Chapter 15: Qi and Luck

When Guan Huchen walked over, he saw the Daoist boy Qingsong dragging a wooden stake the thickness of a bowl and a zhang long with his right hand.

That wooden stake should have been chopped from the woods just now, and the knife marks on it were very new.

On the surface of the wooden stake, colorful runes were spread all over.

The runes didn't flicker with light, but facing the wooden stake, Guan Huchen felt as if he had seen a peerless murder weapon that had slaughtered a million people.

Even though it was clearly just manufactured and hadn't been used even once, black-red baleful aura was already lingering on it.

This thing is ominous!

Huchen was awe-struck, his attitude became more respectful, and his heart began to be vigilant, "Daoist, what are your instructions?"

The Daoist boy Qingsong threw the long wooden stake with a "clatter" and laughed: "The Sha Barbarian Xiang Xiaoyu established a system for the Sha Barbarians and also raised a Dragon Vein under the sand dunes."

"Killing the Sha Barbarians who know how to smelt iron, boil salt, and farm, then closing the divine shrines, and taking away the Sha Barbarian Xiang Xiaoyu, makes the system basically a delusion."

"But the Dragon Vein has become a fact; does the General understand?"

Guan Huchen's eyes flickered, he had already understood seven or eight parts in his heart, and nodded: "The Dragon Vein is the root; as long as the root is there, it can re-condense luck."

"I'm only afraid that even if we kill all the Sha Barbarians in the sand dunes, we cannot cut off the inheritance of iron smelting and salt boiling techniques."

"Decades later, the severely damaged Dragon Vein will gradually recover and will catalyze new Hidden Dragons."

"By then, the Western Sha Barbarian tribe will definitely establish a new 'Sand Dune Kingdom' and pose a threat to our Great Shu."

The Daoist boy Qingsong looked at him without speaking.

Guan Huchen lowered his eyes and continued dryly: "For the sake of Great Shu, the Sand Dune Dragon Vein must be cut off."

The Daoist boy Qingsong still had an indifferent expression, without opening his mouth.

Guan Huchen was sweating profusely, his heart in chaos, but he still sensibly took the initiative to take the blame, cupping his hands and saying: "I beg the Daoist to bestow the method; this subordinate wants to do my utmost for Great Shu!"

Satisfaction appeared in the Daoist boy Qingsong's eyes, but he turned around, sighed with his back to him, and said: "The General is making things difficult for me; I don't understand any method."

Guan Huchen glanced at the wooden stake on the ground, walked over and picked it up very reluctantly, and then looked in the direction of the Daoist boy Qingsong's gaze, with a vague realization in his heart.

The Daoist boy Qingsong caught his reaction with the corner of his eyes, and the satisfaction on his baby face grew stronger: this old Guan is not too dull.

Guan Huchen struggled for a moment, put the wooden stake aside, lay prostrate on the ground, and knocked his head repeatedly toward the Daoist boy Qingsong.

The Daoist boy Qingsong frowned and avoided him, his tone having a bit of coldness, "What is General Guan doing?"

—If you dare to refuse, I, the Daoist, will strike you down immediately, making it hard for you to even be a ghost!

Huchen's voice said muffledly: "This subordinate has no other meaning, just that the mountains and rivers here are beautiful, and seeing them makes me happy, so I want to ask the Daoist for advice on the learning of Feng Shui and luck."

The Daoist boy Qingsong gave a strange laugh and said: "Very well, the sand dunes are indeed beautiful, and I also have deep feelings, so I will talk to the General about it."

—Just to make you completely give up the idea of struggling.

"'Luck' is two words, Qi and Luck; those who look at Qi mostly observe the existing 'Qi', not the 'Luck' of the future."

"The Dao of Luck is very simple; the strong have prosperous Qi, the weak have weak Qi, and Luck and Fate are unpredictable."

"People are born from the Qi of heaven and earth, and formed by the laws of the four seasons."

"It is also said, 'The birth of a person is the gathering of Qi'."

"What is Qi? Everything is Qi!"

"The Dao is born from nothingness as one Qi, one Qi transforms into Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang combine to produce three, and three produce all things."

"It can also be summarized simply; Pangu opened the heavens and earth, clear Qi floated up to become heaven, and turbid Qi sank down to become earth."

"All things in heaven and earth are Qi."

"Innate is Qi, acquired is Qi."

"Since the essence of all things is Qi, wealth and treasures are naturally Qi, and power and wealth are also Qi."

"People are a collection of Qi."

"If you have money, the Qi of money will be added to your Qi, and red can be seen when looking at Qi; if you come from a noble family, the Qi of power and status enters your Qi, and blue or purple can be seen when looking at Qi."

"Emperors possess the four seas, and the Qi of territory and people is added to it, lush and green, vast like a canopy, bright like the great sun, and even immortals dare not directly confront its edge."

"In short, whatever you have, the Qi of what you possess constitutes a part of your own Qi, and different colors and scenes can be seen when looking at Qi."

"Even if you can become a king or hegemon in the future, if you are just a commoner now, having nothing, you are still gray and pale Qi."

Huchen frowned and said: "What the Daoist said makes this subordinate suddenly enlightened. However, the last sentence seems to be different from what this subordinate has heard."

The Daoist boy Qingsong laughed: "Is it that you heard that when emperors and generals are like dragons in shallow water, physiognomists have already seen that his 'Qi is like a dragon and tiger, five-colored' or 'red light fills the sky, vast and mighty'?"

Huchen nodded vigorously.

The Daoist boy Qingsong shook his head and said: "If this were really the case, how could there be emperors rising from humble beginnings and generals born in poverty? Such obvious characteristics would have been picked out by physiognomists long ago to be slaughtered or have their luck squeezed dry."

"Even a future emperor, before he rises, only has the strength of one man; if you slash at him, he will die."

"Once a person dies, everything is gone."

"Is all physiognomy predicting the future fake?" Huchen asked.

"Of course there are great powers who can peek at, or even rewrite, Fate and Luck, but you had better hope that everyone you meet in this life who dares to speak of the future is a charlatan."

"If you meet a 'True Person,' and the other party specifically meets you to calculate your future, hehehe... besides your own rotten life, what do you think you have that is worth the attention of such great existences?" The Daoist boy Qingsong sneered.

Huchen savored these words carefully, then shivered, and nodded repeatedly to show agreement.

"What is the relationship between luck, Dragon Veins, and Dragon Qi?" he asked again.

The Daoist boy Qingsong said: "Your Qi is the external manifestation of the power, power, and wealth you possess."

"The stronger you are, the fuller your Qi."

"Dragon Qi is directly a kind of Qi, a kind of 'Qi of all things' differentiated from innate Qi."

"To be more direct, Dragon Qi is Earth Qi."

"People absorb the clear Qi of 'heaven' and practice to become immortals."

"The 'turbid Qi' underground is nourished by human Qi on the ground, and through the interaction with human Qi, it synthesizes another kind of Qi that is closely related to heaven, earth, and the human race, which is 'Dragon Qi'."

"Dragon Qi gathers together, takes mountains and rivers as its body, and gives birth to a collective consciousness, which is a Dragon Vein."

Speaking of this, the Daoist boy changed the subject and said meaningfully: "To destroy a kind of Qi, you need another kind of Qi."

"Just like pouring water to save from fire, the quantity must be equal, and they must counteract each other."

"A cup of water cannot extinguish a cartload of firewood, and it is difficult to see the disaster of fire in a rainstorm; this is the principle."

After speaking, the little Daoist boy closed his mouth, turned around, and only greedily looked at the scenery, as if the sand dunes were truly a famous scenic spot.

Huchen felt cold hands and feet, and cursed his mother ten thousand times in his heart.

Not only cursing the Daoist boy Qingsong, but also the Prince of Qinghe, the King of Shu, the Marquis of Lieyang, and even the Human Emperor of Great Qin... everyone who "forced" him to come to the sand dunes to "counteract" the Dragon Qi had to be cursed.

"This subordinate brought three hundred armored cavalry this time; excluding those who died in battle yesterday and those who died in the mouths of fish monsters last night, there are still two hundred and thirty-six people. They are all elites of Great Shu, and among them are many children of noble families and relatives of the royal family..."

The Daoist boy Qingsong asked: "Do they have the eyes of an immortal?"

Huchen was silent.

The Daoist boy Qingsong asked again: "Do they have the martial arts realm of the General? Do they have the position and status of the General?"

"Are they as blessed as the General, encountering the Red Smoke Steed that awakened part of its ancient bloodline while hunting in the woods at twelve?"

Huchen gritted his teeth, wanting to roar at the Daoist boy Qingsong: My luck and fortune are meant to be buried in this broken place? No, I want to become an immortal, I want to go to the Heavenly Palace to be a god, I want to attend the Peach Banquet, I want to be immortal and enjoy immortal blessings forever!

"Daoist, you said it yourself, the power and authority already possessed manifest as Qi. It's just that the Qi manifested by power and authority is not the true Qi like immortal Qi, Dragon Qi, or Earth Qi. The Red Smoke Steed is still here, my status will not change, and my martial arts realm will not disappear; isn't the Qi still there?" he said.

The Daoist boy Qingsong said: "I emphasized at the beginning that luck is two words."

"Physiognomy only observes Qi."

"Although Fate and Luck are also hidden in Qi, unless you are a great power who controls destiny, you cannot see them at all."

"'Qi' is the external manifestation of existing wealth, power, and authority."

"'Luck' is your own Qi, luck, which is also Fate."

"You stand by the river, seeing the river surging, even if you haven't gone upstream, you know the water source upstream is abundant."

"If you see the river stagnant and the riverbed exposed, even if you don't go upstream, you dare to assert that the upstream is short of water and rain."

"A physiognomist stands in front of you, seeing your 'Qi' full and brilliant, bright and shining, even if he is just a third-rate sorcerer, he can conclude that your 'Luck' is thick and your 'Fate' is high."

"If the physiognomist sees your 'Qi' withered and faded, saying that your timing is bad and your fate is bumpy, he will likely not be wrong."

"This is a deduction that conforms to reason."

"It is not that the physiognomist is like a great power, directly seeing through the 'Fate' hidden above the 'Qi'."

"This is also the reason why street physiognomists can make a living; if their Daoist practice is insufficient, they use reasoning to make up for it."

Huchen vaguely grasped something, thought bitterly for a moment, and then a bolt of lightning seemed to flash through his brain, and he was suddenly enlightened.

"Daoist, this subordinate recommends someone to you, who will definitely be able to complete the task."

The Daoist boy Qingsong frowned: "You don't want to say 'Guan Yu', do you?"

"Guan Yu?" Huchen was stunned for a moment before reacting; this was the foster daughter he had just accepted.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Uh, this subordinate accepted her as a foster daughter; is there a problem?" he asked again.

The Daoist boy Qingsong said: "Such an outstanding person with innate wisdom, who hasn't committed any heinous crimes that provoke the wrath of heaven, killing her would be very ominous."

"If you take her for your own use, it is a great thing."

"It is good for you, and even better for Great Shu. If you are good, Great Qin will be at ease."

"In fact, letting you deal with her yourself is my compensation and reward for you."

"If she had been born in China, it wouldn't have been your turn to accept her as a foster daughter."

"I would have directly recommended her to a Daoist palace or noble with whom I have a good relationship."

"But don't count on borrowing her luck."

"Not to mention that she is currently at the mercy of others and her life is not her own, so you can't squeeze any luck out of her at all."

"The Dragon Vein was raised by her, and the two have mutual resonance and mutual nourishment, so they cannot counteract each other at all."

Huchen said: "The person this subordinate recommends is not her, but my deputy general, Song Changqing."

"So it's him..." The Daoist boy Qingsong was enlightened, and then hesitated.

"Trying it out won't do any harm," Huchen said.

The Daoist boy Qingsong sneered: "It won't do you any harm, but if you try and fail, and scare the Dragon Vein away, I don't know how much effort it will take for me to re-determine the Dragon Cave."

After being silent for a while, he said: "Forget it, call Deputy General Song over, and let me take a closer look." ===== CHAPTER 16 =====

After a moment of silence, he added, "Forget it. Call Deputy General Song over and let this humble Daoist take a closer look."