Chapter 171: Good at Driving Away Charm, Capable of Extending Life

Ceng Fuzi possessed profound knowledge, with a single point of information radiating into a massive amount of data.

He began with the distinct differences between the characters for "God" and "Immortal," spoke of the two mainstream interpretations of the identity of Heaven-Men in the contemporary era, and finally touched upon the two factions: the Release God Sect and the Golden Immortal Dao.

The Release God Sect believes that after the Heaven-Men descended to the world, they did not leave, but were dismembered by the greedy ancestors of the Seventy-Two Tribes and suppressed within the mountains and rivers of the earth.

Therefore, the Release God Sect believes that the soil, rivers, and air all contain divinity, nourishing all people.

When this idea is taken to the extreme, it becomes the belief that the world does not know how to be grateful and squanders the gifts of the gods without restraint, thereby giving rise to plunder, oppression, war, and slaughter.

Only by overturning the heavens and earth and releasing the gods can true peace be brought to the world.

"The Release God Sect is too extreme; the mainstream views them as heretics, and they have been suppressed throughout the ages."

"Under the peaceful and compassionate appearance of the white-robed people you usually see, who knows what terrifying thoughts of destroying the world are hidden."

Zhou You raised a question, "If the world is destroyed, wouldn't these Release God Sect followers also perish along with it?"

Ceng Fuzi smiled, "They believe that they are carrying out the will of the gods, and when the day comes to release the gods, they will become a part of the gods, together departing from this world and traveling to the kingdom of the Heaven-Men."

Not just lunatics, but also delusional dreamers.

By the way, what about the Golden Immortal Dao? What is its guiding ideology? Ceng Fuzi did not explain much about this; perhaps he did not know much?

After all, the core doctrines of the Release God Sect are mysterious enough, and the Golden Immortal Dao is hidden even deeper, with its actions being even more secretive and unfathomable.

In the end, Zhou You only knew six words related to the Golden Immortal Dao: Good at Driving Away Charm, Capable of Extending Life.

As for extending one's years and life, practicing martial arts can also achieve this; after breaking through to the Martial Master realm, one's control over the body reaches a minute and subtle level, equivalent to a certain degree of evolution, immunizing one against ninety-nine percent of the world's illnesses and extending one's lifespan to two or three times that of an ordinary person.

In this world where martial arts are revered, practicing boxing for longevity is by no means an empty phrase.

The Golden Immortal Dao being able to extend life is not a professional specialty, so it is nothing strange.

It is the 'Good at Driving Away Charm' part that is interesting; whether 'drive' refers to the 'drive' of commanding or the 'drive' of expelling, Ceng Fuzi did not elaborate.

This lecture was packed with solid information, lasting from the morning until the afternoon; during lunch, the two of them continued to chat while eating.

"As time passes, only Jinshi Writing endures, which is an important reference for archaeological texts."

"Those people are gone, the Seventy-two Ancestral Tribes are no longer here, and the original Martial Saint of the beginning has also gone far away; only the Nine Tripods of the Heaven-Men remain in the world."

"For those of us who study Jinshi Writing, the top-tier treasure is the Tuopian of the Nine Tripods of the Heaven-Men."

Ceng Fuzi sighed, "My greatest wish in life, even if I had to pay with my entire family fortune, would be to obtain a single fragment, even if only one character remained."

Seeing his melancholy expression, Zhou You realized that this dream was very difficult to achieve.

After all, the two great families in the city, who have eyes and hands reaching the heavens, have not been able to obtain any fragments of the Nine Tripods of the Heaven-Men.

Ceng Fuzi only looks at the cultural value of the Tuopian, but martial artists value the ancient martial chapters recorded in the writing on the tripods; those are the origin objects that gave birth to the original Martial Saint and even catalyzed the civilization of Martial Dao.

Near dusk, Zhou You left the Zeng Fu with the old mountain ginseng in his arms.

Along the way, he saw houses burning by the roadside, crowds scrambling to pour water to extinguish the fires, and thick smoke rising hundreds of meters into the sky, staining the blue firmament black.

Corpse after corpse, wrapped in white cloth, was laid out on the ground.

There were more and more refugees from outside the city, and their methods were becoming increasingly brutal.

Recently, a group of martial artists teamed up to climb over the walls into the city after dark, setting fires and looting, then scattering and leaving the city before dawn.

The scene before his eyes was precisely the result of their work.

The peripheral area of Gongliang City had already become a slum inhabited by refugees and the local destitute, which could be described as living on the edge.

Zhou You was glad that he had moved early, as the place he used to live was already near the edge of the slum. The white-robed people were busy moving corpses, loading them onto carts to be sent outside the city.

Because there were so many dead, some white-robed people did not mind, directly carrying the corpses on their backs, carefully supporting the loose joints, and transporting them step by step to be cremated outside the city.

Zhou You noticed a detail: a suspected survivor was sitting on the ground with dull eyes, and a white-robed person was whispering something in his ear, seemingly comforting him.

Zhou You channeled his Qi and blood to his ears, and the faint sound of speech coming from the wind became clearer: "People are born, eating the crops grown in the soil, drinking water and breathing air, all of which are bestowed by the grace of the gods."

"Now, burning the remains and returning the soul to the native soil is to enter the cycle and merge with the gods."

"Do not be sad; on the day the gods are released, your deceased family members will be resurrected and enter the heavenly kingdom, and you will be able to reunite with them then."

Following the white-robed person's persuasion, the survivor's pupils regained a bit of luster.

Not long after, the survivor stood up, took off his clothes, put on a white robe, and joined the ranks of the Release God Sect followers.

Zhou You somewhat understood why the Release God Sect was so extreme yet still tolerated to operate.

These white-robed people were specifically responsible for doing the dirty work and providing a safety net; their role was equivalent to that of a scavenger.

If it weren't for the Release God Sect followers active everywhere, Gongliang City would have long ago been a lit powder keg that had exploded into the sky.

After Zhou You returned home, his parents were already waiting at the door, and they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw he was unharmed.

"Old mountain ginseng, this is too precious; how could you accept this, child?"

After seeing the old mountain ginseng, Zhou Laodie estimated its value at a glance: at 70 or 80 years of age, it was worth at least 500 taels.

He sighed endlessly, saying that as expected of a scholar, he treated money like dirt, giving away such a treasure so casually.

Zhou You said that the Fuzi gave it to him to nourish his body, and as a Disciple, he did not dare to refuse a gift from an elder.

His mother was a bit worried, wondering how many old hens would need to be stewed for such good ginseng!

That night, they sliced a few thin pieces and stewed them with an old hen, letting Zhou You drink a full, large bowl.

Heat surged within Zhou You's body, his Qi and blood were extremely active, and he wiped his mouth, preparing to return to his room to exercise and dissipate the heat.

Just as he stood up, he was pulled back by his father, "You'er, the clan sent a message that next month the clan will hold a meeting to discuss repairing the Ancestral Hall and re-compiling the genealogy."

"We will go back for a trip; no matter what, we must strive to re-enter the genealogy and, by the way, clean up the ancestral house."

Zhou You nodded after hearing this, "That's fine, I have time during my sick leave anyway."

This trip back to the countryside would allow him to leave the city in a legitimate way, away from the many eyes and ears in the city.

Once out of the city, the world would be vast, and he could secretly sneak back to the back mountain of the Moyun Stronghold to retrieve the property he had buried at the bottom of the cliff.

From setting up the ring at the martial arts school to feigning illness and retreating at the peak of his success, everything was for this moment.

His mother, who was sewing shoe soles under the lamp nearby, suddenly interjected, "You'er, when you go back to your hometown, go pay your respects to your godmother."

Godmother? That old tree stump by the river!

When Zhou You was a child, he was weak and sickly, and no matter what methods were tried, he did not get better; later, someone suggested a folk remedy, saying he should go to his ancestral home to pay respects to a "godmother" and pray for protection.

According to local custom, the godmother could not be a person; it had to be a natural plant, tree, soil, or stone from the wild.

Under the guidance of an elder, Zhou You's parents chose an ancient tree stump for Zhou You to acknowledge as his godmother.

Miraculously, ever since he paid respects to his godmother, Zhou You's sickly ailments vanished all at once, and he has grown up healthy to this day.

(End of chapter)