??

  Zhou Ziyuan's theory of stealing treasure has historical records as evidence, and Cha Wenbin is quite confident about it. The discovery of this secret passage further confirms Gu Qinghe's conjecture.

  Like night, the temple door still lingers with the last abandoned people's devout offerings. The leaves on the ground are mixed with the ashes of paper money, and the Buddha is telling about the remaining breath of this ancient building that is about to fall. How can a thief's temple really bless his children? This grand and luxurious building is just a cloth used to cover shame.

  The disciple of Longhushan, the Taoist teachings over a thousand years ago were so prosperous that Zhou Ziyuan, just an ordinary disciple, could turn his hand into clouds and cover his hand with rain, setting up such a situation for people thousands of years later.

  It's time to open it and let the world witness it.

  "He said in a low voice: 'Brother, I'm here, maybe it's not too late...'"

  A bronze mirror with eight trigrams was turned over, and Zha Wenbin held it moving, comparing it several times with the bright moon in the sky. Finally, the mirror framed the moon. A circle of light on the ground slowly moved with his hand, and wherever the light went, it was a pale color. To break the Eight Trigrams Soul-Confusing Array, one had to break the atmosphere here. The so-called atmosphere was just an eye-blocking technique. In the past, Zhuge Kongming used a pile of stones to trap Cao Cao's army of 100,000, and it was the same principle.

  When people's line of sight is disrupted, they will lose their direction, such as with fog, or trees and rocks. After losing their line of sight, people will instinctively look for reference points, which are arranged in the sequence of Qimen Dunjia, one ring tightly connected to another, making people unconsciously fall into these originally motionless routes, ultimately resulting in a five-mile radius of land that can make you walk hundreds of miles without reaching the end.

  Zhou Zi-yuan cleverly utilized the eaves and coffins in this grand temple as a blindfold; moreover, since it was facing water, the humidity was extremely heavy. Every night, the hall would be shrouded in fog, thus creating a simple yet practical Bagua formation.

  But all of this is just a small trick, someone who understands the strange door and hidden room can break it in less than half an hour. Zhou Zi Yuan naturally wants to understand, how could such a meticulous person make such a mistake? As the saying goes, "people in the same line of work are destined to be enemies", the move Zhou Zi Yuan made is a dead end: that is to use the descendants who have been worshiping him for generations and trap them inside this ancestral hall.

  The first time he entered this place, Cha Wenbin discovered that the ancestral hall was extremely gloomy, as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at him every moment. Those lonely souls and wild ghosts that seemed like idle clouds and wild cranes were all descendants of the Zhou family throughout the ages. After they died, they were moved here, seemingly enjoying the highest funeral rites from their clansmen, but in reality, they were just sacrifices to Zhou Ziyuan.

  Birth, aging, illness and death, reincarnation into adulthood, this is a complete journey of a person's life. Why do the dead souls in the ancestral hall not reincarnate but instead wander around here? Obviously, there is something that traps them! Only after death can one understand all this, those who sacrificed for their clansmen during their lifetime, after death suddenly realized they fell into the trap set by their ancestors. This vengeful energy will only become more and more ferocious, and eventually, this village of scholars will become a barren land.

  But the village of Zhuangyuan has been prosperous for a thousand years, and this small mountain village, which occasionally has children who are honored on the golden list, is even remembered by several emperors, but the feng shui pattern of this temple is completely different.

  This was the most incomprehensible thing for Cha Wenbin, until that day he personally climbed to the legendary Eight Trigrams Pavilion on Huaiyang Longhu, which Fu Xi had gained insight from the Luo River Map.

  Five thousand years have passed, taking away time, but leaving behind memories of history.

  The platform is two meters high and covers an area of over ten mu, with water on all sides, making it a pleasant place to visit. Here, the first light of Chinese civilization once rose, and later generations rebuilt an eight-trigram pavilion based on legend. On top of the pavilion are two stone turtles, each with a bluestone stele, one inscribed "Opening Things and Completing Mist" and the other "Pre-Heavenly Essence". In front of the pavilion is a bluestone abacus, scattered with abacus beads. At first glance, it resembles both the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams, but upon closer inspection, it is neither, being what is known as the "Abacus Stone", an ancient puzzle that has endured for centuries.

  "The Stone Abacus" was the divine object used by Fuxi when he drew the trigrams, how could the profound heavenly principles be understood by ordinary people? Gradually, this mysterious place also became a tourist attraction. At that time, Huaiyang Longhu was not as crowded with tourists as it is today, Zha Wenbin sat alone in the Bagua Pavilion for three days and three nights, according to local legend, on that day there was a young man wearing a purple golden Daoist robe, his eyes closed tightly, between his eyebrows, a faint green aura rose majestically, three days and three nights without moving, just like an old monk in meditation.

  Past travelers and working villagers all stopped to watch, but in private they would discuss it using derogatory terms like "mental illness", without realizing how many people over the centuries had sat cross-legged on that Eight Trigrams Platform with a single-minded devotion to the Tao, nor did they realize how many people over the centuries had similarly fallen short, reflected in the still waters of Dragon Lake.

  The Way, this word that can't be clearly explained or described, Laozi only used one sentence "The Way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way" to make those who seek the Way jump into the Taiji circle like fish crossing a river, where they can't find an exit even in their lifetime. Yet, in this circle, there still emerged people like Zhang Daoling who shocked heaven and earth and moved ghosts and spirits.

  Myths are not non-existent, legends are not entirely untrustworthy, and the countless relics left behind in the Zhongnan Mountains have been telling people that Taoist cultivation has been continuing all along.

  He just wanted to come and take a look, sit for a while, and experience the scene where Fuxi had an epiphany. Unbeknownst to him, this one moment of closed eyes turned into three days and three nights. Twenty years passed in the blink of an eye, and Cha Wenbin grew from that abandoned infant snatched by the mountain goblin into a handsome young man; twenty years, and the changes in the waters of Longtan Lake were just another cycle of sand and stone, but Cha Wenbin aged ten years in one day.

  Three days later, it was just a blink of an eye for him, this was Cha Wenbin's first real meditation. It is said that Ling Zhengyang didn't meditate for two days at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain until he was 27 years old, but he actually did it five years earlier than his master and even added one more day and night.

  The existence of the sacrum is a topic of debate, but entering this state of meditation relies not only on innate talent, but also on opportunity. For thousands of years, countless people have practiced spiritual cultivation, yet those who can truly attain enlightenment are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. What is entering the Tao? It means that with one closed eye, all the pores on your body open, and the energy of heaven and earth fills you up, transforming everything into usable spiritual energy. The movements of the stars and constellations above, the mountains and rivers below, are all within reach in your mind's eye. Your feet can tread on clouds and travel thousands of miles in an instant. The universe is under your control, and the infinite Tao flows into your heart like a mighty river.

  Open your eyes, and there is a pool of inverted images in the lake. The pale yellow moon is gently swaying in the emerald waves, folding, curving, and changing. Raise your head to take a look, and the moon in the sky is still round, it's still that same moon, but the moon in the water is ultimately just its reflection, no matter how beautiful or round it is, only the water changes.

  That night, he understood many things, such as why Ye Qiu appeared, why there was that invisible stone, and why Xiao Yu was like that. In fact, it wasn't them who had changed, but the world around them. Xiao Yu was still the same Xiao Yu, and even if he forgot his past, he was still himself. The change was only in the surrounding world. This is the origin, and also the path that cultivators must take: to see through things.

  One year later, in this Zhuangyuan Village, in front of this ancestral hall, Cha Wenbin finally understood why this place of evil spirits could still prosper for a thousand years. One year ago, he stood in front of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, looking at the thousands of terracotta soldiers buried underground, and he understood the rise of the Great Qin Empire, the sweep of the six states' war was because of the millions of iron knights under the command of Ying Zheng.

  Because of the killings, there are ups and downs; also because of the evil spirits, there is good fortune. The yin and yang are mutually complementary, just like the moon in the water, when the moon is full, it wanes, when the water is full, it overflows. Zhou Ziyu was a great scholar of his generation, he understood that evil spirits can harm people, but also create people, just like a sharp dagger, which can stab the king of Qin, or build a new empire.

  Sha Qi is nothing to be feared, for all mortals have grievances. Nothing in life can be perfect, and with resentment comes grievance, and with grievance comes Sha Qi. This is a natural adjustment, the law of change in all things, and it exists just like human kindness, and since it exists, it must be reasonable.

  It's just that the terrible thing is human heart, and this evil spirit is like a sharp dagger. Some people use Tao to dissolve this dagger, while others use this evil spirit to kill people. However, Zhou Ziyuan chose an unprecedented path. He was born in Bagua Tai, surrounded by two mountains, Qinglong and Baihu, which were enough to trap these lost souls. Then, with some magic spells, he could easily control them for his own use. Thus, there emerged an ancient custom that all descendants of Shuangtuan Village had to recognize their ancestors by dripping blood.

  Why? It wasn't until later that Zha Wenbin learned that it was a strange technique originating from the ancient Qiang tribe, which came from the blood sacrifice and witchcraft.

  The middle finger of a person is pure yang blood, which is the most concentrated place for human essence. Those who can enter the ancestral hall after death are all recognized by dripping blood. When they were still alive, Zhou Ziyuan had already begun to get familiar with these people who would accompany him in the future. After their death, their refined blood was already transformed by Zhou Ziyuan and could no longer leave his world.

  "He and our Master Cao's disciple have a similar technique in drawing life symbols, but we use the eight characters, while he uses essence and blood." He Tuo said to me: "Xiao Yi, remember that most of those who use human blood for their spells are heretics with evil ways. If someone with ill intentions takes your middle finger's blood and adds a spell, even Da Luo Jin Xian can't save you."

  "What happened next?" I asked him.

  "Later..."

  PS: (Dear friends, I posted a dynamic on Weibo that my lumbar disc herniation compressed the nerve, and I fell to the ground recently, so I couldn't move. Following doctor's orders, I've been bedridden for a week and barely able to get out of bed. Today, I'm starting to update again.)

  Provide full-text online without pop-up windows, update faster and better article quality. If you think the website is good, please share it more! Thank you for your support, dear readers!

  High-speed premiere of the last Taoist 2 latest chapter, this chapter is the address if you think that this chapter is not bad please don't forget to recommend it to your QQ group and Weibo friends!