Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 146: Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds

Later, Zhao Yifu called for his master first.

Although he can now call the headmaster directly, one of his instincts for survival in the workplace is to never report to a higher level.

No matter how familiar he is with the big boss, he still has to report the situation to his direct supervisor first.

Liang Zhongzhi came and when he saw the scroll in Zhao Yifu's hand, he immediately knew that this was a serious matter, and then hurriedly went to call Qiu Yuzi.

Qiu Yuzi also stared at the scroll in deep thought for a long time before he sighed and said, "This is a treasure refined by the former Taoist master, named: 'Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds Mother and Child Picture'."

"This diagram is divided into two parts, one for the son and one for the mother. Actually, I heard that they were originally intended to be refined into nine sub-diagrams, implying the meaning of 'all nine return to one.'"

"It's a pity that when I had only refined one master map and one sub-map, I encountered that great change. In the end, this treasure map disappeared along with the rebels."

"And the effect of this 'Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds Mother and Child Picture' is that it allows those holding the picture to communicate with each other even if they are thousands of miles apart."

"Master Yuanxiu must have created this diagram to help the 'Taoist Emperor' better control the four directions."

"This should be a 'sub-plot,' but when there's only a son and a mother, it's actually irrelevant."

Zhao Yifu was quite surprised after hearing this and said, "So, I can use this diagram to communicate directly with another holder?"

Qiu Yuzi nodded and said, "But I don't know who the other owner is or where he is. But in any case, you have recovered the lost treasure for our sect."

After hearing this, Zhao Yifu quickly took up the "A Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds" painting with both hands.

Seeing this, Qiu Yuzi laughed and said, "No need to give it to me. Since you found this map, you can keep it for yourself."

Zhao Yifu hesitated and said, "This should be a treasure belonging to the sect, right? How can you let me take it?"

Qiu Yuzi said, "It's okay for you to keep it. When you get tired of playing with it, just put it back in Moshan."

"This thing is just gathering dust in the treasure house at Moshan."

After hearing this, Zhao Yifu could only put it away silently.

Having obtained a treasure whose use was currently unknown, he continued to count the spoils.

Perhaps the real value this time is the large amount of gold, silver and other valuables found in the Xieyue Sect. These things can be circulated in the secular world. Obviously, the Xieyue Sect is not some detached sect.

Of course, all these are now cheap for Zhao Yifu, and he doesn’t have to worry about his food, clothing and other expenses for a long time to come.

Just as dawn was breaking, Hua Da Nv finally came to Zhao Yi Fu, staggering with a skinny old man.

"Meow~~"

It let out a pleasant cry and jumped onto Zhao Yifu to ask for rubbed.

Zhao Yi Fu held Hua Da Niu's plump body and rubbed it until tears were about to come out of her cat-like eyes.

"what's your name?"

Zhao Yifu then asked the man who was kneeling in front of him with a long knife in his hand.

It's not that he was rude, but he just didn't like the people from Xieyue Sect.

The skinny old man didn't even dare to raise his head. After all, he had witnessed with his own eyes how this man slaughtered all the monks in Lunzang Temple.

How did he fight with the corpse king Hanba to the end and kill him with one sword.

Moreover, Zhao Yifu should have been extremely weak after doing all this, but he was still able to strike out with a divine sword and burn away all the shadows of his inner demons.

In the old man's mind, such a person is already the reincarnation of a god.

He said respectfully, "My name is Ji Dao Zai, and it's...it's Xie Yue..."

Zhao Yifu waved his hand and said, "I understand. Sacrifice Daozai. Tell me why you're here."

Jidaosai quickly lowered his head, held up the sword in his hand and said, "My Lord, Jidaosai is willing to serve you and be your subordinate."

"This knife is my greeting gift, please accept it, my Lord."

Zhao Yifu took the knife.

The knife is long but not wide, and the blade is straight and stored in a gold-inlaid scabbard.

Looking at the ring on the hilt, he said in silence, "An ancient ring-handled sword?"

Sacrificial Swordsman lowered his head and said, "Because I heard from my grandmother that the master has high standards for aesthetics and is an expert in both swords and knives."

"Therefore, I think that a straight-bladed ring-handled sword might be more suitable for your needs, my lord."

Zhao Yifu nodded, reached out to touch the ring on the handle, and felt that it felt really good.

But he felt as if there was something strange inside the blade, constantly stirring his heart and making him want to pull it out...

"What's its name?"

he asks.

Ji Daosai flattered, "Your Majesty can choose the name yourself."

Zhao Yifu was too lazy to think about it: "You are the one who made this knife, so you can just name it."

Saitosai immediately said a name proudly: "Master, this sword is called: Rinzo-80 Monks' Sword!"

Zhao Yifu: ...

He regretted it. Why did he let this guy choose the name?
That's terrible. Is this name given because they are afraid that others won't know where the materials for making the sword come from?

Zhao Yifu said, "Let's call it 'Knife of Killing'."

Ji Daozhai couldn't help but curl his lips and complain in his heart. It was obviously Zhao Yifu who asked him to choose the name, but in the end, his good name that he was so confident about wasted.

But at this moment, he saw Zhao Yifu about to draw his sword...

He quickly said, "Please wait a moment, my lord!"

Zhao Yifu looked up at him and asked, "What's the matter?"

Ji Daosai replied, "This sword was forged from the iron juice of the master's previous black iron sword and the bones of the eighty Tibetan monks. It possesses both good and evil, and is a first-class sword of the way of killing."

"But if this is the case, the evil resentment within this blade will become extremely heavy. Only by suppressing this evil resentment can its true power be unleashed."

"So, please make some adjustments first, my Lord. It would be best if you can improve your mental state to the best possible level..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Yi Fu had already drawn his sword.

"Qiang!"

The straight knife was unsheathed, and Zhao Yifu, holding this "killing knife" in his hand, really felt the endless evil resentment entangled with him.

These evil grievances were extremely cold, as if countless dead souls were whispering in his ears, telling him about their own miserable plight and their desire for revenge against the world...

but……

Zhao Yifu carefully analyzed the tragic situations described by these ghosts and immediately compared them with the memories in his mind one by one.

He laughed dumbly: "I killed you all with my own hands. I'm not afraid of you alive, so what can you do to me if you're dead?"

He smiled gently, but his smile gradually became terrifying.

Then the evil resentment on the blade quickly subsided and became extremely obedient.

These evil grudges are the "magic power" of this sword, but subduing these evil grudges does not mean subduing the sword.

Because the core of this sword is essentially the heavy black iron sword that Zhao Yifu had previously used and was melted by the Pure Yang True Fire.

Therefore, when the interference of the evil resentment dissipated and Zhao Yifu's mind touched something more essential, his eyes suddenly softened.

"I see, it's you, old friend again."

As soon as he finished speaking, the evil aura on the knife dissipated, revealing a brilliance like the rising sun.

Zhao Yifu reached out and touched the blade, then he understood everything.

With a slight movement in his mind, the blade was covered with an evil aura again, looking like a magic sword.

He then tried to activate his true energy, transferring it from the Yang meridians to the Yin meridians, and then used the cold Yin energy to activate the 'Killing Knife'.

The next moment, frost wrapped around the blade, and as he casually swung it...

Amidst the wailing of the dead souls, an extremely cold blade light was slashed out!
A scratch more than ten meters long appeared on the ground in front of him, and the surrounding area was completely frozen.

It can be seen that this knife is extremely powerful.

However, who could have known that when Zhao Yifu wielded this sword, he was actually trying to "hide the blade"?
What he hid was the pure yang part of the blade, and what he revealed was the devilish side of the sword.

And if he switches to the 'Divine Sharp Intention', then it will become a straight and boundlessly powerful sword.

Jidaosai was dumbfounded. This was not the same sword he had imagined.

In his imagination, this 'Killing Blade' didn't possess such power. At most, it was sharper, and could be used to confuse people in battle. He never imagined it could unleash such a terrifying scene.

The knife he forged ended up in someone else's hands and took on a form he couldn't understand at all. This was truly...

He was so excited. "My Lord!"

He prostrated himself in front of Zhao Yifu excitedly, completely prostrating himself before him.

Saitosai was shaking with excitement. He said, "My Lord is truly a god. Only in my Lord's hands can this sword unleash its true power."

Zhao Yifu casually put his "killing knife" back into the scabbard and then stuffed it into his sleeve.

Then he took out an emerald green bamboo pole and tried it, and found that this one was more convenient to use.

He took two steps, leaning on a bamboo pole like a weak scholar, and said cheerfully, "Okay, things here are over, I'm leaving now."

Ji Daosai quickly knelt and straightened his upper body, saying, "I swear to follow my master until death."

Zhao Yifu said with disgust: "No, you don't have to follow me."

Ji Daosai was stunned on the spot.

Fortunately, Zhao Yifu still had some emotional intelligence. He slowed down his tone and said, "You can't provide any value by staying with me. It's better for you to stay here and find other spiritual materials for me to refine divine weapons... You see, I only have a sword now, and my swordsmanship is still demonstrated with a bamboo pole."

Upon hearing this, Ji Daosai kowtowed repeatedly in excitement, and said that he would definitely work hard to fulfill his master's wish...

What is the greatest value for a forger?
Isn’t it possible to create a world-famous magic weapon!

He had little confidence in his own forging skills, but he had great confidence in Zhao Yifu...

After resting for another two days, Zhao Yifu's cultivation level had roughly recovered to the state before the Dan stage.

Although his realm has dropped, Zhao Yifu feels that his actual combat capability has even become stronger.

Because his cultivation level at this time has reached the peak of refining essence into qi, but the quality of his true qi is that of a golden elixir!
Why did he think that forming the elixir again might not be a bad thing?
This is because he discovered that the process of forming the elixir would also refine his own true qi once again, further improving its purity.

And now his Qi purity has reached the previous Jindan stage. If he improves it again, to what level will it reach?
If it proves that this really works, he is even prepared to do it a few more times...

Well, he is so bold.

However, Zhao Yifu was not planning to practice hard in this remote forest until he could form a new elixir. Instead, he chose to return to Fenglin County.

Of course, there was no need to rush back, so he simply took a group of small animals to travel around and take a good look at the scenery of the prison mountain.

……

Let’s put aside Zhao Yifu’s sightseeing and talk about how in the distant Southern Dynasty’s imperial capital of Lin’an, Mr. Da Xu, dressed in green and wearing a straight-legged hat, was standing on the top of the imperial palace wall, looking at the noisy and prosperous night outside with a heavy heart.

His Majesty is thirty-two years old this year and has been on the throne for eight years.

The royal family of the State of Xu had the surname Ying, and the current emperor had a single name, "Cong".

Since the Great Xu moved south, he has been working hard to govern the country and finally stabilized the crumbling Xu State. He can be regarded as a capable monarch.

But he was not happy, because he was an ambitious king. Ever since he was chosen as the crown prince, he had been thinking about how to march north to reclaim his homeland.

However, he could sense that the officials under him were not on the same page with him.

Because as the Great Xu became more stable in the south, the court had been continuously recruiting scholars for nearly a hundred years, and the entire court had long been ruled by southern scholars.

The northern scholars were eager to fight back and retake their homeland, but the southern scholars were not so eager in this regard.

Therefore, Emperor Xu Ying Cong was very worried.

In his eyes, the prosperous Lin'an City before him was just a false prosperity in a remote corner.

"Show off."

He waved his sleeves and decided to return to the palace.

At this time, the eunuch serving beside him bowed and asked: "Your Majesty, which lady would you like to visit today..."

Ying Cong paused and said, "Let's not go to their place, let's go to the 'Gu Yu Pavilion'."

The "Gu Yu Ge" stores all the palace utensils from the time before the Great Xu moved south.

Most of them are the old utensils of the "Emperor Daojun", which are considered to be inauspicious, so the remaining items are placed here.

Ying Cong walked into the pavilion and looked at the scrolls displayed inside. He felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart: "Emperor Daojun, it's fine if you are obsessed with calligraphy and painting, but why are you also obsessed with alchemy?"

"It would be fine if he was obsessed with calligraphy and painting, or even the art of alchemy, but why did he listen to that evil minister and carry out drastic reforms? So much so that when those foreign tribes invaded, the entire court actually scattered..."

"It left a huge mess until now, and Ling Cong simply didn't know where to start..."

Ying Cong kept complaining about his Daojun Emperor Ancestor who had left behind a huge mess... He came here this time just to vent his anger.

When he gets angry, he can't help but dance with joy.

There were too many things piled up in the hall, and a wooden box was dropped on the ground by his sleeve.

The cover of the wooden box fell open, and a scroll rolled to the ground.

Because it had not been maintained for many years, the ropes that tied the scroll broke, and half of the scroll rolled away.

Ying Cong felt annoyed and wanted to ignore it, but he didn't want the eunuchs and palace maids to clean up the place.

So he bent down and prepared to pick up the scroll and put it away...

"Ok?"

He was a little surprised.

I thought it was another painting by the Daojun Emperor, but I found that all that was exposed were blank pages.

Driven by curiosity, he unfolded the scroll bit by bit, only to find that there was nothing on it.

There was only a line of words in the corner of the drawing paper: [Thousands of miles of mountains and rivers separate us, but the smoke of war is just a piece of paper away.]

At the end is the seal of "Yuanxiu".

“It’s actually that demonic form!!”

Ying Cong was about to throw the scroll away, no, he wanted to burn it.

But then, outside the painting paper, on the white silk that was added when the scroll was mounted, a line of words belonging to the "Emperor Daojun" appeared.

[I am unfit to be an emperor, my cultivation of Taoism is not peaceful, and I have caused great harm to the country. I feel deeply ashamed.]

[Officials deceive me, the people hate me, only my teacher pities me.]

[This "Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds" can be passed on through words and ink thousands of miles away. It is truly a rare treasure for governing and understanding a country!]

【…】

Ying Cong looked at the line of beautiful small characters that expressed his feelings in an expressive manner, as if he could see the resentment in the heart of the emperor's ancestor.

He suddenly understood something.

The turmoil back then was indeed the fault of Emperor Daojun and his Prime Minister Jin Hui, but their original intentions were definitely good. It can even be seen from these texts that many of Emperor Daojun’s thoughts back then were similar to his current ones!
Imperial power does not extend to the countryside, and now it is even becoming imperial power not extending below the county level.

In order to regain imperial power, reform the tax system, promote education, and get rid of the control of the scholar-official families... these are the ambitious measures that every qualified emperor should have.

Ying Cong realized something. Perhaps the Daojun Emperor and his prime minister had simply failed in their struggle against some stubborn forces, and had just happened to encounter an invasion by foreign tribes, which led to their fate...

"No, it wasn't the failure that left Da Xu with only half of its territory, but those people used all means to win and lured foreign tribes into the country!"

Ying Cong suddenly woke up completely and realized that the real enemy he or his country had to face was always within.

Moved by this, he grabbed the scroll that made him understand many things and quickly returned to his study.

He doesn't plan to sleep tonight.

He had a lot to think about.

Under his instructions, many stories about Emperor Daojun and the prime minister who was destined to be infamous for eternity that had been shelved were placed before him.

Only then did he realize that the Prime Minister Jin Hui, who is now infamous, was a role model for civil servants at the time and was the most elegant civil servant in the world.

He also knew that although Emperor Daojun was not a very capable emperor, he had actually promoted many reform measures with the help of Jin Hui, making the national education cause in full swing. They had cultivated enough talents and were almost about to break free from the constraints of the nobles and the gentry.

Finally, we found out that the Prime Minister Jin Hui, whose pen name is Yuanxiu, was actually the calligraphy and painting teacher of Emperor Daojun...

Ying Cong was absent-mindedly looking at the blank "Thousand Miles of Clouds and Mist" at his hand. Perhaps thinking of the Daojun Emperor's expectations, he subconsciously raised his brush and wrote: Is there anyone there?
After writing, he suddenly laughed, thinking that his behavior was really childish and ridiculous.

Just when he was about to let the matter go and go to bed, the word "yes" suddenly appeared under "is there anyone?"

Ying Cong was stunned for a moment, and for a moment he didn't know whether to be happy or scared.

Who's that over there?

[Could it be the Northern Dynasty thieves? ]

[Or maybe a beautiful woman? But the handwriting doesn't seem like it...]

The Emperor Da Xu began to think too much.

(End of this chapter)