Gaoyang has been a land of the Gao Kingdom since ancient times. It has experienced prosperity as well as turbulent times. Since the Dapan and Dazhou dynasties, this place was divided into counties and called Gaoyang County. After Da Zhou established its rule over the world, Emperor Kong Huai of Zhou built a temporary palace and imperial city here, intending to establish it as a secondary capital.
Gaoyang is close to Shuwang Mountain, the highest mountain in the southeast. Although it is not as famous as Dongyang Mountain, the imperial tomb of the ancestral land of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there are no myths and legends or ancient relics left in the world, and it is not the place where Emperor Dongyang performed miracles.
However, the mountain is steep and rugged, with jagged rocks. Every day when the moon rises, you can see a silver moon rising from behind the mountain when viewed from Gaoyang County. The rugged mountains and the bright moonlight complement each other. A waterfall falls from the mountain, like the Milky Way falling from the sky, gathering into a river that flows through the plain and passes through the center of Gaoyang County.
This beautiful scenery has attracted countless famous scholars and literati to come here. Gaoyang is also the location of the Shangxian Academy, where literature flourished. Many scholars left behind poems and articles that have been passed down through the ages at the foot of the mountain.
Today, the city of Gaoyang County is extremely lively. The Confucian Temple Lantern Festival is being held in the city. The entire city is filled with lights that outshine the stars in the sky.
The lantern festival in front of the Confucian Temple is bustling. Only at this time can men and women ignore worldly etiquette and come out to join in the fun. Students from various academies and schools also display their talents here, commenting on state affairs and singing praises to the spring flowers, snow and moon.
In the evening, a man who looked a little lazy, dressed in white and carrying a white porcelain wine jug, also walked into the city of Gaoyang County. He looked like a disciple of the Imperial Academy, but he had a hint of the otherworldly aura.
The crowd surged and passed by Fang Xiu. There were couples holding hands, students swimming together, and children holding windmills high and chasing each other with laughter.
Fang Xiu raised his head and looked at the flourishing Gaoyang City: "How many years has it been since I last came here?"
The last time Fang Xiu appeared here was because the fifth saint Tang Li selected by him from the academy came here. At that time, it was during the Warring States Period, when Dapan had not yet been established. This place was still the ancient capital of Gao State. He drove a carriage with the still young saint Tang Li, Nanhua Zhenjun Gai Cang and Fu Hou into the city, hoping to see the two dragons, Gongzi Chao and Ehong, fighting each other.
Clusters of fireworks shot up into the sky and exploded into scattering balls, causing a lantern festival. People on the bridge and in the boats exclaimed in amazement and cheered. Many couples were together, and the grand sight of the fireworks was reflected in their eyes.
“It’s really a prosperous era!”
It was not easy to see such a scene in ancient times, just like in the Dahuan and Warring States periods, the city would be pitch black at night, every household would block their doors, ghosts and monsters would run rampant, reincarnation was uncertain, life and death were difficult to distinguish, the two worlds of yin and yang seemed to have no boundaries, not to mention the demons and monsters that were rampant everywhere on the earth.
Most of the immortal sects live in the mountains and do not go out. There are even many evil witches and shamans who take advantage of the situation of hundreds of ghosts roaming at night to practice evil magic.
It was not until the gods gradually spread all over the earth, suppressed reincarnation, divided life and death, and the disciples of the academy served as officials in all directions and cleared the world of evil spirits and monsters that the human territory of Dongzhou was stabilized. Now that the Great Zhou has mastered the secret arts of the Heavenly Court and has the two armies of Shendu and Shenwu to suppress the world, we can see the prosperity and stability in all parts of the world.
This may not be a spiritual paradise belonging to gods and monks, but for ordinary mortals, it is the best era and an era full of opportunities for mortals. Everything in the world is no longer completely controlled by immortal sects and aristocratic families, and mortals are no longer ants at their mercy and pigs and dogs on the table.
Fang Xiu looked at the people in the city. The soldiers patrolling the county city also showed signs of practicing martial arts. Among them, there might be one or two geniuses who practiced martial arts. Some big figures would appear and enter the Divine Capital and the Divine Martial Army and master martial arts. Before the Great Zhou Dynasty, only disciples of aristocratic families were qualified to practice martial arts, and mortals would always be mortals.
The Great Zhou Dynasty started the imperial examination system, which gave ordinary scholars the opportunity to become officials. Countless scholars born in poverty cultivated righteousness, governed the country, and cleared away filth.
The Great Zhou suppressed the world and treated the immortal sects and aristocratic families harshly. At the same time, it completely broke the order of nearly a thousand years, allowing countless scholars from poor families to ascend to high positions, and low-level soldiers to master martial arts and sweep the world.
The riverside was paved with stone slabs and planted with a whole row of willow trees. Many taverns and brothels could be seen along the river. Fang Xiu sat down at the door of a tavern with a flag hanging next to the pier.
The tavern is run by a white-haired old man and old woman wearing brown short coats. The eldest son in the kitchen would occasionally lift the curtain and call people to serve the dishes, and there was a somewhat pretty daughter who was in charge of pouring wine. The business was extremely booming, and they were busy with happy looks on their faces.
Sitting at a small table under the willow tree on the shore, he ordered some snacks and drinks. The girl who served the wine kept talking about how good her wine was. Fang Xiu just shook his white porcelain wine pot.
"I brought wine!"
The little girl was very unconvinced: "That wine is definitely not as good as ours. Our wine is the best in the whole Gaoyang City. We have been selling wine in Gaoyang for more than a hundred years!"
Fang Xiu nodded: "More than a hundred years ago? Then I definitely haven't tasted it!"
The little girl didn't understand what Fang Xiu meant at all, and immediately said, "In that case, why don't you try it, or fill up your wine jug. I see you've drunk quite a bit, so it must be almost gone!"
Fang Xiu was stunned after hearing this and looked at the Juntian pot in his hand. How much wine would be needed to fill the pot
"No need for that, just give me a jar of wine and a bowl!"
The little girl went to get some wine excitedly. At that moment, on the street at night, suddenly hundreds of people were crowded together in rows. The scene suddenly became noisy. Countless people came to watch and squeezed in.
It was a team coming out of the Confucian Temple. Dozens of people were carrying a large sedan chair. There were a few middle-aged men in scholar robes leading the way in front, and hundreds of young students following behind.
On the chariot was a clay statue of a young man wearing a Confucian robe and holding a jade slip. As he passed through the wide but crowded road, he kept scattering special copper coins. Many children and people rushed over to grab them.
This is the money of the Saint of Literature offered in the Confucian Temple. Most of these people will not use it after snatching it, but will offer it as an offering, especially those families with children and scholars. It is said that this will gain the protection of the Saint of Literature.
At this time, the girl from the tavern came back with some wine. Fang Xiu took two more gulps of wine and looked even more lazy. He leaned on the table, stretched out his hand and pointed at the statue of the Sage of Literature.
"Hey! Little girl, look at that statue. It looks like me!"
The little girl was holding a wine jug and a wine bowl, looking at the profile of the man in front of her. Suddenly, a blush welled up on her face: "This man is so good-looking!"
All sorts of messy thoughts were still coming to her mind when she saw this man suddenly raise his hand and ask, immediately interrupting her thoughts.
The little girl looked up blankly and saw the statue surrounded by thousands of people. Then she looked at the face of the man in front of her: "Hey~ Now that I see you, I suddenly feel that you look exactly like the statue! But I feel that the statue is much more ethereal than you."
“…”
The girl started to make a cryptic comment: "And you..."
Fang Xiu put down the wine jug in his hand, tilted his head and asked, "What about me?"
The girl who was serving the wine covered her mouth and laughed softly: "You only smell of alcohol!"
"What are you talking about? Maybe I am the saint on the statue!"
The little girl spat at Fang Xiu and said, "That was a saint from the Confucian Temple, he lived at least a thousand years ago. If he is still alive, he must be a god-like figure. How could it be you!"
"And you don't look much older than me! Judging from your attire, you must be a student of some academy. If you dare to tease the saint of the Confucian Temple, you will be punished."
At this moment, in the distance, a large painted ship was coming across the river. The bright lights on the ship illuminated the entire ship and the river surface, and layers of halos spread along the sparkling water.
It stopped in the middle of the wide river, blending with Shuwang Mountain and the moonlight, adding color and splendor to Gaoyang and other places.
At this moment, a female voice suddenly rang out from the boat, clear and beautiful with a hint of coquettishness: "I greet you, Master! I never thought you would pass by here. Please redeem me for not coming to greet you from afar."
"I have made an agreement with the City God of Gaoyang that I will not go ashore and enter the city easily. Can you please get on the boat for a while?"
The sound traveled hundreds or thousands of meters, but to the ears of the people in the tavern, it seemed as if they didn't hear it at all. On the boat, only a vague shadow could be seen of the painted boat building, just like the shadow of a fire seen from the other side of the river.
After Fang Xiu drank two bowls of wine, he said to the girl, "It's really good wine!"
After saying that, he picked up his wine jug and walked away on the water. In just two steps, his figure disappeared under the moonlight.
The little girl had never seen such a scene before. Even in Gaoyang City, there were not many people who mastered martial arts and had a righteous spirit. Even those who did exist would not be accessible to people of her class. To ordinary people, gods and immortals were just a legend.
He stared in amazement at the young man in white who stepped on the water and turned into light, thinking about the conversation just now: "No way? Is he really a god?"
The little girl held the jar of wine, looking at the statue of the Saint Wen and the music gradually fading away in the distance, as well as the blurred painted boat that she saw in a trance above the sparkling waves, which disappeared in the blink of an eye.
For a moment, he seemed to be unable to distinguish between reality and illusion. All that was left on the table were two empty wine bowls and a jade pendant to pay for the wine.