The carriage was traveling on the imperial road at the city gate, queuing to enter the city.
In the jar, Grandpa Wu heard Li Muyang’s question and spoke to the huge Buddha statue by the roadside.
“The Great Bright Buddha? This guy is very strong. When I was alive, I often debated and sparred with him, and we often ended in a draw, neither of us inferior to the other. You could say he’s a very formidable Buddha.”
“However, after the dark catastrophe, this guy has been missing for ten thousand years. By all accounts, he should have been dead and gone long ago, how could he possibly appear here?”
Grandpa Wu, as always, was boastfully nonchalant, starting off with ‘I once XXX’, obviously making it up.
But in his self-promotion, one could still discern some nuggets of truth.
Even Grandpa Wu, who has seen much and has knowledge comparable to a search engine, did not know that the Great Bright Buddha had resurrected.
According to history, the Great Bright Buddha had perished in the dark catastrophe that occurred ten thousand years ago.
So who is this Great Bright Buddha in the Imperial City of Great Zhou?
Li Muyang, filled with doubts, took a ride on Ding Liang’s carriage into the city.
The situation inside the city was as usual.
The streets teemed with people, bustling with vitality, it was a lively, bustling city.
Although there were many monks in kasayas moving about in the boisterous crowd, these monks did not disturb the lives of the city’s mortal residents.
The city’s laypeople did not interfere with the wandering monks.
Aside from the prevalence of monks, this city, the last stronghold of the Great Zhou dynasty, seemed no different from the past.
The near collapse of the dynasty did not affect the city’s prosperity.
Li Muyang looked at the bustling marketplace somewhat surprised.
But before their carriage could continue forward, a group of soldiers mixed with monks suddenly appeared on the road ahead, blocking the carriage’s path.
Following them, a valiant general clad in armor and wielding a long spear mounted on a warhorse appeared from the end of the street.
He rode his warhorse up to Li Muyang’s carriage, dismounted, and respectfully greeted the carriage.
“In accordance with the Buddha’s decree, we are here to welcome Master Jie Zijiu and Princess Pingyao back to the capital!”
This valiant general and the soldiers and monks that he commanded all had a yellow health bar over them.
At least for now, they didn’t seem like enemies.
Li Muyang squinted, watching the reaction in the marketplace. Hearing the title ‘Master Jie Zijiu’, the laypeople in the market showed little reaction, apparently Li Muyang’s fame had not yet spread amongst the civilians.
But upon hearing the title ‘Princess Pingyao’, the marketplace exploded into fervent discussion immediately.
The bystanders surrounding them all tiptoed excitedly, eager to push forward, desperately wanting to see the true face of the princess in the carriage.
“Princess Pingyao has returned?”
“A blessing for Great Zhou!”
“Great Zhou has finally seen hope!”
“Princess, welcome home!”
It wasn’t clear who shouted first, but soon these joyful cheers merged into a chorus, and the laypeople in the streets kneeled en masse.
The stunning scene completely flabbergasted the small-town driver Ding Liang.
The young man gripped the reins tightly, momentarily bewildered, even more nervous than when he first joined them in the journey through the Sea of Blood and Mountains of Corpses.
Even Grandpa Wu inside the clay jar was shocked.
“Ah? This girl is Princess Pingyao?”
“Damn it! How did I miss this? Jie Zijiu, where on earth did you dig up such a treasure? And you kept it hidden all this time!”
Li Muyang narrowed his eyes, feeling somewhat puzzled.
He was unfamiliar with the character of Princess Pingyao, though while at the Red Mountain Academic Palace, he had quickly skimmed through many historical records and knew about the recent division of the Great Zhou dynasty by the powerful ministers.
But with just one day, Li Muyang could only skim through most of the information, as the volume he needed to review was simply too vast.
One day was not nearly enough for him to look into the details of a dynasty’s decline.
What he read was just a brief history.
In that brief history, it seemed that Princess Pingyao was mentioned a couple of times, but it was hard to determine the significance of her title or to know her specific deeds.
For the time being, Li Muyang could only choose to remain silent.
There were too many people around, making it inappropriate to inquire about the details of Princess Pingyao.
He sat in the carriage, allowing it to take him to the Imperial City under the escort of a group of soldiers.
Wherever the carriage went, the common people on the streets all knelt down uniformly, excitedly and joyfully shouting for Princess Pingyao, with many even crying tears of joy.
The scene almost made Li Muyang think he had mistakenly wandered into White Head Mountain.
Thus, the carriage moved unobstructed through the city and entered the Imperial City.
In the grand and solemn Imperial City, a series of palaces stretched across the view.
But standing right behind the grand gate of the Imperial City on the first square was a stone statue and a stele.
The stele bore characters unfamiliar to Li Muyang, but the statue was…
“Fairy Qinghe?!” Li Muyang stared in astonishment at the statue standing on the square.
Lifelike, standing two zhang tall, it almost resembled a giant creature.
But most importantly, the statue faintly emitted the essence of Little Wild Grass.
Though it was vast in size, it indeed originated from the same source as the other Fairy Qinghe statues collected by Li Muyang.
There was actually a statue left by Little Wild Grass here too?
And it was this large?
Damn!
This huge statue, how many ordinary Fairy Qinghe statues would it be worth?
Li Muyang stared fixedly at the statue on the square, unable to take his eyes off it.
The Old Black Turtle in the clay pot was as always showing off, saying, “That’s right, this is the legendary Fairy Qinghe.”
“It’s said that Fairy Qinghe personally erected this statue here. The Great Zhou dynasty has inherited it for many years; although it was not established with the help of Fairy Qinghe, it is said to be related to her daughter.”
“That’s right, in a way, the Great Zhou dynasty and the Red Mountain Academic Palace actually originated from the same source.”
“However, as the eras changed over many years, these two grew apart and now there’s hardly any connection left.”
The Old Black Turtle showed off its knowledge.
Li Muyang squinted his eyes, gazing at the statue of Fairy Qinghe on the square.
In the Ancient Resentment Well, he occasionally found the statues of Fairy Qinghe and Jiang Xiaoyu.
Recognized as the origin of Puppet Manipulation Technique, Jiang Xiaoyu and Fairy Qinghe are venerated by the puppet masters of the Ancient Resentment Well.
But other than this place, no other statues left by Little Wild Grass or even those of the Jiang Family’s ancestral grounds or the Red Mountain Academic Palace could be found.
Yet in the palace of the Great Zhou dynasty, there stood a massive statue of Fairy Qinghe…
This statue, Li Muyang absolutely had to obtain it!
Li Muyang’s gaze was resolute.
After getting off the carriage, the group was led by the monks into the grandest palace in the Imperial City.
But above the palace, there wasn’t a dragon throne, but instead a massive gold statue of the Great Bright Buddha enshrined on a shrine.
And the guests inside weren’t only Li Muyang’s group, there was also a group of sword cultivators bearing swords.
Among them, the most eye-catching was the White-clothed Fairy bearing the Glazed Fairy Sword.
Glazed Fairy, Chu Qingxue!