The Fire-Containing Sutra

From the moment he joined the Sanyi Sect until now, he has always been walking his own path, breaking through barriers, borrowing fire, advancing to new realms, and refining treasures—every step of which he has forged on his own.

Taking Zhao Fengnian in was a matter of convenience, and taking Mingxin under his wing was at someone's request; he never had the intention of teaching anyone. But the City God's words touched him. He recalled the expressions on Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie's faces when they held the Taiyin Starfire he had given them in the study of the Jiang residence, and the way the old woman wiped away her tears when Mingshan responded with a paper crane.

Some things are just a simple matter for him, but for others, they are answers they have been waiting for for a hundred years under the tree.

He put down his teacup and said to the City God, "I agree to establish the lineage." He added that his original lineage was located in a foreign land, and the Sanyi Temple in this world was a place he established to continue his lineage, so establishing the lineage was his duty.

Zhao Fengnian was the first to jump up, so excited that scales seemed to sprout from the back of his hands. He rubbed his hands together and said that tomorrow he would repaint the sign of Sanyi Temple and post a few notices down the mountain.

The City God added that there was no need to post notices. The City God Temple had ready-made channels. They could use the prestige of the underworld to spread the word around Jinhua Prefecture that the Sanyi Temple was opening its doors to accept disciples, regardless of their aptitude, with character being the most important factor. Both living people and little demons who had gained sentience were welcome to come and listen to the teachings.

As for why Laoshan couldn't accomplish this, Laoshan's illusion magic is too demanding in terms of comprehension; those without the talent simply cannot even begin to understand it. Righteousness often comes from humble beginnings, and those with delicate minds often have many selfish motives. The City God also recalled that before he became City God, before he died and became a ghost messenger, he was also a rough man.

Liu Jin's approach is more down-to-earth, incorporating fire, illusion, body tempering, and magical artifacts. It allows for individualized instruction, is unconventional, and has a much lower barrier to entry than Laoshan's approach, making it much more practical.

The news spread much faster than Zhao Fengnian had anticipated. The City God Temple's channels were incredibly efficient; in less than three days, the short, stout ghost messenger and his team of ghost soldiers had spread the word, and notices were posted at the entrances of City God Temples in several counties surrounding Jinhua Prefecture.

The notice was written by Zhao Fengnian himself, and the wording was simple and easy to understand. It read, "Sanyi Temple is open to disciples. No one is asked about their background or race. Those with good hearts are welcome." Below it was a detailed address and a schedule of sermons held on the first and fifteenth of each month.

It is said that after reading the notice, several worshippers asked the temple keeper on the spot whether this was a legally recognized Taoist temple by the imperial court. The temple keeper solemnly replied with four words: "Guaranteed by the City God."

Zhao Fengnian has been extremely busy these past few days. He took down the wooden sign at the entrance of Sanyi Temple, sanded the surface smooth, applied three coats of tung oil, mixed cinnabar with gold powder to make pigment, and then neatly wrote the three large characters "Sanyi Temple".

After drying, it was hung directly above the palace gate. From a distance, it shone with a faint golden light, and was more than ten times more impressive than the crooked version written with charcoal pencil. He also went to the city to order a batch of prayer cushions, incense burners, and candlesticks, and even went to Wang's Pen and Ink Shop to order two boxes of talisman paper and five catties of cinnabar.

The shopkeeper already recognized him and would ask, "What does Master Zhao want to buy this time?" He counted on his fingers for a while before finally adding, "Two more catties of lamp oil."

Mingxin was in charge of logistics. He cleaned up all the empty meditation rooms in the backyard, laid out newly dried straw mats, and transplanted a few wildflowers from the mountain to plant under the windowsill, doing exactly the same work that Zhao Fengnian had done when he first came to Sanyi Temple.

When the two met in the courtyard, Zhao Fengnian looked at Mingxin, who was carrying a bundle of straw and covered in straw dust, and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "You're starting to look more and more like a handyman." Mingxin took the straw dust off his head and calmly replied, "This humble Taoist priest is indeed a handyman."

Of everyone, Liu Jin was the most relaxed. He didn't participate in the preparation of supplies, nor did he go to the city to purchase them. Establishing a lineage isn't just about hanging up a sign and taking in a few disciples; the first thing to solve is what to teach.

The root of the Threefold Path of Reversal lies in the Threefold Rebirth, which is the starting point of his cultivation and the foundation of all his achievements. However, the Threefold Reversal of Rebirth is not suitable for this world. The ultimate goal of this path is complete Qi transformation, which means abandoning the physical body and transforming into pure primordial Qi. He succeeded in this path because he had real fragments as anchors and reforged his physical body based on the Samadhi Fire.

Without these two conditions, cultivating the Reverse Life Triple Stage to the third stage is a dead end; it will either dissipate into Qi and vanish into the world, or become a mass of pure energy without self-awareness.

More importantly, if the Reverse Life Triple Technique were to be widely promoted in this world, decades later the mountains would be filled with Qi-transformed fire people, and the people of Jinhua Prefecture would all be turned into fire domains. He could not bear this responsibility.

If saving the world turns into harming it, then we will not only be letting down Zuo Ruotong, but also the City God for his efforts tonight.

Illusion is also unsuitable as the foundation of a Taoist tradition. The illusion of Laoshan requires too much comprehension, and its foundation is in Laoshan. If he were to transmit the Tao of Laoshan at the Sanyi Temple, it would be tantamount to severing the foundation of Laoshan, which is a major taboo.

The sect leader lending him the copy was a favor, not an order for him to establish his own sect. Liu Jin had told Mingxin that he wouldn't take the Laoshan lineage, and that promise still stands.

He sat on the prayer mat for half the night, thinking about how the City God had given Zhao Fengnian the Water-Walking Technique. Suddenly, a thought struck him: establishing a lineage doesn't require teaching all skills from the very beginning.

He only needs to establish a basic method that is universally applicable and has a low barrier to entry, so that disciples can establish a solid foundation after entering the sect. The subsequent advanced paths can then be taught separately according to each person's aptitude and temperament.

Just like in the original timeline, Zuo Ruotong accepted disciples, Lu Jinxiu was reborn in reverse, Liu Deshui was sent to Yanwu Hall, and Li Muxuan was tested alone by Master Dongshan. The root of the lineage is the root of a tree, not a rope binding all the branches and leaves together. The true vitality of the lineage lies in its ability to cultivate disciples of all kinds of potential into successful individuals.

He decided to use the method he had used to condense the Yin Fire as his foundation. It was not the Samadhi True Fire, nor the Qi of Reversal, but simply a gentle method for absorbing the essence of the sun and moon to nourish oneself.

No special talent or superhuman comprehension is required. All that is needed is patience and sincerity. Sit quietly facing the moon for an hour every night, absorb a wisp of Yin energy, and transform it into your dantian. Accumulate it day by day.

Once the foundation is solid, he will then impart more advanced methods according to the disciple's aptitude. He wrote the opening line of this introductory mental cultivation method, initially titled "The Scripture of Nurturing Fire": "The moonlight is like water, nourishing all things silently. Gather it with sincerity, and nurture fire in your heart."

The core of the Fire Condensation Scripture is not the technique, but the attitude. Absorbing the essence of the sun and moon has a much lower comprehension threshold than the Laoshan Illusion Technique. Whether it is the Yin energy or the Yang energy, they are both energies that exist naturally in the world, are free, and can be accessed without any qualifications.

As long as one can calm down and have enough patience, even an ordinary person with mediocre talent or a little demon who has gained sentience can accumulate their first spark of their own within their body over time.

After acquiring the spark, the next step is to impart the essence of the Samadhi True Fire, which is the most basic level of the Samadhi True Fire, specifically for body refinement, and the entry barrier is not high. Zhao Fengnian on Black Mountain relied on the essence of the fire to build his physical foundation, which allowed him to gradually reach where he is today.

After the body is tempered by the essence fire, the disciple can choose his own path: those who want to follow the path of body tempering will use essence fire and body tempering techniques; those who want to follow the path of fire tempering will advance to the level of Qi fire and condense other fire seeds; those who want to follow the path of the dragon race can be guided by Zhao Fengnian alone.

As for the path beyond the Divine Fire, that is beyond the scope of what the orthodox tradition can teach. The Divine Fire itself is an extremely high level of cultivation. Disciples who can ignite the Divine Fire are already capable of standing on their own. The foundation they have learned at the Three Ones Temple is enough to support them on their own path, and there is no need for further hands-on instruction. How far they can go depends on their own destiny.