Chapter 158 The Third Discussion with the Heavenly Master
"Brother?"
Qin Qu looked over there in confusion, and only vaguely saw two people hiding in the alley beside the street, who seemed to be arguing.
"Hush." Zhao Duan had a strange expression on his face. Holding the candied haws, he signaled his lackey to wait with his eyes, and walked alone.
An old servant who was about fifty years old stopped in front of a young man of sixteen or seventeen and said anxiously:
"Master, don't come forward!
"Those are all officials from the imperial court, most of them are skilled in martial arts. The master has already fallen, and the thieves from the imperial court have found their way to this private residence. Young Master, you have barely escaped, how can you show up?"
The young man was wearing a cloth coat and a conical hat.
At this moment, with tears in his eyes, he was like an angry little lion, trying to struggle forward and said:
"Uncle Wen, my mother is still in there. Now that my father is dying, my mother has fallen into the hands of the imperial court's lackeys. How can she survive? Although I am young, as a son, how can I watch my biological mother being arrested and not risk my life to save her?"
The old servant still pulled him and tried to persuade him:
"Madam is not the master's principal wife, nor does she have a formal status, so she won't be implicated too heavily and might be able to avoid being exiled, but you are different.
Young master, although you are an illegitimate child, you are still the master's bloodline, and the government will not let you go.
Since I have received the master's favor and stayed here to guard the house, I should take you away and leave a bloodline for the Zhou family."
The young man raised his head to the sky and sighed, tears falling uncontrollably, and he had already made up his mind to die:
"Uncle Wen, I have made up my mind. I will not abandon my mother and run away alone. You can go on your own."
The old servant was deeply moved. He gritted his teeth and made a difficult decision:
"Young Master, you haven't mastered martial arts yet, so you just wait and see. I have received the master's kindness, so today I will sacrifice my life and forty years of martial arts to rescue the lady!
If you succeed, the three of us will meet at the Nanting Temple in the East City. If you fail, you will know that you are no match for us and will flee for your life."
The young man was deeply shocked, his lips trembling, and finally he bowed deeply with both hands:
"Uncle Wen, if this fails, I will flee the city and devote myself to hard training. When I achieve something, I will return to take Zhao Duan's head to avenge today's vengeance!
If I cannot defeat him, I will find an opportunity to kill the women in his family. I will not be a human being if I do not avenge this."
The old servant smiled with relief.
He drew the dagger from his waist, leaped away, and like a dead warrior, jumped into the wall of a private house.
After the people left, the boy's expression turned cold. He wiped the tears from his face, his expression was sarcastic and resentful, he spat and cursed:
"You old dog are such a fool. Humph, do you think I don't know that you made peace with that bitch? You want to be my cheap daddy? Bah, you are nothing, you should just die."
Suddenly, I heard a cry of praise:
"Wonderful! Truly wonderful. I never thought the Zhou family was like dragons. Zhou Cheng is a bad guy, and his illegitimate son is also a vicious person."
The young man was startled.
Turning his head, he saw a handsome young man slowly jumping down from the eaves behind him, holding a sword hilt in one hand and a bright red candied haws in the other.
"You are..." The boy's pupils suddenly narrowed and he reached out to touch the dagger under his robe.
Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"You want to kill my whole family, but why don't you recognize me?"
Without waiting for the other party to reply, Zhao Duan drew his sword from its sheath, and a splash of bright red suddenly splashed onto the gray wall at the entrance of the alley.
The young man's head fell to the ground, slowly turning red, and then covered with a layer of frost condensed from the cold air.
It looks like a huge bright red hawthorn candied haws.
"If you don't remove the roots of the grass, it will grow again in the spring breeze..."
Zhao Duan remained silent, shook off the blood drops on the sword blade, and slowly sheathed the sword.
He felt that the "Frost Sword" he had seized last time was a perfect match for the frost energy he had newly mastered.
"ah--"
Qin Qu, who came looking for them after hearing the noise, was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a thud and screamed.
Zhao Duan felt annoyed and stuffed the candied haws into his mouth:
"Don't make noise."
“Hmm…”
At this time, several people jumped out from the courtyard wall, led by Zhang Han, an old acquaintance.
Zhang Han, the king of facial paralysis, glanced at the corpse in the alley and frowned:
"Dead?"
"He wanted to escape, but he didn't," Zhao Duan explained, and asked curiously:
"Where's the one who just went in?"
After being promoted to a high-level mortal, his hearing became even stronger and he never heard any sounds of fighting.
Zhang Han said indifferently:
"After entering the courtyard, the Zhou family servant voluntarily dropped his sword and surrendered, saying that he had captured Zhou Cheng's illegitimate son outside the courtyard and was willing to use this person to atone for his crime."
Zhao Duan was stunned.
Zhang Han's brows relaxed and he ordered his men to drag the corpse away.
She took out two heavy pearl-studded hairpins from her bosom and handed them to him:
"I wanted to give it to you after I got back to the government office. The government office has an unwritten rule for confiscating property, and everyone is involved. Don't worry, these are all clean items that have never been registered. I heard from Haitang that your two female relatives don't have any good jewelry."
Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment, then accepted it with a smile.
He is a common man who kills people and takes bribes. It is not unfair for people outside to scold him.
On the way back, I came to the intersection.
Zhao Duan suddenly stopped and looked towards the other corner of the street.
I saw another master and servant quietly watching the Zhou house being ransacked.
Xue Xuan, who was full of bookish air and a little thin-skinned, was reminded by Uncle Fu beside him. He turned his head to look over, bit his lip, and suddenly bowed seriously from a distance.
"Brother, do you know that young lady? Do you want me to invite her over?"
Qin Qu held a candied haws in his mouth and acted ferociously.
Zhao Duan glared at him, nodded to Xue Xuan from a distance, and turned away.
Although both of them were watching the Zhou family being raided, the two pairs of master and servant had completely different attitudes towards him, as different as heaven and earth.
…
…
"Did anything happen to Dalang?"
Next to the carriage.
After a stroll around the jewelry shop, the mother and daughter returned empty-handed. When they saw him return, Eugene Hua keenly noticed that her stepson's expression was different.
"Nothing, just... met a few colleagues." Zhao Duan smiled.
"That's good," Eugene Hua breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled.
"After a stroll, it's time to go back."
Zhao Pan, who is as young as a flower and elegant as a flower, looks at the jewelry shop with a reluctant look in her eyes.
But he didn't say anything and just said "yes" sensibly.
"You guys go back first, I'll go out and relax."
Zhao Duan said, reaching into his arms, and stuffed two warm and priceless hairpins into their arms, saying lightly:
"This is a gift from a colleague. Wear it."
As he said this, he walked straight into the crowd.
Only Eugene Hua and Zhao Pan were left standing there in a daze.
The mother and daughter were holding the pearls, gold, jade and hairpins in their hands, stunned and dazed.
The collection of the corrupt official Zhou Cheng.
At a glance, one could tell that it was more valuable than all the jewelry in the shop combined.
…
…
Zhao Duan walked through the city holding the black and red scabbard.
Because it was the Qiqiao Festival, many young women on the street stopped to look at him, and some of them even blushed.
The empress is in power and the atmosphere is open.
Zhao Duan walked out of the crowd and came to a secluded place beside a small stone bridge, with more than a dozen pieces of women's silk in his arms.
He sighed softly and threw the silk into the bottom of the bridge.
Then I discovered that this stone bridge was the one where Zhu Kui committed suicide.
With a self-deprecating smile, Zhao Duan leaned on the railing and suddenly said:
"Come out, you've been following me all this time, sneaking around like that. How can you be considered a real person?"
Huh... A breeze blows by, and the willows on the shore sway.
Silently, a figure appeared beside Zhao Duan.
It turned out to be an old priest with a tall stature, wearing an ordinary cloth shirt, with white eyebrows and beard, narrow eyes and a ruddy face.
"Old Wang?" Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment, his tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and he said speechlessly:
"Why is it you?"
Zhang Yan, known as "Old Wang" from the Tianshi Mansion, one of the four "heavenly realms" today, and a god-like figure in the eyes of the people, smiled and said:
"Why can't it be me?"
Zhao Duan sighed:
"I thought an enemy had come to my house. I couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched."
"Oh? You have been promoted to a high level? Haha, your perception has become stronger." Zhang Yan pretended to be surprised.
With his cultivation level, if he had intentionally concealed it, it would have been impossible for Zhao Duan to sense it, so he just revealed it deliberately.
"Of course, His Majesty personally helped me get promoted."
Zhao Duan said proudly:
"Give me another two years, and I might even be better than you. Hey, go sit over there and talk."
Better than me... Zhang Yan smiled without saying anything:
"OK."
…
…
At the tea stall.
"White tea for you two."
The tea vendor, holding a long-mouthed iron kettle, shouted and turned away.
Zhao Duan and Zhang Yanyi met for the third time.
Compared with the previous two times, I was less cautious and vigilant.
After a few pleasantries, Zhao Duan praised the effectiveness of the "Divine Talisman" and asked whether Jin Jian had brought the words he had asked him to bring last time.
Zhang Yan nodded with a smile and asked a few questions about his recent situation.
"...That's about it." Zhao Duan picked up the tea bowl, took a sip, and said with a smile:
"Don't talk about me. Lao Wang, you came here today. It can't be an accidental encounter, right?"
Zhang Yan smiled and said:
"Last time, my friend, you discussed the unkindness of Heaven and the profound theory of 'Tao follows nature'. It was quite insightful. After I returned home, I pondered it over and over again, unable to add or delete even a single word. I was deeply impressed. I've come to you today to seek your advice."
Zhao Duan rubbed his fingers with a smile:
"That's fine, but the price..."
Zhang Yan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry:
"I just copied a few of your words, why are you being so vulgar?"
Zhao Duan said seriously:
"Old Wang, what you said is not right. Since you are cultivating the Way of Heaven, have you forgotten what I told you before? The Way of Heaven is to reduce the excess and replenish the deficiency. You have excess, and I am very deficient."
The old Taoist priest was speechless, shook his head and laughed:
"How can the Way of Heaven be explained in this way? When cultivators discuss the Way, it's a noble matter, but when it comes to you, it's like a business transaction."
Zhao Duan said seriously:
"Don't think that the way of business is lowly; it is a profound knowledge."
The old Taoist priest said with a smile:
"Okay, I won't argue with you. I've been revising a book for my disciples these days and I'm worried about some of the words. If you can give me some inspiration, it will definitely benefit you."
Okay... Zhao Duan reluctantly said:
"What do you want to ask?"
If this attitude were known to the world, it would surely make countless people beat their chests and stamp their feet.
Being able to sit and discuss Taoism with Zhang Tianshi is an opportunity that countless powerful people would be eager to have.
Even the empress rarely receives such treatment.
But Zhao Duan not only did not cherish it or feel any fear, he also looked like a miser who was worried about being taken advantage of.
The old Taoist priest was not annoyed and said with a smile:
“It’s not a new problem, it’s just that the young disciples below, although they understand cultivation, still can’t grasp the key points of cultivation.
As you explained the word "Tao" last time, although I can understand it, most of the young disciples cannot tell the difference between practicing Buddhism and cultivating the Tao.
I believe that practicing Taoism means worshipping the gods of the 'Way of Heaven,' and that spiritual practice means using oneself as a vessel to contain the mighty power of heaven and earth. What do you think of this interpretation?"
"Can't you tell the difference between Tao and Qi?"
Zhao Duan pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered a sentence from the Book of Changes, which seemed appropriate. After a moment's hesitation, he slowly recited:
"The metaphysical is called Tao, and the physical is called Qi."
"Just as yin and yang are the Tao, this is my humble opinion."
Thanks to Di Ting Feng Yu for the 1,500-point reward!
(End of this chapter)
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