Tao and Heaven

Chapter 134: Seeing an old friend again, we are like strangers

The ferry was bustling with people coming and going, without any trace of the chaos and disorder that characterizes the rebel-ruled areas.

It even seems to be much more prosperous than the outside world.

Akabane was a little surprised and asked, "Why is it different from what is advertised outside?"

Along the way, they heard a lot of stories about cannibalism by the rebel army, for example, the butcher shops were full of human flesh, people were skinned alive, chopped in half and hung up to be sold.

Gu Wen explained: "Because if the people knew the benefits of rebelling, there would be a greater rebellion. The court has countless laws and regulations to restrain the people, but in the final analysis, the most effective way is to keep the people ignorant."

"How can we get food when the chaotic army is burning, killing and looting?"

Akabane asked a very stupid question, but considering her identity as a monk and the fact that there might not be such a thing as a peasant uprising in Tianwai Tian.

Not stupid, just a bit naive and not smart enough.

"Where does the imperial court get its food?" Gu Wen asked himself and answered, "Rebellion is a technical job. Burning, killing and looting cannot be called rebellion. The real rebellion is to replace the imperial court and become a new ruling machine."

When he heard that the rebellious army could hold out for half a year, Gu Wen knew that order would definitely be formed here. Moreover, it was originally a rebellion by local tyrants, so they were good at maintaining order.

This is also why so many people rebelled, and the aristocratic families were the most successful, because they had a program.

"It's somewhat similar to the seizure of power in the cultivation world." Jun Yan said, "After the top cultivators decide the winner, the first thing they do is to maintain order. Even in the Demon Sect, it is impossible to allow open killing."

Gu Wen asked curiously, "What does the Demon Sect look like?"

"Depending on the level of cultivation, there are different legal numbers of people that can be killed."

Jun Yan gave a brief description and Gu Wen understood immediately.

There is a strict hierarchy, no moral constraints, and it is a complete survival of the fittest.

Gu Wen and his companions did not rush to leave the ferry, but instead wandered around the major markets at the ferry, visiting various small stalls and pharmacies.

Some spiritual objects would fall into the hands of mortals, and it was a chance for them to encounter them. After all, mortals could not use spiritual objects, and most spiritual medicines were poison to mortals.

And the kind of treasure that can be taken directly to take effect is at least at the level of the cheap treasure of the sacred tree, and its quantity is extremely rare.

During Gu Wen's raid some time ago, there was not a single fruit comparable to the sacred tree.

Half a day later, Gu Wen and others returned with a full load.

Gu Wen bought a lot of elixirs, and after swallowing them all, he consumed five years of Heavenly Marrow, bringing the total number of Heavenly Marrow to one hundred and eighty years.

The third level golden elixir takes eighty years of heavenly marrow, and the fourth level golden elixir takes ninety years of heavenly marrow. The heavenly marrow in his body is enough to deduce the fourth level golden elixir. Now he needs a pill that can provide a lot of mana, otherwise it will become like last time.

However, Gu Wen felt that he could gain something from Chiyuzi. Perhaps because of the Nine-Transformation Golden Pill, he discovered that the other party had a lot of pills that replenished his mana.

Jun Yan bought a night-shining pearl that was full of evil spirit, and Chi Yuzi bought the remains of a Taoist sword.

Seeing this, Gu Wen remembered the ten swords, one of which he gave to Chi Yuzi, leaving nine.

Originally, he was planning to use them directly, but he found that these swords were rusty because they were too old. The outer appearance is the result of the heart, and the rust on the surface indicates that the inner sword spirit is already aging.

All things have a lifespan, but objects have a much longer lifespan than humans. As for things like Dao Soldiers, after being nurtured by their masters day and night, they become one with them. When their masters die, a part of them also dies.

Gu Wen asked, "When will my Dao Sword be forged?"

Akabane replied, "It's already done, but I'm still tempering the sword spirit. I'm stuffing five sword spirits in like raising a Gu, and the one that's left is the best."

Suddenly, Gu Wen unconsciously saw a familiar face.

Qin Mian, the bodyguard Zhao Feng had arranged for him, was now walking on the street in tattered clothes, like any refugee you could find anywhere.

Gu Wen walked into the reunion without much drama, patted the other person's shoulder, and said, "Qin Mian?"

The ragged Qin Mian slowly turned his head, his dirty face did not change at first, until Gu Wen came into contact with the disguise spell, his heart was shocked and tears welled up in his eyes.

He said tremblingly: "Master Wen."

"You didn't go to Jiangjia Village?"

"I just arrived."

"just arrived?"

Gu Wen was a little confused, but he still took Qin Mian to an inn first, then took out a few dozen taels and asked the innkeeper to buy clothes and prepare food.

After washing and wolfing down a meal, Qin Mian finally looked like a decent human being and told Gu Wen about his experience.

After the great battle that day, Qin Mian missed the ferry and had no choice but to steal a war horse, abandon his armor and take advantage of the chaos to leave the city. On the way, he encountered bandits and lost his horse. He also had his money and weapons stolen in an inn.

The journey is long and there are jackals, tigers, leopards, robbers and bandits.

Qin Mian experienced the same thing as Gu Wen, but he did not have any extraordinary powers, so he became a refugee.

It took three months to get here despite all the hardships.

Gu Wen was a little dazed. He thought a long time had passed, but it turned out that only three months had passed. During these three months, he fought with various geniuses, comprehended the first sword of heaven and earth, and became the third on the earth list.

Now he is traveling with the Taoist goddess and has made friends with two top geniuses, Chi Yuzi and Jun Yan.

Only three months had passed, which was only enough time for Qin Mian to walk from Bian Jing to Nanshui.

Qin Mian asked, "Master Wen, did you just arrive as well?"

"We just arrived." Gu Wenrou said softly, "I'll take you to Jiangjia Village."

"Who are these people?"

"My companion."

Gu Wen did not introduce Qin Mian to anyone, and Chi Yuzi and others were not interested in Qin Mian, a mortal.

Qin Mian might have noticed it, so he didn't ask any more questions.

"By the way, I'll give you something good."

Gu Wen conjured up a magical sword out of thin air.

Qin Mian opened his mouth wide, but he thought of the scene that he had vaguely dreamed of for countless days and nights. It was Gu Wenruyuan's demonic figure that day that supported him to come here.

Matters involving gods and ghosts were not uncommon. For example, the people of Luodu were accustomed to the battles between monks.

But Gu Wen is the only immortal he can come into contact with.

"Give it to me?" Qin Mian took the sword, his hands shaking.

"Drop your blood and confess your master."

Gu Wen processed the spirit sword a little bit. In order to allow Qin Mian to use it, he specially picked a half-step spirit treasure that even Chi Yuzi was unwilling to eat. It was not a treasure for cultivators, but for ordinary people, it was an immortal sword that could cut iron like mud.

Akabane said in a voice transmission: "You are free too, so you like being an immortal so much?"

Gu Wen replied: "When one person succeeds, everyone in the family will benefit. I will naturally not be stingy in benefiting my own people."

Moreover, this sword cannot even be considered a spiritual sword. There are thousands of swords better than this one that Gu Wen has deposited with Chiyuzi.

It just so happens that Qin Mian is quite skilled in fighting, so he can be asked to protect Jiang Fugui.

In the afternoon, Gu Wen and his party left the ferry and headed for Jiangjia Village, thirty miles away.
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In Jiangjia Village, the paddy fields are golden in September.

The village is built along the river and relies on the river to irrigate rice. It is a typical southern paddy field village.

Some paddy fields have already started to be harvested, and a skinny man with a shifty look is shouting to direct the rush to harvest the rice.

This person was none other than Jiang Fugui, the former second manager of Longqiao Water House. At this moment, he had taken off his merchant's linen clothes and openly put on a suit of silk, having already achieved a class leap.

He is now the village chief and patriarch of Jiangjia Village, and also a landlord.

Although he was not as prosperous as he was in Longqiao, and his living standard had dropped several levels, Jiang Fugui felt that living like this was the most enjoyable thing. In Bianjing, even if he had ten thousand taels, he could not wear silk in public, but now he could wear whatever he wanted in the countryside.

Jiang Fugui has a typical landlord mentality, thinking that owning land is real. In fact, this is true. No matter how much money a businessman makes, it is all floating. Only by becoming a landlord can one be safe and become a united front value.

Suddenly the ground shook slightly.

Jiang Fugui and a group of Jiang family members looked up and saw a group of cavalrymen galloping towards them, wearing eye-catching silver armor.

A villager in the distance shouted:
"It's the eldest master who's back!"

The eldest son is Jiang Jucai.

The entire Jiangjia Village benefited from Jiang Fugui. Most of the land in the entire village belonged to him, and his eldest son Jiang Jucai was naturally called the eldest son.

Jiang Jucai pulled the reins, the warhorse neighed, then dismounted and walked towards them quickly.

The young and middle-aged men in the village immediately gathered around and looked at Jiang Jucai and the dozen or so Jiang family members who were being taken out behind him with admiration.

There is no man who does not value martial arts, especially when born in troubled times, everyone wants to make achievements. Ordinary people rebelled, officials' children joined the government army, and Daqian entered an era of entrepreneurship for all people.

Jiang Jucai pushed the crowd aside, walked towards Jiang Fugui, and said loudly: "Dad! I'm back."

"Humph!"

But Jiang Fugui put on a cold face and walked away without looking back.

The scene was awkward for a moment, and the Jiang family members around were not surprised.

Jiang Jucai put on his armor and followed him back to the village. When he arrived at the door of his house, he was stopped by a child with peach-shaped hair. He said in a baby voice, "Brother, you are back."

"Ah."

Jiang Jucai nodded slightly, then ignored his brother and stepped into the gate.

At this time, Jiang Fugui was sitting in the lobby with a sullen face, while his wife was comforting him.

"Master, calm down. I will scold him for you when Ju comes back later."

"Haha, scold him? I'm afraid he'll chop me to pieces."

Jiang Fugui's face was gloomy. The situation was unclear now. His son rashly joined the rebel army, which undoubtedly disrupted Master Wen's plan of "slowly becoming king, storing up grain and building high walls".

Especially now that there is still no news about Gu Wen, Jiang Fugui dared not move.

Every move Jiang Jucai made made Jiang Fugui tremble with fear.

"father."

Jiang Jucai walked in from outside, without saying a word, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became cold. Jiang Fugui turned his face away and ignored Jiang Jucai no matter how he called.

The two of them didn't look like father and son at all, they looked more like enemies.

The wife was a very traditional woman, so she could only stand by and worry. At most, she would scold her son a few times, but she had no way to deal with Jiang Fugui.

In desperation, Jiang Jucai could only use his ultimate move and said:

"There's news for Master Wen."

Hearing this, Jiang Fugui immediately looked at him and asked, "Where is it?"

Jiang Jucai replied, "Master Wen has become a wanted criminal of the imperial court. The news just reached Nanshui a while ago. The imperial court has people arresting him. He should not be dead."

Master Wen, the man who was as strong as a mountain in his memory, was the source of the conflict between the father and son of the Jiang family. He thought he should start a big career, while his father thought he should wait until he found Gu Wen before talking about other things.

"A criminal wanted by the imperial court?" Jiang Fugui's heart tightened, and he asked, "What did Master Wen do to become a criminal wanted by the imperial court?"

Jiang Jucai shook his head and said, "The notice didn't say that, it only said that there would be a reward of 10,000 taels of gold."

In the ancient times when information was closed, even in a remote area like Nanshui, the imperial court did not send troops to rebel for half a year.

Jiang Fugui's expression became increasingly ugly.

"Dad, I want some silver to buy some weapons."

"No money."

"You said before that Master Wen left 10,000 taels. Master Wen is missing now, so give me some."

Jiang Jucai had just said half of his words when a slap hit him hard in the face with such force that he was a little dazed.

Jiang Fugui's face turned red, and his eyes were drooping with anger. He trembled slightly and cursed: "You bastard! Who do you think gave you what you have today? Who has the relationship with you being able to study in the Bianjing government school? If you dare to say this again, I will sever the father-son relationship between you and me!"

Jiang Jucai was furious and cursed: "How long do you want to be a slave?"

This is the conflict between the Jiang family father and son.

The older generation worked hard with Gu Wen at Longqiao, and Jiang Fugui followed Gu Wen step by step to stand on the top of Longqiao. But for Jiang Jucai, Gu Wen was just an elder, a very dignified elder.

In Jiang Fugui's view, Jiang Jucai and those so-called Nanchun Army were all old men who were tired of living. Master Wen once said that rebellion is never about who arrives first, and it is always the first bird to stick its head out that gets shot.

Now General Daqian is suppressing a rebellion in the neighboring Linchuan County. Now it will be their turn after the rebellion in Linchuan is over.

Outside the Jiang family's door, Gu Wen came to the door and saw a dozen soldiers at the door, followed by a roar from the courtyard.

"Get out! Get out! I don't have a beast like you that I can't tame!"

(End of this chapter)