With the same longevity as the primordial era, even if Southern Heaven Immortal loses his three flowers and five qi and becomes an ordinary man, and then is beaten to death, minced into pulp, ground into powder, and scattered into the sea, it's useless. The life expectancy is the same as that of the universe. The body is gone? No big deal! The soul is broken? It's not worth mentioning! As long as the primordial world exists, you will not die.
In a state where he has no Tao body, no soul, and exists between existence and non-existence, he can live for more than one year. During this year or so, with his skills, reshaping the Tao body is not difficult.
Southern Heaven Immortal's combat power is indeed weak, but this one is really hard to kill.
Southern Heaven Immortal isn't an idiot, why would he allow his mount to be swallowed and then let the deer return to continue serving as his mount without any issues? This is clearly problematic.
The old man says that he is willing to do the task, but he really cannot do it.
Tusi Sun gives the old man a deathly order: "Old Southern's mounts are only those few, the white deer, the elk, and the white-tailed deer; all of these are your descendants. I command you to secretly return to Kunlun Mountain."
The fluctuations in the shadows did not affect Deng Changyu and Zhao Daixi.
They were ready to go to Yunmeng Lake, but they hadn't expected that as soon as they left Mount Emei and entered the southern capital area, they had to stop in the clouds.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Lord Deng Jiugong's mount, the Black Qilin, galloped across the clouds and called out to them from a distance.
"The voice sounds familiar. Is that our family's qilin?" Deng Changyu whispered.
Da Ji held her hand in front of her face and asked with a strange expression, "Your eyesight seems to be getting worse. The effects of insufficient kidney essence are so severe? Maybe we should hold off on having children for now. You should take some time to properly adjust. It's a bit alarming, I didn't know you were as weak as this."
"Don't say that, I'm very strong! I'm incredibly strong! However, there have been some small issues with my recent cultivation methods, causing me to be a bit faceblind. That qilin is still calling out. If you have good eyes, you can see if it's our family's qilin. I'm afraid he might trick me."
Da Ji looked at it carefully as she was asked, but the Black Qilin was full of helplessness. I have battled for you in the front lines, and you still don't recognize me?
Da Ji offered a smiling apology to the Black Qilin, then whispered, "Yes, that's right, it's our father's mount. How could you not recognize our family's qilin?"
Deng Changyu looked carefully and realized that it really was! However, these qilins all looked the same, and she worried about misidentifying them, which was understandable.
The Black Qilin came closer, looking pitifully at them.
For a moment, no one said anything.
The qilin has the ability to listen to one's heart and convey one's heart.
Deng Changyu has acquired the ability of "heart communication" from Yueguang Dao Ren, and can now also engage in dialogue at the spiritual level.
Da Ji held Diting, and Diting conveyed the heart sounds she heard to her. Then she had Diting pass her own thoughts to others.
Deng Changyu, Da Ji, and the Black Qilin didn't say a word, as if they were performing a silent play on the clouds, exchanging heart sounds.
"Wow, that's really tiring. What's the matter?" Deng Changyu rubbed her forehead. The age of the moonlight Dao Ren was too young, and his ability development was limited. This made her unaccustomed to this new divination skill, and she felt dizzy. Finally, she just directly asked.
The Black Qilin called out with its magical power, "Whoosh! Whoosh!" twice, which was not a heart sound. Deng Changyu finally understood.
"You mean you are in danger? You have foreseen it in advance? That's amazing! Why didn't your race show up during the Dragon and Phoenix Great Calamity?"
The Black Qilin rolled its eyes, really wanting to kick you with a hoof. Why bring up that pot when it's not boiling!
The Black Qilin roughly described his premonition. According to Deng Changyu's understanding, that was a Daoist going to catch him to be a mount, he sensed this event in advance, so he wanted to avoid it early.
"What are you avoiding? Let's keep flying forward. I want to see who wants to abduct our family's mount."
No matter how extraordinary the Black Qilin was, he wouldn't attract the attention of those with too strong desires. It would never be Zhenputi who comes to compete with Deng Jiugong for a mount. If Zhenputi really did come, Deng Changyu would even give up her own father, Deng Jiugong, as a bonus!
Yunmeng Lake is not in a hurry. Whether they go a few days early or a few days late is not a problem. They reduce their speed and fly slowly southwards.
A day later, a head monk rode on black clouds and flew far away, blocking the path.
"Praise be, praise be. My fellow cultivator, there seems to be a kinship between the qilin at your side. May I ask if you are willing to part with it?"
Deng Changyu examined the man.
The attire resembles the monks from King Zhou's Lo Yi.
This guy has a bald head, square ears, wears a prayer bead on his chest, and is already a bit ahead of its time. But he's also wearing the cloud shoes of the Xuanmen Gate and holding a fan, seemingly still a Daoist.
If the Daoists of DashiZe and MiLe have already been 70% Buddhist in their daily attire, the release-style of this Daoist has reached 90%. It's almost impossible to tell, but this is a monk.
Deng Changyu asked, "May I inquire, friend, what is your honored name, and where do you cultivate in the sacred mountains and ancient temples in daily life?"
"I am Fa Jie, a scattered immortal from Penglai. Today, I had a whim and came to ask you for help."
Fa Jie? Deng Changyu found it rather strange. A name with such a Buddhist characteristic? And he kept calling himself "poor cultivator"?
She's no longer the same as when she first crossed over. She's been exposed to a lot of information about the ancient era and even knows the names of minor immortal spirits. She can refer to her memories to make some degree of calculations.
"Are you the teacher of General Han Sheng and Han Bian from the Fenshui Pass in the past?"
"Indeed, it is I."
Han Sheng and Han Bian were the sons of Han Rong, the main general at Fenshui Pass. These two unlucky souls were exchanged for each other, resulting in the death of Ji Fa. Then, they were killed by Wei Hu. Now, this guy is their master. He appears to be an Xuanxian realm cultivator and should be a big figure among scattering immortals.
Fa Jie was a significant but not overwhelmingly important figure in the future development of the Buddhist sect.
Saying he was important, if Deng Changyu didn't mistake, he eventually took form as "King Zhi of Shiwai," along with "Ji Guan the Generous Elder," they built the "Zhi Tree Ji Guan Garden."
The "Zhi Tree" refers to the tree of King Zhi, and the "Givara Garden" is a garden belonging to the generous elder, Givara.
They jointly built the garden and presented it to Sakyamuni Buddha for 25 years for Buddha to teach.
Saying he was not important, it was because "King Zhi of Shiwai" did not become a Buddha, and it seemed that he had not even reached the Arhat stage. He at most provided the "Zhi Tree," while the "Givara Elder" spread gold across the 80 mu of land.
This is a figure who appears to be both Daoist and not Daoist, both Buddha and not Buddha. He seems to have a profound karmic connection, yet he always seems to be just one step away from attaining the true fruit of enlightenment.
The name of King Zhi has always been associated with "Greatly Encouraging Buddhism." However, he played a very minor role in this. Sakyamuni had already become a Buddha before they built the garden, and he could have taught anywhere. It has nothing to do with that forest.
