Chapter 576: Learning Increases Daily, Dao Decreases Daily

"Wife..."

In Yang-zhou City, someone sat up in shock.

"What's wrong, husband?"

"I had that dream again!"

"Hmm? What dream?"

"Wife forgot? A year ago, the chess game played against the Heavenly Lord."

"Ah? That thing!" The woman actually thought for a while before remembering. "But I remember husband said it was the twenty-first day of the first lunar month?"

"I also had this doubt in the dream, so he smiled and told me that the twenty-first day of the first lunar month is the day he goes to play chess with that Heavenly Lord. However, one day in heaven is one year on earth. Playing a game of chess takes a month or two at the shortest, and a quarter of a year at the longest, so he came to find me a bit late."

"There is actually such a thing!"

The woman, as a great demon, was also very surprised.

"Then in the dream..."

"Wife knows, how could I resist? Naturally, I replayed it with him and analyzed the chess game for him," Mr. Gu said. "However, his chess skills this year have increased a lot compared to last year."

Yuanqiu Ji Xianren Realm, green mountains and peaks, thatched roofs and huts, small courtyards and households, the immortal trees in the courtyard are just blooming.

There is faint cooking smoke on the roof, and human voices come from the house.

"Ji Xianren, let's begin."

"What's the rush?" The old Daoist said. "This old man just woke up, and I have to comb my hair, drink a cup of tea, and sort out my thoughts before I can place a piece."

"Old Ji Xianren, this junior is willing not to be in a hurry, but the time in your immortal realm is wonderful. One day here is one year outside. If the chess game takes a long time,

half a year might be wasted."

"Aren't you here to comprehend the Dao?"

"Yes..."

"Then you are in such a hurry, how much have you gained?"

"Returning to the Old Ji Xianren, I have a sense of the Great Dao."

"It's just a sense of the Great Dao, hehehehe. In the past few days, every time you come in, you look at my residence clearly and plainly, not letting go of a flower, a blade of grass, a stone, or a pebble. I thought you had already understood the mystery of this world..."

The old Heavenly Lord laughed and mocked him.

Lin Jue was not ashamed. Comprehending the Dao itself requires a lot of time. He had no one to guide him, and he comprehended it himself. It was not bad to have this progress, so he remained calm and sincere:

"The Ji Xianren is right. Every time this junior comes in, I do take the opportunity to observe and look at the Ji Xianren's immortal realm, and also comprehend the mystery within. However, even if every flower, every blade of grass, every stone, and every pebble here is in my heart, I can only conclude that 'this immortal realm is no different from the outside world.' The mystery and profoundness are only clearest at the moment the immortal realm opens, and after that, it becomes blurred, so the gains are limited."

"Then what are you in a hurry for?"

The old Heavenly Lord asked him back, and shook his head with a smile:

"Learning increases daily, Dao decreases daily. It's better not to think about those things, and calm down to play chess with me. Maybe if you forget those miscellaneous things, you will be able to face the Great Dao."

Learning increases daily, Dao decreases daily, is actually the difference between technique and Dao.

It means that when you are learning to do something, your knowledge and learning will increase every day, and the things in your heart will become more and more. At this time, your skills and knowledge will become higher and higher. But when you want to pursue the truth of the Great Dao, you have to simplify it, not only simplifying your own knowledge and learning, but also simplifying your vision and prejudice. Every day you decrease, what remains is the essence of the Great Dao.

Lin Jue thought for a while and shook his head:

"All right, then the Ji Xianren can wash and dress slowly, and I will sort out my thoughts and play a good game of chess with the Ji Xianren."

"Hahahaha, if you can play to one hundred and fifty moves with me today... I see you are very interested in those literary horses in the sky outside. I will let you take one."

"Good!"

An hour later, Lin Jue left the Yuanqiu Ji Xianren Realm with a literary horse.

In Yang-zhou City, in the Gu Mansion.

"Husband is so tired after waking up today. Counting the time, could it be that you dreamed of that immortal again?"

"Those who know me, wife."

"This immortal is coming later and later."

"Yes, his chess skills are becoming more and more refined, and the time he plays against that Heavenly Lord is getting longer and longer," Mr. Gu said, shaking his head. "Last night in the dream, he even thanked me, saying that thanks to our advice, although he is still far from being able to defeat that Heavenly Lord, he won a literary horse from that Ji Xianren by relying on the number of moves. Eh, do you know what this literary horse is?"

"Literary horse..."

The woman had seen it in ancient books—

A literary horse, also called a lucky yellow horse or a lucky light horse. It has a red mane, a white body, patterns on its body, and eyes that are golden and bright like gold. It can fly in the sky and step on clouds. Its temperament is fierce, and it feeds on tigers and leopards.

I have also heard that the war horses of the heavenly soldiers and generals above the Nine Heavens are bred from literary horses.

However, she had never seen it with her own eyes. She only heard that it was a rare bird and beast of ancient times. Now, except for heaven, only a few immortals would raise them in cave heavens and blessed lands. It had almost become extinct in the human world.

And a woman shouldn't know these things.

"Husband, I don't know either."

"If even wife, who is so learned, doesn't know, I suppose it is an immortal object."

"Perhaps..."

The woman was a bit worried: "Husband just said... thanks to our advice?"

"Yes! Although that immortal only comes once a year, we have met several times in a few years. During the chat between replaying and playing chess, I naturally told him that my wife is also skilled in chess. Every time I replay it for him in the dream, after I wake up, I replay it with my wife again. Counting it this way, there is also a share of your credit, wife."

"This..."

"What's wrong, wife?"

"How dare I take husband's credit..."

The woman brushed it off, but her mood was very unsettled.

Could it really be a "Heavenly Lord"?

Could the visitor really be an immortal?

But if he really is a Heavenly Lord, an immortal who can play chess with a Heavenly Lord, coming once a year, how could he not know that the one lying beside this person is a demon?

The times are really different—

Nowadays, humans and demons are different. Not to mention humans and demons living together, even a demon appearing in a human city is a great crime.

"Does husband know who that immortal is?"

"How would I know."

"Husband has known him for several years and met him several times, but doesn't even know his name. Isn't that a bit absurd?"

"How can this be called absurd? In the dream, I was obsessed with the chessboard, why ask for his name? Just treat it as a clear dream, so what?"

"Also..."

The woman didn't say anything more.

The sun and moon alternate in the human world, and the stars rotate at night.

"I had that dream again last night."

"Is it still the same?"

"Still the same, but we chatted about a few other things."

"What other things?"

"He said he won a few more literary horses from the 'Heavenly Lord', which can be bred and multiplied, and he is very grateful to us in his heart."

"He also reminded me, saying that it is colder here, and said that I am not as young as I was back then, so I should cherish my body and ask me to add more clothes in the morning and evening, so as not to catch a cold. He also asked me to specifically remind you, wife, to pay attention to the changing weather. I just asked him where he is."

"Where is he?"

"He said he is in Huizhou, living in Flying Mountain."

"Flying Mountain? I have heard people talk about this place, but it seems no one lives there."

"Then I don't know..."

Mr. Gu took a thick piece of clothing and put it on.

He took another one and put it on his wife, asking her not to catch a cold.

The husband and wife were very loving.

The four seasons change in order, and the world is unpredictable.

"Husband, it's time to wake up. This year the Changhe suddenly changed its course, causing a great disaster of three thousand li. The disaster victims have already arrived here, and we have to give porridge to relieve the disaster."

"I know, I know..."

"Husband is so tired, is it because of the disaster victims, or did you dream of the immortal again?"

"I don't know which one it is..."

Mr. Gu said, but suddenly looked at his wife beside him:

"By the way! The immortal suddenly congratulated me last night, saying that wife is already pregnant!"

"This..."

The woman naturally knew, and could only treat it as an accident.

There is never anything smooth sailing in the world.

Just like this human world, after great governance, there is often a great disaster.

In the previous twenty or thirty years, it was a golden age that was hard to find in history. There were limited wars on the outside, and it was relatively stable on the inside. The Emperor was benevolent and kind, loved the people like his own children, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. Even the affairs of demons and ghosts seemed to have become distant legends. But who would have thought that a heavy rain would cause the Changhe to suddenly change its course, immediately causing chaos for three thousand li.

Don't underestimate the changing course of the Changhe.

This is a great river that nurtured civilization, but it is not a merciful mother, but very irritable and moody. The changing course of the Changhe is also one of the most persistent and terrible disasters on this land.

For thousands of years, no matter which dynasty, one of the important things that the human imperial court and the Nine Heavens spirits must do is to govern the Changhe.

On this land, for as many years as civilization has been nurtured, people have lived and fought with the Changhe.

Every time it gets angry, it changes its course by two or three thousand li, killing millions of people, and even indirectly destroying a dynasty.

The imperial court was in chaos.

The Dayu Dynasty began to turn from prosperity to decline.

Great disasters are accompanied by demons, which goes without saying.

The Zi Emperor's second campaign to purge demons began from this.

It's just that this time is different from the last time.

The last campaign to purge demons only dealt heavy blows to those demons and evil objects that had done evil and had evil energy. This time, it was not just that, but almost all demons and ghosts invading the human world were beaten to death.

The human imperial court was also different from the last time.

Sixty years ago, the Taizu was still on the throne, upright and tough, capable of forcing spirits. Now, more than a hundred years after the founding of the dynasty, the killing blood energy of galloping horses and raising spears to conquer the world has been worn away by comfort. Looking at the imperial court, there are few upright and tough people among civil and military officials like in the beginning. The Emperor is also benevolent and kind, and old. Being benevolent and kind, he lacks a bit of iron and blood.

Every time there is such a great disaster, the development is about the same.

Inside and outside the court, inside and outside the capital, there are rumors that the Son of Heaven is without virtue and benevolence, which caused heaven to send down disasters.

This Emperor is truly benevolent and kind!

First, he issued an edict of self-reproach, admitting his mistakes to heaven, and then carrying his aging body, carrying thorns, personally prayed and begged heaven, hoping to stop the disaster, govern the disaster, and not let his people suffer any more disasters.

In this way, coupled with the Zi Emperor's toughness, the human imperial court quickly lost the spirit of daring to challenge the spirits as it once did.

The Zi Emperor's campaign to purge demons became even more wanton.

The chess master in the south of the Yangtze River didn't know these things, because this change in the Changhe did not affect Yang-zhou, and his family was well-off under his wife's management, so they could survive such a disaster. He only knew that the immortal still came once a year to meet him in his dream to replay and discuss chess.

The chess master of Jiangnan did not know these things, because this time the diversion of the Changhe did not affect Yangzhou, and his family, under his wife's management, was well-off enough to survive such a disaster. He only knew that the immortal still came once every year to meet him in his dreams, playing chess and reviewing the games.