Chapter 269: Be magnanimous?

With the death of the locust god, this year's locust plague is officially declared over.

However, the drought continued, and Qi was less affected, and its commerce was developed.

In order to stabilize King Jian of Qi, or the ministers within Qi, Ying Zheng sold a lot of grain to Qi at a 30% premium.

For the State of Chu, the impact was quite large. Without rainfall, farmers had to divert water to irrigate their fields. Even so, the State of Chu would still suffer a poor harvest this year.

However, the only country that could sell surplus grain to Chu was Qin, and Qin was making intensive preparations to attack Chu, so it naturally would not sell grain to Chu.

Therefore, when autumn came, the whole Chu State fell into panic.

Poor harvests mean that farmers cannot pay enough agricultural taxes, and they themselves will not have enough food to survive the winter.

However, King Jingmin of Wei did not choose to lower agricultural taxes, which led to small-scale unrest within the territory of Chu.

Of course, Gongsun Ce was responsible for this unrest.

With Gongsun Ce's strength, it would not be a problem for him to take over the six kingdoms in one go, but ruling with high pressure all the time is not a good thing.

Therefore, Gongsun Ce chose to let Wang Jian gradually take over the State of Chu and then start changing homes.

Han, Zhao, Wei and Yan have been conquered, and the single young and middle-aged people in the four countries have been completely disrupted.

When they were unfamiliar with the place, they would no longer consider themselves as citizens of the four countries, but would gradually integrate into the local community and become Qin people.

The indigenous people in the four countries either have families or are old and frail. If they have concerns, they will not be easily instigated.

It can be said that in this case, it only takes one or two generations for them to regard themselves as Qin people rather than calling themselves by the name of their homeland.

Gongsun Ce, the mastermind behind the scenes, is currently gaining insights under the Fusang sacred tree.

Gongsun Ce's martial arts intentions, telekinesis and mental strength have been integrated into one into his primordial spirit.

Gongsun Ce's physique is also enhanced by the dual bonuses of martial arts and immortality, enough to be comparable to the lower levels of the unity of man and nature without using other powers.

There is only true Qi, and it is still true Qi, with no improvement for the time being.

However, Gongsun Ce could feel that before breaking through the third level of the unity of man and nature, his true qi would transform into true essence.

However, how to improve the true essence in the next step has become a new problem.

Moreover, the true Qi, the soul and the physical body were improved separately, not as a whole, which made Gongsun Ce deeply realize that he should find a way to unify the three.

That is to say, to create one's own martial arts method so that the three can advance together instead of rushing forward separately.

Gongsun Ce looked at the extra dragon energy, earth energy and imperial energy in his body and didn't know how to deal with these things. It would be a pity to disperse them, but there was no use keeping them.

These were the things that were absorbed by the Imperial Confucian Dharma Minister when the Locust God was killed before. Now they have become useless.

Gongsun Ce sighed, and used all his strength to display the Word Spirit·Tian Yan and Word Spirit·Time Zero, and began to deduce the martial arts.

With the help of Time Zero, Gongsun Ce entered the overclocking acceleration state intermittently, while Tianyan was continuously strengthening Gongsun Ce's deductive ability.

A month passed, Gongsun Ce opened his eyes and sighed softly.

"Alas! I have no clue." Gongsun Ce shook his head. "How can I continue to deduce without a reference?"

Gongsun Ce wanted to deduce a new technique from scratch, but found that it was extremely difficult without any reference.

Gongsun Ce pressed his eyebrows, then stood up and walked towards Feiyan who was basking in the sun.

Gongsun Ce rested his head on Feiyan's lap, feeling Yue'er's situation.

"The little girl is so lucky." Gongsun Ce sighed, "With the help of the Fusang sacred tree, she should be born early and have extraordinary talent."

"Envy of your own daughter?" Feiyan pressed Gongsun Ce's temples, "What an incompetent father."

“If I had her future talent, I would never come out until I became the best in the world.” Gongsun Ce smacked his lips.

"Xiao Meng, your senior brother is here, go out to greet him." Gongsun Ce sensed Chisongzi's presence, and at this moment he was standing at the door, preparing to knock.

Half a month ago, when Gongsun Ce was comprehending the martial arts under the Fusang sacred tree, he felt the aura of Bei Mingzi's breakthrough.

It was undoubtedly a little late for Chisongzi to come at this time, but Gongsun Ce didn't care much.

After all, Chisongzi has been teaching at Tongming Academy during this period, so he probably just received the news.

"Oh." Xiao Meng walked towards the gate of the Taiwei Mansion and welcomed Chisongzi to the reception room in the front yard.

Just after Xiao Meng left, Gongsun Ce stood up and walked to the front yard reception room to wait for Chisongzi.

"Greetings to the Imperial Scholar." Chisongzi bowed to Gongsun Ce, who was sitting at the first seat in the reception room.

"sit."

Gongsun Ce raised his hand to signal Chisongzi to sit down, then Gongsun Ce controlled the teapot beside him and poured a cup of tea. The seven-tenths full cup slowly floated towards Chisongzi's hand.

“Thank you, Mr. Imperial Scholar.” Chisongzi took the teacup with both hands, took a sip of tea, and began to explain his purpose, “Uncle Bei Mingzi broke through the state of unity of heaven and man half a month ago.

This time, I was specially ordered to come here to deliver the invitation. Two months later, a ceremony to unite heaven and man will be held at Mount Taiyi to formally unify Taoism. I hope you, the Imperial Confucian, can attend the ceremony."

"It's natural."

Gongsun Ce smiled. Bei Mingzi was making a double entendre here. It not only represented that he had broken through the realm of the unity of man and nature, but also represented that the Tian Sect and the Ren Sect would be united from now on without distinction between you and me.

The Renzong was basically destroyed at the hands of Gongsun Ce, and whether or not to unite was just a matter of a word from Bei Mingzi.

However, Gongsun Ce did want to go to Taiyi Mountain again to borrow Zhuangzi's handwritten "Xiao Yao You" and Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" as a reference.

Gongsun Ce had read the first draft of "The Analects" in Xiaoshengxianzhuang. It was more like a revised draft than a first draft.

After all, The Analects was not written by Confucius himself, so it is of little use to Gongsun Ce.

After reading it, Gongsun Ce did have some insights.

If the progress of Gongsun Ce's creation of the new martial arts is expressed in percentage, it was 1% before reading the first draft of "The Analects" and 1.01% after reading it.

That is why Gongsun Ce focused his attention on "Tao Te Ching" and "Xiao Yao You".

After seeing off Chisongzi, Gongsun Ce returned to the sacred Fusang tree.

He thought about it and took out the heavenly book he carried with him. Gongsun Ce tried to open it, but the heavenly book did not move at all.

Gongsun Ce immediately cut off his clothes, and after the identity of the agent of Heaven appeared, he wisely opened the Book of Heaven.

The scroll of the Heavenly Book slowly floated in front of Gongsun Ce, and then unfolded bit by bit. After the Heavenly Book was fully unfolded, it burst into a dazzling golden light.

After the golden light dissipated, words began to appear on the heavenly book.

"The Emperor's Art of Observing Qi": The Emperor can observe qi and kill people with his conversation and laughter.

This is the art of killing with luck. It is to observe the luck of others and use your own luck to wipe out the luck of others.

Gongsun Ce shook his head after reading it. It was useless. With Gongsun Ce's own luck, even if there were a dozen Ying Zhengs combined, they would not be able to wipe out Gongsun Ce's luck.

Gongsun Ce does not need to use such roundabout means at all, but as a pure qi-reading technique, it is still a good ability.

"Qi Men Dun Jia": Seeking the secrets of heaven above and combing through geography below.

Created by Lady of the West, there are a total of 4320 games. The formations are so powerful that they shock the gods and ghosts. They can deduce the secrets of heaven and arrange the troops.

Gongsun Ce carefully looked at the Qi Men Dun Jia recorded in the Heavenly Book and found that it was actually useful.

Gongsun Ce activated the Word Spirit·Tian Yan and memorized the Qi Men Dun Jia completely.

Gongsun Ce then continued to read the heavenly book. Apart from the original text created by Cangjie, there were no other records that could give Gongsun Ce a lot of inspiration.

After reading to the end, Gongsun Ce saw the method of suppressing luck.

This is a method of casting objects to suppress the luck of the world. The Nine Cauldrons made by Yu the Great of Xia once used this method to suppress the luck of the Nine Provinces.

After the Shang Dynasty destroyed the Xia Dynasty, only part of the Nine Cauldrons fell into the hands of the Shang King. Therefore, the Nine Cauldrons obtained by the Zhou Dynasty after it destroyed the Shang Dynasty were also incomplete.

The incomplete Nine Cauldrons were obviously not enough to suppress the destiny of a unified dynasty, so some other things had to be added to the Twelve Golden Men in order to suppress the destiny of the Qin Dynasty.

As for why Gongsun Ce did not retrieve the Nine Cauldrons, it was entirely because the other Nine Cauldrons had already entered the earth veins and water veins to suppress them.

Forcible removal would trigger large-scale earthquakes and floods, causing mountains and rivers to shift, with too great an impact.

Gongsun Ce started practicing the Emperor's Qi-gazing Technique and then looked up at the fortune of the Qin State.

A pitch-black dragon was hovering over the Qin State, and Ying Zheng was protected by a small black dragon, representing his identity as the King of Qin.

Because of the prevalence of the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory, the seven countries respected the virtues of the Five Elements.

The Shang Dynasty advocated the virtue of gold, and fire overcomes gold, so the Zhou Dynasty that destroyed the Shang Dynasty advocated the virtue of fire.

The State of Wei claimed to be the orthodox successor of the State of Jin. The State of Jin was a vassal of the Zhou royal family. Therefore, the State of Wei inherited the virtues of Zhou and regarded itself as the virtue of fire. Therefore, the State of Wei respected the color red.

Han also originated from Jin, but South Korea claims to be independent. Therefore, South Korea advocates the virtue of wood and advocates green. The everlasting growth of trees represents that South Korea will last for a long time.

But it was useless. The first of the seven countries to disappear was South Korea.

The State of Zhao advocated the virtue of fire and wood. Zhao Gao's banner was red with seven parts on the top and three parts on the bottom, implying that adding fuel to the fire would make it burn more vigorously.

However, the fire of Zhao State was too strong. What was burning was not the wood, but the foundation of Zhao State itself.

The State of Yan also originated from the Zhou royal family, but the State of Yan believed that the decline of the Zhou royal family was a matter of time, so the State of Yan switched to the virtue of water and advocated the color blue.

The State of Qi can be divided into two parts. During the Jiang Qi period, the State of Qi worshipped the virtue of fire and regarded itself as a subject of the Zhou royal family.

However, after the Tian family replaced Qi, Qi State mainly adopted the virtues of fire and gold and advocated the color purple, with the intention of continuing the Zhou royal family and replacing it.

The State of Chu was initially despised by the other vassal states, so the clothing of the State of Chu was somewhat unconventional, and there was no respected color or five elements.

Until the Warring States Period, the State of Chu became increasingly powerful. Therefore, the State of Chu regarded itself as the descendants of Yan and Huang, advocated the virtue of earth, and admired the color yellow.

Although the Qin State did not explicitly name the five elements of virtue,

However, the Lüshi Chunqiu says: "The one who replaces fire must be water. The sky will first show that water vapor prevails. The water vapor prevails, so the color is black, and the matter is water."

"Records of the Grand Historian: The Book of Fengshan" also records: "In the past, Duke Wen of Qin went hunting and caught a black dragon. This was a sign of water virtue." Therefore, the Qin State practiced water virtue and used the black dragon flag as its great banner to demonstrate the true nature of the Qin State.

The Qin State is located in the west. According to the theory of the Five Elements and Five Directions, the west belongs to gold, and gold produces water.

Therefore, the Qin State had to go through the disaster of war and continued to grow stronger.

Therefore, the Qin State continued to grow stronger during the war, and today it has occupied five of the seven states.

I have to say that there is something to the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements.

It’s just that the Yin-Yang School is too extreme, which is why, apart from Donghuang Taiyi, there is only one grand master in the Yin-Yang School, but there are a lot of masters.

Gongsun Ce continued to look towards Qi State. A phoenix was circling in the sky above Qi State, but there was something strange about this phoenix.

"Classic of Mountains and Seas: Great Wilderness West Classic" states: "There are three names for the five-colored bird: one is the emperor bird, one is the phoenix bird, and one is the phoenix bird."

In other words, the phoenix is ​​also a kind of phoenix, but the phoenix of Qi has a hint of purple, which makes it look a little out of place.

And in the sky above the State of Chu, a nine-headed bird, or nine phoenixes, was soaring. It was the totem and representative of the State of Chu.

The Chu State now advocates the virtue of earth, which is different from the virtue of fire represented by the Nine Phoenixes.

However, fire creates earth, which means that the State of Chu was also living off its past glory.

Compared with the black dragon of Qin, the nine phoenixes of Chu and the phoenix of Qi are somewhat listless, which is a sign of national decline.

Gongsun Ce withdrew his gaze and glanced at Feiyan inadvertently. On Feiyan, Gongsun Ce saw the shadow of Fengming Qishan.

This also confirms that Feiyan is a legitimate princess of the Zhou royal family.

But this is meaningless. The Zhou royal family has long disappeared. The identity of a princess is meaningless whether she has it or not.

Gongsun Ce closed his eyes and continued to comprehend the martial arts. There were quite a few martial arts techniques revealed by the Heavenly Book, which Gongsun Ce could use as a reference.

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, it was two months later.

The bronze carriage drove out of the Taiwei Mansion again, with Gongsun Ce, Xiao Meng, Gongsun Yan, Mi Lian and Haotian Tiannv sitting on the carriage.

Xiao Meng returns to her parents' home, Gongsun Yan and Mi Lian go over to join in the fun, while Haotian Tiannv wants to see the difference between the Taoism in this world and the Taoism in the Ever Night world.

"What is the difference between Taoism and the Taoism in my world?" Haotian Tiannv asked, gently pushing Gongsun Ce, who was resting his head on her lap.

"Taoists are all scholars, while Taoist sects are practitioners and religious members. Taoists pursue the Tao, but do not regard the Tao as a belief..." Gongsun Ce said a lot one after another.

Haotian goddess dozed off while listening. After possessing a human body, Haotian goddess was no longer the incarnation of God as before.

She would also doze off after hearing something boring because it was indeed boring.

Seeing that Haotian Goddess was not interested in his long speech, Gongsun Ce simply stopped narrating.

Gongsun Ce sat up and took Haotian Tiannv into his arms. Haotian Tiannv rubbed Gongsun Ce's chest and then fell asleep.

The bronze carriage moved forward, and when it passed by Tongming Academy, Gongsun Ce brought Nian Duan and Duanmu Rong with him.

After receiving the call from Master and Disciple Nian Duan, the bronze carriage started teleporting. Gongsun Ce placed his right hand on the carriage, and then the bronze carriage moved one thousand meters in one step under the pull of Dian Qing and Qian Da Siming.

Within half a day, the bronze chariot arrived at the foot of Taiyi Mountain.

Dian Qing and the former Grand Sima pulled the bronze chariot slowly up the mountain.

The original headquarters of the Human Sect has now been taken over by disciples of the Tian Sect.

Taoism, which originally had little worldly air, now had even less worldly air.

The Taoist Tianzong’s pursuit of the Way of Heaven has gone a bit excessive, and it is never a good thing for the Way of Heaven to override the Way of Man.

Bei Mingzi, who has broken through the realm of unity between man and nature, may have already understood this truth, or perhaps he is still insisting on pursuing the way of heaven.

The next morning, all the philosophers gathered together. The once damaged Guanmiao Terrace had been repaired, attracting the attention of most of the members.

At this moment, under the watchful eyes of everyone, a figure floated in from the small bamboo forest. It was none other than the most senior person in the Taoist Tian Sect - Bei Mingzi.

He stepped on the void, ten feet in the air, and every step seemed to be on the clouds, gracefully and calmly.

His figure was surrounded by countless Taoist texts. These texts were flying in the air, evolving into mysterious patterns that surrounded Bei Mingzi.

This scene amazed the other members of the Hundred Schools of Thought, as if they saw a corner of the mystery between heaven and earth being revealed.

Xiao Meng pulled at the corner of Gongsun Ce's clothes and asked, "Can you do this?"

"Of course you can, but it's not necessary." Gongsun Ce glanced at Bei Mingzi, "It's too ostentatious."

"I think you are just lazy." Xiao Meng didn't believe Gong Sun Ce's words at all. Too ostentatious? Xiao Meng felt that Gong Sun Ce didn't know what ostentation meant.

Bei Mingzi's white hair fluttered in the wind, making him look elegant. Combined with the natural aura of Taoism around him, he had an immortal air that could not be ignored.

There was a smile on his face, which was an understanding of the way of heaven and earth, and an acceptance of all things in the world.

His aura was majestic and profound, as if he had merged with heaven and earth, and the aura of the state of harmony between man and nature was faintly revealed.

As he slowly floated towards Guanmiao Terrace, all the members of various schools of thought were shocked, as if they had seen a life beyond their understanding.

Every step Bei Mingzi took stepped on everyone's heartstrings, making people feel an inexplicable shock and awe.

When he finally landed on the Guanmiao Terrace, the whole world seemed to have quieted down, as if all the sounds were swallowed up by his momentum.

Bei Mingzi stood on the Guanmiao Platform. He stroked his white beard and began to announce the purpose of inviting members of various schools of thought to come and watch the ceremony.

His voice was calm and clear, as if it was directly in the ears of the members of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

"I, the old Taoist Bei Mingzi, have broken through the realm of unity between man and nature today. I hereby announce this to all schools of thought." This was Bei Mingzi's announcement to all schools of thought, declaring that Taoism did not decline because of the demise of the human sect.

“At the same time, today is also the day when the Taoist Tian Sect and Ren Sect merge into one.

The Ren Sect and the Tian Sect parted ways due to different philosophies, but today the Ren Sect and the Tian Sect have merged.

Both the Tian Sect and the Ren Sect are part of Taoism, and the state that Taoists should pursue is the unity of nature and man.

Therefore, from today onwards, Taoism will no longer be divided into the human sect and the heavenly sect. Taoism is just Taoism!"

As soon as Bei Mingzi finished speaking, members of the various schools of thought began to discuss the matter.

The members of the various schools of thought raised their heads and looked at the Taoist elder with the highest seniority.

When the Tianzong of Taoism was the only dominant sect, Bei Mingzi was still willing to preserve the Renzong inheritance just to keep the Taoist heritage intact. He was truly magnanimous.

Seeing this, Bei Mingzi smiled slightly, and then released his aura bit by bit.

This momentum surged like a torrent, instantly sweeping across the entire Guanmiao Terrace.

Under the pressure of this momentum, members of the various schools of thought felt tremendous pressure.

They bent down involuntarily and saluted Bei Mingzi.

Gongsun Ce's aura quietly enveloped Xiao Meng, Nian Duan, Duanmurong, Mi Lian and Haotian Tiannv, and blocked Bei Mingzi's aura for them.

In the eyes of other members of the Hundred Schools of Thought, Bei Mingzi is no longer a human being, but a god.

His aura seemed to be connected with heaven and earth, and his existence seemed to be the will of heaven and earth.

They felt just the tip of the iceberg of the power of the realm of unity between man and nature.

The unity of man and nature is nothing but a legend to the existing members of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Except for Bei Mingzi who had seen Zhuangzi with his own eyes, the rest of the people, except for Gongsun Ce, had never seen other powerful people who had reached the state of unity of man and nature.

Gongsun Ce himself did not release his aura towards others like Bei Mingzi did today.

Therefore, they can only hear about the extent of the power of the state of unity between man and nature.

Despite the precedent of Gongsun Ce killing the locust god and the Dharma image that enveloped the entire world when Gongsun Ce established Confucianism, they were unable to accurately understand the power of the state of unity between man and nature.

At this moment, the entire Guanmiaotai was immersed in a solemn and dignified atmosphere.

Everyone held their breath, as if even the air had frozen.

They waited quietly for Bei Mingzi's next move.

At the same time, they are also feeling the power of the strong people who have reached the state of unity between man and nature.

Wei Zhuang and Gai Nie couldn't help but look at Gongsun Ce at this moment. They knew that Gongsun Ce had reached this realm.

This made their desire to become stronger even stronger.

Because Gongsun Ce's age is almost the same as theirs, the feeling of being crushed by peers is really unpleasant.

Seeing that the atmosphere was right, Bei Mingzi slowly withdrew his aura, and everyone present undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Guiguzi has not yet sent out invitations widely, proving that they are still welcome.

Gongsun Ce glanced at the crowd and as expected, Donghuang Taiyi did not come. He was probably in seclusion due to some stress.

Just when everyone was about to reminisce, exchange greetings, and go through the formalities, Wei Zhuang, who was not sure whether to be called a strong man swinging his sword at a stronger man, or a stubborn young man who was ignorant and reckless, walked up to the Guanmiao platform.

Wei Zhuang clasped his fists and bowed to Bei Mingzi, saying, "I am the contemporary Guiguzi, and I am honored to meet you, Senior Bei Mingzi. I hope you will teach me, so that I can experience the power of the unity of heaven and man."

"You are about to break through to the unity of nature and man, so there is no need to ask the old Taoist for guidance." Bei Mingzi glanced at Wei Zhuang with a smile and said.

Afterwards, Bei Mingzi's gaze turned to Gongsun Ce. It was obvious that he also wanted to find someone to try his methods on, and Wei Zhuang was not qualified.

The Six-Fingered Black Knight who came to watch the ceremony was not qualified either. Although there were many people on the scene, only Bei Mingzi and Gongsun Ce had entered the realm of unity of man and nature.

If Bei Mingzi wanted to try out his own methods, he could only try his skills with Gongsun Ce.

Gongsun Ce looked at Bei Mingzi with some amusement. Bei Mingzi didn't know that Gongsun Ce had entered the second level of the state of unity of man and nature, and was already condensing his true essence.

However, Gongsun Ce estimated that even if Bei Mingzi knew it, he would only choose a private space with only two people to practice with Gongsun Ce.

Taoist disciples like Bei Mingzi should behave with grace and dignity, even if they are pinned to the ground and rubbed.

(End of this chapter)