EFB Chapter 555 The culprit
Chapter 555 The culprit
Chapter 555 The culprit
Yun Xiao watched as Lu Zheng put away the storage bags one by one, and he knew without a doubt what was inside each bag.
He couldn't help but ask curiously, "How much grain did you actually grow?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Would you like to take a look at my Literary Palace?"
Yun Xiao's eyes flickered. One's literary palace is not a place to enter and leave at will. Lu Zheng's invitation showed that he trusted him quite a bit.
He couldn't help but say, "Then I'll shamelessly take a look?"
Lu Zheng raised his hand and drew a doorway.
Yun Xiao immediately sensed an extraordinary aura.
He raised an eyebrow and quickly went inside the doorway.
In the blink of an eye, Yun Xiao arrived in another world.
Looking at the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, and the surrounding rolling mountains, the area extends for over a hundred miles.
Yun Xiao was slightly taken aback; this was exactly the scene of a hidden paradise.
He had already fantasized about Lu Zheng's literary palace space, but he never expected it to be so vast. His own space was far inferior!
Although he was a Taoist master, he was not idle and would expend energy to expand his inner world.
How could Lu Zheng, a mere fifth-realm cultivator, have cultivated his inner world to such a vast extent?
Yun Xiao's mouth was slightly open, and he couldn't close it for a long time.
He had previously thought Lu Zheng had the potential to attain enlightenment, but he never expected him to be such a prodigy.
Turning his head, he saw Lu Zheng's spirit appear beside him.
Yun Xiao's eyes widened in surprise, his gaze burning as he asked, "Tell me, are you really some kind of saint reincarnated?"
Yun Xiao simply couldn't believe that such a vast inner world was something a young man could accomplish.
Lu Zheng asked curiously, "Can sages really be reincarnated?"
Lu Zheng had heard many such rumors, but he had never had any real evidence.
The two stood there, staring at each other.
After a long while, Yun Xiao said quietly, "Some people say that you have received the orthodox inheritance of the Confucian sage Meng. Is that true?"
Lu Zhengdao said, "It's not that exaggerated. I just learned a method to cultivate righteous energy."
Yun Xiao looked around at the surrounding world again, "You've only been cultivating for a short time, how could you have achieved such a level... How did you do it? Let me learn from you?"
Seeing Yun Xiao's questioning look, Lu Zheng took out a scroll and said, "Actually, it is a fusion of a painting that makes it so vast."
Yun Xiao glanced at the painting Lu Zheng had taken out and clicked his tongue, saying, "This painting seems to have some history! But it's not easy for you to integrate the world in this painting into yourself! Do you think it's that simple?"
Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "I didn't find it difficult at the time. I just tried it and it was done. It didn't take long."
Yun Xiao: ...When you encounter a truly gifted person, you can't outsmart them no matter how hard you try.
Lu Zheng smiled slightly and then led Yun Xiao to see the fields in the mountains.
"Qingwan has been taking care of most of these crops..."
Yun Xiao looked at the crops; there were many varieties, and many were marked with numbers.
After Lu Zheng explained for a while, he finally understood what Lu Zheng and his people were doing with all that land.
Yun Xiao smacked his lips, "How come it feels like you learn everything and are good at everything!"
Lu Zhengdao said, "I only learned some useful skills, I can't be considered proficient... and I haven't done much work, I'm usually too busy to handle everything."
Lu Zheng wanted to be proficient in everything, but he simply didn't have the energy.
Yun Xiao clicked his tongue and said, "How old are you? You really want to eat yourself into a fat man! No wonder you don't usually study Confucianism. It seems you are really busy... Where is your literary palace? Let's take a look."
"over there……"
Lu Zheng, unhurriedly, led Yun Xiao to the location of the Literary Palace.
Soon, the two arrived outside the main hall of the Wen Palace.
Looking at the tall and magnificent palace before him, Yun Xiao was not surprised this time; it was as if it were expected.
Yun Xiao stroked his beard and said, "A literary palace, a literary palace. Not every Confucian or Taoist scholar's literary palace is truly like a palace. Your literary palace is comparable to the literary palaces of some great scholars. It must have taken some effort to build it to this scale, right?"
"It's alright," Lu Zhengdao said. "The literary palace was established when Confucianism and Taoism were both established, and it hasn't changed much since then. There's been no time to expand it..."
Yun Xiao glanced sideways upon hearing this, "Was it like this from the very beginning?"
Lu Zheng nodded. "Yes."
"Well done, you're amazing!" Yun Xiao gave a thumbs up. "Tsk tsk, but it's fine if you don't expand."
Yun Xiao looked at the sun, moon, and stars in the sky. They were all real manifestations of the righteous energy, and were also part of the Literary Palace.
Now those things are all hanging in the sky, and this large area is considered part of the Wen Palace, not limited to a single palace building.
However, there is one problem: besides the literary and artistic atmosphere, there are other influences here as well.
The forces existing in this world are diverse.
A normal Confucian or Taoist scholar should maintain a pure literary atmosphere in their literary space, rather than having such chaotic energy and power.
Yun Xiao couldn't help but say, "Don't you think the aura here isn't pure enough? If you want to cultivate Confucianism and Taoism, you'd better focus on the literary energy of Confucianism and Taoism."
Yun Xiao was worried that Lu Zheng might go astray without proper guidance, so he kindly offered some advice to prevent such a good talent from being wasted. Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng smiled slightly and said, "No rush, I'm still young, I can cultivate slowly."
The way he said that... Yun Xiao felt that Lu Zheng seemed to have other ideas, as if he didn't want to seriously study Confucianism.
Yun Xiao said, "Alright, I can't really give you any pointers on Confucianism or Taoism. Just keep that in mind. If you want to switch to Taoism, just tell me, and I'll guide you in! I won't take advantage of you; we'll address each other as fellow Daoists, and I might even help you get a title like 'True Person' in the future..."
Lu Zheng laughed and said, "If we really want to switch to the Taoist sect, we'll definitely find a connection with the Taoist priest."
Yun Xiao smiled and looked at Wen Gong, but did not choose to go in to find out. Everyone has their own secrets, so it's better not to investigate.
He said, "Alright, you've certainly broadened your horizons today. I'll let you see something different tomorrow. Let's go, let's get out."
With a thought, Lu Zheng took Yun Xiao out of the small world.
Once outside, Yun Xiao couldn't help but take a deep breath to calm himself down.
During a break in their journey, Qingwan and Qingyi went to Xiaotiandi to help tend the fields.
As Qingyi learned to fertilize the crops from Qingwan, she absorbed the sunlight streaming down from the sky.
The sunlight in this place felt more welcoming to her than the atmosphere in southern Xinjiang.
On the spirit boat, Lu Zhengze took out some books he had found in the barbarian capital and flipped through them, discovering that there was indeed a lot of content that he could learn from.
Seeing that everyone else had something to do, Yun Xiao steered his spirit boat toward the direction he sensed.
Time slipped by unnoticed, and before we knew it, it was the next day.
In the distance, a small plain appears on the land, and on the plain stands an ancient city.
That was a border town in the southern frontier. Going south from the town, it was no longer the territory of the Shu Kingdom, but the vast, deep mountains, a gathering place for other barbarians.
Those barbarian tribes were not a threat, none of them claimed the title of king or hegemon, and their geographical location was too remote, so the Shu Kingdom simply didn't bother to bring them into its territory.
However, in order to prevent the barbarian tribes inside and outside the southern border from uniting and causing trouble again, and to guard against the neighboring Chu Kingdom, the Shu Kingdom had a large army stationed on the border, which was called the Zhennan Army.
In this border region, the Shu Kingdom built several cities and engaged in some trade with foreign tribes, also to facilitate the establishment of government offices to manage the area.
Standing at the bow of the boat, Qingwan looked at the city that came into view and clicked her tongue in amazement, "There's a big city in this remote place!"
This southern border region is sparsely populated, but there is a sizable city on the frontier.
Yun Xiao said, "Sometimes the Shu army will be stationed in border cities, so they need to be built larger. However, the main force of the Zhennan Army has a separate military city, hidden in the southern border, and outsiders do not know its location."
The city in front of us is mainly for ordinary people to trade and travel. Although there are border troops stationed here, there are not many.
Yun Xiao took out a crystal and said, "My intuition tells me that we're not far from our goal..."
Yun Xiao formed a hand seal, and a ray of spiritual light entered the spirit stone.
Suddenly, a faint light appeared on the spirit stone, flickering and flashing intermittently.
Seeing this, Yun Xiao raised an eyebrow and quickly stuffed the crystal into Qingyi's hand. "Little girl, it's up to you! You're fast, go find someone. The crystal's reaction means they're less than a hundred miles away from us, so they must be in the city!"
Qingyi took the crystal. Having learned the method of finding people before, she immediately sensed it, kicked her short legs, and disappeared instantly.
Yun Xiao quickly maneuvered his spirit boat to follow closely behind.
However, Qingyi was too fast, and she turned into a black dot in just a few breaths.
In a tavern in a border town, several monks dressed as barbarians were drinking.
Suddenly, one of them felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of fear.
This sudden sense of unease made the man unable to sit still, so he quickly got up to say goodbye and leave.
Before the others could understand what was going on, the man hurriedly left the restaurant.
He hurried towards the city gates. Flying was prohibited within the city, and border troops were conducting checks, so he had to maintain a calm demeanor.
"Be bold!"
"who!"
A furious shout came from behind.
The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw a figure flying high in the sky, already reaching the city center.
Border troops issued warnings and even took up arms.
However, the person in the sky was moving very fast, and suddenly fell straight to the ground, crashing onto the road with a loud thud.
"Got you!"
Seeing the man still somewhat astonished and frightened, Qingyi lightly touched her feet and leaped forward, grabbing the man by the collar and heading out of the city.
Caught off guard, the man found himself pinned down and unable to move when he tried to break free.
By the time the others reacted, Qingyi had already led her people into the sky.
Upon seeing this, a soldier's expression changed. To arrest people directly in the border town was too lawless. It seemed that the person was very strong!
"Guards, after them!"
A centurion gave the order and took the lead in leaping after them.
Of course, the centurion saw that the person approaching was moving very fast, and it was probably impossible for him to catch up with them.
In any case, we have to at least put on a show of force, otherwise, if there's no reaction at all, it will damage the prestige of the border troops!
(End of this chapter)