Yefutidaolu

Chapter 169 The Source of Repression

Gao Jian received a letter from Sima, as well as the qualification for admission to the Imperial College that he had applied for on his behalf.

There were not many words on the letter, only one line: "Well done, go to Imperial College and I will support you."

To be honest, Gao Jian was a little touched.

Although he knew that his value far exceeded others and was completely worth Sima's investment of resources, the other party's trust still made Gao Jian feel a kind of warmth in this gloomy world.

Unfortunately, in another month, this warmth and trust will be torn apart by Gao Jian himself.

In the Imperial College selection, all the next generation heirs of the Zuo family were killed. No one in the entire Divine Dynasty could afford this crime.

Gao Jian's plan was to flee to the East China Sea after being discovered, so as to stay away from the troubles of the Divine Dynasty and make plans after the impact of the incident completely disappeared.

But if Shushan's promise is useful, perhaps he can make the matter an unsolved case and then go to the Imperial College happily.

It depends on how the two operate.

As for the other side, after two days of practice and experimentation, he had enough understanding of the Pure Land.

First of all, the Pure Land does have the ability to "purify impurities", but this ability is very strange. It depends on "what you think is impure".

In other words, if you feel that a place is unclean, then the Pure Land will expel these things out. This effect is almost compulsory. It is difficult to resist unless your cultivation is several times stronger than Gao Jian.

But here is the key point.

Gao Jian’s pure land…except for expelling the Shui family’s atmosphere, it has never expelled anything.

Shui Cangcang was extremely surprised by this!

Gao Jian seemed to have no ill will towards anything.

Even if it was an attack, he would not feel that it was "unclean". To be honest, Gao Jian's pure land... was roughly equivalent to an air purifier, an atmosphere freshener, nothing else.

But the pure land with vast water is different.

After two days of practice, Shui Cangcang's success rate reached 90%, with only one failure in ten times.

However, his Pure Land can be said to be far superior to Gao Jian in terms of practicality.

The pure land of vast water can expel almost 'everything'.

Except for a few things, such as Gao Jian, Shu Cangcang's clothes, and his folding fan, almost nothing, including the dust under his feet, can stay in his pure land.

All attacks, or anything that he doesn't 'recognize', will be expelled.

However, such an expulsion force naturally resulted in extremely huge consumption. Shu Cangcang's pure land could only be opened for less than five seconds, and that was the total time of the whole day, unlike Gao Jian, who could maintain it for several minutes.

The difference between the two pure lands can almost be said to be as different as heaven and earth, just like the difference between the vast water and high vision.

This made Gao Jian, a smart man, realize that Wang Long's "fear" of Shui Cangcang might not be without reason.

Although Shui Cangcang didn't know Wang Long, from this pure land, Gao Jian could tell what this smiling and elegant Mr. Shui looked like.

He resists almost everything.

At this moment, in the courtyard, Shui Cangcang's expression twitched: "So, Brother Gao, you also want to participate in the Imperial College selection? In the name of the Demon Suppression Division's general?"

"Well, all young practitioners under 30 years old, above the third realm, and recommended by officials of rank 5 or above are eligible to participate, right?" Gao Jian said with a smile, "But weren't you still at the second realm a few months ago? I heard that children from noble families cultivate very quickly, how come you broke through to the third realm only now?"

"Laying the foundation in the second realm, the breakthrough of us Qi Refiners is very important. Every step must be solid. Blindly pursuing breakthroughs is not a good thing." Shui Cangcang said and glanced at Gao Jian.

That's the good idea.

Blind breakthrough.

It is estimated that his talent was suppressed before, and then he suddenly obtained the resources of the Demon Suppression Division, and then he made a desperate breakthrough, from the first realm to the fourth realm within three months.

But if this happens, it will pose a huge hidden danger to future breakthroughs.

Gao Jian didn't pay attention to his words. So far, Gao Jian didn't feel that his breakthroughs were forced. All his breakthroughs were logical and spontaneous, and he never pursued a quick breakthrough.

As for why the speed is so fast?
All I can say is, he is a genius.

The two people did not continue the conversation, but just continued practicing.

An hour later.

The puppet-like servants of the Shui family brought the food, one portion for each person, no more, no less.

The meal was very simple, with almost no seasoning. It looked like stir-fried seasonal vegetables, a small bowl of soup, a plate of meat, a dish of sauce, and a bowl of millet rice.

In fact, there is really no seasoning, and the taste of this table depends entirely on the sauce.

As for the other dishes, they were neither unusually delicious nor had any special flavor. They were simply bland and difficult to eat. They were not as delicious as the soup noodles from the outer city.

But even though it tastes bad, the ingredients are very high-quality.

That bowl of rice is millet rice. The so-called "天下社地地" (sheji or alms bowl) refers to millet rice, and this bowl of millet rice is the "sheji or alms bowl". It is offered as a tribute at the place where the energy of heaven and earth converges during the annual new year's sacrifice, and then removed and used for consumption throughout the next year.

It tastes sweet and is good for replenishing Qi and making up for deficiencies. Ancient people took its fragrance and loveliness, so they used it for sacrifices, saying, "The god of the community is the god of Yin. Millet is the origin of grains. It leads the cultivation of all kinds of things and assists the universe. The five grains cannot be fully described. Millet is the leader of the five grains. It grows in spring and matures in autumn. It has the most moderate Qi, so it is named after it to indicate that the place where it grows can produce millet."

The stir-fried seasonal vegetables are stir-fried 'Yunweicai'.

There is a strange vegetable called Yunwei growing in Jinyong City. Its leaves are purple and its roots are luxuriant. It blooms in spring and grows densely in summer, flourishes in autumn and smells fragrant in winter. Its fruit is like pearls, with five colors, and blooms at any time. Its leaves can be used as food, for ancestral temple sacrifices, and to relieve people's hunger and thirst.

The meat dish is a small dish of meat boiled in water, and the name of the dish is "Zao Rou".

This is also the meat used in ancestral temple sacrifices. It is the meat of the three sacrificial animals in front of the gods. The second bone of the front foot is taken and added to the table. No salt or anything else is added. It is simply boiled in plain water and then cut into slices. That's all.

Sauce, or in this case, it should be called "醢". "Book of Rites" says: "醢 is used for offering sacrifices to guests, and it is produced by the yin and yang energy of heaven and earth."

Gao Jian's dish is fish paste, which is made from a whole fish that has been mashed and fermented.

Just one dish, one meat, a bowl of rice and a dish of sauce, that is the diet of Shui Cangcang and Gao Jian.

Gao Jian and Shui Cangcang have been eating like this for the past two days, except that the types of sauce and vegetables are different.

Gao Jian originally thought that the Shui family didn't like him, but later he asked and found out that Shui Cangcang had always been eating like this, and these things were not cheap, and the effect of eating them was very good, and they were very nourishing to the body. The Shui family could be said to be "treating" him.

It's just...unpalatable.

Gao Jian took a bite and sighed helplessly: "I say, do you really only eat this normally? Then what do you do for fun? What do you do when you relax?"

"Relax? Just read a book when you want to relax." Shui Cangcang ate quietly.

To be honest, he was a little annoyed. He didn't talk while eating or sleeping. Gao Jian believed that one shouldn't talk while eating. He should sit upright and communicate after finishing eating and cleaning up.

But Shui Cangcang was well-mannered and he knew that the guests were more important, so he still answered Gao Jian's words.

"Reading? I don't think I've seen you reading before. What do you read?" Gao Jian came over curiously. In the past two days, because Shui Cangcang never talked during meals, Gao Jian always followed him. But today, Gao Jian was about to leave, so he didn't follow the rules.

"What should I read? Well... the books I've been reading recently are "General Theory of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches", "Explanation of the Book of Changes", "The Complete Collection of Refutation of Fallacies in Art and Literature", "The National Standard for Pastoralism"... They are all quite interesting." Shui Cangcang said patiently.

"You...are not reading books that are very relaxing, are you?" Gao Jian's eyes twitched.

How can you relax yourself by reading advanced mathematics books and collections of papers?

"This is the practice of my Shui family. Reading more books is always beneficial. Moreover, you cannot relax when reading these books. In fact, it is just prejudice." Shui Cangcang smiled.

This smile is genuine.

This insightful statement reveals what a warrior should be like.

It is indeed like this. It is normal for warriors not to read books. People who can read books will not become warriors.

"Okay, but your living environment is not like those rich young masters." Gao Jian shook his head and took a bite of food.

Hmm, tasteless.

Not only was the food tasteless, but every aspect of Shu Cangcang's life was tasteless.

The servants of the Shui family were like puppets, and Gao Jian had never seen them speak.

The Shui family’s old house was as gloomy as a haunted house. Up to now, Gao Jian had never even seen any member of the Shui family other than Shui Cangcang in this house.

Did all the Shui family members die out? Not likely. The only possibility was that they were all like Shui Cangcang, doing their own things in their own courtyards in this garden, and never asking about anything else.

He is not ostentatious, and has rules for speaking and doing things. His meals are simple and elegant, and his decorations are also simple and elegant. Even his whole personality is simple and elegant.

But Shui Cangcang is not an indifferent person. In fact, Gao Jian sees that he smiles often and has rich emotions, but he... does not seem to be opposed to this cold life.

It's really strange.

"What's wrong with that? It's better to say that this is how it should be." Shui Cangcang replied:

"A fish sees the bait but not the hook, a tiger sees the sheep but not the trap. It's not that they don't see it, but they are so fascinated by the beauty that they don't have time to look at it. This is the reason for making mistakes. As the saying goes, delicious food makes people eat more, beautiful things make people lust more, beautiful sounds make people listen more, beautiful things make people greedy, beautiful words make people enter more, and beautiful scenery makes people stay longer. They are all the mediators of disaster."

"If you want to avoid it, you need to stay calm."

"When the heart is cold, the sight of bustling and beautiful things cannot enter the eye; when it is quiet, the heart cannot be moved by gorgeous and beautiful things. If one can understand the details of hardship, depression, poverty and hardships, then he can talk about them."

Shui Cangcang said these words in a serious manner, which made Gao Jian look at him twice more.

If this is true, life would be too difficult.

Could it be that all the elders of the Shui family went through this?

Just these words made Gao Jian want to laugh.

Everything else is easy to explain, except that sentence: "If one can understand the details of poverty, depression, humbleness and the hardships of life, then he can talk about the Tao" which makes me laugh.

"Mr. Shui, do you really know what it feels like to be poor and humble?" Gao Jian asked Shui Cangcang.

"How could I not know? Maybe I still had many confusions before, but after all, I have been to so many outer cities, and I can see clearly what they are like." Shui Cangcang said.

Gao Jian didn't respond.

That’s okay.

After finishing his last meal at the Shui family, Gao Jian said to Shui Cangcang, "Well, Mr. Shui, I have almost learned the visualization diagram, so I will leave first."

"Thank you very much, Brother Gao. You are indeed... very insightful. You connect the soul to the underworld, and then use the power of the Garbha-dhara Mandala to protect the soul from the influence of the underworld. This incredible method is something I have never heard of. I hope that in the future, you and I can still be like today." Shui Cangcang bowed and said so.

"Okay, I won't argue with you about these red tapes. See you at the Imperial College selection." Gao Jian waved his hand, put the bowl at the door, and left the Shui family mansion.

Afterwards, a puppet-like servant of the Shui family will take it away to wash.

And just after Gao Jian left...

Shui Cangcang is still eating.

But after he swallowed a mouthful of seasonal vegetables, he suddenly felt...

The Shui family mansion seemed to have suddenly been covered with a curtain.

The vista seemed to be shrinking, closing in on itself.

The gloomy sky seemed to be falling, and the depressing atmosphere slowly descended in silence, covering the area below tightly. All breathable air was blocked, making people feel suffocated.

In a few minutes, the shroud-like gloom was everywhere, so thick that it was almost impenetrable.

It's like a breeze in the haze.

However, this breeze escaped on its own.

So, Shui Cangcang felt suffocated. He opened his mouth and breathed heavily, with cold sweat on his back.

But just as he breathed, a cool and damp feeling penetrated his lungs. This refreshing coldness made Shui Cangcang feel much better, as if he had suddenly walked out of a stuffy sauna and his whole body became lighter.

What I breathe... is the cold air of winter.

How can there be winter cold? It's impossible, something's wrong.

This is the Shui family mansion. The temperature here is constant all year round. The formation under your feet is a combination of water and fire, making this place very stable at all times.

However, he still breathed in the cold air from winter.

He looked in the direction of the breath.

I discovered that this was the direction Gao Jian left.

Oh, that’s because Gao Jian opened the door, leaving a small gap for the wind outside to blow in.

This breath of cold air quickly ran out.

As the door closed, the atmosphere became stagnant again.

Shui Cangcang closed his eyes.

The comforting silence of the past had numbed their minds.

In this silence, his thoughts became slower and more sparse, as if they were slowly expanding and stretching to fill the extra time.

Shui Cangcang suddenly felt.

During the two days that Gao Jian was there, the atmosphere around him did seem different.

(End of this chapter)