Volume 1 Uncle Nine's World Chapter 24: Summoning the Spirit
Simu and Jiale returned even faster. When they got home, it was still dark. After sleeping for more than an hour, they continued their new day.
Although he came back very late last night, Jiale did not stay in bed, but continued to get up and practice.
After a round of Maoshan body-building boxing, his cultivation level improved again.
When Jiale finished making breakfast, Simu came out smelling the aroma of the food and said, "Jiale, your cooking skills have improved again. The steamed buns are getting sweeter and sweeter."
Jiale smiled and said, "On the way back, I passed by a village that happened to be selling honey, so I bought some and put some in the steamed buns. It tasted really good."
Honey!
Simu nodded, finally understanding.
After the meal, Simu took out the lightning wood and blood scale fruit and examined them carefully. "Although I can also refine magic tools, this five hundred year old lightning wood is not easy to handle. If I were to refine it, I'm afraid it would be wasted.
I will have to wait until next time I go to Senior Brother Lin's place to ask him to help refine this lightning wood. However, your cultivation is still low, and 500-year-old lightning wood is enough to refine a top-grade magic weapon. For you now, it can only be a burden. Just use the 100-year-old peach wood sword of your master first."
Jia Le nodded when he heard this, "Master, when it's refined, you can use it first, and I'll find you a piece of thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood later to refine a better one."
Simu couldn't help but laugh when he heard that, "I'll remember that."
But it was just talk and Simu didn't take it seriously. How could a thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood be so easy to obtain?
After dinner, Simu asked Jiale to take the blood scale fruit.
Jiale took a small bite first, and it tasted really good. He swallowed it in two bites. A stream of energy immediately spread out from his stomach. Different from the blue energy beads he absorbed before, this energy was more violent.
Jiale did not dare to be careless, and quickly took up his stance and began to practice Maoshan Body Building Boxing.
Energy flowed through his limbs and throughout his body. Jiale felt that not only was his essence constantly condensing, but his body was also becoming stronger.
After absorbing the energy bead formed by the little ghost, Jiale had already taken a step towards condensing the sixth essence. Now with the help of the Blood Scale Fruit and the blessing of the unknown space, his cultivation began to advance by leaps and bounds again. It didn't take long for him to condense the sixth essence and move towards the seventh essence.
It is only one step away from breaking through to the late stage of the Refining Essence Realm.
Simu's eyelids twitched as he watched Jiale's progress.
"Jia Le, how do you feel?"
Jia Le slowly finished his training and clenched his fists. "My physique seems to be better, and I have also condensed the sixth essence in my cultivation. Master, this blood scale fruit is really good."
Simu nodded slowly, "Of course, if it wasn't good, the yellow-skinned guy wouldn't be so angry."
Even though a Blood Scale Fruit only allowed Jiale to condense a line of essence, this was for Jiale. If it were someone else, it might take half a year, a year, or even longer to condense this line of essence. A spiritual fruit can save so much time, so its value is not low. Moreover, the Blood Scale Fruit not only improved Jiale's cultivation, but also strengthened his physique.
Jia Le practiced Baguazhang again. As expected, after his physical fitness was strengthened, practicing Baguazhang also had a beneficial effect. Perhaps it would not be long before he could achieve some success in Baguazhang.
"Yes, this is a blessing in disguise. However, you should be more careful in the future and think twice before doing anything."
Jiale nodded. Indeed, although he gained a lot of benefits this time, it also taught him a lesson. He had to be more careful in the future. The world was not as kind as he imagined.
In the afternoon, Jiale stopped drawing talismans because Simu was going to teach him the art of summoning spirits.
"Jia Le, your cultivation is still shallow, so you need to practice magic step by step. I will teach you the Maoshan altar first.
Our Maoshan altar is the foundation of all magic. When your cultivation is insufficient, you can borrow the power of the altar to cast spells. Even if your cultivation is sufficient, the altar can increase the power of the spell by several times. It can be said to be a compulsory course for me, the Maoshan Taoist, before practicing magic.
..."
Simu's explanation was very detailed and Jiale listened very carefully. After embarking on the path of cultivation, Jiale felt that his understanding had improved a lot, and he quickly remembered the Dharma altar that Simu talked about.
In fact, there are generally two types of altars. One is the fixed altar set up inside the mountain gate, such as the Maoshan Shangqing Altar in Maoshan. Adding a certain amount of luck to the altar can allow a real person in the Spirit Transformation Realm to exert the strength of a Heavenly Master in the Spirit Refining Realm.
As famous as the Shangqing Altar on Maoshan are the Lingbao Altar on Gezhao Mountain, the Jingming Altar on Xishan Mountain, and the Zhengyi Altar on Longhu Mountain, collectively known as the four major Taoist altars today.
Some Taoists who set up temples outside also built altars imitating the four great altars, but their effects are definitely weaker than those of the four great altars.
The altar is also called the altar field, which is generally divided into two altars, the front altar and the back altar.
The "front altar" is the outer altar, which means the mortal world. On the table are portraits of the Taoist ancestor Tianshi. Maoshan worships Shangqing Taoist Patriarch, while Nanmao worships Sanmao Taoist Patriarch. The portraits placed are generally of these two types. In addition to the portraits, there are also a pair of red candles, sandalwood burners, sandalwood plates, water cups, law tablets, tokens, wooden fish, yellow paper, and incense. A five-liter rice bucket is filled with rice and magic tools such as the demon-suppressing sword, command flags, and Huiguang iron forks are inserted into the rice for use in law enforcement.
Above the altar, there is a horizontal couplet with the words "Golden Tower and Jade Chamber" and below it hangs a Bagua divination chart, asking for guidance from the Bagua gods. On both sides of the altar are inscribed "Welcome the True One" to welcome the ancestor to come to the altar to help.
The "back altar" is the inner altar, representing the fairyland. Above it hangs the "glazed fairy lamp", also known as the magic lamp, representing the fairyland on earth. On the table are placed many statues of gods, including the ancestor Huang Ling, who are worshipped with incense and candles. In the four directions are statues of the ancestor gods Qing Ling, Bai Ling, Chi Ling and Hei Ling, who are worshipped with incense and candles.
This is a complete altar.
Of course, the arrangement of the altar outside cannot be so detailed. The inner altar can be cancelled, but the outer altar must be complete.
Whenever there is a big battle, some Maoshan Taoists would push a small cart. That small cart was nothing else but the Maoshan altar, which could be taken shape with a slight change.
The higher the altar, the easier it is to draw upon the power of the ancestors. When two opponents of equal strength are battling it out, the height of the altar is sometimes the key to victory.
After listening to it, Jiale also felt as if a new light had suddenly appeared in his eyes.
Simu didn't just talk, nor did he let Jiale just listen. After preparing everything, he asked Jiale to start arranging the altar. Although Jiale listened carefully, he was not so satisfied when arranging the altar. However, with Simu's correction, he quickly mastered the method of arranging the altar.
"Arranging the altar is the foundation. You must remember this in the future. Sometimes when someone asks us to do something, arranging the altar is necessary. Human power is limited. We have Maoshan standing behind us. We can't always think of doing it ourselves."
Jiale nodded, knowing what Simu meant. He was afraid that he would rely on his high level of cultivation to look down on the role of the altar and give up on it. As a disciple of Maoshan, after setting up the altar, he could borrow the power of Maoshan, which would bring considerable benefits to himself. The difference between having a mountain gate and not having a mountain gate can be reflected here. For those casual cultivators, if they do not have any reliable ancestors or the protection of gods, the altar will really be just a showpiece.
"Okay, you have mastered the first step of setting up the altar. Now let's move on to the second step, which is also a very important step, summoning the divine talisman!"
