If I add money to become a layman, I can cultivate immortality

Chapter 115 Painting the Wall
Ding Xiu returned to the Ming Dynasty.

However, this is not the Ming Dynasty in history, but the world of Liaozhai.

After Ding Xiu came to this world, he had a new identity: a Juren in the suburbs of the capital.

In the current world of the Ming Dynasty, a person who is elected can be regarded as half an official, and is qualified to become an official, that is, to be an official.

However, it is a bit difficult for people to become officials.Either there is someone in the court, so that he can make connections and become a ninth-grade or even eighth-grade official.

Of course, if the relationship is strong enough, becoming a seventh-grade county magistrate is not a problem.

But after all, there are not many people in the court, so we can only continue to take exams, and pass the joint examination and palace examination to become a Jinshi. This will be much easier.

Ding Xiu doesn't want to be an official anymore. He's already idle, so why should he be an official?

It is enough to have the reputation of being a civil servant.

At night, Ding Xiu sat with his eyes closed and subconsciously called up the golden finger interface:

Name: Ding Xiu

Potential development degree: 24.8%
Boundary: Qi Refining Nine Layers

Special props: storage bag (medium grade)
Current plane: Liaozhai world

World Progress: 3%
After reaching the world progress in Uncle Jiu's world last time, in addition to the improvement in potential development, what makes Ding Xiu most gratified is that the storage bag has finally been expanded.

Relatively speaking, the capacity this time is much larger. The length, width and height are almost one meter, and it can hold a lot of things.

the next morning.

Two guests came to visit.

The two of them were both civilized and martial. One was named Meng Longtan, who came from a family of military commanders. He had practiced swordsmanship, spear-wielding, horseback riding and archery since he was a child.

With his family background, he could have directly influenced the military attache, but Meng Longtan insisted on participating in the martial arts examination, not relying on his family background, but relying on his own strength to become an official.

Facts have proved that he is indeed very strong. He passed all the tests and successfully advanced to the martial arts examination.

The martial arts exam is similar to the literary exam. After passing the exam, you have to take the national examination. If you win No. 1, you will be the highly anticipated martial arts champion.

Meng Longtan was full of confidence and vowed to defeat all opponents and win the title of martial arts champion.

Unexpectedly, during the examination period, he was tricked into having an affair with the concubine of a Beijing official, and by chance, he was caught in the act.

The official from the capital was naturally unwilling to give up, and he seemed to want to put Meng Longtan to death.

While the Meng family was taking care of things, they sent people to secretly investigate, and found out that this was a deliberate trap.

There is no need to elaborate on the twists and turns, but from this point of view, it is enough to prove that Meng Longtan has the potential to be the top martial arts scholar, and this is why someone blocked his future.

After some efforts by the Meng family, the matter was finally settled, but Meng Longtan was also disqualified from the joint examination and was banned from taking the examination for ten years.

Meng Longtan was depressed and went to drink wine alone, but he met a man who had the same problem and was drinking wine in a restaurant.

This person is the scholar who is visiting us today: Zhu Xiaolian.

The word "filial piety" was originally one of the subjects of the imperial examination system in the Han Dynasty. It means being filial to parents and being honest in doing things. Later, it gradually evolved into an elegant name for civil servants.

Most people would not dare to randomly use "Xiaolian" as their name, but Zhu Xiaolian's father gave his son such a name, and no one dared to say anything.

Because he was a Tanhualang, entered the Hanlin Academy, and served as a Beijing official.

Later, due to physical reasons, he returned to his hometown as an official and became a celebrity.

When he got a son when he was old, he was so happy that he named his son Zhu Xiaolian. First, he hoped that his son would inherit the elegance of the Han Dynasty, and second, he hoped that his son could successfully obtain fame in the future.

Zhu Xiaolian did not live up to his father's trust. He showed considerable talent at a young age and was admitted as a scholar at the age of 14.

Don't underestimate scholars.

Although there are many contemptuous titles such as "sour scholar", "poor scholar" and "poor scholar" circulated among the people, this does not hinder the special status of scholars.

Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, this is the imperial court's classification of people's levels.

Scholars generally refer to officials and scholars, who have the highest status.

Scholars, who are outstanding scholars, must first take the county examination. After passing the county examination, they must also take the government examination. After passing the government examination, they are called Tongsheng.

However, Tongsheng still had no fame and had to take the college examination. Only after passing the college examination could he be considered a leader and be called a student member, that is, a scholar.

At this time, it is worthy of congratulations, because a scholar has an entry-level reputation and can enjoy many benefits and special treatment.

For example, there are two major benefits: exemption from taxes and exemption from corvee.

Special treatment includes preferential treatment under criminal law, wearing privileges, using slaves, not kneeling before the magistrate, etc.

In some remote places, not even a single scholar can be found in a single village.

Of course, with Zhu Xiaolian's family education, becoming a scholar was like picking something out of a bag, so it was a piece of cake.

He is an ambitious person. Just like Meng Longtan who wants to be the top scholar in martial arts, his ultimate goal is to be the top scholar in high school literature.

As a result, God seemed to be joking with him. Just when he was so confident and ready to take the provincial examination, his father suddenly died of illness.

As a rule, he had to observe mourning at home for three years.

This is an ancient tradition, originating from the filial piety respected by the ancients.

Not to mention a young scholar taking the exam, even an important minister in the court had to resign and return to his hometown to stay in the system for three years once his parents passed away, and he was called "Ding You".

When Zhu Xiaolian's filial piety period expired, his mother unfortunately passed away...

Yes, let’s continue to observe filial piety at home.

However, there is also an advantage to observing filial piety. During the period of filial piety, most people will not visit you easily, and they will not come to ask you if they have any fun.

After all, people are observing filial piety, so it doesn't make sense for you to ask them to have fun.

Therefore, there are very few social activities at this time, and I can just sit back and study at home.

As the saying goes, only by accumulating accumulated knowledge, when Zhu Xiaolian took part in the provincial examination, he won No. 1 in one fell swoop.

No. 1 in the rural examination is called "Jie Yuan".

Just like the provincial champion in the college entrance examination in later generations, of course, the status is much higher than the provincial champion.

Because after passing the provincial examination, you can be promoted.

The common people may bully a scholar, but no one dares to bully a juren. Bullying a juren is a crime and will result in jail time. In serious cases, beheading.

After all, Juren is already half an official.

After passing the examination, Zhu Xiaolian finally lived up to his name of "filial piety and integrity".

He went to Beijing to take the examination with full confidence, but he never expected that he failed.

Fortunately, he did not lose heart. He rented a house in Beijing and continued to study hard. He must go to high school next time.

Unexpectedly, I still failed.

Zhu Xiaolian was hit hard and went to a restaurant to drink alone. As a result, he met Meng Longtan who was also drinking there.

Although the two of them were both literary and military, they also got along quite well with each other.

After all, martial arts examinations also require essay examinations, such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "Six Tao" and so on.

If you don’t have any foundation in literature, how can you understand military literature?
Therefore, those who can pass the martial arts examination based on their own strength are all capable of both civil and military skills.

Even more coincidentally, Ding Xiu was also drinking in that restaurant that day.

After going back and forth, the three of us became good friends. Today I will treat you to a feast, and tomorrow you will treat me to a feast. If anything happens, we will have a drink together.

There is something special about drinking flower wine. It doesn't just mean having a few girls accompany you.

For example, a popular game is called: Prostitute Shoes and Drinking.

Literally, it seems that the girl is drinking from the girl's embroidered shoes, but in fact it is not the case. The wine glass is placed inside the embroidered shoes, and then various drinking orders are performed.

Someone once wrote a poem specifically for prostitutes' shoes while drinking, calling women's embroidered shoes lotus boats, and the poem's title is "Lotus Picking Boats":
"On a beautiful day in spring and autumn, under a beautiful moonlit night, there is a master with his clogs on his back, and his skirt is extended to welcome guests.

A gorgeous feast is set up, the embroidered curtain is drooped; green ants are everywhere, sitting in red skirts.The tassels are cut off and the shoes are intertwined, and the fragrance is faintly smelled when flying in the cup. "

In the eyes of future generations, this is too disgusting, right?

But at that time, it was a very elegant game, with various fancy ways of playing, and people enjoyed playing it endlessly, including many famous talents and writers in history.

After all, this is a kind of foot fetish culture. There are many poems praising women's feet, including many famous writers.

Even in later generations, many people are unwilling to admit it verbally, but in fact they have some such hobbies.

Closer to home.

After Meng Longtan and his two men arrived, the three of them chatted for a while, and Zhu Xiaolian couldn't help but said: "Brother Ding, I went to Renguang Temple two days ago and accidentally discovered a wall.

I don’t know why, but I always feel that there is something magical about the mural. "

Ding Xiu couldn't help but frown: "Oh? What kind of magical method?"

“The wall is very exquisite, with poetic landscapes, rich flowers, and many fairies playing among the flowers.

At that time, after watching for a long time, I always felt that the fairies seemed to be moving and their expressions were changing. After taking a closer look, it seemed that there was no change..."

Hearing this, Meng Longtan couldn't help but smile and said: "Brother Zhu, have you been staring for too long and are a little dazzled?"

Zhu Xiaolian shook his head: "I have seen a lot of famous paintings, but there has never been a painting that can give me such an illusion. It's really strange."

Ding Xiu immediately stood up and said, "How about we go see it now and see what's going on."

"go!"

So, the three of them came to Renguang Temple, located on the east side of the capital.

The location of this temple is relatively remote. The temple is not big and not famous, so there are not many pilgrims.

Under the leadership of Zhu Xiaolian, the three of them came to a side hall in the backyard.

The mural is located on the right side of the side hall, occupying almost the entire wall.

The content of the mural mainly focuses on various types of flowers. Flowers that should bloom in different seasons are blooming in the same painting.

Among the flowers, there are many butterflies flying, and there are many people playing with the beautiful women. They are fat and thin, with different styles and beautiful scenery.

In the distance, there are faint green mountains, shrouded in clouds and mist, and a hall is faintly visible on the mountainside.

Ding Xiu stood in front of the mural and looked at it carefully. He didn't know how long it had passed. Suddenly, an invisible force seemed to surge in, making his body light...

In the blink of an eye, the scene has changed drastically.

What appeared in front of us was a small, rundown village.

Ding Xiu was not too surprised. He knew that he should have arrived in the world of painted walls in a Chinese studio.

Of course, it is also possible that it is an independent small world, and that mural is the entrance to the small world.

They come, the security.

Ding Xiu walked towards the village.

As soon as he entered the village, Ding Xiu saw only a few old people and a few children. All of them were in ragged clothes, with sallow faces and thin muscles, and looked listless.

When they saw Ding Xiu entering the village, everyone looked over in shock as if they were seeing a monster.

"Old man..."

Ding Xiu tried his best to show a kind smile and walked towards an old man. "You...you come from...from outside?"

The old man asked as if mumbling to himself.

Although his accent is a bit strange and has a strong dialect, he is still barely understandable.

Ding Xiu tried to speak as slowly as possible and asked, "Outside? What does the old man mean by outside?"

Obviously, the old man didn't have much idea about the outside world, so he replied: "It's just outside, not here anyway."

"Old man, I am indeed from outside, you..."

Before Ding Xiu could finish speaking, the old man said with a frightened look on his face: "Young man, please leave quickly. You won't be able to leave when they come back."

"who are they?"

"They..." The old man was waiting for a reply, but he seemed to remember something again. He looked up at the sky and couldn't help but look shocked: "No, they are coming back soon. Housheng, please leave quickly!"

"Okay, thank you, old man."

Ding Xiu decided to retreat in order to advance, pretending to leave first, and then quietly sneaking back to observe the situation.

Sure enough, not long after, the men in the village came back.

Wearing shackles and looking tired, they followed each other into the village.

There were also two men holding spears and wearing blue armor following the team. They seemed to be the ones responsible for the escort.

But the looks of these two guys... are hard to describe.

Their faces look quite strange, and their beaks are pointed and long, resembling a bird.The fingers are also very long, and there are only four fingers, which look like bird claws.

So Ding Xiu secretly nicknamed these two guys: Birdmen!
At this time, he finally understood who the "they" the old man was talking about were probably these two guys.

Ding Xiu hid in the dark and observed, and further understood the reason why the old man was frightened. These two guys completely regarded the villagers here as slaves, beating or scolding them.

Not long after, Ding Xiu found an opportunity and quietly abducted a villager from the edge of the village.

The villager couldn't help but look horrified when he saw Ding Xiu soar into the sky, and after a few ups and downs, he was brought to the other side of the mountainside.

When Ding Xiu put him down, he quickly knelt on the ground and shouted to the immortal for mercy.

"Who are those two armored men in your village?" Ding Xiu was too lazy to talk nonsense and asked directly.

"This..." The villagers looked frightened and seemed afraid to speak.

"Are you afraid of them?"

The villager hesitated for a while and nodded.

Ding Xiu smiled, raised his hand and grabbed it in the air, and a stone the size of a bowl flew into his hand. When he exhaled his true energy, the stone immediately turned into dust and fell to the ground.

Then he said: "Then you are not afraid of me?"

"Exalted Immortal, have mercy on me, Immortal, have mercy on me..." The villager was so frightened that he kept kowtowing.

"If you want to survive, tell the truth quickly."

After being frightened like this, the villagers could only speak in detail.

After several inquiries, Ding Xiu finally had a preliminary understanding of the situation in this world.

This world is not big and is mainly divided into three major regions: east, west and south.

The eastern region is mainly a human settlement, mainly villages and market towns. There are no cities, let alone emperors or kings.

The western region is the territory of those bird people, but the people don't dare to call them that. They usually call those bird people adults, and those with higher levels are called gods.

These birdmen have a strict hierarchy and are divided into five levels. They can be distinguished by the armor they wear. From low to high they are: cyan, blue, red, gold, and black.

What people usually see are birdmen in cyan armor, and a small number of bosses in blue armor. Occasionally, they will see big bosses in red armor.

As for the more advanced gold and black, most people have only heard of them but have never seen them.

As for the southern area, it is a bit mysterious. Legend has it that there is a fairy palace there. There are many fairies in the fairy palace, and even the birdmen dare not set foot there easily.

Soon after, Ding Xiu sent the villager to the edge of the village and then headed towards the southern area.

Since this is a mural world, the legendary fairy palace must exist, and there must be fairies. After all, it is the core content of the murals.

And when Ding Xiu thought about it, if he wanted to leave this world, he might only be able to find this legendary fairy palace.

Along the way, Ding Xiu discovered many villages or market towns. It seemed that there were still a lot of people in this world, but most of them lived under the slavery of those birdmen.

Such as quarrying, mining, going into the mountains to collect herbs, hunting, etc.

According to Ding Xiu's observation, the comprehensive development level of this world lags far behind the Ming Dynasty in the outside world, and is roughly the same as that of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

However, in such a small world, it is quite good to have such a level of civilization.

Three days later, when Ding Xiu was passing through a valley, he suddenly heard the sounds of fighting and running.

Xun Sheng went over to take a look and couldn't help but feel surprised.

Because he saw an acquaintance: Meng Longtan.

On weekdays, Menglongtan is both a martial artist and a literati, with a demeanor that does not change even when Mount Tai collapses before his eyes.

But now, his hair was disheveled, his clothes were torn, and he was running away with all his strength, looking embarrassed.

Behind him, a small leader birdman in blue armor led five men in cyan armor in pursuit.

Hearing that his opponent was getting closer and closer, Meng Longtan had no choice but to turn around and continue fighting.

He also had a spear in his hand, which was exactly the same as the spears in the hands of those blue-armored bird-men. It was obvious that he had snatched it from him.

It has to be said that this guy is indeed a bit fierce. Even after being injured, he still danced his spear with great force, making the green-armored birdmen dare not approach.

"waste!"

The red-armored birdman couldn't help but roared angrily.

His accent was somewhat different from those of the common people, and his voice was sharp and harsh.

The voice was still on his lips, and a spear was already charging towards Meng Longtan.

Seeing that his opponent was approaching fiercely, Meng Longtan did not dare to be careless and gritted his teeth and made a fierce challenge.

"clang!"

With a crisp metallic chirping sound, sparks flew in the air.

Meng Longtan felt a huge force coming back, his arms went numb, and he took a step back involuntarily.

Damn, this red-armored bird-man is different. He is much more powerful than those little soldiers.

In fact, at the beginning, all the people who were chasing him were blue-armored birdmen, but Meng Longtan killed five or six of them, which resulted in attracting the red-armored birdman. After a hard fight, Meng Longtan was injured in many places on his body and only Able to fight and flee.

"Take me another shot!"

The red-armored bird-man shouted loudly, jumped more than two feet, and then flew down into the air. The spear in his hand shook, buzzing, and swooped down with a violent air current.

Seeing that there was no way to escape, Meng Longtan could only bite the bullet and fight again.

"call!"

At this moment, a stone the size of a fist roared towards the head of the red-armored birdman.

The red-armored birdman couldn't help but be shocked. How could he bother to attack his opponent?His body sank rapidly, and at the same time he subconsciously waved his gun to shake away the stone.

Unfortunately, although he reacted quickly, the stone was too fast, and finally hit the helmet hard, causing the red-armored birdman's eyes to blacken, and his body fell heavily to the ground. The blood could not stop in the helmet, ears, and mouth. , nasal discharge.

Looking at it like this, I'm afraid even gods can't save him.

Meng Longtan looked stunned. He subconsciously looked back, his eyes widened, and he blurted out as if he was seeing his closest relative in the world: "Brother Ding!"

It was Ding Xiu who threw the stone just now.

The five blue-armored birdmen were also stunned, and then they all stared with blood-red eyes. Two of them rushed towards Meng Longtan, and the other three rushed towards Ding Xiu.

As you can imagine, it soon turned into five corpses.

"Brother Ding..."

Seeing that all his opponents were dead, Meng Longtan finally breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something.

Ding Xiu raised his hand and said, "If you have something to say later, leave here first."

"Oh, yes, yes!" Meng Longtan nodded anxiously, then dropped the spear in his hand and quickly left the valley with Ding Xiu.

It wasn't until he was far away from the valley that Ding Xiu stopped and asked, "Longtan, why did you come in too?"

Meng Longtan said with a mournful face: "I don't know either. I was looking at the mural carefully when my vision suddenly went dark, and when I opened my eyes, I was inside.

Later, I met several of those half-human, half-bird monsters you had seen before, and chased them for a day and a night..."

As soon as I said this, my stomach couldn't help but growl.

"Okay, let's not talk about it for now. You fill your stomach first, and I will help you check your injuries later."

Hearing this, Meng Longtan subconsciously looked around. They were either rocks or trees. Where could they get food?

Before he could turn around, he smelled the alluring aroma of meat.

"This……"

Meng Longtan stared at the roast chicken in Ding Xiu's hand in stunned silence.

Where did this come from?
You can't hide such a big roast chicken in your sleeve, right?

"Eat quickly!"

"Oh……"

Meng Longtan was so hungry that his chest pressed against his back, and he didn't bother to think too much. He grabbed the roast chicken and wolfed it down.

"Here you water..." Ding Xiu took out another pot of water.

Meng Longtan: "..."

After eating and drinking, Ding Xiu checked his injuries again. Fortunately, they were all skin injuries and no injuries to his muscles or bones.

So, he took some gold wound medicine and applied it to Meng Longtan.

After a night's rest, Meng Longtan's energy recovered a lot, and naturally he couldn't help but express his gratitude after waking up.

Then he couldn't help but said: "By the way, I wonder if Brother Zhu has come in?"

Ding Xiu shook his head: "That's not clear, but it's okay. Brother Zhu is not a short-lived person. Even if he comes in, he can avoid disaster."

"That's good..." Meng Longtan breathed a sigh of relief, hesitated for a moment, and finally couldn't help asking the question in his heart: "Isn't Brother Ding the legendary cultivator of immortality?"

After all, he is also a knowledgeable person. He had seen Ding Xiu kill the red-armored birdman with a stone before, and he had also taken out a roasted chicken and a pot of water.

Under normal circumstances, this cannot be hidden on the body.

Therefore, the only explanation can only be the magical power of the immortal cultivators.

……

(End of this chapter)