Choosing and Clashing with Fortune Techniques
"Dongfang Shuo mentioned that those skilled in manipulation techniques might clash with you. I wonder if his plans conflict with mine, and whether he can persuade Your Majesty to practice manipulation techniques. If Your Majesty does practice manipulation techniques, will he clash with you again? If Your Majesty clashes with me, what should we do then?"
Dong Zhongshu stayed temporarily at Zhang's residence.
After learning that Zhang Xuezhou had gone to the palace, he felt somewhat uneasy, as the situation he was facing was completely different from what he had imagined when he came to Chang'an City.
Dong Zhongshu's cultivation of techniques was merely a premonition of his own fortuitous opportunity, which would then guide him into the realm of his ideals.
He never imagined that the King of Huainan possessed such profound magical abilities, nor did he know that Zhang Xuezhou had already practiced magical arts. The Great Han Dynasty was not as he had initially imagined, lacking emperors who practiced magical arts, making it an excellent opportunity to steal his fortune.
Conversely, the Great Han Dynasty's skilled transport operators were powerful.
It's one thing for the King of Huainan to reside in a small corner of the country; at most, the other side controls the territory of Huainan and manipulates people like Jin Chang.
Once the King of Huainan ascends to Chang'an City and takes control of the Great Han Dynasty, the Jiangxia Kingdom, which was once on par with Huainan, will most likely fall under his control. Dong Zhongshu, who has mastered the art of manipulation, will inevitably be discovered, and his fate will be uncertain.
Once you've achieved success in the art of manipulation, there's no turning back. Dong Zhongshu had no choice but to compete, at least until he fulfilled his wish.
No one can be carefree when it comes to matters involving their future and even their life, Dong Zhongshu was no exception.
There are opponents we must confront, and partners with whom we can't know the answers.
Even setting aside the King of Huainan, the presence of Zhang Xuezhou and others made Dong Zhongshu realize that things would be difficult.
This is different from previous collaborations. The combination of skilled individuals may produce a stronger effect, but conflicts will inevitably bring many obstacles, and may even lead to infighting.
This extreme cooperation model is difficult to manage, and even Zhang Xuezhou suffered greatly in this matter.
Just thinking about Shen Peigong, whose body was buried nine feet deep with a foul stench, the Empress Dowager who was barely clinging to life, and Zhang Xuezhou whose skull had been pried open and destroyed, Dong Zhongshu felt a sudden, inexplicable unease in his heart.
"If we defeat the King of Huainan in the future, we may face a situation where our true intentions are revealed, and in the contest of tactics, cultivation strength will be difficult to play a role!"
The relationship between the emperor who holds the legitimate throne, Dong Zhongshu who controls the Jiangdu Kingdom, and Zhang Xuezhou who absorbs the new emperor's fortune like a vine, is difficult to fathom, and the skill level of these three individuals is also hard to guess.
For Dong Zhongshu, the previously targeted events had become unfathomable.
He paced back and forth in the Zhang residence, feeling a sense of unease in his heart.
The vast Chang'an City and the expansive land of the Great Han Dynasty seemed to have become a stage for a handful of people, while everyone else was merely an observer who could hardly join in.
But that's the art of strategy.
First luck, second fate, third feng shui, fourth spiritual practice—this order is not arbitrary, but rather reveals a special significance.
There are four conditions for spiritual practice, with luck being the greatest fortuitous opportunity that creates everything, the art of destiny providing ample time to seek fortuitous opportunity, and auspicious feng shui locations making spiritual practice twice as effective with half the effort, while also enhancing one's ability to protect oneself.
Many great cultivators in the Three Realms benefit from three factors: luck, destiny, and feng shui.
The Heavenly Court, which occupies the highest heavenly destiny, the Immortal Court, which occupies the longevity of immortals, and the lords of various Sacred Land, who occupy the most auspicious and secret locations.
Historical events and the major powers of the Three Realms provide a nearly complete overview of the situation.
Given the difficulty of mastering destiny and the scarcity of auspicious burial sites, Dong Zhongshu's only remaining option to realize his ideals was fate.
Even though he was not an emperor vying for power, Dong Zhongshu was still seeking reasonable and appropriate ways to promote this.
Fate seemed to be playing a cruel joke on him, eagerly following the trajectory of destiny. Dong Zhongshu had never anticipated this outcome.
"Gentlemen, I, Zhongshu, have been a great disturbance at your residence for many days. This small amount of money is a token of my gratitude; I hope you will accept it!"
Dong Zhongshu arrived following the same path.
Unable to determine whether his interactions with Zhang Xuezhou were a clash or a conflict, Dong Zhongshu ultimately chose to leave Chang'an City again to minimize his influence.
His arrival was somewhat sudden, and his departure was equally sudden after he had thought things through.
Apart from a ten-tael silver ingot, Dong Zhongshu left nothing else behind. He did not even visit the Dong Zhongshu Temple again, nor did he continue his conversation with Sage Kong, a descendant of Confucius.
His trip to Chang'an City thus came to an end.
"If Dongfang Shuo borrows a portion of the fortune and is able to advance the previously agreed-upon matters, then it can be considered as laying the foundation in advance. My future decision to send Gongsun Hong to Chang'an City will not be a loss. However, if I have a negative impact on him in Chang'an City, it will only delay things. I dare not go to Huainan because I cultivate my fortune-telling techniques, but Lü Wangshu is my prized student. He is brave and can go to Huainan to investigate, or he can go to Chang'an City to seek contact..."
As he walked out of the gates of Chang'an City with the crowd once more, Dong Zhongshu glanced back at the magnificent city before turning away and heading towards Jiangdu.
After walking only a few dozen steps, Dong Zhongshu encountered a Confucian School student who was a merchant, thus gaining the convenience of a carriage.
Cultivating the art of movement has many advantages. No preparation is needed. Dong Zhongshu had the convenience of carriages and horses when traveling long distances, and he could see boats passing by from across the water. The ingenuity of this is beyond words.
This is only a superficial benefit brought about by the technique; the real benefit is the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven, which Dong Zhongshu always pursued.
Whenever he pushes his cultivation technique upwards, the moment he moves his realm to new heights, he enters a state of Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven.
If Dong Zhongshu could guide the Great Han Dynasty to exclusively uphold Confucianism, he would then possess the ability to govern a unified empire after reaching the True Self Realm, thus enabling him to exert extraordinary power by guiding the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven anywhere within the Great Han territory.
He sat swaying in the carriage, which continued to move further and further away.
Meanwhile, in the Zhang residence in Chang'an City, a marquis's carriage traveled through the streets and finally stopped at the entrance of the Zhang residence.
"You have quite a few people in this house!"
The new emperor changed his clothes and left the palace again. When he entered Zhang's residence, he saw many faces, young and old, crowded in the house, and there were many people whispering among themselves.
His gaze swept across the room, and he saw a large group of people chanting softly to the patterns of human faces in the house, with the crowd moving back and forth.
This piqued the new emperor's curiosity, but he clearly couldn't let such curiosity delay the important business he had come for.
When discussing the connection between Zhang Xuezhou and Dong Zhongshu, Zhang Xuezhou mentioned Dong Zhongshu's instruction of his skills and also talked about the sage's unification of the world.
But everything was no different from the governing policies that Zhang Xuezhou had previously mentioned. What Zhang Xuezhou said was beneficial, but its implementation was fraught with all sorts of troubles.
While matters such as strengthening the nation through agriculture and warfare, establishing academies, and educating the Great Han people with Confucian School ideals were considered government initiatives, Dong Zhongshu's concepts of the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven and man and the great unification of the sages would bring real benefits to the people themselves.
If the new emperor were to choose the benefits of the unity of Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven and man, he would describe it as "divine assistance."
According to Zhang Xuezhou, cultivators in the Celestial Person Realm have clear thinking and their Technique Method are much more powerful, which is better than taking any kind of elixir.
More importantly, the new emperor keenly perceived that the state of Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven might bring an opportunity to break through to the realm of the Sole Self Realm.
What started as a casual chat with Zhang Xuezhou, during which he continued to explore ways to resign from his official post, unexpectedly led him to an opportunity to achieve even greater spiritual cultivation.
However, the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven, as mentioned by Zhang Xuezhou, was too complicated to achieve. Even if Zhang Xuezhou imparted the secrets, the new emperor could only see it but could not grasp it.
This prompted him to change his clothes and quickly leave the palace for Zhang's residence, intending to pay a visit to this great Confucian scholar who had been squeezed out of Chang'an City by Shen Peigong.