The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 79 The Taoist priest's golden words, of course, were spoken casually.
Du Yuan understood everything before that, and it was exactly as he had thought. But this was the one thing that Du Yuan, a true 'layman', really couldn't understand: how had he managed to save his entire family again?

As a prefect, how could your entire family be in danger unless you cause a huge disaster?
So, to satisfy her curiosity, Du Yuan asked with a smile:
"Oh, I saved your whole family's lives?"

This seemingly casual question can be interpreted in many ways.

For example, did you realize it? Did you understand?

Having met so many people and encountered so many things, Du Yuan is quite adept at using witty banter.

As expected, Governor Pei immediately said:

"Indeed, if it weren't for your sudden rebuke today, I would probably only realize that my entire family had already been killed by this gold and silver stuff when the local tribes presented me with evidence they had prepared long ago to the Emperor in the capital!"

Hearing this, Du Yuan finally understood.

Oh, so you mean your embezzlement wasn't just your own idea; there were probably local powerful figures who specifically sent it to you.

Is it so that they can easily take advantage of you later?
Upon hearing this, Du Yuan naturally understood.

At the same time, Du Yuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

As expected, people's hearts are unpredictable and treacherous. Fortunately, I'm not on your side.

Otherwise, if someone were to recklessly venture into this place thinking they possessed knowledge and experience from later generations, they might not even know how they died.

No, I'm afraid he'll be grateful to his real enemy even after he's dead.

For example, thanking him for turning arsenic into a elixir for me to eat.
Thinking of this, Du Yuan felt fortunate and said to herself, "Luckily, I have a cheat code!"

No, no, no, I must not become arrogant or complacent because of this. I must be more careful and introspective.

After all, I don't know the upper limit of my ability, I don't know how big the world is, and I don't know why I have this ability!

We must be very careful!

And
Ever since she uttered the phrase "Amitabha" and successfully captured Yun, Du Yuan's desire to avoid becoming too unbalanced has grown stronger.

After that, it's best to temporarily seal away the great supernatural powers of the Buddhist lineage and save them as a trump card.

Try to cultivate the Daoist methods as deeply as possible, until the foundations of the two lineages are roughly equal!

But why am I so worried about imbalance?
Such confusion inevitably arose in Du Yuan's mind.

But after thinking for a long time, Du Yuan still couldn't figure it out.

He could only return to reality and then looked at Governor Pei beside him.

Only then did Du Yuan realize that the governor was still kneeling on the ground.

He rubbed his temples helplessly and then offered a distant, supportive gesture:

"Lord Pei, please get up quickly."

The governor then barely managed to stand up, but did not sit down as he had done at the beginning.

He had previously considered himself to be a high-ranking official, a regional governor.

Even if someone is truly an enlightened master, at most one would only need to show them some respect.

But now that he has truly encountered Mount Tai, he realizes his own insignificance.

Such a person of high status is not someone a lowly fourth-rank official like him can associate with.

No matter what
Suddenly, Prefect Pei remembered what the magistrate of Fang County had said in the official document—that he should be appointed as the Imperial Preceptor!
Yes, that's right. Brother Fang sees things clearly. Such a master should be personally invited by His Majesty and then appointed as the Imperial Preceptor!
Seeing his reaction, Du Yuan didn't try to persuade him further, but simply asked:
"I wonder why Lord Pei summoned me here?"

Upon hearing this, the governor was immediately invigorated. The Taoist priest's words of wisdom had almost made him forget about this.

So he hurriedly looked at the burly man at the door.

The other party immediately understood and said:

"My lord, the surrounding area has already been cleared; there are no eavesdroppers!"

But the governor was still uneasy and said:
"You should go and keep an eye on things too!" "Yes."

Unlike the guards of powerful families who all carried swords, Pei Jingyuan, a guard of a prefect, only carried a short iron rod.

Noticing that Du Yuan glanced at the short iron rod, Prefect Pei immediately explained:

"Master, you may not know this, but the imperial court prohibits the possession of weapons. Today, I am traveling in private attire, so I cannot substitute private matters for public ones and allow my entourage to carry weapons."

Then he added:
"While powerful clans possess special privileges granted by His Majesty, they often betray this grace and resort to violence with weapons!"

Du Yuan turned to look at him and said:
"So what you're talking about is related to powerful families?"

People who have been officials for a long time are very prone to excessively trying to figure out what their superiors want.

Especially when facing someone who is clearly superior to oneself.

Now, any casual remark Du Yuan utters that falls into the ears of the governor can be instantly analyzed into several different meanings.

Now it seems that the Taoist priest dislikes him taking the opportunity to attack others.

That makes sense. How could the Taoist priest not know what's going on outside?

It's nothing more than powerful families and government officials fighting amongst themselves.
To put it nicely, my actions could be seen as showing my deep concern for my sovereign and father, and thus never forgetting him. But to put it bluntly, it was the act of a petty person.
After bowing with embarrassment, Governor Pei answered truthfully:
"I misspoke, please forgive me, Daoist Master. What I wanted to say to you was not about aristocratic families, or rather, not only aristocratic families."

This reaction amused and frustrated Du Yuan. Dealing with people like this was actually a good thing for him. Because they were very smart, smart enough to think about a lot of things, which made him stand out even more.

It's really frustrating, even though I really didn't have any off-screen voice-over.

"What exactly is it?"

Even after sending his guards out to keep watch, Governor Pei couldn't help but look around before stepping forward and whispering to Du Yuan:
"Qingzhou was originally the fiefdom of the Prince of Anqing. However, in the tenth year of Tianbao, the Prince of Anqing angered the emperor by privately minting coins. As a result, he was stripped of his title of Prince and demoted from Prince of Yi to the current Prince of Anqing."

"The following year, I took up my post in Qingzhou. This was to manage the people of Qingzhou on behalf of the Emperor, and also to supervise whether the Prince of Anqing was acting recklessly!"

Oh, so Anqing King was demoted from a one-character king to a two-character king.

With such a huge disparity in status, and the fact that he was a member of the imperial family who was truly qualified to sit on the dragon throne, the emperor naturally had to be wary of him.

“Over the years, Prince Anqing has indeed been honest and law-abiding. Although he has occasionally gone astray, in reality, it has only been a minor matter that does not cause any harm.”

"I thought this would end there, but recently I received a secret report!"

At this point, Governor Pei paused and looked at Du Yuan.

"Please speak frankly, Lord Pei."

Noticing this, Du Yuan smiled and said this.

The other party then said with a sigh of relief:

"It is said that Prince Anqing took the initiative to meet with a Taoist priest and his disciple, and invited them into a small courtyard in the middle of the lake deep in the Prince's Palace."

It really is a royal palace!
The question I was trying to verify unexpectedly found its answer here.

As they were talking, Prefect Pei became increasingly cautious and said to Du Yuan:

"It wasn't a big deal at first, even though there was some turmoil in the southwest, the Prince of Anqing didn't bring it out into the open. But soon, I heard rumors that the Prince of Anqing had started to meet privately with his former subordinates and some scions of powerful families."

Du Yuan smiled knowingly:
"So, you suspect that King Anqing plans to use those two Taoist priests who exorcise ghosts to emulate the Southwest and then rebel?"

One sentence was enough to frighten the governor so much that he instinctively wanted to cover Du Yuan's mouth.

How can you speak carelessly about matters concerning the imperial clan!
Even if it's true, you can only say so if the other party actually does it!
But after moving only slightly, it shrank back in utter horror.

What was I just thinking of doing?

The Taoist priest's words are naturally not to be taken lightly!

(End of this chapter)