The Flowing Cloud Temple settled back into its usual calm.
Moyuan had had a lot of wine today. He wasn’t drunk, maybe just weary from talking. Sitting on the temple steps, he looked sowhat like a Door God.
Chenghuang had ‘won’ four hundred and fifty years’ worth of rits. He returned to stand atop the hall’s Drooping Ridge, a duty he took as his mission now.
Chen Changsheng was by himself in the backyard. He sipped tea to clear his head, then got ready to craft his External Incarnation.
“Still missing a cauldron…”
Chen Changsheng thought about it. Maybe another trip to the Old Dragon King?
But the idea seed too troubleso, so he dropped it.
He looked up at the vastness of Heaven and Earth and smiled faintly. “Perhaps I can borrow a wisp of twilight air to form a cauldron.”
He raised a hand. A streak of crimson sunset glow from the horizon drifted down into his palm.
“Twilight glow, take the shape of a cauldron. Appear!”
With a light tap, the glow rippled. It slowly morphed into the shape of a thin, fiery cauldron before his eyes.
“Acceptable.”
Chen Changsheng gave a warm smile, then waved his hand again.
“Fire, ignite!”
A tiny fla flickered into life within the cauldron.
“Hmph! Grow!”
Between breaths, the fire within swelled violently.
Chen Changsheng felt its heat, yet his brow furrowed.
The flas were fierce, yes. But for crafting a Mortal Body? Far from intense enough.
He sighed. “As expected, it falls short without true fla.”
But there was nothing he could do.
True fla stems from deep within a person’s body.
The Treatise of Pointing Mysteries stated:
“I possess three true fires within.
A sovereign fire resides in the heart, called the top-tier fla.
A minister fire resides in the kidneys, called the mid-tier fla.
A populace fire resides in the lower belly’s Sea of Qi, called the bottom-tier fla.”
Gather them, and fla manifests. Scatter them, and breath dissolves. Rising and falling, they cycle with the Circuits of Qi.
Yet Chen Changsheng’s Magical Power flowed entirely from his hair strands. It was inherently weak compared to the body’s energy, let alone true fla. External fla might have worked… but where to find that now?
As he pondered, an idea struck him. His furrowed brow smoothed instantly.
“Does one truly need their own?”
Chen Changsheng ford a hand seal. A wisp of Magical Power gathered at his fingertip. He spoke the incantation clearly into the air:
“Samadhi True Fla, aid my ritual!
By the Divine Decree!
Third Prince Nezha… descend!”
The Divine Decree echoed. Third Prince Nezha appeared at once. He bowed respectfully towards Mr. Chen.
Chen Changsheng stepped back half-a-step and nodded. “I’ll trouble you, Third Prince.”
Nezha clasped his hands. “Be at ease, sir.”
Nezha stepped forward, forming complex hand seals.
A gleam of Golden Light flashed in Chen Changsheng’s eyes. He saw three golden spots ignite within Nezha’s body – three flas becoming true power.
“Roar!”
Samadhi True Fla plunged into the cauldron. Nezha controlled its intensity with precise seals.
‘Truly, inner cultivation…’ Chen Changsheng shook his head slightly. Such fla remained beyond his reach.
“Sir,” Nezha called out, “the fla is ready.”
Chen Changsheng snapped back to focus and stepped forward.
He raised his hand. Elents erged:
Five Elents Rest Soil,
Ten-Thousand-Year Peach Wood,
Immortal Pool Heavy Water,
Red Ling Fire Grass.
The final tal component: a dragon scale once shed by the Old Dragon King, loot from the Dragon Palace vaults.
As these Five Elent treasures entered the fiery cauldron, Chen Changsheng commanded: “Flas will grow one-tenth stronger, then weaken by three-tenths after half an hour!”
“By your Divine Decree!” Nezha shifted his seals accordingly.
Chen Changsheng raised his hand. Magical Power flowed from his fingertip, guided by Divine Sense, into the cauldron’s core.
The hardest part of crafting this body was shaping it. Forming internal organs precisely! A single mistake would yield nothing but mindless flesh.
Chen Changsheng closed his eyes. His Divine Sense concentrated entirely inside the cauldron. Slowly, guided by his will, the shapes of the five organs began to appear.
Suddenly – a violent shudder rocked the cauldron!
Nezha gasped. “Sir! Stabilize it!”
Chen Changsheng’s eyes snapped open. “Divine Decree!” Several stronger wisps of Magical Power shot into the cauldron.
“Five Elents, Five Organs!
Cycle mutually!
Conquer mutually!
Balance Yin and Yang!”
The Divine Decree and Golden Light sank deep. The shuddering treasures steadied. The cauldron slowly cald.
Chen Changsheng felt a flicker of alarm. Just stabilizing the body form had consud well over ten wisps of power! Even powerful Daoist Arts or sword techniques rarely took more than three wisp before.
He focused his spirit, painstakingly molding the shape of the new body.
A humanoid form gradually took shape inside the flas.
Chen Changsheng withdrew his hand. He drew forth a wisp of Divine Sense, then infused it with a thread of Golden Light. This marked it as primary, ensuring control.
He cast this marked Divine Sense into the forming body within the cauldron.
“Divine Sense, bind to the fra!”
As the Divine Sense rged with the vessel, the flas slowly subsided.
The Five Elents and organs stabilized fully. The Divine Sense entered the Sea of Consciousness, gradually taking command of the flesh.
Sweat beaded on Nezha’s brow, his expression strained by the effort.
Chen Changsheng channeled another wisp of Magical Power into Nezha.
Nezha exhaled, relief softening his features.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Maintain focus.”
Chen Changsheng uttered the brief reminder and returned his attention to the cauldron.
The initial stages were complete. Now it needed ti to properly cook. By the current pace? A full day should suffice.
The Samadhi True Fla, while only a fundantal true fire among Dao Arts, ought to be powerful enough for the materials involved.
At the temple gate, Moyuan felt a powerful disturbance. He turned his gaze towards the backyard.
“What is Mr. Chen doing back there?”
Moyuan muttered the question, then dismissed it. He turned back towards the distant Green Mountain. His eyes held deep thoughts, impossible to decipher.
The last glimr of twilight faded. Night fully descended.
The woods ca alive: insects chirped, birds offered final calls. A tranquil, restful quiet seeped from within the temple walls.
That night, the Flowing Cloud Temple’s Back Mountain was illuminated by a recurrent fiery glow.
Not until deep in the night did Moyuan feel the scorching heat radiating from the backyard.
His brow deeply furrowed. “It burns… stronger than my Dragon Breath!”
But a mont later, a realization eased his mind.
If it ca from Mr. Chen… such wonder was only to be expected.
The night passed without word. The temple blazed like a furnace peak.
As dawn approached, a white mist crept over the mountain, flowing into the temple grounds.
Moyuan rubbed his eyes, yawning. He blinked at the outside light, then quickly turned towards the backyard.
The fiery glow was gone now. The temple stood unusually quiet.
He hesitated, then stepped deliberately towards the backyard entrance.
Suddenly, he bumped straight into an erging figure…
“Mr. Chen—?”
Moyuan started to speak but froze, his brow instantly knotting.
“You are not Mr. Chen!”
The face was identical, yes. But countless tiny details scread the profound difference between this man and the true Mr. Chen.
‘Chen Changsheng’ offered the kindest, most familiar smile. “Do not worry. rely an External Incarnation. The true Mr. Chen rests within the pavilion.”
“External… Incarnation?”
Moyuan’s eyes widened. He glimpsed the pavilion. There indeed sat Mr. Chen! Across from him was another figure Moyuan hadn’t seen before.
He looked back and forth between the two identical figures. For a long mont, he stood utterly bewildered.
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