Chapter 247 252, My Wolong, looking for monsters and treasures
Now that the Dragon Essence was obtained and the business was done, everyone did not stay on the island. Ouyang Feng opened the bronze gate and led the dragon-slaying girls back to the paradise. He ordered Liu Sheng Piaoxu to take them around the paradise, while he returned to the main world to find Huang Yaoshi to discuss the matter of alchemy.
Huang Yaoshi is now the Prime Minister of Dayong.
Dayong had a vast territory, with its territory stretching from Gaochang in the Western Regions to the Hetao region, including the former Gaochang Kingdom, the Hexi Corridor, and the former territory of Western Xia. Judging from its area alone, it could be considered a large country in terms of territory.
However, the population was extremely small. After Huang Yaoshi took office as prime minister, he spent a lot of effort on a population census. The final population data was just over three million, less than a fraction of the population of Jin and Song.
There is no way. Although Dayong’s territory is vast, the land is really barren.
There are many Gobi deserts in Gaochang, the Western Regions, and the fertile land of the Western Xia is the Hetao area. With the productivity of this era, having a population of 3 million is already very good.
It is somewhat consoling that although Dayong is poor and sparsely populated, its financial situation is quite good.
This is because Dayong controlled the Silk Road that connected the east and the west. It could trade with Jin and Song in the east, communicate with Western Liao and Central Asian countries in the west, and communicate with the Grass Thumb tribes in the north, exchanging tea, cotton cloth, inferior iron pots, etc. for the other party's high-quality fur, horses, cattle, sheep and even slaves.
The second reason is that Ouyang Feng obtained the treasure house of Ouyang Ting in the world of The Twins, and the treasure house of Yang Gong in the world of Twin Dragons. After defeating Western Xia, he also captured the Western Xia royal family and almost all the Dangxiang nobles, and took all the savings of the Western Xia royal family and the Dangxiang nobles.
Even though the war cost a lot, there was more gold and silver in the Dayong treasury than could be used up.
The Ouyang family did not like extravagance, and the eldest brother and his wife shared the same idea as Ouyang Feng, believing that hoarding gold and silver was useless and it would be better to exchange them for weapons, cloth, food, good horses, cattle and sheep, and use them as rewards for meritorious officials and soldiers.
It has a small population, good finances, and is a newly established country. The people are united, government orders are smooth, and the army is strong, so it is naturally easy to govern.
However, if we want to continue to develop and make the country prosper, and even prepare for the future conquest of Jin and destruction of Song, unification of the north and the south, and restoration of the glory of Han and Tang dynasties, we will have to invest more extra energy.
So when Huang Yaoshi, who was busy processing a batch of documents in the Prime Minister's Mansion, was interrupted by Ouyang Feng's sudden visit, he seemed quite impatient.
"What's the matter? Can't you see I'm busy?"
Huang Yaoshi snorted twice in annoyance:
"You are a hands-off shopkeeper, traveling around the world with your beautiful wife and concubines all day long. Your eldest brother doesn't care about anything either, saying that I am in charge of the sacrifices and the prime minister is in charge of the government. You two brothers, are you going to treat me like a beast of burden and use me to death?"
Ouyang Feng smiled and said:
"How could that be? Isn't this because he trusts your talent, Pharmacist? Besides, as far as I know, my eldest brother originally wanted to take charge of some things, but when he saw that you managed everything in an orderly manner, whether it was farmland and water conservancy, military affairs and economy, education and diplomacy, and that you had a keen eye for employing people and making the best use of their talents, didn't he feel ashamed of himself and was afraid of causing trouble for you, so he entrusted the military and political affairs of the country to you?"
He looked sincere and spoke in a sincere tone:
"Pharmacist, you are the Zhuge Kongming of our Ouyang family!"
Huang Yaoshi was very proud in his heart, but he still sneered:
"Stop trying to fool me. I, Huang Yaoshi, won't fall for it! Zhuge Kongming died young, exhausted to death. Do you want me to do the same?"
Ouyang Feng laughed again:
"How could that be? With your cultivation level, even if you make no further progress, you can easily live to be 150 or 160 years old. How could you die young?"
Huang Yaoshi entered the Tao with the essence of the wood element. His innate true energy is inherently long-lasting and greatly beneficial for longevity.
He also read the God of War Atlas and kowtowed to the Blood Bodhi. With Huang Yaoshi's current level of cultivation, he could live to be 150 or 160 years old. That was even after Ouyang Feng took into account the life span he lost due to his dedicated service to the country.
If you ignore worldly affairs and concentrate on self-cultivation, you can easily live to over 200 years old.
"Okay, I'm busy with government affairs, just tell me what you want to say."
"It is indeed a serious matter."
Ouyang Feng took out the Dragon Yuan and said:
"This is Dragon Essence, which I obtained from killing an alien dragon beast in a certain outer world..."
He introduced the characteristics of the dragon essence in detail and asked:
"Pharmacist, do you have a way to refine a furnace of elixir using this dragon essence as the main ingredient?"
Huang Yaoshi narrowed his eyes and looked at the dragon essence that was as big as a human head. He concentrated on sensing it for a while and shook his head.
"I can tell the nature of this dragon essence, and I can sense that it does contain extremely ferocious beast nature. But with my current attainments in alchemy, I am not yet capable of using this rare treasure to make an elixir. Besides, even if I had the ability, I don't have the right tools. How can an ordinary alchemy furnace refine such a divine treasure?"
After hearing what he said, Ouyang Feng also understood and nodded:
"I was distracted... But if I find you some higher-level alchemy techniques, maybe you can learn them?"
Huang Yaoshi laughed, his face proud:
"You should ask me how many days it will take to learn it."
He is not blindly confident.
He studied the God of War Atlas and gained something different from everyone else.
What others gained was basically related to their own way of cultivation, but Huang Yaoshi, perhaps because of his curious nature, wanted to study everything, so when he observed the God of War Atlas, what he gained was enlightenment of understanding and wisdom, which made his already extraordinary academic talent reach a higher level.
It was this wisdom and understanding that made him able to shoulder the affairs of the Great Yong Kingdom without delaying his cultivation. With only a very limited time to cultivate, his cultivation could improve steadily day by day.
Seeing Huang Yaoshi's confidence, Ouyang Feng said with a smile:
"That's great. After a while, I will find you a higher level of alchemy and an extraordinary alchemy furnace."
Huang Yaoshi knew that he was going to search "outside the sky", so he did not ask any more questions. He just asked him:
"Let's put these things aside. Let me ask you, when do you plan to march into Guanzhong? Your elder brother has mentioned several times that he wants to make Chang'an the capital."
Ouyang Feng said: "The soil erosion in Guanzhong is serious. It is no longer the foundation of a king. It will take a lot of time to manage and restore it in the future. Even if Dayong moves its capital to Chang'an, it can only be a temporary capital. When the world is unified in the future, it will still have to move to another place to establish the capital."
Huang Yaoshi said: "I didn't ask about the capital, I asked when the troops would enter Guanzhong."
"This is up to you, the Prime Minister, to decide." Ouyang Feng spread his hands and said, "Anyway, I don't want to be in charge of military affairs anymore."
Huang Yaoshi frowned, looking unhappy: "You really plan to be a hands-off manager..."
"With you here, I can be at ease as a hands-off manager."
Seeing that Huang Yaoshi wanted to glare again, Ouyang Feng smiled and comforted him:
"Of course, I am not completely indifferent. I can help with food and fodder, and I have been casting spells to accelerate the growth of flying dragons. When the flying dragons of Wang Wu, Ma Yue and the other six can be used in actual combat, it will be time to march into Guanzhong. By then, we will have flying dragons in the sky, wolf riders on the ground, and disciples from Mount Hua as internal support inside Guanzhong. Even if there are many checkpoints along the Xiaoguan Pass in Liupan Mountain and the terrain is dangerous, the Kingdom of Jin will not be able to stop us." Huang Yaoshi said, "The Shenji Camp is already under construction. When we attack Guanzhong, the Shenji Camp and the fire guns and artillery can be put into actual combat."
Ouyang Feng said: "The Shenji Battalion will not be moved for now. The terrain along the Xiaoguan Pass is too dangerous and there are too many checkpoints. We should use the Flying Dragon as the main force. When we conquer Guanzhong and deal with the counterattack of the Jin Kingdom, we can let the Shenji Battalion take the field."
After chatting about business for a while, Ouyang Feng said goodbye and left, returning to his paradise to ponder alchemy and the alchemy furnace.
"Alchemy and alchemy furnaces, it seems like there are really suitable targets..."
In the world of Journey to the West, there are three monsters near the Guanyin Temple.
One of them is the famous black bear demon. This bear has two friends, one of whom is a wolf demon named Ling Xuzi, who is very good at making elixirs.
In order to celebrate the birthday of the Black Bear Demon, he refined two elixirs. When he was about to go to the Black Bear Demon's cave to celebrate the birthday, he encountered Sun Wukong on the way and was hit to death by the Monkey King with a stick.
Afterwards, Monkey King ate one of the elixirs made by Ling Xuzi on the spot, and turned himself into an elixir, and went with Guanyin to win over the Black Bear Demon.
You know, Sun Wukong once ate the elixir refined by Taishang Laojun like fried beans until he was full. Even he did not despise the elixir refined by Ling Xuzi, which shows that the elixir refined by the wolf demon is of quite good quality.
“Since Ling Xuzi knows how to make pills, he must have alchemy techniques and alchemy furnaces. There might be many ready-made alchemy materials in the cave. The key is that the Guanyin Temple is not too far from the Five Elements Mountain…”
After Tang Seng uncovered the Buddhist petition on the Five Elements Mountain and released the Great Sage, the master and his disciple seemed to have only encountered a group of robbers and a little white dragon on the way, and then they arrived at the Guanyin Temple.
And all along the way, they walked on the main roads, and there were some Western countries and farmers on the road. They did not build roads through the mountains or bridges over the water in the wilderness, which showed that the master and disciple had not yet gone deep into the Xiniu Hezhou where big monsters were everywhere.
Although the black bear demon was also very fierce, Ouyang Feng had no intention of provoking the bear, so he was not afraid.
After thinking for a while, Ouyang Feng made up his mind to go to Ling Xuzi to beg for alms.
……
Journey to the West.
Ouyang Feng fed the Monkey King some fruits and fine wine, chatted with him for a while, then left the Five Elements Mountain and headed west.
There were too many powerful people in the world of Journey to the West, so he did not show off his ability to control the wind. He just flew over the ground with a step of ten feet. Occasionally he flew high into the sky to observe the direction of the road. In a day, he walked almost three thousand miles.
After a night's rest, they continued their journey along the highway early the next morning. By the afternoon, they had walked another 2,000 miles and came across a rather prosperous foreign town.
Ouyang Feng went to the town to inquire and learned that Guanyin Temple was a well-known temple in the area. The abbot, Elder Jinchi, was also a highly acclaimed monk. It was said that he had lived for two hundred and sixty to two hundred years. This age alone was enough to make ordinary people admire him.
After finding out the location of Guanyin Temple, Ouyang Feng left the town and walked for dozens of miles. As expected, he saw a beautiful mountain with a corner of the temple revealed in the mountains and forests.
Ouyang Feng had no intention of dealing with the cassock enthusiast. After finding the Zen temple, he began to search for the cave of the wolf demon Ling Xuzi in the nearby mountains with the temple as the center.
He first found a beautiful mountain with extraordinary scenery twenty miles southeast of Guanyin Temple.
The mountain has thousands of cliffs and ravines, surrounded by clouds and mist, and is full of hidden beauty and spiritual inspiration. In the mountain, there are towering ancient trees, brocade flowers, flowing springs, and flocks of cranes. At the first sight, one would have the feeling that this is a blessed place where those who truly practice Taoism live.
"Isn't it Black Wind Mountain?"
Ouyang Feng watched cautiously for a while, thinking that the black bear demon was a demon who practiced seriously. Although he was a little greedy for money, he was not a monster that killed and ate people indiscriminately, so he went into the mountains to explore.
Looking at the mountain from the outside, it already feels like a fairyland. The feeling is even deeper after entering the mountain. You can see medicinal herbs such as Polygonatum sibiricum, ginseng, and Ganoderma lucidum everywhere in the forest. They are all extraordinary medicines but spiritual medicines.
This mountain was most likely owned by someone. Ouyang Feng did not pick any medicinal herbs from the mountain without permission. He just pretended to be a tourist and wandered around the mountain. He walked to the foot of a cliff a hundred feet high and suddenly heard a shout from the cliff:
"Scholar, what are you doing wandering around in the mountains?"
When Ouyang Feng looked up, he saw that the person who asked the question was a monster with a leopard head and a human body, holding a spear and wearing armor. He was standing on the edge of the cliff, staring at him with a pair of leopard eyes.
The aura of this monster was not very strong, just about the same as the tiger, ox, and bear that Ouyang Feng had killed before. Ouyang Feng was not panicked, and smiled at the leopard monster:
"I came to this mountain by mistake, and was so fascinated by the beautiful scenery. Is this your mountain? May I ask what your name is?"
"What kind of king am I? I am just a vanguard under the king. You can call me Leopard Vanguard."
"It turned out to be Leopard Vanguard."
Seeing that the leopard monster did not seem to be ferocious, Ouyang Feng had already figured out what was going on and knew that this mountain was most likely the home of the black bear monster.
The black bear demon itself is a demon who practices seriously and does not hurt people randomly. The little demons under his command are also bound to be restrained by him. He is not a bloodthirsty monster that eats everyone he sees.
He smiled at the Leopard Vanguard and said:
"Excuse me, Leopard Vanguard, what mountain is this? And who is the king of the mountain?"
"This mountain is called Black Wind Mountain, so the king is naturally the Black Wind King!"
The Leopard Pioneer replied:
"My king is kind and benevolent, and he doesn't kill people, but the unintelligent poisonous insects, tigers and leopards in the mountains may not be so kind! You, a mortal scholar, should not wander around in the mountains, or you may get hurt."
"Thank you for the reminder, Leopard Vanguard. By the way, I wonder which other great kings are nearby? Please give me some advice, so that I can be prepared, in order to avoid bumping into other great kings when touring the mountains and sightseeing."
The Leopard Vanguard was also honest and answered:
"Twenty or thirty miles to the west, there is a cave of a scholar in white. Thirty miles to the north, there is a cave of Taoist Lingxu. They are all friends of my king, but their tempers are not as good as my king's. You'd better be careful not to get close to their caves."
Ouyang Feng smiled slightly, bowed to the Leopard Vanguard to express his gratitude, turned back and went down the Black Wind Mountain, then went around the foot of the mountain and headed north to look for Ling Xuzi's cave.
After traveling about thirty miles north, we saw another beautiful mountain surrounded by a clear river. Although its scenery was not as magnificent as that of Black Wind Mountain, it was incomparable to ordinary mountains and rivers.
Ouyang Feng looked closely and saw that there were many medicinal gardens in the mountains, with many magical herbs planted. In the forest on the mountainside, a corner of the temple eaves could be vaguely seen, and it looked like a Taoist temple.
"Leopard Vanguard called Ling Xuzi "Master Ling Xu". Did that wolf demon really build a Taoist temple?"
Although the wolf demon Ling Xuzi was killed by the Great Sage with one blow and seemed very fragile, it was also easy for the Great Sage to kill Ouyang Feng with one blow, so the strength of the wolf demon cannot be judged based on this.
To be on the safe side, Ouyang Feng used the "invisibility technique" to hide his figure, and then went up the mountain to the Taoist temple.
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(End of this chapter)
