Martial Cultivator

A daoist temple, having gone through several hundred years, had for the most part merely become old and worn because of the passage of time, without anything mysteriously disappearing.

That was in Qingshan Prefecture, that was in Danxiao City.

If it were elsewhere, it would not be like this.

The letter-writing gentleman walked into the daoist temple. Passing through the courtyard overgrown with weeds, he did not go to the main hall, which was now suffering from severe leaks, but instead sat beneath the eaves and raised his head to take a look. Between the green tiles, points of starlight could be seen.

Only then did the letter-writing gentleman withdraw his gaze and reach out to pat the steps beside him.

Hearing the sound, an ancient and simple incense burner that had originally been on the incense altar inside the main hall suddenly grew four limbs, while the main body of the incense burner grew facial features.

The incense burner immediately jumped down from the incense altar, then bounced and hopped toward the entrance. Before long, it arrived beside the letter-writing gentleman, panting for breath, and sat down.

The letter-writing gentleman smiled as he looked at this little incense burner. He reached into his robes and tossed the Great Liang coins he had earned today, one by one, into the incense burner. Originally, the incense burner was filled with incense ash, but for some reason, at this moment, when those Great Liang coins fell into the incense burner, no incense ash billowed up. There were only ripples spreading out.

And some sounds.

Although today was the Kuchai Festival, the letter-writing gentleman actually had not earned many Great Liang coins. Roughly counting, there were only twenty or thirty coins. Therefore, very soon, the sound of copper coins entering water completely faded away.

In the end, only one skygold coin remained in the letter-writing gentleman’s palm.

The little incense burner raised its head and sniffed hard with its nose, then spoke with great seriousness, “This person’s fortune is so abundant!”

Although its tone was old-fashioned, the little incense burner’s voice was childish and milky, extremely cute.

The letter-writing gentleman smiled and explained, “The fortune of an entire nation is on him now. How could it not be abundant?”

The little incense burner asked curiously, “Did you meet the Great Liang Emperor today?!”

The fortune of a dynasty, apart from the dragon vein, is actually connected with the reigning emperor most of the time. Because as the ruler of the world, the reigning emperor’s actions can strengthen or weaken the fortune. This is why, after several consecutive generations of wise emperors, the foundation of a dynasty will become increasingly stable.

And once fortune is lost, even if another wise emperor appears, it will be difficult for anyone to turn the tide.

However, these claims are things that the qi refiner lineage firmly believes in. Everyone else in the world would probably feel that this is simply the result of human effort.

“Not the emperor, yet better than the emperor.”

The letter-writing gentleman looked at the skygold coin in his palm and smiled. “I’m afraid even he himself doesn’t know that he has already become so closely connected with the nation’s fortune. If it were another time, another emperor, once the Imperial Astronomers saw through this, there would be no way they could tolerate him. But in this dynasty, not only can he peacefully serve as this powerful minister, there is something else truly strange. His connection with the nation’s fortune is clearly something the current emperor deliberately created. He is willing to entrust the fate of the dynasty to someone other than himself. This emperor is truly bold, but his capacity is truly great as well!”

Hearing this, the little incense burner became eager to try and said somewhat impatiently, “Then let me eat this skygold coin and absorb a few portions of his fortune.”

The letter-writing gentleman lowered his head and glanced at the little incense burner. He did not agree to its request, merely speaking to himself, “I’m actually very curious. If he himself knew that he carried such great national fortune, would he still be willing to give this skygold coin to me?”

“Definitely not. Other people aren’t idiots. How could they do something like that?”

The little incense burner rolled its eyes and muttered, “Only you are the idiot. Clearly, the great hall they built has such abundant incense, yet you won’t go there and insist on staying in this little daoist temple.”

The letter-writing gentleman smiled. “Do you think what I gave him was little? One paper boat, plus the brush and ink, isn’t a small amount.”

The little incense burner could not understand, but it had long since gotten used to it. Anyway, ever since it gained intelligence, every day it had listened to him muttering to himself about things it could not understand.

Things like how Longevity itself was wrong, and how Great Peace seemed insufficient as well.

Things like how the path in this world should not have only two roads, but no matter what, a third road could not be found...

In short, after hearing these things repeated over and over, its ears had long since developed calluses.

“Then are we eating his money or not?”

The little incense burner was too lazy to think about it anymore and asked directly.

The letter-writing gentleman looked at the skygold coin in his hand, unable to make up his mind for a moment.

The little incense burner slapped its forehead and said, “I know! You’re afraid that if you eat his money, you’ll really have to do something for him!”

The letter-writing gentleman shook his head. “No. The moment I accepted the money, I already had to do something for him. But what I’m afraid of is that if he isn’t the same as I think he is, then with this deal, he will lose out completely. If it were only this, it wouldn’t matter. If his family were left with nothing, then so be it; if my bowl were filled to overflowing, then so be it.” ”But he happens to carry this kind of national fortune. I’m afraid that if I really leave him with nothing, then this current world will be gone too.”

“I’ve watched Danxiao City for so many years, and of all the worlds I’ve seen, I find the current one the most pleasing to the eye. If it really disappears, I would still feel somewhat sad.”

The letter-writing gentleman simply looked at the skygold coin in his palm, extremely hesitant.

The little incense burner asked doubtfully, “Didn’t you say before that with this southward advance of the demon race, there’s an eighty percent chance that the world will be changed? Things will be different anyway by then. Why are you worrying about all this now?”

“That’s right. The demon race is advancing south, and the scale is something never seen before. If it were that Great Jin, at this moment they would already be negotiating with the demon race about whether to cede another thirty thousand miles or sixty thousand miles. Hell, as long as the demon race withdrew its troops, even giving them the Divine Capital wouldn’t matter.”

The letter-writing gentleman furrowed his brows, looking somewhat disgusted. “An imperial court like that, a world like that, really makes people feel sick.”

But he quickly changed the subject and said, ”But that world, that imperial court, also had common people like me.”

What kind of common people are common people like me?

They were also common people who did not care about the world and had never done anything for the world.

“Everything makes people sick. No one should curse anyone else. In fact, in the mouths of some scholars, I’m afraid the phrase ‘complement each other’ could even be used to describe me.”

The letter-writing gentleman laughed mockingly at himself, his smile lonely.

“You really are... saying another bunch of things I can’t understand. What exactly are you going to do!”

The little incense burner crossed its arms, streams of white smoke pouring from its nostrils, carrying a strong smell of incense ash.

The letter-writing gentleman remained silent.

Many people in this world were people who did not understand what they wanted to do or how they should do it, so most of the time they muddled through their lives. But there were actually also many people in this world who knew very clearly what they wanted to do. No matter what others said, it was useless; they had their own ideas in their hearts.

The former made people feel pitiable, while the latter, in many cases, because they were too stubborn and persistent, ended up walking on the wrong road for their entire lives.

The letter-writing gentleman had persisted in doing one particular thing for several hundred years. During these several hundred years, he had seen many things, and in between, many other thoughts had arisen in him. But in the end, he still did nothing, and nothing changed.

Every choice required enormous courage.

“Let’s gamble on it.”

After an unknown amount of time, the letter-writing gentleman smiled to himself and said, “That person made his own choice in an extremely short period of time back then. I’m so many years older than him, I’ve lived so many more years, yet I’m far inferior to him.”

“If... he really is that extraordinary, then... this penniless daoist... will do it all over again.”

As the letter-writing gentleman said this, the skygold coin in his hand fell into the incense burner.

There was no sound of a copper coin falling into water, only the very slight sound of a copper coin falling onto incense ash... a very slight sound.

The little incense burner held its breath and concentrated, trying to sense the fortune within that skygold coin, while also sensing something else.

It was unknown how long had passed.

The letter-writing gentleman asked, “How is it?”

The little incense burner’s expression was ugly. “The fortune is truly immense. If I eat a few more bites, I’ll die.”

The letter-writing gentleman frowned. “What else?”

The little incense burner could not speak, because at this moment, its entire body had already turned bright red, and it began continuously emitting white mist.

The letter-writing gentleman placed his hand on the incense burner, and a cool aura flowed from his palm, falling onto the incense burner.

It was this action that caused the letter-writing gentleman himself to be taken aback too.

After a moment, he raised his palm and picked the skygold coin back up.

Only then did the little incense burner let out a long breath, as if it had narrowly escaped death, but it was still unwilling to give up. “After a few more years, I’ll definitely be able to eat a bite of him!”

The letter-writing gentleman shook his head and sighed with emotion. “He does indeed have selfish motives... but... there is... nothing to fault.”