Ruins of the past

Before going to Hao Yongtai's house, Chu Qiguang visited the Taoist temple and met with Taoist priest Fayuan.

Another ten taels of silver were given to the Taoist priest, and the two parties immediately had a great time. Fayuan ordered the Taoist boy to go to a banquet and started eating with Chu Qiguang.

Chu Qiguang smiled and said: "Master Fayuan, don't you have a rule not to drink alcohol?"

Fayuan smiled slightly, raised his cup and said, "This is not ordinary wine, but French wine. It is made from a variety of medicinal materials. Although it tastes like wine, it is not real wine."

Chu Qiguang has become familiar with Fayuan these days, and he knows that the Tianshi sect has various clear rules and precepts. More than a hundred years ago, most of the Taoist priests with cultivation in the sect strictly abide by the precepts. For those who are Taoists, the morals have not yet been corrupted.

But now, not only is corruption and corruption serious in the officialdom, but the Tianshi Sect is also in a state of decline, and people's hearts are not as good as before.

More and more Taoist priests began to pursue the enjoyment of gold and silver, and various ways to bypass the precepts were thought of one by one.

Chu Qiguang secretly analyzed this phenomenon in his heart: "The changes from the founding of the Han Dynasty to the present are the rapid development of the commodity economy. Not only the wealth of the upper class has continued to expand, but the enjoyment of gold and silver has also increased, and the social atmosphere Increasingly extravagant. ’

'In addition, various businessmen in society suddenly became rich overnight, giving birth to various wealth myths, which accelerated this idea and made the entire society gradually take pride in chasing money. Everyone in the Six Departments and Nine Ministers talked about gold and silver. , often measure a person's value by his ability to make money. ’

‘And this has also given rise to cultural and ideological emancipation, and various trends of thought have emerged. For example, many Han people today regard the moral people of the past as pedantic and extremely practical. ’

'Of course there's nothing wrong with this. People can't survive by eating air. There's nothing wrong with pursuing practical benefits. It's just that the Han Dynasty faced such a cultural and spiritual impact. Some people inevitably went astray and took the opposite direction. Extreme...'

'In fact, if this kind of ideological emancipation goes on the right track, maybe the Han Dynasty will pay more and more attention to practice, and then to technology that can bring benefits, and finally even develop a scientific system... driven by profits...'

'But this situation is just convenient for me...'

Chu Qiguang smiled slightly, and after having a few drinks with Taoist Fayuan, he seemed to inadvertently ask him some questions about the elixirs taught by the Heavenly Master.

However, this was not the first time that Fayuan came into contact with someone who wanted to buy internal elixirs, and seeing that Chu Qiguang was prospering in Qingyang County, he quoted the price directly.

"I am just a small demon-subduing mage in Qingyang County, and I don't have much available. Brother Chu Xian, I think you are one of the best among men. You must have a bright future in the future, so I will tell you the truth. To settle a good relationship..."

According to Fayuan, the only three types of internal elixirs he can sell are Kaimu Pills, Kaier Pills, and Kaibi Pills. As for the more advanced elixirs, he either has them temporarily out of stock, and has to ask Buy it from Longshe Mountain or Baiyue Temple in Beijing, or keep it for yourself.

Chu Qiguang knew that Longshe Mountain was the headquarters of the Tianshi Sect, and the elixirs and talismans available there were generally better than those in local Taoist temples such as Qingyang Temple.

Chu Qiguang only needs to buy ear-opening pills, and the ear-opening pills sold by Fayuan Taoist here are 40 taels each.

It doesn't sound like it's much more expensive than Bai Lian Ointment, but the key is that one ear-opening pill can last only as long as one stick of incense. If you use ten or eight pills on this day, it will cost several hundred taels of silver. The flowers are gone.

However, Taoist priest Fayuan also reminded Chu Qiguang that elixirs such as Kaimu Pills, Kaier Pills, and Kaibi Pills use overbearing medicinal power to stimulate the meridians and temporarily increase the sense of vision, hearing, and smell. Use them two or three times a day. It's okay, but if you use it too much, it's easy for erysipelas to enter the brain, which can range from disability to death.

After all, these three kinds of elixirs were originally used by the Celestial Master to fight, track, and ambush demons. Some of them were so luxurious that they could be used for martial arts practice.

Even the wealthy families in Qingyang County, such as the Wu family and the Hao family, do not use Kai'erwan to practice every day. Only Chu Qiguang and Qiao Zhi, who came from strange backgrounds, would have such extravagant ideas.

After all, most warriors still use water grinding skills to improve their martial arts practice bit by bit.

But if you only take Kai'er Pills without the other two medicines, you probably won't be able to reach the third level in one month as Qiao Zhi estimated.

But even if you only take Kaierwan, it is estimated to cost more than 3,000 taels a month.

Chu Qiguang sighed in his heart: "The poor are rich in literature and rich in martial arts. It is true that there is no upper limit on how much money it costs to practice martial arts."

I have earned thousands of taels of silver these days, but after taking medicine and practicing martial arts every day, I spent it all in less than two months.

If you need to take medicine next, the cost will be even greater. I am afraid that neither the Hao family nor the Wu family spend all their money on martial arts training. ’

After all, for the Hao family and the Wu family, using more elixirs and less elixirs is just a matter of a few years earlier. Anyway, the highest level is the fifth level of martial arts. How many people in the world can enter the Tao? Ordinary warriors basically don't expect to be able to enter the Tao.

Moreover, in addition to practicing martial arts, wealthy families also spend a lot of money on property, business, entertainment, and connections.

But Chu Qiguang knew that there might be chaos in a few decades. He could probably guess what the last years of the dynasty would be like, so he had to seize every day to quickly improve his strength and climb to a high position. This was very important to him. It's just a snowballing process. The faster you upgrade, the better.

Next, after making an agreement with Taoist Fayuan to buy medicine, Chu Qiguang went to Hao's house.

…

In the garden of the Hao family, Hao Yongtai looked at Chu Qiguang with a smile: "Brother Chu, you don't know that He Wenyan has become an ant on the hot pot these days. Your method is really effective."

"In a few days, there will probably be another big fight between Nangou Township and twelve other towns. It will be a civil uprising by then. He Wenyan, let alone measuring land and equalizing taxes, may even be the county magistrate. It can’t be done anymore.”

Chu Qiguang nodded and reminded: "You still have to be careful. I feel that this matter is not that simple."

Hao Yongtai didn't take Chu Qiguang's reminder seriously and just kept Chu Qiguang to have a banquet together.

Looking at the table full of food and wine, Chu Qiguang, who had just had a banquet at the Taoist Temple, rubbed his stomach helplessly, feeling a little bit like he was back to the feeling of socializing and socializing in his previous life.

'What else can you say... drink...'

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting better and better as they changed glasses. After feeling that the heat was almost done, Chu Qiguang said, "Brother Tai, have you heard of gold wine?"

…

After three rounds of drinking, Hao Yongtai became extremely drunk under Chu Qiguang's repeated heavy drinking. Chu Qiguang also successfully promoted the golden wine and made an appointment to bring it over tomorrow for Hao Yongtai to try.

Then Chu Qiguang asked the boy to lead the way, and he helped Hao Yongtai back to the wing. On the way, he took the opportunity to take some of Hao Yongtai's blood, planning to have Qiao Zhi test it after returning.

As soon as Chu Qiguang came out of Hao Yongtai's room, he saw Hao Xiangtong frowning and looking at him gloomily.

——

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