CHAPTER 49: 049 TRUE IMMORTAL BLESSING

Shi Feiyang was bewildered by the scolding he heard, not knowing where the sound had come from and thinking he’d been discovered while practicing here.

He concentrated, looking around to see if anything was amiss, then began to suspect he had entered a Demon Realm.

It took him quite a while to calm down before he could begin playing again.

On the other hand, Xiankong Ancestor was annoyed that his scolding at Zheng Yuan Gui had interrupted the "divine music" and waited a long while without hearing it resume. He didn’t understand the mystery of the Earth Cold Bell and worried that the immortals would blame him and he would never hear it again.

He thought his disciples had too poor a foundation, none were worthy of hearing this divine music, so he sent them all out and stayed alone in front of the bell, focusing his mind and sincerely praying, "Lower Realm junior Lin You is fortunate to hear the mystical music from the Immortal Realm, a blessing of three lifetimes. Just now it was my lesser disciple’s shallow foundation that showed signs of deviation. It was a necessary action and not an intention to disturb the divine music, please be lenient..."

After praying three times over, the bell suddenly rang.

Shi Feiyang once again moved the strings of the zither with his mind and reestablished the link with the bell. This time, Shi Feiyang heard Xiankong Ancestor’s prayers.

At the sound of the bell, Xiankong Ancestor was overjoyed, thinking his prayers had worked, "Great mercy from the True Immortal..."

When Shi Feiyang heard someone speaking, he was startled and stopped playing the zither, breaking the connection with the bell, and once again he couldn’t hear anything.

After several attempts, he figured out through the intermittent prayers that someone was listening to him play the zither. The other party seemed very humble, addressing him as "Upper Immortal," "Upper Realm True Immortal," and "senior."

He wondered how, with the area sealed so tightly, anyone could hear the zither. Was there really a person who heard his playing, or had he fallen into a Demon Realm, thus creating illusions?

Because the zither only connected with the bell while he was playing, he could hear Xiankong Ancestor’s voice. When the sound of the zither and the voice mixed, it wasn’t clear, and when the zither stopped, the connection to the bell broke, and he could hear nothing.

He thought for a moment and began casting. This time he didn’t produce the sound of the zither but natural sounds like the wind, rain, thunder, and flowing water, mixing together to form human speech. It was like a painting that, upon a close look, was made up of many bananas, radishes, cabbages, and tomatoes, but from a distance, it formed a human figure. When he listened intently, it was like the roaring wind, pouring rain, flashing lightning, and surging waves; roughly heard, it seemed a Heavenly God was speaking between heaven and earth.

"Who are you?"

Xiankong Ancestor heard it and was instantly elated. All this while, it had been one-sided with the other party performing, and he passively receiving. Now that the other party had taken the initiative to ask who he was, they could have two-way communication. If he could receive the pity of the "True Immortal" and get some guidance, it would be far better than trying to comprehend through the music and making blind guesses.

He quickly said, "Junior Lin You, I am but an unknown figure from the Lower Realm."

Shi Feiyang heard this voice claiming to be Lin You and immediately knew it was Xiankong Ancestor. He was startled: What situation was this? How could Xiankong Ancestor hear my zither music and mistake me for an Upper Realm True Immortal, calling himself an unknown figure from the Lower Realm?

He took a deep breath and asked again, "How are you able to hear my zither music?"

Xiankong Ancestor explained, "Junior had the fortune to acquire an Immortal Mansion at the North Pole years ago. Inside the mansion, there was an Earth Cold Bell left by a predecessor. These days, the bell has been ringing of its own accord, producing divine music. I have heard it contains the ultimate truths of the Heavenly Dao, and I have been diligently pondering..."

He quickly sought forgiveness, "Just now, I did not mean to interrupt the elder’s rendition of immortal music. It’s only because I have an incompetent disciple who, lacking the fortune to appreciate it, was about to deviate into insanity. I spoke out to scold him and sent him away, and that inadvertently disturbed the elder. I earnestly hope for your forgiveness."

After some conversation, Shi Feiyang understood the reason: his Cave Spirit Zither, for some unknown reason, had resonated with the Earth Cold Bell, and his practice of the past few days had been overheard. Thinking to himself, he felt he had narrowly escaped discovery, thankful that the Xiankong Ancestor belonged to a minor sect. Even though his mana was strong, it was limited; he focused more on spells than the Dao, leading to such a misunderstanding. Had it been a member of the orthodox Mysterious Sect or someone versed in the theory of music, his ruse might have been seen through.

Even so, he still suspected this place to be part of the Demon Realm, so he put away the Cave Spirit Zither and left the cave, randomly asking a disciple from the palace, learning that indeed, for the past few days, they had been listening to the bell outside Shuanghua Palace and vividly described the experience.

Only then was Shi Feiyang certain it was true.

He suddenly cut off the conversation, and the Xiankong Ancestor, thinking he had offended the "Upper Immortal," reflected upon his own mistakes and prayed repeatedly.

Shi Feiyang returned to the cave and resumed speaking, "It is very difficult for the side paths of the Lower Realm to achieve the Dao, and the path to immortal cultivation is also filled with many twists and turns. Of the thousands, hardly one will achieve successful ascension; most will perish from heavenly tribulations or human calamities."

The Xiankong Ancestor hurriedly agreed, also frustrated about this. The reason he had stayed here for hundreds of years was for fear of attracting disaster by incurring karma elsewhere. Human calamities could be avoided, but heavenly tribulations were hard to escape; when the time came, they would still dissipate into smoke and have body and soul destroyed.

Hearing the Upper Realm True Immortal say this, he quickly sought instruction on the technique for crossing tribulations.

Shi Feiyang knew nothing about tribulation-crossing techniques. Everything he currently knew - the Heavenly Book Supplement, while powerful, belonged to the side paths and would not surpass the Xiankong Ancestor. Wei Fengniang’s notes on cultivation, Heavenly Mountain Sect’s Daoist techniques were also side paths. Plus, Brooyinca’s Demon Cult Techniques were even less reliable.

There were also the Double Scripture, which Sikong Hu might have recited incorrectly at critical junctures; he had only grasped the general principles and used those to cultivate his inner core, disregarding specific cultivation methods altogether.

These things might fool others, but not the Xiankong Ancestor, who could easily see through the pretense within a few words.

If he could take out the Heavenly Book from the Jade Box and bluff a few words, that would be something; however, unfortunately, it couldn’t be taken out now, and even if it could, it was all written in Ancient Tadpole Script, which would still require deciphering...

The only thing he could make use of was a few pages of paper he had gotten from Lady Bao Xiang.

Shi Feiyang pondered for a moment, then spoke using the Spirit Zither, "To cross tribulations and avoid disasters is not difficult. Immortals often use either the Heavenly Gang 36 Transformations or the Earth Evil 72 Transformations. Which do you want to learn?"

The Xiankong Ancestor was overjoyed, "I would like to learn the Heavenly Gang 36 Transformations."

Shi Feiyang couldn’t understand; in "Journey to the West," even Sun Wukong wanted to learn more, yet this guy chose to learn less.

"Why have you chosen the Heavenly Gang 36 Transformations?"

The Xiankong Ancestor replied, "I belong to a side path, and my cultivation technique inherently has many deficiencies. It would be difficult to understand the great Dao in my lifetime. ’Heavenly Gang’ intimates being endowed with qi from heaven; it sounds more magnificent and upright, so I wish to learn this one."

"Very well, I shall teach you. The number of heavenly transformations is thirty-six, and the number of earthly transformations is seventy-two, because the Heavenly Dao operates and circulates across more than ten degrees, surpassing the positions of the heavenly stars; the Earth Method is subordinate to heaven. The Heavenly Dao brings it forth while the Earth Dao completes it, with earth energy changing every five days..."

Shi Feiyang recited these lines from the paper and then asked the Xiankong Ancestor, "What do you think these lines of scripture mean?"