Durin's Diary

Chapter 980 Soaring into the Sky

Dulin heard the story from the Golden Palace in the afternoon, which must have been passed down directly to him.

Otherwise, how could the events in the Golden Hall have traveled across half of the capital and reached Du Lin's ears so precisely?

Whether the punishments of Changtang were cruel or not, Du Lin thought they were not cruel at all. This was nothing compared to what he had done back when he worked for the tower. He even had to kill the cockroaches under the wooden floorboards, truly ensuring that every family had a dream and was well-organized.

They even distinguished between primary and secondary responsibilities—for example, in what happened last night, the person primarily responsible was whipped ten times, the secondary responsible seven times, those who followed the crowd were whipped five times, and those who were coerced were whipped three times.

In other words, the first person to speak is Whip Ten, the second and third are Whip Seven, the one who laughs heartily is Whip Five, and if anyone looks reluctant, it's Whip Three.

It’s a pity not.

So the six young men heard that they were being publicly whipped on the execution platform.

Dulin didn't go to watch, after all, there wasn't much to see in this kind of excitement. Among Dulin's girls, Lan'en and Shuxiang were reviewing the events—they had only discovered this morning that among the six young people last night was actually the general's nephew.

In the end, they all concluded that it was because this big Luosha beast hoof had shaved his head after entering the military camp that they hadn't been able to recognize him.

Du Lin thought it was normal; men in Changtang usually grew their hair long, but unfortunately, they would shave it all off with electric clippers after joining the army—after all, it was too late to shave it off when the head wound was being treated.

Whether or not a person has hair can significantly affect how others perceive them.

"I even have photos!" Shuxiang even pulled out her family photo. In the photo, the "Big Luosha Beast Hoof" they were talking about was dashing and debonair; he was indeed a handsome young man.

Last night, the bald man's smile was so lewd that Dulin couldn't even connect the two.

• Judging from the face shape comparison, it is indeed the same person, but the difference in hair and lighting is a big problem. Don't say they can't recognize her. If I weren't an AI, I don't think I would recognize her either.

The orange tree expressed its understanding.

For Dulin, last night was just a bit of fun, but he also understood why the Emperor was angry—what if it hadn't been Dulin last night?

The old man wasn't wrong. Today you dared to call the police station to find that white-headed turtle spirit and keep him up all night. In the future, will you call the command center thousands of miles away?

After lunch, Anta and the others had classes at the Celestial Master's Mansion, so Dulin opened the door for them.

"Mr. Dulin, come play with us!" The children from the Candle Dragon Pavilion ran over.

Having nothing else to do, Dulin nodded: "Then let's go there."

"Let's go hiking today! To the Yanshan Mountains on the outskirts of Beijing," the children said. "Okay." Du Lin had never heard of this mountain in his previous life, but considering that the timelines of the two worlds were different, it was normal that he didn't know. "You lead the way."

………………

Watching Du Lin walk out of the Candle Dragon Pavilion with a large group of children, Chief Ping turned to look at the old Celestial Master who had come from the Celestial Master's Mansion: "Do you believe me now?"

The old celestial master sighed, looking at the children walking through the street and the young man floating on the ground: "This is the first time I've seen such a strange deity. He clearly has divine power, yet he still pretends to be a mortal."

"Isn't this good?" Chief Ping stood there, smoking a cigarette while holding an ashtray in his hand. "Being a god is nothing compared to being a human. Look at the pathetic creatures in the Western Continent who are bound by divine power and what they've become."

“I think those Western Continent gods are quite happy with this.” The old Celestial Master frowned as he said this: “By the way, what does your Candle Dragon Pavilion think about His Majesty’s anger today?”

"It's a good thing. Your Majesty is right. There are too many lessons to be learned from the past in the history books of the Tang Dynasty. And what did Grand Tutor Pang do against all odds back then? Wasn't it so that all people could live a decent life?"

“I thought you wouldn’t think that way.” The old Celestial Master smiled and sighed. “Many young people in the Celestial Master’s Mansion feel that their senior brothers have been wronged.”

"What injustice? According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, those six young men, Mr. Du Lin, could have been whipped to death with a single lash. Making them strip down to their underwear and perform a shamanic dance is already too lenient. What do you think?"

“The older generation all think so, and I share that view, but young people have their own perspectives, which is dangerous.” When this was mentioned, the old Celestial Master’s face had lost its smile: “Although there is a rift between the Celestial Master’s Mansion and the Candle Dragon Pavilion, we must work together on some matters. Changtang cannot descend into chaos like the Western Continent.”

“That’s a must, you and I both know that. But to be honest, how far can you go?” Chief Ping revealed his answer before asking: “We have a few young men in our Zhulong Pavilion who feel that the new law is too harsh. The elders have decided to send them to Yumen Pass next spring. It’s up to them to see how they fare.”

"You guys are really heartless," the old master said in surprise.

“If we don’t ruthlessly punish them today, it’s tantamount to letting them ravage the world in the future. If Grand Tutor Pang finds out about this, I’m afraid they won’t even be able to get to Yumen Pass. In fact, we’ve been merciful enough,” Chief Ping said.

"Yes, so we decided to send those young people to Yumen Pass. It's much better than having that old man or Yan Zhenqing stop them in the street and kill them one day." At this point, the old master sighed, "I'm very worried about what will happen to Changtang when our generation gets old."

"Isn't there a proverb in Changtang: 'One generation of foxes governs one generation of chickens'? Don't worry, Grand Tutor Pang will definitely handle things well, and our descendants will certainly protect this land."

Hearing Chief Ping say this, the old Celestial Master nodded: "That's exactly what I'm worried about. The wisdom array of our ancestors must not be handed over to unreliable young people. It must be passed down from generation to generation to the most reliable people. It doesn't matter who they are, whether they have horns, whether they are male or female, whether they are human or demon. The most important thing is that they are reliable."

After saying that, the old Celestial Master stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray handed to him by Chief Ping. The halfling patted his knees and then raised his hand to open a small passage: "I have to go, otherwise when those young people in the Celestial Master's Mansion can't find me, they might make up some stories about me."

"Last time they couldn't find you, someone said you went to Pingkangfang and didn't come home at night. Is that true?" Chief Ping asked with a smile.

"If I really went, do you think my wife would rise from her coffin and beat me? That's outrageous!" The old master was clearly furious and exasperated by such malicious slander.

(End of this chapter)