From the nine counties of Shanyang in Zhongtu, hundreds of thousands of miles out to sea, a continent can be seen in the distance to the east.
That is Dongji Lingzhou. Since ancient times, it has been a place where humans and demons have mixed together.
Qi, Jin, Chu, Wu, Yue.
The five major dynasties in the medieval era. At the end of the ancient Chu Dynasty, there once was a Confucian great sage named Wu Xushan. Because of family feud, he fled the hinterland of the Chu Dynasty and chose Wu among the vassal states. The prince of the country helped to establish a great cause.
But later, this person was suspected by the successor emperor of the ancient Wu Dynasty, and they wanted to try to eradicate him.
But at the beginning, Wu Xushan was involved in the construction of the capital of the ancient Wu Dynasty. His knowledge of earth and water, and the formation of mountains and rivers was unparalleled in the world. How could he not predict his own misfortune?
He dug out his eyes in advance and hung them on the city gate, activating the "Xiandi Black Eyed Divine Reed Formation" to stop the masters sent by Emperor Wu. Then he faked his death and sneaked into the river, drifting along the river's veins. Hundreds of thousands of miles.
When he landed on Dongji Lingzhou, he found a barren mountain to settle down. For the rest of his life, he gave lectures and accepted disciples as he pleased. In the Confucian tradition, there was "Dongzhou Yuandaoling" One lineage.
Later, Chinese Confucian scholars and even bachelors from other schools often came to exchange knowledge, and their reputation continued to grow, and many monsters worshiped him as his disciples.
It was not until seven hundred years ago that this lineage was destroyed by the Qin Dynasty’s Eastern Expedition.
Seven hundred years have passed, and the Qin and Chu dynasties have overlapped, and there have been many wars. In addition, there are monsters from small local tribes, and there is not much habit of recording history books.
Yuandaoling has turned into an ordinary barren mountain.
In the past two to three hundred years, there has only been one bull demon village living here.
On the threshing floor in the south of the village, the village chief took all the half-grown children in the village to read aloud and test their knowledge together while the sun was bright and neither cold nor hot.
I saw only three to four hundred children, the younger ones were six or seven years old, and the older ones were fourteen or fifteen years old. The boys all had short horns on their heads, and the girls had wild flowers on their bodies, sitting cross-legged. On the floor, shaking his head while reading.
"When soil accumulates, a mountain will be formed, and wind and rain will flourish; when water accumulates, a chasm will form, and dragons will emerge; if good deeds accumulate, virtue will become, and the gods will be satisfied with themselves, and the holy heart will be ready." Break; Perseverance, metal and stone can be carved. Earthworms have no sharp claws and teeth, and strong bones and muscles. They eat earth and drink from the underworld. They have only one intention. A crab has six knees and two claws. It is not a snake and eel's cave. Those who have an impetuous mind..."
"Those who follow the straight road will not come, and those who serve two kings will not tolerate each other. The eyes cannot see clearly, and the ears cannot hear clearly..."
The village chief has a big beard and a patch of hair on the top of his head is bald, but his two horns are shiny and well groomed. He is wearing a green cloth suit and sitting cross-legged on the haystack.
“Niu Qiqilang, get up.”
The village chief nodded to a little boy in his early ten years, "Come here and show off your knowledge this year."
Next to the threshing floor, there are targets made of wood, which look like tigers, lions, or wild boars. Things like this are all solid.
Niu Qiqilang walked over with a pointed awl in his hand, but the awl was originally made of wood, and the wood was loose. At first glance, the material used was not as good as those targets.
He was a little nervous. He looked at the village chief, and after receiving an encouraging look, he took a deep breath, looked at the target intently, walked around a wild boar target twice, and then suddenly took action.
Tuk! ! !
Ushichichiro suddenly jumped back and distanced himself.
Everyone saw that the awl was already two inches long and had penetrated into the target.
The children exclaimed.
"Okay, okay, as the saying goes, if you persevere, the rotten wood will not break; if you persevere, the gold and stone can be carved."
The village chief said happily, "This is the principle in the boxing book. ”
"What it means is that if you use your strength cleanly and neatly, you can stop it as soon as you send it out, and give it up when it is necessary, even a piece of wood can penetrate the target without breaking."
"But if you only know Use brute strength to exert all your strength, and don't know how to slow down your hands, just You know that if you push hard, even weapons made of gold and stone will be broken."
Niu Qiqilang just followed the wood grain of the wild boar target and felt it. If there is too much resistance in your hands, immediately let go and jump back.
In this way, the awl did not break.
If he had just closed his hand slower and used too much force, the awl would definitely break.
The village chief added: "But you just let go and jumped away, forgetting to pull out the awl, so the fire is still a little short."
Niu Qiqilang was focused on the first half of the praise, smiling. He went over and pulled out the awl.
The village chief shook his head and shouted: "Niu Jiu Mei, Niu Shiyi Lang, you two come out and practice sparring."
There was an immediate commotion among the children.
Nineteenth sister is the most beautiful girl of her generation in the village. Although her face always looks cold, she attracts both boys and girls to like her.
Eleventh Lang is naughty and funny, but he is good-looking and is liked by many girls. I heard that there used to be older girls in the city who wanted to take Eleventh Lang back to him as a child adoptive husband.
The two of them came out to spar, and everyone's eyes were wide open, looking forward to it.
Nineteenth sister cupped her fists and saluted, then opened her stance. She struck steadily with every punch and kick. Although she was fast, she didn't have too many tricks.
The eleventh man used a set of palm techniques, which were light and elegant. He didn’t look like a cow, but more like a butterfly, floating around the nineteenth sister, looking for opportunities to strike. , unexpectedly, just hit him with one move.
But Nineteenth Sister’s martial arts is too stable, and she leaves room for every move. No matter where the opponent attacks her, she can react in time, look back and parry the counterattack.
Although Shishilang was not hit, he retreated more and more, avoiding more and attacking less, and gradually reached the corner of the threshing floor.
The children were talking a lot. Many people supported the 19th sister to win, and a few little girls shouted out to encourage the 11th son.
The sound was so loud that Nineteenth Sister frowned and glanced towards the crowd.
She has a cold temper and doesn't like making noise, so this action is natural.
But his eyes turned to the side and he did not fully focus on Eleven Lang. Eleven Lang saw the flaw, changed his nimble posture, stomped down hard, and pounced at the fastest speed.
Unexpectedly, Nineteenth Sister took advantage of the situation, and her hand seemed to have been waiting for a long time. She grabbed Eleventh Lang's sleeve and swung it half a circle. With the power of his own forward motion, he flew away and rolled on the ground. I walked around for several times, feeling very embarrassed.
When he got up, Nineteenth Sister's fist had already stopped on the bridge of his nose.
Eleventh Lang said angrily: "You lied!"
Nineteenth sister calmly closed her fist: "You are stupid."
The village chief encouraged Nineteenth sister. Applause, and then stare at Shishiro.
"An earthworm has no sharp claws and teeth, but strong muscles and bones. It eats earth and drinks from the underworld. It has only one intention."
The village chief commented, "What does this sentence mean in the boxing manual?"
"That is to say, if you don't have sharp claws, don't have strong muscles and bones, and you still think about defeating the enemy, you can only eat dirt."
"If it's worse, the enemy will hold your head down and drink yellow water. Why is this? It's because you are stubborn and short-sighted!"
"This is absolutely unacceptable if you have the best intentions. Take it, although we are bulls and have a solid mind, the world is dangerous, and whoever we fight has to have a sharp mind!”
Shiyilang's anger came and went quickly. Seeing that the village chief still wanted to educate, he rolled his eyes and said quickly: "Grandpa village chief, you are so awesome."
"Uncles and the others usually teach us, They only know how to memorize a large article for us and then give us a large set of boxing exercises. Grandpa Chang explained it clearly to us in small paragraphs."
Nineteenth sister also nodded: "Uncle and the others are as holy as ever, and it must be the village chief who is very wise."
The village chief felt proud after being praised by these two most outstanding children.
"Hey! Well, the credit doesn't all go to me, it's also thanks to our old village chief, Mr. Niu Ba."
There was a look of reverence on the village chief's face, "When Mr. Niu Ba led our village and moved here to live, he discovered the powerful boxing manual. The pictures were easy to understand, but the words could not be recognized." "It was still Mr. Niu Ba who traveled across the mountains alone. Ling worked hard to visit the learned old people, put the pieces together, and deciphered the true meaning of this set of boxing rules. From then on, he became knowledgeable and famous for thousands of miles. "
When the old village chief said this, he showed a complex and worried look on his face that a child could not understand. He murmured to himself, "Master Niu Ba is still alive for a hundred years." It is my lifelong goal to die in my fifties and have food and clothing. It is a pity that I, the village chief, am getting old..."
While talking, two young men in the village walked away He came over and whispered a few words in a low voice.
Because the voice was much lower than usual, only the twenty or thirty children nearby heard it.
It turned out that there were foreigners who came to the "Good Stone Forest".
Those foreigners looked very strange. They had no horns on their heads and no tails on their backs. They looked like they belonged to the ape tribe and they had no hair on their bodies.
Everyone became curious and wanted to run over and have a look.
The village chief coughed twice and asked the two young men to keep an eye on the children, continue studying and stop running around.
He jumped down from the haystack and hurried out of the village. After making two turns, he saw a small slope.
Good Stone Forest was also named by Mr. Niu Ba.
Because I was plowing the land on this hillside in order to grow food, and I unearthed the stones with boxing records, Mr. Niu Ba was very happy. Later, he visited many old scholars and his knowledge improved greatly after he came back. To commemorate this piece of land.
After thinking hard for several days, Mr. Niuba waved his hoof, and the four characters "Good Stone Forest" came into being.
The three outsiders happened to be talking about something next to this stone tablet.
Ma Jiugong asked: "What do you think of this word, fellow Taoist Bao?"
Bao Zheng said: "It's half good."
Ma Jiugong smiled: "Good is good, bad is bad, how can it be called half good? Could it be that some strokes are particularly outstanding, but I have never seen that. "
He was able to call those four lumps of black coal words because of the good vision he developed when he was teaching in the academy.
Bao Zheng said: "Brother Fan, Bao Zheng's old friend, is the best contemporary calligrapher in his hometown. He said that to write well, you must have four good qualities."
"The first is the heart. Good, the second is good things, the third is good things, and the fourth is good appearance.”
"The person who wrote here clearly wrote very poorly, and the fonts were even worse."
"But there is a sense of confidence and gratitude in the word. It is obvious that good things have happened here and repay the kindness." , this is a good intention.”
“There is a faint scent of incense in the words. It is obvious that his descendants have also been blessed and are grateful for this without knowing it. It is a good thing that the place should not forget its origins for a long time."
Su Hanshan said: "Jiu Gong came to my place specially to invite a master of Confucianism and Legalism to revive the academy. He must be interested in this original way. Ling Academy knows very well, has he done calculations before and after, right?”
Su Hanshan is really interested in the divination ability of people in Yuanjie.
After he reached the seventh level of martial arts, he was able to come into contact with the source of the void, and he felt even more how difficult it was to perform divination in the human world.
Throughout the ages, the endless auras of strong men, dangerous places, and treasures have confused and interfered with each other, and have become part of this vast world.
If you want to read the messages from heaven and earth, it will be difficult to tell whether the interference you receive comes from the powerful people of the current generation or from some predecessors who have been dead for thousands of years.
"Those of us who are good at divination can only make rough calculations. If we pursue everything too carefully, we may easily encounter bad luck."
Ma Jiugong said, "About the original way. Regarding the situation of Ling, I made some calculations based on historical data and secret records in the academy. I can roughly calculate the important things, but not the details. "
The so-called important thing means that if you want to revive "Yuandaoling", it must be presided over by a master of Confucianism and Legalism.
The Confucian sect has produced numerous talents since ancient times. In addition, it has exchanged ideas with various sects and influenced each other, so it has naturally branched into many branches.
Like Ma Jiugong, and even the entire Huolin Academy at that time, belonged to the lineage of Confucianism and Yi, and were good at interpreting the Yi Jing knowledge, and good at setting up formations and calculations.
The line of Confucianism and Legalism is better at assisting officials at all levels, improving systems, educating people, etc.
Bao Zheng suddenly turned his head, looked at the uneasy village chief not far away, and said: "This Yuandaoling has been abandoned for seven hundred years. In recent years, it has been excavated, organized, lived in, maintained, and worshiped by others. , Logically speaking, this place already belongs to others. ”
"If we want to revitalize the academy here, we should ask the locals about renting and buying."
The village chief roughly heard some of the ins and outs. Knowing this black charcoal head, there seemed to be good intentions in his words?
But for some reason, when he came face to face with that black man, he felt his whole body shrinking and he didn't know how to speak.
Su Hanshan smiled and said: "Master Bao, your official power is too strong and your dynasty's luck is too obvious. If we are working here, if a demon master sees you, I'm afraid they will think that you have been here before. Taking office in the Chu Dynasty brought another set of twists and turns. "
Bao Zheng stroked his beard and said: "When I serve as an imperial envoy to patrol various parties, this official authority is what I should have. "
"But now that I have come across the sea, I have seen all kinds of fairies with strange intentions and strange and humorous things. Naturally, I should not act as Bao Longtu. It is similar to what I experienced when I was young."
At the same time as he spoke, His body turned on the spot, and circles of blue light flashed around him.
Master Bao Longtu has thick hair, a face as black as charcoal, but round as a full moon, and a big belly.
Just after this turn, he shrank a lot laterally and turned into a young man with a slender body and a well-proportioned body.
The blue clothes with black lapels have also changed into wearing a square scarf and a gray robe, which looks quite unrestrained and unrestrained.
He touched his beardless chin and spoke with a smile, with a clear and powerful voice: "Do I still have official authority like this?"
Ma Jiugong looked up and down, and said twice: "Fellow Taoist, this is His appearance was that not only did he lose his official authority, but he also looked like a man who could not hide his stubbornness even when talking and laughing. It’s easy to contradict the tough scholar.”
Su Hanshan smiled and gave a thumbs up: “What a young man, Bao Qingtian.”
Young man. Bao Zheng had already walked over cheerfully, waving his hand to greet the old village chief.
The glance he gave before was not intended to show his official power, but he was just curious about the bull-headed old man.
The monsters in the demon-conquering world are all human thoughts from the underworld, leaked to the earth, contaminating all things, and formed by coincidence.
In the world of the Abyss, in addition to the demons who have cultivated in similar ways, there are also many natural demons.
Although they have the characteristics of beasts and even have humanoid prototypes, they are intelligent from the moment they are born. Even if they are weak in cultivation, they can still learn culture, build buildings, wear clothes, and make food.
The old village chief’s cultivation level is only at the first level, but if it were placed in the world of demon-conquering, many people would mistakenly think that this is a demon king who can transform and change shape. He just deliberately restrained his breath.
The old village chief subconsciously stepped back a little, but then he remembered something, stopped, forced a smile on his face, and said politely: "Hello, scholar, do you want to rent land?"
Bao Zheng said cheerfully: " Yes, old man, if we only cover this part of the mountain, what’s the price?”
The old village chief said tentatively: “Although this place is big, There is no place to live, and we don’t use it often. How about ten buckets of millet a month?”
“Millet?”
Bao Zheng said in surprise, “When I came, I saw In many towns, I heard that three hundred years ago, the Central-Turk Dynasty was quite influential in Bahuang. There should be Dachu coins available here, right?”
The old village chief shook his head and said: "We don't need much money here. Well, what if..."
He finally mustered up the courage.
"The three scholars all seem to be very knowledgeable. They know a lot. If they are knowledgeable, they have great abilities. If our village can get farmland, there will be no rent. These few have renovated The stone forest and the hilltop where I have climbed are all given to you!”
(End of this chapter)