The righteous path punishes Heaven

Chapter 90 Enlightenment

Shu County, Qinglian Town.

This is a small town. There is a family in the town whose head of household is surnamed Li. Because of trade with the Western Regions, he made a lot of money and became a well-known nouveau riche in Qinglian Town. He led his whole family to live a good life.

However, nowadays people are divided into classes. The highest-ranking officials are naturally those who provide grain and taxes to the court. Next are the farmers who provide grain and taxes to the court. And then there are the artisans who have no land to cultivate but can support themselves by making everyday handicrafts.

However, those of the lowest social standing were the merchants who abandoned their peasant status to pursue wealth through trade, such as the Li family of Qinglian Town. Because the common people were self-sufficient and had little need for trade, the role of merchants was insignificant, so the Li family could not make a lot of money without relying on trade.

The Li family had twelve children in total, and this boy was the youngest, so his nickname was Li Twelve. When his mother gave birth to him, his father saw the morning star in the sky twinkling continuously, so he named him Li Changgeng.

From a young age, Li Changgeng was able to understand many classic texts of folk Taoism and was also very interested in the doctrines of the Hundred Schools of Thought that have been passed down from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. By the time he was ten years old, he was already able to understand many of Zhuangzi's philosophical principles.

Li Changgeng's father often taught his older brothers how to do business, but Li Changgeng would always secretly hide in a corner where no one could find him, open the books and classics he loved to study, and immerse himself in the ocean of knowledge.

Sometimes Li Changgeng would practice swordsmanship, and he spent a lot of money to find a blacksmith at the market to forge a long sword for him. He treasured this sword, and whenever he got tired of reading, he would pick it up and practice his skills on the grassland outside the courtyard, finding great joy in it.

Time flies, and Li Changgeng grew up quickly. His parents grew old, and the family business was inherited by his eleven children in turn, yet the Li family continued to prosper.

But Li Changgeng chose a different path. He decided to leave his family and his comfort zone to see the world for himself and experience the beauty of humanity firsthand.

Most importantly, he always had a thought in his mind that he must pass the imperial examinations and win glory for the country.

With plenty of travel money, carrying the sword that had been with him since childhood, dressed in a blue-white robe, and riding a brown steed, he disregarded his family's advice and left Qinglian Town, heading towards the world beyond his hometown.

How could this small town confine him? He is a cloud, destined to fly into the sky and survey the vastness of the blue expanse; he is water, destined to rush into the ocean and stir up the raging waves.

Riding his horse to the foot of the two mountains, Li Changgeng looked at a large rock at the foot of the mountain, on which three large characters were carved: Tianmen Mountain.

A waterfall cascades down the cliff face between two mountains, plunging into the river flowing through the valley. Stopping on the bank, Li Changgeng slid off his horse, picked up the gourd hanging at his waist, which was already filled with fine wine. Gazing at the landscape, Li Changgeng tilted his head back and drank heartily, memories slowly resurfacing in his mind.

Unsurprisingly, the soul residing in Li Changgeng's body was Zhang Yunling.

"I don't know if it's the rules of this secret realm, or if the soul of this body has not yet dissipated, but before he turned twenty-four, I could only observe his life from the sidelines, but I couldn't control his consciousness... Now that I can finally completely control this body, I want to see what's going on."

Zhang Yunling licked the wine from the corner of his mouth, drew his longsword, and killed the brown horse with a single stroke. The horse's cries and neighs did not elicit any sympathy from him.

The brown horse fell into a pool of blood, which flowed into the river below Tianmen Mountain. Zhang Yunling looked inward at his body and found that his cultivation was indeed severely suppressed here. The power of the sword strike he had used to test the waters was also much weaker.

"I don't know where this place is, but it should be related to the Dao Tian Continent. Since he is an immortal who fell from the Ninth Heaven, he must have been cultivating on the Dao Tian Continent before he became an immortal."

Looking at the turbulent river before him, Zhang Yunling took out the storage bag he had hidden for a long time and hung it on his waist.

Fortunately, the storage bag that Wang Po gave him back then was very old and had a patch on it, so young Li Changgeng mistook it for an ordinary tattered bag and ignored it.

Moreover, mortals cannot use storage bags; in Li Changgeng's eyes, it was just a cloth bag. But at this moment, after sensing Zhang Yunling's spiritual connection, the storage bag was truly awakened and transformed back into a cultivator's magical artifact.

Zhang Yunling slapped his storage bag with his left hand, and a wooden boat flew out from it. Of course, this boat was also a magic weapon, originating from the Quanzhen Sect.

Zhang Yunling stepped onto the wooden boat and urged his spiritual power to move forward. He didn't see anyone along the way, only the rushing water and the towering mountain peaks.

Zhang Yunling sat at the bow of the boat, raised the gourd in his right hand and continued drinking. As he drank, a new plan began to take shape in his mind.

In his previous life, Zhang Yunling had already passed the imperial examination and become an official of the court, but he wasted his time as a cultivator.

It just so happens that Li Changgeng has been well-versed in poetry and literature since childhood. If he could take this opportunity to return to the imperial court and serve as an official, he could make up for the regrets of his previous life.

He didn't yet know what purpose this secret realm had in bringing him here, but since the opportunity was right in front of him, he wasn't in a hurry to solve the mystery. He would first see what kind of life he could lead in this one.

Recalling Zhang Yunling's own deep interest in poetry in his youth, he couldn't help but think of many famous poets from before the Ming Dynasty.

As his thoughts wandered, Zhang Yunling set aside his original obsession with cultivation. Gazing at Tianmen Mountain before him, he was moved to speak, and recited aloud:

"The Heavenly Gate is broken, the Chu River opens, and the green water flows eastward and turns back here."

Green mountains on both sides face each other, and a lone sail comes from the horizon."

Drifting downstream in a wooden boat, Zhang Yunling soon came to a town. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he put the wooden boat back into his storage bag and walked towards a farmer not far from the riverbank.

The farmer had a bamboo basket on his shoulder, filled to the brim with firewood. Zhang Yunling stepped forward, stopped him, and asked with a smile:

"Excuse me, sir, what dynasty are we living in now?"

The farmer carrying firewood did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked Zhang Yunling up and down, then ignored him and continued walking towards the town.

Zhang Yunling was a little confused, but he didn't give up. He chased after him again and asked, "Brother, why don't you listen to me? I'm not going to delay your work. I just want to know what year it is and what dynasty it is."

This time, the farmer chose to answer, but as he continued walking forward, he said, "Have you gone stupid from studying too much? You even came here to take my exam. If you're trying to scam me out of something, I advise you to leave now. I'm busy."

Seeing that the farmer was unwilling to speak, and seeing how hard he was working, Zhang Yunling simply took out ten taels of silver from his storage bag, ran back to the farmer, and handed the silver to him.

When the farmer saw the scholar coming to bother him again, he was about to get angry, but when he saw the ten taels of silver in Zhang Yunling's hand, he was so shocked that he froze on the spot and stammered for a long time without being able to say a word.

Back then, a woodcutter like him would have to chop firewood for two months straight to earn just one or two taels of silver. This scholar was giving away ten taels—an immense fortune that ordinary people like him would only see a few times in their entire lives.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhang Yunling stuffed the silver directly into the farmer's hand. After becoming a cultivator, he had lost interest in these worldly possessions. In his eyes, silver and gold were far less precious than a spirit stone.

The farmer threw down the bamboo basket on his back, clutched the ten taels of silver Zhang Yunling had given him tightly in his hand, knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, saying:

"I was blind and disrespectful to you, sir. Please forgive me! I'll tell you everything you want to ask!"

Seeing the farmer's appearance, Zhang Yunling couldn't help but feel some sympathy. In his previous life, his father, Zhang He, was such a poor farmer who worked day after day to raise money for his education.

Zhang Yunling helped the farmer up and said softly, "It's alright, brother. I'm not some adult. I just really want to ask you what dynasty we are in now. Please tell me."

The farmer was personally helped up by Zhang Yunling. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he nodded repeatedly in agreement and then said, "Reporting to Your Excellency, it is now the thirteenth year of Kaiyuan."

Zhang Yunling's smiling expression froze for a moment, then she burst into laughter, leaving the farmer standing to the side at a loss for words.

"The thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan era? Hahahaha! I was right, this is indeed the Tang Dynasty!"