People in the Qin Dynasty sought good fortune and avoided misfortune.

Chapter 50, Relics of Liezi, the Eight Swords of Noble Emptiness
Situ Wanli led Xu Qing down from the pavilion and together they came to the outside of Jiazi Tower.

"Master." The person in charge of Jiazi Tower bowed to Situ Wanli.

"Where is the bamboo slip that was just delivered yesterday?" Situ Wanli asked, stroking his beard.

"This"

The person in charge glanced at Xu Qing hesitantly. According to the rules set by the farmers for Qianlong Hall, the bamboo slips, silk scrolls and other classics collected by Qianlong Hall must be inspected first. Only the valuable bamboo slips can be kept, and the others can be used for trading.

“The Imperial Physician is no outsider. Open the Jiazi Tower,” Situ Wanli said.

The person in charge glanced at Xu Qing, then at Situ Wanli, and said...
"The batch of bamboo slips delivered yesterday is all placed in Room 2 on the third floor. They have not yet been identified, and it is still unclear what exactly is in them."

Situ Wanli nodded and led Xu Qing into the Jiazi Building.

Upon entering Jiazi Building, Xu Qing's eyes lit up. Looking around, he saw shelves filled with all sorts of bamboo slips, making it look like a miniature library.

Seeing Xu Qing's surprised expression, Situ Wanli revealed a proud smile.

"Please do not blame the Imperial Physician. The steward of Jiazi Tower was merely fulfilling his duties. Ultimately, it is a problem with our peasant family."

Situ Wanli led Xu Qing upstairs, explaining to her as they walked why the steward had hesitated so much.

"You must have heard about my family's situation. Although we claim to have 100,000 disciples, more than 90,000 of them are illiterate bumpkins."

"The reason for this situation is that my family's foundation in this area is too weak. My family started from the fields and focused on farming, but our ancestors did not leave behind any classics."

"The only classic book is still 'Shennong' written by Xu Xing, the chivalrous leader of the time. It's a pity that this only classic book was lost due to some accident, which means that my family has no classic book of its own."

"To make up for this, my family began to collect various classic collections to enrich our cultural heritage. Therefore, we must first examine the classics we acquire before deciding whether to keep them or trade them."

"Originally, my farming family hoped that a prodigy could be cultivated among our descendants, and that by studying the classics of various schools of thought, the farming family's classics could be recreated, but..."

Situ Wanli explained the reason to Xu Qing, but he wasn't worried that the other party would tell anyone. After all, everyone knew about the situation of the farmers, so there was nothing to hide.

Moreover, he wanted Xu Qing to know that he was willing to break the rules of the farming family to help Xu Qing, just to prove his sincerity in making friends, and at the same time, to do Xu Qing a favor.

Xu Qing nodded repeatedly as he listened, naturally understanding why Situ Wanli was explaining these things to him.

Although Situ Wanli didn't finish speaking, he could guess the outcome.

If even the classics collected by the peasant family can be bought and sold, then don't expect anyone from the peasant family to be remaking their own classics. Looking across the entire world, the peasant family is probably the only one that buys and sells classics.

Classics are the lifeblood of a school of thought, and everyone regards them as invaluable treasures.

Xu Qing was initially curious why Qianlong Hall would even sell classic works, but now it seems that farmers simply don't need them and therefore don't care.

Rather than letting them mold and rot, it's better to trade them and you might even gain some goodwill in the process.

As they spoke, the two arrived at room number two on the third floor, and Situ Wanli took out a key to open it.

A strong smell of bamboo slips wafted through the air, and several boxes were piled up in the room.

Xu Qing followed Situ Wanli into the room and watched as Situ Wanli examined the boxes one by one.

"Imperial Physician, these are the bamboo slips we recently collected. The second box contains bamboo slips sent from Luoyang, which are said to contain several medical books and bamboo slips left by the Daoist Liezi."

Situ Wanli opened the box, revealing the old bamboo slips and cloth inside.

Looking at the bamboo slips and cloth, Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat, but quickly returned to normal.

"These bamboo slips look very old. How did Qianlong Hall find them?" Xu Qing asked curiously, which was also the question he most wanted to know.

Leaving aside medical books, Liezi was a sage of the Taoist Tianzong sect. Logically speaking, the bamboo slips he left behind should belong to the Taoist Tianzong sect. How could they appear in Qianlong Hall?
Xu Qing couldn't believe that the Taoist Heavenly Sect would be reduced to selling off its ancestral property.

Seeing Xu Qing's curious expression, Situ Wanli assumed that the other party was worried about the authenticity of the bamboo slips, so he explained...
"Imperial Physician, you hold a high position in the imperial court, so you are unaware of the affairs of the martial world. Recently, a major event has occurred in the martial world, causing much discussion among the various sects."

"Oh?"

Xu Qing looked at Situ Wanli curiously, waiting for him to continue.

"Half a month ago, the elders of the Yin-Yang family appeared in Luoyang, searching for a treasure left behind by a certain Taoist sage. Seven days ago, the Mo family's leader led Mo family experts to attack the Yin-Yang family. The two sides fought a great battle, and the Yin-Yang family suffered heavy casualties, while the Mo family's leader was seriously injured."

"Really? But what does this have to do with these bamboo slips? Could these bamboo slips be the treasure of that Taoist sage?" Xu Qing asked.

"These bamboo slips are indeed part of those treasures, but rest assured, the origins of the items from my Qianlong Hall are absolutely legitimate. During the great battle between the Yin-Yang School and the Mohist School, many people were watching from the sidelines, and quite a few took advantage of the chaos to steal some bamboo slips."

"Most of these wandering knights had little interest in bamboo slips and were worried about the Mohists or the Yin-Yang School coming after them, so they sold them to my disciples in Luoyang from the Qianlong Hall."

Hearing Situ Wanli's explanation, Xu Qing was relieved, as long as the source of the goods was legitimate.

"The Treasure Exchange Conference is about to begin, so I won't accompany the Imperial Physician any longer. You can take a look at these bamboo slips first," Situ Wanli said, stroking his beard.

"Master Situ, please don't mind me. You go ahead and attend to your business," Xu Qing said, cupping his hands in greeting. Situ Wanli returned the greeting and left, but after taking a few steps, he turned back to look at Xu Qing, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes.

As a gambler, the most important thing at the gambling table is to remain calm and prevent others from seeing your true thoughts. But this time, he was too hasty, lost his composure, and revealed his true intentions, allowing Xu Qing to turn the tables and take the initiative.

"Consider this bleeding a lesson," Situ Wanli thought to himself.

After seeing Situ Wanli leave, Xu Qing's eyes lit up as she looked at the bamboo slips in the box.

"A second-grade opportunity, here I come."

Xu Qing carefully picked up one of the bamboo scrolls. These were old bamboo scrolls, very fragile, and could easily fall to the ground if handled with the slightest force.

Liezi, a Daoist sage, had a philosophy close to that of Laozi, advocating the pursuit of a state of emptiness and naturalness. He left behind eight chapters of the book "Liezi," which was later renamed "Chongxu Jing" during the Tang Dynasty.

The eight chapters of "Liezi" contain a variety of famous sayings and fables, all of which reflect the Daoist yearning for spiritual freedom. Its broad vision, insightful arguments, and beautiful writing style allow readers to appreciate the elegant, concise, and insightful prose of the Daoist school of thought.

Xu Qing was certain that the bamboo slips in the box were related to Liezi, because these bamboo slips recorded the eight chapters of Liezi.

Xu Qing stared intently at the bamboo slip in his hand, and half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

After reading the bamboo slips in his hand, Xu Qing picked up a new bamboo slip to read, but he was dumbfounded as soon as he opened it.

He didn't recognize the characters on the bamboo slips. The other bamboo slips were written with inscriptions, but this scroll of bamboo slips was neither an inscription nor the script of any of the existing countries, and it couldn't even be called a script.

"What exactly is this? Is it a pictograph?"

Xu Qing stared at the abstract characters on the bamboo slips. They were more like drawings than characters, yet they also resembled characters, which gave Xu Qing a headache.

"Could it be that it has a hidden layer, just like the Evergreen Kung Fu?"

Xu Qing held the bamboo slip horizontally and began to examine whether there were any gaps in the bamboo strips, but after a careful look, he did not find any gaps, but he did find a few insect holes.

Even after examining the bamboo slips from various angles, Xu Qing still couldn't discern anything.

"What exactly is this?"

Xu Qing lay helplessly on the floor, his eyes vacant as he stared at the bamboo slips he had tossed on the table.

The candlelight shone on the bamboo slips, meeting Xu Qing's blank gaze. The strange characters on the bamboo slips suddenly seemed to come alive and began to change.

Xu Qing sat up abruptly, rubbed his eyes hard, and looked at the bamboo slip again. The characters on the bamboo slip were still unfamiliar to him.

"No, that was definitely not my hallucination. There's something wrong with these bamboo slips. We absolutely cannot look at them in the normal way."

Xu Qing looked solemn as he recalled his actions. He then lay down again, cleared his mind, and looked at the bamboo slips.

In Xu Qing's vision, the bamboo slips appeared as double images. Following the candlelight, the characters on the bamboo slips began to move again, gradually merging to form inscriptions.

After a hundred or so inscriptions, these characters formed little figures.

Looking at the characters overlapping to form words and figures, Xu Qing was shocked and sat up again.

"Using visual double images to encrypt text, is that a method a human could come up with? Is this some kind of legitimate immortal cultivation? This must be a case of spiritual cultivation gone mad, causing hallucinations."

Xu Qing complained as she lay down again, maintaining the same posture.

The characters overlapped again, and four large characters appeared in Xu Qing's sight.

"The Eight Swords of Noble Void? A sword technique!?"

Just as Xu Qing was shocked by the contents of the bamboo slip, a hurried shout suddenly came from outside.

"They fled south, hurry and chase them!"

"They must be captured, or the Hidden Dragon Hall will lose all face!"

"kill!"

Hearing the shouts outside and the footsteps in the corridor, Xu Qing immediately put away the bamboo slips and hid them in his bosom, reaching for his waist with one hand.

He hadn't forgotten what the fortune teller had said: this Yi Bao conference was destined to have problems.

The door was pushed open, and the manager of Jiazi Building looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked at the steward warily, his right hand already gripping the silver needle, ready to strike at any moment.

"Imperial Physician, has no one infiltrated Jiazi Tower?"

(End of this chapter)