The incident in Zhou County had ended, and Wu Bo had died at the hands of the Flying Stiff. Li Mu finally had some free time.
Over the past few months, the cases in Yangqiu County had come one after another. It was rare for him to have so much free time.
Since there was nothing to do, Li Mu could calm down and think about his own cultivation.
In ancient times, humans began to cultivate. The birth of Daoism was less than a thousand years ago. Before Daoism, there were many different kinds of cultivation methods. Today, there were many cultivation methods other than Buddhism.
However, Daoism's supernatural powers were mysterious and unpredictable. It was recognized by the cultivation world. As time passed, other cultivation methods were gradually eliminated or became a minority.
The foundation of Daoism's cultivation was to control one's own body. That was why there were Soul Refining and Soul Consolidating.
The order of Soul Refining and Soul Consolidating could be reversed. It was even possible to skip Soul Refining and go straight to Soul Consolidating.
Refining one's soul was to better control one's body. During the process of refining one's soul, one's mana would also increase by seven leaps, which was equivalent to a month or even several months of guiding and refining qi. As a result, very few cultivators would skip this step.
However, Li Mu and Liu Hanyan were different.
They already had souls in their bodies. They could just refine them directly. Li Mu's soul had been scattered and needed to be reunited. The first four souls were already difficult to reunite. The last three souls had to be born from evil, love, and lust. It was much more difficult than normal people's Soul Refining.
The last three souls needed long-term planning. Li Mu could choose to reunite his soul first. When the time was right, he could make up for the three souls.
However, if he did that, his cultivation path would always be flawed before he could fully refine the seven souls. His mana would not be as strong as those who had refined the seven souls.
However, this was something that could not be helped. After careful consideration, Li Mu decided to proceed with the last part of his cultivation.
Soul Consolidating was similar to Soul Refining. It was a process of refining one's three souls. When all three souls were refined, one could try to fuse them into a Primordial Spirit and break through to the Assembled Spirit State.
Li Mu flipped open the Daoist book in his hands. On the second page was the method and incantation to condense the soul.
"The third day of the month, the thirteenth day of the month, and the evening of the twenty-third day of the month. It's at this time, the three souls are uncertain, the spirit is floating, the light of the fetus is released, and the spirit is disturbed …"
"Supreme Profound Palace, Deep Yellow, Beginning Green, Inner Refinement of the Three Souls, Tranquil Fetal Light, Divine Treasure Jade Room, Born with me, Do not act rashly …"
The best time to refine the seven spirits was at the beginning of the moon, the end of the moon, and the end of the moon. The best time to refine the three spirits was at the third, thirteenth, and twenty-third evening of the month. Today was the fifth, so he had missed the best time to condense his soul. He had to wait for another seven days.
Li Mu searched Old Wang's bookshelf to see if there was any way for him to quickly collect love and lust. He didn't expect that he actually found it.
According to an obscure Daoist book, some cultivators felt that the process of refining the three spirits was too slow and would choose to directly disperse them.
After that, they would enter the secular world and specifically seduce ignorant girls. After cheating them of their feelings and bodies for a short period of time, they would heartlessly abandon them, making these girls hate them. This way, they would be able to collect love, lust, and hatred at the same time, condensing the final three spirits in one go.
Li Mu shook his head and sighed, "This is too much of a scumbag."
Although doing this didn't harm people or seek wealth, who knew how many innocent girls' feelings it would play with? Li Mu's conscience didn't allow him to do this.
But if he didn't do this, there would only be one way to obtain love and lust.
Could this be a hint from the heavens to him, a hint for him to marry a few more wives?
Li Mu sat in the duty room thinking about this problem. Two bald heads appeared at the door of the duty room. The little bald head was Huiyuan, and the big bald head was Xuandu.
Li Mu remembered that he had promised Xuandu to treat the abbot of the Jinshan Temple. He stood up and said, "Master Xuandu can just send a little monk to inform me. There's no need to come in person …"
Xuandu smiled and asked, "Young benefactor, do you have time to go to the Jinshan Temple now?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "I'll go and inform the boss."
Li Mu went to the duty room to inform Li Qing that he was going to the Jinshan Temple. He found that she was not in the yamen, so he had to inform Constable Zhou and ask Huiyuan to accompany him up the mountain.
Huiyuan called Xuandu Shishu, but he was not a monk of the Jinshan Temple.
There were six Taoist sects and four Buddhist sects.
To be precise, whether it was the six Taoist sects or the four Buddhist sects, they were not a sect, but a faction.
Fu-lu School was good at Fu-lu. In addition to the Ancestral Court, there were countless Taoist temples, all of which were branches of Fu-lu School.
The difference between the four Buddhist sects was that they cultivated different scriptures. The doctrines of each sect were not very different, but the scriptures they believed in were different. Their cultivation habits were also very different.
The Mind Sect believed that everything was like a dream or an illusion. Everything was empty. Cultivators needed to forget their desires and surpass themselves.
The Nirvana Sect believed in Nirvana, which talked about life and death, and understanding one's nature.
The Suffering Sect and the Yan Sect, one advocated asceticism and was strict with oneself. The other was detached from the world and did not teach others. Their influence was far less than the first two sects.
The Ancestral Court of the Heart Sect belonged to the Heart Sect. The Jinshan Temple also belonged to the Heart Sect. They cultivated the same scriptures. Everyone who worshipped this scripture as a classic was a branch of the Heart Sect.
The Jinshan Temple and the Ancestral Court of the Heart Sect were of the same origin. Huiyuan and Xuandu were naturally closer.
This was Li Mu's second time coming to the Jinshan Temple. However, the last time he came was at night. This time, it was daytime.
The Jinshan Temple was very famous in the area. This fame was mainly due to Xuandu. Wherever there were demons and ghosts that harmed people, he would be there. After his physical conversion, there were now more demons and ghosts in the Jinshan Temple than people.
Since they had entered the temple, they naturally had to enter the hall to pay their respects.
Li Mu followed behind Xuandu and met many pilgrims along the way. There were many men and women who were sincerely chanting scriptures on the prayer mats in the hall. Only a few of the prayer mats were empty.
Li Mu stood in the hall and looked at the chanting crowd. He felt a sense of familiarity.
When he thought of where this sense of familiarity came from, he closed his eyes and silently felt it. He found that a trace of merit power was spreading out from these pilgrims and entering the body of the Buddha statue.
Huiyuan said that by doing charity, repairing temples, creating statues, freeing people, and saving people from suffering, one could obtain merit.
According to Li Mu's previous understanding, merit was doing good deeds. Now, it seemed that merit was a kind of power that originated from the human heart. These Buddha statues just stood there quietly, and the people would contribute the "Power of Merit".
Walking out of the hall, Xuandu chanted the name of Buddha and asked, "Benefactor Li, are you curious about merit?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "This power is quite magical. I don't know what's so mysterious about it."
Xuandu smiled and said, "This power is called merit by Buddhism and psyche power by Haotian Taoism. The imperial court regards it as national luck. It can help cultivators cultivate and also help the country gather national luck. It is the power of faith and the power of people."
Li Mu understood the general idea. Whether it was Haotian Taoism, Buddhism, or a country, if they wanted to continue to grow, it was inevitable that they had to unite the hearts of people.
Those who won the hearts of the people would win the world.
If a temple had no pilgrims, it would naturally decline.
A country without the hearts of the people would not be far from collapse.
Li Mu pondered the meaning of Xuandu's words. He followed him through several corridors and came to a wing room. A young novice monk said, "Uncle Xuandu, the abbot just took a rest …"
Xuandu looked at Li Mu and said apologetically, "I may have to trouble Benefactor Li to wait for a while."
"It's okay." Li Mu waved his hand to show that he did not mind. He asked again, "What level has the abbot reached?"
Xuandu said, "Uncle Abbot reached the Golden Body Dharma Laksana more than ten years ago."
"Dharma Laksana!"
Li Mu was shocked. Fourth-grade Golden Body Dharma Laksana and Fifth-grade Dharma Laksana. In the Dharma Laksana realm, one's physical body had been cultivated to an extremely powerful level. He could fight against cultivators in the Creation realm. This was something that Li Mu did not even dare to think about.
What kind of person could injure such a high Buddhist monk?
Xuandu said, "The one who injured Uncle Abbot was a Heretical Cultivation in the Dongxuan realm. However, The Heretical Cultivation was also surrounded and killed by orthodox cultivators. His soul was scattered."
The person with the highest level of cultivation that Li Mu had ever seen was Xuandu. Dongxuan was already at the peak of the Middle Three Realms. His Taoist skills were mysterious. One more step and he would be in the Upper Three Realms. He was a true immortal. The Heretical Cultivation in the Dongxuan realm, who knew how many people he had killed on his path of cultivation. It was terrifying just thinking about it …
The two of them did not talk for long before a young monk came over and said, "Uncle Xuandu, the abbot is awake …"
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