Chapter 80: Ghost Gate
Qi Xuansu saw the "Ghost Pass" early and came to the mountain road before the "Ghost Pass". However, he arrived at the foot of the "Ghost Pass" city an hour later.
The reason why "Ghost Pass" was named in this way can be traced back to the ancient Taoist period.
At that time, the Taoist sect was divided into five, namely the Eastern Taoist Sect, the Western Taoist Sect, the Southern Taoist Sect, the Northern Taoist Sect, and the Central Taoist Sect.
The Eastern Taoist Sect was the predecessor of the Taiping Dao headed by the Li family, the Southern Taoist Sect was the predecessor of the Zhengyi Dao headed by the Zhang family, the Northern Taoist Sect was the predecessor of the Qin family of the Great Xuan Imperial Family, and the Central Taoist Sect could be regarded as the predecessor of the Quanzhen Dao. The Western Taoist Sect was the predecessor of the Taoist branch that later followed Tan Taiyun to the Western Regions.
Hundreds of years ago, two people competed for the position of the master of the Western Taoist Sect.
One of them was a human immortal warrior, with a bloody body comparable to the ancient beast, who could eat nine elephants in one meal, and a punch as heavy as nine tripods. With a shout, he could break thousands of spells, which could be called the ultimate warrior.
The other person is a ghost immortal alchemist. He has a world in his mind and uses magic to create a ghost kingdom. There are many illusions in it, and it is difficult to distinguish right from wrong. After detaining countless living souls, he actually formed a small six reincarnations and tried to create his own world.
In the end, the ghost immortal was no match for the immortal. After the human immortal personally entered the ghost kingdom, the ghost kingdom could not withstand the blood and energy and directly collapsed. The ghost immortal was even killed by the backlash of the ghost kingdom.
Since then, the disciples of the ghost immortal have learned from their mistakes and decided to build a real ghost kingdom on earth. They rebelled against the Ge Zao Dao, called themselves "Zao Ge", and occupied Beimang Mountain.
Beimang Mountain is one of the seventy-two blessed places, ranking above Yunjin Mountain. It is a treasure land that gathers the spirits of heaven and earth. Therefore, emperors and dignitaries of all dynasties built tombs and graves here. After the Zao Ge Sect occupied this place, it began to cultivate and operate for more than a hundred years, detaining countless living souls, lying dormant, waiting for the opportunity.
When the Golden Horde army marched south, the Jin Dynasty collapsed, and the world was in chaos, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Zaoge Sect took advantage of the right time, right place, and right people, and finally built the Ghost Kingdom on earth, connecting the Nine Netherworlds and prospering for a time.
This is the later Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven, which is a world of its own, and is said to be as big as the imperial capital.
The Taoist sect had attacked the Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven twice, but the Taoist sect won both times, and Zaoge Sect was defeated twice. When Xuansheng integrated the five Taoist sects, he completely destroyed Zaoge Sect, restored Ge Zao Dao, and took it together with the Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven under the name of Quanzhen Dao.
After the two wars, the Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven at that time was already in ruins, just like a house, with only pillars and beams and some broken walls and ruins left, and wind leaking on all sides. The yin energy in the cave spread to the entire Beimang Mountain, making Beimang Mountain almost a ghost den on earth.
Some people proposed to completely destroy this cave heaven to prevent it from continuing to erode Beimang Mountain. Some people also advocated preserving the Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven. After all, this place embodies the wisdom and efforts of the predecessors. If it is destroyed, it would be too wasteful. As for the so-called good and evil, it all depends on how it is used.
Xuansheng finally decided to preserve the cave heaven and repair it to prevent the Yin Qi from continuing to overflow.
This repair of the cave heaven took a hundred years and even several generations. Even the chief master changed three times before it was finally repaired. The Taoist sect opened up this cave heaven as a place for storing, testing, cultivating, and suppressing various "creatures". A workshop of Huashengtang is located inside the cave heaven.
In this case, if the Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven is broken by external forces, causing the Yin Qi to leak out and the "creatures" to escape, the serious consequences will be far worse than the destruction of the original Cowenbu workshop.
Therefore, the Taoist sect is on high alert here and set up a checkpoint on the only way to the Ghost Kingdom Cave Heaven, named "Ghost Pass".
Qi Xuansu came to the foot of the "Ghost Pass" and saw a completely dark pass between two peaks, halfway up the mountain, completely blocking the way. It can be said that one man guarding the pass is impossible for ten thousand men to open it. Various city defense equipment and spiritual officials wearing black armor are deployed on the top of the city and the mountains on both sides. The defense is strict and visible to the naked eye.
It is said that there is a first-grade spiritual official in person here. Although his combat power cannot be compared with that of a first-grade innocent Taoist priest, it is far superior to that of an ordinary second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest, and is on par with the Canzhi Zhenren.
In addition, Qi Xuansu also vaguely saw a huge figure standing on the cliffs above both sides of the "Ghost Pass". Although he could not see its true appearance, Qi Xuansu guessed that it was probably a "creature".
Siming Zhenjun has always coveted this place and has made several plans, but he always returned empty-handed. The reason why the ancient immortals were able to sneak into Yujing was because the defense of Yujing was lax. After all, there were too many masters in Yujing, and no one thought that the ancient immortals dared to come to Yujing to act wildly, which was considered dark under the lamp. But the "Ghost Pass" is different. If there is any disturbance, it will be immediately fully martial law, making it difficult to sneak into it.
Even if an ancient immortal uses great magical powers to take over someone's body and sneak into the "Ghost Pass", it is only the first pass. There are still layers of defenses afterwards. If you want to enter the core, only some first-grade innocent Taoists and Canzhi Zhenren can do it.
At this time, the gate of the "Ghost Pass" was wide open, and it was not martial law, and there were not many people passing by, so there was no need to queue.
Qi Xuansu came to the spiritual officer in charge of checking the procedures and took out his two waist cards, one given by Qin Wubing and the other by Pei Xiaolou.
There were two spiritual officers in total. After checking the two waist badges, one of them asked, "Passing by?"
Qi Xuansu nodded and said, "Going to Longmen Mansion for some private matters."
"Okay." The attitude of the spiritual officer softened a little and was no longer rigid. As long as they did not enter the cave or the workshop, they would not continue to investigate further.
This spiritual official handed the waist badge to another spiritual official and registered it for Qi Xuansu.
While waiting, Qi Xuansu took advantage of the opportunity to chat with the spiritual official and asked casually: "Brother, since the incident with Tso Wenbu, have you not had any secret society of demons causing trouble?"
Regarding Cuowenbu's matter, the Taoist sect has already made it known to everyone in the Taoist sect, so the Lingguan didn't think there was anything wrong and replied: "It's okay here, there are no big monsters causing trouble. After all, it's located in Xijing." The distance between the Mansion and Longmen Mansion is not far from Difei Mountain, so even if there is a large-scale attack by the monster, we can rush to help quickly, but it is still a small matter."
Qi Xuansu asked curiously: "What's the matter?"
"There are demons from 'Tianting' openly committing murders in Xijing Mansion, and they are killing people from the imperial court. There is a letter from Xijing Mansion, asking us to pay attention to whether the demons from 'Tianting' have escaped here." Lingguan did not hide it. He sarcastically said, "I don't know what the people above are thinking. Anyway, I have never seen any monster escape to the 'Ghost Pass'. Wouldn't it be more convenient to just capture him where he is, or to escape directly to Yujing?"
Qi Xuansu laughed: "Brother, what you said makes sense. If I were that monster, I would probably flee towards Yongzhou and Liangzhou, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, making it easy to hide, or I could go to Lingnan via the south of the Yangtze River, where is the 'Tianting' 'The old lair is there. You won't run to the 'Ghost Pass'. Isn't this just throwing yourself into a trap?"
"Who says it's not?" Lingguan is also a human being. He has been stationed here for a long time, so he can't help but feel a little bit complaining. "One more thing, a Taoist priest died in Wuxu Palace. Although he was not a big shot, he was a disciple of the real person in charge of the palace, so there is no such thing as a Taoist priest." There was also a letter from the Xu Palace, asking us to pay attention to passers-by and see if there are any suspicious people.”
Qi Xuansu didn't show any signs of surprise on his face, pretending to be surprised: "A dead person? When I came here, I didn't hear about the dead people."
"It just happened not long ago, of course my brother hasn't heard about it." Lingguan said, "I wonder if those people think that we are too idle, monsters are making trouble, and they want us to pay attention. Even if people die, they also want us to pay attention. From Xijing Mansion to Guiguan, hundreds of miles away, and Beimang Mountain, where can't we go? The murderer ran to our "Guiguan" because his brain was kicked. I say, it was probably that day. The demon Ting killed him casually, and it happened that he committed two crimes at the same time. "
Qi Xuansu, who seemed to have been kicked in the head by a donkey, laughed and said: "Heroes see the same thing. I also think that's the case. Maybe the Taoist priest just happened to break the demon's whereabouts, and the demon simply didn't do anything and directly Kill and silence."
At this time, the official responsible for registration said: "Wei Wugui, right? See if there is no problem, please sign."
Qi Xuansu smiled apologetically at the Lingguan he was talking to, came to the table, glanced at the registration content, and wrote the words "Wei Wugui" with a pen.
The spirit officer in charge of registration returned the two waist badges to Qi Xuansu.
Qi Xuansu said goodbye to the two of them, then got on his horse and entered the "Ghost Pass".