At the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, amid year-round wind and snow, the Tianchi Lake is rippling with smoke, and the shrine is carved into the mountain. It looks like a cave where Taoists from the Central Plains live and practice, and a mausoleum where the emperor's body is placed. Behind the stone gate is a mysterious and deep place that can't be seen to the end.
Deep into the heart of the mountain, there is a mirror hall in the deepest part of the shrine. Hundreds of mirrors made with unique techniques, with different concavities and convexities, are hung on the mechanism of the dome, arranged in a ring, and the layers are orderly. The mirrors reflect each other, and you are in the world.
Among them, many figures can be seen, making people who enter this place feel in a trance.
Anquti came to the Mirror Hall alone, and an square stone pile was erected in the center. Countless fine lines were carved on the surface, extending horizontally and vertically to the ground.
Putting the black jade box on the top of the stone pile, the entire Mirror Hall itself became like a living thing. An Quti raised his hands high and moved them in the air. The rock formations in the center of the dome spread out like flowing water.
, revealing a straight shaft that actually runs through the entire mountain, and the sky above can be clearly seen.
A ray of sunlight then shines down along the shaft, and shines directly on the stone pillars in the hall, making the fine carvings on the surface of the stone pillars also glow with light, flowing like water, forming spiderweb-like light patterns on the floor of the Mirror Hall, outwards
spread rapidly.
The light patterns touched the surrounding walls, then traveled backwards upwards again. In an instant, they were covered with the rock walls and mechanisms behind the mirrors. Each mirror shone brightly and intertwined with each other in mid-air. Each reflection doubled the light.
As An Quti raised his hand to fiddle with it, the mechanism behind the mirror started to operate. The light was woven like a net, and finally condensed into eight strong light pillars, which once again shone on the top of the stone pillars in the hall, and all of them were focused on the black jade box.
The light beam that has been reflected many times becomes extremely bright. If an ordinary person is watching, his eyes will be blinded by the strong light. And where the light beam is focused, even fine steel will be melted into molten iron, but the black jade
There is still no damage to the box, only the Sanskrit gold characters on the surface are speeding up, continuously protecting the black jade box.
Ankuti saw the bright light without any hindrance. He sneered and said to himself: "Huh, use the ebony rock hidden deep in the ground to seal the star essence. Then, headed by the three great siddhas of the Brahmanyana Kingdom, hundreds of thousands of bhikkhus from the Sala Academy
The curse formed the seal, and these thieves put a lot of thought into it."
An Quti raised his head and looked at the shaft leading to the sky, his mind quickly calculating the movement of the sun, moon and time: "Although it will take some time, it is still acceptable. It's a pity that I didn't have time to kill those people in Baochang Society, I'm afraid it was an unexpected variable.
.”
With this in mind, Anquti turned around and left the Mirror Hall, allowing the light beam to focus and shine, constantly eroding the Buddhist seal on the surface of the black jade box.
"Congratulations to the leader for regaining the sacred object!"
When An Quti opened the stone door and walked out of the temple, his subordinates headed by Guo Lizhen celebrated in unison.
Facing these fools who had been deceived by him, Anquiti displayed the demeanor of a pious man, with a dignified demeanor that was somewhat aloof. His arms were as wide as an eagle's and he said loudly:
"O people of Suruzhi! The sacred Mani Pearl has returned to the light of the Great Light Lord. You have faced the vicious blades of the demons and paid for your blood and life, but your soul will always be with the Great Light Lord.
, enjoy eternal peace and tranquility!
"But you must remember that the demons who are unwilling to be illuminated by the Great Light Lord will never give up. They will use all conspiracies, tricks, and evil means to confuse, destabilize, and persecute you. In the face of difficulties, you must persevere.
My inner devotion to the Great Light Lord and the Sulu Zhi Sage!"
"Please obey the instructions!" Everyone responded in unison again.
Faced with the worship of everyone, Ancuti rarely felt a little secretive in his heart. In the past, he had always looked down on these people. They were either grassland tribes who failed to rebel, frustrated scholars who were demoted and exiled, or greedy people.
The landowners and profiteers are really out of the spotlight.
But if you think about it carefully, how could you easily win over these people if they hadn't strayed from the masses?
An Quti recalled that decades ago, he came to Daxia alone, and the completely different weather and scenery gave him an extremely strong shock.
What his subordinates don't know is that An Quti has been studying the knowledge of various schools in the Central Plains for many years. Otherwise, it would be impossible to use this Tianchi to activate the barrier and suppress Buddhist and Taoist magic.
However, for Anquiti, the biggest trouble is nothing else but that his life is coming to an end.
Compared with the power and wealth that ordinary people hope for, Anquiti's real pursuit is to reach the realm of rationality and wisdom that does not belong to gods. Before completing the ultimate goal, he needs a longer life to acquire knowledge.
, the best is eternal life.
An Quti had changed his appearance many years ago and studied under a Taoist master in the Central Plains. Unfortunately, he had achieved very little. According to those Taoists, his foundation was already established and he could not learn the Taoist immortal method.
Seeing that his lifespan is coming to an end day by day, Anquiti must find another way out. He picks up the method of his hometown again, which is a method of anchoring the soul in the body, and then using various means to maintain the immortality of the body, thereby achieving eternal life.
But this method of immortality is actually extremely imperfect. First, the soul anchors the body, but it cannot prevent the wear and tear of the soul. In addition, the immortality of the body itself is extremely difficult.
Many ancient monarchs in Anquiti's hometown once tried this method of immortality, spending countless manpower and material resources, but in the end they could only obtain decayed and decayed mummies. The five senses were annihilated, and the souls were tortured for a long time.
, eventually fell into endless madness, retaining only the stubborn obsession during his lifetime, causing trouble and harming people in the desert.
Anquiti traveled to many countries and witnessed various forms of civilization. He finally found a way to imitate the stars to transform his body and transform it towards the celestial body. In the process, his soul would also
An unprecedented sublimation occurred.
But if you want to do this, in addition to a large amount of manpower and material resources as support, you also need the essence of the stars that truly contains the principles of the evolution of the universe, which is what the Central Plains Taoism calls the star essence.
Things like star marrow are very rare, but for a well-read person like An Quti, in fact, various civilizations have more or less obtained some in the long history, so it is not completely impossible to find them.
The more troublesome thing is that in the Central Plains, the star marrow is either collected and sealed by the imperial court, or is treasured by high-ranking sects, and Anquti cannot snatch it away alone.
Fortunately, after many investigations, Anquti learned that star essence fell from the sky in distant Tianzhu. Moreover, the various countries in Tianzhu seemed to dislike this thing that fell from the sky, treating it as an evil thing, and tried their best to destroy it.
Send.
For this reason, Anquiti set his sights on the Western Region. Whether it is to capture the star marrow or to prepare the magical rituals for immortal transformation, sufficient manpower and material resources are needed. Therefore, Anquiti used the name of Zoroastrianism to recruit such a group of people.
, if the final thing is exposed, he can easily abandon this false identity and start over somewhere else.
"It's not in vain that I have been planning for many years, and now I finally got the Star Essence." An Quti relaxed a little and looked at the group of believers in front of him. After his immortal transformation ceremony was completed, should he continue to maintain his identity as the leader of Zoroastrianism?
Do you really want to accomplish something?
"Master." Guo Lizhen, a tall and thin old Confucian scholar, said: "After Qi Jingyang, the Protector of the Four Towns, returned to Quzhi City, he quickly put down the chaos. A group of our spies were captured and imprisoned. How should we deal with it in the future? Please ask the Master for instructions.
.”
"I wonder what Elder Guo has planned?" An Quti relied heavily on this old Confucian scholar. Even a scholar who had been demoted in the officialdom of the Central Plains was far better as a military advisor than Hu Shang, the chief of the Western Regions.
"Qi Jingyang led a heavy army to protect the Western Regions. If our religion wants to grow stronger, this person is the primary enemy and must be eliminated." Guo Lizhen twisted his beard and said: "It's just that Qi Jingyang relies on the strength of his troops at the moment, and it may be difficult to shake him in a hurry.
Our sect has suffered a lot of losses recently, so if we raise our flag rashly, I'm afraid it won't be a big deal."
At this time, a barbarian warrior wearing wolf skin was quite dissatisfied: "You also know that we have suffered a lot! It's all because of your random arrangements. You robbed the sacred objects before and caused the death of dozens of strong young men from the Black Wolf Tribe.
If this continues, there will be no more Black Wolf Department in the future!"
"Shi Tuojie, are you criticizing Sang and Huai?" Guo Lizhen never looked directly at the other party: "It is the leader's arrangement to intercept the Maocai Society and seize the sacred objects. Are you accusing me of improper planning? Do you want to question the leader?"
The barbarian warrior was no match for Guo Lizhen in his pretense. He was furious for a moment, reached out and pulled out his scimitar, and broke into a fit on the spot.
Everyone on the left and right hurriedly hid aside. Guo Lizhen faced the attack of the scimitar. She remained calm and did not dodge. She raised her arms and flicked her sleeves, and a burst of inner strength rolled out from her sleeves. It was like a huge wave was rising from the ground, and she flew the scimitar away.
Feeling that it was not enough, he knocked Shi Tuojie away hard.
This counterattack immediately shocked everyone present. People such as Kang Fudi and others originally thought that Guo Lizhen was just a weak scholar responsible for giving advice to the leader. They never thought that she had such superb martial arts.
An Quti stood outside the stone gate of the shrine without saying a word. He knew very well what Guo Lizhen was capable of. This person was born as a martial artist in Hebei Province, and the palm he just struck was from the "Hongchuan Passed East" in the Confucian martial arts classic "Gu Jin Jian".
The key to movement and energy is "going forward without returning". Without a foundation in Confucianism to cultivate one's literary quality, one cannot perform it freely.
Although Confucianism in the Central Plains also had prayers for blessings and the study of strange arts and numbers, many of them were abandoned in the past. In addition, the Confucianism sect claimed to be the authentic martial arts of the Central Plains. Confucian scholars and scholars traveled all over the world, and they inevitably had to rely on martial arts, which gradually gave birth to some generations.
A family of martial scholars who practiced martial arts and studied literature.
As for Guo Lizhen, he failed several times in the imperial examinations. Even though he was later appointed, he was upright and did not like to flatter his superiors, so he gathered a group of martial scholars to make a grand announcement in Chang'an, the imperial capital, and even openly discussed the various actions of the imperial court in a prosperous wine shop.
Political misconduct.
This move shocked the imperial court, and Guo Lizhen was immediately arrested and imprisoned. After some interrogation, it was determined that he was not instigated by others, had no collusion with any clique, and was just an upright Confucian scholar. After His Majesty the Emperor learned of this, he was finally sentenced to exile in Suye City in the Western Regions.
Go and do hard labor for the Sui Fort garrison.
One can imagine the attitude of such a person towards the Great Xia court. When An Quti found Guo Lizhen, even though he had a gray beard, he still maintained the character of a Confucian scholar. He taught the border garrison soldiers how to read and write, and also helped the garrison soldiers.
He writes family letters and is well respected.
However, perhaps the Emperor of Great Xia was well versed in the pursuit of Confucian scholars and exiled Guo Lizhen to a border fortress, leaving him unable to realize his ambitions. This setback was even more devastating to his mind. Therefore, shortly after Anquti pretended to be a Zoroastrian priest to preach to him, he actually took the initiative to
Present the strategy of occupying the Western Region.
Anqu had passed through Persia a few years earlier and had an in-depth understanding of Zoroastrianism. However, his purpose was to learn about the mysteries of Zoroastrian magic. He had no intention of worshiping the Great Light Lord and Sulu Zhi that Zoroastrianism believed in. He only later traveled to the Central Plains.
When he showed his magic to others, he was mistaken for a Zoroastrian master, so he continued to pass it off as a mistake.
But Guo Lizhen was different. He came into contact with the Zoroastrian scriptures through Hu Shang in Suye City, absorbed the essence of them, and further studied them. He believed that Confucian ethics alone could not restrain the emperor, but the majesty and majesty of the Great Light Lord was required.
, in order to correct the emperor's unscrupulous bad character.
When Anquti learned about Guo Lizhen's thoughts, he almost laughed out loud. He secretly thought that this old Confucian scholar was really stupid in reading scriptures. If Zoroastrianism's pile of scriptures and precepts could not save the declining and dying Persia, how could they change Daxia?
His Majesty the Emperor of the Imperial Court?
Perhaps out of revenge, Guo Lizhen was much more enthusiastic about invading the Western Regions and unifying Zoroastrianism than others, and it was not out of pursuit of fame and fortune.
Therefore, even if Anquti did not have many strong troops under his command, according to Guo Lizhen's plan, he could still cause turmoil in the Western Region by provoking conflicts among tribes in various places, making the Qi Protector busy leading troops to quell the chaos, so that Anquti could
Easily obtain the Star Essence.
"stop!"
Shi Tuojie could not defeat Guo Lizhen alone, so he called several tribal leaders who were also dissatisfied and besieged Guo Lizhen together. An Quti could not see why, this group of people were demonstrating against him to express the loss of the tribe's manpower.
dissatisfaction.
But now they couldn't be allowed to mess around, so An Qu raised his eagle-winged copper staff, put a bright light on the brazier, stopped the two combatants, and waved them away.
"I know that you are in a difficult situation, but you cannot fight with each other, otherwise you will allow the darkness in your soul to grow. Have you all forgotten the teachings of the Sulu branch?" An Quti moved out the founder of Zoroastrianism, and no one dared
disobey.
"At present, we still need to understand the trends of the Great Protector of the four towns. Only in this way can we plan the next step." An Qu asked: "Elder Guo, I remember that there should also be believers in the Protector's Mansion who believe in the Great Light Lord."
Guo Lizhen bowed slightly: "Master, these people's belief in the Great Light is far from pious. They are just using this status to seek fame and fortune."
"Those who voluntarily fall into darkness do not need to reach out to save them." Anquti himself has no such scruples at all, but he still has to pretend to be compassionate, spread his arms, and shine with light all over his body:
"But in order for the Great Light Lord to shine on this land, we must take the initiative to approach the abyss and face the darkness. People of Suruchi, you are the vanguard against demons. This eternal war will be trumpeted by your bravery.