A life of clearness

Chapter 37: Hand Gestures
There were still a lot of broken bricks piled up in the corners, but the entrance to the courtyard had been cleaned up.

Rong Qing held the bird cage in one hand. The black starling occasionally turned its head inside, but rarely made any sound. She looked down at her clothes: she had put on a new black robe, which was neat and tidy, and the exposed collar and cuffs were also flawless white. Very good.

Rong Qing raised her hand and knocked on the door.

I only heard the gate open with a noticeable creaking sound.

Rong Qing turned her head away in confusion.

There was no movement at the gate in front of me, but there was a response from the yard next door.

A middle-aged woman with plain appearance, but very polite manners, no one could find fault with her. Rong Qing had not forgotten who she was.

It was the maid who appeared beside Dugu Zhi at that time.

Aunt Zhi knelt down and bowed to Rong Qing. "Young Master, please invite Mr. Yu in for a chat."

Rong Qing looked back at the gate of Zhong Xiu's house, which was silent, and thought for a moment, "Okay."

Aunt Zhi also smiled more, "Mr. Yu, please come this way." She led Rong Qing into Dugu Zhi's courtyard.

As soon as Rong Qing entered the courtyard, she saw Dugu Zhi sitting in his wheelchair waiting for her in the middle of the courtyard.

I don’t know if he particularly likes this position. Rong Qing has hardly ever seen him anywhere else.

"I haven't seen you for a long time." Rong Qing sighed. Although it was only a few days since the last meeting, the things that happened in between were enough for her to sigh for a long time.

"That's right." Dugu Zhi agreed. He was thinking of something that he felt the same way about.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Rong Qing approached slowly. Aunt Zhi had already quietly retreated.

In the huge courtyard, there were only two of them.

"Of course I have something to ask Mr. Yu to come."

"Oh." Rong Qing raised her eyebrows, "Not Xiao Yu anymore?"

"Things are different now." Dugu Zhi shook his head and smiled, "I am not an ignorant person."

"Whatever you say." Rong Qing didn't dwell on it. Although Dugu Zhi changed his address, the atmosphere between the two of them was no different from before. "What's the matter?"

"Mr. Yu, did you meet someone from Baishi Temple today? Or, is Mr. Yu a cultivator?"

Hearing this, Rong Qing's expression became serious.

"You... must be a mortal." Rong Qing could now clearly sense from his aura that Dugu Zhi had no spiritual roots and had no chance of practicing. "How do you know this?"

Rong Qing thought back to the mysteries of Dugu Zhi since they met. She knew that he had many friends from all walks of life, but he knew too much.

As for matters concerning spiritual practice, it is impossible to find out anything in a place like Jingguo.

unless……

"Because I have a very remarkable father." Dugu Zhi curled up the corners of his mouth, revealing a mocking smile, "He is from Baishi Temple."

Upon hearing this, Rong Qing looked at Dugu Zhi carefully.

She asked hesitantly, "But Master Yuntong?"

"That's right." Dugu Zhi replied, "It seems that you have seen him too."

At first, he only said that she was from Baishi Temple, and did not say that her father was the master of Baishi Temple. Rong Qing understood that he said this on purpose because he wanted to know how strong she was. Now it seems that Rong Qing's strength is recognized by her father.

Dugu Zhi and Yun Tong's faces were not similar. It was only after he reminded Rong Qing that she realized they were somewhat similar. It seemed that Dugu Zhi's appearance was more similar to his mother's.

"No wonder you are so interested in the affairs of the three northern states." Rong Qing said softly. Dugu Zhi must be unwilling to accept the fact that he has a Jindan Zhenren as his father while he is a complete mortal.

The time from birth to death of an ordinary person is just a short life in the eyes of a Jindan stage cultivator.

"Yes..." Dugu Zhi tapped the wheelchair armrests with his fingers, as if he was thinking about something, and finally made a decision, "My father doesn't show up often. When I was very young, I hoped to do something so that he could see me more often."

"But you also know," Dugu Zhi looked at Rong Qing, with a tiny light in his black eyes, "even if I succeeded in becoming the emperor, it would still be nothing in his eyes."

Rong Qing nodded. That was true. In Yun Tong's eyes, worldly power was too simple. If he wanted, he could always seize the throne for his son.

"So, why should I bother myself with trouble?" Dugu Zhi smiled and shook his head, "I originally didn't want to work on this. But he did something that made my mother very unhappy."

Dugu Zhi's face was facing Rong Qing, and he blinked his left eye slowly. Rong Qing was silent, and they tacitly cast a soundproof ban.

The restriction was Rong Qing's strong point. Compared with the obvious hand gestures, she had mastered several mental restrictions that did not rely on hand gestures, and only had slight fluctuations in spiritual power when performing them. It was difficult to guess what restriction was used just by the fluctuations in spiritual power. The soundproof restriction she was using now was one of the mental restrictions she had mastered, and it was very practical.

"What's the matter?" Rong Qing said slowly.

"My maternal grandparents' home is in Sizhou. I almost grew up there. It's only been a few years since I came to Suicheng with my mother to settle down. After the incident in the three northern states, I sent many people to Sizhou to inquire about the situation, and also asked many friends for help. Unfortunately, there was no news after they left." Dugu Zhi sighed softly, "I knew that it was all in vain. My mother has been depressed in bed for some time. My father rarely comes to see her."

"Do you want me to tell Master Yuntong?"

"No." Dugu Zhi sneered, not at Rong Qing, but at the father. "I am a man, so I understand my father's thoughts. If I can practice, he will naturally come to see me more often, and visit my mother. Since I don't have spiritual roots, he won't waste his time. So I invited you here today because I want to discuss a business deal with you."

"What can you give me?" Rong Qing asked very bluntly. She didn't believe that Dugu Zhi could give anything valuable, especially for a cultivator. Otherwise, his profit-oriented father would have looked at him more.

"Bai Shi Guan." Dugu Zhi stared at Rong Qing with his dark eyes, "I can tell you the secret of Bai Shi Guan."

"...I'm about to leave for Cangliuzhou. I can see the Baishi Temple you mentioned with my own eyes." Rong Qing crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm not very interested in your proposal."

"The one in Cangliuzhou is not Baishi Temple." Dugu Zhi held the armrests of the wheelchair tightly with both hands and moved closer. "I have never been to Cangliuzhou, but I have been to Baishi Temple. It is not just a Taoist temple for us to stay in. It is my father's real treasure. If I had spiritual roots, he would not let me in so easily. I have seen the hand gestures he used when he was controlling it. Not only that, I can also tell you some of the situations inside Baishi Temple."

Rong Qing smiled: "You don't know, even if there are hand gestures, but there is no way to run the meridians, it is impossible to control it. However," she changed the subject, "I want to hear your request first."

Rong Qing's words were half true and half false. The most important thing to control the magic weapon is, of course, the route of the spiritual energy in the meridians, and the hand gestures are just auxiliary. But what she didn't say is that if you know the complete hand gestures, you can still guess most of it. Generally, cultivators will not perform the complete hand gestures in a fight, because it is too slow and too easy for the opponent to guess.

"My request is to take back the three northern states. At least Sizhou must be under the control of Jing State." Dugu Zhi was not affected by Rong Qing's words. On the contrary, her willingness to listen to his request was enough to show that she was very interested in this deal. "I don't want to go against my father. But first of all, I am a Jing State person." Master Yuntong could be indifferent to this, but he couldn't.

"The court has done a good job of isolating the news. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day when Jing State will be destroyed, but at least today the people can still go on as usual without any burden in their hearts." Dugu Zhi lay back on the backrest, supporting his head with one hand, as usual. He had said everything he wanted to say, and he could not force Rong Qing to make any choice. "Father has his considerations, and I have my position."

"I can tell you the truth, your request is exactly what I want to do. So, I am the one who got the most benefit from this deal. Of course I agree. But, I have a question." Rong Qing tilted her head, "Why do you trust me so much? Once I succeed, your father will lose his protective treasure, and he will also vent his anger on you."

"I trust you, naturally, because you and I are friends, isn't it?" Dugu Zhi looked at her cunningly.

Could Rong Qing still say no? She pursed her lips speechlessly.

"As for venting his anger on others, you don't have to worry about me. I am his only blood relative, and no matter how much he hates me, he will not kill me." Dugu Zhi just explained it in a bland manner.

Rong Qing thought silently, I'm afraid you don't know that there are many ways in the Jindan stage that can make you live a life worse than death. Is the Dugu Zhi I know such a fool?

Rong Qing narrowed her eyes slightly, recalling a memory that was about to be forgotten. "You said that you sent a lot of people to the three northern states, but there was no news. What about those two students? Did you invite them to go?"

At first, Dugu Zhi seemed to have made a request to Dong Shuming and Song Changqing, but was interrupted by Zhong Xiu's arrival. Later, Rong Qing no longer cared about this matter. When she carried the teacher back to the academy, she recalled that she had not seen these two people.

Dugu Zhi looked at Rong Qing in surprise, "Do you still remember them?"

"I just remembered." Rong Qing said casually.

Dugu Zhi smiled faintly, not knowing whether he believed it or not. "Since Mr. Yu asked, I will tell you. Although I am a mortal and cannot walk well, how can I sit and wait for death after knowing such a big thing? I accidentally got a low-level secret book, which is not presentable. But it can refine a strong man into a puppet body with the strength of the first or second level of Qi Refining. The practitioner can keep his mind clear, but he has to pay the price of his lifespan. There seems to be an invisible air in the three northern states. If it is a mortal body, it will soon be drained of vitality and die. Only this kind of puppet body that consumes lifespan can resist it temporarily. But it can only move around on the periphery and dare not go deep."

Rong Qing's eyes flashed. Yun Tong hadn't told her anything about this news. Was he unaware of it, or did he know but deliberately kept it to himself?

"There are still people struggling to survive in the outermost area of ​​the three northern states. My people brought them back here. Most of those who survived are young and strong in their twenties or thirties, but they have lost too much vitality and are more like old people who are about to die. This is the case only in the outer area. I dare not send more people to go deep into the interior. I had to borrow a sea chart from my father, hoping to find a route to send the people of Jingguo to the north of the South China Sea. I saw from the sea chart that there is much larger than Jingguo, so there must be a place for them to stay." Dugu Zhi also knew that the hope was slim, but it was better than doing nothing. "Dong Shuming and Song Changqing both volunteered to cultivate into puppets. They can survive more than ten days at sea even if they don't eat or drink."

"Aren't you going to the south?" Rong Qing didn't know much about the sea area south of Jing State.

"You can't go south." Dugu Zhi shook his head, "Father said that you can't go south."

"Okay." I think the sea area south of Jing State is even more special and terrifying. Otherwise, Yun Tong wouldn't be so afraid.

"Mr. Yu, do you think I am a little silly for doing these things?"

"No, I admire you very much." Rong Qing really thought so sincerely. Yun Tong, I'm afraid you have lost the real pearl. Even in the desperate situation, you still have the will to fight. Whether in the secular world or the cultivation world, this is an extremely terrifying opponent.

She lowered her eyes and thought for a while. "I can't help you much. I have a volume of exercises in my hand, which is for beginners of Qi Refining. The inner chapters are beyond the reach of mortals, but the outer chapters have no threshold. It can't make up for the defect of the puppet body's shortened lifespan, but it can still add some strength to the puppet body."

Dugu Zhi's eyes lit up, "On their behalf, I would like to thank Mr. Yu for his kindness."

"I can't be the only one who benefits from this deal." Rong Qing chuckled. Her spiritual consciousness probed into the storage ring. She didn't have time to write down all the outer chapters for Dugu Zhi, and Dugu Zhi and others didn't have spiritual consciousness to check the jade slips and other things. At this time, Rong Qing of course thought of the book of all things that mortals could also use. She copied the outer chapters into the ring so that Dugu Zhi and others could check it at any time.

She had sorted out the things in the storage ring, and had also transferred the Book of All Things from Cheng Ke's storage bag to her own ring, but she had never used her spiritual sense to explore it.

This exploration was blocked by the ban.

The complexity of the restrictions was enough to shock Rong Qing!

(End of this chapter)