Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 184: False Appearance and Truth

"Marshal, the fourth young master is here."

"Let him in."

A report was heard outside the study. Gu Beiming, who was sitting behind the desk, responded casually and put down the pen in his hand.

The door was pushed open and Gu Jize walked in, performing the formalities meticulously as usual.

After being locked up for two days, beard grew on his cheeks, he looked a little haggard, his eyes were a little swollen and red, he was not as energetic as before, and his voice was a little hoarse.

"I heard you figured it out." Gu Beiming asked.

"Yes."

"How did such a dull person figure it out this time?"

Gu Jize said, "I really don't think that being independent is a good idea, but if father has made up his mind, it is better for father and son to work together than to go against filial piety."

"Still pedantic."

Gu Beiming scolded, stood up, waved, and asked Gu Jize to follow him.

The father and son turned around the screen.

"You are so filial. I will take you somewhere."

"Where?"

Gu Jize looked around curiously and saw that behind the screen was a place for taking naps. There was a bed and a bookcase, but there was no back door.

The bed was somewhat unique, with stone pillars at the four corners for hanging curtains.

Gu Beiming walked to the bed and pushed the bookcase so that it was aligned with the stone pillar at the corner of the bed.

With a "click" sound, a small door shape was formed between the bookcase and the bed, and it was a stone door.

"Follow my father."

As Gu Beiming spoke, he stepped through the stone door and disappeared into the study.

Gu Jize followed immediately.

After passing through the stone gate, there was a slightly dark passage in front of us, and there were four stone pillars in the passage. It can be seen that we have not left too far and are still in the city of Jusai.

"Father, what is this?"

"Obsidian." Gu Beiming said, "Four pieces of obsidian can be connected together to send the contents to other places."

"But this is Jusai City. We can't use supernatural powers, but we can use rare treasures?"

"Both obsidian and black neodymium can change the force field between heaven and earth, repelling each other, and this repulsion can also be used. If you want to go left, just make the obsidian go right. Of course, you can't go too far." Gu Beiming said: "There are countless strange things in the world, and they can't be all treated with one principle."

Gu Jize said: "That's what my father taught me."

This is what he often said, but when Gu Beiming heard it today, he felt that he didn't really appreciate it as before, and it seemed a little perfunctory.

I guess it’s because he’s a little disappointed about being independent.

Gu Beiming didn't say much and walked into the passage.

This is a fortress made entirely of stone. When a door is opened, many people can be seen inside.

Someone was pouring liquid from a small ladle into a large vat; someone was stirring something in the vat; someone was sorting out some things that looked like medicinal herbs or beast bones; someone was walking by holding round, strange things that looked like large frog eggs on a lotus leaf...

Gu Jize was overwhelmed by the sight and finally asked, "Father, what are these?"

"Don't worry, my purpose as a father is not to establish myself as king."

Gu Beiming said this and pushed open a door with his own hands.

Inside the door, several old men were gathered around a stone platform, looking at a naked body lying on the platform.

It was impossible to tell whether the body was male or female because there were no organs under the crotch and the face was covered with a piece of cloth.

"The Marshal is here."

Hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, the elders turned around and saluted.

Gu Beiming nodded and said, "This is my son Gu Jize. He has been with Geng Xuezhi since he was young and has been taught in a somewhat pedantic way. That's why I didn't let him participate in these things before. Now it's time to tell him."

Geng Xuezhi was a general under Gu Beiming in the past. He was both civil and military, and had great dignity and personal charm. Sometimes when facing the enemy in battle, he could make the enemy surrender with just a pair of captivating eyes.

Unfortunately, Geng Xuezhi died in battle several years ago.

As soon as Gu Jize joined the army, he served under Geng Xuezhi. They had a close relationship and he never forgot Geng Xuezhi's memorial anniversary every year.

But today, when Gu Jize heard Gu Beiming's words criticizing Geng Xuezhi for being pedantic, he still kept his head down and did not react much.

At this time, the elders all greeted him, and one of them said, "I have heard of the Fourth Young Master's prestige for a long time. I hope we can help the Fourth Young Master to reach a higher level."

"May I ask what this means?" Gu Jize asked.

"You are so rude." Gu Beiming taught him a lesson, "Show your courtesy to the gentlemen." "I can't bear it, I can't bear it."

The leader of the old men then stood up and said, "I am Liang Xing. I used to be the imperial physician in Rui State, and later in Yong State. These are my colleagues. When the Yongjing Palace Incident happened, we fled together to seek refuge with Marshal Gu."

"Mr. Liang is polite."

Liang Xing smiled bitterly and said, "Don't let the Eleventh Young Master know that I am in Jusai City, otherwise I'm afraid he will kill me."

Gu Jize said, "Don't worry, Mr. Liang. Father and I are here and will not let Eleventh Brother do anything rash."

Since Gu Beiming was planning to tell the fourth son something, Liang Xing led Gu Jize to the stone platform and began to introduce him.

"My Lord Fourth Master should be able to tell that this is the corpse of a salamander."

As he spoke, Liang Xing lifted the cloth covering the body.

Gu Jize looked at it and was still surprised.

"This is?"

"Yes." Liang Xing said, "This is me."

Gu Jize looked at the body on the stone platform, and then at Liang Xing who was standing there.

The two men looked exactly the same, but there were some differences between them. Liang Xing, who was lying on the stone platform, had no hair.

Liang Xing raised his hand and suddenly pulled out his hair, revealing his shiny scalp.

"Yes, I am a salamander."

"Have you died once?" Gu Jize asked.

"Yes, it seems that the Fourth Young Master knows a lot about the Salamanders, which saves me a lot of trouble."

Liang Xing stroked his beard and pulled out the long beard under his chin.

"It is not difficult to see that turning Yin Kuo into a salamander was our plan. The marshal had been secretly communicating with Yin Kuo for several years, and finally Yin Kuo could no longer hold back and asked the marshal to help him come back to life. The marshal then sent us to Yin Kuo's side. Our original intention was to make Yin Kuo dependent on us, so that we could control Yong State by controlling him. Unfortunately, things did not go as we wished, and something unexpected happened in the end."

"Because of my eleventh brother?"

"Yes, it was because of the Eleventh Prince's action that Yin Yuhe ascended the throne smoothly." Liang Xing said, "Now that Yin Kuo has lost the throne, he is of little use."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Liang Xing glanced at Gu Beiming, and seeing that he agreed, he said, "To be honest, sir, the reason why the commander-in-chief showed his attitude of helping Yin Kuo regain the throne and even proclaiming himself king was to put pressure on Yin Yuhe and bring the situation back to its original direction."

"Which direction?"

"Simply put, let Yin Yuhe become the next Yin Kuo."

Gu Jize frowned, still not seeming to understand.

Liang Xing simply put it more bluntly, saying: "Yin Yuhe has agreed to cooperate with the Marshal and let us refine him into a salamander as well."

"When did he agree?"

"Dong Cailiang came here to represent Yin Yuhe and express his attitude."

As he spoke, Liang Xing pointed to another Liang Xing on the stone platform and said, "We are preparing to help Yin Yu and refine the energy. We need to cultivate a large number of salamanders. Although salamanders can give birth to two, and two to four, they still need a large amount of mucus, and producing mucus requires a lot of food..."

Gu Jize asked: "Yin Yuhe agreed, but what about Yin Jinggeng?"

Gu Beiming finally spoke up and said, "Yin Yuhe sent Yin Jinggeng to the southwest for this very reason."

Gu Jize said: "I can understand that Yin Yuhe wants to come back to life. But I don't understand why my father does this. This is even more ridiculous than rebelling and establishing his own country."

"This is the condition I proposed when I surrendered to the Yong Kingdom. I will help Yin Kuo to transform into a salamander, and he will also help me achieve nirvana."

"My father only did it for..."

"I'm dying."

Gu Beiming suddenly interrupted Gu Jize with this sentence. He sighed slightly and said, "I should have told you earlier, but I was worried that you were too deeply influenced by Geng Xuezhi. Initially, we defected to Yong State, but in fact, we obeyed the will of His Majesty to turn Yong State into the next Yue State. We started by helping Yin Kuo refine the salamanders and let him refine the aliens with the power of the whole country. At the same time, I also searched for the phoenix for His Majesty."

The "Your Majesty" he referred to was naturally not Yin, but Emperor Rui.

Gu Jize lowered his head again and murmured, "Father still has his heart set on Ruiguo..."

"But something unexpected happened later." Gu Beiming said: "I was seriously injured while chasing the phoenix."

After saying that, he opened his collar.

When everyone looked over, they saw a burnt hole in Gu Beiming's chest, and the wound next to it not only did not heal, but was actually getting worse.

"I must ask Yongguo to find the Phoenix for me, and I cannot hand her over to Your Majesty."

Gu Beiming looked at Gu Jize and asked, "What about you? You are my son, do you plan to watch me die?"

(End of this chapter)