Chapter 114 Ancient Book

Dao Yan looked at the girl before him, and after a moment of silence, felt that perhaps his visit was ill-timed.

The Tiannv stepped aside.

After thanking her, Dao Yan entered the Zhenyao Museum. Although he knew it was all a dream, seeing Wei Yuan still made him think of that dream, and he felt a little strange.

"It's you... Master Dao Yan."

Wei Yuan was surprised by Dao Yan's sudden visit, and then noticed the ancient book in the black-robed monk's hand. He frowned slightly. Dao Yan said slowly, "...This poor monk has something he wishes for Curator Wei to see."

Wei Yuan recalled that the first time Dao Yan came to the museum, he had also wanted him to see something.

There was no doubt that what he, in the past, had done – reversing Dao Yan's fate – had indeed made Dao Yan remember him deeply in the long years that followed, never forgetting.

As for whether it was hatred, or that sense of compulsion that had been cultivated since childhood, that made Dao Yan unable to swallow the frustration of seeing his fate clearly, only for it to turn out wrong in the end.

In short, Dao Yan had butted heads with Wei Yuan.

Such persistence made Wei Yuan want to sigh and grit his teeth.

What exactly did I do in the past?!

Seeing Dao Yan's persistent expression, Wei Yuan had no choice but to explain to Jue and Yuanjue, then returned to the quiet room where he usually meditated. Dao Yan looked around, sat down quietly, and then moved the chair without changing his expression, until the four legs of the chair fell exactly into the square tiles, without pressing on any of the lines.

Each point of the chair was equidistant from the edge of the square tile, and did not cover the decorative pattern on the tile.

Only then did his brow relax, looking refreshed.

He raised one hand in front of his chest, proclaimed a Buddhist prayer, "Amitabha."

"Curator Wei, please look at this."

He turned his hand and took out the ancient book that was wrapped tightly, then carefully handed it to Wei Yuan. It was undoubtedly a manuscript, or even just a draft, and the edges of the pages were already yellowed.

Wei Yuan's expression gradually became serious, "This is..."

His palm gently pressed on the ancient book.

Countless images swirled before his eyes.

He saw with his own eyes that Wei Yuan was once again connecting with the book, and that the young monk who had a deep hatred with the person before him, at least, he thought it was a deep hatred, did not take any action, nor did he take the opportunity to strike. In the end, he just put his hands together.

As for the reason...

The wooden door slowly opened.

The girl with the high ponytail was humming softly outside.

A flowing breeze filled the entire museum.

The Binghun (soldier's soul) was sitting on the ground, and he didn't know where he had pulled out a fist-sized whetstone. He was sharpening the blade little by little, while glancing at Dao Yan, with a simple and honest smile. The sound of sharpening was almost grating on the ears.

Not to mention the two little Daoist kids, the girl holding snacks and gnawing on them had a stern and fiery aura between her brows.

The tall and sturdy Yuanjue was mopping the floor, but the mop was clearly made of special metal...

A series of gazes fell on the young monk, seemingly there and not there.

They seemed to have said everything.

And yet, they seemed to have said nothing.

Yuanjue put the heavy mop aside and said with a hearty laugh:

"Little Master Dao Yan, would you like something to eat?"

Dao Yan was expressionless and averted his gaze.

……………………

The sixth month of the eighteenth year of Jiajing, Yihai.

In this month, a corner of Mount Tianmu in Zhejiang collapsed, and thousands of snakes emerged.

- *Wanli Ye Huo Bian* · Ming Dynasty.

Just in February of this year, Emperor Jiajing encountered three fires while traveling, and the last time he was almost caught in it himself. The Emperor was furious, which caused many officials to suffer.

No one knew that a corner had collapsed under Mount Tianmu, and one person had stepped out.

Yiwu, Zhejiang.

This area also belongs to the Jiangnan region, with plenty of water. There is a natural pond in the shape of a crescent moon, and in it is a small island. The locals call this place Rhinoceros Gazing at the Moon, and there is a stone cave in it. Inside, a man swayed as he stood up.

He reached out, cupped a handful of water, wiped his face, and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

The water reflected a face that looked no more than thirty years old. His black hair was tied up with a green hairpin. He had an ancient aura. Although he looked only twenty years old, his temples were already white. As if the water was a little cool, he couldn't help coughing, and a deathly look appeared on his face.

After a long time, he barely managed to get up, looked into the distance, his eyes blank, and murmured:

"The Jiajing era..."

"Why am I still not dead?"

Since the collapse under Mount Tianmu, he had been wandering in this land. For some reason, he no longer remembered anything, but even though he no longer remembered anything, he inexplicably knew many things. Wild beasts, birds and poisonous snakes could not harm him.

He was also a good cook and knew a lot of medical skills.

But why he was under Mount Tianmu was something he could never remember.

He only remembered that he should have died during the Hongwu period, or at most a little later, but the person who should have died did not die. What had happened to lead to such an end?

For a person who should have died to not die was the most contrary thing to fate.

The gray-robed man, who only vaguely remembered some past events, was just wandering aimlessly. One day, when he came to Yiwu, he heard some noise in the distance. Some local children were arguing about whose opera was the best. The Wuju opera here was something you couldn't hear anywhere else. Children who didn't have books to read mostly liked these stories.

They were playing and joking, peasant children who rarely had free time.

As they were playing, they looked up and saw a person in front of them, dressed in gray, with a peaceful expression, but looking a little listless, as if he was about to die, which startled them.

One of the thin boys, with an honest face, was so frightened that he fell backward. The gray-robed man reached out and pulled him, so he didn't fall to the ground. The man asked in a gentle voice, "Are you alright?"

"No, it's okay..."

The thin boy shook his head quickly.

When the young boys saw the unspeakable sickly color on the face of this gray-robed youth, as if he was terminally ill, or rather, someone would believe that he was a person crawling out of a grave, they quickly called their companions to avoid him.

However, the thinnest boy was kind-hearted. After hesitating for a while, he still ran over, handed over a cake from his arms, then turned his head and ran away in fear. The gray-robed man smiled and thanked him, then sat there, silently eating the not-so-delicious food.

After the young boys went back, they all felt that they had encountered a ghost and had nightmares for several days.

The youngest boy was worried and ran over a few more times.

Gradually, he learned that this young man was not a ghost, but a wandering doctor. However, later everyone said that his own heart seemed to have problems, and he coughed all the time, so his medical skills were definitely not very good.

But that's what they said behind their backs, but there were no doctors in this rural area.

If there was a problem, they would have to come to this seemingly unreliable Doctor Yuan.

The thin boy often ran over here, not for anything else, but simply because he could get delicious food here. One day, the young man smiled and asked him, "Do you have any ideas for the future? Would you like to learn some medical skills from me?"

The young man joked:

"Although I am not a famous doctor, I should still be able to teach students."

At that time, the boy's father was also there, and he was immediately overjoyed.

In this place, medical skills were a family tradition. Even if you didn't rely on this business to make a living, at least you could have more choices.

Besides, who doesn't have a headache or injury? In this place, every household respected those who knew some medical skills, so he immediately planned to let the boy become a disciple, but the boy muttered and shook his head, "...But, I want to fight the Japanese pirates."

The boy's father was stunned.

Then he became furious, or rather, angry and annoyed, "You, you, you..."

"Do you want to anger me to death?"

"And go fight the Japanese pirates!"

The boy muttered, "...Shouldn't the Japanese pirates be fought?"

"The Japanese pirates ran outside two years ago."

The middle-aged man first said angrily, "Of course they should be fought!"

"But you don't have any skills and only know how to farm. What are you going to fight with? Your life?"

The boy scratched his head and suddenly looked at the gray-robed man as if inspired, hopefully:

"Otherwise, can you teach me swordsmanship, sir?"

The gray-robed youth was surprised, then smiled. He noticed the expectation and desire in the middle-aged man's eyes, so he smiled and shook his head, "I may not be very good at swordsmanship."

The boy was very disappointed and was finally dragged away by his father, pulling his ear.

Since the Ming Dynasty, no one had ever trained Zhejiang soldiers, and no one had ever trained Yiwu soldiers.

However, the village still hired a martial arts instructor to teach these young children swordsmanship.

However, that thin child still often came here to freeload meals and medicated wine.

Along with practicing swords and martial arts, he gradually became stronger.

But he still looked simple and honest.

One day, when he came, he saw that the gray-robed sir seemed to be leaving, and the honest boy was shocked.

The gray-robed man shook his head, "There is no need to stay. There is no banquet in life that does not end."

"I seem to be going to find some people, although I don't know who I'm going to find."

"...However, do you really want to fight the Japanese pirates in the future?"

The boy scratched his head and nodded, "Although I will either go to the mine or work in the fields in the future, I still want to fight those guys. If there is a chance, I mean... If there is a general willing to take us to fight the Japanese pirates, I will definitely do my best."

"Is that so... Then, I'll give you a gift."

The gray-robed youth seemed to nod in approval, casually grabbed a firewood knife from the side, and then swung it. The sharp blade flashed, and then instantly flowed, the whole room was filled with coldness. At this moment, a common firewood knife-like weapon was like an unparalleled divine weapon.

The boy only felt that his soul was about to be frozen and solidified.

After a long time, he trembled and said, "Aren't you, not good at swordsmanship?"

The gray-robed youth gently stroked the blade with his finger and smiled, "I remember."

"I used to, a long, long time ago."

"I seemed to have seen a bearded man use a knife."

"But he used a long-handled broadsword, which is different from this, but it's roughly the same, so I should know a little bit about swordsmanship."

The boy stammered:

"A long-handled knife? Like the statue of Lord Guan?"

The gray-robed youth was silent for a long time, "Yes."

"It's him."

……………………

After leaving two medical books, the gray-robed youth left the village.

No one knew where he went.

He walked through many places, following the Yangtze River, drinking spring water when he was thirsty, and picking wild fruits when he was hungry. Perhaps, because he had no memory, he was not obsessed with his purpose, or perhaps it was because he was not obsessed that he had such composure.

And he arrived at Yingtian Prefecture.

In the teahouse, he saw a merchant with half-white hair talking to the young man opposite him.

"Ruzhong, aren't you going to take the exam?"

The young man was depressed and sighed, "Father, I have studied hard since I was a child, but I have failed the exam three times in a row. I really don't have the heart to take the exam again. Besides, there are all kinds of paths in the world. Who says you have to take the imperial examination?"

"I have really tried my best."

The old merchant said slowly, "I named you Ruzhong, hoping that you could become a loyal minister in the court, not such an idle person. When you were a child, you hollowed out your pillow to hide *Youyang Zazu* and took out the bricks from the wall to stuff *Xuangai Lu*. I tolerated it all, after all, you were still young, and I told myself that you were my only son who could study, so I had to be patient."

"When you were studying at Longxi Academy, you didn't read the books of sages, but went to listen to storytellers every day."

"Saying that the world is full of miscellaneous tales, I also tolerated it."

"Now you haven't put your heart into it since you were a child, and you have the nerve to say that you have tried your best?"

"Ruzhong, I'll ask you, are you going to take the exam or not?"

The young man kept a straight face, "I'm not going to take it."

"Take it or not?"

"Not!"

"Wu Ruzhong... are you going to disobey your father?"

"Father, isn't it good for me to do business too?"

After a lot of arguing, the young man was impervious to reason.

The old merchant suddenly slammed the table heavily, no longer in the mood to argue, and said angrily:

"Wu Cheng'en!"

This shout was like thunder, and the roof of the teahouse shook a few times.

The young man who was directly called by his full name shrank his neck, and his arrogance weakened.

"Take..."

"Isn't it okay to take the exam?"

ps: The third update today... This kind of thing is too difficult to write. Wu Cheng'en's birth is based on Mr. Lu Xun's *A Brief History of Chinese Fiction* in 1510. He should be about twenty-eight or nine years old at the moment.

"I was curious to hear about it in my childhood. When I was in the Tongzi community school, I often stole market slang and slang history, and I was afraid of being deprived by my father and teacher, so I secretly sought a hidden place to read it - Wu Cheng'en."

Every time is difficult, sigh... Sleep, sleep, work and rest are collapsing again, I hope to be able to adjust back.