Strange Stories

Chapter 551 We Suffer

It was the original quiet room, but it was converted into an alchemy room.

There is an alchemy furnace in the middle, with a few cushions on the side and two wooden shelves next to it, which contain the materials for alchemy.

"Brother." The little sister said to him again, "You just accepted a disciple, and you come here to watch me make pills. It won't delay your teaching of the disciple, right?"

"No. There are Xu Yi and Pu Mei on the mountain, just like the eldest and second brothers before, and Wan Gong and the others. They can teach Xian Zhu the basics, and as for the more advanced ones, there is Fu Yao. I want to call Xu Yi, Pu Mei and Xian Zhu over later, and let them come here to observe and practice with the help of the spiritual charm of the golden elixir." Lin Jue said, and smiled at her, "Besides, I have learned a new skill from Teacher Fu Yao in the past two years..."

"What ability?"

Lin Jue didn't say anything, just shook slightly.

In an instant, two Lin Jues appeared in the quiet room.

"The art of clone."

This is what Fuyao learned from the Queen Mother of the East, and it was passed on to Lin Jue.

"Open fire."

"Um……"

The junior sister originally specialized in the Five Elements Spiritual Method and Five Elements Magic. After she sat down, she simply pointed at the alchemy furnace.

With a bang, a blazing flame burst out from the furnace!
The temperature in the quiet room also rose rapidly.

Lin Jue also sat down. Ziyun and Xiaohua looked down and saw two cushions on the ground, so they found one and sat down.

"This is for you." Lin Jue threw out a thin piece of clothing. "This is the Fire Washing Clothes. It originally belonged to your fourth uncle. I borrowed it before when I was refining pills. Now I borrow it again. Wearing it will not be afraid of the high temperature of the flames when refining pills."

"Thank you, uncle."

Ziyun quickly took it and put it on.

"You should read it carefully and learn it well. All the golden elixir formulas in the world are the result of the ancient alchemists' understanding of the great Dao of the world and their hard work. This Four-Directions Five-Element Golden Elixir is one of the rare ones suitable for our Lingfa School. Not everyone can get it. Although it has fallen into the mortal world, it is better than 99% of the elixirs in the world. It can help Lingfa School monks achieve enlightenment, and it is still beneficial after achieving enlightenment. You have to refine it in the future." Lin Jue said to Ziyun, "I will call Xu Yi, Pu Mei and Xian Zhu to learn in a few days."

"I've got that in mind." Although Ziyun has grown up, she is still well-behaved. "Thank you, uncle."

"what about me?"

A cat's head popped out from the side!

"You? Don't run around in the quiet room and knock over the alchemy materials. Go outside and don't get into the alchemy furnace. Don't catch any mice or birds from outside and bring them in."

"Ok!"

Xiaohua nodded seriously, as if she had heard it.

The junior sister remained silent. Although she heard everything, she didn't say a word and just concentrated on refining the pill.

Time passed slowly.

Ziyun changed from wearing the fire-washed clothes to covering himself with the clothes, covering his head as well, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed. He watched his master making the elixir and listened to his uncle's instructions.

Xiaohua ran from her cushion into Ziyun's arms and hid under the fire-washed clothes.

The time for refining the elixir is earlier than in the illusion.

Although Lin Jue watched his junior sister refine the elixir and guided her, his job was much easier than hers. He could often take a short break and sometimes send his clone back to Fengshan to check on the disciples' progress and teach them magic. Sometimes he could also go and admire the red leaves and the snowy scenery in the mountains.

Sometimes I go out for a walk and take a look around the capital.

Sometimes I would visit the palace and reminisce with old friends.

……

In the palace, the Minister of Rites and the Doctor of Shrines came to report.

"Your Majesty, I had a dream last night. I dreamed of the messenger of the Emperor of Heaven." The doctor from the Ministry of Shrines spoke timidly.

When the emperor heard this, he felt ominous:

"What did you dream about?"

"The Emperor's messenger told me that in the past ten years, the Taoist priests of Zixiao Palace have been searching for demons and eliminating monsters in Qinzhou. The divine soldiers and generals in the nine heavens have also often come down to the mortal world to cooperate with the city god's day and night patrols. They found that people in various places worship evil gods and are harmed by them. There are also examples of righteous gods who have been conferred by the court and fallen." The doctor paused and said, "This is because the world is too hasty in conferring gods. Before conferring gods, they only heard about the deeds of this person before his death, or part of his life, and did not conduct strict examinations, so they were deceived."

The emperor's expression darkened. He understood, but he still asked:
"What do you mean? Just tell me!"

"Yes, yes, the gods are just like officials in the human world. Officials in the human world are appointed by the imperial court, and naturally the gods should be appointed by the heavenly court. Therefore, when appointing gods in the future, the Ministry of Shrines must report to the Nine Heavens, and the Emperor of Heaven will review and decide. It will no longer be a matter for the human world to worry about, which will save the human court some effort and prevent the example of righteous gods falling into corruption."

"What does Minister Zhou think?"

The emperor turned around and looked at the Minister of Rites beside him.

The current Vice Minister of Rites was promoted from Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites and Shrines in the previous dynasty, and he knows the most about matters concerning worshipping gods.

"I, this old minister, thinks that what Doctor He said in his dream does make sense. This old minister has looked through the case files and found that the common people in the world are not very particular about worshipping and enshrining gods. There are indeed cases of people worshipping evil gods indiscriminately, and even the mountain gods, land gods, road gods, river gods, and city gods who have been enshrined and have done nothing, acted recklessly, or even extorted incense offerings or indulged demons and ghosts to absorb incense offerings. This was especially the case in the previous dynasty.

"Secondly, gods can be compared to human officials in some aspects..."

Minister Zhou looked up at the emperor and saw that he looked unhappy. He immediately said:

"However, gods come from humans and the human world. Since ancient times, the court and the people of the human world have had the power to deify, especially the emperor. "Third, this is just Doctor He's dream. Although gods do often appear in Doctor He's dreams, Doctor He is also a human being. As the saying goes, you dream about something at night, and it is normal to dream about some bizarre things. The real person of Zixiao Palace needs to see the two phases for confirmation before we can determine whether it is true or not."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone came from outside to report:

"Zixiao Palace's Immortal Master Ming Chang wants to see you."

With a bang, the emperor slapped the armrest of the chair and easily broke it!
The two old ministers were both shocked.

At this time, the eunuch who held the seal beside him was considerate and immediately bowed and asked in a low voice:
"Your Majesty, the seafood has just been delivered from the East China Sea. Your Majesty has just asked the Imperial Kitchen to prepare it. I think it will be almost ready now."

The emperor then relaxed his expression and waved his hand:
"Send one copy to the original yard."

"Yes……"

At this moment, the emperor calmed down.

"Let Master Mingchang wait!"

The emperor waved his hand indifferently, and then said:
"I know that people in the world revere the gods and admire the immortals, but the gods are created by humans. You are important officials in the Ministry of Rites of Dayu, especially Doctor He, who are dedicated to offering sacrifices to the gods and communicating with them. You represent the entire court and the entire world. How can you be so cowardly and shrink? Isn't it natural for the gods to suppress the human world and the court? Or are you two old officials still carrying on the old customs of the previous dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, the two old ministers were so frightened that they even said they dared not.

When this dynasty was first established, both the imperial court and the emperor were indeed much tougher than those of the previous dynasty, and much tougher than those at the end of the previous dynasty.

After all, this emperor and some of his generals really dared to draw their swords against the gods and had actually killed demons and evil gods.

The two old ministers suddenly realized something——

Perhaps the current dynasty had indeed swept away the trends of the previous dynasties, and in this emperor, they saw the shadow of Dayou in the history books. That was a dynasty where the emperor was not afraid of demons or gods.

However, the Zixiao Palace and the Emperor of Heaven of this dynasty are also very domineering.

There is already a conflict between royal power and divine authority.

"Please invite the Southern Heavenly Master to come!" the emperor said, "The Southern Heavenly Master has arrived, and please invite the Immortal Mingchang to come in and see me."

……

On the busy streets of the capital, palace guards were leading the way, and a few eunuchs behind them were carefully holding food boxes and walking in small steps, delivering the food boxes to the courtyard where the emperor and Master Lin once lived.

Occasionally, when I turned my head, I heard pedestrians on the roadside and customers in teahouses and restaurants talking about the name of Nan Tianshi.

The eunuch was still young and had no impression of Master Fan and Lord Pan. He only occasionally heard a few words about Master Fan, Lord Pan and the Wei River God in the old people's stories. However, he often heard the story of Master Lin in the palace, and sometimes he would tell it together with His Majesty, but he had never seen him.

In today's capital, the person with the greatest reputation and the most respect from the people is undoubtedly the Southern Heavenly Master.

With the court's several rewards and commendations, Nan Tianshi distributed the rewards to the poor people inside and outside the city. In addition, the strange stories compiled by literati were very popular. The names of Juxian Mansion and Nan Tianshi could often be seen in these books. It seemed that everyone respected him, and all demons and ghosts were afraid of him. Nan Tianshi's reputation was spreading rapidly.

Walking through the streets and alleys, we soon arrived in front of the house.

What is different from the past is that there are now many battle-hardened imperial guards standing guard here day and night.

I heard that this was where His Majesty and Master Lin used to live, and now Master Lin has returned here to practice alchemy in seclusion.

"Your Majesty has an order..."

The leading eunuch announced his identity and purpose.

The young eunuch held the food box in his hand and looked up, only to see that there seemed to be a few more rosy clouds in the sky. The story of Master Lin refining elixirs and becoming an immortal, which he had heard in the capital city, suddenly came back to his mind.

……

In the quiet room, several people came back carrying food boxes.

"Master, uncle, this was sent from the palace. They said it was seafood sent from the East China Sea and was prepared by the best chef in the imperial kitchen." Ziyun spoke up as the senior sister.

"Seafood from the East China Sea..."

Lin Jue suddenly remembered that he had traveled to the East China Sea with the fox in order to collect the morning glow energy from the East China Sea, and had a great meal on the beach.

In the blink of an eye, a long time has passed.

I didn't expect that I could eat it in the capital with the help of Mr. Luo.

"Junior sister, please concentrate on refining the elixir and eat less. You should study more and eat less. Xianzhu eats grass, so he doesn't need to eat. Fuyao, Xiaohua and I will bear the burden and eat more."

"..."

Several people put down and opened the food boxes, looking at each other.

"That's right, Master!"

Xu Yi suddenly had an idea and took out a letter from his pocket: "A letter from Master Uncle."

"Let me see……"

Lin Jue took out the letter and read it while eating.

The disciples exchanged glances and started working quickly.

(End of this chapter)