Chapter 17 The Power of a Cultivator

In Jiangnan province, within a certain secret research institute.

News played incessantly on the screens, the most frequently repeated content being the scene of a Daoist flicking his sleeve, revealing the legendary Kunlun Mountains amidst clouds and mist. Then came the roar of a ferocious dragon beast, and Buddhist disciples and Daoist cultivators alike, riding six-tusked white elephants or white cranes, rushed towards the Jade Pool, as if a myth was being re-enacted.

A middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance stared intently at the screen, his eyes gleaming.

After a long while, he exhaled softly.

He leaned back in his chair.

Raising a hand to cover his eyes, he felt his heart pounding rapidly.

"This is the power of a cultivator."

'Gods and cultivators exist in this world.'

These were the words he had heard from someone in his childhood.

He had searched for half his life before finally locking onto a target—if legends and true miracles truly existed on the land of China, then they would certainly exist in the tomb of the emperor who unified the six kingdoms and laid the foundation for China. In his mausoleum, the Milky Way in the sky was recreated, as were the five lakes and four seas, along with the twelve golden men cast from the weapons of the world, and the collected books of the seven kingdoms.

These were books that had not been destroyed by the various wars of later generations.

They certainly contained the ancient methods of cultivation of the Confucian and Mohist schools.

The researcher looked at the paused image on the screen, at the true Daoist cultivators and the eminent monks of Buddhism. He took out his phone and typed a line: ‘Be prepared at any time. The official development will begin in about a month, so be sure to free up your time.’ He sent it to the group, put away his phone, dragged the progress bar back and forth, watching the news footage. Finally, unable to contain his excitement, he recited aloud:

"Establish a heart for Heaven and Earth, establish a life for the people, continue the lost teachings for past sages, and establish peace for all generations!"

"I am skilled at nurturing my noble spirit!"

The middle-aged man was agitated.

Suddenly, a creaking sound came from behind him.

The man's expression froze.

His movements stilled.

He slowly turned his head and saw his student standing at the door, holding a cup of coffee, unsure whether to come in or go out. Teacher and student looked at each other, caught in an unspeakable silence.

After a long while,

The middle-aged man coughed and said without changing his expression:

"You're here, come in."

You shouldn't have come.

The graduate student twitched at the corner of his mouth and said, "I'm here."

But I still came.

"Ahem, come in, don't stand outside."

The two remained expressionless, tacitly acting as if nothing had happened. Outside the window, several crows cawed, then flapped their wings and flew into the darkening night, eventually landing on a young man's shoulder. In the dim yellow sunset, the bird emanated a wooden color.

It was a mechanical bird.

…

Wei Yuan looked at the line of text on his phone and whispered to himself, A month, huh…

The Mausoleum of the First Emperor.

He closed his eyes slightly, as if he saw again the emperor of that year, heroic and ambitious, gazing at the world. He saw him smiling and saying to himself that he wanted to share the dream of a unified world. Now, recalling it, it truly felt like a dream. Wei Yuan's hand touched the jade dragon pendant at his waist, and he murmured to himself, The Mausoleum of the First Emperor.

He wondered.

Could there also be terracotta warriors of himself from the Qin Dynasty inside?

Could he suddenly see a clay figure of himself while walking inside?

The outermost layer that had been developed only contained terracotta warriors of the regular army.

Inside were also general figures.

And… the Black Ice Terrace.

Regardless of what happened in later generations, at least when the terracotta warriors were being prepared, Zhang Han was still loyal to Great Qin. So, could there also be a clay figure of Zhang Han inside? Thoughts surged in his mind, Wei Yuan reached out and touched the iron eagle emblem on the hilt of the eight-sided Han sword, his heart calm and complex.

…

Tiantai Sect.

A young monk in black robes stood up silently.

Hui Kong looked troubled. Ever since this seemingly young patriarch returned, his expression had been off. Now, seeing this action, he was planning to go down the mountain directly. He wanted to stop him, but didn't know how to speak. He knew that no matter what he said, the patriarch would definitely leave the mountain. He felt lost and said:

"Patriarch, are you going down the mountain?"

Dao Yan's voice was calm as he said:

"Yes… I have doubts in my heart, so I must go down the mountain to clarify the answers in my heart."

"Then where are you going?"

"To the human world."

"When will you return?"

Dao Yan gazed at his disciple with calm eyes and replied, "This place is also the human world."

"No going, no returning."

Going to the human world.

This place is also the human world.

I am in the human world, so naturally there is no concept of going or returning.

Hui Kong didn't know how to respond to such a sentence. He only felt that this patriarch, who had meditated for a hundred years, seemed to have undergone some change, transforming from a detached and indifferent 'god' back into a human, with attachments and thoughts. He didn't know if it was good or bad.

Hui Kong sighed in his heart, then said softly that he would allow the patriarch to rest well tonight, and then silently retreated, leaving the monk's room. Dao Yan tapped the wooden fish and silently recited the Diamond Sutra once.

He took out the alms bowl that the doctor had given him back then.

Taking advantage of the night, he pushed open the monk's room.

Bathed in moonlight, he walked down the mountain.

The monk's room returned to silence, clean and tidy, everything seemed to be in its place, the drawers were tightly closed, and the books were neatly stacked.

Only the moonlight poured in through the cracks in the window, adding to the tranquility.

The room gradually returned to peace.

Suddenly,

The monk's room was opened abruptly.

A young monk in black, with a handsome face, walked into the monk's room expressionlessly, opened the drawer of the cabinet, the left side was empty, but the right side contained a handful of pine nuts. He collected all the pine nuts, making sure that the left and right drawers were exactly the same, without even a speck of dust.

Only then did he feel relieved.

He nodded.

He turned and went down the mountain.

…

The next day, because of Ah Xuan's instructions.

Wei Yuan got up early in the morning and set off for Longhu Mountain.

He even brought a large thermos cup specifically.

When he arrived at Longhu Mountain, he saw Ah Xuan with dark circles under his eyes, even the flame mark between his eyebrows seemed listless, dispirited. Seeing Wei Yuan, the little Daoist priest seemed to have finally found a life-saving straw, stepped forward, reached out and tugged at Wei Yuan's sleeve, anxiously saying, "Museum Head Wei, please go quickly."

"My senior brothers…"

Wei Yuan's expression was calm: "Don't worry, their cultivation is very high, they'll be fine."

The little Daoist priest was so anxious that he was about to cry: "Marshal Zhao is fine."

"But my senior brother and Lord Guan Sheng have been drinking until now."

Wei Yuan grinned.

Drinking until now?

They really could drink…

He comforted the little Daoist priest and said, "Don't worry, they can resolve this little bit of alcohol themselves."

Little Daoist priest Ah Xuan said blankly, "But, they drank all the wine used for the mountain's altar last night. They got really drunk, and they didn't use their magical powers to sober up. When the alcohol hit them, they didn't care about anything. Now they've run to the back kitchen, found the cooking wine, and started drinking it."

Wei Yuan's smile froze.

Huh? What?

Drinking cooking wine?

He reacted.

Cooking wine?!!!

Wei Yuan's eyes widened, and then he brushed past, directly controlling the wind, rushing towards the back kitchen of Longhu Mountain—Longhu Mountain's secret cooking wine, he was planning to take some away this time, little Daoist Ah Xuan was blank and puzzled, reached out to speak, but Museum Head Wei was gone, opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

In the end, Wei Yuan successfully rescued half a bottle of cooking wine.

Then he took off the large stainless steel thermos he carried with him.

He asked Ah Xuan to find three bowls.

He poured three bowls of sobering soup with gurgling sounds.

He handed them to Zhao Xuantan and Guan Yunchang, and said politely, "Marshal Zhao, General Guan, please have some."

Then he handed the last bowl to Zhang Ruosu.

The old Daoist priest hiccuped and waved his hand, "No, I won't drink it, I'm not drunk, why would I drink sobering soup?"

"No drinking, no drinking."

Ah Xuan couldn't persuade him, and was having a headache when a black figure jumped up and landed on the stone table, its four paws stepping on snow, it was a spirit cat that had been raised on Longhu Mountain for hundreds of years. The black cat licked its paws, and with one paw holding the sobering soup, it pushed it slightly towards the old Daoist priest.

Old Daoist Zhang hiccuped and waved his hand.

The black cat expressionlessly stretched out its paw.

The meat pad popped out its claws.

Zhang Ruosu picked up the ceramic bowl and raised his neck.

Glug glug glug!

The black cat nodded in satisfaction.

The old Daoist priest exhaled. His Daoist skills were already extremely high, and he was immune to all poisons, let alone mere drunkenness. In fact, he didn't need to drink sobering soup. As long as he circulated his energy for one cycle, he could become refreshed again. But since he had already drunk the sobering soup, it wasn't a waste.

The group changed places again.

Wei Yuan took out a pocket from his sleeve and handed it over.

Zhang Ruosu opened it and looked. He found that it contained soil and spiritual materials that had been sorted and packaged. He paused for a moment, and then came back to his senses, knowing that this was what he had agreed with Wei Yuan before, seeds and soil from the Mountain and Sea Realm, hoping to conduct research in the human world, and preferably create spiritual plants in the human world, creating artificial spiritual lands.

This was extremely important and valuable for promoting cultivation methods.

Zhang Ruosu thanked him, and asked with doubt, "By the way, Museum Head Wei."

"Didn't you say that the Houtian Divine Power consumes too much magic power, and you can't easily use it?"

"How did these seeds come from?"

Wei Yuan was silent for a moment, and said, "I had a mount at the time."

Zhang Ruosu recalled that during the lecture, the red-scaled dragon beast seemed to rise and fall in the clouds, and suddenly realized something, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he looked at Wei Yuan: "At that time, it was…"

Wei Yuan nodded affirmatively:

"Picking vegetables."

The majestic dragon beast in the eyes of ordinary people, lurking in the clouds, changing unpredictably, was actually picking vegetables and digging soil in the Jade Pool. This contrast made the old Daoist priest feel恍惚 for a while. Over there, Guan Yunchang stroked his beard and said, "Daoist Yuan, did you say you had something to say to Guan today?"

Wei Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, I haven't thanked General Guan and Marshal Xuantan for their help yet."

Guan Yunchang closed his eyes and said calmly, "It was just a small effort."

Zhao Gongming laughed and said, "I was originally from the Zhengyi sect, so naturally I have a responsibility to do this kind of thing."

Wei Yuan said, "I was also worried before, and didn't have anything good to repay you."

"But yesterday, I had an unexpected gain."

"Whether it's me or Daoist Zhang, we can't use it, but it's a little useful for the two of you."

Zhang Ruosu was slightly stunned, and then suddenly realized, stroking his beard and laughing, "That's true."

"This is the best."

Guan Yunchang looked over, and Wei Yuan said in a calm tone:

"It's the incense worship of the Tiantai Sect for thousands of years."

"If you strip away the Buddhist vows in it, what remains is the purest incense."

ps: Today's update is three thousand two hundred words… A buffer chapter