Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 169 - 133: Meeting an Old Friend, Yet Strangers

Chapter 169: Chapter 133: Meeting an Old Friend, Yet Strangers

The ferry port bustled with activity, people coming and going without any signs of chaos typical of rebel-controlled areas.

On the contrary, it seemed even more prosperous than the outside.

Chi Yu Zi was a bit surprised as she asked, "How is this different from what has been publicized outside?"

On their journey here, they had often heard horrific tales of cannibalism among the rebels, such as human meat hanging in butchers’ shops and bodies being flayed and split in half for sale.

Gu Wen explained, "If people knew the benefits of the rebels, a larger rebellion would arise. The imperial court has countless regulations to control the people, but in the end, the most effective measure is to keep them ignorant."

"Then how do the rebels obtain their food if they engage in such looting and pillaging?" Chi Yu Zi asked what seemed a rather foolish question, but considering her identity as a cultivator and that peasant uprisings might not necessarily exist in worlds beyond theirs, it wasn’t entirely stupid—just naive and somewhat simple-minded.

"Where does the imperial court’s grain usually come from?" Gu Wen rhetorically asked and answered, "Rebellion is a skillful business; mere looting and killing don’t constitute a real rebellion. A true rebellion replaces the government and becomes a new governing body."

When he learned that the rebels had held out for half a year, Gu Wen knew that a form of order must have been established here. Since it was local powerhouses that had rebelled, maintaining order came naturally to them.

This was precisely why so many rebellions occurred and why aristocratic families often succeeded—they had a clear program.

"It’s somewhat similar to power struggles in the Cultivation World," Jun Yan remarked. "When the top cultivators decide the victor, maintaining order is the priority. Even within the Demon Sect, outright murder is not tolerated."

Curious, Gu Wen asked, "What is the Demon Sect like?"

"Based on one’s cultivation level, there are different legal allowances for killing," Jun Yan briefly described, and Gu Wen immediately understood.

Strict hierarchy, no moral constraints, a pure survival of the fittest scenario.

Gu Wen and his companions didn’t rush to leave the ferry port. Instead, they wandered through its many markets, mainly browsing various small stalls and medicine shops.

Some spiritual objects would occasionally fall into the hands of mortals, which also presented an opportunity for them. After all, mortals couldn’t utilize spiritual objects, and most spiritual medicines were poison to them.

As for items that could have immediate effects upon ingestion, those were at least as rare as Divine Tree fruits and other such high-grade treasures.

In recent sweeps, Gu Wen hadn’t found any items comparable to fruits from the Divine Tree.

Half a day later, Gu Wen and his group returned heavily laden.

Gu Wen had bought many spiritual medicines; after ingesting various kinds, his Heavenly Marrow stock reached a total of one hundred and eighty years’ worth.

He had invested in eighty years of Three Revolutions Golden Pills and ninety years of Four Revolutions Golden Pills, now having enough Heavenly Marrow to progress to the Fourth Transition Golden Pill stage. Now, he needed pills that could provide a large amount of mana, or else he might end up in the same situation as before.

However, Gu Wen felt he could pluck from Chi Yu Zi, who, perhaps due to her Nine Revolutions Golden Pill, seemed to have an abundance of mana-replenishing pills.

Meanwhile, Jun Yan bought a sinister-looking Night Pearl, and Chi Yu Zi picked up a fragment of a Taoist Sword.

Seeing this, Gu Wen recalled the ten Taoist Swords, one of which he had given to Chi Yu Zi, leaving nine. He initially planned to use them directly, but found that these swords, possibly due to their age, were all rusted. The external rust hinted at the deterioration of the internal Sword Spirits.

All things have a lifespan; inanimate objects just last much longer than humans. And items like Taoist Weapons, which meld into one with their master through daily nurturing, partly die when their master dies.

"When will my Taoist Sword be ready?" Gu Wen asked.

"It’s already finished, but currently, the Sword Spirits are still undergoing tempering. It’s like breeding poisonous insects; we cram five different Sword Spirits inside, and the one that survives is the strongest," Chi Yu Zi replied.

Suddenly, Gu Wen’s Divine Thought unintentionally detected a familiar face.

Previously Zhao Feng had assigned Qin Mian to guard him. Now, Qin Mian, dressed in tattered clothes, wandered the streets like a common refugee.

With no dramatic flair in their reunion, Gu Wen approached and tapped the man on the shoulder, "Qin Mian?"

The shabby Qin Mian slowly turned around; his face, filthy and initially unchanged, finally showed a shift in expression when Gu Wen broke through his disguise spell, his eyes brimming with tears.

Tremblingly, he said, "Mr. Wen..."

"Didn’t you go to Jiang Family Village?"

"I... I just arrived."

"Just arrived?"

Gu Wen was somewhat puzzled but first took Qin Mian to an inn. Then, handing the innkeeper a few dozen Silver Taels, he had him buy clothes and prepare food.

After a wash and ravenous eating, Qin Mian finally looked somewhat human again and began to recount his experiences.

Since the great battle, Qin Mian had missed the departing ferry, reluctantly stealing a warhorse and abandoning his armor to flee the city amidst the chaos. Midway, he encountered robbers and lost the horse, and at an inn, he was robbed of his money and weapons.

A journey fraught with predators, bandits, and thieves...

Gu Wen experienced similar ordeals, but unlike Qin Mian, he possessed transcendent powers, thus reducing him to a mere refugee.

Facing various disasters, it took three months for Qin Mian to reach this place.

Gu Wen felt a hint of disbelief; he thought much time had passed but it had only been three months. In that time, he had competed with top talents from all over, mastered the ultimate sword technique, and risen to third place on the Earth Rankings.

Now traveling with a Taoist Heavenly Girl, and having formed alliances with both Chi Yu Zi and Jun Yan—two of the top young elites—it had only been three months, barely enough time for Qin Mian to travel from Bianjing to Nanshui.

"Mr. Wen, did you also just arrive?" Qin Mian asked.

"Just arrived," Gu Wen softly responded. "I’ll take you to Jiang Family Village."

"Who are these people?"

"My companions."

Gu Wen offered no further introductions, and Chi Yu Zi and the others showed little interest in Qin Mian, who seemed to sense this and asked no more.

"By the way, I have something nice for you."

Gu Wen magically produced a spiritual sword.

Qin Mian’s mouth fell open, yet the countless nights he had vaguely dreamed of such scenarios, supported him throughout his journey precisely because of Gu Wen’s profound and mystical presence that day.

Phenomena involving gods and demons weren’t rare; the people of Luodu were accustomed to cultivators dueling.

But for Qin Mian, Gu Wen was the only Immortal he could reach.

"For me?" Qin Mian took hold of the treasured sword, his hands trembling violently.

"Bind it with your blood," Gu Wen said, slightly modifying the spiritual sword to allow Qin Mian to use it. He especially chose one that not even Chi Yu Zi would consider—a Half-step Spirit Treasure-grade mortal instrument.

For a cultivator, it isn’t a treasure, but for mortals, it’s a sword that can cut through iron as if it were mud.

Chi Yu Zi transmitted his voice, "You also idle like this, enjoy playing the part of an Immortal?"

Gu Wen answered, "When one person achieves Tao, even his pets ascend to heaven; naturally, I wouldn’t be stingy in benefiting my own people."

Moreover, this sword couldn’t even count as a spiritual sword, Gu Wen had thousands better than this stored at Chi Yu Zi’s place.

Fortunately, Qin Mian’s martial prowess was decent; he could protect Jiang Fugui.

In the afternoon, Gu Wen and his party left the ferry terminal and headed towards Jiang Family Village, thirty li away.

Jiang Family Village, the rice fields in September a golden yellow.

The village was built along the river, relying on the river to irrigate the rice paddies, a very standard southern rice field village.

Some of the rice fields had already begun harvesting; a thin man with somewhat sneaky eyes was loudly directing the rush to harvest the rice.

This man was Jiang Fugui, once the second manager of the Dragon Bridge Water House, who had now shed his merchant’s hemp clothing and brazenly wore silk robes, clearly having achieved a class transition.

He was now the village head and a landlord in Jiang Family Village.

Though he wasn’t as glorious as during his time at Dragon Bridge and his life standards had fallen several grades, Jiang Fugui felt this was a more flavorful life. In Bianjing, even having ten thousand taels didn’t allow one to wear silk openly; now in the countryside, one could wear whatever they liked.

Jiang Fugui was typical of landlord thinking, believing that having land was the only thing that was real. Indeed, that was the truth; no matter how much a merchant earned, it was always unstable. Only by becoming a landlord could one be stable and become a unit of strategic value.

Suddenly, the ground trembled slightly.

Jiang Fugui and several Jiang family members looked up, only to see a troop of cavalrymen galloping towards them, the leader clad in eye-catching silver armor.

From a distance, a villager shouted,

"It’s the eldest young master coming back!"

The eldest young master, that was Jiang Jucai.

Jiang Family Village was benefitting from Jiang Fugui; most of the village’s land belonged to him, and his eldest son, Jiang Jucai, was naturally referred to as the eldest young master.

Jiang Jucai pulled on the reins; the war horse neighed and then he quickly dismounted and walked towards them.

The village’s young adults immediately surrounded him, watching Jiang Jucai and the several Jiang family youths he had brought back with admiring eyes.

What youth doesn’t honor martial valor, especially born in chaotic times, everyone wanted to make a name for themselves. Ordinary people joined rebellions, while officials’ sons joined the official army; Daqian had entered an era of national entrepreneurship.

Jiang Jucai pushed through the crowd, walking towards Jiang Fugui, and said loudly, "Dad! I am back."

"Hmph!"

But Jiang Fugui put on a cold face and walked away without turning back.

The situation turned awkward for a moment, and the surrounding Jiang family members weren’t surprised.

Armored, Jiang Jucai followed back to the village, and as he arrived at the front door, a child with a round-face blocked him, saying childishly, "Big brother, you’re back."

"Mm."

Jiang Jucai nodded slightly, then ignored his younger brother and strode into the main door.

At that moment, Jiang Fugui was sitting in the main hall with a cold face, while his legal wife comforted him at his side.

"Master, calm yourself; when Jucai comes back, I’ll definitely scold him well for you."

"Heh, scold him? I fear he might chop me instead."

Jiang Fugui had a gloomy expression. The situation was unclear, and his son had recklessly joined the rebels, undoubtedly messing up Mr. Wen’s grand plan of ’holding back claiming kingship, storing grain, building high walls.’

Especially since there was no news from Gu Wen, Jiang Fugui was even more hesitant to make any moves.

Every move Jiang Jucai made filled Jiang Fugui with dread.

"Dad."

Jiang Jucai walked in from outside, saying nothing, and the atmosphere in the hall instantly chilled. Jiang Fugui turned his face away, no matter how Jiang Jucai called out to him, he wouldn’t respond.

The two looked no more than enemies rather than father and son.

His wife was very traditional, only able to fret at the side. At most, she could scold her son, but she was helpless against Jiang Fugui.

Out of options, Jiang Jucai finally played his trump card, "There’s news from Mr. Wen."

At this, Jiang Fugui instantly looked at him, asking, "Where?"

Jiang Jucai replied, "Mr. Wen has become a criminal wanted by the court; the news only just reached Nanshui recently. The court has ordered his capture, but he is likely not dead."

Mr. Wen, the man like a mountain in memory, was precisely the root of the conflict between Jiang father and son. He felt it was time to make a grand venture, while his father thought it best to wait to find Gu Wen before contemplating further.

"A criminal wanted by the court?" Jiang Fugui’s heart tightened, and he asked, "What did Mr. Wen do to become a criminal wanted by the court?"

Jiang Jucai shook his head, "The announcement didn’t specify; it only mentioned a reward of ten thousand gold taels."

In the information-isolated ancient times, places like Nanshui at the borders, even if rebels formed, no imperial troops would arrive for half a year.

Jiang Fugui’s expression grew even uglier.

"Dad, I need some silver taels to purchase some military arms."

"No money."

"You mentioned before, Mr. Wen left ten thousand taels. Since Mr. Wen is now missing, give me some..."

Jiang Jucai was cut off midway, as a slap heavily landed on his face, the force almost dazing him.

Jiang Fugui’s face reddened with anger, his eyes bulging as he trembled and cursed, "You wretched fool! Do you think you’d have today without me, who enabled you to study in Bianjing’s official school? Mention this again, and our father-son ties are severed!"

In a fury, Jiang Jucai retorted, "Until when do you intend to remain a slave?"

This was the crux of the conflict between the Jiang father and son.

The older generation had struggled alongside Gu Wen at Dragon Bridge; Jiang Fugui had climbed to the top of Dragon Bridge following Gu Wen. For Jiang Jucai, Gu Wen was just an elder, a very authoritative elder.

In Jiang Fugui’s eyes, Jiang Jucai and those so-called Nanchun Army were tired of living, as Mr. Wen had said, rebellion was never about who arrived first but often the bird taking the lead was the first to be shot.

Now, the general of Daqian was suppressing a rebellion in neighboring Lin Chuan County, and after Lin Chuan, it would be their turn.

Outside Jiang’s house, Gu Wen arrived at the gate, seeing a dozen soldiers at the door, and then a roar came from within the courtyard.

"Get out! Get out! I don’t have a disloyal beast like you!"