Chapter 1180: Emergence Again
Xiao Mo and Xie Gou offered a word of caution.
It turned out that Rong Yu and Fu Qing had been staring at the map until their heads spun and their minds were utterly absorbed, unaware of themselves—this was what the mountains referred to as "trance."
The girl in the sable hat deliberately circled behind them, suddenly raising her voice and shouting, startling them into a violent shiver. Their souls immediately left their bodies—this was "soul separation."
Xie Gou reached out with both hands, pulled back, and casually returned the souls of the two young female martial artists to their wooden bodies, laughing as she said, "Two elder sisters, be careful. If you were proper Daoist cultivators, you'd need to mend your Dao Hearts now. But don't worry—I know some ancient methods. I can perform a shamanic ritual here in the State Preceptor's Residence to help you summon your souls back."
Rong Yu and Fu Qing quickly collected their scattered thoughts, thanked the second-ranked guest elder of Fallen Mountain, and then took their leave together.
For ordinary mortals, those without dreams wanting to have a beautiful dream, and those with many dreams wanting a dreamless night—both are difficult matters. As it happened, Rong Yu and Fu Qing were precisely these two types. The former had no idea what a dream even was, while the latter had bizarre, strange dreams almost every night, remembered them clearly upon waking, and even recorded them all in a book by Fu Qing.
According to the mountain's saying, deep karmic ties are fate, heavy karma is bone structure. In truth, these are all the foundations of cultivation in this life, this body.
When one suddenly awakens as if from a great dream, one sees the path that came before and the path ahead. Some grow weary of the world, enter the mountains to seek immortals, and by luck encounter the karmic connection of being guided up the mountain. Others, of a lesser sort, sink into despair amidst the boundless mortal world, listless and unable to break free from entanglements, unable to shatter the shell of ignorance.
There are also those blessed souls who settled debts and credits in their previous lives, and in this life they enjoy a peaceful death without illness or disaster—a calm journey through the world.
Xie Gou turned to look at them and said, "Both elder sisters have stories to tell."
Just now, they had been staring at the enormous map, unable to pull themselves away—one looking at the great river, the other at a certain place in the south.
Xiao Mo nodded, then said regretfully, "Actually, they would have been very suitable for Daoist cultivation. But now that they're already Golden Body realm martial artists, it's a bit late. They can only walk this path to the end and achieve a higher realm. If we had met them earlier, they could have followed the methods of Pu Mountain Yuncao Hall and advanced in both technique and martial arts. Xie Gou, can you tell if they are reincarnations of some ancient department of gods? Or the reincarnation of a great cultivator who used a dissolution technique?"
If the former, then this mortal body has a good foundation. If the latter, then there is usually one or two great karmic opportunities waiting for them "on the mountain."
Xie Gou shook her head and said, "Neither."
Xiao Mo found the arrangements of that Mr. Cui somewhat strange—didn't they seem to lack in accomplishments on their side?
Xie Gou looked up at the layered map and said, "Double visualization: visualize the Great Li Dynasty as the body, and I am the Great Li Dynasty."
Chen Ping'an smiled and said, "Not an easy task."
Xie Gou nodded. "Ordinary people can't touch this either. The Emperor can, of course, but he's not a Qi refiner. Song Xu could also do it, but unfortunately he can't become the Crown Prince."
Moreover, if one's Dao power is insufficient and methods lacking, the result is that touching it leads to shattering—easy to start, easy to end.
Xiao Mo repeated, "Everything is ready; we're just waiting for the Great Li court to announce your identity as State Preceptor to the world."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "A proper name makes speech proper; proper speech makes deeds successful—this is a principle that has never been overturned from ancient times to the present."
To truly form an intersection with this "harmony between man and nature" map of Great Li, Chen Ping'an would need the moment he obtained the new State Preceptor's seal.
Just like the Battle of the Night Boat, Wu Shuangjiang would rather let Jiang She, the First Ancestor of the Military School, have his ten-thousand-year Dao power—the most substantial Dao fruit—go to Zheng Juzhong of White Emperor City. Wu Shuangjiang himself chose to "usurp the throne." And then Wu Shuangjiang, calculating precisely that his ally Chen Ping'an would "seize the name" without occupying the Ancestor's title—whether due to Chen Ping'an's own personality, or the Dao lineage of the Literary Sage, or his current family business or future plans—Chen Ping'an could never become a Military School cultivator. He sought more the purity of the greatest freedom from Heaven and Earth.
Only after usurping the throne and gaining the name did Wu Shuangjiang create that new Martial Temple, as if a mountain had been erected from flat ground, so he quickly established a foothold in the Azure Green Realm.
Of course, Wu Shuangjiang was a straightforward man. Having gained a huge advantage, he was not vague at all. He and the Year-End Palace gave Chen Ping'an all the benefits they could.
A golden Daoist scripture, written with methods for ascending as a heretic, meant for mutual reference. At Chen Ping'an's current realm, he could not even open it.
An entire dragon-rest stone, beyond estimation in immortal money.
A strange banner, currently unknown how to open, let alone how to refine or use.
Twenty-seven priceless green talisman papers. Useful when needed, and pleasing to the eye even when not.
Five hundred gold-essence copper coins, plus a full twelve thousand Guyu coins. This solved Chen Ping'an's most urgent needs.
Additionally, Xiao Mo had taken Bixiao Cavern Lord to the Year-End Palace and brought back an immortal weapon, saying that your mountain lord knew who this item belonged to.
Indeed, Wu Shuangjiang and the Year-End Palace had shown Chen Ping'an and Fallen Mountain the utmost sincerity.
Additionally, there were the fragmented pieces of glass from the "dividends." Just think—doesn't that guarantee the golden statue for Zhang Jiazhen's future shrine?
As for the matter of the Great Li court officials presiding over the fengzheng ritual, Chen Ping'an could even preside over it himself, saving the Ministry of Rites from having to dispatch personnel and the Ministry of Revenue from paying travel expenses.
Xie Gou asked curiously, "Mountain Lord, when did you first have this idea?"
Chen Ping'an said, "I had it as soon as I stepped into the State Preceptor's Residence. But I truly made up my mind while walking under the peach tree. As for the inspiration for this plan, it came earlier—during my travels in the Northern Ju Lu Continent, I advised my friend Liu Zhiqing to use the Jinwu Palace as a Dao field, to observe human hearts, temper his sword heart, and wash, sharpen, and refine his sword. Time proved that path worked, and Liu Zhiqing reached the Nascent Soul realm because of it."
Good—a truth he had spoken to others years ago, in just a few words, lightly spoken. Now that same truth had fallen on his own head.
Of course, Liu Zhiqing only needed to observe the Dao; during that period, he didn't need to influence the direction of human hearts in Jinwu Palace.
But for Chen Ping'an's "Ascension Diagram" to "land," it was the opposite—he needed to affect every aspect of the Great Li Dynasty to the greatest extent.
Thinking of Liu Zhiqing and Jinwu Palace, Chen Ping'an tentatively said, "Doggy, do you have time to visit the Jinwu Palace in the Northern Ju Lu Continent? See if there's some connection with you?"
Unexpectedly, Xie Gou said, "Mountain Lord, have you forgotten? When I first arrived in the Haoran Realm, the first continent I visited was Northern Ju Lu. On my way south, I heard the name of that sect and went to check it out. I took a few glances—no connection. It's just that when that great sun fell to the ground back then, some dregs of Dao truth splashed out. They didn't completely melt upon hitting the ground, barely forming a karmic opportunity for immortals. The founding ancestor of Jinwu Palace picked up that piece of fallen iron, stumbled into the mountain, cultivated immortal arts, and that's how the sect rose."
Chen Ping'an said, "If that's the case, the connection isn't small."
The foundation of Qi cultivation for Jinwu Palace cultivators was the relatively rare and higher-threshold method of refining the sun. Compared to the more widespread methods of moon worship or starlight attraction, its effects were more immediate.
This path could barely be considered a branch of the ancient Fire Yang Palace lineage. That was why Xie Gou felt that the Pure Yang Lü Yan could be considered half her fellow Daoist. Of course, Bai Jing had many Dao lineages.
But those lineages that once dominated the ancient earth were now just like the owners of those "Dao names"—broken off. Otherwise, the way of refining the sun would not be so sparse and obscure in the human world today.
Xie Gou rubbed her sable hat and sighed, "Alright, I'll make another trip to the Northern Ju Lu Continent later. I'll make sure to do it without anyone noticing. I'll secretly write a Dao technique on the portrait of Jinwu Palace's founding ancestor. The Jinwu Palace cultivators can just think it's the ancestor 'manifesting.'"
Chen Ping'an rubbed his brow and said, "That works too."
Xie Gou held her hand to her mouth and whispered, "Xiao Mo, Xiao Mo, I'm not just good at writing now. The two landscape travelogues I've written—according to an old gentleman in the imperial palace—I could definitely go to a market bookstore to discuss publishing and selling them. And my delicate calligraphy of small elegant characters, the kind only a master can do—it's so divine that Rong Yu can't take her eyes off it!"
Xiao Mo twitched the corner of his mouth. "As long as you're happy."
Xie Gou immediately changed the subject, laughing, "No wonder the Mountain Lord didn't want the Great Li court to destroy Cui Chan's old State Preceptor seal at the minor court meeting earlier."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I need to heavily refine both the old and new State Preceptor seals into brand-new life-bound objects."
This would allow him to most clearly compare and most intuitively perceive the changes in the "body's" qi, blood, and bones between the old and new Great Li Dynasties.
They could fool the Great Li Emperor, the entire court of officials, and even the common people—a single Bottle Gourd Continent—but Chen Ping'an could never fool his own Dao Heart, nor could he cloud the rise and fall of the Great Li Dynasty's national fortune.
Entering the mountains to cultivate Dao and becoming a formal registered cultivator required holding a ceremony in the ancestral hall and recording the name on a golden jade registry. This was because one's life pattern would be linked to the immortal mansion and Dao field. Daoists also needed to receive talismanic registrations. There were also mountain techniques like "inviting gods to descend" or "mounting a spirit." Additionally, popular folklore books liked to say "listed among the immortals, name registered on the green ledger." The internal reasoning was similar.
If he succeeded, it would become an Ascension Diagram to verify the Dao—also a draft for Chen Ping'an's boasting.
But if he failed, he would be hindered and dragged down by the Great Li Dynasty's national fortune. It would be no mere "chicken rib." Similar to water spirits of the dragon lineage, they only choose to link themselves to a dynasty's reign if they are doomed to fail in their path to dragonship and can't break through bottlenecks. Once the dynasty falls, they suffer great Dao backlash, with the calamity of war following like a shadow.
Xiao Mo sighed emotionally, "In the end, it's a double-edged sword."
Chen Ping'an smiled. "How many brilliant immortals in the world have exhausted their hearts, resources, and Dao power, yet still cannot verify the Dao and ascend?"
Xie Gou nodded vigorously like a pecking chick. "Yes, yes, it's hard, so hard."
What could have been an excellent, insightful saying was rendered quite meaningless by Xie Gou's comment.
Xiao Mo said, "Jiang She is quite sensible, knowing that by slowly walking out of Bottle Gourd Continent, he can add some martial fortune to our side. However, for the Great Li Dynasty to achieve greater harmony between governance and people, there is a faster method. I could have Bixiao Daoist walk the Bottle Gourd Continent on foot. It would take some time, but wouldn't consume much Dao power..."
Chen Ping'an's heart tightened. He forced a relaxed expression, patted Xiao Mo on the shoulder, and said persuasively, "You don't have many friends to begin with. Don't just pick on one to exploit."
As he spoke, Chen Ping'an shot a glance at Xie Gou. The second-ranked elder immediately understood and followed up, "Xiao Mo, it's indeed your fault for being too formal with Bixiao Daoist. It would hurt his feelings. But if you're too impolite with him, his magnanimity means he won't mind, but it still harms the way of friendship. That's not good."
Chen Ping'an nodded in approval. His second-ranked elder would be more than qualified to serve as a county magistrate.
Xie Gou suddenly lowered her voice and asked, "Mountain Lord, it's not easy to heavily refine a life-bound object right now, is it?"
Chen Ping'an said, "I have to try anyway. I'll start by practicing on a few spiritual artifacts."
Xie Gou quickly added, "Mountain Lord, that was honest advice, honest advice."
Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "Just stating the facts. Why worry about taboos?"
Xie Gou said, "That Liu Xiang's approval is also very important, isn't it?"
Chen Ping'an nodded. "Extremely important. Absolutely critical."
He had sensed Liu Xiang's "worship" on Bottle Gourd Continent from within the ancient battlefield site inside Zheng Juzhong's belly.
Inside Zheng Juzhong's internal Dao field, with Wu Shuangjiang's Azure Green talisman and Chen Ping'an's "Caged Sparrow," Chen Ping'an could still sense it. Since he could penetrate layers of heavenly and earthly barriers, he could inversely deduce the extent and refinement of Liu Xiang's Dao power.
To first visualize and then "Dao-ify," the prerequisite was naturally to have a "Dao."
Liu Xiang's "nod" and "fengzheng" meant that Chen Ping'an at least had a path to determine existence and then verify correctness.
Xie Gou couldn't hold back and directly asked, "Why didn't you accept Zheng Juzhong's proposal? Afraid he'd set you up badly? Were you really scared by Jiang She's words? Worried that Zheng Juzhong is a more meticulous, more ambitious, better-hidden version of Zhou Mi? But Xiao Mo and I have thought it over and over, and we both think it was a very solid choice. Even now that I know your Ascension method, I still think the path Zheng Juzhong deliberately pointed out was better."
Xiao Mo hesitated but didn't refute.
Chen Ping'an thought for a moment. It was hard to give a precise answer, so he said vaguely, "Probably just inertia. I suppose our minds are always constrained by our hearts, often at odds and contradictory."
In that aptly named inner region, inside that "White Emperor City," Zheng Juzhong had once advised Chen Ping'an, who had just returned from sheathing his sword at the New Heavenly Court. Since he had successfully seized the name, why not directly convert to the Military School, staying behind the scenes?
He could become the person who benefited most in the human world within five hundred years. Conservatively speaking, Chen Ping'an would at least be "one of them."
Whether Haoran counterattacked the Barren Wastes or the Azure Green Realm fell into civil war, regardless of the results, Chen Ping'an could eat his fill to about seventy or eighty percent.
It was like the safest, most profitable deal under heaven—just lie down and receive a considerable dividend every year, rain or shine.
Zheng Juzhong's meaning was simple: let Chen Ping'an first secure the Fourteen Realm, put it in his pocket, and then worry about how to shed the Military School identity later.
Problems that were insolvable at the Immortal Realm or Flying Ascension Realm might not be problems at all in the Fourteen Realm.
Chen Ping'an wasn't entirely unmoved, but he had forcibly suppressed that greed at the time.
Regarding the joint beheading of Jiang She, currently only the peak cultivators of each realm had sensed it. How long it could be concealed was still uncertain.
As for the dispersal of the Dao by the Three Religions' Patriarchs, high-level cultivators were now all aware of it, but who dared to casually mention it or leak it to others?
One would bear the karmic consequences. For low-realm Qi refiners, careless words might have little effect, but the higher the realm, the more taboo this matter became.
How many failures at the brink of success, how much painstaking effort, had been lost to the saying "Heaven's will is inscrutable"?
Moreover, with Zheng Juzhong among the three allies, that small group of peak Dao-achievers would have to weigh the consequences carefully before speaking or acting without restraint. If something could obviously be left alone, clinging to it and spilling the inner details would only invite Zheng Juzhong—also having nothing better to do—to come calling.
Xiao Mo looked back at the map, finding it more and more intriguing.
Rong Yu and Fu Qing, after all, were not cultivators and couldn't see the deeper mysteries hidden in the map.
In the eyes of Xiao Mo and Xie Gou, what they saw was quite different from the two martial artists.
Huaihuang County in Chuzhou, the six ministries' offices in the Great Li capital, Wei Bo's Piyun Mountain, a rural school location, the Book Brocade Lake, Qiu Country...
The secondary capital Luojing, Tong Wenchang's Western Marchmount, Fan Junmao's Southern Marchmount, Zhengyang Mountain, Old Dragon City, Yu Xuan Kingdom's capital, several water mansions along the great river...
And a study tour route starting from the small town and ending at the Great Sui capital: Qidun Mountain, Red Candle Town, Yefu Pass, Huangting Country...
These places all had lights of varying brightness and range—some points, some lines, some patches.
Some lights were gradually dimming, others growing brighter. Some lit up suddenly, then flickered out, then lit up again.
Chen Ping'an said softly, "Xiao Mo, Xie Gou, let me ask you: what defines a truly pure strong person? What is the essence of power?"
Xie Gou grinned. "A truly pure strong person is someone who can kill whoever they want. Whether they actually kill or not depends on their mood? Freedom—pure freedom—including the freedom to actively choose not to be free."
Xiao Mo wasn't interested in what a strong person was or what power was. As long as he could spar with a strong person, then continue living to drink with Daoist friends, and after drinking, go spar again—that was probably enough.
Chen Ping'an tucked his hands into his sleeves and muttered to himself.
"Is it being remembered by many people, leaving a name in history for a long, long time? Still mentioned by people a hundred or a thousand years later?"
"Or is it the things they set in motion, like threads spreading through the world, deeply affecting the hearts of one generation, even several generations?"
Xie Gou said, "Mountain Lord, talking about this is like asking a blind man about color."
Xiao Mo smiled and nodded. "True words."
Chen Ping'an also laughed. "Then let's talk about something you're better at than I am."
He gently shook his sleeve, and two inch-objects floated in the air.
One of these inch-objects was actually a broken small cave-heaven, merely refined and "nominally" called an inch-object—otherwise, it couldn't hold the dragon-rest platform. This place would in the future become the Dao field for the lineage of Konghou, a registered cultivator of Fallen Mountain, the birthplace of the lineage.
The other inch-object was made of coral, shaped like a gilded incense burner, resembling a boudoir item of an official's daughter.
Wu Shuangjiang had withdrawn thirty-six layers of spell prohibitions—both formations and refining objects. Chen Ping'an needed to set new prohibitions for this inch-object, which was also a fairly novel mountain training experience. Chen Ping'an had already decided: if the process proved too tedious, time-consuming, or the knowledge too abstruse and cryptic, he couldn't grasp it, the solution was simple—he could just hand the inch-object to Xie Gou, let her study it completely, and write up a report.
Even if the gain would certainly be far less than figuring it out himself, it was better than ending up empty-handed and leaving the item shelved indefinitely.
So Chen Ping'an told Xie Gou directly.
Xie Gou's eyes sparkled. She rubbed her hands eagerly, itching to try. "Great! That's settled, Mountain Lord. I've already found the trick to writing books and stories—it's just telling nonsense with a straight face. Now I write like the wind, more skilled by the day, incredibly strong! Small matter!"
As for tracing, replicating, and resetting the prohibitions, Xie Gou didn't mention a word. Apparently, it wasn't worth mentioning to her.
Chen Ping'an said, "This incense-ball thing, I'll find an excuse to give it to Konghou later."
The immortal weapon Xiao Mo brought back to Fallen Mountain was a beautiful waist knife with a tender-green sheath.
Clearly, Wu Shuangjiang had given it to Konghou. He had no worries that Fallen Mountain might intercept it.
On the mountain, there were several resounding golden plaques.
For example, doing business with Liu Jubao—even if you lost money, you wouldn't suffer. Simply put, you'd definitely profit.
If you asked Yu Xuan for talisman teachings in person, you'd always gain something. If you invited Bai Ye for good wine, he'd write poems.
Or if you angered Bixiao Cavern Lord or Sun Daochang of Xuan Du Temple, there would be no overnight enmity, no misunderstanding that couldn't be cleared that same day.
Fallen Mountain also had a few golden plaques.
The first thing Xiao Mo did upon returning to Fallen Mountain was not to greet his master. He went straight to Qilong Lane, found the white-haired child squatting by the roadside gnawing on a pastry, and handed the waist knife to this compiler. However, he used the excuse that it was a gift from the Mountain Lord. The child clapped vigorously, swallowed the pastry, raised his hands high above his head, and received the beautiful knife he loved at first sight. "Thank you, Hidden Official Ancestor, for granting this divine weapon! Great kindness, unforgettable in life and death! I am deeply grateful, tears streaming, sobbing—I'll go hide in the back room of the shop to cry now..."
Xiao Mo was amused despite himself but still offered a few words of congratulations to the white-haired child.
The scabbard was called "Cuiwei," refined by an ancient true man. A string of inscriptions was carved on the blade, giving a rough account of the source of this dharma knife and recording the refiner's name. Based on the inscriptions, the scabbard was clearly a later addition.
For an outer-realm heavenly demon to return to human form—this was the only case in ten thousand years.
If Liu Laocheng of Book Brocade Lake was a heartbreaker, how should Wu Shuangjiang be judged?
Xiao Mo rolled up his sleeves and reminded, "Master, what about Lu Fang, whom I brought back from the Lotus Flower Blessed Land?"
Chen Ping'an's head ached at the mention of it. "Let him stew a little longer?"
Xiao Mo smiled. "Master, I have no objection. I imagine Lu Fang is still dumbfounded by now."
It turned out that the old temple master had fished Lu Fang out of the blessed land, then Xiao Mo had swept him into his sleeve and brought him back to Haoran, saying he could be disposed of however Fallen Mountain saw fit.
Among the Second Ancestor of the Military School's avatars, those Chen Ping'an could currently contact included Song Honghan, the Director of the Sacrificial Rituals Bureau under the Ministry of Rites—left by Cui Chan with a string of lingxi beads.
There was also Zhang Tiaoxia, formerly the number one martial artist in Haoran. Since she hadn't gone to that "mountain peak," it meant she was still at the Divine Arrival realm of the terminal stage, unable to cross that threshold.
Then there was the mortal emperor in the northern part of the Five-Colored Realm, clad in the Great Frost Armor. This bastard was also ruthless. In the early years, his reputation among the mountains and markets of Furao Continent was terrible, but when the Barren Wastes demons invaded Furao, he could really hold his own.
Just in the battle near the capital that resulted in the "destruction of the country," he managed to amass half a million elite troops willing to fight and die with him. In the end, only 150,000 to 160,000 remained, retreating to the capital to continue their desperate defense. During this time, he personally led elite cavalry into enemy territory many times. Although it was thanks to the precious armor, one had to admit that this slippery fellow had caused considerable trouble for the Barren Wastes demons. When the Barren Wastes command finally had to take this stubborn dynasty seriously, redeploying forces and sending Fifth Realm demons to behead him in the capital, they discovered that this bastard had long since fled to the Five-Colored Realm using some unknown mountain secret technique.
Then there was Lu Fang, currently still in Xiao Mo's sleeve universe.
Chen Ping'an hadn't expected that by merely asking Xiao Mo to pass a message to Liu Dui of Tianyao Township and drink with a Daoist friend, the old temple master would directly throw such a hot potato at him. Chen Ping'an had no choice but to accept it.
Lu Fang was a swordsman from Tongye Continent, a close friend of Jiang Shangzhen. He had gone to the Lotus Flower Blessed Land as a banished immortal to train.
In the years of the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, that Bird's Nest Peak was quite famous. When mentioning the grandmaster Lu Fang, one couldn't avoid the word "lovesick."
Cui Dongshan was indeed worried that Jiang Shangzhen might be "the one in ten thousand."
Chen Ping'an, however, had a once-and-for-all solution: take the initiative to talk to Liu Xiang?
After all, Liu Xiang had visited Fallen Mountain and even set foot in a Haoran sect for the first time. Shouldn't he return the courtesy?
But how to find this manifestation of the Great Dao in the Haoran Realm?
Learn from Chen Lingjun—just call Wei Bo's name a few times in his heart when encountering trouble?
Chen Ping'an wasn't too embarrassed to do it, but he had tried a few times without success. It seemed he couldn't invite him, so maybe he'd have to scold him a bit.
Leaving this main hall, Chen Ping'an called for Rong Yu and Fu Qing. He knew his senior brother's style better than Xie Gou or Xiao Mo.
Entering the study, Rong Yu and Fu Qing were indeed standing in their usual spots on the blue bricks.
Chen Ping'an asked, "Do you two want to leave this place?"
Rong Yu shook her head.
Fu Qing hesitated.
Rong Yu's father, Rong Yi, was the son of a post station official, hence the carelessly given name. Rong Yi had grown up around the Great Li post stations but had joined the military early on. He was once a highly powerful Great Li general, spending most of his life on horseback. After his wife died, he never remarried, so Rong Yu was his only child. A close friend who had faced life-and-death with him once teased him: "Promotion, wealth, and a dead wife—you've got it all, Rong Yi. Why not marry a young woman from a powerful clan? Afraid your little Fish Girl will be bullied? Don't be afraid of anything else. I, your brother, at least have a surname from a Pillar State family in the Yichi Alley of the capital—I have a say! The current ministers of the six ministries? I call them uncle or uncle. No matter how prestigious the family a woman comes from, would she dare bully our Fish Girl?" Rong Yi didn't bother wasting words with this friend. With a string of military merits in life, Rong Yi was promoted to a regular "Zheng" title Grand General. If he had lived a few more years, until the Battle of Bottle Gourd Continent ended, Rong Yi would likely have been promoted to Patrol Envoy. Even though his battle merits were inferior to Cao Ping's, the Patrol Envoy Su Gaoshan had died on the battlefield. The Great Li Dynasty needed a living Patrol Envoy of similar commoner origin—that was what was called official luck, and it should have been his. But Rong Yi still died in battle alongside that friend—that was probably fate.
Fu Qing's background was also special. She was a member of the old White Frost Dynasty's royal family, a powerful dynasty historically recognized as losing its reign due to overly lenient governance. Unlike the old Zhu Ying Dynasty, the equally colossal White Frost Dynasty offered almost no resistance to Great Li.
Chen Ping'an said, "Fu Qing, don't rush to decide. Think it over. If you go back, I support you. If you stay, I welcome you even more."
Fu Qing nodded.
Rong Yu covered her mouth and laughed.
Chen Ping'an asked suspiciously, "Did I say something wrong?"
Rong Yu quickly stopped laughing and shook her head.
Fu Qing said, "Rong Yu thinks that if State Preceptor Cui had said the same thing, the order might have been reversed. Harder to guess."
"If you stay, I welcome you. If you go back, I support you."
Actually, it wasn't hard to guess. State Preceptor Cui had made it clear for Fu Qing to return, especially since that was already Fu Qing's inclination.
Cui Chan occasionally asked for a jug of wine, a white bowl. A plate of peanuts, pig ears, cold mixed houttuynia cordata. He would drink alone, finishing the wine and the snacks together.
Chen Ping'an was amused. He remembered something and said, "Make a copy of the files for all officials above the sixth rank in the Great Li capital and secondary capital. Beyond name, place of origin, and official position, just note whether they're from a powerful clan, a gentry family, or a humble family. I'll need it later when I discuss matters alone with Sun Mao of the Ministry of Personnel."
Rong Yu and Fu Qing went to work.
Chen Ping'an leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in thought.
Yu Shiwu, Xiao Xing, and the others, as well as those Tongye swords, had all been shaken out of the cloth bundle by the bald man riding the fire dragon.
Thank goodness.
Chen Ping'an hesitated about whether to have them help out at the State Preceptor's Residence, since the work on constructing the various mind-realm heavens had also been halted for now.
What could he talk about when he met Lu Fang? Try to gather them? Should he use this opportunity to plan something?
Aside from confirming Jiang Shangzhen's identity, he also had to consider Lu Zhi's Dao unification, but he was still clueless.
Officialdom, battlefield, Dao field, marketplace, romance, grain-drying field...
Chen Ping'an opened his eyes, left the study, crossed the threshold of the main hall again, and through a door entered one of the Great Li secret treasuries.
Three mountains.
To be precise, mountains of money.
Gold, silver, and copper coins, each piled into a mountain.
The copper coins were all "former dynasty relics" from the nations of Bottle Gourd Continent, which should have been melted down and recast by the Ministry of Works. But the Great Li court had kept a large portion here instead.
If Chen Ping'an wished, he could also visit other secret treasuries. Anything the Great Li Dynasty had, he could see, or even monopolize.
Ripples shimmered, and from one of the doors stepped Emperor Song He, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Song He said, "I hope that wherever the State Preceptor's eyes fall, they become Mr. Chen's possessions. How you use them, I won't interfere. The more the State Preceptor takes, the more at ease I'll be. Mr. Chen should know that I mean what I say."
Chen Ping'an remained silent.
Song He continued, "Mr. Chen is my Great Li's new State Preceptor, and even more so, a cultivator with a Dao heart dwelling in the mountains. When the entire Great Li Dynasty continues to operate orderly under the name of Emperor Song He, but in reality under the personal will of Chen Ping'an, it may become better than the foundation laid by State Preceptor Cui, or it may become slightly worse. In any case, the entire Bottle Gourd Continent will be broadly and deeply influenced by Great Li's governance. At the same time, Mr. Chen will inevitably feel a slackening. Fallen Mountain, for about thirty years—how diligently the Mountain Lord managed it! But the sixteen boys and girls sent to Tiaoyu Mountain by the court—Mr. Chen will no longer pay them such close attention. You might even actively and deliberately distance yourself from them. As time goes on, Mr. Chen will have less and less interaction with those ever-increasing new faces, your disciples' disciples, and their disciples' disciples. If this is the case for Fallen Mountain, the same goes for Qingping Sword Sect, and even more so for the Great Li Dynasty."
Xie Gou sat atop that mountain of gold, clicking her tongue in wonder. "This Great Li Emperor has got something to him."
Xiao Mo sat nearby and smiled. "But not much?"
Xie Gou shook her head. "The art of imperial heart, combined with sincere treatment of others—that's still quite impressive."
Xiao Mo nodded.
Xie Gou suddenly asked, "Xiao Mo, what's the hardest thing about being a person?"
Xiao Mo shook his head. "I don't know."
Xie Gou said, "Simple: restraining desire."
Xiao Mo was pleasantly surprised. "Makes sense."
Xie Gou said, "Xiao Mo, we're lucky to have cultivated the Dao. It just means we have more strength. But in terms of thought, we may not surpass them."
Xiao Mo looked at her with a strange expression. Had she really gotten these insights from reading books?
Xie Gou nodded to herself. "That line is brilliant. I must write it into my book!"
Xiao Mo couldn't help but laugh.
At the foot of the mountain, Song He continued, "I have only one request: that Mr. Chen serve as the Great Li State Preceptor for a long time. That chair should preferably not have a third surname. When the day comes that Mr. Chen feels the Great Li Dynasty no longer needs his personal oversight of state affairs, you are welcome to return to the mountain peak and continue your great Dao. But once every sixty years or a century, please take a little notice of Great Li's court direction. Or if you feel that a certain Song emperor is unworthy of the throne—even if you think a surname change is needed—then emerge again."
Chen Ping'an hesitated, then made a deep bow to him. Song He seemed somewhat surprised and returned the bow.