transformed into the Yellow Robe Monster, and kidnapped Princess Baihuaxiu of Baoxiang Kingdom, where they lived as a loving couple for thirteen years.
Finally, Kui Mulang gave an extremely romantic explanation: he fell in love with a maid in the Pixiang Palace, and fearing that it would defile the sacred heavenly realm, the maid longed to descend to the mortal world and was reborn as Princess Baihuaxiu. Kui Mulang then descended to the mortal world to continue their previous romance.
"A romantic fairy tale."
Fan Yuan sneered inwardly. If it weren't for the hidden feedback from the white bones, he might have actually believed this romantic story.
Looking back now, it's clear that for a dignified deity of the Heavenly Court, one of the Twenty-Eight Constellations, to enlighten a mortal and awaken her innate wisdom was merely a matter of a breath.
But Kui Mulang did not do that.
He allowed Baihuaxiu to retain her mortal fear and resentment, forcibly abducted her to his cave, and made her his wife for thirteen years.
Baihua Xiu not only had no love for him, but was filled with fear, and even secretly sent a letter to Tang Sanzang for help.
This isn't a rekindling of a past relationship; it's clearly house arrest!
"The Hall of Fragrant Breeze —"
The Hall of Fragrant Incense is a vital place where the Jade Emperor resides daily and receives offerings of incense from the Three Realms.
A maid in the Fragrant Palace usually comes into contact with the most rare treasures, fortunes, and merits in the Three Realms.
"She didn't descend to the mortal realm out of longing for worldly life. If she stole something and escaped, that would make sense!"
A sharp glint flashed in Fan Yuan's eyes as an extremely bold hypothesis took shape in his mind.
A maid stole an extremely important treasure from the Hall of Fragrant Breeze and fled to the mortal realm.
When the Jade Emperor discovered this, in order to keep it a secret, he secretly dispatched the extremely powerful Kui Mulang to the mortal realm to retrieve the item.
But there is a huge logical flaw in this.
Since the goal was to retrieve the treasure, Kui Mulang could have simply killed Baihuaxiu after finding her, taken the treasure, and returned to Heaven to report back. Why did he linger in the Wave Moon Cave for thirteen years?
Fan Yuan closed his eyes, frantically searching for every detail of the ordeal with the Yellow Robe Monster from his previous life.
Tang Sanzang was transformed into a tiger, the White Dragon Horse's assassination attempt failed, and Pigsy and Sandy were no match for him. In the end, they went to Flower Fruit Mountain to invite back the demoted Monkey King.
Sun Wukong and Kui Mulang fought a great battle.
The key turning point is that Sun Wukong transforms into Baihuaxiu and claims that he has a heartache.
In order to cure his beloved wife's illness, Kui Mulang spat out a priceless treasure from his mouth.
That treasure is clearly described in the original work.
"The inner elixir of the sarira!"
boom!
It was as if a thunderbolt struck Fan Yuan's mind.
"The inner elixir of the sarira—the sarira!"
Taoists cultivate the elixir of immortality, while Buddhists cultivate relics.
However, Kui Mulang was originally a disciple of Taoism and was the head of the Western White Tiger Seven Mansions, one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions of Heaven.
He is a true Taoist deity with impeccable lineage and countless years of cultivation!
How could a Taoist deity possibly expel a Buddhist relic from his body?!
This is like a tiger spitting out a mouthful of pure green grass—utterly absurd.
"Unless, this relic was not something he cultivated himself."
Fan Yuan's breathing became heavy; he felt as if all the clues were connected.
What the maidservant of Pixiang Palace stole was perhaps this relic containing immense karmic and spiritual significance in Buddhism.
Therefore, Kui Mulang was sent down to the mortal realm on the orders of the Jade Emperor.
Fan Yuan recalled Sun Wukong's reaction in the original story.
After tricking Sun Wukong out of the relic's inner core, he swallowed it whole!
Since then, the relic has never been mentioned again in the entire Journey to the West.
Fan Yuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the pounding in his heart.
He had just been thinking that since he knew the plot well, could he go to the Wave Moon Cave in advance to set up a plan and obtain the relic's inner core? If he could get his hands on it, he could use it to refine a high-level clone—
But now, he completely dismissed that idea, especially considering the failure to steal the ginseng fruit.
"but----"
Fan Yuan's eyes flashed.
Just because the main body cannot be obtained directly does not mean that the clone cannot. Using the death feedback after the clone devours something to improve one's cultivation is also a good idea.
Furthermore, the rumors about Kui Mulang and the maids of Pixiang Palace were just his wild speculations. He didn't care about the truth. What mattered was that his main body didn't have to personally go and fish in the water. He only needed to send an avatar to investigate. If he could also get some insight into the star essence scattered by Kui Mulang during the battle, that would be even better.