The First Lackey Under The Empress

Patiently waiting for a destined soul... Outside the Tangbing shop, Zhao Du'an narrowed his eyes.

His gaze pierced through the rising steam from the soup bowl on the table, the white mist blurring his vision, as he carefully examined this uninvited guest.

He confirmed that he had never seen this person before.

An instinctual feeling from deep within warned him that the old man before him was no simpleton, but he didn't sense any hostility.

"May I ask for your esteemed name, sir?"

Zhao Du'an understood that the capital was full of hidden masters, and the imperial court was only a corner of this world.

Zhang Yanyi smiled and shook his head:

"This old one's name is insignificant, merely a minor official within the Celestial Master's Mansion."

The Celestial Master's Mansion!

Zhao Du'an was taken aback. This mysterious and elusive old codger was a sorcerer from the Celestial Master's Mansion?

As for the term "minor official," he had heard of it before.

Within the Celestial Master's Mansion, officials were divided into two categories:

One was "Executive Officials," responsible for the daily operations and various practical affairs of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The other was "Minor Officials," who focused solely on cultivation and held no official duties.

The latter often possessed higher cultivation levels. Although they held no power, their status was lofty. Jin Jian belonged to the "Minor Official" category.

"This official doesn't have much interaction with the Celestial Master's Mansion, so I'm curious, what brings you here, sir?" Zhao Du'an asked, puzzled.

Zhang Yanyi looked at him with interest and said:

"This old one happened to hear from Divine Official Zhu Dian that a martial artist with a naturally strong divine soul had appeared in the capital. Coincidentally, the path I walk places harsh demands on the divine soul, so I came to take a look."

It really was Jin Jian, always lurking and eavesdropping, and with such a big mouth... Zhao Du'an was stunned, his expression strange as he said:

"What do you mean by that, sir? Surely you're not here to take me as a disciple."

He used a teasing tone when he said the last part.

But Zhang Yanyi only smiled, quietly looking at him.

"..." Zhao Du'an's teasing expression gradually faded, his face becoming even stranger:

"Are you serious, sir?"

Zhang Yanyi smiled and said, "If I find a good seedling, wanting to take him under my wing, is that not proper?"

It's not a question of whether it's proper or not, you're openly poaching from the imperial family... And is it really that hasty? You heard someone mention it, and you just came?

Zhao Du'an was too tired to even retort, then realized that this did seem to be the style of a "Minor Official."

The Celestial Master's Mansion, as the "Orthodox National Religion," had extremely strict enrollment standards. It was fine for Executive Officials, but Minor Officials rarely accepted disciples.

Like the legendary "Celestial Master Zhang," who, despite his hundreds of years of life, had only accepted a mere six disciples.

Shenlong Temple was similar.

Therefore, upon learning of the birth of a cultivation genius, the Divine Officials of the Celestial Master's Mansion and the monks of Shenlong Temple would compete fiercely.

It was much like Tsinghua and Peking University vying for the top scorers in the college entrance exam...

The more powerful the cultivator, the less they adhered to worldly etiquette, and their actions were unconventional.

"Thank you for your high regard, senior, but this junior has already entered the service of the imperial family and is following the martial deity inheritance of Emperor Taizu." Zhao Du'an politely declined.

Zhang Yanyi exuded an overbearing aura:

"The Great Yu's Taizu has been dead for who knows how many years, what can he teach you? Entering this old one's tutelage, receiving personal instruction, wouldn't that be a hundred times better than visualizing some broken painting?"

Holy crap... Zhao Du'an almost broke out in a cold sweat. Were all the Divine Officials of the Celestial Master's Mansion this willful?

Daring to say anything?

Of course, he couldn't have guessed the true identity of the old man before him.

After all, that was too unbelievable. Celestial Master Zhang was a god-like figure, even admired by the Empress.

He was a peerless powerhouse whom even Yuan Li and Li Yanfu had no chance to meet.

He was a terrestrial immortal who had rarely set foot in the mortal world for a hundred years.

Although he, as a "transmigrator," had his own unique confidence, he didn't believe that he was qualified to meet Celestial Master Zhang, at least not yet.

Much less have Celestial Master Zhang ambush him late at night, asking to take him as a disciple?

He wouldn't even dare to dream of it!

In his opinion, the old man before him probably did have some status and ability in the Celestial Master's Mansion, enough to speak to Jin Jian.

But to think that he could rely on a few words to poach him into betraying the imperial family was too outrageous.

"Senior, be careful with your words!"

Zhao Du'an glanced left and right, confirming that their conversation was quiet enough, and said with a solemn expression:

"This junior is fortunate to have been favored by the Sage and led onto the path of the martial deity, and is already content. Senior, please don't mention the matter of taking me as a disciple again!"

Zhang Yanyi's eyes showed a strange glint:

"Young man, don't be in such a hurry to refuse. Why not ask which deity this old one cultivates?"

"...Which one?"

The old Celestial Master, with a ruddy complexion and narrow eyes, raised a finger, dipped it in the soup bowl in front of him, and wrote two upright characters on the table.

"Heavenly Dao?" Zhao Du'an raised his eyebrows and asked:

"Is that the one corresponding to the 'World Honored One' of Shenlong Temple?"

On the Tianzi Tower, while chatting with the Empress, he had subtly inquired and learned some secrets.

For example, when he opened his heavenly eye earlier to observe the celestial phenomena, the vast blue expanse of "Azure Heaven" above the Celestial Master's Mansion was the deity mainly cultivated by the Daoist sect: the Heavenly Dao.

According to the Empress, the Heavenly Dao and the World Honored One were two cultivation paths no less powerful than the "Martial Deity."

"As far as I know, in the Celestial Master's Mansion, the Divine Officials who cultivate the Heavenly Dao are not exactly numerous, but at least everyone has one... Senior, don't think this junior doesn't understand." Zhao Du'an scoffed.

He felt that the old man was exaggerating to trick him.

Zhang Yanyi smiled slightly, not explaining, but instead asking:

"Isn't the Heavenly Dao stronger than the Martial Deity?"

How would I know... Zhao Du'an shook his head, casually making up an answer:

"The Heavenly Dao may be powerful, but unfortunately, this junior believes in the Human Dao."

He mainly wanted to find an excuse to make the stubborn old man give up and stop bothering him.

Zhang Yanyi chuckled: "You are so young, yet you like to speak grandly, as if you can distinguish between the Heavenly Dao and the Human Dao."

Normally, Zhao Du'an wouldn't argue with him.

But tonight he was drunk, his head was still a little dizzy, and he was lectured by this strange old man, so he was displeased and retorted casually:

"What's there to distinguish? In my opinion, the Dao of Heaven diminishes what is in excess and supplements what is insufficient. The Dao of Man is not so, it diminishes what is insufficient to offer to what is in excess. Who can have enough to offer to the world? Only the one who embodies the Dao."

These were famous lines from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching." The first two sentences were almost universally known, but the last sentence was not very famous.

When Zhao Du'an studied Sinology in his previous life to pursue an official career, he had memorized Lao Tzu's five thousand words by heart.

Now, under the influence of alcohol, he casually threw them out, without any calculation in his mind.

Unexpectedly, the stubborn old man was momentarily stunned when he heard them.

The Dao of Heaven diminishes what is in excess and supplements what is insufficient... The Dao of Man diminishes what is insufficient to offer to what is in excess... To offer to the world, only the one who embodies the Dao...

Zhang Yanyi chewed on the words for a moment, looking at the young man opposite him with slight surprise.

With his realm, of course, he wouldn't be surprised by this insight.

What surprised him was that such a condensed and profound sentence actually came from the mouth of this drunken mortal libertine.

Things seemed to be getting interesting.

Zhang Yanyi had a sudden urge to test him and asked:

"Oh? Then according to you, what is 'Dao'?"

Zhao Du'an recited casually:

"The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name... The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of all things. Therefore, constantly without desire, one observes its wonders..."

At first, Zhang Yanyi listened with great interest, but gradually, the old Celestial Master was no longer lazy and casual, and his narrow eyes slowly narrowed.

But Zhao Du'an stopped reciting.

"Why aren't you continuing?" Zhang Yanyi felt a sense of frustration as if he had been interrupted.

Zhao Du'an took it for granted and said, "I only have this much insight, I've finished speaking."

Zhang Yanyi thought for a while and shook his head:

"These things you said are too illusory and don't count as true understanding. If you can condense them into one sentence, then you can be considered to understand."

One sentence? Explain the Dao in one sentence?

Zhao Du'an chuckled, taking advantage of his drunkenness, imitating the old Celestial Master, raising a finger and dipping it in the sobering soup.

Pressing it against the decaying wooden table, he wrote strokes of clumsy handwriting:

"Dao begets One..."

Just as he wrote these three words, lightning and thunder suddenly flashed in the clouds above the capital.

"Boom!"

The terrifying spiderweb-like electric light tore through the dark night.

Then, with a crackling sound, large raindrops fell chaotically.

One stroke, astonishing the heavens.

...

I have something to do tomorrow, the update may be later.

Thanks to 墨墨 o for the 100 coin reward~