Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Although the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty was seriously embezzled by other vassal countries, but with the world in chaos nowadays, Luo Yi became a secluded place that was stable but old while orderly but restrained.
Meng Qi followed a small number of refugees into the city and then quietly left to ask for the location of the treasure chamber.
He was dressed in grey without discoloration. His face was dusty and ordinary like the commonest of refugees who had fallen into decay before they were even old. He excused himself as a refugee to seek help from distant relative working at treasure chamber to prevent from being suspected.
Under the guidance from passersby, Meng Qi slowly groped to the direction of the Zhou palace. The treasure chamber was nearby. It kept books as well as items so it was not just a library.
This body on earth was now the only secret Meng Qi kept from the Master of the Six Dao of Samsara and the biggest reliance he had, so he was particularly careful and he would rather spend more time without spreading his spirit throughout Luo Yi to find the treasure chamber. If he did so, he may easily get into a conflict with local powerhouses. Once a fight began, it was likely that the Six Dao may notice and find out his secret with its terrifying magic power.
His low-key right now was for his breakaway in the future!
In the afternoon, Meng Qi finally found the treasure chamber. It was a building of primitive simplicity with heavy decoration and was guarded by two soldiers.
He thought for a while, walked up and asked, “Sir, is there a Li Dan at your place?”
He did not choose to sneak in and search directly but choose to inquire first. That was because Li Dan was likely to be the embodiment of Lord Dao De, who was among the Three Pristines. They were the first people from the Nirvana Realm and Meng Qi did not know how they would treat him. Whether they were on the side of the Six Dao or the other mighty people, or they stood neutral, or they were willing to make friends with him were still not sure.
Judging from the book he got in the world of the Journey to the West, Tao Te Ching, written by Dao De himself, Meng Qi inclined to the latter possibility. But he could not rely on his feelings entirely on this matter. What if the book was put there on purpose for him by the Master of the Six Dao of Samsara?
With this idea, Meng Qi decided to play it safe and hit the side of the fence first to figure out the general situation before making a judgment.
Seeing a refugee speak in a polite and elegant way, the two guards dared not rough with him. One of them thought for a while and said, “There is no one named Li Dan in this treasure chamber. Did you come to the wrong place?”
Li Dan was not here? Meng Qi hurriedly added, “He may have changed his name. Is there a Li Er or Lao Dan?”
Before the battle of gods happened, Lao was of the same pronunciation with Li, Dan was the same meaning to that of Er. Now things were different, but Meng Qi only knew the name in his original world so he had to ask more.
“No,” the other guard started to become impatient.
Meng Qi pretended he did not see his impatience and asked again, “Is there anyone in this treasure chamber that is erudite and informed as well as of great wisdom of moral?”
Perhaps he was no longer called Li Dan in this world that has been changed? But Dao De was sure to teach others about morals!
“Did you come here to look for your family or to make trouble?” the impatient guard pulled a long face.
The other guard shook his head at him. The man in front of them spoke elegantly and may be some big shot. It would be best to answer his questions honestly and let him leave as soon as possible.
“The administrator of the treasure chamber, Li Rong, is erudite and informed, and he is also polite. He is a world famous sage.” He repeated the comments about the administrator of the treasure chamber in the past. At the end, he said, “Except for the administrator of the treasure chamber, no one is qualified to be called erudite and informed.”
Polite but not moral? That sounded more like Confucius rather than Li Dan… Meng Qi thought for a while and affirmed Li Rong was not the embodiment of Dao De. The embodiment of Dao De was nowhere to be found in this treasure chamber!
Did something go wrong after the mutation and Li Dan had not yet appeared?
Or had Dao De disappeared after the war of gods and Li Dan would never appear?
Duke Huan of Qi Xiao Bai had once said, “Magic and arts all existed but Dao.” Meng Qi’s heart sank as he thought about this. The truth may be the latter.
Dao De had disappeared so that no one would bring Tao Te Ching to the Warring State Period. That was why magic and arts all existed but Dao!
What should he do afterwards without Li Dan? Meng Qi planned the future in his mind.
Lost in thought, he sat carelessly on the ground at the edge of an alley. A few pedestrians stared at him as they passed.
What are you looking at? Never seen a beggar?
Though he was distracted by the pedestrians, Meng Qi quickly organized his thoughts. This body should aim at being hidden. In order not to stir up trouble and expose him to the Six Dao, he must do all the hard work by himself without using magic. This body should only act at critical moments to hide him from the Six Dao.
If he wanted to keep his nose clean, he had to become a hermit who lived in bustling places like the ordinary people!
There were too many powerhouses in this country and conflicts may happen a lot. That would draw the attention of the Six Dao easily so hiding in the palace would be a bad idea. Whereas hiding in the mountains would be too particular so it was also not a good idea.
Clang!
Three copper coins fell in front of Meng Qi. They did not bounce or roll away, but lay neatly on the ground.
Meng Qi came back to himself and looked up. He saw a middle-aged man in a long robe with large sleeves riding on a horse. There were four bodyguards on both sides of him, followed by a red horse that carried a beautiful young girl. Her eyes were charming and lively.
The middle aged man had a white face with a beard and he had elegant features of a scholar’s style in this disordered world. He saw Meng Qi looking towards him and nodded slightly, “The world is now in chaos and a number of refugees have accumulated. The time of distress is inevitable. Take these three coins and buy yourself something to eat.”
Actually, I am not a beggar… Meng Qi’s mouth twitched. He had just taunted himself for looking like a beggar and now he was thought as a real beggar!
As he stayed dull, he heard the man say, “This won’t solve your problem. You should eat this meal and seek some work to do as soon as possible.”
“You have hands and feet and a sturdy body. And you are not old. You shouldn’t always beg for food.”
Meng Qi wanted to hide himself so he did not want to badger with this man. He pretended to be ashamed and left in a hurry with his face hidden behind his sleeves while he did not forget to pick up the copper coins.
“That man has manners and knows to feel ashamed,” the middle-aged man whispered behind him and Meng Qi heard his word with extraordinary hearing.
The girl’s oriole-like voice giggled, “Father, you said he is not old and still young? But I see he is almost fifty!”
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“Jianjia, he lost his home and was tortured by wind and frost and hunger. It was not a surprise that he looked old,” the middle-aged man sighed.
At this moment, Meng Qi vaguely guessed who he was. He was the administrator of the treasure chamber, Li Rong!
He had just gone out from the treasure chamber and he looked like a sage. Who else could be Li Rong instead of him?
But this had nothing to do with him. What he needed to do now was to find a low-key job that was not eye-catching as soon as possible!
Two months later, Meng Qi carried bags of goods into the treasure chamber in a seemingly difficult way, but actually it was easy for him. He then received food just enough to fill his belly.
“Ah, fortunately I’m the only one left in my family or else I would be starved to death. People here in Luo Yi are so stingy and cruel!” the coolie companion Zhou Jian beside him complained.
Meng Qi numbly replied, “It’s good to have something to eat.”
His main conscious was now in his own body and was about to sail again out to sea to see the beauty of islands and feel the nature to exercise his will. Right now this body could only do simple conversation and mindless physical labor.
After getting along for two months, Zhou Jian began to call him an idiot.
“You idiot, ah, you wouldn’t understand anyway,” Zhou Jian pulled Meng Qi to sit down side by side beside the wall and murmured as if talking to himself, “We are young right now and our bodies are strong enough to endure the suffering. How much strength can be left for us in another ten or twenty years? If you don’t think of a way to save up a sum of money, you can’t even survive, let alone getting married and have children. If you become ill in the process, things will be even worse!”
Meng Qi had just regained his own conscious and was slightly moved by his words. Nevertheless, he answered in a dull way, “You really have a point.”
Zhou Jian smirked, “Hah hah, I heard these from others. These days, a wise scholar came nearby. He was very polite to us unlike other scholars who are too proud. He often teaches us principles of life, what I just said was what he told me.”
“Are there any other principles of life?” Meng Qi asked in a silly way.
“He said that there is a Mo-tse in the eastern country who is the greatest sage throughout the ages. He cared about common people and implemented new policies in Qi. He said people should love and benefit each other with no discrimination against people of low social status. He suggested helping them find work to do so that everybody can enter a martial world to practice martial arts and all kinds of miscellaneous skills. After coming out of the martial world, even one had not become masters, he or she could make a living with their skill…” Zhou Jian had a look of longing in his eyes as if Qi had become the spiritual sustenance and a heavenly country in his mind.
“What does love and benefit each other mean?” Seeing the changes brought by himself affected Luo Yi in Zhou and influenced common people to let them see a gleam of dawn of life, Meng Qi felt a bit proud and happy. He had a sense of achievement and was also touched, so he asked casually out of a tender feeling.
“The meaning of love and benefit each other?” Zhou Jian scratched the back of his head and laughed, “It means, means everybody getting along with each other.”
Who were you trying to fool with that explanation? Meng Qi taunted in his mind. Yet he knew it would be difficult for common poor people to understand the true meaning and it was enough for them to know roughly what it meant.
Zhou Jian suddenly said disconsolately, “Unfortunately, the state of Qi is too far away from Luo Yi…”
These days, it was dangerous to travel far without martial arts.
Before Meng Qi could speak, Zhou Jian lowered his voice and said, “But we still have a chance in Luo Yi. I heard that now all countries cannot keep slaves. The noble people in this city often have escaped slaves, so they began to keep servants. Some buy people from the markets, some pick servants from people like us. If we are selected, there will be enough food and clothing for us! That is much better than what we do now!”
The look of longing came back to his face again as he dreamed of the days when he could have abundant food.
After a while, a claret horse entered the street, followed by four guards.
Sitting on the horse was a young girl of tender beauty. She had lively eyes with a bit of natural charm. She looked around and the group of coolies dared not look at her straight in the eyes.
Suddenly, she saw Meng Qi. At first she was surprised as if recalling something, and then she smiled, “Do you still remember me?”
“Yes, I do,” Meng Qi stood up and made a gesture of thanks, still acting dully.
The girl was very satisfied and waved her horsewhip, “Good. My father said you should not beg because you have hands and feet. You followed his advice and became a coolie instead of a beggar.”
“Uncle Wang, write his name down and let him come to our mansion.”
She made her decision without even asking permission.
“Go to your mansion?” Meng Qi asked in a silly way.
“It means to let you be our servant so that you don’t need to worry about food and clothing in the future,” the young girl casually explained and rode the horse forward to continue to pick servants.
Meng Qi did not argue with her. Being a coolie had no difference from being a domestic servant so why would he make a fuss on this?
After a while, the girl picked out another four coolies and took them back to the mansion. Sure enough, the plaque at the gate was for the Mansion of the Li Family.
“Father, guess what I found today?” the girl rushed towards theadministrator of the treasure chamber, Li Rong, as if showing off.
Li Rong’s eyes swept passed them and pointed right at Meng Qi, “Him?”
“Yes, he knows to feel ashamed for begging and became a coolie instead to feed himself,” the girl praised him.
Li Rong nodded slightly and looked at Meng Qi, “Heaven moves and a gentleman makes self-improvements. Although you may not understand the meaning of this sentence, you did a good job. Gods will help those who help themselves. From today, you will be a servant in our mansion and don’t have to worry about hunger and cold anymore.”
“Unfortunately, you are too old to practice martial arts now.”
“Ten of you added together were no match even for a single hand of mine…” Meng Qi thought in disdain.
Li Rong paused and said, “Since you came to the Li Mansion, you will change your surname to Li in the future. And your face looks full of vicissitude and old, so I give you the name Dan.”
“Li Dan, what a nice name!” The girl, Li Jianjia, clapped her hands and laughed.
Li Dan? Meng Qi’s pupils suddenly shrank and his heart pounded violently!
I was named Li Dan?
I also have a Tao Te Ching hand-written by the very high lord!