Hahaha, I, the Daoist Lord, Have Made It

They had not walked long before Shi Shaojian turned his head, face full of disdain, toward Liu Xiu, who was walking behind him and Shi Jian. "Junior Brother, can't you walk in front? Your guts are far too small. You yourself said that female ghost told you this place wasn't dangerous. Why are you still this scared?" "..." No. There was absolutely no need to walk in front! Being timid was actually pretty good!! Shi Jian, leading the way ahead, felt his heart give a jump at Shi Shaojian's words. His pace quickened again. Liu Xiu, coming along behind, looked puzzled, but he answered Shi Shaojian without much minding it. "You can't trust a woman's words. Take those young ladies in town—which of them, the moment she sees me, isn't burning with enthusiasm, inviting me to drink sweet soup and whatnot? But I know perfectly well they're simply hungry for my body!" Keeping the two of them sheltered in front of him, Liu Xiu shook his head and explained in a rueful tone. He added that the female ghost's words were no more to be trusted—just as he still didn't quite believe that she had tested a hundred people and that he alone had endured the punishment. To be fair, if that were really so, this female ghost was far too unlucky! "..." ×2 Shi Shaojian had nothing to say, and on top of that came envy, jealousy, and hate. Shi Jian felt Liu Xiu's reasoning was sound, only that the words were a bit crude. "Learn a little more from your junior brother!" Shi Jian said it to Shi Shaojian, whose face was full of envy, jealousy, and hate. At those words Shi Shaojian stared at Shi Jian, eyes wide. No—what did he mean, learn from his junior brother?! He was the senior brother. If anyone was going to learn, it ought to be Liu Xiu learning from him... Fine, he'd learn. Once again Shi Shaojian lost to Shi Jian's stare. He hung his head in a fury, fists clenched, teeth gritted—the very image of a child who had been wronged. Only, his age in months was a bit high. A child of more than two hundred months! "Hmph!" Seeing Shi Shaojian bow his head, still unconvinced, Shi Jian gave a cold snort. The air went quiet for a moment, and Liu Xiu smiled and stepped in to smooth things over. "What Master means is that Senior Brother should keep his guard up against others, not that Senior Brother should learn from me. How long has Junior Brother even been a disciple? If anyone's learning, it should be Junior Brother learning from Senior Brother!" "But of course..." Shi Shaojian said, head high and chest thrust out. Only, by the end of the sentence his voice grew smaller and smaller. Displeased, he stole a glance at Shi Jian, then turned a softened gaze on Liu Xiu. Same as ever. His junior brother really did speak nicely! Not only that—he was better-looking than him, too! "..." At the sight of Shi Shaojian, Shi Jian felt his fists harden. He drew a deep breath and looked toward Liu Xiu. When he saw Liu Xiu give him a look that said I understand, he let out a breath of relief. A little helpless, he thought: why was his s—... his disciple Shi Shaojian so stupid? Why wasn't Liu Xiu his son-disciple?! The more he thought, the angrier he got.jpg. No one spoke the rest of the way. Soon the three of them reached the place the female ghost had spoken of, an untended burial ground packed with grave mounds. "It's here..." Liu Xiu pointed at a gravestone, its writing all askew: Tomb of Madam Liu of Lianshan. His feet, however, did not move. The corner of Shi Jian's mouth twitched twice. In his heart he was quite resigned. All right. Being timid really was pretty bad! Still in a line of two in front and one behind, the three came up before the female ghost's gravestone. Liu Xiu looked curiously at the earthen mound before him, which had almost disappeared. Just as he was wondering whether they were supposed to dig up the grave, Shi Jian let out a soft sound of surprise, a trace of astonishment in his eyes as he looked at the gravestone. "A dharma realm? A blessed land?" "Master, what is a dharma realm?" Liu Xiu asked, curious. Shi Shaojian, who had quite the air of Ninth Uncle's second disciple, raised a brow and said, "Could it be the French spirit world?" "..." Dharma your mother! Shi Jian's eyelid twitched. Forcing down the urge to give Shi Shaojian a beating, he shot him a glare, then said coolly, "A so-called dharma realm is a ghost domain..." "A ghost domain? But, Master, didn't you just say blessed land? How did it turn into a ghost domain?" Shi Shaojian asked, puzzled. "The essence ought to be similar..." Liu Xiu said. It was like a later age, when some luxury brand brought out a piece of jewelry worth a fortune that looked much the same as a roll of tape on Taobao—two yuan, shipping included. Whether dharma realm, ghost domain, or blessed land, it was only a matter of the name. The essence was the same. Only the maker was different. "Not bad. The essence really is similar..." Shi Jian inclined his head slightly and looked at Liu Xiu with satisfaction, then went on to explain that whether it was a ghost domain, a Daoist grotto-heaven and blessed land, or Buddhism's palm Buddha-land, all of them, in the end, were dharma realms opened by cultivators with great spiritual power. Whether a ghost domain wreathed in baleful yin, a Daoist grotto-heaven and blessed land with an air of immortal grace, or a palm Buddha-land accomplished by an eminent monk of the Buddhist gate, there was no difference in essence at all. All of these were opened by cultivators through their own strength. A Daoist cultivator might draw in the pure qi of heaven and earth and refine the spiritual veins of the mountains and rivers, and call what he had opened a grotto-heaven and blessed land. Or fierce ghosts and evil ghosts might gather resentment qi and, with their own hands, weave illusions of past events into a ghost domain. Or a Buddhist cultivator might gather cause, effect, and karmic retribution, and with a single thought wrap all phenomena to create a palm Buddha-land. All of these were dharma realms. Only the names differed. It was just as with women. The pretty ones were called young wives, and the ugly ones middle-aged women. The words were crude, but the principle was not! What was more, a dharma realm itself was neither auspicious nor ill-omened. Whether its name was good or bad depended only on the intent of the one who opened it. Just as a so-called murder weapon itself held no malice—all its balefulness came from the one who did violence. Of course, nothing was absolute! After all, reality was thoroughly fantastical! A single banana peel could leave a person drifting on the sea for seven days. Who knew whether this world held a dharma realm that carried malice by its very nature! "Go!" Shi Jian spoke once he had finished explaining. As the word fell, his foot shifted lightly. The tip of his foot tapped the ground, and a crack appeared, giving off yin qi. Strange to say, the crack looked no wider than the length of a foot, yet Shi Jian took Shi Shaojian and Liu Xiu and jumped in with them. Entering the passage into the dharma realm, Liu Xiu only found his sight go black, then bright. What met his eyes was a cave dwelling in complete disorder. Within, the cave dwelling was antique and elegant. The style of the furnishings was clearly far older than the female ghost's years as a ghost. He looked puzzled, and thought in surprise, "Early Qing furnishings?" Wasn't the female ghost only a hundred and some years old? So it really was nothing but ghost-talk!! He looked again. Inside the cave dwelling the wooden racks had collapsed, the chests and cases had all been pried open, and a few jewels, works of calligraphy and painting, and other odds and ends lay scattered over the ground. Tattered curtains drifted on the wind. Faint yin qi wound about the beams and pillars. The cave dwelling was a wreck from end to end, as if it had just been stripped bare in a great looting. Liu Xiu could well picture how the female ghost's subordinates, on seeing her die, had looted this cave dwelling in passing as they fled. For all he knew, the maid ghosts had even come to blows! What a pity. He hadn't seen it! Regret!!! "So that's how it is..." A faint flash of azure lightning passed through Shi Jian's eyes. Understanding on his face, he spoke, and Shi Shaojian and Liu Xiu looked over in puzzlement. They saw Shi Jian reach out his right hand. A streak of azure lightning flew from his palm. The azure lightning split the air and changed, turning into countless fine electric arcs that swept across the ghost-domain cave dwelling before them. The objects in the cave dwelling that had been formed of yin qi vanished, revealing the cave dwelling's original appearance. But Liu Xiu and Shi Jian did not look at the decorations that had disappeared. They looked instead toward the stone wall of the cave dwelling, where, as the decorations vanished, line after line of rather ugly writing appeared—characters carved into the stone. "Hahaha, I, the Daoist Lord, have made it!" The strokes of the first line drove through the stone wall. The characters were full, as if laughing, pride showing in every one of them. Liu Xiu saw that it went on: "Three years. Three whole years of bitter cultivation. This poor Daoist took elixir pills day after day, three years without a break, and today I have at last cultivated the immortal aspect of jade-green eyes and square pupils. Hahaha..." Every stroke was smugness itself. Liu Xiu raised his brows and read on, and saw the same handwriting follow at once: "The color of the eyes turned jade-green, and the pupils became square. Reverted elixir and golden liquid, jade-green eyes and square pupils. The ancient texts say this is 'Jade Eyes Pierce the Hidden.' From this day on, even without opening the Dharma Eye or the Heavenly Eye, one may by this means see ghosts and gods and observe the netherworld. Let this poor Daoist test it, and see whether it is truly so!" "Hahaha, it really is true. I truly can look up and see ghosts and gods, and look down and observe the netherworld. I, the Daoist Lord, have made it. Hahaha... Next, this Daoist Lord should go cultivate the second immortal aspect. A pity Master died so early. How fine it would have been if he had also passed on the methods for cultivating the remaining nine immortal aspects. But three kinds are enough... enough for this Daoist Lord to become an immortal..." "Hahaha..."