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墨書 Inktalez
"I wonder if the Queen has any children?" Hanno asked.
Elder Brother Li replied, "The Queen only has one daughter. She was injured during childbirth and it's unlikely she will conceive again."
Hanno said, "It seems that the future Empress Dowager will be this Consort X. It's a pity the Queen doesn't have a son; we won't see any scenes like The Battle for the Dragon Throne."
Elder Brother Li remarked, "There won't be any scenes like The Battle for the Dragon Throne. The Great Zhou has just stabilized, and the Emperor cannot allow his sons to cause internal strife over the throne."
Hanno pouted, "That's boring."
Elder Brother Li chuckled indulgently.
Hanno unfolded a piece of white paper and held it up to Elder Brother Li, who was on the other side of the Porcelain Jar, proudly asking, "What do you think of my drawing?"
Elder Brother Li looked at it and frowned, "You drew the Li Qiushui version of Northern Darkness Divine Skill?"
Hanno nodded, "I just saw a rerun of the new version of The Eight Dragons on TV, and it happened to show Duanyu demonstrating Northern Darkness Divine Skill and Lingbo Weibu in a cave. Wow, the props artist's skills were terrible; the figures painted on the silk looked like scribbles. In the original version, the silk depicted a stunning beauty just like Li Qiushui."
"So you decided to draw your own version?" Elder Brother Li laughed helplessly. "But your drawing skills have improved; the beauty you depicted looks lifelike, just like Li Qiushui herself."
Neither of them had seen Li Qiushui in person, but they had both seen Wuyazi's Jade Statue and the illustrations of Northern Darkness Divine Skill drawn by Li Qiushui herself. That was why Hanno was so critical of the TV depiction.
"Yeah," Hanno said. "Later, I'll toss these illustrations into the Porcelain Jar. I wonder who from another world will find them."
Elder Brother Li asked worriedly, "What if that person practices it and ends up going astray like Duanyu?"
Hanno waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry; I've removed all the traps set by Li Qiushui in her techniques. Although this version of the illustrations can't reach the advanced level of the complete Northern Darkness Divine Skill, at least they can practice to a level similar to Ye Erniang. Besides, Lingbo Weibu is the complete version; with excellent lightness skills, one can make up for any shortcomings in their techniques."
Elder Brother Li sighed in relief. "That's good. We are cultivators now as well. In books, cultivators are most concerned with causality; I wouldn't want your actions to harm anyone."
"Upon reaching Causality, I feel my cultivation becoming increasingly smooth, as if a force is helping me dissolve the shackles of the Dao. I have a realization that this force must be Merit."
Elder Brother Li straightened his expression upon hearing this. "I have had this kind of insight too, which is why I reminded you to pay attention to the issue of Causality."
Hanno said, "I believe that the Causality we are currently involved in is all positive. It seems that the things I threw out through the Porcelain Jar have helped many people."
Elder Brother Li nodded. "That should be the case. Therefore, you cannot be so careless with what you send out in the future."
Hanno pouted. "What’s the point of that? As long as it’s not something harmful, I think it can be sent out. Even if it causes some trouble for someone, I don’t think it will cause much harm. Moreover, it has been proven that what I threw out has brought us Merit, not bad karma. So you can relax. I believe the Porcelain Jar selectively gives what I put inside to those in need."
"Is that so?" Elder Brother Li stroked his chin. "Then let’s try again and verify your guess. If there is any bad karma, I will bear it with you!"
"Okay." Hanno responded with a sound from his nose.
After ending the video call, Hanno rubbed his slightly sore eyes and casually tossed his drawings of Northern Darkness Divine Skill and Lingbo Weibu into the Porcelain Jar. Although the Porcelain Jar for the Winter Solstice Festival appeared normal during the video call, sending things through it was still abnormal, as they would be transported to other worlds.
………………
In a world dominated by an Ancient Harem Plot.
Outside the door of the Hanyang County County Magistrate's Office, white lanterns were hung for mourning. Passersby would see these two white lanterns and know that someone had died in the household. Those who knew the details would quietly sigh; the county magistrate Zhang Yu'an, shrewd outwardly but foolish internally, favored his concubines over his wife, allowing her to be humiliated by them until her death. His wife left behind a lonely daughter, who would surely suffer at the hands of those concubines. What a pitiful child!
At this moment, the pitiful child was staring blankly at a stack of drawings in her hands. The drawings had appeared out of nowhere and suddenly landed before Zhang Zhaorong, startling her. After a moment, she realized that nothing else had happened apart from this sudden appearance of drawings, and An Lingrong breathed a sigh of relief.
"When the drawings appeared suddenly, I was thinking about my mother. Could these drawings be from her?" With this thought, all fear left Zhang Zhaorong, and she excitedly lowered her head to examine the drawings closely.
On the first page, there were no illustrations—only four large characters and several lines of text. The large characters read "Northern Darkness Divine Skill", while the text quoted two lines from Zhuangzi's Carefree Journey. The subsequent lines were completely incomprehensible to Zhang Zhaorong, especially what was meant by Inner Power. She understood martial arts; after all, the constables in the county office practiced martial arts and could fight with weapons and shoot arrows. But wasn’t martial arts something only rough people needed to learn? Why did her mother want her to learn it?
With confusion lingering in her mind, Zhang Zhaorong turned to the next page, her face instantly turning red as heat flooded through her entire body.
"Why is the woman in this painting not wearing any clothes? But she is truly beautiful, more beautiful than any woman I have ever seen," An Lingrong couldn't help but envy the beauty of the woman in the painting. "Such beauty must only belong to a celestial being, right?"
After a while, Zhang Zhaorong finally recovered from her shock at the naked figure and its beauty, carefully observing the beautiful woman in the artwork: this painting was sent by her mother and must hold deep meaning.
Zhang Zhaorong focused her gaze and noticed a green line starting from the left shoulder of the figure, crossing down to the neck, slanting towards the right breast, extending to the armpit, continuing down the right arm, and ending at the thumb of the right hand. Another green line extended downward from the neck, traversing the abdomen and stopping a few inches above the navel. Next to these green lines were small characters filled with terms like "Cloud Gate," "Central Palace," "Fu," "Xia Bai," "Chi Ze," "Kong Zui," "Liexue," "Jing Qu," "Great Abyss," "Thenar," and "Shaoshang." An Lingrong had seen a doctor perform acupuncture on her sick mother, so she recognized these as names of acupuncture points.
"Acupuncture points? I should find a medical book to record all the points on the human body."
Flipping through the rest of the illustrations, there were thirty-six images in total, all depicting nude women either standing or lying down, showing their front or back. The faces were similar but expressed different emotions—some joyful, some sorrowful, some gazing lovingly, others with mild anger. Each image had colored lines indicating acupuncture points and methods for cultivation. The last image was no longer of a single figure but rather countless footprints densely packed together—thousands of them—each connected by green lines with arrows drawn on them, accompanied by annotations like "Sister" and "Wu Wang." Zhang Zhaorong initially thought these were still names of acupuncture points but realized from the detailed notes below that they represented positions from the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching. It seemed she needed to learn not only about acupuncture but also about I Ching.
The final sentence beneath this illustration stirred something within An Lingrong and solidified her determination to learn: "When suddenly confronted by a formidable enemy, use this to protect oneself, accumulate inner strength, and take the enemy's life."
"My mother must have sent me these two life-saving skills because she is worried about me. I will definitely study hard," Zhang Zhaorong declared firmly as she clenched her fist.
From that moment on, Zhang Zhaorong emerged from her grief over her mother's death and became busy: learning medicine and studying I Ching while practicing martial arts. Fortunately, as an illegitimate daughter in the An family with no status, no one paid attention to her, allowing her to practice her lightness skill without being discovered. Lingbo Weibu was the first skill Zhang Zhaorong mastered and became most proficient in. "Lingbo Weibu, dust rises from my silk stockings," she grew increasingly fond of this lightness skill because it not only made her figure more graceful but was also very practical; she could easily leap onto rooftops and move about freely within the estate without being noticed. Moreover, she could overhear many secrets. This habit developed one night when she practiced her lightness skill and landed on a concubine's rooftop, overhearing her quietly cursing her father. From then on, there were no secrets left in Zhang's household for her. She learned that none of her father's concubines genuinely liked An Bihua; some even wanted to harm her. She realized that Zhang Yu'an did not consider her his daughter at all; if it weren't for his hopes that she might participate in Selection and bring benefits to the Zhang family by entering the palace, he would have long since given her away to his superior's concubine who was over thirty years older than Zhang Zhaorong... Knowing Zhang Yu'an's true intentions completely severed any father-daughter bond she had with him.
In August of the twelfth year of Dangun's reign, Zhang Zhaorong was sent by Zhang Yu'an to the capital for Selection. This time, she traveled alone without bringing along Aunt Xiao who had treated her well. Since Aunt Xiao was one of the few concubines who had been sincere towards her over the years, Zhang Zhaorong divided half of what she had earned through various means and gave it to Aunt Xiao. With this money, Aunt Xiao felt more confident.
The capital was bustling; Hanyang County couldn't compare at all. The palace's golden splendor dazzled Zhang Zhaorong's eyes as she clenched her fists in determination to make a name for herself. However, that vow faded when she witnessed the darkness of the harem and various bloodless schemes; at that moment, her only wish was to live quietly!
Zhang Zhaorong stood quietly in a corner without causing any trouble or attracting attention from arrogant women looking for conflict; yet still, she caught the eye of a scheming lady. Among a group of court ladies filled with anxiety and anticipation emerged one who appeared calm and composed—how could Zhen Huan not notice? This woman could very well be a formidable rival!
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