Chapter 20 of Chaoge: Ji Chang's Reputation as a Saint

In the northern part of Dongzhou, there is a quiet courtyard.

Li Pingan was lying under a tree, looking at the sky in a trance. The fairy in white clothes leaning on him closed her eyes quietly, as if she was sleeping soundly.

"Are you worried about anything recently?" Qingsu asked softly.

"Hmm? Nothing."

Li Pingan smiled casually, feeling the smoothness of her skin with his fingertips, but his heart was at peace.

He said, "If you are bored, go to live in the Heavenly Palace. It's not a good thing to always be outside."

"This place is quiet and suitable for retreat."

Qingsu gently rubbed his forehead:

"It's you who rarely show up recently. Don't neglect Yao Chi and Ning Ning.

"You can't just think of the Tao in your heart and not get close to them."

Li Pingan quickly agreed.

He asked, "Master, what do you think, if I insist on taking the path I think is right, but the result is not as good as the path arranged by Old Man Wangri, then am I a success or a failure?"

"My own success. "

Qingsu said it quite easily:

"Your character is to worry too much. In fact, you don't need to think too much about these things. What a cultivator cultivates is to have a clear conscience.

"Those with great ambitions establish their lives for the living beings, and those who wish to seek peace of mind, their own peace of mind.

"Isn't it actually like this?"

"Uh... Master, what you said actually makes some sense."

Li Ping'an couldn't help but get interested in talking, which had nothing to do with romance.

When he was with Qingsu, he always felt a rare peace of mind.

He asked: "Then Master, do you think it is better for me to follow the arrangement of the old man Wangri, or to explore it myself?"

"Of course, it is to find my own way."

Qingsu closed his eyes and murmured:

"I believe you, you will not interfere with the operation of the world in the future, and you will let the world evolve on its own. This is actually enough.

"After all, who has the power to decide the fate of others?

"Do what you think is right, pursue the peace of the heart of Tao, and then enter the heart of Tao of emptiness and clarity... This matter should also be blamed on me. I only taught you how to fight before."

Li Pingan smiled and said nothing.

It is easy to say the truth, but it is extremely difficult to implement it.

It is easy to know but difficult to do, nothing is more difficult than this.

"Have you been tired of practicing recently?" Li Pingan asked softly.

Qing Su said: "It's okay... Don't give me enlightenment, I can practice Taoism by myself, and I don't need to fight with anyone later, but I have a few things I want to ask."

"Oh? It's rare for you to ask me questions, Master, please tell me."

"After opening up a new world, do we still need someone to patrol everywhere? What will we do? Will we enter the wild era of the ancient times? "

When Qingsu looked up, her eyes were full of light.

Li Pingan pondered for a few seconds: "I can't say for sure, but do you still have to do patrols in person? In fact, there is a huge problem here, which I haven't told anyone."

"What's the problem?"

"How do these masters enter the new world now?"

Li Pingan said:

"This is an inevitable problem.

"It can be divided into two categories. One is to make them lose their power and only have eternal life. The second is to let them follow the changes of the avenue and try to maintain their own status in the avenue, that is, to let them have both eternal life and power."

Qingsu couldn't help but sit up, her white clothes were like snow, her black hair was like a waterfall, and her white swan neck was connected to a nearly perfect jawline.

She thought carefully: "Will this affect your decision?"

"Of course," Li Pingan put his hands behind his head, "You are my master and my Taoist partner, and the ultimate is just a deaf ear."

Qingsu pursed her lips and chuckled, thinking for a long time.

She said, "I think it can be divided into regions."

"Divided into regions?"

"Well, everyone will follow you to the matter of opening the world. There will be various hardships here, such as eliminating the innate gods and demons, killing the chaotic beasts, and strengthening the origin of heaven and earth."

Qing Su said slowly:

"If you turn your face and don't recognize you after opening the world, wouldn't it be a loss of benevolence?

"However, looking at the history books of the human race, there are often three generations of pioneering meritorious people who become a family that hinders the progress of living beings.

"If there are no restrictions, wouldn't the newly opened world lack a lot of light?

"So, I think it's better to use regional restrictions. In a region, they can fly around and be high above. Outside this region, they are not much different from ordinary creatures. "

Li Pingan thought about it and told Qing Suyan about his idea of ​​the land of immortality.

Qing Su praised: "Not bad, let's do it this way."

Li Pingan smiled and said: "These are not problems, but there is one thing I can still answer you, that is, what we are going to do. "

"What to do?"

"Have a few children! "

"Well... I don't like this very much. It will make me more worried. Now I am already very worried."

"It's okay. The main thing is to walk around and look around. I want to find my hometown to see if I can find a similar place. I now have a reasonable suspicion that the starry world I want to open up may be the universe where I come from."

"Hmm?" Qingsu was quite puzzled.

"You will know in the future. Come and hug me for a while."

"Yes, Master Dao."

Qingsu responded softly, snuggled in Li Ping'an's arms, and soon subdued Li Ping'an.

Subdued in various senses.

...

After Li Ping'an took a tour of Chentangguan, he didn't pay much attention to the affairs of the East China Sea.

He didn't know how the Dragon Palace would react.

Just wait for the news.

If there is a conflict between Taiyi Zhenren and Dragon Palace, this matter will also be beneficial to the Conferred Gods Contest. Li Pingan would be a bit "dereliction of duty" if he did not add fuel to the flames.

In this way, Li Pingan, who was in seclusion in the dungeon every day, had another little worry - whether there was a fight in the East China Sea.

After more than half a year, he did not wait for news from there, but waited for a letter from Ji Chang.

The Xibohou, who is now doing well in Chaoge City, finally confirmed that his fourth son Ji Dan had no contact with King Di Xin of Shang.

In other words, Ji Chang has begun to grasp some news from inside Di Xin's court through his own operations and the help of some "accomplices".

Otherwise, how can Ji Chang be sure that Ji Dan has no contact with them?

In this regard, Li Pingan just smiled and shook his head and did not care much.

His practice in the dungeon is coming to an end.

Ji Fa warned, "Father said in the letter that he would wait for a thunderstorm and ask you to appear in the backyard. It's best to sleep in an open place and dress gorgeously."

"Okay," Li Ping'an said with a smile, "Does father want to create some momentum?"

"Momentum?"

"My fourth son is blessed by the gods, so on and so forth."

"It should be," Ji Fa laughed, "Although I don't understand the meaning of doing this, father must have his intentions... What did father say in the letter to you?"

"Nothing else."

Li Ping'an said:

"Father said that he met a guy named Jiang Shang in Chaoge City and benefited a lot from talking with him.

"He also said that after this ceremony of offering sacrifices to the sky and the great victory of the Eastern Expedition, the king gradually began to indulge himself, and selected a group of beautiful concubines captured from the Dongyi tribe. He would also favor them during the day and drink every day, drinking more than water.

"Father is more worried that the king will punish them suddenly if he gets drunk."

Ji Fa muttered: "This is too much of a waste of food... But the king is the king, he can definitely drink enough if he wants to."

He smacked his lips.

"That thing is harmful to the body," Li Pingan shook his head and looked at the pile of bamboo slips behind him, "I'll arrange for someone to burn all these things I wrote later."

"Ah? Burn it?"

"Otherwise?" Li Pingan raised his eyebrows slightly, "I want to give myself some encouragement. I'm writing books now. Why do I need to do it when I'm old?"

Ji Fa nodded.

The fourth brother is right.

"I'll find you a yard right now!"

"Hey, just find me an ordinary place to live in the downtown area."

"Why?"

"I want to observe the people and find ways to govern the world and herd the people," Li Pingan said nonsense seriously, "so that I can better assist my elder brother later."

Ji Fa couldn't help but stand in awe, turned around and started to work in a hurry.

Li Pingan was in a daze for a while, then stretched his back, waiting for a heavy rain and a thunderstorm.

Ji Chang's good days in Chaoge City are probably coming to an end.

The game between Zhou and Shang seems to be a game between a minister and a monarch, but in fact it is a game between the newly rising Fang State and the old Fang State, and it is also a collision between the Zhou culture and the Shang culture.

Of course, the culture of this era is mainly reflected in the matter of sacrifice.

Mortals are not yet enlightened, and the spread of books is limited. Everything must be done step by step.

More than half a month passed.

There was a thunderstorm, and Li Pingan left the dungeon under the arrangement of Ji Fa.

He was thin and his skin was too white. He lay in the pavilion, wearing gorgeous clothes and a ruddy complexion. There were also a few Ganoderma lucidum around him - actually Ji Fa secretly got them.

When the guards in the mansion found Ji Dan, they were shocked and ran around shouting, and the whole Xibohou Mansion immediately became lively.

Half a day later, Xiqi City was buzzing with rumors that Xibohou's fourth son Ji Dan had returned from heaven.

Under Ji Chang's instruction, Li Ping'an also personally told the ministers of Zhou about the situation in heaven. The key point was that most of the gods in heaven no longer cared about the affairs of the lower world. They liked to drink, enjoy themselves, and gradually merged with heaven and earth.

This was actually Ji Chang using Ji Dan's mouth to try to shake the foundation of Shang's sacrificial culture.

Li Ping'an did not try to figure out what kind of waves this incident would cause later;

Anyway, he did what Ji Chang said, did what Ji Chang arranged, and completed Ji Dan's "mission".

In fact, Li Ping'an could guess it with his toes.

After entering Chaoge City and carefully observing the Shang royal family, Ji Chang gradually lost the fear he had at the beginning. He began to think and plan how to avenge his father's murder and how to let Zhou replace Shang.

The fire of strategy hidden in the sixty-four hexagrams has now begun to burn continuously.

As expected.

The story of Ji Dan spread throughout half of the Shang Kingdom within three months. Almost all the princes in the west knew about it, and the princes in the south and north had heard about it.

‘The gods in heaven are mostly enjoying themselves and don’t pay much attention to what happens in the world. After they enter heaven, they don’t care much about their descendants in the mortal world, but are in charge of wind, rain, thunder and lightning as gods. ’

‘Gods are inhuman and will not be happy, angry, sad or happy because of people’s joys and sorrows. ’

‘What the gods care about is not how many things or how many people are offered. Even if more people and sacrifices are offered, disasters will be brought down when they are due. What the gods care about is how to make the four seasons rotate and the sun and the moon alternate. ’

These views were all ‘set up’ by Ji Chang, so that Ji Dan could quietly mix them in when he told about his experiences in the world of gods.

Li Pingan was very happy to do this.

What is this?

The theoretical basis for destroying Shang.

The sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty repeatedly emphasized that the Shang Dynasty had been continuously passed down and sacrificed for many years. Every generation of Shang kings became gods to serve God and became God's ministers.

If the vassal states did not respect the Shang king, God would punish them.

In this regard, although Ji Chang's motives were not pure, he became a "progressive person" for social change.

Li Ping'an was very happy to see such a development.

About half a year after he walked out of the dungeon, the vassal states in the western part of the Shang Dynasty began to spread the word that Xibo Hou Ji Chang was a natural sage.

This was due to Ji Chang's reputation accumulated over the years, and secondly, because of the increasingly inflated and hidden strength of the Zhou State;

Thirdly, it was because of Ji Dan's return from heaven.

The hearts of the vassal states were eager to move;

Chaoge City was in peace and prosperity.

However, the truth could not be hidden, and the matter was spread to Chaoge City. The merchants began to discuss Ji Chang's title of "sage", and all kinds of exaggerated rumors were well-reasoned.

Ji Chang keenly sensed a hint of something unusual.

He refused to receive guests and hid in his house, feigning illness.

This matter soon reached the ears of Emperor Xin, who smashed a wine jar and injured two beautiful concubines who were serving nearby.

He cursed loudly.

He was concerned about why the title of sage was not given to him, the king, but to his ministers.

There was another small flame under Ji Chang's butt.

However, this matter itself was caused by Ji Chang himself, and Li Ping'an executed it more perfectly.

In a small courtyard near the downtown area of ​​Xiqi City.

Li Ping'an lived in seclusion here with the old guards. Just like in the dungeon, he read, ate, and meditated every day.

On weekdays, he didn't have to worry about the affairs of the Heavenly Palace, as Yao Chi, the King of the East, and his father Li Dazhi could easily handle them.

He could concentrate on enlightenment here.

The East China Sea had been calm, and Huo Zha had not had any conflict with the Dragon Palace Dragon King.

After eating the cake that Li Ping'an had drawn last time, the dragon clan is now concentrating on improving its own moral quality. The Dragon King is vigorously promoting the construction of the dragon clan's atmosphere, and even took the initiative to send troops to the coast of the East China Sea to clear out those shrimp soldiers and crab generals.

It seems that the conflict between the Dragon Palace and Chentangguan will not occur.

Under the supervision of Huanglong Zhenren, Taiyi Zhenren has also restrained himself a lot. When teaching his disciples, he also teaches them to be low-key in life and high-profile in work, and so on.

The two sects of Chan and Jie are still secretly active in Shangguo.

They will not make friends with the princes as before, and they are not in the mood to preach. Instead, they will find those disciples with qualifications and backgrounds, accept them as registered disciples, and leave some treasures.

The thinking mode of these two sects is still the same as "playing chess".

Li Ping'an is too lazy to care about this, and he can't care about it. After all, the two saints want to save face, and they want to win and don't want to lose in the Conferred God Competition.

He just watches to prevent the conflict from being too intensified.

Just as Li Pingan was thinking whether it was Ji Chang's imprisonment that happened first or the Dongyi tribe's comeback that happened first, an unexpected 'guest' came to see him outside the Heavenly Palace.

The one who came was not an outsider, but his adopted sister Yao Ji.

'Didn't she escape the catastrophe? '

Li Pingan saw Yao Ji's gloomy face and was a little confused. He calculated with his fingers and mobilized the power of the Heavenly Dao.