In the temple, the statue of Zhenwu suddenly shone with great light, a scene that startled the pilgrims outside. But after their initial shock, joy bloomed on their faces, and they immediately prostrated themselves in worship!
Zhenwu had manifested!
The statue emanated waves of spiritual power. The people below, witnessing this, rushed forward in a frenzy!
To the front!
A cacophony of prayers and wishes erupted, rising one after another. People vied to plant their incense sticks into the censers, shoving and jostling each other. Unable to secure a good spot, some in the front even resorted to fisticuffs for the privilege of offering incense first!
The incense smoke within the temple grew thicker and more fervent.
It was as if the very fire within the people was intensifying, not just the activity of their internal organs.
Fire governs the heart, and people's hearts began to grow restless. This was also due to the rising elemental fire energy in the surroundings, causing tempers to flare uncontrollably. In the Five Elements, fire represents the growth of yang energy, and it knows no limits.
"I was here first! Even if Lord Zhenwu is manifesting, he'll surely grant my wish first!"
"This sort of thing relies on sincerity, not greed! How could Lord Zhenwu grant a wish to a mercenary like you!"
As people exchanged insults, they also exchanged blows. Some, arriving later, took advantage of those in front bowing in prayer, stepping on their backs or shoulders to thrust their incense directly at Zhenwu's feet or into the seams of his robes.
"Lord Zhenwu, take my incense, this one has more spirit!"
"You dare step on me! Do you know how much this robe cost!"
Those crowded at the front were mostly wealthy merchants, accompanied by three to five retainers. Fists and feet flew, knocking those behind them to the ground. The beaten ones were not to be outdone, and as more people surged forward, they joined the brawls, turning the place into a martial arts arena!
"Stop fighting, stop fighting! The merit box has been overturned! Everyone gets to offer incense, I'm increasing the price for incense! Ten copper coins per stick now, if you don't have money, please step aside... Ow! Who hit me!"
The temple keeper attempted to use his "pay more for better service" tactic to quell the incense chaos, but he was punched by someone without money, his eyes immediately turning black and blue.
Those who weren't particularly wealthy were enraged. "If we don't have money, we can't worship Lord Zhenwu? Are we worshipping God or you?"
The temple keeper, though indignant, knew his guests were not to be trifled with. He spoke kindly, "How about this, I know a carpenter on the street. I'll tell you where he is, and you can go find him. Have him carve a statue of Zhenwu, and you can each buy one to take home and worship. There are too many people here."
But the crowd wasn't buying it. "The temple's divine statue has spiritual power. If Lord Zhenwu is manifesting, it's in this place. You want me to go buy small wooden carvings from the street?"
"You think I can't afford those ten copper coins? I'm just unhappy you're price gouging! I'll beat you to death, you profiteer!"
The temple keeper was immediately mobbed and beaten. The entire temple descended into utter chaos. The retainers of several wealthy merchants began fighting each other. Even passing martial artists, seeing the fun, joined in to showcase their skills.
Qiantang County already had a massive flow of people, and the incense offerings at various temples were always substantial. Yet, this small temple today was experiencing a commotion that even larger temples lacked. The old foreman, seeing the temple keeper thrown out, was greatly alarmed:
"My heavens! They're fighting! What's going on?"
The temple keeper said, "Quick, quick, go report to the authorities! Tell the magistrate that Zhenwu has manifested. If he wants everything to go smoothly, he should hurry over and protect the statue, otherwise, it's going to be smashed."
"And also! Tell him I have ten broken ribs! This matter cannot be resolved without a hundred taels of silver. Tell him exactly that, and he'll understand."
This matter cannot be resolved without a hundred taels of silver. After the job is done, we'll split it three-seven.
The old foreman asked, "A total of one hundred taels for compensation?"
The temple keeper cursed, "Nonsense! Everyone here, every single one of them, owes me a hundred taels!"
The old foreman nodded repeatedly, saying he was the fastest runner in the region in his youth, and told the temple keeper to wait. Then, he dashed off.
Meanwhile, the temple keeper continued to curse at the people inside the temple:
"You rascals dare to hit me! I am the temple keeper here! When the main deity of this temple manifests, I'll have an arrow shot into each of your backs, wishing you all a terrible death!"
"Damn it all! Pay up!"
...
Yang energy in a state of birth is called "Wood," in a state of growth is "Fire," in a state of收 (shōu - contraction/gathering) is "Metal," in a state of藏 (cáng - concealment/storage) is "Water," and the process of transformation between growth and storage is called "化" (huà - transformation), which is "Earth."
Ji Xiang had locked all his breakthrough power within his physical body, his mind currently highly concentrated, unaware of the events unfolding outside the statue.
However, even so, the elemental fire energy that diffused outwards from the divine fire refining his body's vitality still affected the outside world.
The Three Flowers and Five Qi of the human body are all manifestations of physical vitality. Thus, reaching the realm of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and Five Qi Facing the Origin allows one to produce Jade Fluid. At this point, the essence of the three elements of essence, qi, and spirit converges to its peak. The Five Elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth generated by the Five Viscera converge, returning to the origin.
If the fourth realm, Fetal Breath, is the gateway for mortals to transform into cultivators, then the Golden Core realm is the first step for cultivators to enter the ranks of immortals.
Ancient texts like the "Zhong Lü Chuan Dao Ji" classified immortals into five grades. Ghost Immortals were the lowest, followed by Human Immortals, both of whom attained techniques but not longevity. Taoism believes that Heavenly Immortals and Ghost Immortals originate from extreme states, neither of which is the ideal pursuit of becoming an immortal. Only Divine Immortals, Earth Immortals, and Human Immortals are the goals that practitioners hope to achieve.
Therefore, Earth Immortals and those above them are considered true celestial beings.
Forming a Golden Core is the threshold to becoming an Earth Immortal. The so-called "Golden Core Great Dao" allows one to escape the cycle of life and death in the mortal world.
Earth Immortal is a title for a level, while the Golden Core realm refers to cultivators who have reached the tenth stage of cultivation. At this level, one is considered among the Earth Immortals.
"The Golden Core Great Dao focuses on the path of 'inverted cultivation,' which is to invert the acquired Kan and Li back to their original Qian and Kun."
Ji Xiang chanted softly:
"Gold is Qi, and Dan is pure yang. Through the refinement of golden qi, one becomes a body of pure yang, and then directly attains the perfect and flawless Great Dao."
"Without forming a Golden Core, no matter how powerful one's magic... like that Ghost Immortal, although he possessed strength comparable to the Yellow Court realm, it was bestowed from outside, not cultivated by himself. Without a Golden Core, one is merely like a hollowed-out wooden puppet, with a heart like dead ashes, guarding the spirit within, with only a single will that does not dissipate."
At this moment, Ji Xiang's spirit was completely integrated into the Three Flowers and Five Qi. The Three Flowers and Five Qi transformed into Jade Fluid, and from the Jade Fluid, the Golden Core was refined.
Two streams of divine fire energy surged from within his body, reaching directly to the Baihui acupoint. Ji Xiang's body became scorching hot. He locked his energy, preventing it from leaking outwards, enduring more than double the pain himself. The divine fire burned to forge the Golden Core, and after the Golden Core dissolved, the Nascent Soul would be born.
"Five Tooth Heavenly Book, turn!"
Ji Xiang circulated the profound methods within the Five Tooth Heavenly Book, ensuring the Five Elemental energies within his body operated normally. If any were lacking, he would seek them from the surrounding heavens and earth. Unbeknownst to him, the elemental energies outside seemed to be exceptionally dense?
"Although I don't know what's happening outside, dense Five Elemental energies are a good thing. Vitality transforms into Jade Fluid, and the Jade Fluid, under the burning of divine fire, refines the Golden Core..."
"Right, and also Yanfudant Jin!"
Ji Xiang's spiritual consciousness, taking a brief moment, thought of this matter. Yanfudant Jin is of great use for shaping a golden body. At this moment, as he integrated it into his Golden Core to achieve the Earth Immortal level, using Yanfudant Jin would allow him to gather a vast amount of incense offerings and wishes for his own use, and it would also enhance his indestructible nature. All worldly Metal elemental power would fall before his golden body.
Even greater benefit was that he could utilize more Ascension realm cultivation. It was expected that after achieving the Earth Immortal level, he could contend with a full-power Pure Yang realm cultivator, and even without using various deciphering spells, he could hold his own in a fight against a Pure Yang cultivator.
As for those below Pure Yang, they were simply not worth mentioning!
...
The people in the temple panted heavily. They had been fighting for a while, and many of the incense burners in front of the deities had been overturned. Now, they all felt physically and mentally exhausted, more so than usual.
"Patriarch, the Li family's men are too strong, they seem much more powerful than usual."
A retainer spoke to his master, while retainers on the opposite side were saying the same thing:
"How have these Zhou family men become so strong?"
In the midst of the melee, it was inevitable that the gentry would be accidentally injured. Some women even had their faces disfigured, falling to the ground in the pushing and shoving. The temple's Five Elemental energies were being consumed rapidly, while the spiritual power of the Zhenwu statue grew increasingly potent.
People felt as if the statue was about to come alive!
In an instant, they felt struck by lightning, their bodies shuddering. Their previously volatile tempers also subsided as the Five Elemental energies within them decreased.
Anger is also an emotion generated by the excessive abundance of fire qi within the Five Elements.
For mortals, if any one of the Five Elements is lacking, they add a character representing that element to their name.
Seeing the temple in disarray, and the temple keeper lying outside the temple gate, his money bag clearly gone, having been taken advantage of during the chaos, the wealthy merchants, who had been blinded by the incense offerings, finally came to their senses, realizing the great trouble they had caused.
"Why did we suddenly start fighting each other? It was just about offering incense!"
"Let's go, let's go!"
The wealthy merchants prepared to flee, but the authorities had arrived. The Qiantang County Magistrate personally led a contingent, running all the way here, not for the hundred taels of silver per person, but to uphold justice!
"I heard someone was causing trouble here... Why is the temple keeper lying on the ground! Quick, quickly help him up!"
The Qiantang County Magistrate was well-prepared. His yamen constables and runners brought bamboo poles, pitchforks, and even something resembling a stretcher. They also brought a white-robed monk from Lingyin Temple and, on the way, apprehended several physicians, all to save people and collect fees...
Bah! It was to uphold justice, this is called feudal rescue!
"I want to see who is causing trouble here! Ah, aren't these the great merchants of the Li, Zhou, and Chen families..."
The Qiantang County Magistrate recognized the leading wealthy merchants, identifying which noble families they belonged to.
The merchants of the Jiangxi and Zhejiang regions formed groups, appearing everywhere like autumn grasshoppers. This was indeed true. The merchants of the Great Ming Dynasty even had professional "merchant guilds," simply put, "merchant associations."
The power of the merchant guilds was immense, with their influence felt in various southern regions. After joining a merchant guild, many merchants received their protection. Among them were the Huizhou merchants, Jin merchants, Longyou merchant guild, and Dongting merchant guild. If one was from the Zhejiang region, they would naturally be protected by the Longyou merchant guild.
The wealthy merchants smiled, seeing that they could not escape this situation, and quickly pleaded with the magistrate.
The magistrate, looking at the temple keeper's half-dead state, immediately berated them: "Do not presume to act with impunity just because you have a few stinking coins! Offering incense has nearly led to a death, and also caused financial damage... Do you know what kind of temple this is!"
"We know, we know!"
The wealthy merchants nodded like chicks pecking at rice.
The Qiantang County Magistrate roared, "If you know, how dare you act so wild here! Three feet above your head there are spirits, not to mention that the deity in this temple manifests according to the times and has a peculiar temper. But she is the daughter of a famous general from a previous dynasty, loyal and righteous. Your causing trouble here is like slapping the face of loyalty and righteousness!"
"That is equivalent to slapping my face!"
"Slapping my face is equivalent to slapping the face of the Great Ming Dynasty!"
The wealthy merchants did not understand how the magistrate had managed to bring up the face of the imperial court, but at this moment, they had to show weakness. Although they had the backing of the merchant guild, this incident indeed originated from them.
Rich people are formidable, but powerful people are even more so.
"Therefore, you all bear responsibility for this matter! Look at how you have ruined this temple!"
"How about this, each of you contributes a thousand taels to renovate this temple. Hand the money over to me."
The wealthy merchants smiled obsequiously, "One thousand taels per family, not much, not much, it should be paid, it should be paid."
The Qiantang County Magistrate: "Hmm? One thousand taels per family? Are you dreaming?"
He counted on his fingers: "The people who participated in the fight were all your retainers, right? Your retainers must also pay a thousand taels each. If they can't afford it, you pay for them. Let's see how much money you can come up with."
The wealthy merchants almost spat blood!
Upon hearing this, the temple keeper nearly experienced a medical miracle on the spot.
Too ruthless! Truly a parental official, and the meaning of "parental official" is that they will confiscate your income like parents.
He had only asked for a hundred taels, but he never expected that the magistrate had a grander vision.
"Your Honor, this is extortion. We can take on the Longyou merchant guild and confront you!"
The merchants were naturally indignant, but the Qiantang County Magistrate sneered.
For the government to confront a merchant guild?
Are you out of your minds? The merchant guilds are indeed very powerful, and it is rumored that they even employ cultivators. But would those cultivators dare to provoke the Great Ming Dynasty?
Who accuses this official before the hall?
At this moment, the white-robed monk beside the Qiantang County Magistrate stirred. He walked to the Zhenwu statue, a look of solemnity in his eyes.
He said to the Qiantang County Magistrate, "Amitabha, Your Honor, please have these people leave this temple first. There are some issues here."
With that, golden light flashed on his fingers. He leaped lightly onto the altar and placed a palm on the forehead of the Zhenwu statue.