No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 691 [Poor Scholar] Falls to Peach Blossom Land, Sword Formation Covers North and South [Please give me a monthly ticket! ]

"Mr. Wei means that the so-called flood in Xunyang City that delayed the construction of the Buddha was intentional and all fake, right?"

Shoe Mountain, Maple Forest, inside the lobby.

Xue Zhongzhu asked coldly.

Wei Shaoqi nodded, then shook his head:
"True and false, false and true, isn't that the effect the court wants to achieve?"

Zhang Shixiu saw that the blond lady had a thoughtful expression, while Du Shuqing beside her nodded in agreement:

"Mr. Wei is right. When two sides are fighting in a military formation, this is a tactic that is often used for feinting. The advantage of combining the real and the fake is that it can disrupt the enemy's rhythm and thus gain the initiative.

"They are treating us the same way now... Xunyang Grottoes issued a notice to stop construction, which makes us wonder if they are deliberately exposing their secrets to us, setting a predetermined battlefield, waiting for the opportunity, and controlling the location of the final conflict to Xunyang Grottoes and its surrounding areas."

"Yes."

Wei Shaoqi had some emotion:
"Luring the enemy to a preset battlefield and making the conflict happen at a preset time is in itself artificially creating the right time and place... This possibility is not small.

"Secondly, I know Ouyang Lianghan. I have personally witnessed his Shuangfengjian water conservancy project. He was also in charge of building the giant Buddha at Xunyang Grottoes. It is almost impossible for him and his people to use up all the stone materials in the mountains to build the giant Buddha and cause flood disasters again. This strategy is too crude and reckless.

"If this were done by other local officials of the Great Zhou, I would believe it, but it is very unreasonable for him, especially when there is almost no opposition from him in Xunyang City and no one is restraining him. How could he make such a stupid move?"

Zhang Shixiu suddenly said:

"But if a flood really comes, Shuangfengjian will be unable to discharge floodwaters due to the construction of Xunyang Grottoes, and Jiangzhou will really have to temporarily stop flood control and disaster relief. What should we do? Wouldn't it be a waste of an opportunity to take action?"

“That’s not how it works.”

Du Shuqing shook his head and glanced at Zhang Shixiu:
"Like right now, we have been delaying taking any action, and Xunyang Grottoes are always on guard, with our nerves on edge every day. Naturally, we will become lax over time.

"Only the sword that is not unsheathed is the most intimidating. When the sword is truly drawn and falls, it will not fall on the lower level."

"Yes."

Wei Shaoqi stroked his beard and agreed.

Xue Zhongzhu glanced at the two of them and said calmly:

"It's similar to Second Junior Sister's opinion."

"When will the second lady come back?"

"Just do your job well and don't ask too many questions. We don't need to worry about Second Junior Sister."

"it is good."

Wei Shaoqi was not annoyed either.

Xue Zhongzhu suddenly stepped forward.

Zhang Shixiu saw her coming to the huge sand table.

The sand table seemed to be made by the young man in the felt hat named Du. It was very realistic and full of details.

For example, on the sand table where the Xunyang Grottoes are located, there is a wooden sculpture of a headless Buddha.

The young man in the felt hat gave Xue Zhongzhu a wooden stick for easy command, but the latter ignored it.

In front of everyone, Xue Zhongzhu directly picked up the headless little Buddha and stroked it gently, no one knew what he was thinking.

Zhang Shixiu glanced at the map at the twin peaks marked with many heavily guarded areas.

"Then how can we get close to the Buddha? How can we get to Xunyang Grottoes?"

he asked suddenly.

Xue Zhongzhu and Wei Shaoqi looked at each other without answering.

Xue Zhongzhu held the wooden sculpture in his hand and suddenly asked:
"Mr. Wei, how is your sword technique digested?"

Sword technique?

Zhang Shixiu was subconsciously stunned for a moment, but found that Wei Shaoqi, Du Shuqing and others reacted as usual.

"Thank you for your help, Madam."

Wei Shaoqi said with a surprisingly serious expression.

Xue Zhongzhu was a little impatient.

"I'm asking how your digestion is going."

Wei Shaoqi lowered his voice unconsciously, and Zhang Shixiu also heard it:
"Two. I have understood one. There is one left."

Xue Zhongzhu looked a little surprised.

Wei Shaoqi smiled.

"Can I draw my sword now?"

"Ah."

Wei Shaoqi nodded, and while laughing he started coughing violently again, covering his mouth with a white cloth.

Seeing the smile on his lips, Xue Zhongzhu sneered:

"Hmph, it's a crooked way."

Wei Shaoqi seemed to mistakenly think that she was talking about the former, and said with emotion:
"It's not a crooked path. Master Tao is extremely talented. If he hadn't opened up this path, how could ordinary people like us or ordinary Qigong practitioners touch such mythical objects and control such mythical power?"

"You, the 'half-sword holders', still have some talent and opportunity. Although you are not the most orthodox sword holder and your upper limit is directly locked, you are still considered to be a person with great energy of Dingjian and are not an ordinary person."

Xue Zhongzhu rarely praised her, so she just waved her hand casually:
"But I still say the same thing. People like Tao Qian are just thieves. If you are impressed by them, it means you are ignorant and know too little about Qigong practitioners."

Wei Shaoqi nodded:

"That's right. From what the eldest lady said, the path opened up by Tao Yuanming was inspired by and imitated from your clan's Qi-refining technique. The eldest lady is indeed qualified to say this." Xue Zhongzhu frowned.
"But there is one thing I don't understand. Since he was so concerned about the southerners and the Southern Song Dynasty, why didn't he take the [Han Shi] out and hand him over directly to the Liu Song royal family, or to the subsequent heroes of the Six Dynasties? Why did he choose to live in seclusion in Yunmeng and leave the [Han Shi] in that Peach Blossom Spring?"

Du Shuqing suddenly said: "Maybe it's both expectation and disappointment."

Xue Zhongzhu squinted: "What do you mean?"

Zhang Shixiu saw that Du Shuqing's originally dull face showed a hint of melancholy, and he didn't know whether it was because he was immersed in certain things.

He speculated quietly:
"I have high hopes for the southerners and the Southern Song Dynasty, but I have been in the government for many years and have seen through the essence of things. I know what kind of good-for-nothings the Liu Song royal family and the noble families who controlled the government of the Southern Kingdom in Jiankang City were. I know that my expectations are somewhat unrealistic, but...

"What if someone really stands up and continues the Northern Expedition, just like the Emperor Wu of Song that he has seen, with his weapons and horses, and his courage to swallow up thousands of miles like a tiger... If that's the case, what will it be like if we add another [Hanshi] to help us this time?"

As Xue Zhongzhu listened, his originally cold and disdainful expression relaxed slightly.

"Yes."

Wei Shaoqi took over.

Zhang Shixiu saw him take out a bronze scroll from his sleeve with emotion, and while stroking it gently, he said:
“So three hundred years ago, Lord Tao left [Han Shi] in the illusory Peach Blossom Spring, and with the help of your clan’s blood bronze and special Qi refining technique, he constructed a formation and made a scroll, which he left in Jiankang City. It is nominally the manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring, but in fact it is the core of the formation.

"This formation is extremely exquisite. It takes the [Hanshi] from the Peach Blossom Spring as its core, uses the mysterious blood bronze to suppress victory, and uses the manuscript of the Peach Blossom Spring as a token to mobilize its formation eye...

"Wherever the manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring goes, the sword of [Han Shi] can sweep it away.

"However, if that were all, the manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring would be no different from the Poor Scholar itself. The interest lies in another point, which was also discovered by Mr. Wu."

Wei Shaoqi sighed with awe:
"This great formation constructed by the Mythical Ding Sword and the Peach Blossom Spring does not require any spiritual energy from any Qigong practitioner to maintain it. Instead, it uses the spiritual energy of Tao Gong as firewood similar to lighting a stove, and it operates almost non-stop.

"Therefore, the manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring could only be used south of the Yangtze River, because at that time, the north and the south were separated. As a famous scholar, Tao Yuanming's poems were only sung in the south, and the literary spirit was all over the south of the Yangtze River. In other words, once the manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring was carried across the Yangtze River and headed north, it would lose Tao Yuanming's literary spirit and naturally could not be used anymore. Once it fell into the north, it would be no different from a piece of waste paper."

Du Shuqing pursed his lips and couldn't help but interrupt:
"From this point, we can see more clearly what Mr. Tao was thinking at that time. He probably expected that one day the manuscript would be lost."

Wei Shaoqi nodded in agreement and said to Xue Zhongzhu:
“That’s why I said that day that the scholar named Cui in the Northern Wei Dynasty was very capable. He was able to read the manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring and fought with Master Tao. He disassembled the manuscript and placed the 320 characters in the manuscript one by one in the 320 Buddhist temples that remained after Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed Buddhism. Moreover, the Buddhist temples were scattered all over the north, and each temple could be used as a branch formation eye to mobilize the sword formation…

“So, the Peach Blossom Spring Sword Formation, which originally needed Tao Gong’s literary energy as fuel, was transformed into a new formation that used the Buddhist incense energy as fuel. The core of the new sword formation is still [Hanshi], who was defeated in the Peach Blossom Spring that no one could find.

"It's just that it has changed from being like a piece of waste paper when it left the South to being permanently stationed in the North, unable to return to the South..."

Du Shuqing remembered something and said:
"Just like, oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges, while those grown in the north of the Huai River are bitter oranges."

Wei Shaoqi coughed and nodded, his face showing some admiration and respect:

"Well, in short, the sword formation system first created by Tao Gong was cracked, or rather... it was improved by Cui Hao of the Qinghe Cui family. The sword formation system is more complete and is the culmination of the knowledge of two top scholars from the north and the south... However, few people know about it. Most people think it came from the Northern Wei royal family, but they don't know that it is the result of the previous two people.

“And this sword formation that Cui Hao used to suppress the Northern Wei Dynasty’s destiny subsequently influenced countless major events during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and was the source of many confusing accounts in history.

"And to use Mr. Wu's words that day, ever since Cui Hao stole this map and transformed the Southern Formation into the Northern Formation, the Southern Dynasty's fortune has been suppressed by the Northern Dynasty. The balance has already tilted, it's just a matter of time."

Xuezhongzhu suddenly said:

"In fact, what Mr. Wei was talking about was just a fight of the level of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It can be regarded as a hidden move."

Wei Shaoqi was startled and looked at her, and found that the expression on the face of the blonde lady in front of him was not surprised, but rather...as usual.

"What do you mean? Is there any other way to win the game?"

She narrowed her eyes and said:

"Yes, there are still some covert manipulations, but the past is in the past, there is no need to mention it again."

Xue Zhongzhu glanced at the "Peach Blossom Spring" in Wei Shaoqi's hand and nodded slightly:

"This matter you mentioned was indeed unknown to me and the Queen Mother Palace, but these two people are interesting. As for Cui Hao, there seems to be a record in the secret library of the Queen Mother Palace about an incident involving this person, and his name is included..."

Having said this, Xue Zhongzhu stopped and shook his head.

Wei Shaoqi continued to laugh:
"But now, Mr. Wu has been exploring many old Buddhist temples of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Chang'an and Luoyang for ten years... The manuscript of Peach Blossom Spring has finally been restored."

Zhang Shixiu, who was listening, became more silent.

After a long while, Wei Shaoqi started chatting with Xue Zhongzhu and others again.

Zhang Shixiu looked at the sand table in front of him and interrupted:
"Your Excellency, Mr. Wei, Mr. Du, how should we deal with the flood and the Buddha? Are we going to take action?

"What if Xunyang Grottoes has been prepared for this? But if we don't take action, this is just a trick. If the Buddha falls to the ground during this period, we can't do that..."

Everyone suddenly became quiet, all eyes turned to a tall, blonde girl.

Xue Zhongzhu lowered her head and played with the big wooden sculpture of Buddha that she had taken from the sand table. After a while, she chuckled and said, "The attempt to draw a tiger ended up with a dog." At the same time, she picked up a golden Buddha head that had been restored on the sand table with two fingers and pieced it together on the headless Buddha sculpture.

The palm-sized statue fits perfectly.

Xue Zhongzhu did not answer the previous question. He held up the wooden sculpture of the Buddha and gestured to Zhang Shixiu:
"Master Zhang, haven't you been asking me and Second Junior Sister how to protect Yunmeng's dignity and preserve Yunmeng's face?"

"That's it..."

Before the dazed Zhang Shixiu could finish his words, he was interrupted by her again.

"It's very simple."

Zhang Shixiu didn't even hear the sound, but he saw a fine powder mixed with gold sand flowing out from between the fingers of the Yunmeng Lady and dissipating into the air.

Turning his head again, he saw that the landscape of the Xunyang Grottoes, which was simulated on the sand table, was swept into powder by a ray of snow-white sword energy that rose up from nowhere, and disappeared silently.

There was a piece missing from the sand table, as if it had been completely wiped out by some unquestionable violence, without any reason at all.

He didn't look at Du Shuqing, who was looking at the sand table in the distance with his eyelids twitching.

The blonde Hu Ji nodded calmly:

"It's just like this."

(End of this chapter)