I want to embrace the moon for nine days

From the nine counties of Shanyang in the Middle Earth, hundreds of thousands of miles out to sea, a continent can be seen in the distance to the east.

That place is Dongji Lingzhou. Since ancient times, it has been a place where humans and demons have lived together.

Qi, Jin, Chu, Wu, and Yue.

During the last years of the ancient Chu Dynasty, there was a great Confucian saint named Wu Xushan. Because of a family feud, he fled the heartland of the Chu Dynasty and selected the prince of Wu from among the vassal states to help him establish a great cause.

However, later on, this man was suspected by the successor emperor of the ancient Wu Dynasty, who wanted to find a way to eliminate him.

But back then, even the construction of the capital of the ancient Wu Dynasty involved this Wu Xushan. His knowledge of observing the soil and tasting the water, and of arranging the formations of mountains, rivers and land veins was unparalleled in the world. How could he not have predicted his own fortune and misfortune?
He dug out his eyes in advance and hung them above the city gate, activating the "Xiangdi Black-Tongued Divine Reed Array" to block the masters sent by Emperor Wu, then faked his death and sneaked into the river, drifting along the river for hundreds of thousands of miles.

When he landed in Dongji Lingzhou, he found a desolate mountain to settle down. For the rest of his life, he taught and accepted disciples as the opportunity presented itself. The "Dongzhou Yuandaoling" lineage was added to the Confucian tradition.

Later, Confucian scholars from the Central Plains and even scholars from other schools often came to exchange knowledge. His reputation spread far and wide, and many monsters became his disciples.

It was not until seven hundred years ago that this lineage was destroyed by the Qin Dynasty's army's eastward expedition.

Seven hundred years have passed, with the transition between the Qin and Chu dynasties, repeated wars, and the emergence of monsters from small local tribes, and there is not much habit of recording in history books.

Yuandaoling has become an ordinary barren mountain.

In the past two or three hundred years, there has been only one bull demon village living here.

On the threshing ground south of the village, the village chief brought all the half-grown children in the village to read aloud and test their knowledge together, taking advantage of the bright sun and the mild weather.

There were three or four hundred children, the youngest about six or seven years old, the oldest about fourteen or fifteen. The boys had short horns on their heads and the girls had wild flowers on their bodies. They were sitting cross-legged on the ground, reading with their heads shaking.

"When earth accumulates to form a mountain, wind and rain arise; when water accumulates to form an abyss, dragons are born; when good deeds accumulate to form virtue, the gods are content and the sage heart is ready."

"If you stop halfway, even rotten wood will not break; if you keep carving, even metal and stone can be carved. The earthworm has no sharp claws and teeth, nor strong tendons and bones, but it eats dust from above and drinks water from below, and its mind is focused. The crab has six legs and two claws, and it has nowhere to rest except in the holes of snakes and eels, and its mind is impatient..."

"He who walks on a crossroads will not reach his destination, and he who serves two masters will not be tolerated. The eyes cannot see two things at once, and the ears cannot hear two things at once..."

The village chief had a big beard and a bald spot on the top of his head, but his two horns were shiny and well-groomed. He was wearing a green cloth robe and sitting cross-legged on a haystack.

"Niu Qiqilang, get up."

The village chief pointed to a little boy in his early teens and said, "Come here and show us what you have learned this year."

Next to the threshing floor, there are wooden targets that look like tigers, lions, wild boars and the like, but they are all solid.

Niu Qiqilang walked over with a sharp spike in his hand, but the spike was also made of wood, and the wood was loose, and it was obvious that the material was not as good as those targets.

He was a little nervous. He looked at the village chief and received an encouraging look. Then he took a deep breath, looked at the target intently, walked around a wild boar target twice, and suddenly made a move.

TUNK!!!
Niu Qiqilang suddenly jumped back and created some distance.

Everyone saw that the spike was about two inches long and had pierced into the target.

The children exclaimed in surprise.

"Good, good, good. As the saying goes, if you give up halfway, you can't break rotten wood. If you keep carving, you can carve gold and stone."

The village chief said happily, "This is the great truth in the boxing manual."

"What it means is that you use your strength decisively and quickly, and you know when to stop and when to sacrifice. Even if it is a piece of wood, you can penetrate the target without breaking it."

"But if you only know how to use brute force, without taking a break, and just keep pushing hard, even weapons made of gold and stone will break."

Niu Qiqilang's previous move was to stab the wild boar target along the wood grain, and when he felt the resistance on his hand was too great, he immediately let go and jumped back.

In this way, the awl will not break.

If he had withdrawn his hand a little slower and used more force, the awl would have broken.

The village chief added, "But you were so busy letting go and jumping away that you forgot to pull out the awl. You were still a little off."

Niu Qiqilang was fully focused on the first half of the praise. He walked over with a smile and pulled out the awl.

The village chief shook his head and shouted, "Niu Shijiumei, Niu Shiyilang, the two of you come out and practice sparring with each other."

There was an immediate commotion among the group of children.

Nineteenth sister is the most beautiful girl of her generation in the village. Although she always looks cold, both boys and girls like her very much.

Shiyilang is naughty and funny, but he is good-looking and many girls like him. It is said that there was a young girl in the city who wanted to take Shiyilang home to be her child husband.

When the two of them came out to practice, everyone's eyes widened with anticipation.

Nineteenth sister saluted with her fists and began to move. Her punches and kicks were steady and solid. Although they were fast, there was nothing fancy about them.

As for Shiyilang, he used a set of palm techniques that were light and graceful. He didn't look like a cow, but more like a butterfly. He floated around Nineteenth Sister, looking for an opportunity to attack, and suddenly he would slap her away.

But Nineteenth Sister’s skills were too stable, and she always left some strength in her moves. No matter where the opponent attacked her, she could always react in time, turn around and parry and counterattack.

Although Shiyilang was not hit, he was retreating further and further, dodging more and attacking less, and gradually reached the corner of the threshing ground.

The children were talking about it, most of them supported Nineteenth Sister to win, and a few girls shouted to cheer for Eleventh Lang.

The noise was too loud. Nineteenth Sister frowned and glanced towards the crowd.

She has a cold personality and doesn't like noise, so this action is natural.

But his eyes shifted to the side and he didn't stare at Shiyilang completely, so Shiyilang saw through his flaw. He changed his agile posture, stomped his feet down vigorously, and pounced over as fast as he could.

Unexpectedly, the Nineteenth Sister turned around, and the hand seemed to have been waiting for it. It grabbed the sleeve of Shiyilang and swung him half a circle. Using the force of his own forward rush, she threw him out, and he rolled on the ground for several times, looking very embarrassed.

When he got up, Nineteenth Sister's fist had already stopped on his nose.

Shiyilang said angrily: "You are lying!"

Nineteenth sister calmly put away her fist: "You are stupid."

The village chief applauded Nineteenth Sister and then stared at Eleventh Lang.

"An earthworm has no sharp claws and teeth, nor strong muscles and bones. It eats earth and drinks from the underworld. It only has one intention."

The village chief commented, "What does this sentence in the boxing manual mean?"

"That is to say, if you don't have sharp claws and strong bones, and you still dream of eating your enemy, you will only eat dirt."

"If you're in a worse situation, you'll be forced to drink yellow water by the enemy. Why is that? It's because you're so stubborn and stupid!"

"It's absolutely not advisable to be so cautious. Although we are powerful and kind-hearted, this world is dangerous. No matter who we fight, we must be more cautious!"

Shiyilang's anger came and went quickly. Seeing that the village chief wanted to teach him a lesson, he rolled his eyes and said quickly, "Grandpa village chief, you are really amazing."

"When uncles and aunts teach us, they only teach us to recite a long passage and practice a whole set of boxing. They don't know how to do it like the village chief, who explains it to us in small sections and in detail."

Nineteenth sister also nodded: "My uncles and aunts are still as holy as ever, but it's the village chief who is so shrewd and cunning."

The village chief felt somewhat pleased when he was praised by these two most outstanding children.

"Hehe! Well, the credit is not all mine, it's also thanks to our old village chief, Master Niu Ba."

The village chief showed a look of reverence on his face. "Back then, when Grandpa Niu Ba led our village and moved here to live, he discovered the powerful boxing manual. The pictures were fine, but the words were unrecognizable." "It was Grandpa Niu Ba who climbed over mountains and rivers alone, and worked hard to visit those knowledgeable elders, and pieced together the true meaning of this set of boxing manuals and techniques, and he has since become well-educated and famous in the area for thousands of miles."

When the old village chief said this, his face showed a complex, worried look that a child could not understand. He murmured to himself, "Grandpa Niu Ba lived to be over 150 years old. Having food and clothing was my lifelong goal. Unfortunately, as a village chief, I am now old..."

As they were talking, two young men from the village came over and whispered something.

Because the voice was much lower than normal speaking, only twenty or thirty children nearby could hear it.

It turned out that there were outsiders who had arrived at the "Good Stone Forest".

Those outsiders looked very strange. They had no horns on their heads and no tails behind their backs. They looked like monkeys and had no hair on their bodies.

Everyone became curious and wanted to run over to take a look.

The village chief coughed twice and asked two young men to look after the children, continue studying and not run around.

He jumped down from the haystack, hurried out of the village, turned two corners, and saw a small earthen slope.

Haoshitoulin is also the name given by Master Niu Ba.

Because when he was plowing the land on this hillside to grow crops, he found those stones with boxing manuals. Master Niu Ba was very happy. Later, he visited many old scholars. After he came back, he had made great progress in his knowledge and wanted to commemorate this hillside.

After several days of deep thinking, Master Niu Ba waved his hoof and came up with the four big words "Hao Shitoulin".

The three outsiders were talking about something next to this stone tablet.

Ma Jiu said: "What do you think of this word, Brother Bao?"

Bao Zheng said: "Half of it is healed."

Ma Jiugong smiled and said, "Good is good, bad is bad, how can it be called half good? Could it be that some of the strokes are particularly outstanding? I don't see that."

The fact that he could call those four pieces of black charcoal "words" was due to his good vision developed when he was teaching in the academy.

Bao Zheng said: "Brother Fan, Bao Zheng's old friend, is the best calligrapher in our hometown. He said that to write well, one must have four qualities."

"First, a good heart, second, good deeds, third, good objects, and fourth, a good form."

"The person who wrote here obviously had very poor writing skills, and even worse handwriting."

"But there is a sense of confidence and gratitude in this word. It is obvious that good things have happened here, and I am grateful and repaying the kindness. This is a good heart."

"There is even a faint scent of incense on the characters, which clearly shows that his descendants have also benefited from this blessing, and are unconsciously grateful for this place, and have never forgotten their roots. This is a good thing."

Su Hanshan said, "Mr. Jiu came to me specially to invite a master of Confucianism and Legalism to come and revive the academy. I believe he is very familiar with Yuandaoling Academy and has calculated all the matters before and after, right?"

Su Hanshan was really interested in the divination abilities of the people in the Abyss Realm.

After he cultivated to the seventh level of martial arts, he was able to come into contact with the origin of the void. Instead, he felt how difficult it was to perform divination in the human world.

Throughout the ages, the auras of endless powerful people, dangerous places, and treasures have been mixed and interfered with each other, and have become part of this vast world.

If you want to read the information from heaven and earth, it is even difficult for you to tell whether the interference you are receiving comes from a contemporary powerful person or from some predecessors who have been dead for who knows how many thousand or eight hundred years.

"Those of us who are good at divination can only give an approximate estimate. If we go into too much detail, we may encounter misfortune."

Ma Jiugong said, "As for the situation of Yuandaoling, I combined historical materials and the secret records in the academy, and made some calculations. I roughly calculated the important things, but I couldn't calculate the details."

The so-called important thing means that if one wants to revive "Yuandaoling", it must be presided over by a master of Confucianism and Legalism.

Confucianism has produced many talented people throughout history, and due to the exchange and mutual influence of ideas with various schools of thought, it naturally has divided into many branches.

People like Ma Jiugong, and even the entire Huolin Academy at that time, belonged to the Confucian and Yijing school. They were good at interpreting the knowledge of the Book of Changes, and were good at deploying formations and making calculations.

The Confucian and Legalist school, on the other hand, was better at assisting government offices at all levels, improving systems, educating the people, and so on.

Bao Zheng suddenly turned around and looked at the somewhat nervous village chief not far away, and said: "This Yuandao Ridge has been abandoned for 700 years. In recent years, it has been excavated, tidied, lived in, maintained, and worshipped by others. Logically speaking, this place already belongs to others."

“We want to revive the academy here, so we should ask the locals about renting and buying.”

The village chief roughly understood the whole story and knew that the black-haired man seemed to have good intentions in his words?
But somehow, when he met the dark-haired guy, he felt his whole body shrink and he didn't know how to start the conversation.

Su Hanshan said with a smile: "Master Bao, you carry too much authority and the aura of the dynasty. If we are seen by the experts of the demon clan doing things here, they might think that you have worked in the Great Chu Dynasty, which would cause trouble."

Bao Zheng stroked his beard and said, "When I was an imperial envoy, I had to carry this authority as a matter of course."

"But now that I have come across the sea and seen all kinds of goblins and strange things, I naturally shouldn't act as Bao Longtu. This is similar to what I experienced when I was young."

As he spoke, his body turned on the spot and circles of blue light flashed around him.

Lord Bao Longtu has thick hair, a face as black as charcoal, but round as a full moon, and a big belly.

Just after this turn, he shrank a lot horizontally and turned into a tall and well-proportioned young man.

The blue shirt with black collar was changed into a square scarf on the head and a gray robe, which made him look quite casual and unrestrained.

He stroked his beardless chin, smiled and spoke in a clear and powerful voice: "Do I still have the authority of an official in this state?"

Ma Jiugong looked him up and down, and said with a sigh: "You look like a Taoist friend, not only do you not have the authority of an official, but you look like a stubborn scholar who can't hide his stubbornness even when talking and laughing, and easily contradicts the authority of an official when encountering problems."

Su Hanshan smiled and gave a thumbs up: "What a young Justice Bao."

"Old man!"

Young Bao Zheng walked over cheerfully, waving his hand to greet the old village chief.

The look he gave before was not meant to show off his authority, he just felt quite curious about this bull-headed old man.

The monsters in the demon-conquering world are all human thoughts from the underworld that leaked into the world of the living, contaminated everything, and formed by coincidence.

In the human world of the Abyss, in addition to the monsters that have cultivated through similar methods, there are also many other monsters that are born naturally.

Although they have the characteristics of wild beasts and even have human-like original forms, they are born with intelligence. Even if their cultivation is weak, they can still learn culture, build buildings, wear clothes, and make food.

The old village chief's cultivation level is only the first level, but if placed in the demon-conquering world, many people would probably mistakenly think that this is a demon king who can change his form and appearance naturally, and he just deliberately restrained his aura.

The old village chief stepped back subconsciously, but then he remembered something, stopped, forced a smile, and returned the greeting: "Hello, scholar, do you want to rent land?"

Bao Zheng said cheerfully: "Yes, old man, if we only rent this piece of the mountain, how much would you like?"

The old village chief tentatively said, "Although this place is big, there is not much room to live in, and we don't use it often. How about ten bushels of millet a month?"

"Grain?"

Bao Zheng was surprised and said, "When I came here, I saw many towns. I heard that three hundred years ago, the Middle-earth Dynasty had a great influence on the Eight Wastelands. There should be coins of the Great Chu that can be used here, right?"

The old village chief shook his head and said, "We don't need much money here. Well, if..."

He finally plucked up the courage.

"You three scholars all seem to be very knowledgeable and know a lot. Knowledge brings great ability. If you can help our village gain access to the fields, we won't ask for rent. These hilltops where the stone forests have been rebuilt and incense has been burned will all be given to you!"

(End of this chapter)