After getting to know each other for a period of time, Ji Yuan knew that his appearance features should only be circulated among the upper echelons of Daishin Shinto.
The story was circulated among some higher-ranking city gods and land gods, or the river gods and lake gods who were closer to humans might also know. Other people who were more well-informed knew at most that there was a great man hidden in Dazhen who could "turn the sky upside down with a sword."
In fact, the longer he lived here and the more things he understood, Ji Yuan came to understand more and more about the relationships between the various paths in the world of cultivation. To put it simply, it is very simple, but to put it in complex terms, it is also extremely complex. Although there is a certain degree of closeness or distance between them, in terms of their systems, they do not interfere with each other and are not subordinate to each other. It feels like they are practicing on their own with a certain subtle tacit understanding.
Generally speaking, the spiritual world is still relatively lax. Even the city gods, who are both Shintoists and rely on the human trend, are actually not subordinate to each other.
However, this time, the water and land ceremony held by Emperor Yuande of Dazhen against all odds, in addition to the gathering of "famous people" in Dazhen on the surface, privately, it also attracted some traditional cultivation forces in Dazhen to gather together, which is quite rare, such as the immortal palace represented by Yuhuaishan, the righteous demon clan represented by Longjun, and the local gods represented by Jingji Prefecture.
Regardless of whether there was the incident at Tianji Pavilion or not, Dazhen is still the place where everyone has practiced for a long time. If the human forces are too complicated, it will easily pollute the spiritual platform, but it will not tolerate the messy evil spirits to cause trouble.
Ji Yuan happens to be the link that holds them together, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the leader. With Mr. Ji's current prestige in the upper echelons of the Dazhen cultivation world, he is the only one who has the ability to convince all parties, or in other words, he is the only one who dares and can get the cooperation of Lord Long.
Because of this matter, Ji Yuan has not been idle at all in the more than one month since he left Master Yin's mansion. Compared with his previous Buddhist lifestyle, he is now busier and more tired.
As the venue for the Water and Land Dharma Assembly, Gyeonggi Prefecture was naturally the viewing stage in Ji Yuan's mind. In the end, he returned to Gyeonggi Prefecture early. However, at least before the Dharma Assembly began, it would definitely be relatively quiet here. After all, it would take time for the "experts" to come over.
On this day, the early morning sun parted the clouds and mist, and Ji Yuan walked through the city with one hand behind his back and the other holding a bamboo slip.
"Come on, come on, can we continue?" "Sir, have some tea. Sir, have some tea."
"Give the gentleman a stack of bean curd cakes and put it on my account."
"Okay~~~"
…
The sounds coming from a nearby teahouse made Ji Yuan slow down his pace. It must be someone telling a story.
"Pah~"
The sound of the wake-up stick indicates that the storyteller has entered the state.
"Last time I mentioned that General Huang had made many outstanding achievements and was finally appointed as a general by the emperor at the age of only thirty-four... Next, it was the battle in which General Huang became famous all over the world, known in history as the 'Battle of Dongshan'!"
Hearing this, Ji Yuan stopped in his tracks, remembering that he had also listened to "The Biography of General Huang" in a teahouse in Juntianfu, Yizhou. He happened to have listened to the first half at that time, but missed the second half due to something else. Today, he accidentally heard someone preparing to talk about the second half, which seemed to be quite a coincidence.
So Ji Yuan changed his direction and entered the teahouse.
As soon as we arrived at the door, Dr. Tea came to greet us warmly.
"Hey, sir, please come in quickly. Welcome to our Qingye Building. Do you want to go to the private room upstairs or..."
Ji Yuan said “Shh…” and pointed to the storyteller’s table over there.
"Just find an empty table downstairs. I'm here to listen to the book."
"Hey, hey, hey, okay, sir, please follow me!"
Dr. Tea also subconsciously lowered his voice, nodded, bent down, and extended his hand to invite him, then led the way, and finally led Ji Yuan to a clean table by the window near the door, and wiped the table with a rag.
Ji Yuan ordered a plate of rice cakes, a plate of bean paste cakes, a plate of melon seeds and a plate of dried apricots, plus a pot of good tea. He sat there leisurely listening to the storyteller's vivid and moving story.
"Hey! This place is nice. I can smell the aroma of food on both sides and see people walking in all directions."
An old voice with a slightly playful tone came from outside, and the mere sound attracted Ji Yuan's attention from listening to the story. Then he saw two beggars, one old and one young, sitting in the opposite corner. The young beggar had already placed a broken pottery bowl.
"Grandpa Lu, there seems to be a blind man watching us over there in the teahouse..."
Hearing this, Ji Yuan couldn't help but smile, and then he saw the old beggar looking sideways at him. When their eyes met, Ji Yuan clearly saw that the old beggar was stunned for a moment.
Just as the old beggar was muttering, Ji Yuan also nodded at him with a smile.
Under such circumstances, the old beggar also understood that the other party had obviously seen through his background.
The young beggar looked at the old beggar's rarely seen expression, and then looked at the Mr. Cangmu in the direction of the teahouse.
"Grandpa Lu...do you know him?"
"No...but I will know you soon."
Sure enough, Ji Yuan called Dr. Tea over, said a few words, put down an ingot of silver, and stood up only after Dr. Tea nodded.
However, Ji Yuan did not think of inviting the two beggars into Qingye Tower. Back then, he was just a little sloppy in appearance, and entering the restaurant would affect other people's business. The two people outside were much more exaggerated than he was back then.
So Ji Yuan put the teapot, snack plates and other items on his table on a bench, then held the bench with his right hand and picked up another bench with his left hand, and walked steadily out of the teahouse to the opposite corner.
When he walked over, two beggars, one old and one young, were looking at Ji Yuan, but the old one's focus was on Ji Yuan himself, while the young one's focus had shifted to the bench on the right, or to be exact, on the pastries.
Ji Yuan first placed the bench with snacks, teapots, teacups, etc. steadily, then put down the bench in his left hand, and then freed his hands to bow to the old and young beggars.
"I am here to greet the two guests from afar. If you don't mind, let's drink tea together."
Ji Yuan pointed to the empty stool while speaking, and then added another sentence.
"Please help yourself. The bill has already been paid."
The young beggar immediately looked at the old beggar with expectant eyes. The latter scratched his neck, stood up, and also bowed to Ji Yuan in a not very serious manner.
"My name is Lu Niansheng, and this child is Lu Xiaoyou."
Ji Yuan was surprised for a moment.
"Your grandson?"
"Hahaha... this kid used to have a name but no surname, so I just put a "Lu" in front of his name."
As the old beggar spoke, he patted his butt, took a piece of cake and stuffed it into his mouth, then sat on the bench and spoke to the young beggar.
"Eat it."
“Okay!”
The young beggar cheered, looked at Ji Yuan and saluted him in a much more standard way than the old beggar, then he sat astride the corner of another stool and stuffed several pieces of cakes into his mouth.
The old beggar's slapping action raised a lot of dust, but Ji Yuan didn't care. He sat down next to the old beggar, occupying the remaining half of the bench. Then he turned over the three teacups on the tray and picked up the teapot to pour three cups in turn.
The first cup went to the little beggar with his mouth full of cakes.
"Don't choke."
"Hmm... um... um..."
The little beggar took the teacup with both hands, almost swallowed a mouthful of cake, and then poured the rest of the cake into his mouth with tea before he finally uttered "thank you".
When the old beggar saw the mud and dust floating near the great gentleman, the dust actually slid down by itself. His eyes opened slightly, and then he picked up the remaining cup of tea on the tray, seemingly as calm as Ji Yuan.
"I thought that the so-called water and land ceremony would be attended by all kinds of evil spirits, but I didn't expect that there would actually be a master present."
Ji Yuan was sure of this, and he did not hide his curiosity in his words.
The old beggar also took a big sip of the tea, squinted his eyes and tasted it, then nodded slightly at Ji Yuan's words.
"I, the old beggar, agree with what you said, sir!"
Similarly, the old beggar also knew that Ji Yuan was definitely a human, but definitely not a monk from Yuhuaishan. This Mr. Ji did not have the more or less "nobleness" of ordinary monks.
"So the old man is here to attend the Water and Land Dharma Assembly?"
Ji Yuan looked at the beggar, and he also did not show any power or divine light. If it were not for his special Dharma eyes that could see the hidden Taoist aura flowing around him, it would have been easy for him to be mistaken.
"So Mr. Ji is not here to attend the Dharma Assembly?"
The old beggar also looked at Ji Yuan.
"Of course I am not."
Seeing that the old beggar didn't reveal anything, Ji Yuan replied and drank his tea, listening attentively to the wonderful narration of the storyteller in the teahouse. Now was the exciting moment, and when the old beggar wanted to speak, Ji Yuan subconsciously raised his left hand to stop him.
Only when General Huang's crucial battle at Dongshan came to an end did Ji Yuan finish the tea in his cup and pick up the teapot to refill a cup for himself and the old beggar.
When Ji Yuan was listening to the story, the old beggar had been observing him carefully. He found that this man was not just pretending, but was really listening with great interest. He couldn't help but become even more curious about Ji Yuan.
"Mr. Ji, are you also interested in this mundane story?"
Ji Yuan smiled.
"It contains all kinds of worldly affairs, full of fun and excitement, beyond words."
It sounds profound, but it's actually fun to listen to when you're bored.
The little beggar ate cakes while listening to the two people talking. Although he was confused by most of what they said, he was enjoying it and felt happy at heart. Ji Yuan and the old beggar chatted about random things. Although they were all talking about the water and land ceremony, they did not mention anything about demons and monsters.
Both parties understood that the other party was a practitioner of the righteous path, and their level of cultivation was definitely not low. It was fate that they met by chance at this moment, and it felt like they met without asking about where they were coming from, and chatted without disturbing the peace and quiet.
Some tea drinkers in the teahouse, the ever-enthusiastic tea doctor, and some passers-by on the street, many of them would subconsciously pay attention to this peculiar group of people, they were so conspicuous and special.
In particular, the dirty old beggar and the gentle Ji Yuan sat on the same stool, but they seemed surprisingly harmonious. One of them held a teacup while the other held a cup, and they looked very natural while drinking tea and chatting.
The shopkeeper of Qingye Tower also looked over the door and couldn't help thinking.
'The current emperor has announced to the world that a water and land ceremony will be held. It seems that many experts have gathered here...'