Chapter 1501: Sunny, Everything's Charming

The pavilion where the esteemed granddaughter of the Duke of Yu residedNaturally possessed an uncommon elegance, lofty and refined.Poetic resonance flowed like water, and warm breezes carried fragrance.But the Zen Master Yue of Xiyue Nunnery, standing by a window in another chamber,Evidently found it difficult to enjoy.Especially as the affections between the young man and woman in the room grew ever more tender.She gently pressed her temples, and on this puppet body of hers,She found a few lines of awkwardness.She had intended to clear her throat, to awaken the oblivious young couple.Or perhaps pretend she had just noticed their presence and go forward to exchange greetings.But after some thought, she remained silent,Silently leaped down from the window, and even closed it behind her.After all, the Buddha is compassionate.She swept through the wind, leaving no whisper of wind.She landed on the ground as if her feet had always grown there,Rooting themselves the moment they touched the earth.Her relationship with the Duke of Yu's Estate in Great ChuHad been established for many years, and there was no need to explain anything further.Yue Tiannu, covered in a grey robe, walked out of the Duke of Yu's Estate alone.Given the grand waves she had encountered in the Mountain and Sea Realm,She had intended to say something to Jiang Wang, but then thought there was nothing much to say.Let it be.Chu has always been prosperous, and Yingcheng is even hailed as "the most flourishing under heaven."Her footsteps light, she stepped into the ceaseless flow of people.From then on, she journeyed north, returning home.Zuo Guangshu had left without a word, leaving Jiang Wang aloneStaring blankly in the room for a while.Then, he naturally began to cultivate...The two seal arts passed down in the Mountain and Sea RealmWere both profound and unfathomable, not easily mastered.Moreover, with continuous travel in the Mountain and Sea Realm,There hadn't been much time to study them.Thus, though he had possessed them for some time,He had only reached a general understanding.At this moment, he was primarily studying the Huo Dou Seal.Seated alone on a chair, his hands were folded in front of him,His fingers rapidly changing.Those dazzling seal gestures were, for him now,No difficulty at all. What truly required a great deal of time and energy to exploreWere the... rules... behind those complex seal gestures.Yes, Jiang Wang could now vaguely sense that these ever-changing complex seal gesturesWere like a winding mountain path, allowing one, even with insufficient cultivation,To reach the mountain peak through time and effort.He needed to explore the connections between them,To truly comprehend the process of ascending the mountain,Only then could he grasp the essence of this seal art.Knock knock.A knocking sound resounded.The sound perfectly awoke him, yet it was not harsh,Creating no startled reaction.Jiang Wang withdrew his seals and looked up,Seeing the lean and elegant Duke of Huai standing outside the door.This was the Duke of Huai's Estate, and the door was open,Yet he did not enter directly.Jiang Wang quickly rose and bowed: "Duke!""No need for ceremony." Zuo Xiao waved his hand and stepped over the threshold:"I have just returned, and hearing that the Mountain and Sea Realm trial has ended,I came over to see, thinking you might need an old man's opinion on some matters...Where is Guangshu?""That..." Jiang Wang said with some embarrassment:"He just went out not long ago, perhaps he'll be back tonight."The old Duke smiled with some relief.Then said: "It seems your gains were considerable."Jiang Wang honestly replied: "Guangshu obtained the Chapter of Nine Phoenixes,I obtained the secret of Feng Weizhen's Divine Arrival,And also received two seal arts and two drops of exotic beast essence blood."Zuo Xiao looked at him, his voice gentle:"To be able to achieve this level is not easy.Although I knew you could definitely do it...You've worked hard, child."Jiang Wang had long been accustomed to praise.But for some reason, when the old Duke said 'you've worked hard',He still felt a peculiar sense of emotion,A warm current flowing through his heart.Smiling, he said: "It wasn't hard, for a junior like me,This was also a rare tempering.""I know, Guangshu's experience is still shallow, and he is very naive,Presumably he has caused you a lot of trouble..." Zuo Xiao said,Waving his hand, cutting off Jiang Wang's intended modest remarks,And continued: "Saying thank you feels distant,But as Guangshu's grandfather, I should indeed express my gratitude."He paused slightly, then said:"If there are no particularly urgent matters,Stay in the estate for a few more days.Though this old man has some trifling wealth,I fear it would wound your genuine heart, and would not be suitable as thanks.So, presuming on my age, and relying on my many years,I shall guide your cultivation for a while... What do you think?"This kind of formal guidance in cultivation was differentFrom the insights offered before entering the Mountain and Sea Realm.The latter was like Cao Jie casually mentioning a few key points during combatWhile preparing for the Battle of Guanhe Terrace.The former was similar to the comprehensive guidance given by Yi Xingchen and Chongxuan ChuliangOn the General's Review Platform before the expedition to Guanhe Terrace.The Duke of Huai of Great Chu personally guiding cultivation!How could this gift be described as merely generous?For a figure of the Duke of Huai's stature,No magical artifacts, treasures, or amount of Yuan Stones or spirit pillsCould be as precious as his time, energy, and genuine emotion.Jiang Wang sincerely bowed down: "How could I dare to have such a lavish request?It is a great honor for you to spare your time to guide me."Zuo Xiao reached out and helped him up:"Looking at you, this old man always feelsThere is some kind of subtle fate..."He gently patted Jiang Wang's arm: "Let's not be strangers."Jiang Wang said: "Since arriving at the estate, I have felt as if I've returned home.Seeing you, Duke, I feel as if you are my own elder,Most approachable.""Good."The Duke of Huai had long been in the military, and his actions were decisive.He immediately released Jiang Wang's hand, and created a space beside him."Let's start with the seal art you were just practicing...""The root of this seal art is Feng Weizhen's衍道级印法,Called the Mountain and Sea Canon Divine Seal,Said to exhaust the wonders of all seal arts under heaven.It was originally a set, comprising eight hundred and seventy-one kinds of seal arts,Combined as the Mountain and Sea Canon Divine.In those years, Feng Weizhen deduced it to this extent,And relied on it to traverse the world.According to the records he left behind,When this seal is deduced to its end, it should comprise a total of one thousand two hundred and ninety-six kinds...""What you have obtained is one of them,Perfectly suited for your current realm.Come, like this, you perform the same seal gesture again,Just mobilize your spirit energy to feel it..."Cultivation knows no time.The sun and moon pass quickly.In the eyes of lovers, it is the same...When Zuo Guangshu finally remembered his older brotherAnd skipped back to the estate with light steps,His Brother Jiang had already roughly gone overBoth the Huo Dou Seal and the Bi Fang Seal under the old Duke's guidance.Not to say he had completely mastered them,But he could almost use them to handle conventional battles.A true teaching is worth one sentence, a false teaching is worth ten thousand books.Having guidance and having no guidance is a world of difference.Profound and abstruse as the peerless seal art passed down by Feng Weizhen,Under the Duke of Huai's guidance,It was as simple and easy to understand as the Three Character Classic."You're back?"Zuo Guangshu turned around abruptly where he stood,And as he was stepping out, a voice reached his ears."Ah, I'm back!" Zuo Guangshu turned back obediently,And greeted politely: "Hello, Grandfather, hello, Brother Jiang."He cautiously peeked at his grandfather, feeling a bit anxious.Having just finished the Mountain and Sea Realm trial,He had slipped out and not returned home,So he thought he would surely receive a scolding.But Zuo Xiao just looked at him with a smiling gaze."Go rest in your separate courtyard." The old Duke waved his hand:"Your Brother Jiang and I still have some cultivation matters to discuss."Zuo Guangshu turned around with some hesitation:"Then I... I'll go?"Clang!As his two feet had just stepped out, the courtyard gate closed.That thick, beautifully carved gateHad a sense of the dream-like passage of time.It made Zuo Guangshu愣 for a moment.I only went out for a stroll... What happened?He didn't leave immediately,He stood outside the door and listened for a while.From the courtyard came Brother Jiang's earnest voice asking for advice,And the old man's amiable laughter occasionally resounded.He pursed his lips. When guiding his own cultivation in the past,The old man was not so fond of smiling...There was no hint of bitterness in his heart,He just suddenly remembered...He had been in the Mountain and Sea Realm for so long,His mother must have been very worried waiting for him!Zuo Guangshu swayed his body.As if his feet were oiled, he ran from there to here,And from here to there.The courtyard where his mother lived,Rather than calling it a courtyard, it was more like a small palace.In fact, when she got married, the Emperor of ChuHad specially decreed for a master craftsman to replicate the Shaodian,Where Princess Yuyun resided in the imperial palace,Within the Duke of Huai's Estate.He feared his sister would not be accustomed to living there after she married.Therefore, the name of this courtyard is Shaoyuan.I heard that when his father was still alive,The Emperor of Chu would sometimes visit in plain clothes.But Zuo Guangshu had no such memories.Great Chu's fertile land spans ten thousand li,With countless stories of heroes from the past,And endless heroic epics to be sung.Not many people are remembered after death.Zuo Guangshu ran very fast,And in the blink of an eye, he darted into Shaoyuan.Within Shaoyuan, there was a flowerbed enclosed by a glazed cover.The flow of air was controlled by a formation,Maintaining a constant temperature within the glazed cover...Perhaps it is hard to believe.What the Great Chu Princess Yuyun liked was not rare flowers and plants,But ants.This flowerbed, which cost a fortune and consumed a vast amount of money every month,Was actually Princess Yuyun's pet garden.I heard it was because she often stayed alone in the palace when she was a child,Which was very lonely, and she often watched ants move their homes to pass the time.Slowly, she developed this strange hobby.And Zuo Guangshu's father, the famous general Zuo Hong of Chu,Who died on the battlefield,Because his wife liked ants,Spent a huge sum of money, searched throughout the world,And found the most beautiful ants in the world—The Phoenix-Patterned Sleeping Flower Ants.These ants were very fragile.They could not tolerate cold, nor could they tolerate heat.They would not drink anything but dew,And would not eat anything but famous flowers.Not eating was bad, eating too much was also bad...Raising them was even more expensive than buying them.But the Duke of Huai's Estate continued to raise them like this,With a flowerbed of famous flowers, they raised this one nest.There were twelve servants in the Duke's Estate,Who did nothing but specifically attend to this nest of Phoenix-Patterned Sleeping Flower Ants.Even when Zuo Hong had free time, he would generally personally care for them.I heard...I heard.Mother always said.So Zuo Guangshu also remembered some things intermittently.He had not participated in his parents' stories,But images would often appear in his mind.They were all from his mother's long memories.He didn't remember his father's appearance very well.But in a daze, he could always remember such a scene—He was grabbed by the back of his neck by a rough big hand,Like planting seedlings, he was planted in front of this dilapidated flowerbed.His elder brother was beside him... the same.That tall figure who oversaw the two of them,His face was always veiled in a layer of light,Indistinct, but his voice was remembered—"If you cannot sweep one room, how can you sweep the world?If you cannot even coax your mother well,What makes you capable of mobilizing troops and generals,And commanding respect? Little brats,Dare to make your mother angry,Do you not regard this Zuo of mine as anything!Remember your task for today,Serve this nest of ants well for me!If one of them is sick and listless, then..."Then what?Zuo Guangshu remembered that the punishment seemed to beBeing spanked on the palm.But his elder brother said it was not, the punishment was to confiscate a month's allowance.Although at that time, he hadn't understoodWhy, when their allowance was confiscated,The punishment was carried out by his elder brother...Zuo Guangshu remembered.At that time, his elder brother always said:"This arduous task is entrusted to you."And he himself would always stand at attention and salute:"Acknowledged!"Then his elder brother would vanish in a flash.He himself would look at the beautiful Phoenix-Patterned Sleeping Flower Ants in the glazed cover,Watching with great interest, staying for an entire afternoon.That was truly a brilliant afternoon.When Zuo Guangshu ran to the glazed flowerbed,He indeed saw a familiar figure,Hugging her knees, semi-squatting in front of the flowerbed,Her eyes looking at those beautiful ants crawling in and out,Lost in thought.Her long skirt trailed on the ground, and she did not notice.It seemed as if he had only discovered today that his mother,Already at the Divine Arrival realm,Still could not stop the fine lines at the corners of her eyes.Divine Arrival was indeed false immortality.What happened to the promised eternal youth?How could there still be sadness and melancholy?Zuo Guangshu felt an almost uncontrollable soreness in his nose.But he ultimately smiled: "Mother! I got the Chapter of Nine Phoenixes!"He smiled brilliantly, smiling like sunshine,From head to toe, not a trace of gloom."Oh!" Xiong Jingyu slowly turned her head,Looking at her son, observing him up and down:"How did the little Duke have time to return to the estate today?"Zuo Guangshu feigned dissatisfaction:"After not seeing me for so long, aren't you even worried about me?""Heh, it's not for me to worry, is it?" The Great Chu Princess YuyunTurned back to look at her ants: "I'll still worry about my Phoenix-Patterned Sleeping Flower Ants,After all, they only have me. We are in the same boat, suffering together.""Mother, look how careless you are, your skirt is stained with mud."Zuo Guangshu quickly stepped forward, and helped his mother up:"Come, don't squat here anymore, I'll help you go sit over there."The mother and son walked towards the other open garden,Stepping on the gravel path, the wind, flowers, and fallen leaves were all gentle,And they appeared quite motherly and filial.Only, it seemed cold air seeped through Xiong Jingyu's teeth:"Fortunately, it's not yet time for you to support me,Otherwise, if I called out to the heavens and they did not answer,Called out to the earth and it did not respond,Searching everywhere and not finding you, what would I do?"Zuo Guangshu was completely unable to cope,And had to change the subject again:"Mother, aren't you curious about what your son gained this time?""Then this mother is quite curious." Xiong Jingyu turned her head to look at him,Her eyes smiling yet not smiling:"May I ask little Duke Zuo... what did you gain in the Duke of Yu's Estate?"