Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 567: Work hard at mining, young man

Chen Suhui was silent for a moment, then analyzed:

"Later, Gu Xu chose to marry Zhao Yan because Zhao Yan helped him when he was surrounded by enemies and was desperate.

“Not only did it save his life, but it also provided him with resources for spiritual practice.

"In my opinion, although Daxia is now very powerful, it ultimately lacks the foundation. Currently, elixirs, magic weapons, spiritual herbs and other resources are all plundered from Daqi, and they lack a dedicated production and supply line.

"Gu Xu must also be having a headache from this.

“The two of us went to join him, not only bringing a large number of magical weapons, elixirs, and funds, but also dozens of craftsmen and alchemists.

"This should...can be regarded as a timely help!"

At the end, Chen Suhui hesitated for a moment, and a trace of unconfidence flashed in her calm eyes.

She is rational by nature and is good at analyzing interest relationships, but emotions are a completely unfamiliar field to her.

"Maybe, things are not as simple as you think."

In fact, Chen Yanping himself has no experience in relationships.

Since Ah Hei's death, he has become an extremely utilitarian person.

He once coveted the Shi family's elixir workshop and hoped that the Shi family would help him fight for family inheritance, so he asked Shi Lei to marry Shi Xiaohan.

After being rejected by Shi Lei, he immediately married Yao Sirou from the Yao family in Longxi, obtained a large amount of mineral resources from the Yue family, and recruited a large number of craftsmen through the Yue family's influence in the art of weapon refining.

However, there is no relationship between him and his wife Yao Sirou.

They lived apart for a long time, only saw each other once every few months, and rarely wrote letters to each other.

And now, when Gu Xu occupied the Longxi area, ransacked the Yao family's home in Longxi on the charge of "oppressing the people and monopolizing resources" and demoted their family to common people, Chen Yanping also wrote a letter of divorce, announcing that he and The wife breaks off the relationship.

…………

Soon, the carriage stopped at Cuiwei Palace in the north of Daxing City.

This palace was originally called "Yongqing Palace" and was the summer residence of the emperors of the Chu Dynasty.

After Gu Xu came to Daxing City, he moved in and renamed it "Cuiwei", which means "green mountain".

An ancient book says: “Every mountain looks green when you look at it from a distance, but when you get close, the green gradually fades, so it is called Cuiwei.” (1)

This Cuiwei Palace, which stands in the mountains, has been in dilapidated condition after years of exposure to the sun and rain, and no one has repaired it.

The walls of the palace have peeled off, and the exposed bricks and stones are covered with cracks and moss. The brilliant paintings of the past have long been lost to the erosion of time.

The tiles on the eaves were in dilapidated condition, some were already drooping, and from time to time there was a crisp sound of falling tiles.

The ground was pitted and overgrown with weeds, many of which were towering weeds, covering the courtyard in green.

Gu Xu simply liked the quiet, cool and suitable atmosphere here for practice, so he took Zhao Yan to live here.

However, Gu Xu did not restore Cuiwei Palace with great fanfare. Instead, he conjured dozens of paper figures and used magic to restore four or five main houses to their original state, which was enough for him to rest, practice, discuss affairs, and handle government affairs.

The main hall of Cuiwei Palace is called Yichun Hall.

Chen Yanping and Chen Suhui waited outside the palace for a moment, and then, led by the paper-figure guards, stepped into the palace gate.

Gu Xu was not sitting on the high throne.

Just like when he was a minor official, he was wearing a green cloth shirt and a Xiaoyao scarf, standing by the wall of the main hall, looking intently at the faded map painted on the wall.

At this time, his aura was restrained, and he did not exude the power of a saint or a strong man. He looked no different from an ordinary person.

But the Chen family did not dare to neglect at all.

"Caomin Chen Yanping pays homage to the emperor!"

"Caomin Chen Suhui pays homage to the emperor!"

When he leaned over and cupped his hands, Chen Yanping felt mixed emotions in his heart.

The last time they met, he and Gu Xu could call each other "fellow Taoists" and compete on the same stage.

However, only a few months have passed, and the other party has already chased him to the north, slaughtered the world, split the earth to become the king, and is powerful all over the world, but he is still unknown and his future is uncertain.

After the two of them finished speaking, Gu Xu was still staring at the map in deep thought and ignored them.

The two Chen family members did not dare to speak to interrupt his thoughts, and they only dared to stand motionless.

The deathly silence in the hall at this time was undoubtedly an unbearable torture for them.

I don’t know how much time passed before another person hurriedly entered the hall.

"Emperor, the information you requested is here!"

The person coming was none other than Luochuan.

He arched his hands towards Gu Xu, then took out several documents from his sleeves and handed them to Gu Xu's hands.

Gu Xu took the document, frowned slightly, and looked back and forth casually. In this silent hall, the sound of paper turning was particularly harsh.

Chen Yanping always felt that Gu Xu's eyes looked through those documents, as if he had penetrated the secrets hidden deep in his heart.

After a moment, Gu Xu raised his head and looked at Chen Yanping, who was standing in front of him and did not dare to move: "In the past few years, you have been running the Tianchu copper mine in southwestern Longnan, right?"

"Yes, Emperor." Chen Yanping didn't know why Gu Xu suddenly mentioned this.

"I heard that after you took over the Tianchu Copper Mine, you greatly reduced operating costs and doubled your annual profits. Your parents and elders highly praised you for this."

Is the emperor appreciating my talent?

Chen Yanping immediately admitted humbly: "The emperor gave me the reward, I just used some trivial means."

However, Gu Xu's next reaction was far beyond his expectation.

Gu Xu suddenly threw the document in his hand at his face: "What a trivial little trick!"

Chen Yanping instinctively wanted to dodge, but he quickly realized that there was a difference in dignity between the two, and he still wanted to beg from the other person.

So he stood there, motionless, and let the paper hit the corner of his eye, cutting his skin and leaving a thin scratch. Chen Suhui next to her caught a glimpse of this scene and couldn't help but lower her head, her eyelashes trembling slightly due to nervousness.

She didn't know why Gu Xu suddenly became angry with her brother.

But she didn't plead for her brother - because her intuition told her that no matter what she said at this time, the situation would only get worse.

Gu Xu paused for a moment and said in a casual tone: "I investigated some time ago and found that in the past few years, the Longxi Tianchu Copper Mine has abducted a large number of homeless people, including many children. They were detained in the mines, given only one meal a day, and had supervisors hold whips, forcing them to dig for a long time.

"In the past few years, hundreds of refugees have been beaten to death, starved to death, and exhausted in the mines. Their bones were randomly dug and buried, and they were reported to the outside world as 'missing' or 'eaten by ghosts.' .

"Anyway, the officials in Daqi never care about the lives of these refugees.

"And as far as I know, there are several minerals similar to the red copper mine under your name."

Before Gu Xu finished speaking, Chen Yanping immediately knelt down on the ground with a bang and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, forgive me! Although the Tianchu Copper Mine is my property, these things were arranged by the people below. I did not participate--"

"——Then did you know about it? Did you stop it?" Gu Xu interrupted him, "Or do you think that their approach can save you a lot of operating costs, so you just let it go?"

Chen Yanping buried his face on the ground and said nothing.

He actually didn't quite understand Gu Xu's anger at this time - after all, in the eyes of many dignitaries in the Da Qi Dynasty, the lives of these uncultivated refugees were nothing, so why should they care so much about their lives?

"Feel wronged?"

"The villain dare not."

"I know that children from wealthy families like you never take the lives of ordinary people seriously," Gu Xu took a few steps, "but you may have forgotten that my parents are just two people with no official titles and no cultivation. He is an ordinary person, and my great-grandfather was a refugee who lost his hometown after being attacked by ghosts.”

"The villain knows his crime, please punish me——" Chen Yanping found that his fingertips were trembling uncontrollably, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.

"Yan Ping, I know you are a person who pays attention to practical interests," Gu Xu's tone softened, "If I tell you something like 'love the people like a son' or 'the people are more important than the king', you may think that I am bragging. virtue, thereby building momentum for oneself.”

Having said this, he suddenly stretched out his right hand forward and said, "Yan Ping, look up and guess what this is?"

Chen Yanping raised his head and found that an almost transparent and colorless flame burst out silently in the palm of Gu Xu's hand.

This flame burns quietly, without blazing temperature or dazzling luster.

But Chen Yanping felt an inexplicable strong fear in his heart.

He vaguely felt that as long as he was touched by the flames, he would be instantly burned to ashes.

"The guilty people don't know, please give me advice from the emperor!"

"This is the power of 'incense', which comes from the offerings and worship of others," Gu Xu smiled and explained, "For ordinary practitioners, after being promoted to the eighth realm of 'Nine Hells', Can feel its presence.

"But 'Incense' is the name given by Taishang Haotian. Personally, I prefer to call it 'People's Heart'.

"Because I found that compared to forcing people to go to temples to burn incense and worship an illusory idol, I can gain more power by personally doing things that benefit the people of the world and gaining their heartfelt support."

Nowadays, Gu Xu is powerful enough to challenge Emperor Tian Xing head-on. Naturally, he no longer needs to be secretive about the existence of "incense" and dare not talk about it like before.

He suddenly extinguished the flame in his hand and raised his voice: "Yan Ping, do you know? What you are doing is digging up the foundation of my power!"

Chen Yanping suddenly understood why Gu Xu was so angry.

Just like the Taoism practiced by the Chen family in Xiangyang from generation to generation, it is the way of "entering into official positions with talents, harmonizing the family and governing the country". For the Chen family, secular affairs and spiritual practice are not contradictory to each other, but complementary to each other.

Being an official, holding power, and running a family business will not hinder the Chen family's spiritual practice. On the contrary, it can be regarded as another form of experience.

As the power in their hands increases and their understanding of world affairs and human affairs becomes deeper, the efficiency of their practice will also become higher.

Because of this, if a child of the Chen family is deprived of his power or property, he will immediately jump up and fight for his life, as if he has a grudge to kill his father.

Chen Yanping didn't know that "incense" was the ladder leading to the realm of "return to ruins".

In his understanding, "incense" should be some kind of Tao that can help Gu Xu improve his strength.

It's just that Gu Xu's ambition is much greater than that of the Chen family.

What he cultivates is the way of a king, and what he wants is for the world to return to his heart and for the support of all people.

"According to my rules here," I heard Gu Xu continue to say, "if you oppress the people and torture the living beings, you will be sent to have their heads chopped off. In the provinces such as Xijiang and Hedong, those 'big shots' who think they are invincible, I've already killed more than a hundred of them."

"Emperor, have mercy! Emperor, have mercy! Please give me a chance. I am willing to atone for my sins!" Chen Yanping knelt on the ground, knocking his forehead so hard that it hurt, and his voice was filled with tears. "I can give all the property in my name to you." , donate them all to Daxia! The emperor can dispose of them as he pleases!”

He came to Daxia to seek refuge with Gu Xu, thinking he could find a way out for his family, but he didn't expect that he would end up dead first.

"However," Gu Xu paused for a moment, then changed the topic, "I saw that you brought a large amount of elixirs, magic weapons and other resources to Daxia, as well as skilled alchemists and weapon craftsmen.

“These are really the things we need right now.

"Many cultivators in Daxia need a handy weapon to improve their actual combat capabilities; there are also many people who are just one step away from a breakthrough, but their cultivation has been stagnant for a long time because of the lack of a breakthrough elixir. Not forward.

"You have really solved our urgent need, which can be considered a great achievement."

When Gu Xu uttered the word "but", Chen Yanping couldn't help but hold his breath. A glimmer of hope suddenly rose in his heart, which was already full of fear. It was like a person who was about to fall into the cliff and suddenly grabbed hold of him. He picked up a protruding vine next to him.

When Gu Xu said "a great achievement", the big stone hanging in his heart finally fell back to its original place, and his eyes became blurred with tears.

He couldn't help but think of the first time he and Gu Xu met at the Tongfu Inn in Jiaodong Province last winter.

At that time, he never dared to imagine that Gu Xu, who was younger than himself and had a lower level of cultivation than himself, would actually bring such a strong and terrifying sense of oppression to him a few months later.

Just a few words made his emotions fluctuate between peaks and valleys, which was more exciting than a life-and-death fight with a ferocious god-level ghost.

"Thank you... thank you Emperor for not killing me..."

"Your merits can barely offset your death penalty, but you can't escape the living penalty," Gu Xu continued, pronouncing Chen Yanping's fate, "In the next few years, you will go mining in the Wuyun Mining Area in Hedong Province. Come on, let's experience the life of the workers who were persecuted by you noble sons in the past. Think of it as labor reform.

"Don't live a life of fine clothes and fine food for too long, thinking that you are superior to others and can ride on the heads of ordinary people to show off your power.

"Whenever you think it through and feel that the fruits of your labor can atone for your crimes, come find me here again."

.........

Note:

(1) Yang Shen's annotation of "Erya·Shishan".

(End of this chapter)