Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 235 It’s time to go to heaven
Next, for Zhao Yifu, it was a peaceful time, and for Da Xu, it was a time for recuperation and prosperity.

In the second year after the unification of the world, Ying Cong changed the reign title to Longxing.

In the third year of Longxing, Prime Minister Yu Qian, who presided over the Northern Expedition policy and suppressed the court until the victory of the Northern Expedition, retired.

The entire court was shocked, but unexpectedly it did not seem to cause any substantial turmoil.

In the seventh year of Longxing, the Liao tribe, which had retreated outside the Great Wall, launched a counterattack, but was unfortunately defeated by Zhu Fei, who was in his prime and at the peak of his military skills and martial arts. Ying Cong then ordered Wei Kang to lead the central army to the north, defeating the Liao tribe in the northern desert and expanding their territory by a thousand miles.

In the ninth year of the Longxing reign, the Liao tribe surrendered and, due to internal divisions, gradually migrated westward. That same year, Liang Zhongzhi, leader of the Chunyang Sect, hosted a master shaman of the Naturalist School at Moshan and accepted his call for "peaceful development." The Inspirational School shamans, however, were completely condemned as evil and condemned by all.

In the 13th year of the Longxing reign, Huigu suddenly disappeared without a word, leaving the Zhao residence alone for an unknown destination. Zhao Yifu had no intention of disturbing her, but after years of living together, she had found a balance between spiritual practice and love, freeing herself from obsession and achieving enlightenment.

In the seventeenth year of Longxing, when Zhou Qingzhao, who was in his forties, was traveling to a fertile land with black mountains and white waters, he suddenly called out to the sky the name that had been suppressed in his heart for more than ten years.

Zhao Yifu appeared in front of her gently, looking at Zhou Qingzhao, who looked a little weathered but still beautiful, and said, "Junior sister, it's been a long time since we last met."

Zhou Qingzhao looked at Zhao Yifu intently, and suddenly smiled bitterly, "I'm old, but Senior Brother is still the same."

She discovered that Zhao Yifu still seemed to be the same young man as before, as if time had stopped for him...

Zhao Yifu replied, "Junior sister, would you like a drink?"

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a stone table and two stone benches appeared on the ground.

Then a black cat wearing a bib flipped out from his sleeve, took out a wine jug from its pocket, and carefully filled it for both of them.

Zhao Yifu said, "Junior sister, please try it. I have been collecting fine wines from all over the world for many years, but this one is my favorite."

Zhou Qingzhao took a sip and then said with a look of surprise, "Is this... the rice wine that Master Hui and I brewed together and then buried in the cellar?"

Zhao Yifu nodded and said, "Yes, Huigu left it to me before she left. I can only drink it occasionally to remind myself of her."

Zhou Qingzhao bit his lip and asked, "Why don't you keep her?"

Zhao Yifu said, "She wants to do her own thing, why should we try to stop her?"

"I know that he is in the same world with me, and perhaps he is looking at the same sky right now... That is enough."

"When fate arises, things come together; when fate ends, things disperse. That's all."

Zhou Qingzhao sighed and said, "You seem to be quite open-minded. I wonder if you have ever thought of us in your heart."

Zhao Yifu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and pointed to his heart and said, "You have always been in my heart and have never left."

"Hui Gu knew this, so she left happily and easily, because she knew she could come back to find me anytime."

Zhou Qingzhao trembled for a moment, and then she said, "I understand a little bit..."

She understood that Zhao Yifu had never been trapped in the petty love between two or three people. His love was a grand and inclusive attitude, and naturally it was free from the control of lust and possessiveness.

He seems sentimental and cold-hearted, but in fact he has never changed himself. It's just that they always want to possess more but can't get it.

Zhou Qingzhao picked up the wine glass and drank it all, and his face suddenly became radiant.

She said, "I understand why Master Hui left you. Now I finally understand."

Zhao Yifu asked, "So... what are you going to do next, Junior Sister?"

Zhou Qingzhao said, "Now I'm alone, with no worries in my heart. I just feel that there's no point in staying in this world... Perhaps I'll just continue to travel the world until one day I die in a corner where no one knows me."

Zhao Yifu laughed when he heard this, looking a little heartless.

He said, "Since the human world is boring, do you want to change to another world?"

Zhou Qingzhao asked in astonishment: "Brother, are you talking about the underworld?"

Zhao Yifu shook his head and said, "Junior sister, you should return to heaven."

Then he asked, "Where is the painting I gave you back then?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingzhao rummaged through his bag and quickly took out a sealed box with broken corners.

When the box was opened, the yellowed scroll paper was revealed.

She said: "I have kept it with me all these years, but I dare not look at it too much for fear of being reminded of the past."

She unfolded the scroll and saw that Zhou Su's appearance was still lifelike and the colors were extremely bright.

Just like the young Zhao Yifu, this scroll has not been eroded by time.

Zhao Yifu continued, "Where are the incense sticks I gave you when you left? Are there any left?"

Zhou Qingzhao said, "Six years ago, when we were on the road, there was a heavy rain and everything got wet."

Zhao Yifu said, "It's okay if it gets damp. I used True Fire to rub it with my True Qi, so it's not afraid of moisture."

Zhou Qingzhao was speechless for a moment. She said, "Seeing they were damp, they were all thrown on the roadside."

Zhao Yifu felt deeply helpless when he heard this.

This is incense for offering to gods!
The incense for worshipping gods that he carefully refined with his cultivation level would be priceless in the world of cultivation.

Zhao Yifu said to himself, "Forget it."

He pulled out another stick of incense from his sleeve and said, "Then use this one of mine. After you light it, just stand in front of this painting and think of Master Zhou."

Zhou Qingzhao unexpectedly took the incense, lit it, and then stood quietly in front of Zhou Su's portrait.

For so many years, she has never opened the scroll to look at it again because whenever she stands in front of the portrait, she feels sad and alone in the vast world, which is extremely pitiful.

She was fine when she lived in Zhao's house, but this feeling has become more and more obvious after traveling abroad in recent years.

Just as his eyes turned red, the divine incense rose straight into the sky, and suddenly Zhou Su in the portrait became extremely lively!
Zhou Qingzhao was in a trance for a moment, and felt that the father in his memory suddenly walked out of the portrait.

"Qing Zhao, why did it take you so long to come and see your father?"

Zhou Qingzhao was shocked and stunned.

"F-Father?"

Then she looked at Zhao Yifu with some disbelief and asked, "Brother, is this your illusion?"

Zhao Yifu laughed and said, "How could that be? This is Master Zhou."

"Didn't I tell you that Master Zhou has passed away?"

"By the way, Master Zhou, didn't you return to Master Wenheng?"

Zhou Su smiled and said, "Wen Heng split my soul to add a reliable clerk to the Demon Subduing Division. Now I am the chief clerk of the Demon Subduing Division in Heaven."

Zhao Yifu wanted to deduct "six" when he heard this. His own master Wenheng was really good at this trick.

Zhou Qingzhao then realized what had happened. She said in surprise, "Father is a god in heaven?"

Zhou Su smiled and said, "My father's merits in the world are complete."

At this moment, the question that had troubled Zhou Qingzhao for half his life was suddenly resolved.

She didn't understand why Zhao Yifu watched Zhou Su die, and this has always been a thorn in her heart.

But now she understood that Zhao Yifu's gaze transcended life and death.

If it were her twenty years ago, she would have been obsessed with the sadness of the moment and would never have thought so much. But twenty years have passed, and now she just feels sincerely happy.

Zhou Su understood, and he asked gently, "Foolish child, are you willing to follow your father to heaven?"

Zhou Qingzhao's heart was moved by this, but she hesitated and said, "How can my daughter ascend to heaven when she has no merit, no virtue, and no cultivation?"

Zhou Su said, "Who said that? You participated in the Northern Expedition, which is a merit. As for cultivation, you can cultivate it after you go to heaven." Zhou Qingzhao felt that something was not right. In the stories she had heard, becoming an immortal was an extremely difficult thing, so why did it seem so simple for her?

All I can say is that someone has already paved the way for her!

But then Zhou Qingzhao looked at Zhao Yifu again... She suddenly felt that she was a little depressed again.

Zhao Yifu said with a smile: "Congratulations, Junior Sister, on your promotion to Heaven. You will be walking ahead of me now."

Zhou Qingzhao was in a daze for a moment, and the feeling of being depressed disappeared.

Zhao Yifu had shifted her perspective from the present to the Three Realms, and her concept of time had gradually shifted from a short life to the cycle of life and death...

Then it seems that there is nothing to understand?
So she left, leaving behind a mortal body, lying in Zhao Yifu's arms.

Zhao Yifu silently picked her up and brought her back to the Zhou family's ancestral land, where he buried her peacefully next to Zhou Su's tomb.

She may not be able to understand that Zhou Su, who has gone to heaven, is no longer just her father.

And she will no longer be completely herself after going to heaven... because in heaven, the memories of her true spirit's many reincarnations in the three realms will be revealed.

Zhao Yifu originally wanted to accompany her quietly throughout her life, and then personally lead her soul to heaven after her death.

She just wanted to leave...

See you later and see if we are destined to meet again.

Life is always like this, full of separations.

In the 20th year of Longxing, Ying Cong chose to abdicate and become the emperor, and Zhao Yifu also sent away another person close to him.

The person who left this time was Wu Zhong, his old servant.

He once thought that Wu Zhong would accept part of his and the eyebrowless monk's cultivation and that he could embark on the path of cultivation from then on, but he did not expect that this path of cultivation would be so extremely difficult.

Wu Zhong died of demonic possession, but it was not because of his own inner demons, but because of the external demons that came from those days.

When Zhao Yi Fu discovered him, his meridians had already been severed, and the Black and White Impermanence were waiting beside him.

Helplessly, Zhao Yifu handed his "ghost mask" to Wu Zhong, asking him to inherit this underworld treasure he raised and become a ghost messenger in the underworld.

There was one less person at home, but fortunately Zhao Yifu had cats to keep him company, so he didn't feel lonely.

Five years later, Ying Cong came to him.

"Little Taoist priest, you really look like a little Taoist priest and have never changed."

The old man, who looked very energetic but had a thin and wrinkled face, said with a smile.

Zhao Yifu asked, "Why, are you tired of living?"

The old man said, "It's almost time. If you continue living, you will be despised by others."

Zhao Yifu let out a long sigh and said, "That's fine. After I send you off, I can then peacefully become an immortal."

It sounds a bit impatient.

Ying Cong was angry. He asked, "Why, are you still waiting for me?"

He didn't believe it.

Zhao Yifu said, "Have you forgotten? Back then, you asked me to take you to Dixiang Street. I've waited so long for this day that I've become completely alone!"

Ying Cong was stunned.

Then he said embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, I thought you had forgotten what happened so many years ago."

Zhao Yifu said, "My name is Junxin, so trust and loyalty come first. I promised to wait for you, so how can I not keep my promise?"

Ying Cong said, "Okay, it's my fault. I feel embarrassed to drag you down with me in this world any longer... But, do you want me, the retired emperor, to commit suicide?"

"That would be too unfair to my little one."

Zhao Yifu laughed and said, "How many days do you want to die?"

Ying Cong hesitated for a moment and said, "Will it be painful?"

Zhao Yifu said, "It's a painless death, a perfect death, just like how I've been taking you on a sleepwalk around the world these past few years."

After hearing this, Ying Cong immediately understood what was going on. He no longer felt any fear and was even eager to try it.

He said, "Then let's do it in three days... Hehe, I'll just announce my death date when I get back, arrange my funeral arrangements, and then pass away peacefully. Wouldn't that seem impressive?"

As soon as Zhao Yifu heard it, he knew that the old man was going to play some tricks again... After all, after ruling the country for so many years, how could it be possible that he didn't know some tricks?

So three days later, Zhao Yifu used the "walking as if in a dream" method to summon Ying Cong's soul as agreed.

But this time he used the method of leaving the body and completely broke away from this mortal body.

So, under the shocked gaze of everyone in the palace, Emperor Xinglong, who had already been designated the temple name "Zhongzu", died with a smile on his face at the time he had predicted in advance, adding another layer of mythology to this legendary emperor's life.

This made people believe that the emperor was not dead, but had ascended to heaven to become a god!
Once this understanding is reached, and coupled with the brewing of ideas among the mortal world in later generations, it will be a natural thing for Ying Cong to truly become a god.

This was Zhao Yifu's second time coming to Dixiang Street, and his feeling this time was very different from the previous time.

Last time he came secretly, this time he came openly.

There is no other reason, because he has now truly earned the title of 'Little Dongyue'.

Even with the 'Taixu Forbidden Book' in hand, he could easily break the barrier of Dixiang Street and walk into it.

Of course he didn't do that, he just took Ying Cong to Dixiang Street.

When the souls from the underworld along the way saw him, many of them knelt on the ground and worshiped him.

These were ghosts who had died not long ago. After they knew that this was Emperor Xinglong of Daxu, they could not help but kneel down and worship here.

"That's not necessary. That's not necessary."

Ying Cong was somewhat at a loss, because Zhao Yifu had said that when a person dies, all ties are severed, and nothing in the mortal world counts in the underworld.

Zhao Yifu said, "Doesn't this prove that you have been very successful in the world of the living?"

Ying Cong was also quite moved after hearing this.

At this time, the Black and White Impermanence led the way and said, "Your Majesty, please stay here for a while. Perhaps it won't be long before Your Majesty ascends to heaven."

Ying Cong smiled and shook his head, saying, "Well, thank you both, the gods. I'm going to have a good chat with my ancestors and ask them if my kingdom is still vast."

"Hahaha……"

He was quite proud of himself.

But he quickly remembered something and turned to look at Zhao Yifu, saying, "Old friend, thank you for your companionship in this life... Now that I'm at Dixiang Street, you should hurry to heaven... Your two wives must have been waiting for you in heaven for a long time, right?"

Zhao Yifu was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that this guy still wanted to tease him.

However, he smiled and shook his head, saying, "For cultivators like me, there's no such thing as a wife."

He paused and continued, "There are only one or two fellow Taoists who share the same interests, I don't know..."

"Forget it, why am I telling you all this? Just enjoy the fun of Imperial Street. I'll chat with you again when I have the chance."

As he spoke, he nodded to the Black and White Impermanence, and finally waved to Ying Cong before leaving the underworld.

Next, it’s time to go to heaven.

(End of this chapter)