Chapter 187 The Old Taoist Returns

Chapter 187 The Old Taoist Returns

Chapter 187 The Old Taoist Returns
Gao Jiong's daughter was the Liangdi, or second wife, of Crown Prince Yang Yong. She gave birth to two sons for Crown Prince Yang Yong, Yang Yi, Prince of Anping, and Yang Ke, Prince of Xiangcheng. Yang Yong was not in a position to show up, so he asked his two sons to visit their grandfather.

Many things don't need to be said explicitly. With the sudden arrival of his two grandsons, Gao Jiong immediately understood what his son-in-law meant.

Gao Jiong called his two grandsons to his side and asked with a smile: "Has your father recruited a lot of generals privately recently?"

They both shook their heads, "We don't know!"

"Haha! I heard it from your royal grandfather. Grandfather wants to ask you, do you brothers usually have conflicts?"

"There are some, but nothing serious."

Gao Jiong nodded, "It's normal for five brothers to have conflicts, but they can't tell their father about their brothers' misdeeds behind their backs. For example, the fifth brother secretly monitored the eldest brother, and then secretly told his father about his misdeeds. This is not right. Brothers should unite instead of killing each other. Do you understand?"

"We got it!"

Gao Jiong said earnestly: "Go back and tell your father what I said. As the eldest brother, he should treat all brothers equally. He should not only favor the second oldest and ignore the youngest. You should know that father is partial to the youngest."

The two grandsons didn't quite understand, but they both remembered their grandfather's words firmly.

"Bang!" The inkstone hit the wall hard, breaking into seven or eight pieces, and ink splashed everywhere.

"You bastard, you'll be fed to wild dogs if you die. May the sky strike you as a bastard!"

Crown Prince Yang Yong was so angry that he trembled all over and cursed loudly. He never thought that the King of Han would stab him in the back and tell his father about his private recruitment of generals.

Yang Yong had been on guard against the second brother Yang Guang, but he didn't expect that it was the fifth brother who took action in the end. Yang Yong had to admit that he was careless. Yang Liang's low-key silence in the past few months made him almost forget about this poisonous snake.

At the most critical moment, the poisonous snake opened its ferocious fangs towards him.

At this time, the housekeeper said in the yard: "Your Highness, Mr. Zhang is here!"

"Invite him in!"

Although it was night time, the situation was serious and Yang Yong had no time to care about it. He called Zhang Yunqiu over overnight.

Soon, Zhang Yunqiu walked into the room and saw the ink on the wall and the inkstone fragments on the floor. He was shocked. What happened?

"Your Highness, what happened?" Zhang Yunqiu asked anxiously.

"That bastard stabbed me in the back!"

Yang Yong gritted his teeth and explained: "The King of Han complained to my father, saying that I recruited generals privately, which prompted my father to let the King of Han take charge of the military examination."

Zhang Yunqiu's face turned pale, this accusation was too serious, so serious that it would shake the position of the crown prince, and even make him lose his position. Everyone knew that recruiting generals privately was to seize military power, and seizing military power was to force the emperor to abdicate. How could the emperor tolerate this?
"Your Highness, we were so secretive, how could the King of Han know about it?"

Yang Yong did not say anything. In fact, they were not keeping it a secret at all. Yang Yu went everywhere to recruit masters to participate in the martial arts examination, not only historical celebrities, but also generals in the army.

Zhang Yunqiu raised this question now, and it felt like he was shirking responsibility. Wasn't it because he wanted him to strengthen his strength? Otherwise, why would he recruit generals?

Yang Yong reluctantly said: "With so many people recruited, it is naturally difficult to keep it secret. The key is how can I explain it to my father now?
"Your Highness, explaining now would be like betraying Gao Jiong, which is not appropriate. Besides, there is no way to explain it, after all, more than half of them are generals in the army."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Zhang Yunqiu sighed and said, "The only solution now is to stop the loss and temporarily stop all actions. Wait for this matter to slowly pass. After a while, the emperor will forget about it."

Yang Yong immediately said anxiously: "Sir, you should know the seriousness of this matter! If I don't explain, my father will suspect that I am planning a coup and I will be deposed as the crown prince."

"But how do you explain, Your Highness, that you are recruiting warriors, not generals? But more than half of them are generals in the army. If you want to select talents for the Sui Dynasty, why don't you go through the Ministry of War?

If you deny that this happened, but the King of Han has informed on you, he must have evidence in his hands. Your Highness, this is the fact, and we cannot explain it. The more we explain, the worse it gets. It might even lead to the dismissal of the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince. The correct approach is to not explain and quietly correct the situation, and let time make this matter forgotten."

Yang Yong asked helplessly: "How do we fix it?"

"It's very simple. Take back the employment letter and completely cut ties with them. Let them take the military examination on their own. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with Your Highness. Let them curse as much as they want."

“This is self-destructive!”

"It's better to ruin your reputation than your future!"

Yang Yong had no choice but to nod, "It's decided. Tomorrow all fifty-three people will withdraw their letters of appointment and sever all ties with them." At the same moment when Crown Prince Yang Yong was stabbed in the back by Prince of Han Yang Liang, Xiao Xia also received a notice from Yang Gongren that his third mission was approved and completed, and on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month next year, he would officially become a member of the Lingyan Pavilion.

Xiao Xia no longer went out, and concentrated on memorizing the military books his elder brother had given him, while also practicing intensively.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of September, and there were still three days before the martial arts examination. Early in the morning, Ah Chu came running to report in a panic, "Sir, an old Taoist priest moved into our side yard at some point, and Master Tian just discovered it. The old Taoist priest said you owed him money."

Xiao Xia was overjoyed. It was Yuan Shoucheng who came. He smiled and said, "Tell Lao Tian that he is my master, not an outsider!"

He dropped the book, took out an envelope from the iron box inside the wall, and ran to the side yard.
When he ran to the backyard, he saw Yuan Shoucheng taking the soul-calling banner and preparing to leave. Xiao Xia got anxious and rushed over to grab the banner, complaining, "Master, why are you leaving without saying goodbye again?"

Yuan Shoucheng sighed and said, "I didn't leave without saying goodbye. Although I don't have to pay for accommodation when I live in your house, I still have to eat! How can I have rice if I don't go out to work?"

"Alright! Alright! I'm afraid of you. I'll pay you back right away!"

Yuan Shoucheng blinked his eyes and said, "How much money do you owe me? I have forgotten it."

"Two thousand five hundred strings of cash. Don't I have an IOU in your hand?"

"Oh, that happened in early August last year. It's been more than a year. How do you calculate the interest?"

"The annual interest rate is 2%, which is 500 guan interest, so the total interest you get is 3,000 guan."

Yuan Shoucheng was really a little touched. In fact, the so-called owing money was just a joke. What's more, Xiao Xia had already given him 2,500 strings of cash, and now he was going to give him another 3,000 strings of cash. He was actually supporting himself.

Yuan Shoucheng certainly didn't spend the money. He was taking care of hundreds of homeless orphans. Xiao Xia knew this, so she found ways to support him.

Yuan Shoucheng pointed at Xiao Xia and said, "You are really rich! You gave 8,000 strings of cash to Baiyun Temple, and now you want to give me 3,000 strings of cash. What do you want?"

Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "I don't want anything. Family love is priceless. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

"I like what you said. OK! Just three thousand strings of cash. Also, your yard is nice. I plan to live here for a while. Please don't chase me away."

"How could that be? Master, please come in."

Xiao Xia dragged Yuan Shoucheng back to the yard, asked him to sit on the stone bench in the yard, and handed him the envelope in his arms, "Master, this is three thousand strings of cash, please accept it!"

Yuan Shoucheng took out the shop list from the envelope and took a look at it. Then he put the envelope into his arms with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Stretch out your left hand. I will take your pulse and see the progress of your internal strength!"

Xiao Xia quickly sat down and stretched out his hand. Yuan Shoucheng felt his pulse for a moment and nodded, "It's consistent with what I expected!"

"Master, what's wrong with me?"

Yuan Shoucheng said slowly: "Do you know why I am here now? I deduced last year that you would form a pill around the end of the year. This is your most critical moment, and I must be by your side to guide you."

Xiao Xia was overjoyed, "Thank you, Master, for the arrangement!"

Yuan Shoucheng took out another parchment scroll and handed it to him, "This is the Danxi Guidance Technique, which is the key Taoist technique in my hundred years of cultivation. It has a total of forty-eight sentences. You memorize it now and return the parchment scroll to me."

Xiao Xia concentrated on memorizing it silently. His memory was now unprecedentedly strong. He remembered it after reading it only once. He recited it twice more, word for word, and returned the parchment scroll to Yuan Shoucheng.

Yuan Shoucheng smiled and said, "Remember this, kid. Don't be a good person too easily. Everyone's Danxi situation is different, and the Danxi guidance technique will be different. I spent three months modifying this specifically for you. It is only suitable for you. If you use it on others, someone will die."

"Is this Master's foundation-building technique?"

Yuan Shoucheng smiled slightly and said, "My foundation-building technique has five parts: starting, breaking, stabilizing, supporting, and combining. I didn't give you the first part, starting, and the second part, breaking, because you have already broken through the barriers and consolidated your essence, so you don't need them. The third part, sorting out the Dan Qi, is stabilizing. The fourth part, supporting, was also given to you before. Now it's the fifth part, combining, which is the final step of forming the Dan.

So starting from tonight, you should practice the three stages of steadying, carrying and combining together, starting from sunset, at a fast speed, no less than ten times, the more the better, and remember to take three Spring Rain Pills, and you must practice deeply every night until around December, when your foundation building will be complete."

Xiao Xia thought for a moment and asked, "Will there be any special feeling when the foundation is successfully established?"

"You will feel some illusions, but every practitioner's feelings are different. You can feel them yourself, and you don't need to tell me. However, this period is also your most dangerous time. I must protect you by your side. Now you can go and do whatever you need to do. Don't worry about me anymore!"

Xiao Xia nodded and placed a heavy small cloth bag on the stone table. "These are your usual pocket money. If it's not enough, ask me for more!"

After saying that, Xiao Xia bowed and left.

Yuan Shoucheng quickly opened the cloth bag, and inside were thirty taels of gold and dozens of taels of silver. This was of course the money for his food and drinks. Yuan Shoucheng stroked his goatee lightly, smiled, and felt really comfortable in his heart. It was really nice to have a rich disciple!
(End of this chapter)