The immortal is beside me

Chapter 28 Yesterday's Events Cannot Be Left Behind

Senior Wuqing? Is this person really Zhou Wuqing?

Although he had prepared himself mentally early on, when this fact was presented to him, Lu Zhenhai still couldn't help but shrink his pupils.

As early as 1,500 years ago, this man had achieved a miraculous feat. Now, with the passage of time, his cultivation level would only increase, not decrease.

When his subordinate, Li Yulan, first reported on the matter, she had been extremely radical, directly asserting that this person could demolish half of Liangzhou City in a single day. Relatively speaking, Lü Zhenhai was a conservative on this matter, feeling that the radicals were perhaps too conservative.

Compared with his brainstorming, Jiang Ruifeng next to him was even more excited, his whole body was trembling slightly, and even his tone was a little distorted.

This cannot be blamed on him. If anyone else from Jiuli were present, their performance would not be better than his.

Compared to the sanitation bureau, who were merely bystanders, the name "Zhou Wuqing" was universally known within the Jiuli Clan. It's no exaggeration to say that almost all of the Jiuli descendants, including Jiang Ruifeng, grew up hearing legends about him. Now that the legend was actually standing before them, how could they not be thrilled?
"Are you the boy from Jiuli now?" Zhou Qing raised his head and looked him over. "Your name is Jiang Ruifeng? How old are you?"

"Replying to Senior, four hundred and twenty-eight."

"More than four hundred, that's still young." Zhou Qing waved his hand, "At this age, go out and gain more experience and see the world."

"Yes! I will listen to your instructions, senior."

The people from the sanitation bureau nearby were stunned. How could these two sentences be put together when someone is over 400 years old and still so young?

"I haven't been back for years. How is the situation in the sect now?"

"Currently, Sect Master Yan Guoyun is in power. There are over 4,000 disciples in the sect, including..."

Originally, he just wanted to say a few words casually, but Jiang Ruifeng was so excited that he turned the greeting into a report, and he wanted to tell him the situation of the entire sect at once, so he let the young man talk for a while.

Compared with his era, the Jiuli today is no longer the Immortal Alliance it once was, and its scale is much smaller than during its heyday.

But in his opinion this is not a completely bad thing.

After pacifying Taohuayuan and unifying the Central Plains - that is, during the secular Sui Dynasty - the number of monks under the Jiuli Sect reached its peak. The sect was reorganized into the Immortal Alliance, and it also controlled the huge Sui Dynasty. It can be said that the entire Central Plains was under its control, and it was at its peak.

But new troubles soon emerged.

Just like the Peach Blossom Spring in the past, due to the excessive number of forces merging into the sect during the war, the number of members of the Immortal Alliance reached an unprecedented level, but at the same time it also brought about the formation of new factions.

When the Peach Blossom Spring still existed, everyone was united in facing the outside world and everything was peaceful. But when the common enemy fell, the contradictions suppressed underwater immediately emerged.

Previously, in order to resist the Peach Blossom Spring, Jiuli opened its treasury, attracting many profit-seeking outer sect members. Many of them had achieved a certain status in the Immortal Alliance based on their achievements in the Civil War, but their profit-seeking demands had not changed.

During the turbulent times, the Central Plains was fragmented, with each sect occupying a territory according to its power, enjoying the local incense, people, and spiritual resources. With the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Central Plains was unified, and how to manage and distribute this huge pie became a problem.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and this saying applies equally to the world of cultivation. While ordinary people still need to use political tricks to form factions and arm themselves, cultivators who wield great power are often more simple and direct.

In his memory, the Immortal Alliance was at war with each other, with minor frictions constantly occurring. It was not until the death of Yang Jian and the ascension of the new Emperor Yang Guang that the sparks of minor friction finally escalated into a conflagration.

At that time, he was not interested in worldly affairs and did not know much about them. He only remembered that since Yang Guang came to the throne, he had been constantly digging canals, building temples and sacrificial sites, which made the incense and precious materials received by the Immortal Alliance increase several times compared with the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and also made the people in the Sui Dynasty live in misery.

There were many discussions within the Immortal Alliance about the actions of the Human Emperor. Many deacons, represented by Ye Qiansheng, wrote letters many times, requesting the Immortal Alliance to issue an order to stop the actions of the Human Emperor and restore order on earth. At the same time, another group of people praised Yang Guang's actions and proposed to further conquer Goguryeo, seize the blessed lands and the people in its territory, in order to compensate for the war losses incurred by the various sects of the Immortal Alliance over the past hundreds of years.

With this as the fuse, the friction that had existed only in the dark came to the surface, and the various factions turned from fighting verbally to fighting physically. In the fierce fighting, the Sui Dynasty was completely torn apart, and the entire Central Plains was on the verge of splitting again.

As a guest official at the time, he had no position or interest in these open and secret struggles, and did not want to get involved at first.

Until one day, several old fellows who called themselves the Fanghua Sect came to his residence with a letter of allegiance. In the name of the outer sect elders, they criticized his past deeds in righteous words, and then announced on the spot that the guest official Zhou Wuqing was a treasonous heretic who should be eliminated.

The fire on the other side of the river inexplicably burned him, and he understood what was going on. So he simply scribbled two strokes on the letter of surrender and announced on the spot that the entire Fanghua Sect was a treasonous heretic who should be eliminated.

In the end, he won the battle and was caught up in a turbulent undercurrent.

Amidst the flashes of swords and spears, the civil war within the Immortal Alliance raged for decades, finally quelling during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty. Ultimately, under the leadership of the Jiuli, the various sects, drawing on the lessons learned from the Peach Blossom Spring, reorganized the Immortal Alliance's structure, truly unifying its various factions. Afterward, the Immortal Alliance's apparent membership and number of strongholds declined compared to the Sui Dynasty, but its overall strength grew again. Working in conjunction with the newly born Tang Dynasty, it further expanded its sphere of influence into the northern grasslands and the Western Regions, a feat rarely seen in the history of the Central Plains.

The right time and place are not as important as the right people. This is the conclusion he came to from what he saw in his life.

Now, after hearing about Jiuli's recent situation, although frictions of varying sizes are inevitable, overall the sect is still moving forward in a stable manner, and the younger generations who have joined the sect are also growing steadily. In his opinion, this is the best situation.

"This is the current situation of Jiuli." Jiang Ruifeng finished his introduction, his tone becoming more upbeat. "The Sect Master has already instructed us that if you, Senior, wish to return to Jiuli, we will do our utmost to welcome you."

With just these few words, the pupils of the people from the Environmental Sanitation Bureau standing behind couldn't help but shrink.

This seems to be just an invitation to welcome back an old senior, but considering the strength and status of the person in front of him, this invitation has become a red-headed document issued to the whole society.

As early as 1500 years ago, the emergence of Zhou Wuqing overturned the situation of the Civil War and reversed the attitude of the entire cultivation world towards independent cultivators; now, a thousand years have passed, and his strength will only be higher than before, not lower.

If he really agrees to return, the Jiuli Sect's ranking on the official strategic list will soar again, and the power structure involved will also experience a major earthquake.

Earthquake relief is also within the responsibilities of the Environmental Sanitation Bureau.

For a moment, everyone's faces became tense, and all eyes were fixed on Zhou Qing in front of them, waiting for his answer.

Zhou Wuqing only needed to speak, but they had a lot to consider.

Under the gaze of everyone, Zhou Qing shook his head slightly.

"I'm a guest, so why would I want to return?" he said. "The sect has too many complicated matters to attend to. I don't want to get involved any further right now. Don't make a big fuss about this and waste your time."

The specialists on all sides relaxed their shoulders slightly and were about to breathe a sigh of relief when they saw Zhou Qing wave his hand, and the magic sword in his hand made a sword flower and fell back into Jiang Ruifeng's hand.

"Senior?" Jiang Ruifeng hurriedly caught the sword, his voice a little surprised.

He came here this time prepared to welcome the senior back to the sect, but he didn't expect that all his preparations would be thrown into oblivion by Zhou Qing's words.

He doesn't want to return to Jiuli?

Doesn't seem right either.
Jiang Ruifeng looked at the spiritual sword in his hand. The moment he took the sword, he felt the change of the artifact: after thousands of years, the spiritual power in the sword had been somewhat depleted, but now the power was full again, even more than before.

"A sword is just a tool, meant to be used by people. I don't need it right now, so let it go back to where it came from." Zhou Qing said, "When I have some free time in the future, I might stop by the sect and take a look. We'll talk about it then."

More than a thousand years have passed, and his old friends in the sect are no longer alive, and he no longer has any extra thoughts about Jiuli itself.

Rather than getting involved in the various troubles of the monks, he would rather enjoy his retirement life and complete the refinement of his mind in the mortal world. As for revisiting his old place, it wouldn't be too late to do so after all this was over.

Jiang Ruifeng pondered for a moment, as if savoring the meaning of these words.

He had originally wanted to take this opportunity to ask Senior Wuqing why he had left Jiuli and where he had gone after leaving. However, since Zhou Qing hadn't made a clear statement, and with the Environmental Sanitation Bureau present, it was clearly not the right time to ask.

After a while, he finally clasped his fists and bowed slightly.

"I will follow the instructions of the senior."

As he spoke, he stepped aside. Following his action, Zhou Qing also turned his gaze to Lv Zhenhai and the others from the Environmental Sanitation Bureau who were standing by and observing.

As if he had noticed his gaze, Lu Zhenhai was slightly startled, then he stepped forward and spoke in a deep voice.

"Old Senior, we also have something to report."

Jiang Ruifeng had just called Zhou Qing "senior". After thinking for a while, he added the word "old" in front of it.

"Previously, Senior entrusted us with investigating our old enemy, and we've already made some important breakthroughs. I hope I can inform you personally and ask for your decision."

(End of this chapter)