SCT-Novel #265 - Bullshit!
#265 - Bullshit!
“Greetings, Immortal Master.”
“Here, have this bowl of meat.”
After the little girl finished delivering the porridge, a little boy came to offer Immortal Xu Cheng a bowl of meat.
The little boy held a bowl, swallowing his saliva as he presented it to him.
It was the same boy who had been following the leading elder of Songjia Village.
The bowl contained dried vegetables stewed with cured meat.
“It’s you,” Xu Chengxian said with a smile, taking the bowl, and asked him, “What’s your name?”
“Song Jue.”
“Which ‘jue’?”
“Jue, as in a jade ornament. To betroth someone, use gui jade; to inquire of a scholar, use bi jade; to summon someone, use yuan jade; to sever relations, use jue jade; to reverse the severance, use huan jade.”
“…Oh,” Xu Chengxian nodded.
Oh, wow~ He’s showing off his knowledge of ancient texts. I almost didn't understand it.
Fortunately, he happened to know this particular phrase.
Jue, when used in a person's name, actually has a bad meaning.
Because jue originally refers to a jade ornament with a missing piece, often placed next to the deceased's ear.
It has the meaning of severance, of breaking off relations.
When a ruler or someone in a high position bestows a ‘jue’ to someone below, it often represents a death sentence, or the implication of never being employed again.
Even if you take another meaning—referring to a tool for hooking bowstrings when shooting arrows—it is not considered auspicious.
So jue is a very ominous character.
Elders generally would not use such a character as a name for their younger generations.
But the name Song Jue, it just feels fitting for him.
“Have you studied?” he asked, smiling at Song Jue.
“Grandpa said that knowing how to read means understanding etiquette,” Song Jue replied, looking at the meat in his bowl.
It was rare for a seven- or eight-year-old child to not only answer every question but also do so in an organized manner.
“Song Jue is here? Come, come, Grandpa Zhang will take you to eat rock candy.”
Even Master Zhang valued Song Jue highly. Seeing him come over, he wanted to take him to get some candy.
Candy was a rare commodity in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At this time, it was not called candy, but rock candy.
The Zhang family only had enough black-red rock candy for Zhang Sanheng to eat a few pieces regularly.
However, upon hearing this, Song Jue suddenly blushed and left behind a sentence: “Thank you, Grandpa Zhang, but I won’t eat any.”
Everyone brought their own bowls and chopsticks, scooped up porridge, and then a spoonful of vegetables.
They ate heartily.
Eating, eating until full, at least not going hungry, was really very important.
Otherwise, people would become numb and ignorant.
Enlightenment was not just about teaching the people principles and teaching them to read.
You have to first get them out of prolonged hunger, at least temporarily.
“Song Jue’s cleverness may be due to talent, but more of it comes from the fact that he has received more love,” Xu Chengxian observed the people of Songjia Village.
Especially the children.
Children are more lively than adults.
After being fed porridge by their parents and elders, they became lively, with smiles on their faces.
They had fewer days of hunger, so their nature had not been worn away.
But adults, although most of the people in Songjia Village were still good, there were still many people whose expressions and reactions were... very strange.
At least in Xu Chengxian's view, this strangeness was particularly obvious.
Slow to react, extraordinarily stupid.
The movements and rhythm of their actions made people want to kick them and speed them up.
Annoying, just looking at it, an inexplicable irritability arose in his heart.
But then, he felt a burst of sadness.
Although the celestial soul was dim, the fate soul was unstable, and the vitality was unstable, at least the three souls were complete.
Their stupidity, numbness, and cowardice were obviously not caused by innate conditions.
“Is it because long-term hunger has damaged their brains?” He thought, releasing his divine sense to explore the spiritual platform and sea of consciousness of these people.
He found that it was indeed a hazy gray area.
Essence, qi, and spirit were all insufficient, and their minds were covered in dust.
Therefore, the people who are always not full will blindly obey and succumb to the manipulation of various forces. This helplessness has both subjective and objective factors.
What's more, the information they have access to is also very limited.
“Lingxiao and Lingyunzi were right, I took it for granted,” Xu Chengxian took a sip of rice porridge.
The mixed grain porridge did not taste very good.
There was a piece of unleavened cake on the cured meat, which was also dark.
That's how coarse grains taste, and it's impossible to completely remove the husks when the grain is shelled.
What was delivered to him must have been specially selected, the best two bowls of food.
In fact, looking at Chinese history, you can find that there are very few people who have truly risen from the bottom to the top after shouting, “Are kings, nobles, generals born with a superior nature?”
The later it gets, the fewer there are.
A group does need the leadership of talented people. Correspondingly, to cultivate talented people, it is necessary to gather the power of the group to support them.
“But some people eat too much.” Or rather, there are too many existences that eat the flesh and blood of the common people at the bottom.
Xu Chengxian sat here, looking at the people of Songjia Village, squinting his eyes and thinking, he didn't have much ambition.
However, under the premise of consistent interests, killing some of the guys who rob grain from the hands of the farmers is entirely possible to try.
The inner treasury is burned to embroidered ashes, and the bones of dukes and ministers are trampled on the streets!
Whether it is demons, aristocratic families, officialdom, or even mountain gate sects.
Sweeping through it all would be good.
These guys eat their fill, with plenty of oil, scraping them once will definitely be profitable!
“That's right, that's right. If you want to rob, you have to rob those with a solid foundation!” Da Hei flew over at this time, appeared next to Xu Chengxian, and shouted, “This remote and poor place is a bunch of poor people, there's nothing valuable in their homes!”
It had finished sending off Qi Laodao's ghost and went to the lair of the guy behind him to take a look.
It didn't see a single good thing!
After saying that, it took a bite of the cake in his hand.
Then it rolled its eyes from being choked.
“Cough cough! So hard to eat!” Even though it said it was hard to eat, it still swallowed the cake.
“Aren't you only able to eat blood energy?” Xu Chengxian raised his eyebrows, looking at the cake in his hand with a bite missing.
“This venerable one is your artifact spirit! This is a tribute from the human race to you!” Da Hei put its hands on its hips and said, “A tribute, of course I can eat it!”
“Why?”
“Don't know!”
“…Two hundred blood energy.”
“The human race's divine path was established by the Heavenly Dao, and the Nine Heavens jointly approved it. I can't explain the mysteries of it.”
Their Taotie clan expelled the outer demons and voluntarily sealed themselves, which can be said to be a favor to all races in the world.
Therefore, under the rules of the Heavenly Dao, the incense, vows, and tributes offered by the human race have always been available to eat.
But ordinary humans have too short a lifespan, and there is no place for the Taotie in the forces to which cultivators belong. The temples that worship them have long ceased to exist.
Now it is borrowing Xu Chengxian's light.
“Hmph, everyone gets up early for profit.” Da Hei hummed, “I just saw the divine seat of the White Dragon being worshiped in the toad's lair.”
The purpose of worship is to borrow power.
The Taotie clan is all dead, how can they borrow power?
Without benefits, of course, there is no incense.
“So if you want to build a temple for Xiaocui, you have to give the human race benefits,” it reminded Xu Chengxian.
“I know,” Xu Chengxian said, “Have you found out? Can the toad monster Xiaocui deal with?”
“Definitely can,” Da Hei said, “When to kill?”
“Now,” Xu Chengxian said, “You let Xiaocui take Xiaobai over, trick the toad monster from its lair to here, and then kill it.”
“Why take Xiaobai?”
“Didn't you say it worships the White Dragon's divine seat?”
“Damn, you're still cunning!”
“…Deduct one hundred blood energy.”
“I said it wrong, you are not cunning, you are extremely intelligent, planning strategies in the tent, and winning thousands of miles away!”
…
After an incense stick of time.
The people of Songjia Village had eaten almost enough.
It wasn't that everyone was full, but that the porridge, vegetables, and cakes were all eaten up.
More water was added to the pot and boiled, and everyone scooped it into bowls and drank it slowly.
Especially the vegetable pot, which had a salty taste and oil, which could be considered a good soup.
“Okay, now that you've finished eating, let's talk business,” Xu Chengxian said, “You talk, and I'll listen.”
He had to stall for a while longer.
Da Hei and the others hadn't replied yet.
“I don't know what Immortal Master wants us to say?” Song Dayou got up and bowed, asking.
“Talk about why you fell out with Master Zhang's family,” Xu Chengxian said with a smile, “Weren't you cooperating very happily before? Their family was responsible for scouting information, and you were responsible for robbing grain. Why did you suddenly fall out?”
“Immortal Master, is Qi Laodao, who is worshiped at Zhang's residence, dead?” the old woman Zhang Yun'er asked.
“Yes, he is dead,” Xu Chengxian nodded.
“Dead? Good riddance!” A burly man behind Song Dayou said, “Immortal Master, we fell out with Master Zhang because the Zhang family worshiped evil ways…”
“Bullshit!” Master Zhang glared and cursed, jumping up and down before he could finish speaking, “That's a load of crap!”