The immortal is beside me

Chapter 45 Changes in Heavenly Dao
On the third day of the second month of the third year of Xianheng, a meteor as sharp as thunder appeared. — "Old Book of Tang: Astronomy"

There was still a hint of chill in Hedong Road in early February, and among the mountains, the tender buds of early spring plants had just broken through the branches.

The sword flashed, and there was a faint sound of collapsing rocks. The branches swayed in the strong wind.

Before the collapsing rocks, Zhou Wuqing looked at the golden dragon of luck that fell to the ground and dissipated. He sheathed his sword and casually said to Yuan Tiangang beside him, "Next one."

Yuan Tiangang looked up at the sky and said, "Seven hundred miles to the north is the land of Wenshui. This should be the last one."

Zhou Wuqing nodded in response, stepped on the ground and stood up. He and Yuan Tiangang walked side by side on the clouds, heading north.

Since they set out on the journey to slay the dragon, the two have been traveling together for three months. From Guanzhong to Hedong, they have traveled almost all over the central part of the Tang territory and slashed thirty-two dragon veins of varying sizes.

These three months were basically spent on traveling, and there was not much time to actually do anything.

The reason was simple: most of the Golden Dragons of Luck were instantly cut down by Zhou Wuqing the moment they appeared. He had seen similar scenes so many times that he was no longer surprised.

"Can cutting off this dragon vein really help Tang Ting change his fate?" On the way to the next dragon vein, Zhou Wuqing casually asked Yuan Tiangang beside him.

After three months of traveling together, chatting along the way had become a common occurrence. In his opinion, although Yuan Tiangang spoke in a roundabout way, he had been walking around in the world for many years and was considered knowledgeable. So, this conversation along the way was not boring.

"Fate is determined by Heaven. Ordinary human power can only resolve it, not reverse it."

Yuan Tiangang said, "The dragon veins of the four seas and the destiny of the Tang Dynasty are like weeds and garden flowers. Removing the weeds from the garden can indeed keep the flowers healthy, but whether the flowers will eventually bloom and what kind of flowers they will produce is controlled by the laws of nature."

"This whole thing about flowers and plants is quite mysterious." Zhou Wuqing glanced sideways. "If fate is predetermined, then according to your opinion, what will my destiny be?"

The wind rustled across his face, but Yuan Tiangang did not answer. He just glanced at him for a moment, then smiled and spoke.

"Brother Zhou's karma is vast and unpredictable, truly a sign of great power. However, the star within it is empty. If it can be filled with an anchor in the future, it will be possible to make further progress. This may lead to disaster, but it may also lead to a breakthrough."

After working together for several months, he had already figured out this person's temperament and no longer addressed him as "Your Excellency" in a formal and rigid manner. Instead, he addressed him as the more casual "Brother Zhou".

After he finished speaking, Zhou Wuqing, who was flying in front, narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Do you who practice Yishu prefer to tell riddles?"

"The universe is a puzzle, and I am also part of it." Yuan Tiangang said with a smile, "A cultivator walks through the universe. Isn't solving puzzles also a joy?"

"speak English."

"Giving out prophetic puzzles and watching those seeking solutions ponder their profound meanings, baffled by the answers, wouldn't that be a joy?"

"I would rather solve the problem."

As they joked around like this, a day passed in the blink of an eye. They flew over most of Bingzhou, and on February 3rd, they finally arrived at Wenshui County, located in the north of Bingzhou.

This time, the dragon vein is located in a canyon surrounded by three mountains. A clear stream flows through it, and the sound of birds echoes everywhere, making it look quiet and empty.

Yuan Tiangang stood on the cloud, tapping his folding fan lightly, his eyes flickering. After a moment, the smile on his face faded slightly, and a hint of seriousness appeared on his face.

"The feng shui here is different. The dragon veins it stimulates may be different. Brother Zhou better be careful."

"Then let's see how different it is."

The folding fan was fanned out, the Yi technique was activated, and the Qi gathered. Amid the sounds of earth and rocks stirring, a golden dragon of Qi appeared in the air, emitting a silent dragon roar.

This golden dragon is nearly thirty feet long, and its body almost spans the entire canyon. Compared to it, the dragon vein that was cut before is like a small snake.

After finishing the spell, he put away his folding fan and retreated behind Zhou Wuqing very naturally.

The sound of a sword pierced the air, and the sharp sword energy slashed down from above, slicing through the golden dragon's body. Its scales immediately shattered and transformed into a scattering golden aura. The dragon roared silently and swam as if trying to break away.

"This loach is truly extraordinary, as it was able to take my sword strike."

As Zhou Wuqing spoke, he turned the long sword in his hand, and with a flash of inspiration, the long sword turned into a longbow. As he drew the bowstring, infinite true fire condensed from the bowstring and turned into a long arrow that shot out.

call out!
Dozens of miles away, in Wenshui County, civilians strolling through the streets glanced up and saw a meteor flash by in the distance, sinking into the mountains with a thunderous roar that startled countless birds from the forest and soared across the sky. Had they ventured deeper into the mountains, they would have seen a vast charred cavern crisscrossing the gorge, buried by tumbling rocks. Wisps of golden energy emanated from the cracks in the rocks, dissipating in a moment.

Seeing Zhou Wuqing in front of him putting away his bow, Yuan Tiangang behind him gently stroked his folding fan, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

It wasn't because Zhou Wuqing cut through the dragon vein with just two moves, but because the golden dragon took two moves from him to be broken.

"Such a dragon vein, it seems that an emperor is being nurtured here."

Yuan Tiangang stared at the strands of energy, his eyes darkening.

He has been traveling around all these years and has been to Wenshui several times, but he has never seen anyone with the appearance of a dragon.

The only exception was more than forty years ago, when a lady came to him with a baby girl named Wu in her arms and asked him to read her fortune. He could tell at a glance that the girl was destined to become a noble person. Later, he saw the girl again in the palace. According to the palace servants, she was the queen of the time.

But why could the Empress interfere with the fate of the Tang Dynasty? Could it be that the Lu family's interference in government affairs was about to happen again?

While he was thinking about it, he heard Zhou Wuqing beside him speak again.

"The dragon veins have been completely cut. So, the changes in the landscape described in your 'Tui Bei Tu' should have vanished, right?"

"As I said before, fate is determined by heaven. It can only be resolved but not reversed."

Yuan Tiangang looked up at the sky, observed for a moment, and then continued speaking.

"Judging from the celestial phenomena, there are still variables in the destiny of the Tang Dynasty. I am afraid there will be more changes in the future."

"However, now that the dragon veins in various places have been severed, and with the Immortal Alliance's control, the intensity of this variable is much less than before. It should no longer pose a threat to the fate of the Tang Dynasty. There will only be some slight fluctuations, but it will eventually return to calm."

Zhou Wuqing, who was standing beside him, disagreed, saying, "According to your Yishu, now that dragon veins have disappeared everywhere, no true dragons will be born in the Central Plains within fifty years. Unless they allow a woman to become emperor, how else can they shake things up?"

"The destiny is set. Any changes in the human world will eventually be corrected by the laws of nature." Yuan Tiangang smiled. "This has nothing to do with who becomes emperor. It's just that what is going to happen will happen, sooner or later."

"You really won't stop until you tell me the riddle."

Zhou Wuqing snorted and casually hid the longbow in his hand. "But I don't believe in destiny. If everything is already arranged, then what is the point of being a cultivator?"

"Whether to believe or not is up to the individual," Yuan Tiangang said, fanning himself. "Before the predetermined cause and effect unfolds, all we need to do is quietly observe."

……

……

“This was my first time traveling with him.”

After Yuan Tiangang finished speaking, he turned to Luo Mingxian and asked, "In your opinion, what do you think of him?"

"...a genius of his generation."

Luo Mingxian thought for a long time, and finally could only say this word.

Just like weeds will always grow in a garden, after entering the modern era, China also tried to cut the dragon vein. At that time, it took hundreds of people to split the mountain range containing the dragon vein in half before it was barely cut off.

From today's perspective, the dragon vein that Zhou Wuqing cut off was most likely from the Wu family of the Great Zhou Dynasty. With Empress Wu Zetian in front of him, the strength of the dragon vein was definitely not comparable to that of ordinary villains, but he actually destroyed it by himself.

If such a person still existed in the world, he would surely be a powerful person famous throughout the country and even the world, and his status in the extraordinary system would probably not be much worse than Yuan Tiangang.

But now, as the head of Tianji Academy, he heard this name for the first time, and could only sigh that time is like a knife.

"At that time, many people in the Immortal Alliance called him a genius, and some even praised him as a lofty legend."

Yuan Tiangang smiled and said, "But in reality, there's no need to over-deify him. Outside of the legend, he's just a human with emotions and desires."

(End of this chapter)