Tianmingzi said that Nanfeng listened and occasionally asked.
Although Tianmingzi has a lot of problems, he also has some advantages. He is very proficient in Taoist classics, especially the genealogy of immortals, which is clear and logical.
To talk about gods, we must first talk about the three realms, heaven, human world and underworld.
The heaven, human, and underworld are all related to nine. The heaven is divided into nine levels. There are nine states in the human world and nine secluded places in the underworld.
It is not difficult to understand Kyushu. Dayu controlled the floods and demarcated Kyushu. But there are many misunderstandings about the Nine Levels of Heaven and the Nine Netherworlds of the underworld. The Nine Levels and Nine Nethers do not refer to the upper and lower nine levels. The Nine Levels and Nine Nethers, like Kyushu, refer to directions.
The nine levels of heaven are respectively the Cangtian in the east, the Yantian in the south, the Haotian in the west, the Xuantian in the north, and the Juntian in the middle. These are the five main ones, and there are four sub-levels, which are divided into the changing sky in the northeast, the quiet sky in the northwest, the Zhutian in the southwest, and the Yangtian in the southeast. .
Juntian is the middle sky, where the heaven is located, similar to the capital city in the world. The remaining eight days are like the state cities outside the capital city.
Among the nine heavens, Juntian is the king and has the largest number of immortals. The remaining eight heavens are the princes, controlled by Juntian, and have a large number of immortals stationed there.
The nine secluded places in the underworld are Jiyou, Qianyou, Kunyou, Kanyou, Zhenyou, Xunyou, Liyou, Genyou and Duiyou.
Jiyou is the master of the Nine Netherworlds, and the remaining Eight Netherworlds are controlled by him. There are not only ghosts in the underworld, there are also many gods of different ranks working there.
The three realms are relatively independent, but they are not unrelated. The relationship between the three realms is somewhat like the officials and the people in the human world. The heaven is the court, the human world is the people, and the underworld is the prison. The imperial court supervises all the people. Those who have meritorious service will be promoted to the imperial court and rewarded according to their merits. Those who have made mistakes will be sent to prison and sentenced.
Seventy percent of the gods are in heaven, 20% are in the underworld, and the remaining 10% are in the human world. How many gods are there in the three realms? Tian Mingzi was able to give an accurate answer, nine hundred and seventy-four thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight.
This number is naturally not trustworthy, because Tianmingzi cannot know it in such detail. The reason why he said it so accurately is just to show his profound knowledge. After all, it is impossible for him to count and verify it.
However, the approximate number should not be much different. In other words, the number of immortals in the Three Realms is close to one million. This is something Nanfeng never thought of before. One million is almost the total military strength of the two Wei Dynasties. .
Seeing Nan Feng's doubts, Tian Mingzi explained it, and his explanation was quite reasonable. Heaven is bigger than the human world, and gods also have levels. Those who hold high positions are like nobles in the world, and those with lower levels of immortality are like maids and servants in the world. , although he is a god, he does rough work and is also a coolie.
Recalling carefully, Tianmingzi's explanation also corresponds to what Gao Pingsheng said back then. According to Gao Pingsheng, when the Three Realms were demarcated, many gods were unwilling to be included. In desperation, many Da Luo Jinxian came with their cronies. Through coaxing and deception, the final team was assembled.
In addition, these millions of gods are not all divine soldiers and generals. The heaven is the same as the human world. In addition to the imperial court and officials, there are also ordinary people. The gods and generals that Taoists see when they ask gods to do magic belong to the heaven court, which is a very small place in heaven. Branch, in fact, there are other institutions in heaven, and heaven is not a harmonious whole. Sometimes there will be chaos, and order needs to be maintained. Heavenly court does not just focus on things in the human world on weekdays. They also have their own things to be busy with. After receiving the rescue message from the human world, which is the spell written by the Taoist priest, several officials will be sent down to quell the trouble.
Tianmingzi is good at pretending. After pretending for a long time, he has developed a good eloquence and can express simply and accurately. Extremely complicated things become clear and easy to understand through his mouth.
After making sure Nanfeng understood, Tianmingzi continued. What he was talking about this time was the composition of gods. To put it bluntly, it was the difference between gods and immortals.
This issue was Nanfeng's biggest concern, so he calmed down and listened to what he had to say.
There are three types of gods. One is the ancient gods who sense the energy of heaven and earth and form their own gods. Pangu, Fuxi, and Nuwa all fall into this category. Apart from these famous names that are well known to women and children, there are many others that are less well known. The blood of these gods can be passed on to future generations. The descendants of gods are also gods. They are born as soon as they are born. Not only do they have a lifespan that is beyond ordinary people, but they are also born with various strange abilities.
There is also a kind of god who is conferred upon death. Dutiful sons, chaste wives, loyal ministers, righteous men, and people who have made contributions to the country may be directly conferred upon the gods after their death. Even if they have not practiced Qi during their lifetime, it will not affect their conferred upon them after their death. However, This type of deity usually has a low status. Most of them are earth lords, and if they are lucky, they will be treated as city gods.
The last type is aliens becoming gods. The so-called aliens becoming gods are some aliens with profound spiritual practices. They are discovered by heaven and randomly rewarded with official positions. Most of them are mountain gods or river gods. In short, they will not be given too much power. They are called Conferred God, to put it bluntly, is just to recruit people, and they won't give any benefits. They will be rewarded with three-thirds of an acre of land, just watch it.
This is not bad, but what is even worse is that he is transferred to the Heaven Realm as an errand. It is called promotion, but it is actually to catch young men. Once you follow him foolishly, you will be unlucky. All you do is serve people and make a living.
In the past, it often happened that gods from the upper world descended to earth secretly. This was often the case. When they found that life in heaven was not as good as on earth, they wanted to run back, but it was easy to get up but difficult to get down. If they ran away, people would be sent to catch them. If they were caught back, they would Punishment.
This kind of thing only happens to gods. I have never heard of any immortal descending to earth privately. Those who descend to earth privately are all gods.
Although there is little difference between immortals and gods in the eyes of the world, in fact, immortals and gods are two completely different entities. There is only one source of immortals. Taoists practice their Qi to help the world, complete their merits, and ascend to the heaven.
The three most revered immortals are the Patriarchs of the Sanqing Dynasty. As Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortals, they have infinite magic power.
Under the Three Pure Ones, there are four levels of Daluo Jinxian, Jinxian, Tianxian and Earthly Immortal.
The lowest-ranking earth immortal has no physical body, only the soul and soul remain. If he is not cultivated enough, he will naturally not get any good jobs, either looking after mountains or temples. The unlucky ones are also looking after stoves, doors and latrines.
Those who are above the rank of Immortal can get good jobs, usually those with real power. Even if they are idle jobs, they will not be drudgery.
Power is not only useful in the human world, but also in the heaven and the underworld, because the heaven and the underworld also have food expenses, and the size of their power and status directly determines the quality of their food expenses.
But immortals are immortals after all. It’s better if they have food to eat. Even if they don’t have anything to eat, they won’t die of hunger. In addition, in addition to heavenly food, gods can also enjoy human incense. Human incense is their favorite thing. Incense is equivalent to merit and can be transformed into anything they need. Of course, the amount of transformation depends on the amount of incense they receive. .
The gods jointly formed the Heavenly Court, and have always maintained harmony on the surface. In fact, contradictions have always existed. In the eyes of those born great gods, the immortals who have ascended from mortal cultivation are cunning and scheming, and most of the important positions in the Heavenly Court are occupied by them. . Feeling dissatisfied, I wanted to find some balance. It was proposed by the gods that immortals go through tribulations every few years. Those who can go through tribulations are only immortals, and gods do not need to go through tribulations.
In the eyes of immortals, gods are like savages who drink blood from raw materials. They have mixed origins and are mixed with mud and sand. They accept both good and bad. They are mixed and impure. Not only are they difficult to ascend to the officialdom, but they are also difficult to hold important responsibilities. Therefore, when entrusting errands, good jobs often take turns. Not on their heads.
Of course, these words can only be said from the heart. The superficial harmony still needs to be maintained. After all, everyone is eating from the same pot. If the pot is smashed, it will not be good for anyone.
What Tianmingzi said is all from the past. According to the current situation, the conflict between gods and immortals is irreconcilable, and both sides are ready to break the pot.
Tian Mingzi kept talking and was vomiting all over the place. Seeing that no matter how much he talked, he could not finish until dawn, Nanfeng could only interrupt him and ask the most important question first, how many immortals were born in Yuqing?
"The Yuqing Sect is very good at Qi training. Sixty percent of the immortals come from the Yuqing Sect..."