Chapter 83: The Aftermath Has Not Dissipated

"Incense Master, the painting is here."

Hearing the man's inquiry, the concubine in white hurriedly took out a cylindrical scroll box from under the bed and handed it over respectfully with both hands.

The man took it, opened it carefully, and took out a scroll.

After slowly unfolding it, an ancient landscape scroll appeared before everyone's eyes.

On the painting, mountains stretched across the horizon like a giant dragon winding, with magnificent momentum, clouds and mist swirling among the mountains, revealing layers of peaks.

Even a layman could see that this painting was extraordinary.

Manager Wu couldn't help but praise, "Good painting skills. Incense Master, what exactly is tricky about this thing?"

The concubine in white was also a bit puzzled, "The subordinate once interrogated that Eunuch Lu, but he didn't know the reason either, only knowing that Princess Fu'an loved this painting the most."

The man examined the scroll carefully and said, "The painting skills are extraordinary, but the person who painted it is not famous; his name is Jiao Fayuan."

Manager Wu was stunned, "Someone from the Dharma lineage?"

The man nodded, "Yes, he was a sorcerer of the Three Mountains Sect in Ganzhou during the Daxing era, proficient in Feng Shui and geomancy, and was also a protégé of a prince at the time."

"At that time, Daxing was in a standoff with the Golden Tent Wolf Kingdom, and later the Great Xuan rose to power. Daxing was about to perish, so Jiao Fayuan, under the order of this prince, hid part of the national treasury's silver and weapons in the Qin Ling Mountains, waiting to restore the country later."

"Later, this map changed hands and fell into the hands of the Prince of Pingyang, who hid it privately. He participated in the struggle for the crown prince and was convicted of treason, so Princess Fu'an took this map and ran around, eventually ending up in Guanzhong."

"Unfortunately, she couldn't comprehend it for many years and leaked the wind, attracting the attention of the capital. I learned of this by chance and secretly arranged to intercept it."

"So that's how it is."

A trace of excitement flashed in Manager Wu's eyes, "Incense Master, with this batch of things, can the Divine Sect start again?"

"Difficult!"

The Incense Master sighed, took the mace from Fire Ghost's hand, opened the back cover, and poured out some black granular powder, "The reason I was delayed in Chang'an for a few days was to sneak into the prefecture yamen and steal the formula for this thing."

"Gunpowder?" The concubine in white was a bit puzzled.

The Incense Master shook his head, "The power far exceeds ordinary gunpowder; it was accidentally created by an alchemist. The Li family obtained this thing and didn't dare to hide it privately, offering it to the imperial court, which is why they obtained this position as a frontier official."

"Unfortunately, I only got one jar of the finished product and didn't get the formula."

"The Great Xuan Dynasty is currently in its prime, and obtaining this thing is like adding wings to a tiger. I fear that before long, the entire martial world will be suppressed, and continuing to entangle villagers and believers to start an uprising will just be throwing away lives in vain."

After hearing this, Manager Wu's eyes dimmed, "Then what should be done?"

The Incense Master said calmly, "The Great Dao has its own balance. If the world were decided solely by the size of one's fist, how would dynasties change?"

"In the current Great Xuan Dynasty, the common people revere the law and dare not overstep even a little. Small people use the law as a tool to seek their own private interests. If this continues for a long time, it will surely cause disaster!"

"More than ten years ago, the Sect Master was too eager to start an uprising, causing the Divine Sect to fall apart. Now, talent is withered, everyone has their own ulterior motives, and our strength is not what it used to be. What we need to do is accumulate strength and wait quietly for the opportunity."

"I observed the celestial phenomena at night; in two years, the Central Plains will surely have a great disaster. After taking the treasure vault from the Qin Ling Mountains, we will go to the Central Plains to lie in wait, and then we can take the opportunity to strengthen the Divine Sect."

"The Incense Master is wise!"

…………

*Bang! *

A loud noise woke Sha Lifei from his deep sleep.

"What's wrong, did the earth dragon turn over?"

He was startled and ran out of the door in a panic, only to see Li Yan practicing the Ten Great Plate Techniques in the courtyard, with that stone trough thrown to the side.

Sha Lifei looked up at the sky and immediately complained, "What kind of madness are you practicing so early in the morning, disturbing people's dreams? Practicing kung fu, practicing kung fu, you're even crazier than your father..."

Li Yan rolled his eyes, "I eat from the edge of a knife; if I don't practice kung fu, should I just practice lip service?"

Sha Lifei had thick skin and didn't care about this bit of sarcasm, shaking his head and saying, "Hey, don't look down on lip service. If used well, it can be worth a million soldiers!"

Li Yan slowly finished his practice and said thoughtfully, "Old Uncle Sha, you haven't broken through for many years. Firstly, you are negligent in practice, and secondly, your master left early, and no one helped you exchange strength. Now that I have stepped into Hidden Strength, helping you exchange strength might allow you to break through."

"This… is there a chance?" Sha Lifei was clearly a bit moved.

Li Yan said seriously, "Maybe it's just a layer of window paper; poke it and it will break."

"Good, come and exchange hands!"

Exchanging hands is about slowing down the speed, dismantling moves with each other, and carefully experiencing the changes in Hidden Strength when fists and feet meet.

*Bang! Bang! *

Before long, Sha Lifei lost his balance repeatedly and fell to the ground.

"Not playing! Not playing!"

Sha Lifei immediately rubbed his butt and shouted. Just at this moment, Wang Daoxuan also pushed the door and walked out, stretching, his complexion looking almost the same as an ordinary person.

"Daoist, how are you?" Sha Lifei hurriedly asked.

Wang Daoxuan was a bit embarrassed, "I want to eat a bowl of water-basin mutton."

Li Yan was happy, "Stomach *qi* is full; it seems the Daoist is completely better."

Sha Lifei hurriedly pulled the two of them, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go, go, go..."

……

It was still the old street of the Wei family, the Wu family's old shop.

The mutton here was made to perfection, but it wasn't a high-end restaurant; rows of long benches were filled with people, gathering people from all walks of life, with all kinds of people.

The three of them ate while listening to the people next to them chatting.

"Did you hear? They fought again last night."

!.

"It must be Black Third and the others, humph. They don't do human things on weekdays. Now that the Zhou family has fallen, some things naturally have to be taken back from them!"

"What exactly happened at the Zhou family?"

"Not clear, but it must be a big deal. Didn't you see the people from the Commandant's Office come? I heard that everyone present was forbidden from leaking news."

"Old Master Zhang is going to take over as the president of the Divine Fist Society, right?"

"That's right. I heard that it was originally going to be a big scene, and officials from Chang'an would also come to celebrate, but the old master is low-key and said to just handle it simply."

"Look at others; Zhou Pan is really far behind. No wonder he ended up like this..."

"This isn't the most miserable part. I heard that after Zhou Pan died, the Zhou family fell into chaos, fighting over property. Zhou Peide was imprisoned and sentenced to be beheaded, and Zhou Bai and his shrewish mother had no one to support them and were thrown directly out of the Zhou family's front door."

"Tsk tsk, I saw him showing off his power last month..."

Hearing everyone's conversation, Li Yan and the three were not surprised and continued to bury their heads in eating and drinking.

Many things are like this; when the source changes, waves naturally rise.

The changes in the Chang'an officialdom reached Xianyang, and the results of the Zhou family and the Zhang family were separated; the fate of the people who followed them to make a living would also change.

*Clatter, clatter... *

Just at this moment, a large group of beggars ran across the street, all panicked, some falling to the ground, their broken begging bowls shattered.

"Don't run, all stand still!"

Several fierce yamen runners followed, waving the water-fire sticks in their hands, beating the beggars until they cried for their parents.

Someone couldn't bear to watch and shouted, "Constables, what happened? Why such a big temper? Why make things difficult for these miserable people?"

"You thief, where did you pop out from!"

The yamen runner with a face full of flesh turned his head and cursed, but seeing many people filled with righteous indignation, he didn't continue to curse, but instead scolded with his neck stiff, "Do you think they are good things?"

"This morning we raided their nest in the city and found many abducted women and children, all of whom were ruined. Right now, they are being scolded over there. Why don't you hurry over and see if there are any of your family members?"

"Lord Vice Prefect is furious, and Martial Cavalry Lieutenant Lord Fan has been ordered to go to the mass grave. Today, that beggar nest will be raided!"

The words were righteous, but the crowd clearly didn't buy it.

What kind of character the West-bound Beggar Gang had, how could these people roaming the martial world not know?

And these yamen runners, they didn't receive less filial piety from the Beggar Gang on weekdays, many things were turned a blind eye to, and they were even the backers of some human traffickers.

Now they were pretending to be good people in front of them.

And these beaten beggars were mostly miserable people, controlled by the West-bound Beggar Gang, having their daily begging income confiscated, and not even having enough to eat.

Having said that, no one else meddled in other people's business.

They knew that the yamen suddenly taking action must have other hidden reasons.

After the yamen runners drove the beggars away, Sha Lifei shook his head and said, "The West-bound Beggar Gang is finished. It seems the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect took action to clear obstacles before the sacrifice."

Wang Daoxuan nodded, "Enfeoffing the Mountain God is a big deal. If the mass grave is left to them to mess around, sooner or later they will create monsters. With the Mountain God guarding it, it will be much quieter there in the future."

As he spoke, he stood up and said, "Let's go, let's go see that Daoist friend Wu. He gave his life to save this poor Daoist. Thinking of this, this poor Daoist feels restless..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 84 =====