Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 394 The sky-high asking price
Qingwan came to the shore and looked at the little lights in the water, her eyes filled with stars.

Her eyes widened as she observed, and she couldn't help but say, "There really are a lot of little bugs, but there weren't any of these in the water I collected before..."

Lu Zheng beside him smiled and said, "Some insects are nocturnal creatures. They only become active at night and come out to look for food."

"That seems to be the case." Qing Wan thought for a moment and said, "Fireflies also come out at night!"

Mu Bing took the two of them to see the night view along the coast, and then returned to the city.

Qingwan was holding a transparent crystal bottle filled with freshly drawn water, and the bottle emitted a faint blue light.

When she returned to her residence, Qing Wan took the bottle and studied it carefully.

After the observation, Qing Wan put the bottle back into Lu Zheng's little world to see if she could keep those glowing little bugs alive.

Lu Zhengze sat on the bed, moving his fingers slightly as he practiced some small spells.

Lu Zheng has been learning a lot lately, and he needs time to practice and digest it all.

Fortunately, he is not one of those Confucian scholars who can only improve his literary talent by reading books. Learning more other skills will not affect his progress in Confucian and Taoist practice.

Moreover, different paths lead to the same destination. The more he learns, the more proficient he will be in applying the righteous spirit of Confucianism and Taoism.

In addition, what Mu Bing said before also made Lu Zheng have some speculations.

There are so many Confucian and Taoist scholars in the world who only bury themselves in reading the books of sages to improve their literary spirit. I am afraid that this is also influenced by the environment.

Under the imperial examination system, reading became the best shortcut to improving one's literary talent, and less emphasis was placed on personal cultivation.

It’s no wonder that there are so few Confucian and Taoist scholars who cultivate a righteous spirit.

Nowadays, the gods who practice Shintoism have changed, and the scholars who practice Confucianism are not as pure as the Confucian scholars in ancient times.

All I can say is that the world has changed and people’s hearts are no longer the same.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but shook his head. Meng Sheng once thought that everyone could be Yao or Shun, but everyone is different. It's not as beautiful as he imagined.

Lu Zheng felt that we cannot expect everyone to be like saints. People can make mistakes and be selfish, but they cannot make big mistakes and cannot harm others because of their own mistakes.

"Are all saints in the world without fault? No."

A thought flashed through Lu Zheng's mind and he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Suddenly, Lu Zheng's little world changed, the Haoran Wen Palace vibrated slightly, colorful light bloomed, and a trace of great power spread out and merged into Lu Zheng's mind.

[You dare to criticize the saints, literary spirit +500!]

Huh? Lu Zheng was slightly surprised, not understanding why his literary aura had suddenly increased. He felt as if he had touched upon something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Lu Zheng fell into deep thought and said quietly, "Does it mean that in order to become a saint, one must surpass the saints of the past and eliminate their faults and shortcomings?"

But no matter what, the literary aura of De Wengong proves that there is nothing wrong with his idea.

Lu Zheng sat cross-legged there, lost in a state of enlightenment.

Next to her, Qing Wan saw that Lu Zheng was emitting an extraordinary aura, similar to the power of a small world.

She couldn't help but move closer and practice by absorbing the emanating aura.

The night flew by.

Lu Zheng slowly opened his eyes, his eyes bright and lively.

Overnight, Lu Zheng realized some truths. It is better to have no books than to believe in them blindly. One must have his own insights in self-cultivation, rather than just learning from the sages of the past.

Only in this way can one escape from the path of spiritual practice and forge one's own path.

Qing Wan opened her eyes and looked at Lu Zheng, blinked and said, "Hey, I feel like you seem a little different."

"I realized something." Lu Zheng said with a smile.

"What did you realize?" Qing Wan couldn't help but ask curiously.

Lu Zheng then expressed his feelings.

Qing Wan understood after hearing this, but she couldn't use herself, so she couldn't change like Lu Zheng.

Qing Wan muttered softly, "Sure enough, enlightenment is not something that everyone can have. Even if you explain it clearly, you can't learn it."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "That means you haven't fully understood and digested it yet."

Lu Zheng stood up and said, "Let's go out for a walk and relax."

The two went to say goodbye to Mu Bing, then bought a small boat and prepared to take a boat trip to Xinghai Bay.

Qing Wan stood at the bow of the boat, looking towards the other side of Xinghai Bay. "Should we go there to customize a spirit boat?"

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "You can go and take a look."

Lu Zheng actually planned to go and make a deal with Shen Yu, as the spiritual boat that the other party took out must be a top-quality one.

As for going to the city of the Mirage Clan to customize a spirit boat, it would probably be of low quality and high price, which is not cost-effective.

Upon hearing this, Qing Wan excitedly steered the boat to the other side.

In the waters of Xinghai Bay, large and small boats come and go, and you can also see some monsters fishing in the water.

However, the fishing waters are divided into areas, with each ethnic group having its own boundaries and cannot cross the boundaries.

Lu Zheng observed along the way and found that the living conditions of these ordinary monsters were actually no different from those of ordinary fishermen. They all had to work hard for a living and lived a very hard life.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the dock belonging to the Mirage Clan by boat. The Mirage Clan of Xinghai Bay are the water clams and shell monsters that have turned into spirits, or those with the same half-demon bloodline, and are collectively referred to as the Mirage Clan.

Such a title makes one seem more noble, but there are not many mirage monsters that truly have the blood of the mirage.

Because of the special environment here, most of the low-level mirages can transform into human form. Some of them still carry shells, while others have shed their shells.

But no matter which type of mirage clan it is, their facial features are obviously different from those of the mermaid clan. They have some unique image characteristics of the mirage clan and are easy to distinguish.

Qing Wan docked the boat on the shore. Because their boat came from the mermaid tribe and had obvious markings, plus the mermaid tribe's pass sign, the Mirage Clan guarding the dock thought Lu Zheng and the others were mermaids.

He is a pure-blooded mermaid with considerable skills.

Therefore, the Mirage Clan guards did not make things difficult for the two men, and did not even conduct any inspections before allowing them to go ashore and pass through.

Lu Zheng also spent money to buy two temporary entry cards so that he could go to the city of the Mirage Clan.

There is no difference between the cities of the Mirage Tribe and the Mermaid Tribe. Both are mostly built with stones and have strong and thick walls.

There are also guards patrolling and checking at the city gates.

But Lu Zheng and the other man looked unusual in appearance and dress, so no one looked closely at them even when they showed their badges, and they were allowed to pass directly.

Qing Wan couldn't help but feel that these guards were not competent, as they were all so careless.

If the guard knew Qingwan's thoughts, he would definitely refute it. Why should he be so diligent for a few taels of silver a month? He could just take a quick look and make a quick identification.

What if I offend someone important during a careful inspection? If it's a bad person, that's even more dangerous. Why would I risk my life for such a small salary?

Lu Zheng and Qing Wan strolled around the small city and soon found a relatively large building, which was the largest commercial building in the city and sold a lot of things.

Before he even walked in, Lu Zheng suddenly felt something.

He couldn't help showing a strange look on his face, because he realized that there seemed to be a cultural treasure here, a treasure of writing that belonged to him.

At a counter in the hall, a hunchbacked old man said leisurely, "Ask your supervisor to come over. I have a piece of calligraphy for sale. It's worth a lot of money!"

The old man had carefully examined the treasure and found that it was actually a righteous treasure.

He originally wanted to sell it to someone of the same tribe, but he couldn't find a suitable buyer.

He also remembered that the Mirage Clan had purchased many paintings and calligraphy by literati, and he had come here many times to do business before, so he wanted to come here to sell his things.

Soon, a steward came over and said with a smile: "The supervisor is not here today. If this guest has any treasures, please let me take a look..."

The old man glanced at the steward and said calmly: "Okay, but you can only take a look. This is a good thing, you can't touch it!"

After saying that, the old man raised his hand and took out a jade box. He carefully cast a spell to open the jade box, unfolded a part of the treasure, released a trace of breath from it, and then quickly closed the jade box.

The manager blinked, unable to figure out the specific value of this treasure. He felt it was pretty good, but he didn't know how good it was.

The steward couldn't help but ask, "Can I take another look?"

The old man said impatiently: "What do you mean by censorship? This is a literary treasure, how can you look at it for a long time? There is righteousness in it! Don't you know the value of it? Find someone who knows the value and talk to me!"

The manager thought that scholars were righteous and had great literary talents, so they should not have too much contact with ordinary monsters, as it would easily hurt them.

But if you only let people take a look at it, who will know whether the cultural treasure is real or fake?
What if it's fake? Wouldn't that be a waste of money?
At this moment, Lu Zheng walked to the counter, looked at the old man and asked, "This is a good treasure. Where did you get it from?"

Upon hearing this, the old man couldn't help but look at Lu Zheng, "Hey, you're a connoisseur! If you want it, I'll sell it to you for 5,000 spirit stones!"

Lu Zheng thought to himself, could a piece of writing he casually wrote be worth this price?

He was too embarrassed to ask for this price when selling it to others.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Is this the only one you have, Senior?"

The old man said calmly, "Good things are not that good. Just one is good enough!"

Lu Zheng asked again, "Really? Senior, do you know who created the Wenbao? I want to buy more."

The old man's eyes flickered when he heard this and asked, "You want more? Do you have money?"

Lu Zheng couldn't help but say: "It's not a problem to buy two or three Wenbao."

The old man's mind raced, and he couldn't help but feel greedy.

He said, "I only have this one Wenbao now. If you're serious about buying it and paying a deposit, I'll use my connections to get you a few more."

Use connections? Lu Zheng wondered when he had connections to get someone to help him sell cultural treasures.

This old man never told the truth, and no one knew where the other party got the treasure he threw into the whirlpool.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask, "Do you have any acquaintances who know the person who wrote the composition treasure?"

"Don't worry about that!" the old man said unhappily. "Young man, do you understand the rules? Is this the right thing to ask or talk about?"

"Do you want it or not?" the old man asked.

Lu Zheng shook his head and said, "If you tell me the source, I will buy it."

The old man narrowed his eyes slightly, wanting to find out about Lu Zheng's situation.

However, Lu Zheng and the other man were wearing treasures that directly blocked the old man's detection.

Seeing this, the old man could not help but restrain his consciousness and gestured: "Three thousand spirit stones, you can use the spirit stones to buy the information!"

He couldn't find out the details of the two people, but it was obvious that they had a complicated background and were wealthy, so he could blackmail them.

(End of this chapter)