I stole divine power in Daxia

Chapter 565 Return to Ruins
Hu Wenlang was not the key figure in this incident, and no charges had been made against him. Gao Wencan had disappeared as well, so Wei Shaoan certainly had no intention of fighting with Li Jing over Hu Wenlang.

Just like Li Jing said, he is the Fourth Prince of Daxia, not the King Anle as the people call him.

After helping Hu Wenlang onto her carriage, Li Jing closed the door and the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

The carriage began to move slowly. Li Jing took out a set of tea sets, heated it with a new type of ink stone, and when the tea was ready, she personally served a cup to Hu Wenlang.

Hu Wenlang did not take the tea set immediately, but said with a smile, "I dare not accept such a great gift."

Li Jing did not withdraw her outstretched hand, still offering tea, and said with a smile, "Sir, I rescued you from the God-Slaying Division, isn't that a great gift? I thought you would repay me with gratitude for saving you from prison!"

Li Jing was not at all modest and shamelessly exaggerated his role, but his light-hearted jokes actually changed the atmosphere from solemn to casual.

Hu Wenlang laughed, "You are quite as good at boasting as him. No wonder you two were able to get along well in the first place."

Seeing Hu Wenlang comparing himself to Zhou Tieyi, Li Jing showed great joy on her face, "If I can get some of your skills, it will be worth all the time I've spent studying."

Then Li Jing said seriously, "I definitely didn't show my ability when I came here to rescue you today. Given the current situation, in your eyes, even if I didn't come, you can still get out of trouble in just one or two days, right?"

Hu Wenlang nodded slightly.

Li Jing then asked, "But I didn't show my ability this time. Do you still want to be caught by a cruel official and thrown into prison next time, with your life and death out of your control?"

"Although I don't know why you must stay in Tianjing, if you join forces with me, you can at least get a helping hand. You naturally know my background. Compared to the Crown Prince, my only advantage is that I don't have a real strategist under my command, so naturally there is no one to hinder your talent."

Hu Wenlang sighed softly. This was exactly the issue that he had not directly rejected just now, but was hesitating about. Before, the Lord of the Prison Gate reminded him that he could summon his "old subordinates", but he himself was not strong enough. If he summoned the old subordinates of the Wei Kingdom, he would inevitably repeat the mistake of Concubine Mo.

However, his practice of the method of cultivating the dream world has not yet been perfected, and he needs to firmly grasp the "Tianjing Daily", the world's largest mouthpiece, and borrow the power of the people to confuse the real with the fake and confuse the "previous life" in the dream world.

Now that the court was undergoing more and more drastic changes, his identity as a member of the Zhou Party was no longer a guarantee and might even become a fuse. Therefore, at this time, a strong ally would be able to help him tide over this period of weakness, and Li Jing happened to be a suitable candidate.

After thinking it through, Hu Wenlang took the tea offered by Li Jing. In the lingering tea aroma, Li Jing's smile gradually grew. Hu Wenlang took a sip of the tea before saying, "But Your Highness and I need to make a gentleman's agreement."

"Sir, please speak."

"If one day I want to resign and return to the wild to seek the great path, Your Highness, please do not stop me."

"As it should be."

Hu Wenlang put down the tea in his hand and bowed to Li Jing, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Seeing that Hu Wenlang still addressed him as 'Your Highness' instead of 'Lord', Li Jing knew that he had not yet been able to make Hu Wenlang completely accept his decision. However, being able to do this today already made Li Jing very satisfied. He quickly supported Hu Wenlang's arm and said, "Sir, there is no need to be so polite."

Li Jing poured tea for Hu Wenlang again, "Sir, is there anything you want to teach me about tomorrow?"

Hu Wenlang smiled slightly. This was Li Jing testing whether he was qualified as a counselor.

He thought for a moment, "In the court, with your highness's strategy, I don't need to waste my breath."

The smile in Li Jing's eyes remained unchanged, but she felt a little disappointed.

But then Hu Wenlang changed the subject and said, "I have something to teach Your Highness about things outside the court."

Li Jing hurriedly asked, "Please speak."

Hu Wenlang pondered for a moment, "Where did Gao Wencan go today? Where is he now?"

Gao Wencan was the fuse of this incident, but when things developed to this stage, even Li Jing felt that Gao Wencan was no longer important and was just a grasshopper in autumn. But now Hu Wenlang suddenly asked about Gao Wencan's whereabouts again, which made Li Jing reconsider.

As he spoke, he thought, "Gao Wencan's last public appearance today was when he went to Exchange Street and met Wang Mingyi and Zhang San. Afterwards, Wang Mingyi went to the palace to meet the emperor, and Zhang San went to the Crown Prince and Seventh Brother's residence to collect money to calm the stock market... He has not appeared since then."

Hu Wenlang smiled and said, "So Gao Wencan went to seek help, and the result seems to be good. But if Your Highness were Wang Mingyi and Zhang San, what kind of advice would you give Gao Wencan?"

Li Jing came back to her senses. "This incident was caused by Gao Wencan's attack on Zhou's party, so Wang Mingyi and Zhang San will definitely make Gao Wencan bow his head, at least to stabilize his brother first, to prevent the situation from further deteriorating and more variables... Then they will at least let Gao Wencan release the people, or even go to Zhou's house to apologize..."

“But did Gao Wencan do this?”

Li Jing looked at Hu Wenlang and realized how powerful Hu Wenlang was. "No."

Hu Wenlang's smile became brighter and brighter. "This cruel official is different from person to person. Zhou Tieyi was able to bow his head in the Right General's Mansion that day because he was sure that he could use the Right General to drive him out of the mansion and make him a lone minister, so that the emperor could rest assured. This was a plan within a plan, and he made three calculations at one step. But Gao Wencan, that idiot, didn't have this ability. Now others asked him to bow his head, which was like tying a rope to a vicious dog. If Gao Wencan bowed his head in front of Zhou Mansion today, he would be removed from the hearts of the Queen Mother and the emperor. For a person who is obsessed with power, it would be more painful than death."

"So the move Zhang San and Wang Mingyi gave Gao Wencan was definitely to save Gao Wencan while ruining his future. This is also consistent with Zhang San and Wang Mingyi's attitude towards Gao Wencan." Li Jing breathed a sigh of relief, "Although he is stupid, at least he realized this."

Hu Wenlang laughed and said, "A cruel official who refuses to admit defeat and is forced into a desperate situation, do you think he will make a desperate move and fight a last ditch effort?"

Li Jing frowned. Where else could Gao Wencan gamble?
His eyes suddenly lit up. There was definitely nothing he could bet on regarding Gao Wencan’s past. The only thing he could bet on was the library!

Gao Wencan also went in during the battle in the library that night.

However, although Li Jing had spies all over Tianjing, the battle for the library was only participated by the top-level fighters. Ordinary spies had no idea what was going on. Li Jing could only guess, "What Gao Wencan got in the library... He has the [Final Conclusion] of Someone Killer or my brother?! Father actually didn't take this [Final Conclusion] back, but still gave it to Gao Wencan?!"

This made Li Jing a little confused. She didn't understand why her father didn't handle such an important "Final Judgment" personally, but gave it to Gao Wencan, who was only a fourth-rank official, for safekeeping.

Hu Wenlang said, "It should be the [Final Judgment] of the Man-Slayer Jiang Taiyi. Now Zhou Tieyi wants to achieve the Thirty-Three Heavens in Taiyi Temple, and I can't get away. After the Champion Marquis revived, he took the Three Heavens to stop him, but now there is still a stalemate over Taiyi Temple. The way to break this stalemate ultimately falls on the Taoist lineage of the Man-Slayer Jiang Taiyi. Jiang Taiyi's seal was very strange at the beginning. Even if I get the [Final Judgment] and the unlocking items of the three sects of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, it is not that simple. It just so happens that I know a thing or two about this matter."

Li Jing's expression became more serious. Do you know something? I'm afraid it's not as simple as that.

You must know that in order to banish the butcher Jiang Taiyi, the second sage of military strategists, all the schools of thought came out and the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism tried their best. Although they failed to completely erase Jiang Taiyi's name from history in the end, all the secrets of the ban were known only to the top leaders of the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Even the royal family of Daxia did not know this.

Now a novelist who suddenly appeared knew about this, which made Li Jing guess the true identity of Hu Wenlang.

No wonder Zhou Tieyi attaches so much importance to Hu Wenlang and wants to make Hu Wenlang Zhou Tiege's adviser. Li Jing is now somewhat glad that she made a prompt decision and invited Hu Wenlang tonight.

He immediately swept away his contempt for Hu Wenlang and said, "I'd like to hear more about it."

Hu Wenlang said, "When the hundred families joined forces to ban Jiang Taiyi, Jiang Taiyi did not resist. On the contrary, on the Luo River, Jiang Taiyi set up his proud Heluo formation, and the Heluo formation evolved to its extreme, which was called Guixu. Guixu means that all the waters of the eight directions and nine fields, as well as the flow of the sky and the Milky Way, all flow into it, without any increase or decrease."

Li Jing looked solemn, listening attentively, and naturally recited a Buddhist scripture, "All dharmas are empty, neither born nor destroyed, neither dirty nor clean, neither increasing nor decreasing. Back then, Ren Tu was able to see Guixu, no wonder he was able to attain the status of sub-sage."

The realm of a saint is beyond the scope of what the world can understand, but descriptions of saints are not uncommon in various classics.

Among them, the Buddhist scriptures describe the most and most appropriately, that is, the existence of a saint is itself in contradiction. Opposite concepts that are difficult for ordinary people to understand can appear in the saint at the same time. Therefore, the saint is neither born nor destroyed, neither dirty nor clean, and neither increases nor decreases.

Hu Wenlang chuckled, "It's a pity that Jiang Taiyi used all his wisdom to achieve no increase or decrease, rather than no increase or decrease. Otherwise, it's hard to say what the world would be like now."

After sighing a little, Hu Wenlang continued, "After Guixu is formed, the military formation inside will form an 'infinite' space-time."

"Infinitely large?"

Li Jing exclaimed. Although this statement was not uncommon in Buddhist scriptures, it was the first time he truly realized how extraordinary the saints were. Just these three words were enough to make people fascinated.

Hu Wenlang explained, "The so-called 'immeasurable size' means that if only a soybean enters the formation, then the formation will only be the size of the soybean. However, if the formation includes mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, then the formation will be as large as mountains, rivers, lakes and seas."

"The size of the military formation itself depends on the amount of material that enters the formation, just like Guixu. Even if all the water in the world is poured out, as long as it enters the Heluo formation, the Heluo formation will be able to accommodate it. Therefore, it is called the Infinite Formation. This is also the reason why Ren Tu dared to fight against the various schools of thought with only 300,000 soldiers."

"Because no matter how many troops the Hundred Families muster, they will only be 'surrounded' by the 300,000 Heluo troops. Once they enter the Heluo formation, they will be divided by the Five Elements and Eight Diagrams, from infinitely large to infinitely small. During this process, the Five Destructions of the Military Academy will naturally operate, and the five processes of destruction, growth, prosperity, decline and destruction will ultimately result in absolute nothingness."

"The Five Destruction Heavenly Capital Formation of the Champion Marquis of this dynasty has only evolved to the third stage, the Destruction of Prosperity, which can turn a person from prosperity to decline. Even if they are the top-ranked in the world, they will gradually degenerate into mortals in the formation. However, the Heluo Formation has reached the fourth stage, the Destruction of Decline, which can turn a top-ranked person into a mortal and eventually kill him completely, with even the Taoist tradition annihilated without a trace."

Li Jing said with a sigh, "I have seen the smallest sword of the Lord of Daming Palace, which can split the dragon seal and return the gods and Buddhas to the mortal world. This Heluo formation seems to have the same effect."

Li Jing thought about it carefully again, shook his head and said, "It is indeed more powerful than the Smallest Sword of the Daming Palace Master. Although the Smallest Sword can split the Dragon Seal, it is limited to the 'Qi'. But according to what you said, the Heluo Formation can split the Dao Tong, which is really close to the 'Dao'."

Taoism is the collective strength of the people, and is something more illusory, difficult to understand, and difficult to touch than "Qi".

"Then how did the various schools of thought kill Jiang Taiyi? According to what you said, the number of people entering the Heluo formation is no longer the key. Whether it is one first-rank person, one hundred, or one thousand first-rank people, as long as they have not truly ascended to the holy way, they are equivalent to one person in the Heluo formation. They cannot join forces and will gradually perish."

Hu Wenlang said, "The formation is a good one, but humans have weaknesses. Your Highness, do you know the effect of the [Final Judgment] method?"

Li Jing shook her head. "Although I have some guesses, I have not been taught. Only my father is qualified to view such secrets from the royal secret vault."

"Historians have two responsibilities: one is to 'record events and words from the bamboo slips of the time', and the other is to 'edit and revise them for later generations'. Therefore, all the Grand Historians spent their whole lives studying the classics and were not seen by the world. They were the recorders of history, and logically they should be outside the secular world, so they could maintain absolute neutrality, just like history itself."

Li Jing laughed and said, "How can there be absolute neutrality in this world?"

Hu Wenlang said, "Yes, how can there be absolute neutrality? History may not exist for Yao or die for Jie, but people who write history books must regard Yao as a role model for all ages and denounce Jie as a sinner for all ages. Therefore, Yao's saintliness is beyond saintliness, so he is perfect, and Jie's faults are beyond faults, so he is wrong. Otherwise, it is not enough to highlight the good and denounce the evil. This is the responsibility of historians, but also their weakness."

"Originally, it would be a good thing if historians just acted as a mirror to warn future generations. But one day, historians suddenly discovered that they could use established facts that had already happened to guide the future, and that they could make people change their cognition to a certain extent because of the books they wrote. They could write about the future 'history' that has not yet happened. What do you think they would do?"

(End of this chapter)