Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 196

But Xiaomeng was different; she didn't care about the sword manual itself, only about the sword name 'Swallowing the Sea'.

"We first met in Sanghai City, but our first evaluation is only taking place in Daze Mountain...?"

Continuing among a pile of books, I found Dazeshan again, with the words 'farmhouse' clearly written on it.

We're getting closer and closer to finding that person!

There isn't much information about the Agricultural School from the Taoist perspective, but even just the brief information on the second page about 'Lu Wei, the number one expert of the Agricultural School' made Xiaomeng's pupils widen...

Chapter 219 Yu Ziqi

The success rate of disciples from the Farmer School was certainly the lowest among all the schools of thought. Of the tens of thousands of disciples, only less than twenty are recorded in Daoist materials.

Without needing to analyze each of the twenty people's ages and martial arts specialties, Xiaomeng was already certain that the person who saved her in Wei was Lu Wei, the leader of the Gonggong Hall.

As for the reason... the information clearly states that Lu Wei's sword is named the Sea-Swallowing Sword...

In this era, if you want to investigate someone's information, secrets that are not mentioned at all in some documents may be clearly written in another document. The key is simply how to obtain those valuable documents and read them carefully.

Having obtained the information she wanted, Xiaomeng casually used her considerable internal energy to toss the bamboo slips back to their proper places in the correct order.

Immediately afterwards, the little girl holding the Qiu Li Sword didn't think much more about it. Taking advantage of her still-attractive state of mind for enlightenment today, she began her seclusion that very night.

Recalling his own Qiuli Sword, he realized that the Devouring Sea Sword was originally a matter of going with the flow. Once the result of going with the flow was perfect, there was naturally no need to delay the important matters.

As for the upcoming duel between the celestial beings and the human beings, that is something that her senior brother Chisongzi and the Human Sect Xiaoyaozi, whom she has never met, need to care about. No matter what the outcome of the duel is, it has nothing to do with her now.

Taoist seclusion is an activity that every Taoist disciple must undergo. In simple terms, the content of seclusion is roughly threefold: silence, cutting off external connections, and focusing on the cultivation of the Tao.

Although it's not entirely without people, explaining things in a simple and easy-to-understand way is the most basic requirement.

Based on natural talent, ordinary disciples typically spend ten days, twenty days, or a month in seclusion.

Those who dedicate themselves to this task may be able to complete it in six months, a year, or even three years.

This time, Xiaomeng will be in seclusion for a full ten years!

Entered at age eight, left at age eighteen...

...

Riding his horse to Shouchun, Lu Wei made a special trip to the State of Chu this time, changing out of his usual tight-fitting blue robe and into a white robe with wide sleeves to conceal his muscular physique.

The hair on the top of the head is tied up neatly and meticulously, and everything from the trimming of the eyebrows to the control of the expression is done in a way that is as gentle as possible.

The position of the Sea-Swallowing Sword at his waist was replaced by a jade flute. After almost shedding all the sharpness on his exterior, the Hall Master became 'weak'.

As soon as he entered the city after dark, he went straight to a dance hall in the Yunmeng Market to seek pleasure.

The current martial arts world in Shouchun City is indeed much more complex than before. On the way to the music and dance hall, you can even see some merchants dressed in Qi Kingdom attire walking around the city with an aura that is obviously different from ordinary people.

Master Lu knew that the State of Qi ultimately surrendered and perished, but before the surrender, King Jian of Qi had not entirely given up on resisting.

However, he had been 'cowardly' for decades. Even if he could be a little tough for a while, he would soften again after being frightened by the Qin people and persuaded by Hou Sheng.

At this point in time, these Qi merchants sent to Chu to gather information are probably just the prelude to his attempt to take a tough stance.

Such a prelude might give the sensitive people of Chu some room for imagination, but ultimately there will be no follow-up and it will all come to nothing.

If we were to pinpoint the benefits of King Jian of Qi's 'weakness,' aside from the fact that the people of Qi did not experience the direct devastation of war that the people of the other five states had endured for forty years, his own descendants and families were probably more prosperous than the royal families of the other six states, including the royal family of Qin.

To avoid being killed during the wars at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the descendants of King Jian of Qi changed their surname to "Wang". Later, from the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty onwards, the family's power grew steadily, reaching its zenith with the emergence of a "sage" named Wang Mang...

mingling among the guests and applauding the slender-waisted Chu woman on stage to match the atmosphere, Lu Wei shifted his thoughts away from the useless Qi merchants, picked up a sour wild berry from the fruit plate beside him, and after taking a bite, the numbing sensation in his mouth was too stimulating.

These berries are small and cute, with a variety of colors, making them look like tiny crystal gems. The music and dance hall says they are top-quality fruits from the Shu Mountains, and a small plate of them is not expensive. They have been very popular in Shouchun for the past half month. However, the taste is not to the satisfaction of the hall master.

He took a bite, and the reaction between his tongue and the almost bitter sourness was vividly displayed on his face, which he deliberately made no attempt to hide.

Watching the other guests mostly eating the same kind of berries with blank expressions or even enjoying them, Lu Wei was certain that most of them were just following the trend. Perhaps some of them really liked the taste, but Lu Wei was sure that most of them were just following the crowd.

Having experienced both hardship and pleasure in life, the Master believed that his sense of taste was still normal.

Having heard nothing interesting or amusing during the dance, Lu Wei shook his head and got up, trying not to disturb the guests behind him, and went to the railing of the fifth floor of the dance hall, looking out to admire the night view of Yunmeng.

The main reason he chose to come to this dance hall was because of its commanding view.

Compared to previous years, the bustling streets of Yunmeng have largely disappeared, with the largest area now occupied by Qin-style clothing merchants.

The proportion of martial arts disciples dressed in peasant clothes was not large, but it is worth noting that, in addition to the people from Shennong Hall, Hall Master Lu actually saw a pair of Tian family disciples from Lieshan Hall passing by.

"Those berries do indeed come from Mount Shu, but they serve only as decoration there. The people of Mount Shu do not consume them, and they do not represent the true quality of Mount Shu's food."

Just as Lu Wei was observing a group of people on the street below who seemed to be taking a liking to him, a rather immature young voice suddenly came from behind him.

Turning around, I saw a short-haired boy with a youthful face, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, with slightly dark skin.

Although he was dressed in Chu clothing, his appearance clearly showed that he was from another place.

The young man seemed to know this as well, so when he noticed Lu Wei looking him over, he grinned and clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "I am... Yu Ziqi, from Mount Shu!"

Yu Ziqi of Mount Shu?

A thought suddenly struck the Hall Master, and a gentle smile bloomed on his lips: "So it is Brother Yu from Mount Shu. I am Lu Wei from Chu, and I am a musician."

After speaking, he lowered his hands, revealing the jade flute tied at his waist.

------

"So that's how it is. The Chu merchant caravan deliberately picked those pretty berries, which were mainly for ornamental purposes, on Mount Shu to trick the people of Shouchun into selling them at high prices for consumption."

"Brother Yu noticed something strange and came here to investigate, which is how he discovered this?"

Lu Wei lowered his voice. He and Yu Ziqi were away from the crowd at the moment, and after listening to the other party's explanation, he instantly understood the simple publicity stunt process.

“Yes.” Yu Ziqi nodded, then hesitated and said, “Those things are inedible for the people of Shu, but I saw them eating them calmly... so I didn’t say anything more.”

"It wasn't until I saw Brother Lu's displeasure after tasting it from afar that I came here specifically to explain the situation to him."

Looking at Yu Ziqi's slightly averted gaze, the embarrassment in his eyes, besides being about the berries, should also include the guilt of having lied to his newly acquainted 'friend'.

Before Yu Ziqi appeared, Lu Wei truly didn't know the real names of these berries. However, after Yu Ziqi mentioned them, the Hall Master immediately remembered that he had actually seen descriptions of these fruits before:

The Illusion Butterfly Fruit is not just for ornamental purposes; it is also an important part of the "Shu Road Maze" in Shu Mountain. It often consists of seven groups of small round fruits in seven colors, namely red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, growing on a clump of shrubs. Therefore, it is also called "Seven-Seven Fruit" by the people of Shu.

It can be used for medicinal purposes after special processing, and can alleviate the body's perception of pain from injury.

However, it is worth noting that the red fruit in the Seven-Seven Fruit contains toxins and is also a medium for casting spells in the Shu Mountain Gu Technique.

All of the above is recorded in the Shushan Notes that Chu Nan Gong gave to Lu Tangzhu a few years ago.

Lu Wei had planned to visit Shushan and make a good connection, but he had to cancel the trip because the condition of the physician Nian Duan, one of the two daughters of the physician family, had worsened.

Yu Ziqi concealed the true purpose of the Seven-Seven Fruit, which was understandable given the need to keep the Shu Mountain witchcraft secret.

However, besides this, he also concealed the real reason he came to Shouchun. It was for the safety of Shushan. Even if Lu Wei was generous enough to understand, Yu Ziqi felt somewhat ashamed because of these two deceptions. After all, he was too young.

"Brother Yu, rest assured, I will not develop any aversion to Mount Shu because of this." Maintaining an elegant fake smile throughout the conversation, Hall Master Lu said in a serious tone, "Speaking of Mount Shu, a few years ago when I was stuck in a bottleneck in my musical career, I even thought about going there to collect folk songs."

"It's a real pity that the trip couldn't be made due to some trivial matters."

The purpose of going to Mount Shu was to make friends with Mount Shu. Now that the Yu Yuan Guardian of Mount Shu is standing in front of me, there is no need to travel thousands of miles to Mount Shu.

And it wasn't just one Yu Yuan Guardian. If I remember correctly, Yu Ziqi's younger sister, Xiao Yu, or simply Yu Ji, was also a Yu Yuan Guardian, or was she some kind of Shu Mountain Princess?

...

He and Yu Ziqi became fast friends at first sight.

Yu Ziqi's mastery of Central Plains Mandarin was almost flawless, but this trip to Shouchun was his first time leaving Sichuan.

Aside from reading about the Chu state and the Central Plains, he had only exchanged a few brief words with traveling merchants who entered Shu.

The more he read and communicated, the more he inevitably longed for the world outside of Mount Shu.

Despite being extremely wary of Lu Wei, a friend he made by chance, he couldn't resist the fact that the Hall Master was too shrewd!

From the northernmost state of Yan to the states of Han, Zhao, and Wei in the Three Jin states, and even the customs of the Yue people in the southeast of Chu, this musician Lu had an endless stream of stories to tell.

There were also all sorts of interesting stories from the martial arts world, academic discussions among the various schools of thought such as Taoism, Mohism, agriculture, and Confucianism, and the wealth of knowledge left Yu Ziqi speechless and dumbfounded.

Even though much of the knowledge contained only a thin outer layer, and Master Lu couldn't explain anything more profound, unfortunately, young Yu Ziqi's knowledge was simply too narrow...

The fact that he could keep quiet about his identity as a guardian of Yu Yuan and avoid mentioning certain secrets within the Shu Mountain sect proves that his ability to keep secrets is already quite good.

Of course, this is also largely due to the fact that Lu Wei did not have any ulterior motives.

Yu Ziqi and Shushan are not highly valued; they were originally just casual pieces that could be invested in with low risk.

However, since the Moon Goddess devised the plan to seize power from the Yin-Yang School through the Mirage Tower, the value of Mount Shu has increased to a certain extent.

The construction of the Mirage was inseparable from the Fusang Divine Tree of Mount Shu. When the Mirage Project reached a certain stage, the Qin State, which had by then become an empire, would send troops to join forces with the Yin-Yang School to destroy Mount Shu, seize its various precious treasures, and transport them to that 'sea city'.

Therefore, the people of Shu Mountain and Shu Mountain actually had no choice. They would be actively pushed by the Qin state to Lu Wei's allies. At that time, it would be a great favor if the Hall Master were to take them in.

With the addition of the Shu Mountain sect, cracking some of the strange secrets on the mirage will be much easier, and they will become the vanguard against the Eastern Emperor.

Later, when they rebelled against Qin, the people of Shu mobilized a force of several thousand people, which could be considered a form of assistance.

"After I ascend the throne, the Sichuan and Chongqing regions will also need the assistance of Mount Shu as a local strongman to help govern them!"

As he imagined it, Hall Master Lu, with a heart full of smiles, walked out of the music and dance hall side by side with Yu Ziqi.

The outside was brightly lit and bustling with activity.

Chapter 220 Another gift?

After parting ways with Yu Ziqi in the Yunmeng Market and watching him leave with several men dressed in Shu clothing, Lu Wei turned around and strolled back down the slightly quieter street.

The special individuals who would come to Shouchun at this time were almost all there for the upcoming Qin-Chu war. Yu Ziqi, as the hidden bodyguard of Yu Yuan, was no exception.

The Bashu region was part of the Qin state long ago, but the Shu Mountains, due to their remote location, still maintain a high degree of independence.

Although the people of Shu, under the leadership of Shushan, nominally submitted to the Qin people, they also maintained close ties with the State of Chu for various reasons.

The fact that Chu merchants were able to harvest those Qiqi fruits is proof of this.

Otherwise, if Mount Shu did not allow it, a mere caravan would not be able to easily enter the 'Shu Road Maze' and reliably supply Shouchun with a sufficient amount of those sour berries.

Merchants sent by King Qi Jian and guards from the Shu Mountain Sect. On his very first night back in Shouchun, the Hall Master discovered two unusual forces.

These two forces have no direct connection to this war. The reason why the person behind them would send them is understandable to King Qi, but Shushan probably also has some vague idea.

For example, some of the Yin-Yang School's activities may have infiltrated Shu Mountain, causing great unease there, which forced them to pay attention to the situation outside Shu.