"Really?" The fat Taoist priest was very surprised.
Taoist Jing Xu nodded, "Someone saw it. It was a very young Taoist priest in white who stepped on purple clouds."
The fat Taoist priest was overjoyed at first, but then he hesitated, "Our Green Cloud Temple has fallen. Will he still care about us?"
"Immortal Ancient Wood is a banished immortal from the Tai Qing Palace. He must be broad-minded and not so snobbish. What's more, our temple suffered because we helped him find someone with a pure Yang immortal soul."
Taoist Jing Xu said, "Even if it doesn't work, we can try our luck first."
The fat Taoist priest nodded, "That makes sense. Let's try it."
The two immediately took the seriously injured old Taoist priest on the road to Liyang Temple.
Taoist Jing Xu's eyes flashed.
After learning about the relationship between Immortal Ancient Wood and Green Cloud Temple and his efforts to find the pure Yang relic, he faintly felt suspicious.
After investigating the situation of the other six dynasties in the Eastern Border, he first targeted Liyang Temple of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
However, he didn't want to go there directly.
Let's go to the periphery first …
While the ground of Western Zhou was surging, in the Daming Palace of Chang 'an, Zhang Dongyun also noticed that He Sanyang had been delayed for too long.
He should have returned to Chang 'an long ago.
"Big brother, do you think he ran away by himself, or …"
A girl of about ten years old sat on a high chair with her feet dangling, "… or he is in danger?"
Zhang Dongyun said, "When the report from West Chu comes back, we will know."
Soon, the report they were waiting for came.
After Zhang Dongyun read it, he handed it to Shen Herong.
Shen Herong read it and muttered, "It seems that he should be in danger and may have been robbed halfway."
The girl said and turned to look at Zhang Dongyun above, "In the old Tang, there are indeed some fish that escaped the net struggling, but they are all small fish and shrimps. He Sanyang is vigilant and shouldn't be taken advantage of by them. If they want to take action, it must be someone with a higher cultivation than him."
Zhang Dongyun said indifferently, "There is something strange about this matter. It needs to be thoroughly investigated."
Soon, more reports were sent in.
This time, no matter how big or small, no one dared to hide anything.
People in Chang 'an City were robbed. This kind of thing undoubtedly shocked everyone.
Gu Hechuan hesitated again and again, but still handed over the report obediently.
Zhang Dongyun and Shen Herong remained silent after reading it.
After a while, Shen Herong slowly said, "Someone from the Green Cloud Temple who can hide from Gu Hechuan's eyes and ears must be at least at the eighth realm."
Now, not to mention level-eight, all the people above level-five in the Green Cloud Temple had been captured by Chang 'an City.
Even if those with lower cultivation levels improved quickly enough, it was impossible for them to rush to the eighth level in such a short time.
The only possibility was that there was another expert who had the cultivation level of the Green Cloud Temple. That was why Gu Hechuan was alerted, but Gu Hechuan was unable to find out in the end.
"Dual cultivation, or …" Zhang Dongyun said, "… possession."
Shen Herong looked thoughtful. "Big Brother, are you thinking of me or Yang Li?"
Zhang Dongyun said, "All kinds of possibilities exist. We can't be sure yet."
Shen Herong said, "When Eleventh Brother comes out of seclusion, perhaps the truth will be revealed."
Ao Kong could try to sense the location of the demonic blood seed in He Sanyang's body with the wonders of his cultivation level.
"He's at a critical moment. There's no hurry."
Zhang Dongyun said, "It's hard to say whether He Sanyang is alive or dead now."
Shen Herong nodded. "Little Sister, go and check it out first."
"Okay," Zhang Dongyun said.
When Shen Herong left Chang 'an, other people were about to enter the city.
The leader was the elder of the Lingxiao school, Ren Yichao.
There were dozens of people who returned to Chang 'an with him.
When they arrived outside Chang 'an, they looked at the endless city walls. Many of them looked dazed and confused.
Ren Yichao could understand their feelings. After calming them down for a while, he said, "Let's go."
The dozens of people around him were all from the Lingxiao school.
The leader of the elders nodded. "Okay."
They passed through many layers of city walls after many checks.
When they reached the inner city, most of them rested and waited. A few elders in the school went to the Tianshu Hall with Ren Yichao.
In the Tianshu Hall, they greeted Mr. Dark Cloud.
Mr. Dark Cloud looked at Ren Yichao and the others in front of him and asked, "Are you the only ones left in the Lingxiao school?"
Ren Yichao sighed inwardly.
The elder beside him replied, "Please forgive us, Mr. Dark Cloud. Our Headmaster Ning and some other disciples are still in the Snow Mountain."
Mr. Dark Cloud glanced at him. "Are you talking about Ning Heng? He Dongtao and Zhang Chong are besieging him and his disciples. "
The elder's expression changed drastically.
Ren Yichao was also shocked. "Mr. Dark Cloud …"
"This is what happens to those who don't follow the rules."
Mr. Dark Cloud said indifferently, "He Dongtao reported that Ning Heng and the others showed signs of retreating to the border of the Beiqi Dynasty. They can be spared for now. However, there will be a day when they can't hide anymore."
Ning Heng, an Eighth Realm martial artist, was also the current headmaster of the Lingxiao school.
Previously, he led the Lingxiao school to hide in the Great Snow Mountain to avoid being besieged by the Eastern Tang.
In recent years, the Lingxiao school's population had become extremely small due to the continuous suppression of the Eastern Tang.
The second most powerful master in the school, Elder Gao Ping, was killed by King of Tang's surprise attack.
The entire Lingxiao school was in a difficult situation.
Later, when the Eastern Tang was destroyed, Ren Yichao went to the Great Snow Mountain to contact his fellow disciples.
But in the end, Ning Heng and the others didn't want to just change masters.
They also knew that Chang 'an was too powerful for them to resist, so they continued to hide in the Great Snow Mountain.
Ren Yichao rushed back to Chang 'an with some of his fellow disciples who were willing to submit. On the one hand, he hoped that the Lingxiao school could have a place in Chang' an. On the other hand, he wanted to plead for mercy for Ning Heng and the others.
Unexpectedly, after they left the mountain, the head of his Family, He Dongtao, and the elder of the Dahe Longmen, Zhang Chong, were ordered by Mr. Dark Cloud to besiege the rest of the Lingxiao school as rebels.
"Please show mercy, Mr. Dark Cloud," Ren Yichao hurriedly said.
Mr. Dark Cloud looked at him indifferently and didn't say anything.
Ren Yichao and several other Lingxiao school elders who came to Chang 'an were in a dilemma.
In the end, Ren Yichao bowed to Mr. Dark Cloud and begged, "Mr. Dark Cloud, please allow me to persuade them again."
"I'm already imitating His Majesty's benevolence by not doing it myself." Mr. Dark Cloud's voice sounded extremely cold.
Ren Yichao said bitterly, "Mr. Dark Cloud, please give us a chance."
Mr. Dark Cloud said indifferently, "What if they don't listen to you?"
Ren Yichao took a deep breath and said, "… I'm willing to lead the army."
Mr. Dark Cloud nodded slightly and said, "Remember what you said today."
"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Dark Cloud." Ren Yichao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The other elders of the Towering Firmament Sect beside him also felt their hearts finally relax.
After coming out of the Tianshu Hall, Ren Yichao, who had been silent all the way, suddenly said, "If that day really comes, I mean what I said just now."
An elder beside him suddenly changed his expression, but another Lingxiao school elder stopped him and said, "Yichao, if you don't do it, we and other people who enter the city will definitely be wiped out by Chang 'an."
"Then can we kill our fellow disciples?" The elder retorted, "Senior Brother Ning offended Chang 'an, not us!"
The Lingxiao school elder who stopped him was silent for a moment, and then sighed. "We have to leave a legacy for our school, right? Otherwise, how can we face the ancestors of the past? "
"Do you think we have a lot of face now?" The grumpy elder said bitterly.
He glanced at Ren Yichao and wanted to say something, but in the end, he sighed with mixed feelings.
Ren Yichao didn't say anything. He silently left Chang 'an and went to the Great Snow Mountain.
The problem of Lingxiao school was just a small episode for Chang 'an.
For Master Zhang of Daming Palace, it was just a passing cloud.
His interest now was mainly on the upcoming talent selection ceremony.
Xu Xingzhi and the others had already arranged the basic assessment.
After layers of assessment in the states, counties, and even the Southeast, North, South, and West regions, the summed up talents gathered in Chang 'an for the final comprehensive examination.
Zhang Dongyun walked out of the Daming Palace and looked down at the flow of people in and out of Chang 'an City. He wanted to laugh and say, "All the talents in the world have fallen into my trap," just like what he had read on the Cerulean Planet in his previous life.
Speaking of which, there was also an imperial examination in this world.
However, in places like the Eastern Tang dynasty, it was customary to have two lists, or the two exams were held separately.
The so-called two lists were not the Northern and Southern lists, but the two lists for mortal cultivators.
Confucian cultivators had a unique advantage in this regard. Mortals couldn't beat them at all in the same exam.
It was not a matter of mortal talent.
Because if one was talented in literary talent, it meant that they could achieve something on the path of Confucian cultivation.
The exception was those who were talented but had never come into contact with the Confucian School of Cultivation.
However, if such a person was exposed to Confucian cultivation, he would definitely be enlightened immediately and embark on the path of cultivation.
Due to the special nature of Confucian cultivation, it was more likely that he would reach the sky in a single step.
In fact, after so many years of examinations and selection of talents, it was still very difficult for Confucian cultivation talents to be buried.
Occasionally, there would be one or two who had never been exposed to books for one reason or another, so their talent was not obvious.
However, it was obviously difficult for such people to take the imperial examination.
As for the simple poor students, whether they were talented or not could be seen with just a few pages of books. They would not be buried.
However, there were millions of students in the world, and there were only a few who could embark on the path of cultivation.
This world was extremely vast and had a large population.
To establish a perfect bureaucratic management system, it was not enough to rely on cultivators alone.
At least, many cultivators were not so willing to put down their status, or like Master Zhang, they were lazy and hated work.
If he could have a large number of ordinary people at his disposal, it would save him a lot of trouble and effort. Why not?
Therefore, in addition to Confucian cultivators, each dynasty and generation also had a special examination for ordinary students to participate in, or a separate list.
Chang 'an City's talent selection ceremony this time was also divided into two lists.
However, the examination was mainly focused on political strategy, not literary talent.
Confucian cultivators did have a huge objective advantage in governing the country.
However, not everyone was the same.
Influenced by his previous life, Master Zhang still paid more attention to practical work than paper.
Especially practical talents who could go to the fields and were willing to put down their status.
Overall, Xu Xingzhi and Wan Li did a good job.
The two of them did not smuggle in personal goods just because they were great Confucians.
They firmly implemented Zhang Dongyun's, or Mr. Dark Cloud's, philosophy and will to select talents for Chang 'an.
The talents selected would not immediately go to work.
They still needed to go through a unified training in Tianshu Hall to ensure that Zhang Dongyun's will could continue to be implemented in every corner.
This was the result that Master Zhang was happy to see.
He was even happier that the system notification sounded again.
[The City Lord has successfully established a preliminary talent excavation and training mechanism for the city to facilitate selection and further development of the city. Construction Task 7.2 has been successfully completed. Obtained 2,000 experience points to upgrade.]
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