Sword of Coming

He wanted to go to the Confucian Temple in the capital of the Sui Dynasty to ask for a piece of literary fortune, which involved Chen Pingan's spiritual path. However, Mao Xiaodong did not take Chen Pingan straight to the Confucian Temple in a hurry. He just took Chen Pingan slowly and chatted.

Along the way, Mao Xiaodong asked Chen Ping'an about many interesting things he had seen during his travels. Chen Ping'an traveled far away twice, but most of them were in deep mountains and forests and on the banks of rivers. He traveled through mountains and rivers and encountered not too many Wenwu temples. Chen Ping'an did not Ping An immediately started chatting about his good friend who looked rough but was actually very talented, the bearded hero Xu Yuanxia.

This man who left the army not only recorded the landscapes of various places, but also painted ancient wooden buildings in various countries with fine brushwork. Mao Xiaodong said that this Xu Xiashi could come to the academy as a nominal master and give lectures to the students of the academy. Let's talk about it carefully. Those mountains and rivers were so majestic and so many people were gathered together that the academy could even open up a room for him to hang his meticulously painted manuscripts.

Chen Ping'an promised Mao Xiaodong to send a letter to Xu Yuanxia, ​​who had returned to her hometown, inviting him to take a trip to Sui Cliff Academy.

The Confucian Temple in the capital, which was the largest and had the highest etiquette in the Sui Dynasty, was located in the northwest. Therefore, starting from Donghua Mountain, the two of them had to pass through half of the capital. During this period, Mao Xiaodong invited Chen Pingan to have lunch, hiding in a back alley. There is a small restaurant here, but the business is not deserted. The aroma of wine is not afraid of the deep alley. The rice wine brewed by the restaurant is very good.

Mao Xiaodong said that every time he makes wine, in addition to the selected glutinous rice, the host will also take his son out of the city and rush to Songfeng Spring, sixty miles away from the capital, to fetch water. The father and son take turns carrying it on their shoulders, leaving in the morning and returning home in the evening. , to brew this rice wine that good drinkers in the capital don’t want to stop drinking.

When Chen Ping'an left the tavern, he bought a large jar of rice wine. When he arrived in a deserted alley, he carefully poured it into the sword-raising gourd that had bottomed out, and then put the empty jar into something nearby.

There are "everything strange" among the things so close to you.

Clothes and books, written documents, pots and pans, knives and needlework, herbs and flints, all the odds and ends.

Seeing Chen Ping'an put away the empty wine jar, which was not worth a few pennies, Mao Xiaodong reminded: "It is a good thing to accumulate a little and make a tower, but don't be too picky and picky about everything, otherwise it will be difficult for your mind to be clear and clear, or After working hard, even though the muscles and bones are strong, the mind is already haggard.”

Chen Ping'an smiled and said: "Remember it."

Mao Xiaodong stroked his beard and smiled.

In fact, it was him, Senior Brother Mao, who was finding fault, but otherwise, if he didn't put on some airs with Chen Pingan, how could he show his dignity as a senior brother? If his husband doesn't miss him or nags him, he, Mao Xiaodong, always has to make amends with his husband's close disciples.

After walking for nearly half an hour, we arrived at the sacred place in the hearts of all Sui students, the Confucian Temple in the capital.

Confucian temples are scattered all over the vast world, like lanterns of literary fortune on the earth, shining on the world.

Unless they are in some too remote places, the smallest counties need to build Wenwu Temple as a rule. All county guards and county magistrates need to go to the Confucian Temple to offer incense and pay homage to the heroes after they take office, and then go to the Martial Temple to pay homage to the heroes.

Therefore, even if the small town where Chen Ping'an grew up in Lizhu Cave was blocked and blocked, after it fell to pieces and took root in the Dali territory, the first major event was that the Dali court asked Wu Yuan, the first county magistrate, to immediately start Prepare the sites for the civil and military temples.

Mao Xiaodong stood outside the Confucian Temple, and Chen Pingan stood side by side with the old man.

Mao Xiaodong asked: "You drank rice wine before, but now you see the Confucian Temple, do you have any experience?"

Chen Ping'an replied: "The above-mentioned glutinous rice is good for making wine, and there is an endless stream of people buying wine. It can be seen that the people in the capital have no worries about food and clothing, but also have a lot of spare money. As for this Confucian Temple, I haven't seen anything yet."

Chen Pingan answered half of the questions correctly, and Mao Xiaodong nodded. However, this time it was not Mao Xiaodong who was trying to be mysterious and gave Chen Pingan instructions:

"There is no movement over there. This shows that those guys living in the mud at Sui Confucian Temple are not optimistic about your literary fortune, Chen Ping'an."

Speaking of this, Mao Xiaodong was a little sarcastic, "Probably because it has been scented with incense for hundreds of years, my eyesight is not good."

Mao Xiaodong continued: "Traveling scholars, with a pious mind, visit the Confucian Temple. If they are rich in literary fortune, the gods of the Confucian Temple will sense it and quietly give out some literary fortune that enhances literary talent as a gift. What the world calls "wonderful writing brings flowers" , the article is made by nature, and when writing, the wrists are like ghosts and gods helping each other, this is the reason. However, what the sages and gods of the Confucian Temple can do is just icing on the cake. In the final analysis, it depends on whether the scholar's own skills are deep or not."

"Those who are willing to do these little tricks are mostly the incense gods who have become gods in their own countries. The most holy teachers and the seventy-two sages enshrined in the cultural temples in the capitals of various countries are just clay statues of gods. Of course, nothing is absolute. , there are very few exceptions, the Confucian temples in the capitals of the nine great dynasties in the world often have a great saint sitting in them."

Hearing this, Chen Pingan asked softly: "Now in the south of Aquarius Continent, there are rumors that Da Li has become the tenth dynasty."

Mao Xiaodong smiled and said: "We will talk about this after all the new five mountains of Da Li appear. At this moment, there is only one northern mountain, Piyun Mountain. It is still justified, but it is too early."

Mao Xiaodong walked forward, "Let's go and meet the saints in the Confucian Temple where the Sui Dynasty was the most important."

Chen Pingan followed.

The Confucian Temple occupies a large area, and there are many literati, religious men and women who come here, but it does not seem crowded.

But when Chen Pingan followed Mao Xiaodong to the main hall of the Confucian Temple, he found that no one was around.

It seems that the Confucian Temple Miaozhu has been instructed to temporarily not allow tourists and pilgrims to approach this hall where the front hall is dedicated to the world and the back hall is dedicated to the saints of a country.

The courtyard is quiet with towering ancient trees.

An old Confucian scholar with long sleeves and a high crown, with a long sword hanging from his waist, appeared in a golden body. He walked out of a clay statue in the back hall, crossed the threshold, and walked into the courtyard.

Mao Xiaodong and this famous civil servant in the history books of the Sui Dynasty bowed to each other and saluted.

Before entering this courtyard, Mao Xiaodong had already told Chen Ping'an about several deities from the Confucian Temple in Beijing who were still "alive" today, including their lives and context, as well as their great achievements in their respective dynasties.

The deity of the Confucian Temple in front of me, named Yuan Gaofeng, was one of the founding heroes of the Sui Dynasty. He was also a Confucian general with outstanding military exploits. He abandoned his writing and joined the army, conquering the country on horseback with the founding emperor Geyang Gao. After dismounting, , he was appointed Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and awarded the title of Bachelor of Wuyingdian University. He worked hard and made outstanding achievements. After his death, he was given the posthumous title of Wenzheng. The Yuan family is still a wealthy family such as the Great Sui Dynasty, with many talented people. The current head of the Yuan family once served as the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, but resigned due to illness. His descendants have many distinguished people, and they have made achievements in officialdom, on the battlefield, and in academic studies.

Yuan Gaofeng himself was also the first official since the founding of the Sui Dynasty to be given the posthumous title Wenzheng by the emperor himself.

Yuan Gaofeng asked: "I wonder why Master Maoshan is here?"

Mao Xiaodong asked in return: "You know what you're asking?"

Yuan Gaofeng's expression remained unchanged, "Please let Master Mao Shan speak clearly."

Mao Xiaodong said slowly: "I want to take a piece of Wen Yun from your Confucian Temple and borrow another one. Among all the ritual utensils of the Confucian Temple, I will temporarily take away a set of chimes and a set of braided chimes. In addition, I will take away a set of gui and a set of chimes for the time being. , two candlesticks, this is the share that our Cliff Academy should have, and the large blue and white jar that you later moved from the local Confucian Temple and was built by the imperial censor Yan Qingguang. This is borrowed from your Confucian Temple. Of course. In addition to the cultural destiny contained in it, the artifact itself will of course be returned to you in full."

Yuan Gaofeng asked: "Why don't you, Mao Xiaodong, grab it?"

As expected, he was a Confucian general, and he went straight to the point without any ambiguity.

Mao Xiaodong smiled and said, "If I can get it, I won't be polite to you."

Yuan Gaofeng said sarcastically: "You also know, listening to your straight-to-the-point words and such loud tone, I thought you, Mao Xiaodong, were already an academy saint in the Jade Pu Realm."

Yuan Gaofeng then said: "But the Yupu realm seems not enough. You, Mao Xiaodong, can only succeed if you can move the entire Donghua Mountain to the Confucian Temple, right? Insufficient realm is a difficulty. With the magical power of an immortal to move mountains, you can move Donghua Mountain." Huashan's cultural fortunes are facing another difficulty, getting even more difficult, and it's really difficult for you, Master Mao Dashan."

Mao Xiaodong looked around and chuckled: "How to move it? The mountain is bigger than the temple. Could it be smashed down all at once and cover the Confucian Temple? Wouldn't this top-ranking Confucian Temple in the Sui Dynasty be destroyed in one day?"

Yuan Gaofeng said sternly: "Mao Xiaodong, please stop playing business tricks here. If you want me, Yuan Gaofeng, to accompany you to bargain here, you don't have to be shameless. I'm afraid of insulting the gentlemen! You know the bottom line of the Confucian Temple!"

Mao Xiaodong was completely unaware.

However, Chen Ping'an felt a majestic righteousness, and vaguely, colorful streams of light appeared, gathering and dispersing, wandering around, almost showing signs of condensation into substance.

The true energy flow in Chen Ping'an's body was stagnant. The water mansion where the water-character seal was nourishing the natal object could not help but close its door tightly. The children in green clothes inside, who were born from the essence of water transport, were trembling with fear.

Mao Xiaodong did not take action to stop Yuan Gaofeng's deliberate demonstration, leaving Chen Pingan behind him to bear the suppression of this strong cultural movement alone.

Mao Xiaodong stretched out his palm and pointed to the main hall, "Let's go to the back hall to talk in detail."

Yuan Gaofeng hesitated for a moment and agreed.

Mao Xiaodong asked Chen Ping'an to go to the front hall, but there was no need to go to the back hall.

After Mao Xiaodong and Yuan Gaofeng entered the back hall, several more golden gods walked out of the clay statues.

Chen Pingan walked slowly in the solemn front hall. This was the first time that Chen Pingan walked into the main hall of the Confucian Temple in a capital city. At that time, he was in Tongyezhou and did not follow the Yao family to Daquan Dynasty Mirage City, otherwise I should go and have a look. Later, in the capital of Qingluan Kingdom, due to the prevailing debate between Buddhism and Taoism at that time, Chen Pingan did not have the opportunity to visit. As for the capital city of Nanyuan Kingdom, which is the land of lotus flowers, there is no Confucian temple to worship the seventy-two sages.

No matter how far you go, no matter how detailed you look, you will eventually miss something like this, and it is impossible to truly see all the scenery.

Time passed and dusk approached. Chen Pingan was alone, barely making any footsteps. He had already looked at the statue in the front hall twice. He had previously read it in the immortal book "Mountains and Seas", notes by literati from various countries, and prose travel notes, more or less. They have all been exposed to the life stories of these "sages" who were enshrined in the Confucian Temple. This is something that is difficult for ordinary people to understand about Confucianism in the world. Even the master of the Seventy-Two Academy is accustomed to calling him a saint. Why do these people have great knowledge and great merits? The great sage who is still alive is only named "Xian" by Confucian orthodox? You must know that in major academies, there are many wise men compared to the rarer gentlemen.

When Mao Xiaodong returned from the apse, Chen Pingan found that the old man's face did not look good.

Being in the Confucian Temple, Chen Ping'an didn't ask any more questions.

After the two of them walked out of the Confucian Temple, Mao Xiaodong took the initiative and said: "They are all tough and never pull out their hair. It's really hard to talk about."

Chen Pingan nodded.

Mao Xiaodong raised his head and glanced at the sky, "We visited the Confucian Temple in a bright and clear way and had dinner later. Then, while it was getting dark, we went to try our luck at several other places where cultural fortunes gather. Then we won't waste time. We are on our way, make a quick decision and try to return to the academy before the rooster crows tomorrow morning. As for the Confucian Temple, we must not let them be so stingy. We will come here every day from now on."

After the two of them crossed two streets, they found a nearby restaurant. Before waiting for the food to be served, Mao Xiaodong told Chen Pingan in a heartfelt voice, "The atmosphere in the Confucian Temple is not right. Yuan Gaofeng is so unhuman. I can understand it, but the other two The great Sui literary sage who took the lead today and cheered for Yuan Gaofeng has always been known in history for his gentle temperament and should not be so tough."

Chen Ping'an poured two bowls of rice wine from the sword-raising gourd and asked: "Could it be that Yuan Gaofeng is actually using this method to remind us? The gods of the Confucian Temple in the capital, faced with the current undercurrent of the Sui Dynasty, must have long ago It seemed to their eyes that the palms and backs of the hands were all flesh, and it involved the Gao family, Guozuo and Wen Yun of the Great Sui Dynasty. It was difficult for them to make a decision, so they had to stand by and watch, but they were unwilling to watch us being kept in the dark and ruining Donghua. The cultural context of Shan Academy, so you deliberately show off your face and use words and deeds that go against common sense to ask us to be careful about the situation outside the Confucian Temple?"

Mao Xiaodong was somewhat pleased and said with a smile, "That's the right answer."

Mao Xiaodong looked out the window of the restaurant and clicked his tongue: "I thought that the other party should keep a closer look at our pair of baits thrown into the water, or take advantage of the lack of people at night to send some small fish and shrimps to take a few bites. Unexpectedly, it was not yet dark, not far from the Confucian Temple, and the streets were bustling with pedestrians, so they directly used their trump card and became frantic. When did the scholars of the Sui Dynasty become so decisive in killing?"

Chen Pingan slowly drank the bowl of fragrant rice wine.

Mao Xiaodong smiled and asked, "Aren't you nervous at all?"

Chen Ping'an put down his wine bowl and said, "To be honest with Master Maoshan, I have fought and killed a lot, and I have seen a lot of the world."

Mao Xiaodong asked again, "How big is the world?"

Chen Ping'an thought for a while and said frankly: "I have defeated an old Nascent Soul Jiao in Jiaolonggou who was in charge of Xiaotiandi, carried the sword of the boss swordsman of the Great Sword Qi Wall, and passed the sword-swallowing sword boat of an Ascension Realm monk. one strike."

Mao Xiaodong laughed heartily.

Chen Ping'an suppressed his laughter and added a flattering comment, "I even drank with Master Mao at the same table."

Mao Xiaodong quickly picked up the big white bowl and said, "The people in the front don't say anything, but the people in the back have to drink a big bowl of wine."

Chen Ping'an finished the bowl of wine and suddenly asked: "Can I check the approximate number of people and cultivation level?"

Mao Xiaodong nodded and said: "I have been wandering around with Xiao Baoping in the past few years, but actually I have some plans and have been striving to accomplish one thing. Let's not mention what the thing is. Anyway, within a thousand feet around me, I know all about the Qi practitioners below the upper five realms and the pure martial arts warriors below the ninth realm. Of these five assassins, one is a ninth-level golden elixir sword cultivator, one is a military strategist and one is a monk in the Longmen realm, and one is a Longmen realm formation master. One person is a martial artist in the realm, and one is a martial artist in the golden body realm."

Chen Pingan said helplessly: "I may not be of much help."

Mao Xiaodong stood up with a smile, took out the True Body Talisman of the Day and Night Wandering God from his sleeve, handed it back to Chen Ping'an who followed him up, and said with a heartfelt smile: "There is no reason for a senior brother to squander a junior brother's property, put it away."

Chen Pingan hesitated.

Mao Xiaodong asked with a smile: "Why, do you think the enemy is coming fiercely? Is it because I, Mao Xiaodong, am too conceited? Have you forgotten what I said before? As long as there are no Jade Pu Realm monks to help them hold down the battle, I can handle it."

Chen Pingan frowned and said, "What if there is?"

Mao Xiaodong smiled and said, "Then I'll be more relieved. If you show up here, you can't kill me. It also proves that there are no back tricks or killer moves hidden by them in the academy."

Taking advantage of the fact that Mao Xiaodong showed no signs of taking action for the time being.

Chen Pingan silently poured another bowl of wine.

Mao Xiaodong asked curiously: "What?"

Chen Ping'an was lowering his head and taking a swig of wine, "Learn from Zhu Lian and drink the fine wine."

Mao Xiaodong smiled and scolded: "Good boy, you are eagerly waiting for a Jade Pure Realm monk to appear here, right?!"

Chen Pingan smiled slightly.

Mao Xiaodong glanced at the jade hairpin and said nothing.