Taiping Inn

If you ask Li Xuandu what the Great Dao is and what the Great Dao struggle is, even if Li Xuandu is a genius in swordsmanship, he can't explain it.

Because the Great Dao or the Way of Heaven is too illusory, invisible, intangible, and mysterious, how can it be explained?

However, Li Xuandu has been following his master since he was a child, and later followed Zhang Suqing. Under the influence of what he saw and heard, he knew what the struggle of interests was. Interests are nothing more than status, power, and money. All of them are real. The world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for profit. With the word "profit", Li Xuandu can infer some of the truth hidden behind the scenes from the various news that are known now.

Unfortunately, he has completely lost his power after the change in the imperial capital, and there is too little news to know. Some inside stories are destined not to be known by him now.

Just after this episode, the gate of Anqing Prefecture finally opened, and the people who had been waiting for a long time began to enter the city one after another. Although Li Xuandu and Liu Chen did not stay in Anqing Prefecture, they still planned to go into the city to replenish some necessary food, preferably meat, which could replenish blood.

After entering the city, the two separated and agreed to meet at the city gate on the other side of the central axis an hour later.

Li Xuandu walked alone on the snowy street and bought a pot of wine from a wine shop that had just opened. The wine seller was a beautiful woman. When she saw Li Xuandu, her eyes flickered, but she was helpless. Li Xuandu just bought wine and had no other evil thoughts.

After Li Xuandu left the wine shop, he bought some cooked food from several stores nearby and put it in the "Eighteenth Floor", then walked slowly along the street while drinking.

He was not a person who liked to drink, but he didn't reject it. Every time he arrived in a new city, he always liked to walk around the city. When he was a child, his second senior brother always taught him that the human heart is like a bowstring. If it is stretched too tight for a long time, it will break one day. You must learn to relax your heartstrings. Therefore, Li Xuandu would walk around and relax before doing big things. But this habit is not entirely a good thing. Last time, he met a mysterious woman in a veil. They had a fight after a disagreement, and he was beaten to the point where he lost all his temper.

After finishing a pot of wine, he just walked to the end. There was a simple fortune-telling stall here. An old Taoist in a Taoist robe was dozing off behind a table. There was a big flag next to him. The flag was dirty, with a black and white yin and yang fish painted on it, and the four corners were written with the words "iron mouth straight judgment".

Li Xuandu wanted to laugh it off, but suddenly he stopped again and looked back at the old Taoist sitting behind the stall with his eyes closed, a little hesitant.

After a while, Li Xuandu saw a stream of white saliva flowing down from the corner of the old Taoist's mouth, and at the same time, with his hearing ability, he also heard a slight snoring.

Li Xuandu couldn't help but look up at the sky. It was clearly early morning. Could it be that this old immortal who was always so sure of his fate hadn't slept all night? That was really hard work.

After a while, the old Taoist's head didn't control the balance well, and he suddenly leaned forward. The old Taoist, who was suddenly awakened, smacked his lips and wiped the saliva off his face with his sleeves. Then he found that there was a person standing in front of the stall. He hurriedly sat up straight and tried his best to show some high-ranking demeanor.

Li Xuandu asked: "Where did the old immortal learn Taoism? What can it be?"

The old Taoist stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "I once learned Taoism on Taiping Mountain in my early years. Later, I achieved some success in Taoism and was ordered by my master to go down the mountain to help the world and accumulate external skills. On the bank of the river, I met the young master of Zhengyi Sect. Seeing that I had a heart for goodness, the young master taught me the "Five Thunders Heavenly Heart Orthodox Method". After successful practice, I can call the wind and rain, and command thunder to subdue ghosts and evil spirits."

Speaking of this, the old Taoist's face was full of regret, annoyance, helplessness, and melancholy, and then said: "No Unfortunately, my physique is not good enough to practice the Little Heavenly Master's "Five Thunders Heavenly Heart Righteous Method". Fortunately, I am a blessed person. When I was traveling in Wuzhou, I met a child who was crying because he couldn't eat candied haws. So I gave him a string of candied haws. Then I knew that the child was actually the Great Heavenly Master. The Great Heavenly Master appreciated my good deeds and wanted to give me the "Taishang Dan Jing". As long as I practiced it constantly, I could achieve the longevity path of heaven and man's creation and nourishment of all things. But I was not interested in this method. Instead, I asked the Great Heavenly Master for advice on "Purple Star Astrology". In other words, my "Purple Star Astrology" "It was taught by the Great Heavenly Master, sir, do you think it's accurate?"

Li Xuandu suppressed his smile and nodded, "Accurate."

The old Taoist raised his hand to signal Li Xuandu to sit down, then stretched out two fingers and twisted his goatee, and asked, "What do you want to calculate?"

Li Xuandu thought for a moment and said, "Calculate your recent fortune."

The old Taoist said, "Then please tell me your birth date and time."

Li Xuandu shook his head and said, "That won't work. If I let you know my birth date and time, and then use the Taoist method of Yansheng Yanzhen to harm me, what should I do? Besides, I was an orphan since I was young, and I don’t know when and what time I was born. Since the Taoist priest has received the true teachings of the great heavenly master, I think he can calculate without the birth date and eight characters. "

The old Taoist regretted that he boasted too much. Being squeezed by the words, he could only say embarrassedly: "Young master, what you said is very true. Well, I won’t ask about the birth date and eight characters."

Then the old Taoist pretended to be silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "Young master, this time you go out, I am afraid there will be bloody disasters and wars."

Li Xuandu's heart moved, and he took out a piece of broken silver from the "Eighteenth Floor" and put it on the table.

The old Taoist's eyes lit up immediately, and he put away the silver in a lightning speed, then counted again and again with his fingers, and smiled: "But you don't have to worry too much, as the saying goes, good people have good luck. Although there are some twists and turns in this trip, it's generally fine, and there may be unexpected surprises."

Then the old Taoist hesitated for a moment and said: "But I have to say one more thing, you will have a hurdle in the future, not outside, but inside, so you should be careful to prevent trouble from within."

Li Xuandu's face became a little more solemn, and he threw out another string of copper coins and got up and left.

Not long after Li Xuandu left, the old Taoist was about to close his eyes and rest, when he heard a crisp sound of horse hooves coming from far away, which made the old Taoist startled. He was afraid that he would encounter an unreasonable playboy who would trample his stall if he was unhappy. In fact, it was a small matter to lose the stall, which was not worth a few silver coins anyway. The key point was that his old bones could not withstand a few tossings. Maybe he would be scolded for not having eyes after being hit, so why bother.

When the old Taoist opened his eyes, he suddenly widened his eyes.

In front of him stood a woman leading a horse. Although the woman was wearing a veil and her face could not be seen clearly, she could only vaguely see a white and delicate chin and a pair of tightly pursed lips, but the horse she led surprised the knowledgeable old Taoist. If he was not mistaken, this should be a blood horse from the Golden Horde, which was worth a lot of money.

The horse was like this, let alone the owner of the horse. His status could not be described by the word "rich". It was necessary to add the word "noble" after "rich". The old Taoist smacked his lips and knew that he had met a noble person today. It seemed that his luck was really good today.

After a slight hesitation, the old Taoist asked tentatively: "This girl, do you want to use the fortune to predict your marriage?"

The woman seemed a little hesitant.

The old Taoist knew that he had to show his real ability. After careful observation, he found that the woman was in the opposite direction of the young man from a foreign land just now. She should have entered the city from the south gate, so he decided to gamble and said: "If I am right, the girl came from the south of the Yangtze River and is going to the north."

The woman was slightly startled, and then nodded.

The old Taoist smiled and said with relief: "I have always planned everything, so the girl does not need to worry that I am a liar who is swindling people."

The woman seemed to have made up her mind and took out a Taiping coin and put it on the table.

The old Taoist immediately took out the relatively clean bamboo stick tube, which contained 108 marriage sticks.

The woman took the bamboo stick tube, raised her arm slightly, and shook it gently.

A stick jumped out of the bamboo stick tube. It was written on the stick: A perfect couple? A fairy couple. What more could you ask for?

The old Taoist smiled happily: "Congratulations, young lady, this is the king of sticks. It is said that a perfect couple, a fairy couple, will live together for a hundred years, and there is no need to look for a good match."