The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 214 Star Seizing and Blessing

“Haha…I see!”

Master Zhan sensed it and burst into laughter.

It turns out that the inexplicable magical power he obtained when he ate Zhang Ruoyun before was used for this. He could peel out the evil stars that died in the paradise, bind them up, and use them for his own purposes.

"Okay, this magical power can be called 'Star Grabbing'!"

Master Zhan smiled brightly, and with another snap of his fingers, he destroyed Yang Zhi's body. He turned to the frightened Xue Pan and said with a smile:
"The Dark Star has returned to its place in the sky. Do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand. Master, don't worry. This brother of the Yang family is originally a star from heaven who came down to earth. His wisdom has been obscured. Now that the master has enlightened him, he will naturally ascend to heaven and no longer stay in the mortal world."

Master Zhan nodded with satisfaction and pointed his finger at Xue Pan. The star on the top of the blessed land flickered for a moment, and a ray of starlight fell down, covering Xue Pan.

"what?"

Xue Pan's face suddenly showed surprise. He looked down at his hands in shock, jumped a few times on the spot, stretched his legs and feet a few times, and suddenly swung his arms and started punching on the spot. His fists and feet were whistling with the wind, and his movements were crisp and powerful, clearly a result of hard work.

After the fight, the panic on Xue Pan's face disappeared, replaced by a look of joy. He fell to the ground and kowtowed, saying:
"Master is indeed very powerful. All the abilities of this dark star belong to me!"

Master Zhan flicked his sleeves, helped him up, and said with a smile:

"Not only will the power of this dark star belong to you, but with this starlight protecting you, you can also break free from the restrictions of this paradise, walk out of here, and travel freely around the world."

"But Master, I can give you the starlight, and I can also take it back. You can do whatever you want."

Xue Pan hurriedly smiled and said:
"Master, don't worry. Pan'er is not stupid. Doesn't he know what is more important?"

"If there is such a thing again, Master, just give the order. Even if it is an ugly man like the Green-faced Beast, Pan'er will be willing to grit his teeth and sacrifice himself for him!"

"Haha..." Master Zhan glanced at him unhappily and said with contempt, "As expected, whoever gives you milk is your mother. You were trying to resist before, but now that you see the benefits, you come over eagerly."

"Hehe..." Xue Pan did not deny it. He just put on a simple and honest look and smiled foolishly.

"Go and comfort Rong'er. You got the upper hand, but he suffered a great loss this time."

After receiving the order from Master Zhan, Xue Pan hurried back to his room, had a sweet and affectionate conversation with Jia Rong, and used Zhan's method of comfort to calm Jia Rong's mood.

Master Zhan glanced at the slightly dimming stars above his head and felt that this blessing could not only be used on one person, but was completely adjusted according to the spiritual energy conditions in the blessed land. The thicker the spiritual energy, the faster the recovery would naturally be. It wouldn't be long before he could bless others.

But although blessings are bestowed, each star can only have one chance to walk outside the blessed land.

However, in the world of Water Margin, there are a total of 108 objects available for star grabbing. Well, if you deduct Hu Sanniang, there are 107 of them, which is enough for the main personnel in the mansion to use.

Before, Mr. Zhan didn’t know that the heroes of Water Margin could be used in this way. Now that he knows, of course he can’t let it go.

There seem to be a few Water Margin heroes in Kyoto, such as Xu Ning, the teacher of the Golden Spear Class, and Ling Zhen, the number one artilleryman of the Song Dynasty. They can all be brought in to kill!
Moreover, many of these heroes are now officials appointed by the imperial court. With just one order from Master Zhan, they can be transferred to the capital for processing, which is very easy.

However, it seems that this hero of Water Margin must complete a destined event before he can be possessed by the evil star, have colorful light around him, and become one of the protagonists. This is rather troublesome.

Xu Ning's destined events should be "being tricked into joining Liangshan" and "defeating the linked horses". I'm afraid he doesn't have the magic star on him yet.

Ling Zhen is even worse, he is not a celestial star but an terrestrial star, and there are not many outstanding plots. Events are just blind guesses. "Being captured and brought to Liangshan" should be one, and "Bombarding Liangshanpo" may or may not be one. There is no way to arrange it at all!

The best way is to let Liangshan continue to develop on its own. After the 108 heroes gather on the mountain, Master Zhan will catch them all in one fell swoop and kill them all to seize the stars.

Other deeds may be difficult to confirm, but the act of "going to Liangshan" must be an important event, and it must be able to trigger the possession of the evil star.

But now the fate of Lin Chong and Yang Zhi has been changed, and it is hard to say what their future will be like!

Without Lin Chong, would Wang Lun still be killed in the gunfight?
If Wang Lun had insisted on refusing Chao Gai from going up the mountain, would Chao Gai and the Seven Heroes still be able to stay?

Wu Yong is cruel enough and doesn't mind killing Wang Lun, but there is a big difference between dying in an internal strife and going up the mountain to kill people to seize the throne. Given Chao Gai's personality, I'm afraid he probably won't agree.

If everyone cannot go to Liangshan, the subsequent impact will be too great.

This is still considered good. The worst thing is that because of Master Zhan, things like the Flower and Stone Gang and the Birthday Gang have been discontinued and replaced by the "Precious Medicine Gang".

Nowadays, when nobles in the capital celebrate their birthdays, they don’t want any gold or pearls or treasures. They just want precious medicines like ginseng and polygonatum... well, or beautiful women will do.

Everything is just to curry favor with Master Zhan!

Anyway, these gold, pearls, and treasures are not theirs, they were given by others, tributes from below. It makes no difference if they ask for precious medicines and beautiful women instead.

But without the birthday gift as an inducement, can Chao Gai and the seven heroes still gather together?

"No, I have to find a way to get all these people up the mountain!"

Mr. Zhan turned around a few times and felt that it would be better for him to escort the Liangshan heroes.

But the problem is that there is no one around to help!
There is only one quota for people who can go out and do things at the moment, but with Xue Pan's behavior, you can let him go out and bully men and women, but if you let him do this kind of thing, there is no doubt that he will mess it up.

It is possible to give the spot to Yang Yougong, but Yang Yougong does not know the plot of Water Margin, which involves some on-the-spot decision-making, and I am afraid he may not be able to do it well.

After thinking it over, Mr. Zhan still felt that he had to do it himself.

Master Zhan had previously awakened the magical power of transforming one qi into three pure ones, and he could use it at this moment.

The main body stays in the capital, while the clone travels around the world. Everyone does their own thing and does not interfere with each other.

But before that, we should capture another demon star first.

In the original book, the reason why Lu Zhishen left Daxiangguo Temple was purely because when he was rescuing Lin Chong, his identity was exposed by Lin Chong. Then he was troubled by Gao Qiu and others and could not stay there any longer, so he burned down the vegetable garden and fled from Kyoto.

But now that Lin Chong is gone, there is no need for Lu Zhishen to leave. Maybe he can catch him red-handed.

Master Zhan sat cross-legged on the spot, closed his eyes, and let his soul leave his body. In just a dozen breaths, he quickly searched the entire cave to see if Lu Zhishen had left Daxiangguo Temple.

Sure enough, after Master Zhan's Yang Soul made a circle, he saw the monk with colorful halo around him. He was immediately overjoyed. His Yang Soul descended and grabbed the monk. With just one step in the air, he brought him into the blessed land.

There were other hooligans in the vegetable garden. When they suddenly saw Lu Zhishen disappear out of thin air, they were shocked and hurried to report to the abbot.

The host, Elder Zhiqing, came over and searched for a long time, but could not find any trace of Lu Da. After listening carefully to everyone's description, his eyes rolled and he chanted the Buddha's name loudly:

"Amitabha, you might as well wait here for a few more days. If he still doesn't come back, then he has probably achieved enlightenment and ascended to heaven in broad daylight!"

Ever since the coming of the Heavenly Lord, many eminent monks in Buddhism have been sitting on pins and needles, fearing that their believers would betray them one day. Fortunately, the Heavenly Lord is not part of the mortal world and has never expressed his need for believers, otherwise they would be in trouble.

But even if the Heavenly Venerable did not say anything, the dignitaries who knew the truth came less often. Everyone was busy sending girls to the Fairy Palace to seek elixirs and magic. Who would care about these wood carvings and clay sculptures?
Although ordinary believers are unaware of the situation and come more frequently, when it comes to offering sacrifices to the Buddha, we still have to rely on these dignitaries!
What’s the point if the dignitaries don’t come and only poor people come?
Therefore, all the eminent monks are trying to find ways to increase the amount of immortals in their own temples. Now that Elder Zhiqing has encountered this strange phenomenon of disappearing out of nowhere, of course they have to take the opportunity to make a big fuss about it and put out a live advertisement.

And Lu Zhishen, who he had designated as the "Buddhist Arhat", did indeed "go to the Paradise".

After Master Zhan brought him into the blessed land, he broke his neck with one hand without saying a word. He watched with his own eyes as the "Tian Gu Star" re-condensed from his body and was captured by the blessed land, adding another star to the sky.

“Haha…it’s true!”

Master Zhan raised his hand to decompose Lu Zhishen's body, then with a snap of his fingers, a clone appeared. He then pointed at the "Tian Gu Star" and drew a ray of colorful light down to cover the clone.

Then Master Zhan discovered that many memories of practicing martial arts appeared in his mind out of thin air. However, because his physical fitness had long surpassed Lu Zhishen, the part about physical strengthening was omitted.

Master Zhan had never practiced martial arts before, as he really could not endure hardship. Later, after he got cheats, he relied on his great strength to fly bricks and prove his truth through force. Now, he has become a martial arts master. Not only is he proficient in fighting in the martial arts world, he also knows a lot about fighting in battlefields. It is no problem for him to disguise himself as a man of the martial arts world.

"Snap", another snap of the fingers, and a titanium alloy sword appeared in Master Zhan's hand. "Swish, swish, swish" it was like a whirlwind, and he performed a set of tricks first.

It can only be said that martial arts is deeply rooted in the hearts of men in the flower-growing family. Even a fairy like Master Zhan is not immune to it. Although Master Zhan has countless magic weapons and can kill this clone with one finger, the nature of the two is different and they are different ways of happiness.

Martial arts, that’s a man’s romance!
Traveling around the world and becoming a flower-picking knight has been Mr. Zhan’s dream since he was a child. Now that it has come true, how cool it is!
When Sister Lin heard the noise and rushed over, she saw two Master Zhan standing opposite each other. One of them stroked his thick black hair with his hand, put his hand in front of his chest with a Buddha palm, and said with a smile:

"Amitabha, this poor monk, the Flower Monk, is the 24th one!"

"Pah!" Sister Lin blushed, turned around and walked away, saying angrily, "Master wants to play this clone game again, I won't play with you."

Mr. Zhan laughed, walked forward, hugged Lin Daiyu and walked away, waving his other hand casually in the air as a farewell to his clone.

The clone did not hesitate and took a step forward. He was already outside the fairy palace. After thinking for a while, he gave up the idea of ​​riding the cloud away.

This clone is not the original body after all. Although it can use some magical powers, the spiritual energy it carries is limited and cannot be used indiscriminately.

Fortunately, he doesn't need any supernatural powers to travel the world. With his martial arts, he is able to dominate the world.

He first went to the market, bought a horse at a high price, whipped the horse, and rode out of the city.

There is no need to mention the Immortal Palace. It is said that Master Zhan left the city and went towards Shandong along the east gate.

Whether it is "Jin Ping Mei" or "Water Margin", that is the main battlefield, so you can't go wrong here.

The shortest way to get to Liangshan Lake is actually by water. From Tokyo, go up the Guangji River, go north all the way, pass through Xingrenfu, Guangji Army, go directly to Jeju, and finally flow into Liangshan Lake.

However, since it was a rare opportunity for Mr. Zhan to come out and he was not in a hurry, he gave up the water route and took the land route instead, wanting to experience the unique bandit culture in the Water Margin world.

Unfortunately, due to the developed commerce, the post stations and official roads of the Song Dynasty were extremely well built, and Master Zhan had no shortage of money, so he only walked on the main roads and did not take the remote paths. He did not encounter any bandits or robbers.

He was a person who loved to enjoy life. Even when he went out to play, he would not treat himself badly and was extremely generous. Wherever he went, he would eat the best food, stay in the best accommodation, and travel around without any concern for the hardships of the journey.

On this day, Master Zhan finally entered Jeju. After asking someone for the route, he headed towards Yuncheng.

He estimated the time and it was almost time for the seven heroes to gather at Chao Gai's house. However, now that the birthday gift had been stopped, it was hard to say whether they would still gather together and for what purpose.

Master Zhan has to go over and help them, and not let these seven good brothers disperse like this.

But Gongsun Sheng, after getting advice from his master, thought again and again and finally decided to go to Shandong.

The road ahead is too big to take risks, so it is better to be cautious.

He came down from Erxian Mountain and headed south. Not long after he walked, he heard the news that the immortal god from the capital had descended to the world. He couldn't help but feel great regret and hated the missed opportunity. However, things had already passed and he couldn't change it, so he had to continue to Jeju. He happened to run into Master Zhan head-on in a roadside restaurant.

Mr. Zhan did everything in a grand manner. As soon as he entered the store, he threw out a golden bean, asked for the best seat, ordered a table of the best food and wine, and leaned against the window to taste the food slowly.

However, in this remote area, there are many special foods, but not many that can be called delicacies. Mr. Zhan just wanted to taste them, and most of them were left over.

Anyway, it was probably to give the shop assistant a discount, so Mr. Zhan didn't care. He was nitpicking there and waving his hand to call the shop assistant over.

Mr. Zhan was a big customer, and his spending alone was more than all the other people in the building combined. From the shopkeeper to the waiters, they all stared at him closely, ready to serve him.

The waiter saw that the food was not to his taste and was worried that this noble young man would cause trouble. When he saw him waving his hand, he hurried over and said with a smile:
"Sir, if it's not to your taste, I'll ask the chef to make another portion for you?"

Master Zhan waved his hand and said with a smile:
"I'm not hungry. It's none of your business. You don't have to do it again."

"I have something to ask you. If you answer well, you will be rewarded."

When he heard the word "reward", the clerk's waist suddenly bent a little more and his smile became much brighter.

"Sir, feel free to ask. If I knew, I would not dare to hide it. Even if I don't know, most of the people in this store can answer it."

Mr. Zhan put a silver ingot on the table and asked the clerk, whose eyes were wide open:
"I heard that there is a man in Yuncheng County nicknamed Chao Gai, the Heavenly King Holding a Pagoda. I wonder which village he is from?"

Mr. Zhan had not read Water Margin carefully when he first read it, and so many years had passed in the world of Dream of the Red Chamber that he had forgotten many details. He only remembered that Chao Gai was a village chief in Yuncheng County, but he was not so clear about other things, so he just asked directly.

Fortunately, Chao Gai had a great reputation in the martial arts world. When the clerk heard this, he immediately smiled and replied:

"So that you know, my Lord, that Chao Gai is the head of Dongxi Village. He is a well-known person and there is no one else with the same name."

Mr. Zhan nodded, threw the silver to the waiter, stood up to pay the bill and leave.

Gongsun Sheng was also planning to go to Chao Gai's house. Now he saw that Master Zhan was tall and strong, with an extraordinary demeanor and a sword on his waist. It was obvious that he was also a man of the world. Maybe they could be brothers in the future. So he wanted to make friends with him. When he saw that he was about to leave, he hurriedly said:

"Brother, please stay!"

When Master Zhan looked back, he saw a Taoist priest coming from behind. Although he was wearing a Taoist robe, he was eight feet tall and had a dignified appearance. He carried a pine-patterned bronze sword on his back and held a tortoise-shell fan in his hand. He looked neither fish nor fowl, more like a gangster or a Quanzhen Taoist.

Seeing Master Zhan stop and look back, the man stepped forward, raised his hand and saluted, introducing himself:

"I am Gongsun Sheng, a native of Jizhou. I have been fond of spears and clubs since I was young. I learned some Taoist skills and can call the wind and rain, ride on the clouds. People in the martial arts world call me Ruyunlong."

"I have long heard of the great name of Chao Baozheng from Dongxi Village, Yuncheng County. I have never met him before. I just heard what you said and I know you are also going to look for Chao Baozheng. How about we go together?"

"Oh, you are Ruyunlong Gongsun Sheng!"

Master Zhan suddenly realized what was going on. He looked him up and down, and saw that his whole body was dull and without any colorful light. It was obvious that he had not yet been possessed by the evil star. He immediately smiled and bowed in return, saying:
"I am the 24th Taoist monk Hua Heshang. I am very happy to meet you. I have heard of Ruyunlong's great name for a long time. It is a great honor for me to meet him today."

“Uh…” Gongsun Sheng was dazed when he saw Master Zhan dressed like a knight but called himself “poor monk” and his nickname was “Flowery Monk”. He had never heard of the name “Zhan Twenty-four” before.

Mr. Zhan didn't care about that. He stepped forward and pulled him back, laughing and saying, "Come on, let's sit down and talk."

After meeting Gongsun Sheng by chance, Mr. Zhan was no longer in a hurry to leave. He immediately pulled Gongsun Sheng back to his seat, asked someone to serve more wine and food, and drank and chatted with Gongsun Sheng.

Gongsun Sheng thought for a long time but couldn't remember which hero in the martial arts world had the last name Zhan, but he couldn't show it for the sake of face, so he just smiled and toasted to apologize:
"I have been hanging around in the north and have only recently come to Shandong. I am very ignorant and don't know where you are making your fortune. Why do you come to Chao Baozheng?"

Master Zhan laughed loudly, and just brought up the matter of enforcing justice in the world of the Red Mansion and said nonsense:

"I have always been in Yushan, doing some business for justice. But the mountain stronghold was destroyed by the government troops a few days ago, so I just got out and traveled around to see where there are beautiful mountains and rivers and where I can build a new business."

Hearing Master Zhan say this, Gongsun Sheng immediately felt relieved, confirming that this man was indeed a hero. He immediately smiled and came over, whispering:

"That's a coincidence. I came to Chao Baozheng this time because I have a business to do for the people. I came to him to work with me."

Mr. Zhan smiled and asked:

"But I don't know what kind of business it is and how much silver it is worth."

Gongsun Sheng refused to elaborate, and just shook his head:
"The walls here are full of ears, so I can't go into details. When we get to Chao Baozheng's house later, I will tell you everything. I will definitely not let you down."

Mr. Zhan was curious. Now that even the birthday gift was gone, what new name could he come up with?
Are they going to steal the "Precious Medicinal Compendium"?
Even if the precious medicine is stolen, it cannot be used directly and has to be sold. Selling the stolen goods is a big hassle.

What's more, the current "Baoyao Gang" is also mixed with beauties tributed from all over the country. What should be done with these beauties?
One for each of you?
Then let’s not call it Water Margin, let’s call it The Carnal Prayer Mat!
Could it be possible to just kill him with one knife?
That’s such a waste!

But this is also something that the heroes of Water Margin can do.

Mr. Zhan drank the wine in the glass, threw the glass on the table, pulled Gongsun Sheng and walked out.

"Come on, come on, someone can't wait to hear you talk about that business!"

Gongsun Sheng struggled twice but couldn't get free. He was shocked and had to let him drag him out of the door. They then mounted their horses and headed towards Dongxi Village.

Thanks to the deacon "I am a righteous man and will not go to that kind of place" for the reward of 1700 coins!
Thanks to Xiefengzhilei for the reward!
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(End of this chapter)