The Azure Mountain

Chapter 95: The Forty-Nine Heavens

In the late autumn dusk, the setting sun shone obliquely.

The youths in the ox cart laughed and fooled around, writing on each other's dust-covered faces.

After laughing and fooling around, the Prince Heir sat on the ox cart and looked at Chen Ji: "There aren't many people who can scheme against my dad over all these years. Half a year ago, during the Yuzhou flood disaster, he went south to collect provisions. The local gentry colluded to conceal their land acreage to evade taxes, and each household donated ten piculs of grain as if dismissing beggars. On the same day, they even hosted a banquet for guests on the Qinhuai River, pouring a hundred jars of fine wine into the river under the guise of 'inviting the world to drink together'."

"And then?" Liu Quxing's spirit was roused; they usually couldn't hear this kind of interesting anecdotes about the imperial court and the public.

The Prince Heir chuckled happily: "My dad didn't get angry with them. Instead, he hired artisans to transport a stone stele over three meters tall and erected it squarely right in front of the Jinling government office entrance. On it, the amounts of grain donated by all the gentry were clearly recorded, saying it was to extol the virtues and merits of these gentry, but actually it was to let the commoners see the true faces of these gentry. At that time, even the storytellers in the teahouses were making up stories, mocking the gentry for their mouthfuls of benevolence and morality on ordinary days, while actually being heartless despite their wealth and hypocritical to the extreme."

Chen Ji was thoughtful: "The storytellers' stories, your dad had them make those up, right?"

The Prince Heir widened his eyes: "How did you know?"

"And then?"

"It didn't even take half a month before the gentry couldn't afford to lose any more face, and obediently donated the grain."

Liu Quxing praised: "His Highness is indeed adept at using clever force to deflect a thousand catties."The Prince Heir looked at Chen Ji and gave a thumbs up: "For you kid to be able to turn around and scheme against my dad, you're quite a figure!"

However, Chen Ji couldn't be happy.

Seeing his brows tightly furrowed, the Prince Heir asked curiously: "Why aren't you happy? If I could scheme against him just once, I could brag about it for ten years!"

Chen Ji sighed softly: "How is your dad the type of person to suffer a loss for no reason? I feel like he's about to turn around and scheme against me again right away."

The Prince Heir sighed: "That's also true..."

Liu Quxing looked over: "Chen Ji, where did you find out about the downdraft kiln? I've never heard you mention this before."

"A dream visited by an immortal," Chen Ji sat cross-legged on the ox cart, closing his eyes to rest his mind.

Liu Quxing curled his lip: "Bullshit. If there really was an immortal visiting in a dream, why did the immortal only visit you in a dream and not me?"

However, the Prince Heir suddenly said: "There actually really are dreams visited by immortals in this world. You ordinary people might not know, but the Yellow Mountain Daoist Temple's Sect Leader, Shi Tuzi, can invite gods from the Forty-Nine Heavens."

"Hm?"

Chen Ji, who had his eyes closed resting his mind, suddenly opened his eyes, staring at the Prince Heir intensely like a burning torch, yet asked casually from his mouth: "The Forty-Nine Heavens?"

Finally.

Chen Ji finally heard someone mention the Forty-Nine Heavens.

He asked his Master, and his Master had never heard of it.

He asked Xuanyuan, and Xuanyuan had never heard of it either.

Once upon a time, Chen Ji in his trance thought that everything that happened in the Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital was just a dream conjured up by an illusion on his deathbed.

Li Qingniao, the Forty-Nine Heavens, Brother Pao, Er Dao, and even himself, none of them existed.

But now, the dream had finally shone into reality.

The Prince Heir sat up straight and pointed mysteriously at the colorful clouds in the sky: "You guys don't know about the Forty-Nine Heavens, right? Up there is said to be the place where immortals live. My dad said that the reason the Yellow Mountain Daoist sect is formidable is because they can invite gods from the Forty-Nine Heavens to possess their bodies. It's said that when Sect Leader Shi Tuzi was fighting with Jing Dynasty experts, he once invited the Five Dipper Star Lords of the Forty-Nine Heavens down to the mortal realm."

Chen Ji leaned forward slightly: "The Forty-Nine Heavens is the place where immortals live?"

The Prince Heir recalled and said: "My dad mentioned it by chance. The gods and buddhas of the various heavens are all in the Forty-Nine Heavens. Things like Wuji Mountain, Jade Capital Mountain, Liren Heaven, Mount Sumeru, Penglai, Fangzhang, Northern Kuru Continent, Southern Jambu Continent—these are the names of each individual heaven. However, this is all I know. My dad mentioned it very rarely; he seemed to have some taboo about it."

After saying that, he lifted half his butt, leaned his body into the middle of the crowd, and said mysteriously: "My dad said that every so often, immortals from the Forty-Nine Heavens will reincarnate and descend to the mortal realm, hiding themselves in the marketplace. Perhaps we have all seen immortals, but we just don't know it."

Chen Ji shifted his body back slightly and asked as if nothing had happened: "Do immortals have any identifying features? How are we supposed to know who is or isn't an immortal?"

The Prince Heir shrugged his shoulders: "Then I don't know."

Chen Ji sighed slightly in relief.

But then Liu Quxing asked curiously: "Prince Heir, have you seen an immortal from the Forty-Nine Heavens?"

The Prince Heir shook his head: "I don't know. Maybe I've seen one, maybe I haven't seen one."

Liu Quxing asked again: "Do these immortals from the Forty-Nine Heavens need to take a shit?"

She Dengke was amused: "If they eat meals, they definitely have to take a shit."

Liu Quxing argued stubbornly: "Then what if they don't need to eat meals?!"

She Dengke also argued stubbornly for the sake of arguing: "How can they live without eating meals? They definitely take huge shits!"

Chen Ji's expression became complicated.

He changed the topic and asked: "Prince Heir, in the history of our Ning Dynasty, have there been any known immortals from the Forty-Nine Heavens?"

"Yes."

Everyone looked towards the sound, only to see Liang Gou'er lying at the end of the cart with his legs crossed. He lifted the straw hat shielding his face from the light and said: "My ancestors once encountered one. This person claimed to be from the Forty-Nine Heavens, entering the human realm to cultivate the Daoist Yang Spirit, wanting to merge with the Dao through this Pathway. Even in the dark night, the Yang Spirit was like a brilliant, blazing sun."

"Then did he merge with the Dao in the end?"

Liang Gou'er sneered coldly: "No. This person was plotted against and ambushed by the Jing Dynasty's Martial Temple while in the Ning Dynasty's border army; his body died and his dao vanished. It should be a matter from two hundred years ago; I'm not clear on the specifics either."

Chen Ji fell deep into thought.

Li Qingniao had once said to him, "The Forty-Nine Heavens cannot keep you, go to the place you should go to." He was certain that he himself came from the Forty-Nine Heavens. Yet the place he lived had absolutely no connection to the dwellings of immortals, and he himself was fundamentally not some immortal at all.

But no matter what, Chen Ji had finally grasped some clues about the Forty-Nine Heavens, like a drifting, trackless boat finally dropping an anchor belonging to itself onto the seabed.

...

...

In the orange-red afterglow of the setting sun, the slow-moving ox cart entered the city from the south. Liu Quxing suddenly said: "Look, guys, there are so many people in front of the examination hall."

Everyone turned their heads to look.

Under the evening sunset glow, several hundred people were currently gathered at the entrance of the examination hall. There were high-spirited and vigorously energetic youths, depressed and unfulfilled middle-aged men, and also aging old men with numb expressions.

"They are Autumn Examination candidates," the Prince Heir said softly. "I've seen that old man. I heard he has taken the exams his entire life. He sold off all his family's fertile fields and his wife and children separated from him, but he still hasn't given up."

In front of the examination hall, each of the Autumn Examination candidates carried a woven bamboo chest on their backs. Inside were their own bedding as well as three days' worth of dry rations.

Before lining up to enter the examination hall, the outer curtain officials would open the chests one by one to inspect them, and then carefully perform a body search to prevent candidates from smuggling in cheat sheets.

When the ox cart passed by the entrance of the examination hall, the disheveled Prince Heir hurriedly lowered his head and said: "Quick, quick, quick, lower your heads. I see many acquaintances!"

However, it was already too late.

Someone inadvertently caught a glimpse of the ox cart and, somewhat uncertainly, asked in confusion: "Eh, Prince Heir?"

The Autumn Examination candidates all turned their heads to look towards the ox cart. At the entrance of the examination hall, Chen Wenzong, Chen Wenxiao, and Lin Chaojing, who were undergoing inspection by the outer curtain officials, also turned around together.

"Prince Heir?"

"That disheveled person on the ox cart is the Prince Heir?"

On the ox cart, the Prince Heir buried his head in his chest while lifting his whip to strike the ox's butt, muttering: "Hurry and go, Brother Ox, quickly go, this is embarrassing to death!"

But the old yellow ox walked at its unhurried pace, completely ignoring him. Instead, it flicked its tail and pulled out a pile of grass-smelling dung.

Beside the ox cart, someone followed closely step by step, tilting his head to confirm the Prince Heir's identity.

Suddenly, a person asked in astonishment: "It really is the Prince Heir? Prince Heir, why have you made yourself look like this?"

The Prince Heir raised his head, reined in the ox cart to a stop, and smiled awkwardly: "I went to do some work."

Chen Ji turned his head and, impressively, saw his two older brothers, Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao, standing on the steps of the examination hall looking back. Chen Wenzong's eyes were full of disappointment and pity.

The three brothers looked at each other from afar. The setting sun shone over the wall eaves behind Chen Ji onto the entrance of the examination hall; the bodies of Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao seemed to be lit up with a brilliant radius.

At this time, the crowd slowly parted, and Lin Chaojing stepped forward from the masses, saying sincerely: "I remember when the Prince Heir was at Donglin Academy, he said he would participate in the Autumn Examination together with us, to see whether he could pass the examination based on his own abilities. Yet today, the Prince Heir's figure is nowhere to be seen."

The Prince Heir's expression calmed down, and he only smiled and said: "Fellow great talents, I am ashamed of my inferiority and simply decided not to come and disgrace myself. Here I wish to predict in advance that all of my fellow classmates will pass the examinations and have their names inscribed on the golden list."

Lin Chaojing cupped his hands in greeting and said with a smile: "Many thanks for the Prince Heir's golden mouth. It's just that there is a matter of advice I wish to offer, I don't know if I should speak it or not?"

The Prince Heir was free and easy: "Please speak."

Lin Chaojing said: "The Prince Heir has the noble status of being Prince Jing's descendant. Right now, Prince Jing is diligent in government affairs and quite beloved by the commoners. I still hope the Prince Heir restrains his playful heart and can properly cultivate his moral character and temper his disposition, and do not let down the prestige and reputation of Prince Jing's Estate."

The Prince Heir also stood up and cupped his hands in a returning greeting: "Many thanks for the reminder. We won't disturb everyone from entering the curtain anymore, farewell."

Saying that, he sat back down and calmly shook the reins. The ox cart slowly departed.

Behind them, someone could be heard saying in a low voice: "The Prince Heir is stubborn and mischievous, what a pity for Prince Jing's diligence in government and love for the people..."

On the ox cart, hearing those discussions, Liu Quxing lowered his head and said: "It's only because Prince Jing is friendly and intimate that they dare to act like this. If it were changed to Prince Fu, Prince Qi, or Prince An, would they dare mock him? They would kill even the chickens and dogs in their homes!"

Chen Ji silently turned his head to look over, only to see the Prince Heir's expression was calm and quiet; neither joy nor anger could be seen in him.

It's just that when the setting sun completely fell behind the world, the light in the Prince Heir's eyes also gradually fell along with it.

The Prince Heir said in a low voice: "Why doesn't my dad have another son?"

Chen Ji smiled and asked: "Have another one to compete with you for the position of Prince Jing?"

The Prince Heir looked to the side: "Compete if he wants to, I don't want anything. I'll yield it all to him."

The next moment, however, Chen Ji forcefully pulled up the ox cart's reins, abruptly hauling the ox's head over and turning the ox cart around to head back.

The Prince Heir turned his head back and asked in surprise: "Eh? What are you going to do?"

Chen Ji let out a bright, resounding laugh: "A person lives on a breath of ambition! We won't go back for now. We will just live in the kiln factory until we successfully produce the cement. If we never produce it, we will never go back!"

The Prince Heir was amused: "Why exactly must we produce cement?"

"To leave our names in the annals of history!"

(End of Chapter)