In the sky, layers of dark clouds gathered, and the spring rain fell continuously.
Drizzle fine as cow hair sprinkled down, shrouding Qingmao Mountain in a layer of thin smoke.
The first floor dining hall of the tavern was still cold and desolate, with only four tables of customers.
The seat Fang Yuan sat at was right by the window. A gust of wind blew in, mixed with poetic meaning and floral fragrance.
"The light rain on the heavenly street is as smooth as crisp, the color of the grass can be seen from afar but not up close," Fang Yuan looked out the window far into the distance, chanted softly, and then withdrew his gaze.
On the table in front of him were good wine and good dishes, complete with color, aroma, and taste. Especially the green bamboo wine, the wine aroma was mellow and revealed a burst of freshness. The vivid green wine liquid was quietly contained in the bamboo cup. Looking from this angle, it emitted a jade-like warm luster.
At the table closest to him were a grandfather and grandson. Dressed in plain and simple clothes, both were mortals.
The old man sipped rice wine while looking enviously towards Fang Yuan's side. Obviously, he was aroused by the green bamboo wine's fragrance but had no wealth to buy it.
The grandson ate marinated fragrant beans, making cracking sounds as he chewed them in his mouth. At the same time, he pestered his grandfather, shaking the old man's arm: "Grandfather, grandfather, tell me the story of Ren Zu. If you do not tell it, I will go back and tell grandmother, saying you came out to steal wine to drink!"
"Sigh, I cannot even drink wine peacefully." The old man sighed, but a look of dotage appeared on his face. He rubbed his grandson's head with his scrawny hands, "Then I will tell it. It is said that Ren Zu gave his heart to the Hope Gu, and escaped the encirclement of his predicament…"
The story of Ren Zu was the most widely spread, and also the most ancient legend in this world.
The story the old man told went roughly like this.
It was said that Ren Zu escaped his predicament because of hope. But he ultimately became old and decrepit, lacking strength and wisdom, and could no longer continue to hunt. Even his teeth had all fallen out, and he could no longer chew many wild fruits and wild vegetables.
Ren Zu already felt death gradually approaching.
At this time, the Hope Gu told him: "Oh human, you cannot die. If you die, your heart will be gone, and I, hope, will lose my resting place."
Ren Zu was very helpless: "Who wants to die, but heaven and earth want me to die, I have no choice but to die."
The Hope Gu then said: "Everything has hope. As long as you catch the Lifespan Gu, you can add new lifespan."
Ren Zu had long heard of the existence of the Lifespan Gu, but he helplessly spread his hands: "When the Lifespan Gu is stationary, no one can detect it. When it flies, it is faster than light. How could I possibly catch it. This is too difficult!"
The Hope Gu thus told Ren Zu a secret: "Oh human, do not give up hope in everything. I will tell you, right at the northwest corner of the earth, there is a giant mountain. At the peak of the mountain is a cave, and inside the cave live two Gu insects, one round and one square. As long as you can subdue these two Gu insects, there is no Gu insect under the heavens that cannot be caught, even the Lifespan Gu is no exception!"
Ren Zu was already at his wit's end; this was the only hope he had left.
He exhausted a thousand hardships and ten thousand bitter struggles, and found this giant mountain. Braving all kinds of dangers, he climbed to the top of the mountain. At the cave entrance on the mountain peak, he was left with only his very last bit of strength, staggering and moving his steps inside.
The cave was entirely dark, so dark you could not see your fingers in front of you. Ren Zu walked and walked in the darkness. Sometimes he stumbled and bumped, not knowing what he hit, bumping his head until it broke and bled. Sometimes he felt this darkness was vast and boundless, as if it were another world, with absolutely nothing around him besides himself.
He spent a lot of time, but could not walk out of this vast darkness. Let alone subdue those two Gu insects, one round and one square.
Just when he fell into confusion, two voices came from the darkness.
One said: "Oh human, do you also wish to come capture us? Go back, even if you had the Strength Gu on your body, there would be no possibility."
The other voice said: "Oh human, retreat, we will not take your life. Even with the Wisdom Gu to help you, you might not necessarily be able to find us."
Ren Zu collapsed weakly on the ground, panting heavily: "The Strength Gu and the Wisdom Gu have long left me far behind, I already have not much lifespan left and am at a dead end. However, as long as I still have a trace of hope in my heart, I will not give up!"
Hearing Ren Zu's words, those two voices fell silent.
After a good while, they then said: "I understand, human, you have already given your heart to the Hope Gu. No matter what is said, you will not give up."
The other voice followed: "Since that is the case, then we will give you a chance. As long as you call out both of our names, we will be used by you."
Ren Zu froze. To accurately call out two precise names from the sea of words, this was simply finding a needle in a haystack.
Moreover, he did not even know exactly how many characters were in the names of these two Gu.
Ren Zu hurriedly asked the Hope Gu, but the Hope Gu also did not know.
Ren Zu already had no other way out, so he could only bite the bullet and say names. He said many, many names, spending a very, very long time, but there was not the slightest response in the darkness, evidently all called wrong.
Gradually, Ren Zu's breathing became weaker and weaker. In this cave, he crossed from old age into his twilight years. It was as if he were the setting sun in the evening, gradually descending, already having half fallen below the horizon to become the setting sun.
The food he brought with him became less and less, his mind turned slower and slower, and the strength to speak was also not much.
The voice in the darkness advised: "Oh human, you are about to die, we shall let you go. Taking advantage of your final time, you can climb out of the cave and take one last look at this world. But you offended us, so as a punishment, leave the Hope Gu here to keep us company."
Ren Zu tightly clutched his chest and flatly refused: "Even if I die, I will not give up hope!"
The Hope Gu was very moved. Exerting all its strength to respond to Ren Zu, it emitted a pure white radiance. At Ren Zu's chest, specks of white light emerged.
But this white light was too weak, it simply could not illuminate the darkness. It could not even cover Ren Zu's entire body, only able to illuminate this little area of his chest.
Ren Zu, however, felt a stream of formless new strength surging from the Hope Gu into his own body.
He continued to open his mouth and say names. He was already old and muddled, many names he had said before, but he could not remember clearly and said them again, wasting a lot of effort for nothing.
Life flowed away with time, and Ren Zu's lifespan had little left.
Finally, when he only had one day of lifespan remaining, he said a "Ju" (Square/Rule) character.
A sigh came from the darkness, and a voice said: "Oh human, I, Ju, admire your persistence. You spoke my name; starting from today, I will listen to your commands. But only when I am together with my brother can I capture all the Gu insects under the heavens for you. Otherwise, relying simply on the ability of I, a single Gu, it will not work. So you should give up, you are already on the verge of death. It would be better to use this time to take a final look at this world."
Ren Zu resolutely shook his head. He grasped all the time tightly, continuing to speak, guessing the name of the other Gu insect.
Time passed minute by minute, second by second. He only had his final hour left.
But right at this time, he unintentionally said the character "Gui" (Compass/Rule).
In an instant, the darkness disappeared.
Two Gu appeared before him. Just as the Hope Gu said, one Gu was square, called "Ju". One Gu was round, called "Gui". Together, they were "Gui Ju" (Rules/Compass and Square).
The two Gu spoke in unison: "No matter who it is, as long as they know our names, we will obey their orders. Oh human, since you already know our names, we will be used by you. But you must remember, it is best not to let other living beings know our names. The more who know our names, the more we will have to submit to them at the same time. Right now, you are the first person to subdue us, state your request."
Ren Zu was overjoyed: "Then I order you to first capture a Lifespan Gu for me."
The two Gu, Gui and Ju, combined their strength and captured an eighty-year Lifespan Gu.
Ren Zu was already a hundred years old. After eating this Lifespan Gu, all the wrinkles on his face instantly vanished, his scrawny limbs were refilled with sturdy and beautiful muscles, and the breath of youth radiated out once again.
With a carp kip-up, he jumped up.
He looked at his own body with joy, knowing that he had become a twenty-year-old youth once again!
…
"We will stop the story here today. Time to go home, good grandson." The old man finished telling this story, and his wine was also finished.
"Grandfather, continue telling it, what happened to Ren Zu later?" The grandson refused to let it go, shaking the old man's arm.
"Let's go, we'll tell it when we have time." The old man put on a bamboo hat and a coir raincoat, and also draped a small-sized one over his grandson.
The grandfather and grandson left the tavern, stepped into the curtain of rain, and gradually walked further away.
"Rules…" Fang Yuan's gaze was deep, turning the wine cup, staring at the green bamboo wine liquid in the cup, feeling deeply moved in his heart.
The legend of Ren Zu was widely circulated in this world, almost no one did not know it. Fang Yuan naturally had also heard of it long ago.
It was just that whether it was a legend or a story, the benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom. Just now, that grandfather and grandson merely treated it as a story, but Fang Yuan could savor the profound meaning contained within.
Just like that Ren Zu.
When he did not know the rules, he groped in the darkness. Sometimes stumbling and staggering, bumping and crashing, causing his head to break and bleed, being in an extremely sorry state. Sometimes, faced with a vast expanse, he fell into confusion, completely lacking direction and goal.
This kind of darkness was not simple blackness or dark; strength, wisdom, and hope could not suppress it.
Only when Ren Zu knew the "Rules" and pointed out the names of the rules, did the darkness suddenly disappear, and Ren Zu welcomed the light.
The darkness was the darkness of the rules, and this light was also the light of the rules.
Fang Yuan shifted his line of sight away from the wine cup and looked out the window.
Only to see outside the window in the distance, the sky was gloomy and dim, the green mountains lay verdant and continuous, and the drizzle flew about like mist. Up close, stilted bamboo houses extended out one after another. On the road were two or three pedestrians, their feet stained with rainy mud, either wearing gray-green coir raincoats or holding yellow oil-cloth umbrellas.
Fang Yuan summarized in his heart: "This heaven and earth is like a giant chessboard, all living beings are chess pieces, operating according to their respective rules. The four seasons of the year have rules, spring, summer, autumn, and winter cycle sequentially. The flow of water has rules, flowing to lower places. Hot air has rules, rising to higher places. Humans naturally also have rules."
"Everyone has their own standpoint, desires, and principles. Take the Gu Yue mountain village as an example, slaves have cheap lives, masters have noble lives, this is the rule. Therefore Shen Cui wanted to cling to the wealthy and powerful, scheming by every means to escape her slave status. Gao Wan tried in a thousand and one ways to please his masters, acting like a dog relying on its master's power."
"For uncle and aunt, they are greedy by nature, wanting to annex the inheritance of my parents. As for the academy elder, he primarily cultivates Gu Masters and maintains his own status within the academy."
"Every person has every person's rules, every profession has its profession's rules, and every social group has its respective rules. As long as one thoroughly understands the rules within this, they can see clearly as an onlooker. Cast away the darkness and obtain the light, dealing with matters within it with skillful ease."
Fang Yuan associated it with his own circumstances, having already devised a strategy within a command tent in his heart: "To the person in power of the Mo family, Gu Yue Mo Chen, his purpose is to maintain the prosperity and interests of his branch faction. Mo Yan finding trouble with me already ruined the rules. To maintain the family's reputation, he definitely will not make a move against me. He might even actively compensate me."
"Actually, the Mo family's power is thick and solid. Relying on their reputation being damaged, if they wholeheartedly wanted to punish me, I would be powerless to resist. But Gu Yue Mo Chen is afraid in his heart. He is not afraid of ruining the rules himself, but worried that others will follow him and start ruining the rules too. In struggles among the younger generation, if the elders intervene, the situation will expand. If it involves the higher-ups, it will be a giant threat to the entire mountain village. Gu Yue Mo Chen's worry and fear lie in the fact that if there are struggles in the future, others will lay hands on his own grandson Gu Yue Mo Bei. In his branch faction, he is the only male heir, if he dies then what should be done? This kind of fear, perhaps even he himself does not know it. He is merely subconsciously maintaining the rules."
Fang Yuan's eyes were completely clear, seeing this matter as clearly as looking at a fire from beginning to end.
Gao Wan was not surnamed Gu Yue, he was an outsider, he was a slave.
If a master executed a slave, what did it matter? In this world, it was very normal.
Fang Yuan killed Gao Wan. Gao Wan's death was not the crux, the crux lay in his masters, the Mo family behind him.
"However, sending a box of dismembered corpse this time, presumably Gu Yue Mo Chen will interpret it as a meaning of compromise and threat. This is exactly what I wanted him to understand it as. Barring any accidents, the Mo family will not pursue Gao Wan's death. Of course, if my aptitude was one tier higher, a B grade, the Mo family would feel threatened, and even relying on their reputation being damaged, they would also suppress me, this future threat." Fang Yuan sneered in his heart.
Strength could be relied upon, and weakness could also be utilized.
At this time, although Fang Yuan was within the situation and also a chess piece. However, being proficient in the rules in his heart, he already had the mind of a chess player.
Ordinary characters, for the most part, were just similar to Gu Yue Mo Chen or the academy elder, only knowing their own rules, and lines of work separate as mountains. Like Fang Yuan, who could perceive the overall situation and be proficient in the rules, how difficult it was!
To know the rules, one had to be like Ren Zu, rolling and crawling in the darkness, wandering in confusion for a spell.
At this time, strength, wisdom, and hope were not very effective. One had to consume time and personally experience and comprehend it to acquire experience.
For Ren Zu to point out the names of the two Gu, Rules, he spent time and tried countless times under the shroud of the aura of death.
For Fang Yuan to be proficient in the rules, it was also the experience accumulated over five hundred years of his previous life.
Since being reborn, he was confident he could create a brilliant future. It was not because of the reappearance of the Spring Autumn Cicada, not because he knew about many secret realms and treasures, nor was it because he grasped the general trend of the future.
But rather it was the life experience of conducting himself in society accumulated over the five hundred years of his previous life.
Just like Ren Zu, obtaining the two Gu, Rules, could easily capture the ten thousand insects under the heavens!
While Fang Yuan, being proficient in rules and regulations, could overlook from a high vantage point, his gaze piercing through the profound and complicated affairs of the world. Either unspooling silk to inspect a cocoon, or drawing blood with a single prick. I alone laugh proudly from on high, coldly looking at the people of the world like individual chess pieces, following their respective rules and advancing step by step.
The darkness is the darkness of the rules, the light is the light of the rules.
And the reborn demonic head was already walking in the light.