Chapter 205: Go and See the World

In Kunning Palace, cicadas were chirping outside and the summer light was bright.

Unlike the Emperor, the Queen Mother did not ask the palace servants to catch all the cicadas, as that would have made the already empty palace seem even more lonely, which was not good.

On the throne, the Queen Mother looked at Zhao Taisui who came to pay respect to her, "Are you worried about Shenxiu?"

The facial features of the Queen Mother and Zhao Taisui are extremely similar, as if they were carved from the same mold on the bodies of a man and a woman respectively.

Zhao Taisui was not as arrogant as he was outside, and said respectfully, "Why would my aunt ask that?"

The Queen smiled and said, "There has been progress, but it's not enough."

Zhao Taisui lowered his head and asked seriously, "What will happen if Shenxiu loses this time?"

The Queen casually replied, "It's not a big deal. As long as you're not dead, the outcome of life is not determined by one game."

While the two were chatting, Qiu Sheng, the personal maid of the Queen Mother, came in and bowed. "Reporting to the Queen Mother, Zhou Tiege won in Tingchao Tower with the method of [Five Emperors' Precious Edicts], Shenxiu was defeated, the Bodhisattva statue was almost half destroyed, and Hong Shigui escaped and his whereabouts are unknown."

Zhao Taisui's breathing became heavier, but he did not ask the maid Qiu Sheng directly. Instead, he looked at his aunt.

The Queen was stunned by the result for a moment, then her expression showed a bit of curiosity, exploration and the fun of encountering new things, and she smiled and said, "Interesting."

Then she instructed her maid Qiu Sheng, "Go and find that pot of strange dead tree, and have Foer take it back later."

The maid Qiu Sheng responded respectfully.

The Queen looked at Zhao Taisui again, "It's not easy for you to come to my place once, so I will give Shenxiu some more advice."

"Aunt, please speak."

"The Buddha said that all people suffer and the world is like a sea of ​​suffering. However, Shenxiu has only been practicing in the Fahua Temple for more than 20 years. How can he see the suffering in the eyes of the Buddha? When will he see the truth of suffering and truly enter the practice? His Bodhisattva statue is golden and jade on the outside, but rotten inside. It is destroyed and it is not worth regretting."

"Thank you, auntie, for your advice."

After coming out of Kunning Palace, Zhao Taisui was exposed to the scorching summer sun, and as an ordinary man, his back was covered in sweat.

Everyone says that he looks like a diva.

But who wants to be told that they look like someone else since childhood?
When everyone says this, sometimes you even feel that you are not yourself, you are just a continuation of others.

So Zhao Taisui started to understand things from the time he was sensible. The smarter the Queen Mother was when she was a child, the dumber he was when he was a child. The harder the Queen Mother worked when she was a teenager, the lazier he was when he was a teenager. When the Queen Mother was young, she had already started to assist the Emperor, who was only a prince at the time, in handling government affairs, while when he was young, he was still lingering in red-light districts.

It’s not that he can’t understand the Buddhist scriptures, it’s that the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance have not been eliminated from his heart.

It’s just that his three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance are not directed at the world, but at the Queen of Heaven.

That's why he doesn't like coming to Kunning Palace.

Because the closer he got to the Queen, the less he felt like himself.

Therefore, when Shenxiu said that he looked like the Queen of Heaven, Zhao Taisui did not become arrogant and happy, but smiled self-deprecatingly.

In this world, how can one person be made to be like another person? Even if the person has tried his best to resist, it is still useless.

······
Qinglong City, Zhao Mansion Buddhist Temple.

Shenxiu looked at his packed luggage, which contained the paper and ink he usually used.

This time, after coming out of the temple and before he could travel around the world to save people, he was hit by a wake-up call.

Shenxiu looked at his palms. The flesh and blood on his right hand was still withered, in stark contrast to his left hand. If he wanted to recover, he at least needed to remove the death in it. This was not an easy task. Even with the help of great monks, it would take at least a month.

Compared with the decay of flesh and blood, more serious is the dustiness of the mind.

Although the matter has ended, there is a sense of finality.

But when the dust settles, the pure heart is no longer there.

After returning to the temple, he would need to explain the gambling fight over the three Luo Han Guo fruits to the monks in the temple. Even Master Kong Hai would be criticized for this matter, let alone himself who had a bad start...

Thinking of this, Shenxiu's mood fluctuated again, and Zhou Tieyi's image unconsciously appeared in his mind. If it were him, what should he do at this moment?

"Shenxiu, it's time to go."

Outside the Buddhist temple, Kūkai spoke in a calm voice.

Shenxiu concentrated again, turned around and said to Kong Hai respectfully, "Uncle Master, I want to wait for Zhao Fuer to come back and say goodbye to him."

Kong Hai nodded and said nothing more.

In just half a cup of tea, Zhao Taisui arrived at the Buddhist temple. When he saw Shenxiu's packed luggage, he asked, "Do we have to leave if we lose?"

Shenxiu thought for a while and said, "Since there is no chance of victory for the time being, it is better to hide away. During the time I am away, you should let him be and just hide in the mansion. He has his own Confucian school to deal with and cannot take care of you for the time being."

Zhao Taisui laughed at himself, "I didn't expect that there would be a day when I would need to hide from people in Tianjing."

He looked at Shenxiu's withered right hand and said, "It was me who harmed you."

The fuse of all the things that happened in the past two months came from the fight between him and Zhou Tieyi that night. Thinking about it now, it really feels like the world is impermanent and light and shadow alternate.

Shenxiu suddenly laughed and said, "I knew from the beginning that it was fate. Since we have already entered the law of fate, why should I blame you?"

Zhao Taisui waved his sleeves and said, "Let's not talk about these Buddhist theories that I'm tired of hearing."

He clapped his hands, and the servants immediately brought a rare object and placed it in front of Shenxiu and Zhao Taisui.

"This is?"

Shenxiu looked at the strange object in front of him.

Zhao Taisui said proudly as usual, "This is a reward I received from my aunt. Isn't it strange?"

Shenxiu took two steps forward.

This is a Bodhi tree seedling that is more than three feet tall and has dry gray branches. The forked branches at the top are as powerful as dragons, and the curled roots at the bottom are entangled with a piece of green jade that is broken into two pieces. Unfortunately, this seedling died tens of thousands of years ago, or even hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Shenxiu walked forward, placed his palm on the tree trunk, and stroked the lines carefully. He could roughly guess what this Bodhi tree had experienced.

As a seed, it was first blocked by a piece of green jade. After spending days and nights of hard work, it finally broke through the green jade and wrapped the green jade into the roots of the tree. It thought it could flourish and grow strongly, but unfortunately it encountered a natural punishment similar to a landslide. The whole seedling was buried back in the ground, eventually forming the tree fossil before our eyes.

This is truly a precious plaything.

Shenxiu looked at the strange object in front of him for a long time without saying a word.

Then he looked at Zhao Taisui with a peaceful smile.

"You went to ask the Queen of Heaven for help? What else did the Queen of Heaven say?"

Zhao Taisui wanted to pretend to be casual, but in front of Shenxiu, he finally sighed, "My aunt said that you have not seen the suffering in the eyes of the Buddha. When you understand the truth of suffering, you will truly start practicing. Before that, even if the Bodhisattva statue is destroyed, it is not worth regretting."

Shenxiu thought for a long time, then put his palms together and said to Konghai, "Uncle Master, I don't want to go back to the temple. I want to continue traveling around the world."

Konghai looked at Shenxiu's dry right palm with a feeling of relief and worry, and said, "If this right palm cannot be treated in the temple as soon as possible, I'm afraid it will never be restored to its original state in the future."

Shenxiu looked at his right palm which looked like a withered bone and said, "All people in the world suffer. This little suffering is nothing. If I can see the truth of suffering, I will use this right palm to save 100,000 people in the future."

His voice was firm and he made a great resolution.

"Very good."

Kūkai stopped persuading Shenxiu and picked up the scepter himself. Without saying goodbye to Shenxiu, he strode out as casually as when he came.

In front of the Buddhist temple, Zhao Taisui suddenly said, "I also want to follow you and travel the world."

Shenxiu turned his head and looked at Zhao Taisui with a little surprise.

Zhao Taisui laughed at himself and said, "Since I'm already prepared to hide from them, I might as well stay away. I've seen a lot of the debauchery in Tianjing, and I find it increasingly boring these years. I might as well follow you and see the world."

Shenxiu looked at the withered Bodhi tree in front of him and said, "It might be hard for you to follow me along the way."

Zhao Taisui suddenly laughed and said, "This is interesting!"

······
As night falls, the heat subsides.

In Qilin Pavilion, Zhou Tieyi looked at two things in front of him, one was a blue-red gem, and the other was a broken inkstone.

Hong Shigui died, and the mute old man personally brought his body back to the Zhou Mansion.

After so many calculations, he also activated the Zhou family's background. The death of this third-rank novelist was not unjust. Who made him jump into the powder keg of Tianjing?

At the same time, he also had a more accurate understanding of his own [Usurpation of God] magical power. The most powerful part of [Usurpation of God] magical power was that it could directly usurp authority, no matter who the authority belonged to, even if it was the nine ancient gods like saints, he could also usurp it.

But this usurpation is a process.

The first three magical powers, [Blood God Son], [Mountain Lord], and [Mirage], were okay. Even though two of them had extremely high natures, their weight was extremely low, and it was easy to usurp them.

But today, we are faced with a complete lineage of novelists.

Even though I tried my best and with the help of Qiao Yongen's "The New Biography of Xue Ren", I could only grab a quarter of the market.

This was under the premise that Hong Shigui was completely restrained by his mother, Concubine Mo, and had no time to deal with himself.

If dealing with a complete, unrestrained enemy.

There are two points you need to pay attention to. The first is to find the "key" to enter the door like a thief, and the second is to not let the owner be in a sober and unrestrained state.

Only in this way can the greatest effect of the [Usurpation of God] magical power be brought into play.

Zhou Tieyi picked up the reddish-blue gem in front of him. This was the legendary Bi Xue Dan Xin, something that was left behind by a great scholar of the third rank. Unexpectedly, Hong Shigui still had another piece of it.

In addition, the broken inkstone is similar to Qiao Yongen's lake inkstone. It should be stronger when it is complete. Unfortunately, it was broken in the battle with the mute old man and lost most of its value. I can throw it to my brother and let him figure out something.

After looking at the two items left by Hong Shigui, Zhou Tieyi reflected on himself.

Hong Shigui actually left behind the third most important thing, which is the Taoist tradition of their school, [loyalty and righteousness].

In his own dream, a bright white book opened up like a butterfly flapping its wings.

In the book, the former dynasty's Admiral Tianxing seemed to be coming back to life, but it was only for a moment, and the aura of the Admiral Tianxing began to plummet again.

Zhou Tieyi was not surprised by this. He was not a true third-grade novelist. Even if he had the magical power of [Usurpation of God] and usurped a quarter of the authority of Taoism, he was ultimately unable to exert the full power of a third-grade novelist.

In addition, there are two other reasons. The first is that [Loyalty and Righteousness] is incompatible with one's own attributes. It is already a powerful supernatural power that one can use it. Even if most gods get the power that is incompatible with their own attributes, they cannot hold it in their own hands, but will choose to give it to their subordinates.

The second reason is that with the death of Hong Shigui, the power of the "loyalty and righteousness" sect is declining at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This is normal. If a sect loses its third-grade guardian, its own strength will naturally decline rapidly.

The first thing we need to do now is to find a way to stabilize the declining Taoist tradition.

Pretending to be Hong Shigui?
This was Zhou Tieyi’s first thought, but it was quickly rejected.

After Hong Shigui disappeared, it was easy for him to impersonate him for half a month with the help of his Taoism, but if it lasted more than half a month, there would be too many flaws. He had no other way to completely gain the trust of the Confucianists and the loyal and righteous faction of novelists, because this fake Hong Shigui could only appear in dreams.

But how is this possible?

Confucians and novelists are not fools.

If it is exposed at that time, it will lead to more problems.

It would be better to pretend that he has disappeared for the time being and let the Confucians verify it themselves.

At this time, their school, Hong Shigui's disciples will definitely continue to inherit this Taoist tradition and even carry it forward with the support of Confucianism.

Then these people will be the pigs raised by Confucianism for itself. When the pigs are well raised, it will be possible for Confucianism to harvest them again, or even multiple times.

Thinking of this, Zhou Tieyi suddenly felt that he should also support the Confucian loyalty and righteousness faction.

Well, it’s such a happy decision.

How does this go according to our military theory?

Feed on the enemy!

Figured out the first solution.

Zhou Tieyi began to think of a second solution, which was to turn [loyalty] into his own loyalty, so that he could truly master and define this authority.

He looked at "The New Biography of Xue Ren". Of course, it would not work to just use this novel. In his opinion, a lot of the content in it was completely inconsistent with his values.

Why not write a novel yourself? And use newspapers to promote it?

Thinking of this, Zhou Tieyi became eager to take action.

He didn't want to change the foundation to that of a novelist.

He had another good idea. Since Taoism was a manifestation of theocracy, could the novel he wrote serve as a new divine weapon, just like the martial arts spear and the Qiankun Seal?

If this is feasible, then after this round of transformation, he will definitely be able to completely grasp the [Loyalty and Righteousness] orthodoxy in his hands.

This requires testing, and Zhou Tieyi immediately thought of Li Jianhu.

How could an old man like me forget you for such a good thing?

But he was not in a hurry. Calculating the time, Confucianism should have allowed Li Jianhu to take action. After a period of internal and external screening, Confucianism should have confirmed that Li Jianhu was trustworthy.

If he really wanted to contact Li Jianhu, he had to wait until Li Jianhu left Lulin Academy. In that way, the possibility of being exposed through dream communication would be very small.

Anyway, I had already agreed with that kid Li Jianhu that he would contact me when he left Lulin Academy and was sleeping on the road.

······
Shantong Mansion, Lulin Academy.

These days, Li Jianhu seems to be living a god's life.

Lulin Academy not only cured his injuries, but also gave him elixirs to help him practice martial arts.

Because he had the help of good enough elixirs, and the foundation laid by practicing martial arts for the previous half year, in these two days, Li Jianhu had vaguely felt that the opportunity for him to open up his Dantian Qi Sea had come.

At night, he excitedly told this to his teacher Mo Tianheng.

Mo Tianheng looked at his disciples and remained silent for a long time.

"Teacher, I am about to break through to the ninth level of martial arts!"

Li Jianhu said it again, as if he was afraid that the teacher would not believe him.

Mo Tianheng said with a wry smile, "Your breakthrough to the ninth level of martial arts is a good thing, but it is also a bad thing."

Li Jianhu looked at Mo Tianheng in confusion.

Mo Tianheng looked in the direction of the headmaster's study, where the lights were bright.

Cui Yu returned from Tianjing on a flying roc, and brought Dong Xingshu's calligraphy of "A Small Soldier Crossing the River" to the headmaster Lu Shanqing.

When Lu Shanqing saw this calligraphy, he immediately understood what to do and said with a smile, "It's time to let them move."

During this period, he personally tested Master Mo Tianheng and his apprentice, and asked practitioners who were good at divination to deduce the details, but no problems were found. It was basically confirmed that the incident with Li Jianhu was a flaw revealed by an old friend of the Zhou family in the local area.

This is normal. Now the entire Confucianism is investigating the flaws of the Zhou family and has found a lot of evidence. However, Chang Sun Dan acted decisively, gave up many people, made them confess their crimes, and finally controlled the harm to the minimum level.

Therefore, Li Jianhu and his apprentice cannot be used simply. They need to be used as bait to make the He family or even the Zhou family make mistakes, big mistakes, and that will determine the outcome.

"What do you mean, teacher?"

Cui Yu asked respectfully.

Lu Shanqing stroked his beard and said, "Let them go to Tianjing and sue the Zhou family for the crime of condoning their disciples! We just need to prepare the charges against the He family, and the He family will naturally be unable to resist taking action."

Cui Yu thought for a while, "What if the Zhou family abandons the He family like they abandoned other disciples?"

Lu Shanqing laughed, "Shantong Mansion is different from other places. Inkstone is produced here. The Zhou family will not give up so easily. As long as they hesitate, the He family will naturally help them make a decision."

Cui Yu asked again, "Then let them take the flying roc to Tianjing?"

Lu Shanqing frowned and said, "Why are you confused at the critical moment? They have no foundation, how can they pay Fei Peng's money? Naturally, they have to go to Tianjing by land!"

Lu Shanqing did not explain more reasons, such as taking the land route and publishing it in the newspaper later, which would make the matter seem more credible, gain more support from public opinion, and leave the Zhou family speechless.

And if they take the land route, it will give the He family many opportunities to take action, causing the He family and the Zhou family to reveal more flaws in this matter.

The only drawback is that traveling by land is too dangerous.

Cui Yu naturally saw this, and he replied respectfully, "Since they are going by land, I am willing to accompany them."

Lu Shanqing looked at his disciple seriously and sighed, "Well, it's good for you to go see the real world. Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles."

(End of this chapter)