Chapter 1 Kunlun Palace's Purple Golden Pill

In Kunlun Palace, the Purple Golden Pill, is not for mortals to see; those destined to partake extend their lives, naturally free from hunger and cold.

Of course, Ji Xiang knew what the Purple Golden Pill was, but he never expected that the Golden Elixir he formed would take on the appearance of one.

This thing had always been associated with External Alchemy, but the Golden Elixir Great Dao was an Internal Alchemy path, not relying on external pills, and not the same path as achieving immortality through external means.

External and Internal Alchemy differed in that one sought external power, like the Nine Revolutions Immortal Pill that granted immediate ascension; the other was self-cultivation, entering the Golden Elixir and nascent soul stage to achieve the process of ascending to immortality from mortality, achieving longevity.

"I refined the Purple Golden Pill with intertwined divine fire. Is this because I myself possess the Dao attainment of the Ascension Realm, counting as half an immortal, thus causing this anomaly?"

"Not good, I've become Tang Sanzang! Wait, but this might not be a bad thing."

Although he had turned into the Tang Sanzang-esque "elixir of immortality," Ji Xiang felt that if this news spread, it might attract many demons to seek him out, which would be quite comfortable, saving him the trouble of running around to grind for experience.

I am a male lecturer who is proficient in the nature of demons and adept at making them rush towards me in a frenzy.

The great demons of the mortal realm were all pawns of the cultivators, and demons generally emphasized pomp and circumstance upon their arrival, bringing along all sorts of miscellaneous small demons to display their prestige, creating a seemingly vast and overwhelming horde. In reality, it was like Sun Wukong grinding his golden cudgel; one strike down the mountain could crush forty-five thousand small demons, with Little Drill Wind exclaiming, "A true master!"

They were completely there to deliver heads and good deeds.

You are all mature dungeons; you must learn to come to me yourselves to grind for experience.

"Let's circulate this pill and see what wonders it holds?"

The Golden Elixir was just a characteristic of entering the Golden Elixir Great Dao; the act of burning the Golden Elixir with divine fire did not stop.

For the Golden Elixir, the longer it is burned, the more wonderful the changes; gold entering the fire, refined a hundred times without diminishing, lasts forever.

The Golden Elixir melts into a nascent soul; only then can one "roam the heavens and earth." Afterwards comes the twelve years of Yellow Court and Pre-heaven, three years for the Pearl Falling in the Yellow Court, nine years of Pre-heaven transformation. No matter how high your talent, if you want to quickly pass through these twelve years, you must rely on natural treasures such as the Seven Treasures Yellow Lotus.

When the Purple Golden Pill was circulated, the slightly calmed heavens above the temple began to gradually stir again!

The Purple Golden Pill seemed to become an orifice, disappearing from his body as it circulated. Ji Xiang could not feel its existence, but when his mind immersed into his inner vision, he could clearly see it.

Even the Inner Vision Divine Tablet stirred because of this:

[The Great Dao is easy to obtain, but an orifice is hard to find!]

This inexplicable sentence surprised Ji Xiang. He then tried to continue stimulating the Purple Golden Pill, circulating his breath, adjusting his physical state, drawing all the energy of wind and thunder into his body, causing the Zhenwu statue to shake repeatedly, and the wind and clouds in the heavens changed color.

As expected, under Ji Xiang's micro-management, the Inner Vision Divine Tablet showed some kind of "cultivation method" annotation:

[Purple Golden Pill: In the pre-Qin era, the ancient practitioners, the so-called thing that can achieve immediate ascension!]

[When entering the Golden Elixir realm, one obtains the Jade Purity Qi, transforming the power of ascension and nurturing it within. Thus, Dao attainment nourishes the physical body, and under the effect of Jambudvipa Gold, this Purple Golden Pill is born, becoming a celestial orifice in the human body. Thus, the movements of the celestial gods, the opening and closing of Yin and Yang, are all within this pill.]

[The incense lord who holds the Purple Golden Pill cannot be invaded by evil qi below the Ascension Realm, nor can they be entangled by karma below the Pure Yang Realm. Your stubborn greed, stupidity, and all negative emotions will be reduced by 30%, your cultivation speed will increase by two times, your endurance, stability, and concentration will increase by 30%, your courage and diligence will increase by 20%, and your compassionate and unwavering heart will also increase by 10% (ascension opportunity).]

The compassionate and unwavering heart required the accumulation of thirteen hundred good deeds to achieve enlightenment. Although Ji Xiang had used various secret methods to exploit loopholes and experience the state of twelve hundred good deeds in advance, he had not felt any change.

"So, the compassionate and unwavering heart, apart from feeling something when making great vows, still requires enduring long-term tempering in the mortal world to truly master this heart of ascension. I am still far from it, but unfortunately, the compassionate and unwavering heart is not a mandatory condition; you only need to sense it once and maintain this state of mind to ascend to immortality."

Very few people completely mastered the compassionate and unwavering heart. Even in the legends of the Heavenly Lords of the Daoist sect, only one person was truly willing to help the world selflessly and even be available on call: the Taiyi Great Saving Heavenly Lord.

Ji Xiang continued to read.

[With the Purple Golden Pill, the holder can use "Golden Escape" and "Pill Sword"!]

[Golden Escape (Metal Element Circulation): One of the Thirteen Great Escapes, belonging to the lowest grade among the Five Elements Escape Arts. It can only be used by touching metal objects, at which point one can conceal one's figure and travel several miles in an instant. With profound cultivation, one can travel to places where metal objects gather and can also move and transport metal objects within a short distance, as well as turn stone into gold.]

[Pill Sword (Gathering Qi to Manifest Form): Among the ancient sword immortals, there are five schools, and the Pill Sword is one of them, using the Internal Alchemy method to externally manifest as sword immortal techniques, opening the mouth to emit white light, exhaling to injure people, breathing to transform into a sword.]

[The second Divine Power of the Ascension Realm, the Divine Sword taking form, can be cast more quickly with the help of the Purple Golden Pill.]

[Your mastery of the power of wind and thunder between heaven and earth is more skilled. When using the Purple Golden Pill, you will be more adept at using metal implements. You will cause fatal damage to cultivators with the Wood element. You will be attracted to cultivators with the Water and Earth elements. You will be restrained by cultivators with the Fire element (with the Six Dings Divine Fire and Samadhi True Fire within you, this effect is immune; when cultivators with the Fire element attack, they will help you cultivate faster).]

[With the help of the Purple Golden Pill, you can maximize the use of supernatural powers and spells that surpass your own level! Example: A Earth Immortal can at most cast Small Vehicle-level spells of the Celestial Immortal level. If they use the Purple Golden Pill, they can cast Great Vehicle-level spells of the Celestial Immortal level.]

[One should not kill excessively when possessing the Purple Golden Pill, otherwise a murderous intent will be born. Metal governs killing, and Purple Gold is the noblest among metals. When murderous intent becomes excessive, a faint white color will appear on the outer layer of the Purple Golden Pill. When murderous intent becomes intense, the white color will become more concentrated. At this time, you will be able to comprehend the Dao of Life and Death, and the wishes of the beings killed by the state of murderous intent will be completely shattered, making it impossible for them to use any resurrection spells to revive!]

[Since the Purple Golden Pill is an immortal's pill, those who cultivate it will inevitably have the qualifications to ascend to immortality. Therefore, if murderous intent is too heavy, it will cause the gods in heaven to tremble. At that time, the Heavenly Killing Great Emperor will descend in form and spirit to execute the holder of the Purple Golden Pill!]

After reading about the power of the Purple Golden Pill, Ji Xiang summarized that, in the long run, the most useful thing was that trace of compassionate and unwavering heart. As for the Golden Escape and Pill Sword, it depended on one's own physical cultivation. The stronger one's essence, qi, and spirit, and the higher one's proficiency, the greater the power of these two moves. The benefit of the Pill Sword lineage was that it could injure people from a distance, without needing to carry a weapon in hand.

However, the Purple Golden Pill was something that only those with immortal qualifications could cultivate, so it was destined to not be able to accept too much killing. After all, before ascending to immortality, one should emphasize doing more good deeds and accumulating merits, not committing evil everywhere. So, even when killing demons, one must emphasize that "Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life" and not kill too many.

As for the Heavenly Killing Great Emperor, this name was relatively unfamiliar. Ji Xiang considered some ancient texts and seemed to have a faint impression, but he did not remember it clearly. In short, one could know his responsibilities from the name. Perhaps he was an incarnation of a Heavenly Lord, like the Ghost-Killing Great General incarnated by the Primordial Heavenly Lord. A Heavenly God who could be called a Great Emperor was definitely not of low rank.

He was definitely above the Four Marshals of Tianpeng. Although he had spells to command gods, and could even summon the Primordial Heavenly Lord, those spells might not be useful if the other party actively descended a tribulation.

The other benefits also had their own strengths. For example, with the help of the Purple Golden Pill, one could cast supernatural powers and spells that surpassed one's own level, as well as increase cultivation speed, and the improvement of various states of mind could better resist calamities of annoyance, curses, and poison.

"I made a profit, a big profit!"

.......

The wind and thunder shook, and the heavens gradually darkened. Only bursts of light flashed in the temple. After waiting for a while, the situation in the temple stabilized. However, the Qiantang County Magistrate and his party did not intend to return to the temple just like that.

After all, the events just now seemed like Zhenwu's anger. The Qiantang County Magistrate rebuked the white-robed monk:

"Master, it's not that this official is blaming you, but look at the current situation! This official doesn't even know how to explain it to the temple's god when she returns."

"I think you've caused a big problem this time. You should quickly return to Lingyin Temple to avoid it."

Although people of the Buddhist sect were not afraid of the Taoist gods punishing them, after all, they were not in the same system, but this time the commotion was indeed a bit too big. The white-robed monk also showed a look of surprise and suspicion. He also wanted to enter the temple to see the situation, but not only the Qiantang County Magistrate, but even the merchants of the Longyou Merchant Guild hurriedly stopped him.

"You can't go in! We can't take another one!"

"That's right, we've been offering incense for so many years, and nothing has happened. Lord Zhenwu has blessed us to be safe and sound. You, Master, are good; you almost made Lord Zhenwu descend in person!"

The wealthy merchants winked and mocked the Qiantang County Magistrate by the way:

"County Magistrate, this master was brought by you. Now that it's become like this, the damage is much greater than the damage we caused by fighting just now, right!"

"That's right, County Magistrate, we all contributed several thousand taels each. You brought the master here and made it like this, so shouldn't you also contribute several thousand taels of silver?"

The wealthy merchants certainly couldn't miss this opportunity to squeeze the county magistrate, and they were very elated. However, the Qiantang County Magistrate was not an ordinary person, and immediately said:

"That's fine, then give back all the money you gave me, and I alone can contribute ten thousand taels."

The wealthy merchants immediately became anxious: "How can that be? That's all our money. You're using our money to act as your own money, and then taking it out to repair the temple?"

Qiantang County Magistrate: "Is this money in my hands?"

Wealthy merchants: "Yes."

Qiantang County Magistrate: "Then isn't it the money I contributed? Is that not right? You don't think there's none of my money in these thousand taels, do you? Gathering crowds to make trouble, according to the Great Ming Law..."

The wealthy merchants were stunned, but some people were not convinced and said stiffly: "Then you also took bribes! According to the Great Ming Law, more than five hundred strings of cash will result in a hundred strokes of the cane and three years of penal servitude! Aren't you afraid of losing your position?"

The Qiantang County Magistrate clapped his hands and then spread them out: "You said this official took bribes, but this official's money has already been used to repair the temple. This official is pure and clean, can you find even an ounce of silver on this official?"

"Not to mention five hundred strings of cash, you can't even find a penny."

The wealthy merchants were dumbfounded, while the Qiantang County Magistrate said that he was a pure and honest official, as the heavens could testify!

"Don't be unconvinced. If you want to call the Longyou Merchant Guild to help you vent your anger, then go ahead. I've only heard of peasants rebelling, but I've never heard of merchants causing any waves!"

"Go ahead!"

The wealthy merchants were of course unconvinced, their faces unsightly, and they left angrily. At this moment, they were no longer opponents fighting each other. Whenever there was friction with the government, they would of course unite against the outside!

Although we fought, putting aside the facts, isn't the government at fault at all!

"County Magistrate, the mountains may not turn, but the water will. We'll meet again sooner or later!"

The wealthy merchants left here to gather support. The Qiantang County Magistrate snorted a few times: "This group of merchants, not engaging in production every day, only thinking about how to make money. If I don't fleece them, they won't know how to restrain themselves."

The white-robed monk then recited a Buddhist phrase: "Your Honor, greed is a kind of desire. I hope you don't be too greedy."

"There will be no good end."

The Qiantang County Magistrate gave him a sidelong glance: "Master, you yourself are also very greedy. If you weren't greedy, how could this kind of thing have happened today?"

The white-robed monk repeatedly pleaded guilty: "This little monk is already repenting."

The Qiantang County Magistrate then said: "Master, some things cannot be seen on the surface. Look at these merchants, coming to offer incense to the Great Emperor Zhenwu every day, hoping not to be killed by demons and ghosts, hoping that Zhenwu will protect them so that they can accumulate more wealth, until they empty out this Great Ming Dynasty."

The white-robed monk was puzzled: "How can mere merchants stir up trouble?"

Qiantang County Magistrate: "Hmph! I just said that peasants can indeed rebel, but the harm that merchants do to the country is very serious!"

"Who in this world doesn't know what the Longyou Merchant Guild is secretly doing? They ignore the imperial court's ban and sell large quantities of high-quality steel to the Franks, even breaking the imperial court's ban and exporting the high-quality steel in the name of cookware after casting it into iron pots."

"You say, this merchant guild can grow so big and have such a great reputation in the Jiangzhe area, do they have cannons bought from the Franks in their hands? Are there any cultivators behind them who want to subvert the imperial court and occupy the mountains as their own?"

The white-robed monk opened his mouth, only to be shocked and not know what to say.

"Also, it is said that this group of merchants is looking for a good thing. As long as they have that thing, the wealth of the world will be gathered in their hands. Not only this group of merchants, but also the Eight Imperial Merchants, the Huizhou merchants... the news of these merchant guilds is interconnected, and they are all looking for..."

The Qiantang County Magistrate narrowed his eyes: "Master, have you ever heard of the Cornucopia?"
作者：牧童听竹
Mu Tong Ting Zhu