Qin Di sat blankly in the study hall of Qin's Mansion. His mind was muddled. The fragments of memories kept surging. He did not know which was real and which was fake. He did not know whether it was Zhuang Zhou dreaming of the butterfly or the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou.
At this moment, he had two different memories of Qin Di.
An old Qin Di was almost 50 years old. He had stayed in school until he was 30 years old and obtained the so-called highest diploma. However, after he graduated, he lost his drive and just fooled around every day. Unknowingly, he was in his forties. Seeing that he had accomplished nothing, he could not help but regret the time he had lost. Time flew by, and before he knew it, he was old! One day, he drank alone to drown his sorrows. He drank a little too much, and his soul floated out of his body. He didn't know how much time and space he had traversed, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself in an unknown new world.
The other little Qin Di was the seventh son of the Minister of Rites, Qin Guangling.
The Qin family was a big family in the State of Yue. They were full of scholars and their descendants were virtuous. It was said that the family had twenty imperial examinations and seven tanhua scholars from the grandfather to the grandson. It was very appropriate to praise the Qin family.
Little Qin Di's grandfather, Qin Gaolan, had been the Grand Tutor and Grand Chancellor. He was already eighty years old. Although he was unemployed, he would still receive inquiries from the Emperor from time to time. He could be said to be a person of virtue and prestige, a pillar of the country. His father had six brothers, and the lowest among them was a fifth-rank magistrate. Qin Guangling was the second oldest. He had seven sons. Five of them were Jinshi. The sixteen-year-old sixth son had also become a Juren. Only the youngest son was Qin Di Jr.
Little Qin Di was the seventh child in his own family and the nineteenth in his family. He was only fourteen years old and smart, but he didn't like to study. He was forced to read many books for the imperial examinations, but this year, he wasn't even a scholar. Normally, fourteen years old was still considered young, but the youngest of his brothers had passed the Boy Test at the age of eight, and the youngest had achieved results at the age of twelve.
Little Qin Di did not like to read, but he liked to read miscellaneous books, especially the biographies of immortals. He often traveled around and inquired about immortal fate anecdotes. He even gave himself a new name, "Qin Shaoyou", wishing that he could traverse the entire Yue Kingdom. However, no matter how much he inquired, all he heard were just rumors. He couldn't find any actual cultivation grounds. If he found it, he might sneak over early in the morning.
Just this morning, little Qin Di entered the school lazily. Because he didn't study seriously, he was beaten twice on the head by the private school's professor with a ruler. Although the Professor didn't use much strength, the position of the hit was not right, and it happened to break the top of the skull. His three souls and seven spirits were swaying, and his life soul was far away from his body. Old Qin, who was also swaying in the air and had nowhere to hide, took advantage of it.
After a long while, the two soul fragments of Qin Di gradually merged. In the end, the old Qin Di had the upper hand. No matter what, his soul had finally settled down. Only then was he able to move a little. For more than two hours, he was like a clay sculpture. His arms and legs were almost stiff.
He raised his head and looked forward. He discovered that the private school professor was not the old teacher he usually invited, but little Qin Di's Third Uncle!
Qin Di thought, "No wonder he dared to hit his head with the ruler. If someone else were to slap his palm, that would be it. Otherwise, if he caused such a big mess, who would be able to bear the responsibility? "
His Third Uncle, Qin Guangyuan, was once a third-ranked scholar and became a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy. Because he made a small mistake when compiling the history of the royal family, he was punished to meditate behind closed doors for three years. Recently, he had nothing to do, so he came to the family's school to teach the children.
At this time, Qin Guangyuan, who was wearing a square headscarf, saw that Qin Di took a long time to recover. He couldn't help but stare at him and angrily scolded, "Qin Shijiu! Look at you, you are already fourteen years old, and you haven't even read a few books! Even now, you are still reading with your own nephew! Don't you feel ashamed? Look back, your eight-year-old nephew is reading the same books as you! You still have the nerve to sit there and pretend! "
Qin Di's eldest brother was already forty years old, and his second brother was thirty-eight or thirty-nine years old. In addition to the descendants of his five uncles, he had countless children and nephews.
The oldest of Qin Di's nephews was already twenty years old, and he had already become a Juren. Among the five or six of them who were fourteen or fifteen years old, the worst had become a Xiucai. Even his eleven or twelve year old nephews had passed the examination. Only Qin Di hadn't taken the exam yet! No wonder Third Uncle was picking on him!
There were more than twenty juniors in the school, the youngest was six years old, and the oldest was Qin Di, fourteen years old! When these nephews saw their uncle being criticized, they all looked around and couldn't stop laughing.
Qin Di had just woken up and didn't know what to say. He could only stammer and look around to see if he could find help.
Outside the window, it was March, and the peach blossoms were already slightly red.
The warm sun shone on the windowsill. It was a good time to take a walk in spring.
For a moment, Old Qin's soul had the upper hand, and he thought, "What's the use of learning these books! When I was thirty years old, I could be said to have read a lot of books, but in the end, I still wasted them! What's the point of being an official? Even if the old man became a Grand Tutor, he didn't become old! It wasn't easy for me to transmigrate, so I should at least live to a thousand or eight hundred years old! The peach blossoms of the Queen Mother of the West were red, and the shaman of the Peng Clan died several times. Life is short and exciting, so no matter what, I should ask for longevity! "
Qin Guangyuan scolded him a few times, but seeing that he was indifferent, he looked around and knew that he didn't listen. In the end, he could only shake his head and sigh. He picked up the book and continued to explain to the other children.
Qin Di stared at the spring scenery outside the window, and his brain continued to fuse and digest the memory fragments.
From the limited knowledge that Qin Di had, he knew that Yue was an ancient and comfortable country, and it had not been at war for thirty thousand years. It was peaceful not because it was strong and had no opponents, but because of its special geographical location.
Yue had a radius of hundreds of thousands of miles, and to the east was the boundless Dead Sea. No one knew how big it was. It was called the Dead Sea because it was deathly still. Not only did it not have seaweed, there were no fish, prawns, seals, whales, flowers, and wild trees! The harshest thing was that the sky above the Dead Sea was shrouded by a layer of Death Qi. That layer of Death Qi was extremely frightening. As long as one smelled it, they would lose their consciousness, and their body would quickly become thin. They would die in less than three days! Because of this, mortals didn't dare to approach the Dead Sea. It was the legendary forbidden land of death.
To the south of Yue was the desolate land, but because the Spiritual Qi was very thin, there were only weeds. There were no crops, and there were no large demonic beasts. Occasionally, there would be a few small spiritual lands, and only then would there be a few people.
The west of Yue was slightly rich in Spiritual Qi. It was a stretch of lofty mountains and precipitous ridges. The mountain range rose and fell, and the huge trees reached the sky. The mountains were high and the forests were dense. No one could pass through the mountains and forests to reach the other side. Some people said that they had seen a Buddhist temple in the mountains and heard monks chanting scriptures. There were also remnants of immortal ruins, but no one saw any Daoist cultivating.
The best place in Yue was the area close to the great river in the north.
This great river was very grand, and it was unknown how long and how wide it was. The lower reaches of the great river led directly to the Dead Sea, and many people knew this. It was said that the distant upper reaches led to a spiritual mountain, but few people could confirm it. According to legend, if one walked along the great river, there would be a spiritual mountain thousands of miles to the west, and immortals lived there. This great river led to the heavens! Hence, it was also called the Tongtian River.
On the other side of the river, it was said that there was a country similar to Yue, called the State of Wei. The great river separated Yue and Wei, at least tens of thousands of miles away. There were no bridges or crossings, and they rarely visited each other. They also did not have the ability to send an army to war.
The Spiritual Qi in the whole of Yue was thin. Only the Tongtian River flowed down from the spiritual mountain, irrigating the two sides for five thousand miles, bringing some Spiritual Qi. The closer one was to the river, the richer the Spiritual Qi. Hence, the nobles lived by the river. There was a string of densely populated cities along the great river, like a string of pearls. The capital, Ning City, was located at the bend of the river, surrounded by the Tongtian River on three sides. Hence, the Spiritual Qi there was more abundant.
The place with the most abundant Spiritual Qi should be the islands in the depths of the great river. According to legend, it was the base of an immortal sect. If the people of Yue wanted to seek immortality, that was the closest place.
However, little Qin Di had never seen an immortal sect before. In his short life of ten years, he did not see any immortal sect come to recruit disciples.
There were some damaged Daoist temples in the capital, Ning City, and the surrounding cities. Occasionally, Buddhist temples could be seen, but they looked very dilapidated. It was also rare to see any Daoist experts. Perhaps because of the lack of Spiritual Qi, the disciples of the immortal sects were not willing to come here to cultivate.
Because the surrounding was closed, the Spiritual Qi was thin, and it was not a place with good Feng Shui. Hence, Yue was very peaceful. There had been no war for many years, and the people were weak. They regarded knowledge as beauty, and there were very few who practiced martial arts.
Under such circumstances, the Qin Family could only ask their children to study hard and take the imperial examinations to become officials.
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