Difficult days are like years, and a thousand years are like a blink.
The weird man preached for seven days, and it seemed like a thousand years had passed, but it also seemed like a blink of an eye.
The scriptures are still those scriptures, but every time they are recited, people will always have new understanding and insights.
When the strange man's voice completely disappeared, Li Zhi, Qin Huaiyu and Changsun Pingting opened their eyes one after another.
The houses are still the same, the tables and chairs are still the same, and even the dishes ordered from Luoyang Restaurant are still steaming.
Everything was as before, but the weirdo was gone.
"Thank you, senior, for your kindness in preaching. I wonder if you can leave your name?——"
Li Zhi bowed deeply toward the door and shouted loudly.
Although Li Zhi already had a guess in his mind, he still wanted to ask to get to the bottom of it.
Qin Huaiyu and Changsun Pingting, regardless of the joy of their breakthrough, followed Li Zhi and bowed to the ground.
"Haha, your grandfather and your father both consider themselves to be my descendants. Are you an exception? That's all. When you really grow up, maybe you and I will see each other again."
In the void, a voice came, and it was the strange man who left.
"This...is that all true?"
Li Zhi had always known that the Li family of the Tang royal family had claimed to be descendants of Lao Tzu Li Er since the day they rebelled against the Sui Dynasty.
After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Taoism was established as the state religion of the Tang Dynasty. Within the imperial palace, any palace of any size had a memorial tablet dedicated to Laozi Li Er.
However, no one has ever known what Li Er looks like. Is this person really the one?
Li Zhi said nothing, not knowing whether to admit or refute.
"Your Highness, it seems that that person has really left?"
After a long time, Qin Huaiyu said cautiously.
The winter sun is still shining outside the house, the red plum blossoms under the eaves are like fire, and the frosty branches stand alone in the north wind. The snow has melted away, which indicates that time has really passed by inadvertently.
"Brother Huaiyu, Miss Pingting, this matter is a bit strange. You two should try not to spread it out. If something really happens, I'm afraid we won't be able to bear it."
Li Zhi couldn't fully understand the other party's approach, especially this time Qin Huaiyu and Changsun Pingting were involved. It seemed that both of them had benefited. Who knows if there would be a coincidence between cause and effect?
When the three of them went out to ride away, the guards stationed here did not show any strange expressions. It seemed as if they really stayed here for one night and left the next day.
However, Li Zhi asked specifically about the date, and it was indeed the New Year in three days.
"Your Highness, this is so amazing. I have actually reached the 'realm of divine connection'? Isn't it that I am on an equal footing with my father?"
Along the way, Qin Huaiyu was so excited that he couldn't believe his arrival, but Li Zhi secretly shook his head.
If that weirdo is really that person, and it took him seven days to talk about the Tao of Heaven before he could break through to the state of divine connection, this is already a little slow, okay?
On the other hand, the eldest grandson Pingting was silent all the way. She was about to reach the north gate of Luoyang City, and she didn't say a word.
"Miss Pingting, what's on your mind?"
Li Zhi saw that Changsun Pingting's expression was a little unnatural. Her current state was already at the peak of divine connection, that is, the foundation was successfully established and she was about to enter the "Golden Core Stage".
Such a state, if placed more than a year ago, would definitely be the top existence in the entire Tang Dynasty.
"Your Highness, thanks to your light, Pingting was able to listen to the sermon in front of that expert. This time, Pingting broke through the 'death barrier' in one fell swoop. Such an achievement has been able to catch up with the founder of the sect back then, even my master. Zundu has not yet been achieved.”
"The sect has strict training. Any disciple in the sect who can break through the 'death barrier' must go to the forbidden area behind the sect. Pingting... I'm afraid Pingting will have to leave Your Highness temporarily."
Changsun Pingting's words became lower and lower, her head also lowered, and she did not dare to raise her head to look at Li Zhi at all.
With qualifications and advancement like Changsun Pingting, although they were considered top choices among their entire sect, they were definitely not the top ones.
For example, her master was also a very magnificent figure back then. She traveled around the world as a saint in the sect, and many heroes in the world bowed to her.
Now the leader of a sect, the eldest grandson Pingting was once the master's only disciple. Before she left the master, the master had just accepted a new junior sister named Duanmu, who seemed to be only three or four years old.
"Since it is the strict training of your master, you should obey it, but there is no need to leave in such a hurry, right? After all, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated in three days, so why don't you wait until the Chinese New Year before leaving?"
Over the past year or so, Li Zhi has become accustomed to being with Qin Huaiyu and his eldest grandson Pingting. He also understands the meaning of his mother's eldest grandson Wugou and his uncle's eldest grandson Wuji.
Sending the eldest son Sun Pingting into the palace, even if he chose the woman for himself, even if he cannot make her the princess of Jin in the future, the position of a concubine cannot be lost.
Unfortunately, their good intentions may be in vain. At this time, Li Zhi is no longer the original Li Zhi.
Li Zhi was originally "destined" to have those women, such as Queen Wang, Concubine Xiao Shu, and even Wu Meiniang, but now Li Zhi may not be able to win over them, let alone this eldest grandson Pingting who appeared out of thin air?
…
This was the first time Li Zhi spent the New Year away from home after coming to the Tang Dynasty. Apart from the visits from local officials in Luoyang, Li Zhi had no other social activities.
Li Zhi was not used to such a leisurely New Year.
In previous years, the palace would have been very lively, and Li Zhi could not even recognize some of his brothers and sisters.
He would also go to the Qin Mansion and Master Kong's house to pay New Year's greetings, and he would also invite the Qin and Cheng brothers to have a feast together at the "Drunken Sky Tower".
It was much cleaner in Luoyang, and even Sun Simiao didn't know where he had gone.
Old man Sun was a restless person. After sitting in court for several months, he had almost solved all the difficult and complicated diseases in Luoyang City and started traveling around the world again.
In his words, when you reach the "Golden Elixir Stage", you can live for hundreds of years longer under normal circumstances. You have to do something good for the people of the world, right?
Li Zhi disagreed. Even if he lived a few hundred more years, how many more people could he save?
He also gave him a naughty suggestion: it would be better to collect all the effective prescriptions from ancient and modern times into a booklet and publish it all over the world.
Let doctors all over the world have an authoritative reference. In this way, wouldn't it be possible to save more patients?
Sure enough, Sun Simiao was very interested in this proposal and said that His Highness King Jin was his confidant. He had already started working on this matter two years ago.
Old man Sun is gone, and Li Zhi doesn't know when his book will be sorted out, and will he still be called "A Thousand Gold Prescription"?
No matter how leisurely the year is, it will always come to an end.
Changsun Pingting barely finished the Lantern Festival, and bid farewell to Li Zhi, claiming that she would be back soon.
In as little as half a year, as much as a year, he will be able to settle the affairs in the sect and return to Li Zhi again.
Li Zhi did not limit her time, but told her to practice hard, especially the "Five Animals" practice, and never relax.
In this way, Changsun Pingting reluctantly left Luoyang and headed west.
Today, Li Zhi has reached the "Nascent Soul Stage", and he is a "twin" that he has never heard of?
On the sea of consciousness that has expanded to twenty feet square, there are three things floating on it, which can be said to be a tripod.
The one that occupies the upper position is still the weird little gun. Perhaps it is inappropriate to continue calling it a small gun now. It has grown to the length of a normal big gun.
Its appearance has become even more mediocre. It seems to be just an ordinary big iron gun. The only feature is that it is a little darker?
This black gun fell into a deep sleep again. Since it was inserted into Li Zhi's body, it has been less awake and more asleep.
Unless something good comes out of the outside world, the gunman will not be interested.
However, the strange man's movement this time was really quite big. Li Zhi and the other two people broke through one after another because of this, but this black gun was completely confused?
Looking at its performance before and after, Li Zhi had reason to suspect that this guy had lost his memory, at least part of it. As for whether it was the most critical part, he could only ask it himself.
But, can this guy talk?
The other two are naturally the two Nascent Souls, one black and one white.
If the process from the golden elixir to the Nascent Soul is to give birth to a new self, then the process from the Nascent Soul to the Soul Transformation is to slowly cultivate and grow up.
It's just that the energy and resources required to cultivate these two Nascent Souls, black and white, are not as simple as one plus one equals two.
Even if Li Zhi can now absorb the essence of the sun and the moon, he can only absorb it slowly. There is no specific method. Do you really think that the sun and moon belong to their family?
Once the Yuanying of the Purple Mansion is visible, the great road can be expected from now on.
At this time, it is no longer a simple accumulation of energy, but a realization of one's inner origin while practicing diligently.
What is the heart? It is the perception of the world.
What are eyes? It is the observation of all things in the world.
What does it mean? It is the growth of one's own willpower.
What is Qi? It is the movement of one's own blood.
What's left? It is the exercise of human spirit.
And training the Nascent Soul is a process of constantly improving oneself and polishing oneself again.
…
The river opens in seventy-nine years, and the wild geese come in eighty-nine years.
Just when Li Zhi was thinking about going out for a walk, a person hurriedly ran in from outside the courtyard gate. No matter how far away he was, Li Zhi recognized him as the commander of the personal guards around Wei Zheng.
Speaking of personal guards, if the personal guards around Wei Zheng were selected individually, none of them would be Wei Zheng's opponent.
Wei Zheng is not a scholar who has no power to restrain a chicken. He came from the troubled times and is now a literary practitioner in the realm of "establishing destiny", which is equivalent to the innate realm of martial arts.
"Your Highness, you deserve to die for your humble position. You failed to protect Master Wei——"
As soon as he saw Li Zhi's face, the guard fell to the ground, holding a "letter" in his hand, and burst into tears.
"If the lonely king remembers correctly, your name is Wei Hu, right? You are also a distant nephew of your Lord Wei. What happened to Lord Wei?"
Seeing the other party's expression, even though he knew something big was going to happen, Li Zhi still sat calmly and calmly. How could he look like a thirteen-year-old boy?
"Your Highness has a good memory. I am Wei Hu. Mr. Wei was... no, no, no. Mr. Wei was kidnapped by monsters. He also asked me to bring a letter. The other guards were killed by them."
Wei Zheng thought that he was very powerful and always took only ten personal guards with him when he traveled to various places, but he did not expect that he would suffer such a disaster today.
"Monster? Wei Hu, stand up. What do you look like crying? Are you still a five-foot-tall man?"
As for Wei Hu, Li Zhi knows a little bit about him.
Wei Zheng's distant nephew, this young man is in his early twenties and is already a master in the late stage of "Hua Jin". He serves as the commander of Wei Zheng's bodyguards and he is also conscientious and hardworking on weekdays.
"Your Highness, ten days ago, Mr. Wei ended the disaster relief work in Puzhou and led us back to Luoyang. Just after crossing the river from Bianzhou, a group of strange-looking things appeared out of thin air."
"Bi Zhi led the other nine brothers in a desperate fight, but there were too many monsters to hold them back. Even though some were injured, they were still outnumbered."
"Those guys were too cruel. They ate the bodies of the brothers right in front of them. Beizhi was also injured. If Mr. Wei hadn't helped, Beizhi would have died in the belly of those guys."
As if thinking of that horrific scene, Wei Hu shivered.
"What about Mr. Wei? Who wrote this letter?"
Li Zhi took the letter from Wei Hu, but he was not in a hurry to open it. Let's call it a letter. Li Zhi didn't see what material it was made of.
"Master Wei killed several monsters and wounded their leader, but then a big guy emerged from the river and knocked Master Wei unconscious."
"Fortunately, among them, there was a thin old monster who whispered a few words next to the big guy, and then threw the letter to Beizhi, asking Beizhi... to tell Beizhi to go back to Luoyang City to meet His Highness."
Wei Hu said tremblingly, everything he did was worthy of execution.
On the battlefield, the general was captured and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead, but a commander of his bodyguards actually came back alive. How could he not be suspected of being greedy for life and afraid of death?
The "river water" in Wei Hu's mouth is the Yellow River that is well known in later generations.
The name of the Yellow River was actually first proposed in the Western Han Dynasty, but it was not widely recognized. It was still called "River" until the early Tang Dynasty.
Similarly, at that time, the Yangtze River was not called the Yangtze River, but also had its own name - "Jiangshui".
Seeing Wei Hu lowering his head and having nothing to say, Li Zhi opened the special letter.
"Little Li Tang, you are meddling in other people's business. If you want to save Wei Zheng, you can come to Bianzhou."
The sixteen crooked characters made Li Zhi confused.
It turns out that those monsters are targeting me?
However, since he came to Henan Road, he seemed to have never left Luoyang. Why did he provoke those guys from Bianzhou, or a group of "monsters" as Wei Hu said?
It's hard to figure it out, but Wei Zheng still has to save him after all.
Not to mention that Wei Zheng was an important minister of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi couldn't just stand still because the other party was kidnapped.
"Wei Hu, do you still have enough energy to accompany me back to Bianzhou?"
Wei Hu was a sincere person and did not dare to peek at the contents of the letter on the way. But now that he heard Li Zhi ask this question, he didn't know that His Highness King Jin was planning to save their Lord Wei.
"Don't worry, Your Highness King Jin, Wei Hu is not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death. Your Highness is going to rescue Mr. Wei, and Wei Hu is willing to be the vanguard——"
Wei Zheng was an important minister before the Emperor of Tang Dynasty, and he was also Wei Hu's clan uncle. In matters of emotion and reason, in public and private affairs, Wei Hu could not retreat.
"Okay, Brother Huaiyu, go and prepare three fast horses. I'll go to Bianzhou later -"
Qin Huaiyu didn't even say a question, turned around and went out to prepare his horse.
"Your Highness King Jin, three fast horses? Do you plan to go with just the three of us?"
Wei Hu, who was standing aside with his hands down, asked in confusion.
"Haha, Wei Hu, this is the letter the other party asked you to bring. It can be regarded as a letter of challenge. The other party has already written a letter. How can I, a dignified King of Jin of the Tang Dynasty, still be scared by these monsters?"
Li Zhi casually handed the letter to Wei Hu again.
"This...this is impossible. Your Highness, you must not go -"
Wei Hu didn't know whether Li Zhi was frightened by the letter, but Wei Hu was actually frightened by Li Zhi's decision.
"His Royal Highness King Jin, you are rich in gold, how can you venture into danger? If you want to save Mr. Wei, you can send a thousand men to Beizhi, or let Beizhi return to Beijing and hire experts."
"You must not go on your own. If Mr. Wei finds out, even ten heads from such a lowly position will not be enough to chop him off."
Seeing that Li Zhi was serious, Wei Hu immediately panicked.
If something unexpected happened to Wei Zheng, Wei Hu would be beheaded at best. If something went wrong with His Highness the King of Jin, the old Wei family would probably even have to dig up their ancestral graves.
"Your Highness, the three fast horses are ready, we can set off at any time -"
At this time, Qin Huaiyu had come back, carrying his pair of "golden maces" on his back and two large bags in his hands. It seemed that everything was ready for the trip.
"Wei Hu, the solitary king is about to leave soon. Are you going to go with him or stay in Luoyang City and wait?"
Li Zhi also stood up, looked at Wei Hu with a smile and said.
Well, this Li Zhi is a little too unreasonable. He is obviously bullying honest people?
"Your Highness, Your Highness, wait for a humble position——"
In a blink of an eye, Li Zhi and Qin Huaiyu had already jumped on the horse, and Wei Hu had no choice but to follow them.
Hey, why did I come to see His Highness King Jin? How much better would it be to just go back to Chang'an and hire experts?
The three fast horses galloping eastward, and the still sharp north wind, were not as good as the sadness in Wei Hu's heart...
