Chapter 365

The fourth floor of the Invitation to Immortals Building.

The layout was simple and elegant, with only one table and chair for tea, and two chairs set opposite each other.

The lights were dim, and the fluttering candlelight only illuminated a wood-yellow carved thick table.

There were no servants walking around in the room, only silence.

An old man in his eighties or nineties, dressed in green, his face covered with dense wrinkles and gullies, his gray and sparse eyebrows and eyes flashing with a faint luster.

The old man reached out and touched the tabletop, which was cold to the touch, and then slowly retracted his withered palm.

It was the power-wielding Su Xiang—Su Jing.

In this small pavilion, only one window was open, and the moonlight shone through the window lattice onto the corner of the table.

Through this window, one could clearly see the Flower Banquet being held below.

The old man, however, was uninterested, thinking in his heart that he was old, and had long since lost interest in the excitement of these young people, just squinting at the high-hanging moonlight.

At this time!

Su Jing slowly raised his head, looked outside the door, and then stood up.

A middle-aged man walked slowly into the room.

This middle-aged man had a slender figure, wore a slightly white Confucian shirt, and a head of soft black hair was scattered on his shoulders.

Although his features could not be considered outstanding, for some reason, these ordinary features combined on his face radiated an indescribable handsome beauty.

It was the Third Teacher of the academy.

The old man grinned and smiled: "Third Senior Brother, long time no see."

The age and appearance of the two were exactly the opposite.

Su Jing was younger than the Third Teacher, but his appearance was much older.

The Third Teacher stared at Su Jing and shook his head lightly, saying: "Wuxin, why do you have to disguise yourself as this dying appearance?"

Su Jing, courtesy name Wuxin, but in the current Great Qi, no one dared to call him by his courtesy name directly.

The Third Teacher had already sat down under the dim light.

"You still like to hide as always; at that time, you clearly could already recite the books, but every time you were the last one to go recite them, and the teacher knew but never exposed you."

"You learned the teacher's Corpse-Dissection Method; although you cannot achieve immortality, you can remain young forever. However, you chose to show yourself in this old appearance."

Su Jing smiled slightly and responded:

"I have stayed in the Great Qi court for too long. If I had always kept my young appearance, I fear it would have made them even more afraid of me, this 'old immortal' thing."

"I am also doing this for their own good."

After speaking!

Su Jing no longer concealed it, and lightly took off his green clothes, revealing a green shirt inside.

The whole person seemed to "return to youth."

The old man was gone, leaving only a fair and handsome young man, with only a pair of vicissitudes in his eyes.

Waves rose in the Third Teacher's eyes, but this was not because he was shocked by Su Jing's change.

It was because when he first saw Su Jing, the other party was in this appearance.

Su Jing looked down at his fair and tender hands and could not help but sigh: "Although the body has returned to youth, the heart is no longer young; it is not like the travels of a youth."

The Third Teacher said slowly: "The Corpse-Dissection Method is ultimately a side path; even if you can remain young forever, it is difficult to escape the calamity of a violent death."

Corpse-Dissection Immortal is a saying in Daoism, emphasizing "both form and spirit are wonderful."

Practitioners avoid heavenly tribulations or human disasters through feigned death, often associated with "crossing tribulations."

However, precisely because it requires "feigned death," the Corpse-Dissection Method is regarded by many Daoist sects as a "low-grade technique," believing it is "opportunistic," "form and spirit are not complete," and ultimately, after multiple corpse-dissections, it is still difficult to escape human disaster.

Su Jing just smiled slightly and nodded: "The teacher used the Corpse-Dissection Method for so many lives and lived for more than 1,400 years; isn't he still in the human world?"

"If you truly pursue transcendence, why don't you dare to fight for it!"

The Third Teacher's gaze fell on Su Jing again, and a flash of realization passed through his eyes:

"You stole the national destiny of the Great Qi's dragon vein..."

He paused, his tone deep: "The young eunuch in the palace, who has just reached adulthood and stepped into the Ninth Grade of Martial Arts, must be your corpse-dissection body."

Su Jing nodded lightly; this was a secret that could shock Above Bianjing.

The young eunuch who had been dominating the martial arts world in Above Bianjing all these years was originally the external body of Su Xiang.

It was truly surprising.

Su Jing sighed: "It's a pity that such a good seedling born of heaven and earth is actually a crippled body and cannot retain its original yang."

The Third Teacher sneered: "Why do you have to pretend in front of me? The external body refined by the Taiyin Refining Form was originally meant to cut off its roots."

"Otherwise, with your personality, you pursue perfection the most and would not let him appear in the world."

Taiyin Refining Form is a type of Corpse-Dissection Immortal, which involves burying the body in a specific place after death, allowing the corpse to be revived after the passage of time under the nourishment of the spiritual energy underground, similar to "corpse becoming Dao."

These words were originally Su Jing's intentional remarks.

Su Jing rarely showed a hearty smile on his face: "There are few people who talk to me like this."

"Third Senior Brother, you are still this personality."

The Third Teacher turned his gaze outside the window.

The prosperous banks of the Zhi River were brightly lit, and the people were bustling, extremely lively.

"You stole the national destiny of Great Qi with an external god of Taiyin fate in the palace, and then you didn't corpse-dissect yourself, and then conspired with the Nine Great Clans to share the national destiny, but in reality, you just gave your corpse energy to the Nine Great Clans."

Su Jing smiled: "Unexpectedly, after hiding it from the Nine Great Clans for so many years, Senior Brother saw through it after just one glance."

The Third Teacher sighed: "By doing this, aren't you pushing the people of Great Qi into the abyss?"

"The four of us joined forces to subdue the teacher back then, wasn't it for the sake of the people of the world? Now..."

Before the words were finished!

The youth opposite retracted his stored smile, leaving only a pair of eyes like an ancient well without waves.

"I didn't say it was for the world at that time; it was just your wishful thinking."

"I have never looked at this world like this; the sky is round and the earth is square, we are like a mu of fertile land, or a cricket jar, and there are people overlooking these billions of living beings."

"Just like we look at a group of ant nests under our feet, who cares if we step on one or scald a nest of ants with hot water?"

"Etiquette, morality, family, and country—do the immortals above care?"

"We are all mayflies in this world, born in the morning and dying in the evening, ultimately living for ourselves."

"I, Su Jing, just want to see the scenery above; some bones buried below should have been like this."

"When I first entered the teacher's sect, I asked: Emperors, generals, great achievements, wise scholars, eternal articles, fragrant cars and beauties, passed down to future generations, heroic spirit..."

"I, Su Jing, only ask one sentence: Can one obtain immortality?"

The Third Teacher remained silent.

The so-called different paths do not conspire together.

Su Jing also said no more.

On the fourth floor, under the dim light, there was silence.

The Flower Banquet was still continuing.

Every flower beauty's opening poem would be sent to the fourth floor for Su Jing and the Third Teacher to see.

Seven or eight poems had already been placed in front of the two.

Su Jing examined them carefully and found that three of them were written by the same person.

"This Xie Guan actually has some talent..."

Su Jing whispered to himself, then picked up his brush and wrote a poem title, ordering his servants to pass it to Xie Guan, ordering him to write a poem on the spot.

The Third Teacher also looked sideways slightly, looking at Xie Guan's name a few more times, as well as the three poems he wrote.

Just at this moment!

Two commanders from the God-Hidden Division and the Demon-Slaughtering Division hurriedly climbed to the fourth floor and bowed respectfully: "Su Xiang, Third Teacher."

Su Jing had already returned to his old and decrepit appearance, raising his eyes slightly: "What is it?"

The two commanders looked at each other and whispered: "Su Xiang, there is an important matter to report."

Su Jing said lightly: "Speak, there are no outsiders here."

The two hesitated slightly, glanced at the Third Teacher, and then said respectfully:

"Reporting to Su Xiang, according to secret agents, the Xie family's concubine-born son Xie Guan secretly associated with the Sanzhen Sect and was in close contact with the Sanzhen Heavenly Master..."

Su Jing's expression did not change.

"Then arrest him and thoroughly investigate the Xie family."

"Yes, Su Xiang."

The Third Teacher seemed to ponder for a moment before saying:

"Wait!"

Chen Mu's expression was poor.

With Su Su Shishi's words, the matter of him humiliating Xie Guan today with Lady Yuan was likely to have fallen through.

Su Su Shishi ordered the maid behind her: "Yan'er, go into the building and get the treasure notes for Young Master Guan."

During the Yan Dynasty, Lu Chen set up and built banks, which were uniformly minted by the state.

The predecessor of silver notes was "flying money," where merchants deposited money into institutions in the capital and exchanged it locally with certificates, avoiding the risk of carrying large amounts of silver.

The Third Teacher also improved paper money based on the "Political Essentials of Governing the North" left by Lu Chen.

Under the advocacy of the Master, Great Qi began to widely use paper money, called "treasure notes," which became the main form of currency.

Su Su Shishi had long since accumulated a huge fortune with her reputation.

The maid had already turned to fetch it.

The Second Imperial Prince, Chen Feng, looked at Su Su Shishi and asked with concern in a gentle tone.

"Su Shishi, do you still have heart disease recently?"

"I had people send snow lotuses from the Northern Longevity Heaven, asked the Imperial Physician's Office to prepare seven treasures, and boil them with a gentle fire; they have already been sent to the Qimo Spring Workshop; remember to take them on time."

Su Su Shishi nodded lightly and did not refuse: "Many thanks, Your Highness Feng."

There was a bit more cold alienation in her tone.

Su Su Shishi was originally a princess of a former dynasty of an enemy state, and now a flower beauty.

Compared with Chen Feng, an Imperial Prince of Great Qi, it was like the difference between clouds and mud, and the two countries were like fire and water.

Su Su Shishi naturally did not want to have too many entanglements with Chen Feng.

Chen Feng, however, was accustomed to this; he and Su Su Shishi had been together for many years, and it had always been like this.

He had seen too many women, and even in the harem, the Empress Dowager had already selected a noble girl from the Nine Great Clans as his primary consort, but he still had no children.

It was all because he was obsessed with this Fairy Su.

Princess Linxi teased from the side: "Second Brother, don't waste your efforts anymore; behind Fairy Su, there are quite a few men who are obsessed with her."

Chen Feng smiled indifferently, unmoved.

Princess Linxi saw that the matter was settled, so she wanted to leave, and as her gaze drifted, she looked at Xie Guan again and smiled:

"Xie Guan, you are truly completely different from your eldest brother, and there is not even a half-point similarity between your eyebrows."

Yu Ke received "Xie Guan's" memory and naturally understood who Princess Linxi was referring to as the eldest brother.

This person was the eldest son of the Xie family's main courtyard, Xie Guan's elder brother—Xie Mu.

Xie Guan inherited his mother's appearance and did not look much like the brothers in the main courtyard.

Princess Linxi continued: "Xie Mu likes martial arts and has no interest in poetry and calligraphy; he is quite similar to Xue Hong in your generation."

"Your eldest brother will go home after the Flower Banquet; you must be careful, he cannot tolerate sand in his eyes."

Yu Ke nodded upon hearing this.

Thinking back then, "Xie Guan's mother" sought a family name for Xie Guan, and at the Xie family ancestral hall, there was a dispute that made the whole city full of rumors.

At that time, Xie Mu followed his father, Xie Ling, and the young Xie Guan called out timidly:

"Eldest Brother!"

Xie Mu, however, only cast a cold glance and responded coldly:

"You are not worthy of calling me Eldest Brother, nor are you worthy of the surname Xie."

This matter was still branded in "Xie Guan's" heart like a knife, and he had not forgotten it even now.

According to the time calculation, after the Flower Banquet, Xie Ling should have returned to Above Bianjing.

Yu Ke could not help but feel doubts in his heart.

According to the earlier discussion between the Xie family's Old Matriarch and the Nine Great Clans in the Hongjing Courtyard, Xie Ling should have returned to Above Bianjing long ago.

Why hasn't he returned yet?

Could it be that he is quietly waiting for the variables of the Flower Banquet?

Jia Yu and He Xiao were a bit restrained with the Second Imperial Prince and the Prince of Yan present.

Chen Ting also cast his gaze toward Xie Guan, secretly wondering why the Third Teacher, who had been self-imprisoned in the academy for decades, would actually guarantee Xie Guan.

He examined the handwriting on the paper and felt in a trance that the Second Teacher's handwriting had character, if not for...

Xie Guan's talent was indeed not bad.

Xie Guan's background truly made Lady Yuan in the main courtyard feel displeased.

The Yuan family and the Xie family were both the firmest supporters of the Prince of Yan.

To give up both families for a mere Xie Guan was not a wise move.

A flash of regret appeared in Chen Yong's gaze, but he actually admired this "Kunpeng Painting" very much, thinking it was quite miraculous.

"People of the time do not recognize the towering tree, only waiting until it reaches the clouds to say it is high."

"The roc's wings hang in the empty sky, laughing at the world, pale and empty."

He especially loved these two lines of poetry.

Chen Yong turned to look at Chen Feng and Chen Ting, a flash of contemplation in his eyes.

The exclusion of Xie Guan by the two Imperial Brothers today almost completely sealed his official career in Great Qi.

For Xie Guan, he was full of admiration, but he did not want to offend the two Imperial Brothers because of this.

He had great ambitions, but he knew how to hide his light, and did not want to be sharp at this moment.

Li Li Xiangjun also lowered her head slightly, knowing that they should not speak casually about such big shots, and had no intention of attracting everyone's attention.

The Second Imperial Prince and the Prince of Yan were both experienced people and would naturally not be moved by a woman from the West Wing Building.

She did not want to gild the lily and do something unnecessary.

Not long after!

Su Su Shishi's maid had returned, holding a peach wood gift box tightly in her hand.

Su Su Shishi took it and handed it to Xie Guan; inside were all silver notes.

A whole stack, four million taels.

"Young Master Guan, please count them."

The maid pushed the silver notes in front of Xie Guan.

Yu Ke was slightly surprised to see this; the matter had already passed, and Su Su Shishi did not need to rush to pay the money.

Now that the Flower Banquet was about to begin, buying hairpins and other things would still require a lot of gold and silver.

She took the initiative to settle the payment at this moment, which showed her sincere intention to make friends.

"No need to count."

"Many thanks, Fairy Su."

Yu Ke did not hesitate, took the silver notes directly, and pushed them in front of Chen Yong.

"Your Highness Yong, many thanks for this matter."

Chen Yong was stunned; even if he was wealthy, four million taels was not a small number.

Yu Ke didn't even look at it and pushed it in front of him.

(End of chapter)