Chapter 167 Wangjing, Wangjing
Chapter 167 Wangjing, Wangjing
A thin mist covers the old city, and new people appear in front of the pile of old papers.
Ye Yilan sat at the desk with her back straight, biting her lower lip from time to time and frowning in thought.
Unable to figure it out, the little girl reluctantly put down her pen and turned to look at Gu Zhuo who was dozing off not far away. Her eyes slowly brightened up, like the porcelain bowl filled with spring rain placed under the eaves.
Even now, many days later, she still felt that everything that happened was too dreamy, making her happy but also vaguely fearful.
"Is there something you don't understand?"
Gu Zhuo's voice sounded lazily.
Ye Yilan left her chair, walked to his side holding the old book, and carefully read out the parts that she was confused about.
“People only know that there is real loss in false gains, but they don’t know that there is real loss in real gains. People only know that there is real falsehood in false truths, but they don’t know that there is real falsehood in true truths.”
The little girl said with a distressed look on her face: "After reading it over and over again, I feel that this paragraph is just beating around the bush and talking nonsense."
Gu Zhuo took the book and began to explain it leisurely.
Along with the sound of rain outside the window, his voice seemed to be a little softer. It didn't make people fall into a dream, but rather awakened them.
"Generally speaking, this paragraph talks about how to have a heart of truth. The heart of Tao is something mysterious. Sometimes, if you explain it too bluntly, it won't inspire anyone."
He said: "The heart of Tao and the truth are essentially the same. They both need to be understood. You can never do it just by knowing it."
Ye Yilan listened carefully, wrote down everything that needed to be said, and then applauded and praised.
Amid the applause, the little girl saw that Gu Zhuo seemed to be in a good mood at the moment, and finally couldn't help asking the question that had been lingering on her mind for many days.
"Brother, why did you suddenly come back to Wangjing?"
Gu Zhuo laughed and said, "You have been holding it in for a long time, right?"
Ye Yilan nodded honestly, her eyes full of curiosity.
"Just to relax."
Gu Zhuo spoke softly, with a gentler smile on his face.
He stopped lying on the chair and walked out the door, saying casually, "It's not the time of year when the weather gets warmer and colder. There's still spring rain knocking on the window. Stop reading and go to sleep."
After saying this, he disappeared from Ye Yilan's sight, and his whereabouts were unknown in the vast spring rain.
When the girl saw Gu Zhuo really leave, she rolled her eyes in annoyance, thinking, who has the leisure time to sleep?
She hurried back to her desk and continued to concentrate on her reading, trying her best to enter the realm of Dongzhen before the next summer festival.
……
……
Walking in the spring rain in the old city, Gu Zhuo was in a pretty good mood.
The reason I told Ye Yilan was true, but it was not the whole truth.
The day for that lady to become the queen has been set, this spring, and he knows very well that if he stays in the capital, he will inevitably have to witness this scene.
However, he really had no interest in this. Thinking that out of sight, out of mind, he talked with Yu Sheng in private, and finally found an excuse to return to Wangjing.
Wangjing is a very special place.
The Qin Empire was founded a thousand years ago, and its capital was Wangjing for nearly a thousand years.
If the saint of today had not decided to move the capital north despite all opposition at the time, the world would have an unprecedented capital that would remain unchanged for a thousand years.
What is even more amazing is that after the capital was moved, the Qin Dynasty, which had been standing on the edge of death, suddenly regained its vitality, as if heaven and earth had joined forces to deal a crushing defeat to the Taoist sect, which had just entered its heyday.
A hundred years have passed, and today there are many people who delve into piles of old papers, painstakingly studying the ins and outs of that great change that had not happened in a thousand years, trying to make the changes that took place in those years clear and distinct so that they can be read by future generations.
However, in the eyes of a very small number of practitioners, this is destined to be a futile effort, not because things and people are inherently entangled and cannot be truly separated, but because some things in this world are unreasonable.
For example, the so-called destiny.
Gu Zhuo stopped and raised his head slightly.
His gaze pierced through the layers of rain and fell on the dilapidated old palace. He thought that another example might be moving the capital, right?
The reason why the relocation of the capital was strongly opposed a hundred years ago was largely because the White Emperor at the time did not come up with a realistic reason, so that many people believed that the capital was moved because His Majesty the Emperor was afraid and wanted to stay as far away from Xuandu in the south of the sky as possible.
No one mentions this statement anymore.
It was not because Emperor Bai gave an explanation later, in fact he has not given a reason until today, but because he defeated the arrogant Taoist sect head-on, causing the Taoist master, who was almost the ancestor of the sect, to die together with Xuan Du, and all doubts disappeared.
At the same time, because he always avoided talking about it, people were even more secretive about it, unwilling to go against the wishes of this living saint.
From a certain perspective, the real reason for moving the capital is undoubtedly one of the biggest secrets in the world today.
After all, the real turning point of the war a hundred years ago began with the relocation of the capital.
Of course Gu Zhuo didn't know the truth of this secret.
However, the Taoist sect has speculated on this, believing that this is most likely an attempt to change one's destiny, and Wangjing may be the price, but this statement obviously has many unreasonable points.
For example, as the price paid, why is Wangjing still intact to this day and has not been razed to the ground by heaven, or has the entire imperial city fallen into the underworld, and the people in the city become evil spirits forever with no chance of reincarnation?
Thinking about these old events from a hundred years ago, thinking about these secrets whose truths are unknown, Gu Zhuo's mood did not get worse, but better.
He really liked the feeling brought by the unknown, which made him feel more alive. Thinking about another secret that Yu Sheng told him before leaving, it was hard not to be happy.
That secret is the true meaning of all things in the frosty sky.
At some point, Gu Zhuo had arrived in front of the old imperial city.
He showed his token as usual, but the soldier on duty smiled and shook his head, pretending to be disgusted and said: "I have recognized you for a long time, why do you always take out your badge? Do you really think we are blind?"
Gu Zhuo smiled and said, "I can't make things difficult for you, can I?"
The soldier got angry and said, "This is Wangjing, who dares to use your business to make things difficult for us?"
Ever since last year's summer festival, Gu Zhuo has held an extremely high status in the hearts of Wangjing people. The pride and glory he brought to this increasingly decadent old capital have never been forgotten by anyone.
I believe that in a few years, his name will become a legend in Wangjing.
Gu Zhuo smiled and didn't respond.
Passing through the deep city gate and then walking across the spacious square in the rain, he bypassed the once glorious palace and walked slowly to the deep palace.
The secret that Yu Sheng told him was related to this old imperial city.
For various reasons, Wangjing's administrative status has been repeatedly reduced, but the imperial court still allocates a considerable amount of money every year to maintain this old imperial palace so that it can maintain its proper dignity.
Only a few people knew that the cost of this repair fell largely on the formation, which was directly managed by the officials of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, and that this formation had the same origin as the one on Baidi Mountain. In other words, this formation was related to the true meaning of the Frost Sky of All Things.
Yu Sheng's intention was certainly not to let Gu Zhuo steal the true meaning of Frosty Sky of All Things, but to let him observe closely this great formation that was formed in accordance with the Frosty Sky Tribulation of All Things, and use it as a reference to comprehend his own path of cultivation.
The true meaning of all things in frosty sky is exactly what Gu Zhuo wanted to obtain.
The reason why he gave up at the beginning was because he thought that after he became Bai Nanming's junior apprentice, the benefits and risks of doing this again would be completely disproportionate.
Now that he had such an opportunity, he really couldn't find any reason to refuse.
As for why Yu Sheng didn't just let him go to Baidi Mountain, the reason was very simple. The queen would be visiting the Bai family's ancestral tomb soon, but there was no reason for her to go to Wangjing.
Gu Zhuo walked to a palace, closed the umbrella in his hand, and found a place to sit down.
An official from the Imperial Observatory came over and nodded to him.
Things like this have happened too many times in recent days, and it's already reached the point where there's no need for any small talk.
Today is an exception.
The middle-aged official coughed, looked up at the gloomy sky, and reminded, "I don't know why the Supervisor suddenly wants to come to Wangjing in about three days. He said he will personally inspect the formation."
Gu Zhuo was a little surprised and asked, "Huh?"
Seeing that he was still confused, the official sighed and said helplessly, "Song Jinglun will also come with the Supervisor. I heard that he is very popular with the Supervisor recently. Why don't you not come during those few days? Otherwise, when the Supervisor asks you what you are doing here, we can only talk about other things and have no answer at all. We have no choice but to ask you to leave."
The most important reason why a secret remains a secret is, of course, confidentiality.
Ordinary officials of the Imperial Observatory had no idea what the formation of the old imperial city was. Their daily maintenance was carried out step by step according to the instructions from their superiors.
To them, there was nothing special about this formation, and the imperial court had never designated this place as a forbidden area.
At first, when Gu Zhuo came here holding the princess's token, the officials of the Imperial Observatory were naturally surprised. But as time went on and he did this many times, they were too lazy to care what he was doing. What's more, he often just sat there in a daze and had no idea what he was doing.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Gu Zhuo asked curiously, "I remember you are not from Wangjing."
The official glanced at him and said faintly, "Although I am not from Wangjing, my wife is."
Gu Zhuo stopped talking.
The official consoled him, saying, "The supervisor will not stay here for long. Once the formation is repaired, everything will be back to normal."
Gu Zhuo had no intention of embarrassing others, so he smiled and said okay.
……
……
A black carriage was driving on the ancient streets of Wangjing. The wheels rolled over the uneven bluestone slabs, but the interior of the carriage did not shake at all and always remained stable. This was of course due to the subtle formation engraved on the carriage.
There were an old man and a young man sitting in the carriage. The old man was of course the director of the Imperial Observatory, and the young man was Song Jinglun.
This was Song Jinglun's first time in Wangjing. At this moment, he stared blankly at the scenery outside the window, his mind obviously flying far away, not knowing where to go.
The supervisor pried open his eyelids and suddenly asked, "Are you thinking about Gu Zhuo?"
Song Jinglun quickly retracted his gaze, lowered his head and replied, "Disciple has absolutely no intention of becoming an enemy of him."
The warden looked at him, a mischievous smile appeared on his old face, and he said, "What if I have it?"
Song Jinglun suddenly looked up and looked at him blankly, not daring to speak, wondering what this meant.
"It was just a joke."
The Supervisor waved his hand, looked at his disciple with some boredom, and said, "Not to mention being in the court, even if he were idle in the wild, no one in this world would embarrass Gu Zhuo."
Hearing this, Song Jinglun's mood suddenly became very complicated.
When leaving Wangjing, he specially invited Lin Qianshui to have a meal, and tactfully suggested that he could let her become his junior sister at the summer festival three years later, which means she would take Jianzheng as her master.
However, the reaction of this woman, whom he had a good impression of, made him very unhappy.
He still remembered that Lin Qianshui's smile froze slightly at that time, and then she said no, which made him subconsciously ask more questions in confusion, and finally heard the two words "Gu Zhuo".
Of course, Lin Qianshui did not say that she wanted to become Gu Zhuo's disciple and use this as a reason for refusal. At that time, she just suppressed her smile and said seriously that she hoped to win the opportunity with her own strength rather than looking for shortcuts.
This should be her true words.
Song Jinglun felt very sad when he heard this.
What made him even more sad was that he had no strength... or courage to refute this statement. He could only smile bitterly and say "I understand", then leave with sad silence in his heart.
This feeling is really unpleasant.
The supervisor looked at Song Jinglun quietly, watching his disciple turn his head away, feeling lonely and self-pitying.
There was no change in the emotion in his eyes, just like a pool of stagnant water, which made people feel uneasy.
Not long after Pei Jinge was laid off, the most mysterious chief of the Sky Patrol Department specially met with him and had a conversation with him.
The conversation mentioned what Jianzheng had been busy with recently - that is, he was observing the stars on the night of the party by the White Horse Lake and found that the lonely moon had changed. He had a bad feeling and wrote a letter to His Majesty, and then went around looking for a solution.
The chief agreed with his ominous premonition and gave a suggestion.
The suggestion is to go and see Gu Zhuo. The reason is that since you have not been able to find the reason for the unusual celestial phenomena, you might as well go and see those truly special people who are worth seeing, and perhaps find a glimmer of possibility from them.
No matter how you look at it, this is a nonsensical proposal.
The prisoner accepted it after a long period of silence and thinking.
This is also the real reason why he came to Wangjing at this time.
“Wangjing is a very special place.”
The supervisor lifted the curtain and looked at the old capital shrouded in spring. He said slowly, "There have been countless geniuses and hundreds or even thousands of great figures who have left their names in history. This is a place that cannot be avoided in history books. But have you ever discovered one thing?"
Song Jinglun frowned, thought about it seriously, shook his head and said, "Master, please explain clearly."
The Supervisor smiled and said, "Since your majesty moved the capital, there has been no such outstanding figure in Wangjing."
Song Jinglun subconsciously said, "Until Gu Zhuo?"
The supervisor smiled even more and said, "Yes."
For some reason, Song Jinglun felt that the supervisor's smile was inexplicably creepy and terrifying.
(End of this chapter)