Chapter 1166: The Invincible Plague God [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

As a colleague, Gu Chi naturally couldn't interfere.

However, as the head of the Censorate, it was necessary to inform the emperor.

Unexpectedly, the master's attitude towards this matter was extremely indifferent, obviously having learned about it through other channels: "You mean Wei Heng? I already know about her situation. Just let her handle it herself. This is not only my intention, but also Banbu's."

Gu Chi was somewhat bewildered by these words.

Unexpectedly, he, who always had the best information, was actually behind this time. The Lord himself knew, and he only just heard about it?

No, he has to get to the bottom of this.

"Shao Xuan said that Wei Heng might be attempting to break through to the Perfect Realm?"

Hearing Gu Chi's address to Bai Su, Shen Tang, who was engrossed in reviewing memorials, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow—this guy used to know how to hide it, calling her General Bai this and Great General Bai that, but ever since he revealed his identity to Shen Tang and went public, he's been calling her Shao Xuan all the time. Tsk, he's constantly radiating the sour smell of love.

Shen Tang wrote the annotation "I understand, less nonsense next time" at the end of the memorial, closed it and put it aside, picked up a new one and opened it, replying to Gu Chi with two minds at once: "Yes, Ji Shou told me this news, so it should be true."

After he finished speaking, the air became very quiet.

"Year after year, the waves of the new generation push the old ones aside, and the river grass and flowers are everywhere vibrant." Shen Tang teased Gu Chi with a smile, "Aren't you feeling anxious?"

Yu Zi came from behind and surpassed Gu Chi. Wasn't Gu Chi a little jealous?

Gu Chi stubbornly replied, "I'm not anxious."

Shen Tang asked again, "Really not?"

Gu Chi shifted the blame to Kang Shi, saying, "Kang Jishou, as her half-master, wasn't anxious, so why should I be? In the path of cultivation, talent, luck, and diligence are the most important. Except for diligence, which is something you can control, the other two are up to fate. You either have it or you don't; you can't ask for it."

Instead of worrying unnecessarily, it's better to relax and take it easy.

Shen Tang's smile faded considerably.

He advised, "I don't know about others, but Wangchao has none of these qualities. Your path as a scholar has been slow to be perfected, not because you can't find the right way, but because you can't let go of your inner knots. Tao Shenyu has been dead for so many years, what is it that you still can't let go of?"

Shen Tang initially thought that Gu Chi's opportunity had not yet arrived.

But the last time he was unconscious, the physicians of the medical field took turns examining his pulse, and the resulting pulse records caught her attention. Shen Tang had also privately asked Qi Shan how he perfected the "Miraculous Hands and Painted Brush," and Qi Shan didn't hide anything. His ritual for perfecting the Way of the Scholar was very simple; to put it bluntly, it involved frequent use and successfully deceiving as many people as possible using the Way of the Scholar. During the ritual, he fooled his target, and if no one saw through his disguise, he passed the test.

Seeing the surprise in Shen Tang's eyes, Qi Shan asked her.

Doesn't Your Majesty find this very simple?

[Indeed, it was simpler than expected.] Compared to the difficulty of Jiang Sheng, Ning Yan, and Luan Xin, Qi Shan's completion ceremony was no different from an open-book exam, with questions that were his forte.

[This is normal. Just as literary talent is graded, the abilities of scholars naturally vary in strength. However, unlike literary talent, the path of scholars doesn't have a tiered system. Let alone outsiders, even scholars themselves would find it difficult to assess. Why did Your Majesty suddenly ask this?]

I'm worried about the tidal bore.

Qi Shan said: "Given his scholarly pursuits and abilities, if he were truly capable of achieving perfection, he should have done so eight hundred years ago. The fact that he hasn't achieved it by this age means he'll never achieve it. It has nothing to do with ability; it's more likely that he's lacking something, and there's nothing he can do about it."

What's missing?

Qi Shan shook her head: "That's a question for him to answer."

The scholar's path, which has been slow to be perfected, and the body, which cannot be cured no matter what medicine is taken, both point to the same source.

When Gu Chi saw that his master was being honest with him, he didn't try to avoid the issue.

Shen Tang recalled Gu Chi's medical record.

He asked, "The physicians of the medical field have diagnosed damage to your dantian."

When scholars engage in magical battles, it is common for them to suffer a backlash if they are not careful. They can simply rest and recuperate to repair their internal organs.

But Gu Chi couldn't do that.

This is definitely not ordinary damage to the Danfu (energy center).

Gu Chi hadn't expected the topic to shift from Yu Zi to himself. His lord was taking a very probing stance, and given her personality, she wouldn't let him run away again and again. He had no choice but to explain: "Just as Your Majesty said, Tao Shenyu has been dead for so many years. How could I possibly disregard my future for a dead person? It's not that I have unresolved issues, nor is it just that my Danfu is damaged, but that my Wenxin is damaged."

"Is Wenxin damaged? Is it incurable?" Shen Tang asked worriedly.

Gu Chi shook his head and said, "It cannot be cured."

He picked up a peach from Shen Tang's table.

He broke the peach in half with his hands, then put them back together: "This is normal damage to the core of the text. External force or internal force backlash causes the core to crack. In this case, as long as the cracks are nourished with literary energy, they can slowly heal and return to their original state. However, my case is a little different; it cannot be glued back together."

Gu Chi opened his mouth and took a bite of the peach.

One half of the peach was intact, while the other half was missing a corner.

He pieced the two halves of the peach back together.

The bitten-off corner is hard to ignore.

“From the very beginning, Wenxin was a round and full peach. Others’ Wenxin was damaged but only cracked. Mine was missing a corner, incomplete.” Gu Chi said this with no resentment or hatred, only a faint regret. “People always have to pay a price for their youthful arrogance. At the time, I only felt relieved. Looking back now, I only feel that I was too stupid.”

What seemed insurmountable back then now seems insignificant.

Gu Chi crunched away and ate half the peach.

"What variety of peach is this? It's so crisp and sweet."

"It's a new variety developed by Yaohe and her team. It's not afraid of pests, produces a lot of fruit, and isn't picky about location. We plan to find a suitable county within the former Gao Kingdom to promote it and sell it to the central countries nearby." Snatching the half-eaten fruit from his hand—she herself had spent half the day reviewing memorials without even eating—Gu Chizhen didn't stand on ceremony. She casually asked, "Young and impetuous? How impetuous?"

Gu Chi said with a sour face, "It's to change the words."

Shen Tang forgot to chew: "Huh?"

Gu Chi covered his forehead with one hand and said helplessly, "Tao Shenyu was my father's student. When I was young, I was disobedient and spent my days hanging out with country ruffians. My father was very worried about this, fearing that I would go astray. Tao Shenyu, in order to please my father, gave me the courtesy name 'Guanchao' on a whim, and my father accepted it. Because of my father, I called him my senior brother and was quite close to him... Later, he killed my entire family, and I barely escaped with my life. Looking at the words on it, I feel hatred to the bone, and I can't get rid of it."

He likely had depression and self-harm tendencies back then.

To erase the traces of Wenxin's monogram, a price must be paid.

This cost also resulted in a missing piece of his literary talent.

Gu Chi looked like he was looking back with a heavy heart: "At the time, I didn't think about the future at all, leaving myself with endless hidden dangers."

How old was he at the time?

He has barely scratched the surface of literary thought.

Many things, including the perfection of the scholar's way, were only learned later during his adventures in the martial world. At the time, he only knew that the price was extremely high, possibly requiring him to be sick for the rest of his life; who knew there were other implications? When he pondered how to achieve perfection and then saw the incomplete Wenxin, he was dumbfounded. There was no turning back once the arrow was released, let alone the fact that the arrow had already been shot; he could only accept his fate.

"You know how to change words, so why don't you know these things?"

It doesn't make much sense.

Gu Chi said, "He skipped class."

He was indeed taught, but as he said, in his youth he associated with wandering knights-errant, often staying away from home for three to five days at a time, and even finding ways to skip regular classes, such as having someone else attend lessons for him. Even when his father brought him back, he was often daydreaming, only paying attention to half of the lesson. Nobody expected this!

"...Can't it be fixed?"

"The medical professionals were all helpless."

He knew perfectly well what was going on and had long since resigned himself to his fate.

Shen Tang stared blankly for a few moments, then closed her eyes and said, "It's not that there's no way. Wu Hui's literary heart was once replaced by someone, which means that if possible... your literary heart can be restored."

It just means sacrificing another unfortunate soul.

However, because of Chu Yao, Shen Tang was also quite resistant.

Actually, there is another way.

The extreme punishment of breaking the mansion completely destroyed Wenxin, and then Wenxin was rebuilt.

Both methods are cruel.

Gu Chi said, "Never mind, let's think about it again."

He did not have a deep obsession with the path of a perfect scholar.

Even without the perfect path of a scholar, he still has everything he has today. Even if he tried his best to achieve perfection, what extra would he gain? A further advancement in his official career? The next step would be a title and honors! It would simply mean a slightly higher salary.

What's the cost?

The price was that there were more enemies watching to drag him down.

With limited spaces in such a vast royal court, if he doesn't go down, how will the others get up? Thinking about it carefully, the cost-effectiveness is too low.

Why would he bother with all that effort?

Shen Tang also said, "I'll ask the High Priest of Jimo later."

The traditional Chinese medicine practitioners might not be able to help, but the Gongxi clan might.

Upon hearing the words "High Priest of Jimo," Gu Chi paused, his expression momentarily complex: "My lord, be careful of him."

An imperial censor discovered that the Ministry of Revenue had stopped worshipping the God of Wealth and started worshipping Ji Moqiu instead.

This is completely upside down!

Shen Tang waved his hand to indicate that he knew.

The two tacitly avoided discussing the initial topic.

When Gu Chi took his leave, only one peach remained on the plate; he had devoured the other three. If Shen Tang hadn't been distracted while reviewing memorials, the last peach would have been lost too: "Wang Chao, are you a monkey? How can you eat so many peaches?"

One is enough to try it out.

Gu Chi said, "Yes, I really am a monkey."

Shen Tang: "..."

He slammed the memorial down and threw the man out.

Gu Chi ran very fast and missed.

Shen Tang snatched the memorial that had fallen to the ground with a gust of wind, opened it fiercely, and wrote at the end: "You talk too much nonsense!"

The next book is Qin Li's memorial to the throne.

Shen Tang paused, then wrote gently, "The matter is clear. The weather is about to turn cool. Gong Su, remember to wear warm clothes."

The peaches were so delicious that Gu Chi was still thinking about them even after he got back.

I saw a plate of peaches on the table as soon as I got back.

It's about the same size as the one on the Lord's side, and looks incredibly fresh and juicy.

He paused for a moment, then laughed, "You're really going to turn into a monkey."

It was only later that we learned that Shen Zhi had sent far more peaches than just this; the first batch alone weighed tens of thousands of catties! The largest and best ones were given to Shen Tang as a reward, while the rest were handed over to the logistics department to be used as a supplement to the soldiers' meals.

He wasn't satisfied with finishing his own portion; he wanted to mooch off his colleagues' as well.

Of course, that's just an excuse.

The goal was still to extract something from Kang Shi.

He was deeply troubled by not getting firsthand information.

"Strange, why is there no one guarding them?"

With no one to inform him, Gu Chi had no choice but to do as he pleased.

He lifted the tent flap to see the scene inside, then abruptly put it down and turned to leave, only to be stopped by a male voice calling out from behind.

"Where are you going? Come back!"

The sound was accompanied by gritted teeth and panting.

Gu Chi said, "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

If General Bai finds out, wouldn't he misunderstand his innocence?

Kang Shi, unable to bear it any longer, shouted: "Get in here!"

Gu Chi was displeased upon hearing this.

Who did Kang Jishou want to get thrown in there?

He lifted the curtain again, only to see Kang Shi rolled over, with a clear footprint on his face. Gu Chi watched this scene warily, keeping an eye on Yu Zi, whose aura was strange, while carefully moving Kang Shi to his side and helping him up: "What are you doing?"

Kang Shi retorted irritably, "What do you think I'm doing?"

Did you think he was indulging in debauchery during the day?

No sooner had she finished speaking than the several binding spells suppressing Yu Zi showed signs of cracking, and a gust of wind emanated from her, spreading and crashing in all directions. Without hesitation, Gu Chi added the same spell, looking at Yu Weiheng, whose hands were bound behind his back, kneeling on the ground in a disheveled state, and asked, "What happened to Yu Weiheng?"

Kang Shi, clutching his waist with one hand and grabbing Gu Chi's sleeve with the other, scrambled to his feet and limped to a corner to sit down: "What else could have happened? Our perfect rituals clashed, ouch, this is going to kill us!"

"you also?"

"What do you mean, 'me too'?"

Everyone else can achieve perfection, but he can't?

Gu Chi wisely kept quiet and asked Kang Shi for the details.

Kang Shi bent down and picked up two still-usable broken teacups from the ground, pouring water for the two of them: "This matter is truly a long story... I only recently figured out the conditions for the completion ceremony, and I was too excited to notice, which dragged her into it."

"Then?"

"Then the difficulty of her completion of the ceremony doubled."

Gu Chi: "..."

He was so frightened that he quickly moved the mat away from Kang Shi.

At the same time, he was speechless and disappointed: "Kang Jishou, you're an old hand, how could you make such a mistake? You dared to start the completion ceremony before you were fully prepared, aren't you just asking for failure?"

What does this equate to?

It's like someone who's only been in school for a day, can't even punctuate properly, and then goes to take a graduation exam for a higher grade, without even glancing at the exam paper. Which scholar doesn't first understand the requirements, prepare thoroughly, and only begin the ceremony when they feel they're ready?

Kang Shi sighed helplessly, "This is not what I wanted either!"

The moment I figured it out, I took the initiative to start it.

Gu Chi glanced at Yu Zi, who was breathing wildly.

He asked, "Where is she?"

Yu Zi's path of the scholar is inherently domineering, and the difficulty of the completion ceremony is only increasing. Kang Shi actually doubled it for her, so she will definitely fail during the completion ceremony! Perhaps the cost of failing the ceremony will also be doubled.

Kang Shi said, "The evil purple usurps the place of vermilion."

“I know this is her way of the scholar.”

Kang Shi drank the water in one gulp: "She is 'Zhu'!"

Evil purple usurps the place of vermilion...

Is Yu Zi the same as Zhu?

"So, who is 'Evil Purple'?"

Kang Shi's expression was extremely solemn. His knuckles turned white from the force, and the teacup, unable to bear the weight, was covered in cracks, but he didn't notice: "Who this 'evil purple' is is no longer important. What's important is that her perfect ritual only has one chance. Once the vermilion color is taken away, there will naturally be no chance to make a comeback. Failure means death and the annihilation of her soul!"

(╥╯^╰╥)

I've been looking at computer configurations all day, but I still can't make up my mind.

I'm torn between the 4060ti and the 4080s. For JX3, the latter should be better.