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Chapter 665: National Destiny
🕑 Added 2024-10-01 05:23:09 +0000 UTC"Let’s go directly to Sili. That’s where Cao Cao’s opportunity lies," Li Jin said with a smile, unaware of the white line of soldiers converging at the gates of Shanyang County.
"Hmm, those white horses…" Li Dian, with sharp eyes, noticed the White Horse Cavalry at the city gate. Upon seeing the large character "Zhao" on the banner, he immediately understood who the man was.
"Zhao Yun!" Li Dian muttered through gritted teeth, glaring at the handsome man on a white horse under that banner. Although Zhao Yun was nearly twice his age, he appeared just as young as Li Dian.
"Let’s go." Li Jin also spotted Zhao Yun but remained completely composed. He knew that showing any sign of other intentions at this moment could doom the entire Li family if it affected Li Dian’s mindset.
Zhao Yun glanced in Li Dian’s direction and frowned slightly. He had sensed a fleeting killing intent from that area earlier, but now all he could see were merchants loading goods. If it were someone like Lü Bu, they might have investigated further, but Zhao Yun didn’t possess that "better safe than sorry" mentality.
"I am Zhao Yun, under the command of the General Who Pacifies the East. I’ve come to take control of Shanyang. Where is the county magistrate?" Zhao Yun set aside his earlier suspicion and focused on his official duties. To him, securing Shanyang was far more important than pursuing an enemy who wouldn’t show themselves. His confidence in his strength was unshakable.
Soon, Zhao Yu, the magistrate of Shanyang, appeared before Zhao Yun with the official seal in his hands. Zhao Yun merely ordered proclamations to be posted to reassure the people, sent personnel to survey the population, reassessed land allocations, and opened the granaries.
"Let’s go," Li Jin instructed as he led Li Dian and the rest of the Li family out of the city. Chen Xi’s consistent policy toward the local aristocrats was clear: if they wanted to leave, they could; if they chose to stay, they had to follow the new policies.
"What about that group?" Zhao Yun frowned as he watched the Li family’s convoy, laden with wealth and possessions, leaving the city. He could tell that the group escorting the wealth were clearly trained soldiers.
"General, that is the Li family of Shanyang, one of the largest families in the county. They had close ties with Inspector Cao," Zhao Yu quickly explained when he saw Zhao Yun’s puzzled expression.
"The Li family of Shanyang?" Zhao Yun tilted his head slightly. "Never heard of them. Let them go." To be honest, Zhao Yun couldn’t be bothered to remember the names of minor soldiers he had casually killed in the past.
"Such strength…" Li Dian felt a cold sweat drench his back after leaving the city. Zhao Yun’s casual glance had filled him with an overwhelming sense of inferiority.
"More than just strong. In today’s world, only Lü Bu can certainly defeat him. I doubt anyone else could," Li Jin sighed, releasing a deep breath. "We should leave quickly. It seems Liu Bei’s forces are surprisingly lax, not conducting thorough investigations."
"Perhaps they don’t consider us a threat. What’s important to us is merely a minor issue to them," Li Dian reasoned. He had a better understanding of human nature than Li Jin, who, without the burden of the Li family, wasn’t much different from people like Zuo Ci.
"You’re right," Li Jin nodded. "But Yanzhou is now firmly in Liu Bei’s hands. We should hurry and leave. I can already see the dragon energy in the northwest."
Li Dian rolled his eyes. Over the past year, nothing had annoyed him more than Li Jin’s frequent references to dragon energy, fate, and destiny. He didn’t believe in any of it.
"Don’t worry, we’ll be back. Yuan Benchu’s fate is far stronger than that of the Han Dynasty. He’s destined to win. Liu Bei may be strong, but he’s merely borrowing the remnants of the Han’s dragon energy, far inferior to Yuan Benchu’s fate," Li Jin said confidently, glancing toward the southern part of Jizhou.
Then he looked towards the direction of Mount Tai. Although there were signs of a rising dragon, they were far weaker compared to what he had observed at the border between Jizhou and Yanzhou—a dragon energy so potent it could almost rival that of a nation. Was this a sign that Yuan Shao was merely a dormant dragon waiting to emerge?
If Li You knew where Li Jin was looking, he would be astonished. That very spot was where Li You had buried the two counterfeit cauldrons of the mythical Emperor Xuanyuan. The dragon energy hovered over these cauldrons, embodying the saying "turning falsehood into truth." If Li You were to dig them up now, no one would believe him if he claimed they were fake.
This was partly due to Li You’s lack of mastery in feng shui and destiny studies. Despite being well-versed in various arts, Li You had selected the burial site with care to create an illusion of authenticity. By sheer coincidence, he had chosen the very spot where the real Xuanyuan cauldrons had once vanished.
Though the cauldrons were gone, the dragon energy remained, suppressed beneath the earth. A divine stone that had fallen there became the new focus for the energy. If Li You didn’t dig it up, in a few hundred years, that spot could produce a gem even more powerful than the He Shi Bi, capable of stabilizing a nation’s fate.
The He Shi Bi could only stabilize a nation’s fate for three hundred years, but this gem could potentially do so for six hundred. Unfortunately, there was no "if" in this situation—Li You had already unearthed the cauldrons and buried them again, leading to the current circumstances.
Li Jin had stumbled upon this by chance using techniques from the Taiping Qingling Dao. Even someone as skilled as Zuo Ci or Nan Hua would have difficulty detecting the dragon energy, as it was now sealed within the cauldrons.
In essence, the cauldrons might still be counterfeit, but they had acquired the same effect as the legendary Xuanyuan Cauldrons, capable of stabilizing a nation’s fate for three hundred years—far more powerful than the Nine Cauldrons of Yu the Great, which could only stabilize for one hundred years each. When King Zhou of Shang gifted one cauldron to the state of Lu, his dynasty lost three hundred years of its fate.
If these cauldrons were unearthed, even if you claimed they were fake, many would argue otherwise. Daoists like Zuo Ci could easily distinguish between real and fake. Given that the counterfeit cauldrons had acquired the same effects as the originals, it would be impossible to prove they were not genuine.
It’s worth noting that the three hundred years of national fate from the Han dynasty, following Emperor Wu of Han’s "Yuanding" era, aligned perfectly with the Han dynasty’s lifespan. From a mystical perspective, this could be attributed to the Xuanyuan Cauldrons, which carried three hundred years of national fate. After all, the latter part of Emperor Wu’s reign was marked by decline.
Therefore, if these counterfeit cauldrons were unearthed and carried six hundred years of national fate, anyone seeking to challenge them would need to be truly formidable.
This is why Li Jin observed such flourishing national fate in that area. The reason was simple: the cauldrons carried six hundred years of national fate. How could an ordinary emperor match that? Typically, a founding emperor’s fate, combined with that of his ministers and generals, would amount to no more than a few decades or a century.
It’s also worth noting that Chen Xi himself carries one hundred years of national fate. For every year he lives, he brings another year of national fate, equivalent to having one of Yu the Great’s Nine Cauldrons. If he’s lucky, he might even extend it further.
This is why the dragon energy of Mount Tai sometimes takes different forms or even seems to wander, as it follows Chen Xi wherever he goes.
However, if Chen Xi doesn’t stay away from Mount Tai for long, the dragon energy there remains relatively stable. But if he were to leave Liu Bei’s side for an extended period, the dragon energy of Mount Tai might lose its shape entirely, reverting to a mere cloud of golden mist.
Speaking of this, I recall something someone once told me: the three cauldrons of Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor suppressed nine hundred years of the tribal era, nine hundred years of the slave era, and nine hundred years of the feudal era. The first nine hundred years were ended by Yu the Great, marking the beginning of the slave era. Yu the Great’s Nine Cauldrons then suppressed nine hundred years of the slave era and nine hundred years of the feudal era, which ended with the rise of the Qin dynasty. The Jade Seal, on the other hand, could only stabilize national fate for three hundred years.
Here’s the interesting part: Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor’s era to the end of the tribal era was nine hundred years. Yu the Great’s era to the end of the slave era was eighteen hundred years. The Qin dynasty’s era to the end of the feudal era was twenty-one hundred years. When you add in the reigns of Fuxi and Shennong, you get the legendary five thousand years of Chinese civilization.
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