Chapter 18: The Joy of Attaining the Dao Scripture
Chapter 18: The Joy of Obtaining the Tao Scripture
“Dong dong dong dong…”
In the chilling wind of the deep night, the resonant tolling of the Jingyang Bell echoed from within the imperial city.
The ringing of the Jingyang Bell signified a momentous event had occurred within the palace.
Ministers residing near the palace were abruptly awakened, their eyes filled with suspicion as they glanced toward the palace.
At the Guo State Madam’s separate residence, some distance from the palace, Qin Yuan, possessing extraordinary hearing, rose from the Guo Madam’s bed and approached the door, gazing toward the direction of the imperial city.
The Empress Dowager had passed away.
Chaos was about to begin.
Qin Yuan furrowed his brow.
Where should he slip away to next?
Hmm, someone was approaching.
Qin Yuan immediately disappeared.
A light figure, as delicate as a feather, landed silently in the courtyard and surveyed the surroundings with confidence.
His lightness skill had reached its pinnacle— even a grandmaster might fail to detect him.
A mere residence of a state madam was surely an easy target.
Unbeknownst to him, his ankle inadvertently brushed against a thread as thick as a spider’s web.
Then another.
By the time he realized it, his leg was numb.
“Poisoned.”
He showed no panic at all.
After so many years, what scenes had he not witnessed?
Suddenly, countless fine needles flew like rain.
The figure immediately rolled away.
Then a faint fragrance wafted in.
Not good.
He held his breath hurriedly.
Hidden inside, Qin Yuan thought silently, Fool, this is my newly developed Soul-loss Wind 7.0.
Just a whiff, and you collapse.
Bang—the figure fell to the ground.
“P-please… spare me, all the silver notes on me… they’re yours…”
A broken voice whispered into Qin Yuan’s ears.
Qin Yuan, carrying a cloth bag of self-made Storm Pear Needles, approached and fired for over twenty minutes until he ran out of needles, then stopped.
“Foolish, dead or alive, you belong to me!”
He found a thin wooden stick, flicked away the man’s clothes, and a book slipped out.
On the cover were the words: “The Path to Immortality.”
He opened it and glanced through casually.
Soon, Qin Yuan was astonished.
Surprisingly, it was a peerless lightness skill.
A pity.
Qin Yuan shook his head.
He no longer needed such supreme lightness skill.
There was also a diary.
Clearly, not an ordinary person.
“February 15: Robbed Jicheng Commercial House, gained 37,000 taels of silver, killed twelve.”
“March 13: Robbed Huacheng Silk Shop, gained 5,800 taels of silver, killed six.”
“May 8: Accidentally found a piece of golden paper in a Taoist temple, which contains a martial art called ‘Tao Scripture.’ Just reading the beginning made me dizzy and nauseous. Damn.”
“May 19: Robbed Old Fengxiang, gained 60,000 taels of silver, 300 taels of gold, killed seven.”
“Hahaha, the Swallow Li San is a fake. The benefits belong to me, Li Shengwu.”
So the infamous Swallow Li San, stirring up Qingzhou recently, was a fraud.
Qingzhou had its own notorious thief named Swallow Li San.
Qin Yuan had heard many people discussing him while listening to music at the brothel.
Wait, silver notes?
Qin Yuan searched and found them hidden in a compartment within Li Shengwu’s clothes.
Counting them, there were over two hundred thousand taels.
Robbery was definitely lucrative.
Huh? What’s this?
Among the silver notes, Qin Yuan found a golden paper, as thin as a cicada’s wing yet surprisingly resilient.
Could this be the “Tao Scripture” mentioned in Li Shengwu’s diary?
Why were there no words?
Qin Yuan tried to channel a trace of inner energy into it.
It was as if a clay ox had entered the sea—vanished without a trace.
Interesting.
He increased his inner energy to maximum.
The golden paper immediately glowed, revealing over a hundred shimmering golden characters.
At the top were the words “Tao Scripture.”
Could this be a cultivation method of the Tao?
“The Way of Heaven is like the drawing of a bow: the high is restrained, the low is lifted; the excess is diminished, the deficient is supplemented…”
Qin Yuan seemed to see an old man riding a yellow ox into the distance.
Laozi.
With a mixture of excitement and caution, Qin Yuan attempted to cultivate the opening.
No dizziness or nausea appeared as Li Shengwu had described.
Qin Yuan reasoned that practicing the Tao Scripture required a solid foundation; Li Shengwu’s fainting was due to his poor inner strength.
This was no place for cultivation.
After checking carefully to ensure no poison was present, Qin Yuan put it away.
As for the body—
The garden was a perfect spot for burial.
Soon, Qin Yuan exited the garden.
With so much fertilizer, next year’s blossoms would surely be especially splendid.
The next morning, bright and early.
Left Historical Office.
“What? The emperor has passed away?”
Qin Yuan stared in shock at Lu Yunfei, who was eating steamed buns with oil smeared all over his mouth.
Wasn’t it always said the Empress Dowager was seriously ill?
“The news coming out of the palace is indeed about the emperor.”
Lu Yunfei also looked surprised.
This was absurd…
Qin Yuan pondered for a moment and arrived at a possibility: the Empress Dowager had intervened.
Firstly, the Empress Dowager had a history—she had already killed three of her children; killing one more was not out of the question.
Secondly, Qin Yuan had yet to figure out more.
“You’re doomed,” Lu Yunfei suddenly said.
Qin Yuan looked at him puzzled, confused.
“When the emperor dies, both the Eight Alleys and the Music Bureau must shut down.”
Lu Yunfei chuckled maliciously.
Qin Yuan looked at him with sympathy.
His own indulgences had long surpassed just the Music Bureau and Eight Alleys’ girls.
Often, it was completely free.
To avoid discouraging him, and considering the delicacy of high society matters, Qin Yuan just smiled.
At that moment, Shao Guilin entered from outside.
Seeing Lu Yunfei grinning foolishly, he asked suspiciously, “What’s going on?”
Lu Yunfei repeated his earlier words.
Shao Guilin looked at him as if he were a fool.
“Did I say something wrong?”
Lu Yunfei asked in confusion.
Ignoring him, Shao Guilin said to Qin Yuan, “Prepare mourning clothes.”
The emperor was dead; the whole nation must dress in black.
“Understood.”
Qin Yuan nodded.
“Sigh.”
Shao Guilin sighed heavily.
“What are you sighing for?”
“Sigh.”
He sighed again.
Crazy person…
Qin Yuan walked away.
In the afternoon, the prison.
Qin Yuan held a notebook, looking at Shao Guilin inside the cell, wearing prison clothes and looking utterly dejected.
“Today,
Homesickness is a cramped prison cell.
I am outside,
You are inside.
Tomorrow,
Homesickness is a small grave.
I am outside,
You are inside.”
Shao Guilin glared furiously.
“We’re almost dead; just accept it.”
Qin Yuan sighed.
In these ten years, he had seen countless accidents, yet this one was from Shao Guilin’s misfortune.
Writing to the strategist Mr. Nanhai to join Zhonghui was one thing, but sending it this morning was a blunder.
Even the gang that joined the Bald Party in the forty-ninth year felt inferior.
“Sigh.”
Shao Guilin sighed.
Who could blame him for being blinded by greed?
He could have lived out his days peacefully, but now he had nothing.
“Where is Mr. Nanhai?”
“He ran off.”
As expected of Mr. Nanhai.
Qin Yuan admired him greatly.
Two coups, two escapes.
Mr. Nanhai was truly a grandmaster of the art of slipping away.
When they met someday, Qin Yuan would surely seek his advice.
“Brother Qin, for the sake of our years of friendship—”
Before Shao Guilin could finish, Qin Yuan interrupted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your family.”
“Thank you!”
Shao Guilin clasped his hands solemnly in gratitude.
“Not that kind of care,” Qin Yuan added.
Annoyed, Qin Yuan said, “I’m not that kind of person.”
In recent years, although his tastes had expanded somewhat, he never touched a colleague’s woman.
Shao Guilin looked at him with a look that said, “Sure you’re you.”
Qin Yuan, tired of talking, pulled out a bottle of wine from his sleeve.
“Want some?”
Shao Guilin nodded eagerly.
Since suffering gout a few years prior, he had abstained from wine and meat.
Qin Yuan tossed the wine to him.
“Pity there’s wine but no meat.”
He threw over a packet of cooked beef.
“Good brother.”
Shao Guilin began eating and drinking heartily.
“I bribed the prison warden. Whatever you want, even a girl to keep you company, it’s no problem.”
Qin Yuan said.
Shao Guilin was almost moved to tears.
Unexpectedly, the person who treated him best in the end was Qin Yuan.
“Yuanda, my niece is nearly of marrying age.”
“Your niece is only fourteen.”
Fourteen, and still a middle schooler. What a brute.
“Fourteen is not young anymore.”
“Stop. I will never marry in this life.”
As he said this, Qin Yuan suddenly recalled that Li Guangqian had once introduced him to a match.
What did Li Guangqian look like?
Qin Yuan was horrified to find that the face was already blurry in his memory.
Unconsciously, eight years had passed.
The departed are like a flowing river, ceaseless day and night.
Confucius would not deceive me.
(The End of this Chapter)