Da Zaojun

Chapter 190 The People of the Cave Heaven Value the Dao More Than Techniques

They fell from mid-air and landed directly on the city gate. Song Wuji led Lin Fajing around in a circle.

This guy has probably been cultivating in his cave for a long time and has never been to the outside world. He is curious about everything he sees, especially food.

Song Wuji first led him to the county government office, then pointed to the left and said, "That is the City God Temple, where you will be stationed from now on. The City God of the City God Temple, Tian Chenghuang, was the county magistrate before the great change of heaven and earth. He was upright and dedicated to the people. After his death, he passed the examination to become the City God and continues to shine. I hope that Master Lin can get along well with City God Tian."

Then, pointing to the right, he said, "That's the Kitchen Office. Basically, half the city's population eats there. Breakfast is served at dawn, lunch at noon, and dinner at dusk. Of course, it's not free; you can buy it with money or work points."

"What are work points?" Lin Fajing asked curiously. "Are they like paper money?"

Song Wuji offered a brief explanation: "No, it should be considered a work certificate." However, he didn't elaborate further.

"It's because you're too poor to pay out money, so you're using work points to pay off debts. Besides food, can you also buy things with them?"

Song Wuji nodded: "There aren't many goods, so we can only plan it this way. Now that we're expanding the city and building houses, we can also exchange them for homesteads to expand the city, as well as street shops and vegetable fields outside the city."

"Can it circulate on its own?" Lin Fajing was very curious about this: "If it can circulate on its own, then it's no different from money, right?"

Song Wuji said, "Using household registration as a unit makes it difficult for people to communicate freely. This is also to protect the people, especially the refugees outside the city who are still sleeping in communal beds and do not yet have a place to stay."

“That’s not bad either,” Lin Fajing suddenly said. “It’s somewhat like the code of conduct for the peace and prosperity of the nation.”

"The Way of Great Peace is also a talismanic path. They can control thunder magic, turn beans into soldiers, use talismanic water to cure diseases, and are good at relieving hunger, suffering, and plague. They can also arrange troops and have a series of Taoist soldiers, such as Yellow Turban warriors and Yellow Turban leaders..."

Song Wuji was speechless, shook his head, and said only, "They are not from the Taiping Dao."

There's no point in explaining further to him.

Lin Fajing took a shepherd's purse and pork bun from the kitchen office and ate it, feeling the fire's influence on the food. This shepherd's purse and pork bun had the effect of restoring physical strength and refreshing the mind. If one was injured, it could also slightly restore vitality.

“Your cooking skills are quite good. Although our Iron Pillar Palace Dao Hospital's pills are diverse and effective, they are not as tasty as yours and do not cause drug resistance. The only drawback is that the meat buns are so small that an ordinary person would probably be full after eating only three or four. Our pills are smaller in size.”

“These are just what ordinary people eat while working,” Song Wuji said. “There are also some special ones, which are specifically for soldiers or demon hunters, and they are more effective.”

Looking at the people on the street, Lin Fajing said, "Their lifespan is shorter than that of the people in our grotto-heavens, and their aptitude is also ordinary, but they have a more resilient spirit. However, it seems that after living past sixty years old, they are almost like candles in the wind."

It turns out that there were also people living in the cave. They lived in a small country with few people, governed by Taoist principles of non-interference, allowing them to rest and recuperate naturally, and teaching them methods of health preservation and longevity.

Therefore, the people of the grotto-heaven all revere the Dao and despise techniques, value health preservation and despise fighting, follow the principles of Yin and Yang and the four seasons, and live in accordance with the Dao of Heaven, the Dao of Earth, and the Dao of Man.

As a result, centenarians can still work in the fields, their teeth are still strong at 120 or 130, and many even die peacefully at 150 or 160.

These people are called "human immortals" in the outside world, but they are just ordinary people in the grotto heaven.

Before the great transformation of demons, the people outside the city had government officials above them who levied taxes and forced labor. Even without government officials, there were landlords and clan elders. These people lived a hard life and had no time to think about health preservation.

After the great transformation of the demons, they had to fight against the heavens and earth, the demons and monsters. In addition to fighting, they also had to build their homes non-stop. They worked hard every day, so naturally they couldn't focus on health preservation.

This is completely contrary to the lifestyle philosophy of the people of the grotto-heaven.

It prioritizes technique over principle, and prioritizes competition over health preservation.

As for living to sixty... even without a major demonic upheaval, it's difficult for ordinary people. Most people become grandfathers in their thirties, calling themselves "old man," and celebrate their birthdays at forty.

Although people are now starting to practice martial arts, it may not necessarily be a good thing.

Song Wuji said, "Fighting is something that only the young and strong fight and compete. The twenties and thirties are when the body is at its strongest, but the forties and fifties are when experience is most abundant. We can only start to take care of our health when they are in their forties and fifties. If we take care of our health like the elderly when we are young, it will only make our flesh taste better, and the demons will find it more fragrant."

"That's true."

Lin Fajing said, "However, with a hundred schools of thought contending, health preservation and martial arts practice are not mutually exclusive. You can practice health preservation at the same time!"

"Lord Song, the City God Temple is so lifeless. Why not bring some life to it? Would you allow me to open a health and wellness class there and teach everyone how to maintain their health?"

"As long as you can manage." Song Wuji had no objection. Health preservation is also a kind of medicine, and it is closely related to cooking. After all, there is a kind of health preservation called dietary therapy, and there is a kind of treatment called medicinal cuisine.

Song Wuji planned to have the kitchen staff learn about health preservation methods and cook accordingly to improve the health of the people. Lin Fajing, seeing Song Wuji's skepticism, remarked, "The art of health preservation is for emperors! Ordinary people have no way of learning it!"

"Ordinary people live in homes that are no more than ten feet in size, eat only enough to fill their stomachs, and toil all year round. Where do they have the leisure to take care of their health? They are just barely holding on."

In other words, Lin Fajing is a Daoist disciple who is a successor of the Daoist tradition. If it were in his previous life, Song Wuji would never have listened to the nonsense health theories of those health experts.

After going around in circles, we arrived at the Anti-Theft Office, which was full of cats. The rituals for the Stove Cat and the Old Tiger also applied to ordinary cats. The Stove Cat was in charge of catching mice in the kitchen, and the Old Tiger was in charge of catching mice in the fields.

Especially in the fields where blood rice is planted, although there are laws and curses that forbid demons and monsters from entering at will, those burrowing rats can enter the fields. Moreover, they are not ordinary rats, but rats with mutated spiritual energy. They cannot be considered rat demons, but they can be considered rat monsters. Each one weighs two pounds, and the larger ones weigh seven or eight pounds.

Fortunately, they were rats from the fields, so they were all considered meat. Some of the cats that hunted the rats would eat them, while others wouldn't. They would bring the rats to the kitchen office, where they would be made into dried rats, which both cats and people would eat.

Lin Fajing was instantly captivated by the cats, meowing incessantly, which made the cats in the anti-theft yamen roll their eyes.

Lin Fajing, however, was thoroughly enjoying himself and even wanted to go inside to pet the cat: "Lord Song, I've made up my mind, I want to continue working as a veterinarian in the Anti-Theft Office!"

But he saw the job posting at the entrance.

This kid is full of energy; he took on several things all at once.

Song Wuji said, "Whatever makes you happy. Also, these cats are all under the jurisdiction of Cat Constable. He has already cultivated a human form, with a cat's head and a human body. He is known as Cat Lord. Don't tease him."

"That would be so much fun!"

Lin Fajing not only ignored him, but became excited instead.

Song Wuji then took him to the Earth God Temple in the east of the city, informing him that this was the Earth God. He then led him to the residence of the Beggar Clan's Life-Gathering Sect. The three elders of the Life-Gathering Sect immediately became uneasy, since Lin Fajing was a disciple of a major Taoist sect, while they were just members of the lowly Beggar Clan.

One of them is cultivating immortality in the Heavenly Court, while the other is still going around in circles in the style of martial arts, at most touching on some unorthodox methods.

Lin Fajing also looked down on them, saying, "My elders told me a story that when the leader of your Beggar Clan's Life-Gathering Sect was young, he liked to wear a cow's hide and have milk squeezed out of him. Is that true or false?"

Their Beggars' Sect is composed of second-rate, unorthodox sects. Ninth-rank members are the backbone, and eighth-rank members are elders. Even the sect leader of the Life-Gathering Sect is only a seventh-rank member. When the seven sects elect a leader, he will probably be a seventh-rank member, or at least a sixth-rank member. After all, even the God of Poverty they worship is not known by name in the Heavenly Court, and he says that he was not originally the God of Poverty, but the God of Poverty Wealth.

Originally, the Beggars' Sect was founded with the intention of eliminating beggars and helping each other. However, it later changed and became a den of filth and evil, a gathering place for wicked and crooked practices. Instead of helping each other, it even developed cruel methods such as harvesting and mutilating living people.

It's normal that Lin Fajing looks down on him.

He whispered to Song Wuji, "My old man wouldn't lie to me. The people of the Life-Gathering Sect like to do this. Milking cows while wearing cowhide is considered novelty, but entering a house in dog skin to have sex with the mistress is a sin."

There's not much else to introduce, except for a brothel where you can listen to Old Blind Man tell stories and perform lotus flower ballads, as well as Lin Pandi and the few girls with romantic entanglements who sing songs, play musical instruments, and dance.

"I already have a pretty good idea of ​​the city's layout. I'll replan the existing buildings for you and use my teleportation magic to move their locations. I'll also plan out the buildings that are going to be built for you."

"I'm not in a hurry to go to the City God Temple. It's too gloomy there and not suitable for living. I need to find a place to stay."

Song Wuji was really in a bind. He didn't even have a proper place to live. He didn't live in the backyard of the county government office. He usually meditated and cultivated next to the stove in the kitchen office.

"Are you still going to sleep?"

"Of course, you need to sleep to maintain your health. Not sleeping will deplete your energy. How can you recover? My method is to sleep without dreams and not to sleep for too long, but the sleeping environment must be comfortable."

Song Wuji thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you sleep at the inn first?"

"No!" Lin Fajing offered a solution: "Just arrange a room for me at the Anti-Theft Office, I'll live with the cats!"

"Row!"

Song Wuji was too lazy to say anything more. At least this guy liked cats, and people who like cats can't be all that bad.

Besides, this guy is a talented individual, and Song Wuji needs such a talent.

(End of this chapter)