Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 488 My Ancestor, God Chujiang

A golden age cannot be waited for; Wang Tong decided to do what he could, like Lu Zheng, to help bring about a golden age as soon as possible.

Upon hearing Wang Tong's words, Lu Zheng smiled and said, "It's good that Brother Wang understands this principle. We'll take our leave now!"

Seeing this, Wang Tong said, "Alright, next time we meet, I'll show you another Wang Tong."

Lu Zheng bowed and took his leave, then took Qing Wan and Qing Yi and flew away in a flying boat.

Wang Tong watched as the group disappeared into the sky, and it took him a while to come back to his senses.

He suddenly turned his head, looked at the murky lake, and then saw the iron boat. A smirk appeared on his lips. "That Luo Qianji left so quickly, without even taking this big iron lump with him..."

"My lake has been ruined like this! Oh well, people get weedy from staying up in the mountains for too long. I guess this place will just stay empty from now on."

Wang Tong stood by the lake, reluctant to leave, gazing at his reflection in the water.

"Haha, when the waters of the mountains and lakes are clear, I can wash my hat tassels; when the waters of the mountains and lakes are muddy, I can wash my feet..."

"Phoenix, oh phoenix, how your virtue has declined! The next life cannot be awaited, the past cannot be retrieved. When the world is governed by the Way, sages are made. When the world is not governed by the Way, sages are born..."

A loud song began, its melody echoing through the mountains for a long time.

……

Jiangzhou was a prefecture-level city in the State of Chu.

A major river runs through Jiangzhou.

The source of this river can be traced back to the Kunlun Mountains in the far west, flowing through several major states before entering the sea at the border of the Wu Kingdom.

In the state of Wu, this river was called the Wu River, while in the state of Chu, it was called the Chu River.

There are gods in the Chu River, but not just one.

Among them, each state has a river god who governs the vast waters of the Yangtze River, and can be considered a high-ranking deity in the Chu Kingdom.

Because the Chu River has held an extraordinary position since ancient times, the status and reputation of these river gods are higher than those of the gods in charge of each state. They are directly under the command of the Water God Department of Yingdu, the capital of Chu, and are not subject to local jurisdiction.

On the wide river, the water flows slowly.

There were boats of all sizes coming and going on the river, so many that it was hard to keep up.

A small boat is traveling against the current at a moderate speed.

Lu Zheng stood at the bow of the boat, leisurely and contentedly rowing it.

At the stern, Qingwan and Qingyi, each holding a fishing rod, were fishing.

Qingyi gripped the slender fishing rod, her big eyes sparkling with confusion.

She couldn't understand why they would use this rod to fish. They could easily catch fish bigger than boats with just a few simple movements.

Watching the fish swimming in the water but not taking the bait, Qingyi had the idea of ​​grabbing the fish and hooking them onto the hook so that she wouldn't have to wait so long to catch them.

Seeing that Qingyi wasn't interested, Qingwan couldn't help but say, "We're not fishing, we're fishing for our own state of mind..."

“These fish aren’t really fish. You can think of them as people. This great river is the world. We should be the anglers, not the fish, and not the bait…”

Qing Wan spoke slowly and deliberately, with the air of a wise and sage.

Although Xiao Qingyi didn't quite understand, she felt that what he said sounded very impressive.

Qingyi thought hard for a while, then said softly, "Small boat, big fish, eat..."

Upon hearing this, Qingwan said, "The boat is small now, but it will grow bigger later! Besides, how could fish eat the boat? Even if there were such fish, we can just stop them from eating it..."

Qingyi remained silent, her gray eyes fixed on the large ships on the river—very large and very beautiful ships.

Compared to them, their boat was as small as a doll.

Seeing this, Qingwan said, "Those big boats are useless; they can't even row as fast as we can."

"thump……"

A clear sound of water entering the vessel rang out.

Lu Zheng glanced slightly to the side, having just seen someone enter the water out of the corner of his eye.

At the point where the ship enters the water, there is also a luxurious high-rise ship sailing by.

A group of elegantly dressed young men and women could be vaguely seen above, laughing and frolicking.

In the river, a man dressed in Confucian robes was swimming, bobbing up and down; he was the one who had just fallen into the water.

Qingwan blinked and said, "Confucian scholar? I think he jumped down by himself just now."

The man swimming in the water did not attempt to board the large ship, but instead swam towards the shore.

However, the person was in the middle of the water, still some distance from the shore.

With a light tap of his foot, Lu Zheng moved the small boat lightly to the man in the water.

"Come up!"

Lu Zheng looked at the man in the water and said.

The man looked embarrassed, but seeing someone come to help, he couldn't refuse and quickly said, "Thank you, brother, thank you..."

The man reached out and grabbed the edge of the boat, using the momentum to leap onto the boat, with water droplets fluttering down.

"I'm so sorry..."

The man straightened his clothes, exuding an air of refinement in his every move. After washing off the river water that had soaked his body, he quickly bowed and apologized.

Lu Zheng blinked and could tell that this person was a Confucian scholar, a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations), and not far from becoming a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations).

"My name is Chu Yu. Thank you for your help, brother. Otherwise, it would have been too embarrassing for me to swim ashore like this, and I would have been a laughing stock." Chu Yu bowed and thanked him again, appearing very polite.

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng replied, "My surname is Lu. I remember Chu is a common surname, isn't it?"

Chu Yu smiled awkwardly, "Although my surname is Chu, I am a commoner and not from any great clan."

Lu Zheng said, "A commoner? I think you are more of a Confucian scholar than a commoner, are you?"

Chu Yu couldn't help but sigh and said, "He's just a scholar. This is Chu, not Qi or Wu... A scholar's degree isn't considered a title; it's just enough to make a living."

In the State of Chu, officials and clerks were mostly appointed through a recommendation system. No matter if you were a scholar or even a successful candidate in the provincial examinations, without connections, you couldn't even become a clerk.

Qingwan, standing nearby, sized up the Chu scholar and asked curiously, "Why did you jump off that ship? Did they force you to jump?"

Chu Yu blushed immediately and stammered, "This is a long story, and it wasn't really coercion; I was just less skilled than them. Sigh..."

He finally managed to get on that ship through connections, hoping to showcase his talents to those important people and gain their favor.

However, the scions of those aristocratic families looked down on a scholar like him and instead made him compete with others, and if he lost, he had to disembark.

He was just a scholar; he had never learned any martial arts. Even if he studied the classics of sages and had the advantage of being cultured, he still didn't have much fighting ability.

However, forced by circumstances, Chu Yu had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight, and naturally, she lost miserably and had to jump off the boat into the river in humiliation.

Chu Yu touched the corner of her eyebrow, feeling a faint pain, and there were still bruises that hadn't been completely removed by the literary energy.

Seeing that Chu Yu seemed to have something difficult to say, Lu Zheng didn't press her for details, lest she lose face.

"Hey, a big ship is coming."

Qingwan glanced to the side and noticed that the luxurious ship was heading straight in their direction.

At the bow of the ship, a group of young men and women stood.

One of the handsome men spoke up leisurely: "We let you cruise the river, how can you board the boat! Smash this wrecked boat and let them all cruise the river!"

Seeing that Lu Zheng and his companions were dressed simply and were in an ordinary wooden boat, the man assumed they were from an ordinary family and were just boating on the river. So he simply ordered his men to smash the unsightly little boat.

On the large ship, the other men and women watched with great interest.

They usually enjoy playing pranks on people; killing a few ordinary people is nothing to them, but rather something they find amusing.

Chu Yu's expression changed drastically upon hearing this; she hadn't expected these people to persist.

He quickly declared loudly, "I'll jump into the river if I want, why should I implicate others!"

Seeing the large ship hurtling towards them, Chu Yu quickly made a move to get into the water.

Lu Zheng raised his hand and gently pressed down on Chu Yu's shoulder, preventing her from jumping into the river again.

Chu Yu was stopped by Lu Zheng and couldn't move.

His expression shifted rapidly, and he said urgently, "Brother, don't worry about me. These important people are not to be trifled with. I shouldn't have dragged you into this..."

As the large ship drew closer and closer, and even a strong wind began to blow, Chu Yu's heart pounded with fear, and she couldn't help but close her eyes.

Lu Zheng remained calm, took a step, and soared into the air, heading straight for the large ship.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Zheng arrived in front of the large ship, placed one hand on the bow, and a force quickly spread out, directly blocking the ship's advance.

The entire ship was stopped by a tremendous force, and due to inertia, the hull emitted a series of ear-piercing sounds.

The men and women standing on the deck saw Lu Zheng single-handedly blocking the large ship, and their expressions immediately changed, their smiles fading.

Lu Zheng's gaze was indifferent as he said quietly, "Is it fun? Is it funny? In that case, why don't you all come and have a go!"

After saying that, a vast and powerful aura swept over the men and women on the boat like a surging river.

The group of scions of noble families instantly felt unsteady on their feet, and the large ship tilted towards the river.

Everyone was shocked, because they realized that they could not stop this force and had no way to use their strength.

One of them changed his expression drastically and said, "My ancestor is Chu Jiangshen. This senior was very rude just now. Please forgive him..."

Seeing Lu Zheng's strength, everyone assumed he was some kind of master or senior.

Upon hearing the man's words, Lu Zheng said calmly, "The descendant of Chu Jiang? Then she should definitely take a good bath."

Lu Zheng doesn't care which god's descendant you are; even if the God of Chujiang himself came, it wouldn't make a difference.

These spoiled brats treat human life like dirt. Not to mention trying to hit him and Chu Yu, they dared to act so recklessly even though they clearly saw children on the boat.

Although Qingyi isn't really a child...

With a thought, Lu Zheng unleashed his righteous energy, striking precisely at the people on the ship.

These young men and women, along with their servants, fell into the water one after another, like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

After falling into the water, under the suppression of an invisible force, no one could escape the river and struggled there in a sorry state.

When someone's body glows with golden light, it means that a protective spirit has been activated.

Bathed in golden light, the person enveloped was about to flee into the distance.

Lu Zheng's eyes were indifferent. With a wave of his hand, the person who had just taken flight was struck as if by lightning and fell back into the water.

Rays of light flashed and rose in the river, all of which were slapped down by Lu Zheng.

Not far away, Chu Yu saw these young masters from powerful clans fall into the water, her eyes wide with disbelief at the scene before her.

"Wow, this is fun..."

Seeing that these people had no way to escape, Qingwan felt quite relieved.

(End of this chapter)