Fairies Are Fierce

Chapter 136: Taking People as a Mirror

Boom——

Boom——

Morning bells and evening drums.

The majestic bells resounded throughout the endless streets, and the princes, ministers, ministers, lords and ministers of Linyuan City began their busy day. The whole capital looked a little bigger, but it was not much different from Donghua City thousands of miles away.

Within the majestic imperial city, countless ministers gathered in the main hall to discuss the political affairs of various countries.

Zuo Lingquan was dressed in black fish scale armor and had a sword on his waist, dressed as an imperial guard. He stood under the white stone royal road, waiting for the end of the morning meeting.

There were also many Golden Martial Warriors from the Great Yan Dynasty standing on both sides of the royal road. Although they were all dressed as secular soldiers, from their aura, it could be seen that they were all martial arts warriors, and their armors all bore the emblem of the Iron Head Mansion.

The Iron Head Mansion is most famous for its Mace and Shield, because they are the weapons commonly used by Shangguan ancestors. In fact, the Iron Head Mansion has many ways to practice, including swords, guns, swords, halberds, axes, axes, hooks and forks, as well as the path of military strategists. , there is advancement but no retreat, great opening and closing, the word "arrow" in Tieyong Mansion comes from "arrow arrowhead", which means "arrow that shoots out and never looks back".

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the sun in the east gradually came to the top of the sky. There were a few flowing clouds in the blue sky, and a sound of 'retire from the court' sounded from the palace.

The courtiers filed out. As an exotic princess, Jiang Yi was treated with high courtesy. She walked in front of the courtiers, wearing a gorgeous palace dress and walking like a queen, followed by Leng Zhu and Lanzhi dressed as a personal nun.

Zuo Lingquan stood with his sword in hand. After Jiang Yi passed by, he followed Jiang Yi out of the palace and went to the Taifei Palace next door.

Jiang Yi maintained a majestic demeanor until she passed through the palace gate and got on the chariot. Her shoulders relaxed a little and she raised her hand to pat her chest:

"The main hall of the Yan Dynasty was so big. There were about two to three hundred courtiers. I used to sit up there and listen to the courtiers talking, and I didn't think anything happened. Only when I stood down below and listened to the announcement did I understand what it means to "accompany the king like a tiger." ’, it’s too much pressure.”

Leng Zhu stood waiting outside the hall and felt the same way:

"Yes, I didn't even dare to look around. Listening to her voice, the princess is much more powerful than the ministers from other small countries. Those envoys from small countries all stutter when they speak."

Zuo Lingquan sat in front of him and praised:

"That's natural. She is our regent princess after all. If nothing else, she is very good at controlling her aura."

?

Jiang Yi's eyes widened, but she had no intention of arguing with Zuo Lingquan. Speaking of her incompetent cultivation, she remembered something and said a little funny:

"By the way, I had a dream last night. I dreamed that I learned the 'Fire Dragon Technique' and beat Tang Jingxuan until she called her sister."

?

Zuo Lingquan blinked. Before he could comment on Jiang Yi's spiritual victory method, Leng Zhu beside him whispered:

"Let me just say, no wonder last night, the princess suddenly pinched my arm while I was sleeping, with a proud expression on her face. Well... she looked very embarrassed..."

? ?

Jiang Yi's smile froze and she looked at Leng Zhu with narrowed eyes.

Leng Zhu lowered his head: "I...I forgot..."

Zuo Lingquan shook his head secretly, feeling it was funny, and did not say anything to attack his fiancée's self-esteem. He just said:

"After finishing this work, I have half a year to practice. Jingxun doesn't like to fight and kill. If you practice more, you can definitely catch up."

Jiang Yi's eyes narrowed and then looked at Zuo Lingquan:

"Haha~ She changed her name to Jing Xun? If she really taught you Shangguan Patriarch's Divine Ability, would she change her name to 'Xun'er'?"

"How could that be? Don't be angry, Yibao."

"?"

Jiang Yi tilted her head slightly, feeling that this nickname was so weird, she thought for a while and said:

"What Yibao, it sounds so awful."

"Xiaoyi?"

"Oh...you should call me princess, Long Li is fine too."

…

While chatting, a team of envoys from several countries arrived outside the Taifei Palace next door. From the much empty square in front of the palace, everyone entered the main hall of the palace. From a distance, they could see the deepest part of the palace, unfolding a bead curtain. .

The envoy team will be treated to a banquet in the main hall and given birthday gifts to the Crown Princess, which is expected to last for a long time.

Jiang Yi took Lanzhi and Leng Zhu in. Zuo Lingquan was just a guard in the palace, so naturally he couldn't follow him to the table. He still stood at the steps outside the hall, waiting for the banquet to end.

As the sun rose to the middle of the sky, the sound of harp and harp came from the palace behind. The palace singers in beautiful and elegant clothes filed in from under the eaves of the main hall and performed a palace dance in the palace.

It was not convenient for Zuo Lingquan to look back and appreciate it, so he just stared at the floating clouds in the sky with some boredom. After an unknown period of time, a voice suddenly came from under his feet:

"Meow~"

Zuo Lingquan lowered his eyes and looked down. From the corner of the steps, a white long-haired cat ran out of nowhere. It was all white and had a pair of green eyes. It was extremely beautiful and looked like a princess among cats.

Zuo Lingquan only practices swordsmanship to strengthen himself, not to kill animals. He does not lack love. When he saw a very beautiful kitten, he smiled and instinctively teased her with a "tsk tsk".

As a result, the white cat was very proud, walked up to him with small steps, stepped on his moire boots with a flesh pad, and looked like he wanted to hug him.

Zuo Lingquan doesn't like petting other people's cats casually, he just teases the white fur with the toes of his shoes. After touching it for a while, several little palace maids ran out from behind the palace wall at the corner of the main hall. They found the cat in front of him and quickly hooked their hands at him, then pointed at the white cat, as if they wanted to take the cat back, but were afraid of it. He was seen by the courtiers in the palace, so he asked him for help.

Zuo Lingquan was a foreign minister. Unlike the imperial guards on guard, he could move around. Seeing this, he leaned over and picked up the white cat. He walked from the bottom of the steps to the corner and handed it to several beautiful little palace maids:

"This cat is so beautiful."

"Thank you, General."

"The young master just ran away and scared us to death. Fortunately, he was found again..."

…

Several little palace maids thanked him repeatedly. After their eyes lingered on Zuo Lingquan's face for a moment, they turned back and ran towards the depths of the palace.

Zuo Lingquan shook his head and smiled, then returned to his original position and waited.

But this time I didn’t wait long, the little palace maid I just saw ran up to me again and bowed respectfully:

"Thank you, General, for bringing back my young master. The master asked the General to go to the Imperial Garden. He said he wanted to thank you in person. General, please invite me."

?

Zuo Lingquan was stunned and wanted to refuse, but this was a secular imperial city. They sent palace maids to invite them, so it was obviously wrong to refuse directly. He looked back at the main hall, the banquet had just begun, and he was connected with the Tiandun card, so he was not afraid to leave. Damn it, think about it and follow the palace maid to the back of the palace.

The Taifei Palace is not small, but it doesn't look like there are many places to live. After passing through the Thousand-Step Corridor on the left side of the main hall, you will arrive at a beautiful garden.

The garden is full of rockeries, rocks, exotic flowers and trees, and below the verandah is a green lake with thousands of koi carps in it.

Zuo Lingquan walked to the end of the verandah in a daze and came to a stone viewing pavilion facing the water.

There were many palace maids standing outside the stone pavilion, and two palace maids inside were holding peacock feather fans and gently fanning the breeze.

Beside the stone table in the pavilion, a beautiful woman wearing a golden phoenix skirt sat elegantly on her side, with a white kitten lying on her lap, lowering her head and stroking the cat's hair.

Zuo Lingquan glanced briefly and saw that this beautiful woman in palace attire had jet black hair tied up in a bun. Although she did not apply makeup or wear pearls and jade, her face was flawless and her appearance was natural. Her figure was not very ostentatious, but she was not graceful either. All just right.

Her temperament is even more unique. She seems dignified and elegant with the charm of a mature beauty, but she also exudes an unattainable and repulsive aristocracy. It makes people feel very strange, just like this beauty in palace clothes, no It's time to wear this concubine's dress.

Zuo Lingquan knew that the Crown Princess was hosting a banquet in the main hall and that she was almost a hundred years old, so he did not guess the identity of the concubine in front of him. She followed the palace maid nearby without looking away, and bowed with her hands raised:

"I wonder if your Excellency is..."

The beauty in palace clothes raised her eyes, raised a smile, and signaled to the palace maid next to her:

"Give me a seat."

The smile is very beautiful, "Looking back and smiling, the sixth palace has no color" is probably the description of this smile, but for some reason, Zuo Lingquan feels that this smile is not warm, as if he smiled when he should smile according to the rules, There was no emotion involved.

After the palace maid received the order, she brought a stool and placed it in front of her.

Zuo Lingquan didn't want to stay long, and was about to politely refuse to leave, when he heard the woman in palace clothes say:

"Your name is Zuo Lingquan?"

"..."

Zuo Lingquan paused in his words and raised his head in confusion.

"I have been in charge of the Demon Suppression Department for eighty years. The monks who are close to the imperial city will check their backgrounds. You don't have to be suspicious."

Eighty years?

Zuo Lingquan was stunned for a moment before realizing what he meant:

"Is your Majesty the Crown Princess? Well...over there in the main hall..."

"I don't like places that are too noisy. I got up during the dinner and came to see the raccoon slave, but he ran away."

Zuo Lingquan nodded slightly. When an envoy team goes to another country, the monks and even servants they bring must report to the other country. This is the rule of diplomatic relations between the two countries to prevent someone from assassinating the emperor and causing war between the two countries. This young woman who is almost a hundred years old knows his name. There's nothing surprising about that.

Zuo Lingquan hesitated for a moment: "The raccoon slave has been found, and I didn't do anything just now. The Crown Princess does not need to be so generous."

Shangguan Lingye gently stroked the white cat, his eyes always looking at the beautiful landscape in the garden:

"I've been in the palace for a long time and I'm bored. Seeing that you have a good talent, I just want to chat. I used to be a practitioner and am interested in this aspect."

A hundred-year-old grandmother looks like this, and even a blind person can tell that she is a practitioner, and her cultivation level is definitely not low.

Zuo Lingquan couldn't figure out her intention. Seeing that she had no intention of seeing her off, he could only sit down, shook his head and said:

"I can't call you talented. I just practiced swordsmanship for a few years."

Shangguan Lingye raised the corners of his lips and smiled again, his smile was the same as before:

"You are being modest. Don't be wary. Immortal Master will be registered with the Monster Hunting Department on the way to the Great Yan Dynasty. Only wild cultivators who commit crimes will avoid me. People in the mountains may not follow the rules, but in the world When the law of the country is discussed in court, no innocent person will be wrongly punished, and no guilty person will be missed. This is the foundation of the country."

‘Law’ is the foundation of rule. Zuo Lingquan did not refute this statement. He thought about it and shook his head:

"I just came out of Dadan, and I don't know much about cultivation. There really is nothing worth talking about."

"Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Only by looking at others as a mirror can you understand your own gains and losses."

Shangguan Lingye looked at Zuo Lingquan and asked calmly:

"Great Dan is a barren land with a lack of supplies. It is difficult to produce good seedlings from the Immortal Family. There are not many monks in Linggu. You are still young and can make a difference in a place like that. How did you practice before?"

There is no need for Zuo Lingquan to lie about this:

"Practice hard and work hard to make up for your shortcomings. You can't find any opportunities there. This is the only way to go."

"By perseverance?"

"So be it."

Shangguan Lingye nodded slightly: "Since you have reached this point with great perseverance, with your ability, you should continue to climb the mountain. How can you get involved in the envoys of a small country?"

"Is there any conflict between continuing to climb and walking with the envoys?"

Shangguan Lingye nodded: "Practice a path slowly, step by step. Staying surrounded by worldly things has a great impact on your practice."

Zuo Lingquan understood what the Crown Princess meant. When facing someone he met for the first time, he didn't want to talk deeply and just shook his head and said:

"The Imperial Concubine is also in the mortal world, and the Demon Hunting Department is also a place where people are involved in worldly matters. It seems that there is not much difference from me working as a guard in the envoy team."

Shangguan Lingye raised his hand slightly and asked the surrounding maids to step back, then shook his head and said:

"Privately, you can call me Senior, or Immortal Chief. I don't like others to call me Taifei. I'm different from you. I don't stay here voluntarily. I do so under the orders of my master."

When Zuo Lingquan heard this, he was stunned for a moment and asked:

"Senior, what you mean is that you stayed in the secular imperial city for eighty years without your will?"

Shangguan Lingye did not deny:

"As commanded."

That's not because I don't want to...

Zuo Lingquan thought for a moment: "Our Great Dan, there used to be a senior who served as a national advisor in a barren land for decades in order to serve the imperial court. His cultivation stagnated, and finally he died..."

"I am the same. I have only taken a few steps forward in eighty years. If nothing happens, I will die in a few decades."

"..."

Zuo Lingquan blinked: "Senior, did you make any mistakes?"

Shangguan Lingye talked to Zuo Lingquan today just for this reason. She said quietly:

"I admit that I am not wrong. You have heard of my reputation in Dayan. I am not a treacherous or evil person. I don't understand the master's intention, so I want to talk to you young people to see if I am the right one. If you live too long, you will become a fool."

Zuo Lingquan finally understood the young woman’s intention. He hesitated and asked:

"Giving up immortality and serving the country requires a lot of determination and perseverance. Senior, this was not his intention and he doesn't even understand why. How did he persevere?"

Shangguan Lingye stroked the white cat and said softly:

"It's hard to disobey a teacher's orders."

Zuo Lingquan frowned slightly: "If you are a teacher who really cares about his apprentices, he will not use this method to force the apprentice to marry someone he doesn't like and stay in a place he doesn't want to stay for a lifetime, thus terminating the path of apprenticeship; It’s all destroyed, and it’s a bit cruel to use it to deal with enemies, let alone treat apprentices, it’s better to kill them with one knife.”

"That's what I think too. However, my teacher probably wouldn't deliberately destroy my path. Maybe it's just his intention that I didn't guess."

Zuo Lingquan doesn't think so: "The end is coming soon, this life has been ruined, no matter how good the original intention is, what's the point?"

Seeing that Zuo Lingquan had the same idea as hers, Shangguan Lingye smiled softly and raised his eyes to look in the direction of Yin Hengshan:

"It seems the fault is not on my side."

Zuo Lingquan felt that this senior was quite pitiful and asked:

"Senior, since you felt that the teacher would not harm you, but you didn't want to, how did the teacher convince you at that time?"

"..."

Shangguan Lingye's eyes moved, and he looked away without responding - she didn't even see her ancestor at that time, but just gave her a marriage letter. She thought that her ancestor had deep intentions and came over without asking...

Zuo Lingquan waited for a moment and understood the meaning, a little unbelievable:

"Senior didn't even ask, but he just obeyed the order and married someone he didn't like when he didn't want to. He gave up the path and stayed in the mortal world?"

Shangguan Lingye was silent for a while: "I thought the teacher had other deep intentions, for the sake of my future career."

Zuo Lingquan was a little confused: "Senior, for the sake of immortality, he ignored orders that he didn't like and married someone he didn't like?"

"That's right. That's how it is to practice Taoism. As long as you can achieve the Great Dao, you have to endure hardships that ordinary people can't bear. I thought the teacher was doing it for my own good, so I agreed."

Zuo Lingquan frowned: "Senior, what you mean is that for the sake of eternal life, you can even give up the word 'love'; today for the sake of the road, you can get married, and tomorrow for the sake of the road, you can cut off the world of mortals, and the past will be a thing of the past?"

Shangguan Lingye is more thorough than this. She was born as an immortal and has no earthly feelings at all:

"I only seek the great road. The only people I respect are my parents and teachers. If I don't have any affection for other people, there is no such thing as giving up."

"Isn't Senior married? The relationship between a man and a woman is only as important as the parents..."

"I thought I was just here to be a worshipper and to hide my secular identity from others. I have been living in the old city since the first day I entered the capital. I have never even worshiped the heaven and the earth, and I have never interacted with the emperor. The emperor and the empress have a deep friendship, and they are also They only worshiped me as an immortal, thinking that I was supervising the court for the master, and even kept guarding against me. I have done my duty in the capital and done my duty as a worshiper. I have not owed anything to the Zhou family in the past eighty years, so I will not be involved. Cause and effect, let alone intentions, even if you leave in the future, you will not have inner demons."

After hearing this, Zuo Lingquan felt a little unbelievable:

"Senior, why did you marry someone who didn't want to get married because you thought the teacher was doing it for the sake of your Taoism? After you got married, you cut ties with secular marriages and stayed here alone for nearly a hundred years, so that you won't have inner demons on the Taoism in the future?"

"That's right."

"Then I have been here for eighty years now. I see the end is coming and I still can't make any progress in my cultivation. Why don't you leave, senior? Are you afraid of the teacher's punishment? This life is almost ruined. No matter how punished you are, it won't be any worse than this. .”

Shangguan Lingye was silent for a while: "I still feel that the teacher is thinking about my great cause, but I didn't see through it."

Zuo Lingquan sighed when he heard that this beauty in palace clothes kept saying "the road to immortality":

"I have heard senior say for so long that he seems to only have the Tao of Immortality in his heart, and everything else is irrelevant. Then I dare to ask, what will senior do if he really obtains the Tao?"

Shangguan Lingye shook his head: "No one knows what the Dao is before attaining it. When I get to that step, I will naturally know what to do."

That is, I don’t know yet, practicing for the sake of practicing…

Zuo Lingquan finally understood. He thought for a while and asked:

"Senior, is there anything you can give up the road to immortality for?"

Shangguan Lingye's eyes moved slightly, and after thinking about it for a moment, he spoke:

"My parents are deceased, and the only one I can sacrifice my life for is the teacher, but the teacher does not need my protection."

"For example, if one day the master flies away to the west, will the senior completely cut off the world of mortals and have no worries anymore?"

"right."

"Then if senior finds out that if you want to live forever, you have to kill an innocent person. If you don't kill, you won't be able to obtain the great road. Should senior kill or not?"

"..."

Shangguan Lingye fell silent, frowned slightly, and did not answer.

This seemingly simple assumption was actually a very cruel torture. Ninety-nine percent of practitioners could not answer it with a clear conscience. She should have asked the teacher, but the teacher was not here.

"The avenue is not a child's play, and this kind of problem will not arise."

Zuo Lingquan had just heard so much, and now he roughly understood the character of this young woman and grandma. He shook his head and said:

"Senior will evade this question, which means he knows he can't kill, but he wants to kill, right?"

"This kind of question makes no sense."

"I haven't been practicing for a long time, so I don't know much. But if you ask yourself, if you can't understand your thoughts, then why can you become an immortal if you can't do it well as a mortal? I feel that this question is still meaningful."

"If you were faced with this choice, would you not kill?"

Zuo Lingquan shook his head - he would never encounter this choice!

The purpose of his practice is to hold the sword in his own hand and not be influenced by others.

If he finds that the great road is contrary to the moral principles in his heart, then it means that the great road is wrong. He has to cut it down. If he can't cut it down, he will practice until he can cut it down. The road is walked by oneself and is led by chance, cultivation, and longevity. It belongs to Putting the cart before the horse.

"This is not a question of whether to kill or not. For example, in our Great Dan Dynasty, the emperor asked me to kill a commoner, and then rewarded me with a high official, generous salary, and eternal glory. Normal people should not want to kill or not, but think that the emperor He is a foolish king, and it is time for the Great Dan Dynasty to change."

Shangguan Lingye was stunned for a moment, apparently he did not expect Zuo Lingquan to answer like this.

She thought carefully for a long time, and suddenly she understood why the ancestor chose the wild boy in front of her - this perspective on things is indeed different from ordinary people...

After Shangguan Lingye was silent for a moment, he nodded slightly:

"It seems that the fault is indeed mine, and I haven't understood the deep meaning of the teacher."

Zuo Lingquan chuckled lightly: "I don't think there is anything profound to guess. Immortals are all cultivated from humans. I have a clear conscience when I do good to humans. My dad said I was wrong. I have to explain the truth to my dad. , let alone the Immortal Master."

Shangguan Lingye didn't say another word, just stroking the white cat, secretly lost in thought.

Seeing this, Zuo Lingquan didn't stay for long, got up and said:

"Then I'll take my leave now, junior."

Shangguan Lingye came back to his senses and smiled a little:

"Thank you for bringing back the raccoon slave just now. Your princess bought a house in the city and asked someone to inquire about the arrangement of the formation. I will let someone arrange it later. I will take it as a thank you."

"Senior is really too polite."

"A princess from a foreign country comes to live in my dynasty. As the host, I should do my best to be a landlord. Okay, you can go back. If I have any questions in the future, I will ask you."

Zuo Lingquan bowed his hands and saluted, then turned and left the stone pavilion.

Shangguan Lingye sat in the stone pavilion, watched Zuo Lingquan go away, and only frowned slightly after his back disappeared, as if he was thinking about the conversation just now.

It's just that there are some things that are engraved in the bones from birth, how can they be enlightened because of a few words...

——

The meaning of being born as an immortal is to draw a clear line from mortals since birth, knowing that one must stand on the nine heavens and have a bird's-eye view of all living beings; the last such character in the book was Lao Lu, but Lao Lu later had an epiphany. After all, there is no way to write a whole book in one chapter.

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(end of this chapter)