Chapter 314 Yuan

The Tiantai Sect's old monk rarely heard the Ancestral Master whisper such complex words. He pondered and recalled the name Yuan, subconsciously lowering his head.

But while he could hide the confusion on his face, he couldn't conceal the doubt in his heart. The handsome young monk glanced at him, saying calmly, "Do you also want to know the ins and outs of this matter?"

The old monk lowered his head and said softly, "This disciple wouldn't dare."

"Heh… what's there to dare or not dare? My junior disciple is so rigid?"

The young monk chuckled, one hand holding a string of Buddhist beads. He sat cross-legged in the Tiantai Sect, looking down at the mountains below, relaxed and at ease. "It's just like my senior brothers who beat me out of the temple with sticks when I was young. But what the Buddhist path cultivates is 'I'—the 'I' who is the only one supreme in heaven and earth. And this 'I' is all living beings themselves."

"To be rigidly confined by precepts is to lose the 'I,' a foolish act of buying the casket and returning the pearl."

"Now those senior brothers who reverently worship the Buddha have long turned to dust, only I am still alive."

The old monk didn't dare to speak.

The young monk smiled to himself, "I've kept these things bottled up in my heart for too long. I practiced silent meditation, hoping to let go of this matter. But alas, some things can never be let go."

"Since you want to hear, I'll tell you."

The old monk adopted a reverent Buddhist posture, listening attentively.

The young monk paused and said, "That person, like the Taiping Dao leader, was also called Yuan. He lived several hundred years ago. I learned medicine in my youth, also following that person, learning the methods of the alchemists. Later, influenced by him, I became proficient in Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism."

"Each school has its own theory of luck, and the sayings are roughly similar."

"Whenever Shenzhou faces a crisis, heroes rise up together, and talents flock together. In times of great chaos, heroes are bound to emerge."

"In these hundreds of years, what was the greatest crisis in Shenzhou?"

The old monk pondered.

Although Shenzhou had faced a crisis a hundred years ago, it was fiercely repelled by the people of Shenzhou. Therefore, in the span of hundreds of years, it couldn't be considered the greatest crisis. He hesitated and said, "Was it when the Yuan Tartars were in Shenzhou…"

The young monk said, "Yes…"

"In that era, a hero emerged, rising from a beggar to become the Emperor, driving out the Tartars from south to north and restoring the Han Chinese. In the five thousand years of emperors, there has only been one like him, so his attainment of the throne was unprecedented."

The old monk's eyes lit up slightly, and he said slowly, "The Hongwu Emperor."

The current Shenzhou evolved from the Ming Dynasty, and the cultural context is inherited in the same line. They still hold a high level of respect from the heart for the Emperor who restored the Han Chinese. The young monk nodded and said:

"What do you think of the Hongwu Emperor?"

The old monk pondered and replied, "Although his laws were strict, he was the founding Emperor who restored the Han Chinese and severely punished corrupt officials. Such a figure has both merits and demerits, and both are great. This disciple doesn't know how to comment, and can only call him Emperor."

The young monk's voice was calm, "Then what if I said that the Hongwu Emperor was originally going to become a tyrant?"

"Killing meritorious officials and generals, implicating nine generations of relatives at every turn, ruthless and bloody, would you believe it?"

The old monk was shocked, "This, this is not…"

The young monk said, "This is what I saw on an ancient artifact, a stone book."

He paused and said:

"It recorded the future after the Ming Dynasty."

"Later, I once divined the heavenly secrets. Although Emperor Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, made unparalleled achievements and rebuilt China, his fortune was too strong and too rigid. Throughout his life, he was destined to be alone. He lost his father in his youth, was lonely and helpless, lost his wife in middle age, and lost his son in old age."

"Everyone he cared about would leave him, leaving him alone on the throne, which slowly drove him mad, gradually becoming cold and ruthless, like a divine sword pulled out, never to be bound again."

The young monk paused and said, "That's how it should have been."

He stretched out his palm, without any emotion, "Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang."

"He didn't transform from a person into that cold and ruthless Hongwu Emperor, only relying on two people to hold him back. One was his wife, Empress Ma, and the other was his son, Prince Zhu Biao. According to the records in that book, both of these people would abandon him and die when he needed them most."

"As long as they were still there, then Zhu Yuanzhang would at least still have the aspect of Zhu Chongba."

"But they died one by one, so Zhu Yuanzhang became the Hongwu Emperor."

"And my opportunity was in the year Empress Ma died. I was originally supposed to accompany Prince Yan, Zhu Di, to chant scriptures and pray for blessings because of Empress Ma's death, and take this opportunity to successfully get to know him. But in the month before Empress Ma died, something happened."

The young monk slowly narrated what he knew.

………………

In order to treat Empress Ma's stubborn illness, Emperor Hongwu summoned the best imperial physicians.

However, the stubborn illness was extremely tricky. Even though the imperial physicians of that era racked their brains, Empress Ma's condition did not improve.

The Emperor's temperament gradually became irritable.

When Empress Ma felt that her days were numbered, she had her attendants send all the imperial physicians away.

The old monk was puzzled, "Why is that?"

The young monk was silent for a moment and replied, "Because, if she didn't do this, Zhu Yuanzhang, who saw Empress Ma's corpse with his own eyes, would probably go directly insane, and those imperial physicians would be implicated. But because of this, one of the doctors survived. When he left the palace, he found his teacher. Coincidentally, his teacher was traveling around the world and happened to be nearby at that time."

"His teacher was Yuan."

"At that time, he was already quite old. After the imperial physician happily reported this, the Embroidered Uniform Guard brought him into the palace."

"Actually, I suspect that Empress Ma's body not only had a stubborn illness, but also a shamanic curse from the prairie barbarians. However, after he entered the palace, Empress Ma, who was originally just on the verge of death, actually survived. Empress Ma did not die, and I lost the possibility of meeting Prince Yan, Zhu Di."

"At that time, I felt something was wrong."

"It wasn't until Prince Zhu Biao's body was also nursed back to health that I realized something was wrong. I went back to the place where that book was, but the original canyon had turned into flat ground. I asked the surrounding villagers, but they told me that this place had always been flat ground and there had never been a deep valley."

"I left in despair at the time."

"Later, although I also met Prince Yan, he no longer had the unruly ambition recorded in the original stone book. He was just the current Prince, the younger brother of the future Emperor Taizong of Ming, a famous general of Ming, Prince Yan Zhu Di, loyal and devoted."

"And Chang Yuchun, who was originally recorded to have died of wind and disease at the age of forty, was also alive."

"Some things have been changed."

The young monk murmured to himself.

But how was this possible?

The one that recorded these things was…

What exactly happened?

But a section of history flashed through the old monk's mind.

Emperor Hongwu of Ming and General Xu Da had known each other since childhood. Later, Emperor Hongwu of Ming sent troops westward, with Xu Da as the commander, Prince Yan Zhu Di in the center army, General Lan Yu commanding the right army, General Chang Yuchun commanding the left army, and a hidden strategist plotting. After several battles, they brought the Western Regions back under the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence.

When General Xu Da returned to the court, he drank fine wine and said that he had lived this life to the fullest, brotherhood, friendship between monarch and subjects, and hatred of China, there were no regrets. He laughed a few times and died without illness.

Prince Yan Zhu Di was stationed in the north all his life, and finally completely drove out the Oirat, incorporating the grasslands into the Ming Dynasty's territory, laying the foundation for the current Shenzhou. Emperor Taizong Zhu Biao followed Emperor Hongwu around when he was young. He was gentle in nature and had good skills. Those founding ministers also recognized him and smoothly accepted this group of founding veterans.

After that, there were several generations of prosperity in the Ming Dynasty.

If it was as the Ancestral Master said, Emperor Taizong Zhu Biao died early, and Emperor Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang was cruel and killed meritorious officials, the Ming Dynasty would probably fall into a considerable period of loss of strength, which would be equivalent to self-defeating. Why would Emperor Hongwu do such a thing with his vision?

He didn't dare to ask about this matter, but brought the topic back to the upcoming debate, "Ancestral Master, will you take action when debating with the Daoists?"

The young monk pondered, shook his head and said, "I will not take action this time."

The old monk was stunned.

This is different from what you said before.

He couldn't help but said, "But, what if the Celestial Master appears?"

"I still won't take action."

If he doesn't take action even if the Celestial Master comes out, wouldn't the Buddhist sect be bound to lose?!

There was confusion in the old monk's eyes.

The young monk exhaled and said, "You can just deal with it. Leave a curtain in the debate place, I want to see if it is that person. Also, if it is really him this time, I have a way to deal with it, you come closer."

The old monk breathed a sigh of relief, leaned over and listened carefully, and then felt relieved.

The young monk was silent for a moment and said:

"Also, when he comes, take something from me and ask him if he still remembers an old friend."

The old monk said, "This disciple obeys."

The young monk let the old monk with a wrinkled face retreat.

In fact, there were other things he hadn't said.

It was too coincidental.

Whether it was among those imperial physicians, there happened to be a doctor who had a master-disciple relationship with that Yuan, or that Yuan happened to be staying in the capital on the day Empress Ma sent the doctors out of the palace, or that the imperial physician actually ran into Yuan after hurriedly leaving the city, and that Yuan, who had always been indifferent, would be willing to enter the palace for treatment.

These were all too coincidental.

As long as one thing went wrong, everything would change, Yuan's medical skills would not be exposed, and Zhu Biao would eventually die.

Insignificant coincidences linked together were no longer coincidences.

Especially since these so-called coincidences almost changed the original fate.

That was written on the Book of Luo, how could it be wrong?

The monk murmured in his heart.

That was the Book of Luo.

However, he only knew a little about what happened back then, and was not clear about the details.

As for what Yuan experienced in the palace, what the turning point was in the end, and whether Zhu Biao's matter was related to him, he didn't know.

But if Yuan had just died like that, he would only think that this was fate. But now, Yuan, who should have died six hundred years ago, may reappear. It was obvious that the coincidences at the beginning caused a slight deviation in the things recorded in the Book of Luo, and it was inseparable from this person. All the doubts and resentment had a target.

Although he hadn't met him, he still felt that the Taiping Dao leader was the Yuan from back then.

As a monk who had cultivated supernatural powers, this feeling was extremely clear.

He intended to see the true face of the Taiping Dao Ancestral Master with his own eyes that day, to see if he was an old friend from back then. His appearance may change, but his true spirit would last forever. He wouldn't be mistaken.

The monk slightly narrowed his eyes, looking at the prosperous world, silent for a long time, stretched out his hand, picked up a fallen leaf, and muttered in a low voice, "The watchtowers' battle blood has dried up over the years, and the fireworks are still half withered. The mountains of the Five Prefectures are close, and the morning clouds are in chaos. The Ten Thousand Years Tower is empty, and the night moon is cold."

"The river flows without tides to the Iron Weng, and the fields have roads to the Golden Altar."

"Where is the Xiao Liang dynasty now? The traveler wearily watches the green Beigu."

"Yuan, although you ruined my fate, didn't I also disrupt your original plan? Otherwise, how could I have lived for so long? No matter what secrets you have, this time I won't let you spoil things again."

"This opportunity, this monk has been waiting for too long."

The young monk clenched his five fingers.

The leaves turned into powder, and the invisible aura stirred, and the sound of Buddhist bells in the Tiantai Sect never stopped.

Grand and solemn.

ps: Today's first update… 3,600 words, thank you to the Alliance Leader Bu Jian Yue Se Ran Tian Lan, thank you~

Regarding the overhead background of this book, it was actually introduced at the beginning, in the prologue, and in the early stages.

The preface is a direct statement.

Studying medicine, hundreds of years ago, the Buddhist sect, changed fate, it seems everyone has guessed it…