Pawn Crossing the River

Before Jiazi, it was indeed a long time ago. It was probably the end of the four great sects' coming to power and the early days of the fifth dynasty's great sects. Qingwei Zhenren was a candidate for the seventh dynasty's great sect, which was separated by three generations. Such a long time is enough for many secrets to be buried deep in the pile of old papers.

For example, the investigation results of Fenglinzhou Taoist House, not to mention Master Qingwei, even the current headmaster of Fenglinzhou Taoist House were not aware of it. After all, in sixty years, just the headmaster had changed twenty times. Three, the head master has also changed twelve, and the chief deputy palace master, second deputy palace master and other deputy palace masters are also changed frequently, mainly to prevent Fenglinzhou Daofu from being isolated overseas and forming a separatist regime with a big tail. potential.

Just because of such frequent inheritance and handover, it is inevitable that many omissions will occur. The relevant records should still be preserved, but those who are qualified to consult these records will not take the initiative to look at them. With all the people who experienced it personally passing away, it has become a secret that no one knows.

Master Qingwei asked: "What then?"

Master Qingfang said: "Neither the Dao Sect nor the Holy Court has a complete solution. They can only strengthen the seal. The specific sealing method is controlled by the Ise Shrine and the royal family. , Toyotomi Prime Minister’s Office came up too late and did not get in-depth contact with this matter.”

Master Qingwei was not surprised by this answer. With the Taoist style of doing things, if he could solve it himself, he would never invite outsiders to participate. Of course, there are other objective factors. For example, the relationship between Daomen and the Holy Court was on the rise at that time, and they were relatively close and had frequent contacts.

"What exactly is the evil fire in your mouth?" Master Qingwei asked again.

Master Qingfang replied: "Actually, the Taoist sect's 'yin fire' and the Holy Court's 'epileptic fire' are not accurate enough. They only emphasize a certain characteristic of this flame and cannot be generalized."

"The so-called 'yin fire' is a term that has long existed in Taoist classics. It specifically refers to the fire disaster that the immortal will face in the second heavenly disaster. It burns from under the Yongquan point of the body, penetrates directly into the Niyuan Palace, and the five internal organs. Turning to ashes, all limbs decaying, and hundreds of years of hard work in Taoism are all illusions. But at that time, Fenglinzhou Taoist Temple just borrowed the name "Yin Fire", which does not mean that this kind of flame is the legendary Yin Fire. If it is under Furong Mountain. All of them are Yin Fire that can kill immortals, so who dares to talk about the word "seal"? The reason why Fenglinzhou Taoist Prefecture borrowed the name "Yin Fire" at that time was mainly to point out this kind of flame. It contains a lot of yin energy, and it is different from ghost fire and ghost fire. This is the essence of flame."

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"As for the 'epileptic fire' of the Holy Court, it points out the characteristics of this flame. Anyone who is contaminated by this flame will go crazy. After turning from a human into a monster, his temperament will change drastically, and he will even deny his relatives. In the words of the Holy Court, Generally speaking, people infected with "epileptic fire" have a strong tendency to destroy and self-destruct, and "epileptic fire" can also be stored in people's hearts, like a dark fire of charcoal, which seems to have been extinguished. If the time is right, it will resurgence immediately and will be difficult to eradicate. The Cardinal who participated in the investigation at the time once said: 'Despair and madness will lead to 'epilepsy'."

"The reason why I call it evil fire is because it combines the essence and characteristics emphasized by the Taoist Sect and the Holy Court. More importantly, after I became a monster, I discovered some things that neither the Taoist disciple nor the Holy Court Bishop could detect. Something special." Yagyu Zongzheng interrupted: "Master, you were already transformed into a demon when you participated in this matter?"

Master Qingbo clasped his hands together and said, "That's right. However, I had just transformed into a demon at that time. I didn't have a strong demonic heart. I could suppress the demonic nature with Buddhism and maintain my human form. Therefore, I was not considered a Buddhist demon by Mount Hiei yet and could participate." this investigation.”

"That's it." Yagyu Munamasa nodded, "Master, please continue."

Master Qingbo continued: "This unique thing that only monsters can detect is thoughts. They are very subtle and hidden deep in the flames. For living people, they are almost impossible to detect, but for monsters, they are just like ears. The whispers of others can confuse people and lead them to complete madness and destruction. This kind of whispering is not constant at the beginning, but it can be subtly penetrated by water. As you two can see, I can still maintain my original appearance before Jiazi. , after Jiuzi, I can only maintain half a human form, and I am already half human and half monster. Maybe in more than ten years, I will completely turn into a monster and lose the ability to communicate with people normally. "

"That's why I call it the flame of the evil god. The thoughts hidden deep in the flame are like the legendary people who specialize in and The demon king Bo Xun who was against the Buddha, or the Lord of Chaos who fought against the goddess and the supreme will in the legend of the Holy Court, is an evil god, and it is definitely not comparable to ordinary immortals or gods. He hides under Furong Mountain, every other period Time sprays evil fire and corrupts the world, and the Yin Qi in the flames will remain in the world, and the entire Fenglin Continent will become what it is today. "

The expressions of Master Qingwei and Somasa Yagyu became solemn.

If there really is such a existence below Fenglin Continent, then it would be difficult for the Dao Sect, Xiangfu, Tianmen, and Fenglin Continent Buddhist Sect to stay out of the matter.

Master Qingwei was silent for a moment and said slowly: "The flame needs fuel. The evil god just planted the kindling. Those incense wishes generated by obsession, despair, and resentment became the wood for the evil fire to burn. The evil fire will Infinitely magnify the effect of incense and aspiration.”

Master Qingfang nodded and said: "That's right. Master Shi Zhouzhai mentioned that after every volcanic eruption, ashes like snow will fill the earth. Those ashes are the fire sown by the evil god. They fall on the body and merge with people. Generation after generation. According to legend, it will not be extinguished, and war will greatly encourage the spread of evil fire, which is why there are so many evil spirits in Fenglinzhou today."

Master Qingwei smiled: "Master, do you want to persuade me to stop fighting?"

Master Qingbo just clasped his hands and bowed his head without saying a word.

Master Qingwei said: "We did not initiate this war on our own initiative. Shi Zhouzhai has more say in this regard than me."

Yagyu Zongzheng said: "For the past two hundred years, Toyotomi Prime Minister's Office has always been the master of Fenglinzhou. However, for their own selfish interests, the Zunbang faction sought to ascend and replace the Prime Minister, and did not hesitate to go to war. That's why the Prime Minister's Office was established to suppress the rebellion. Hedaomen was invited to put down the rebellion."

Although Yagyu Munamasa is nominally only a swordsmanship teacher in Toyotomi Prime Minister's Palace, he is after all a powerful swordsman with countless disciples, most of whom are in high positions. The current regent Sekibaro Toyotomi Hidemo can also be regarded as his disciple. Moreover, he had close friendship with the late elder Ii Naosada and others, and had great influence in the Prime Minister's Office. His words can indeed represent the attitude of the Prime Minister's Office. This was also the reason why Master Qingwei treated him with great courtesy. Master Qingwei took over and said: "If we want to cease the war and make peace, it is also the Zunban faction who takes the initiative to seek peace. It should not be proposed by us. Moreover, the Taoist sect is not the one who speaks for me, Mr. Li. All decisions are made by Jinque after discussion and research." , I am only responsible for implementing Jin Que’s decision. Even if I want to stop the war, I have to report it to Jin Que, who will decide whether to stop the war.”

Master Qingfang raised his head and looked at Master Qingwei: "What do you mean by Master Qingwei?"

Master Qingwei said calmly: "Stop war with war, stop war with war."

…

Xiu Jing camp.

Zhang Yuelu found a map of Fenglinzhou, and based on the records of the four fires, marked the area covered by ashes on the map.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the ashes of the four fires just happened to cover the entire Fenglin Continent.

In the most outrageous case, ashes drifted all the way to Mutsu and Ezo in the far north with the monsoon wind.

Zhang Yuelu doesn't think this is a coincidence, but has some profound meaning.

Judging from the map, Mount Furong is located in Kai and Suruga countries, close to Wu Zang country, and Ise is also very close, just separated by the distant river. and Three Rivers, the places most affected by the ash. The difference is that no large-scale wars broke out in places such as Musashi, Mikawa, and Yuejiang, but several battles broke out between the Xiangfu army and the rebels of the Zunbang faction in Ise, with blood flowing everywhere and bones filling the fields, so Today's Ise is filled with gloomy air, and evil spirits and ghosts appear one after another.

Even if the Taoist army has initially entered the territory of Ise, it can only divert the Yin Qi through hundreds of extra large "Yin Dividing Halberds". The principle is similar to flood discharge, but it does not truly eliminate the Yin Qi.

Zhang Yuelu has a feeling that these Yin Qi seem to have already existed, but they are usually dormant underground, or in other places, such as between mountains and rivers, in the earth's Qi, and then under specific conditions, such as large-scale wars, dead people, etc. , these Yin Qi will emerge and combine with the Qi of death and resentment to form a specific environment similar to the cave in the ghost country.

Generally speaking, under the impact of the huge Yang Qi in the Yang world, Yin Qi cannot survive for a long time. It is like a pool of water on the ground that will be dried up soon. But if it is a lake, its existence time will be greatly reduced. Extended, will not be easily dried out.

Today's Ise is such a "lake", where huge yin energy gathers and can even fight yang energy. The only way to forcefully divert and evacuate the stagnant yin energy here is through manpower.

People belong to Yang, and their popularity also belongs to Yang energy, so densely populated cities can also resist the invasion of Yin energy.

Zhang Yuelu raised his head from the map and murmured: "No wonder Jinque didn't agree to actually control Fenglinzhou back then. This place is just a muddy pond. Once you step on it, you will sink in. It will be difficult to get out again. "

"Master Mu." Zhang Yuelu shouted.

Mu Jin immediately walked in: "Deputy Hall Master."

Zhang Yuelu ordered: "Ask Assistant Shen, when will the master of the army come back?"

Mu Jin said: "I asked just now. The real person in charge of the army will return to the camp no later than midnight at the latest. Calculating the time, the deputy hall master Tianyuan should be back at about that time."

Zhang Yuelu said "Yes": "Notify me immediately after they come back."