"Bai Xianshi, the old man came to Zhuo County to be invited by Zigan (Lu Zhi's cousin) to teach and educate people here, and he will disturb Bai Xianshi in the future." Zheng Xuan said politely that this is the consistent style of literati conversations.

"Mr. Zheng is polite, I have some experience in Taoism, but I don't know much about Confucianism, and I hope that Mr. Zheng will cultivate more in the future." Bai Ziyun also patiently communicated with Zheng Xuan.

"The old man has been yearning for cultivating immortals for a long time, can the white immortal master tell me, how should mortals cultivate into immortals?" Zheng Xuan looked at Bai Ziyun steadily, with a hint of fascination in his eyes.

Bai Ziyun has seen a lot of this look, most of the scholars in this era yearn for cultivating immortals, Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty deliberately elevated the status of the emperor in order to promote his Confucianism, and brought a good materialist Confucianism to the mystery, so the status of Confucianism is high, but those scholars who cultivate immortals and ask questions are also very popular.

By the Eastern Han Dynasty, this kind of thinking occupied an important position in the ideological field. Many scholars are hopeless in officialdom, so they are obsessed with cultivating immortals, and when they get a certain secret book or a piece of immortal cultivation, they stupidly run to the mountains and forests to cultivate immortals, such people either become savages or can't bear loneliness and return to civilized society.

Although Zheng Xuan was a great Confucian, he was affected by the party's troubles, and after being imprisoned, he sneaked through the ancient books and was very interested in those strange spells. For example, "fortune telling", "wind angle", "hidden arts" and other methods that speculate on good luck and evil based on changes in weather and wind direction.

In the past few months, in correspondence with Lu Zhi, Lu Zhi often mentioned Bai Ziyun's miracle, and he couldn't help but be curious, and this time he was invited by Lu Zhi, so he immediately ran over.

"It's hard to cultivate immortals!" Bai Ziyun was silent for a while, then said this sentence at the beginning, shook his head and sighed: "If a mortal wants to cultivate to become an immortal, it is too difficult, too difficult!" ”

Zheng Xuan was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect him to say such a sentence at all, and frowned: "Can the White Immortal Master tell the old man, why is it difficult to cultivate immortals." The old man consulted the ancient books, since there are written records, there are many people who have cultivated into immortals, although there are foolish misinformation among them, but I think there are also people who have really become immortals! ”

"In this mortal world, in ancient times, there may have been people who really ascended to immortality, but as far as I know, in the past few hundred years, no one has become an immortal, and those who have cultivated to become immortals are all rumors in the countryside, or people with ulterior motives make up." Bai Ziyun had a slight disdain on his face, he had the confidence to despise the so-called immortal cultivators of this world.

"Mr. Zheng, Xianlu Miao, if you want to cultivate immortals, you don't rely on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the mountains and dense forests as the world rumores, you can become an immortal by relying on completely imaginary cheats or eating those so-called elixirs. Cultivating immortals is a very complex and systematic process, and now the Central Plains Immortal Cultivation Realm has not even understood the most basic human body structure, relying entirely on subjective guesses, and cultivating indiscriminately, it will only make people short-lived ghosts. ”

Bai Ziyun's tone was full of disdain for those Fang Shi, and Zheng Xuan wondered in his heart, could it be that this person had already mastered the secret of cultivating immortals?

Zheng Xuan was about to ask, but Bai Ziyun waved his hand and said: "Mr. Zheng, the matter of cultivating immortals is too distant and complicated, it is not something that can be said clearly, and it will make Mr. Zheng unhappy in his heart, I just told you about this matter of cultivating immortals, and you can't understand it!" ”

Smiling slightly, he picked up the teacup and took a sip, then looked at Zheng Xuan's reaction.

Zheng Xuan didn't have a displeased look, but smiled and said, "White Immortal Master, since you say that, the old man will no longer dwell on this topic." In the next study, I have a lot of research on the art of divination, and I want to ask the white immortal master for a lesson or two. ”

This is obviously to provoke, but Bai Ziyun hooked the corners of his mouth and said with a smile: "The art of divination, I know a little bit below, if Mr. Zheng has any questions, just ask." ”

"Good!" Zheng Xuan was overjoyed in his heart and said: "I have a preference for astronomical divination, and I often think about it, and today I read Huainanzi's "Astronomical Training" There is a cloud: 'Dry charcoal is light, wet charcoal is heavy', dare to ask Bai Xianshi what is the solution?" ”

The meaning of the phrase "dry so charcoal is light, wet so charcoal is heavy": when the weather is dry, the charcoal is light; When the weather is humid, the charcoal is heavy. This is just the simple conclusion of the immortal Huainan King Liu An's observation of the weather, but it was studied by this Zheng Xuan as a key subject, which really made Bai Ziyun speechless.

Bai Ziyun opened his mouth and said: "There is a lot of moisture in the humid air, and the structure of carbon is loose and porous, so the moisture is easy to drill into these cracks and then be adsorbed by charcoal. ”

"There's moisture in the air? How did this White Immortal Master find out? Zheng Xuan asked in surprise.

"You're a mortal flesh, you can't see with the naked eye, I can see, well, in a few days, I'll make a microscope, and you can see."

"Microscope?"

"An optical instrument that uses the principle of refraction of glass to make glass, and then combines several lenses into an optical instrument, which magnifies everything in the world several times or even hundreds of times, so that the tiny things in this world can be presented in the mortal flesh."

"Just as the gods are wonderful, the old man will wait and see!"

……

The two asked and answered, at the beginning, Bai Ziyun was still patiently explaining, but this guy was like a curious baby, endlessly, he said that his mouth was dry, and he was so impatient in his heart, but fortunately, in the end, Zheng Xuan became more and more confused the more he asked, and he was embarrassed to ask any more, so he said goodbye and left.

Bai Ziyun breathed a sigh of relief, this guy finally left.

At this time, Sanniang walked in and said softly: "Master, Li Yanzi is here!" ”

"Hmmm! Let him in. Bai Ziyun said, this poor Li Yanzi is probably in a hurry now.

It didn't take long for a middle-aged man with an obscene face to walk in, this person was Li Yanzi Li Sen, a trafficker who had provided Bai Ziyun with three slaves.

The Eastern Han Dynasty has been prohibiting human trafficking since Emperor Guang of the Han Dynasty, but now the people of the Central Plains are not able to make a living, they are hungry, and in order to survive, there are more people who sell their children and daughters to sell themselves, and the government is powerless to manage it, it should be said that it does not care at all, and even secretly supports and encourages it.

"The villain Li Sen meets Bai Shangxian." Li Sen kowtowed respectfully.

"Get up." Bai Ziyun's expression was indifferent, his eyes fell on Li Sen, Li Sen suddenly felt an invisible pressure coming, and he couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"Li Sen, I need you to help me find a group of boys and girls, the number is about two thousand, aged eight to fifteen, among these children, I don't want to see a powerful shadow, if I find out, I will be very angry, and the consequences will be very strict!"

Saying that, looking at Li Sen with a smile, Li Sen's heart was cold for no reason, and he hurriedly said: "Shangxian, please rest assured, I understand." ”

Now engaged in large-scale human trafficking transactions, there are officials and families behind them, Bai Ziyun does not want to expose his mastery to the family, so he does not want to be a slave of an adult, but a teenager between eight and fifteen years old.

Li Sen is quite knowledgeable and knows this truth, so he made up his mind to do things according to the meaning of the immortals, if he has a business trip, the consequences will be unimaginable. People like him who mix in the rivers and lakes at the bottom know best Bai Ziyun's influence in the territory of Youzhou, if Bai Ziyun wants his own life, he doesn't have to take action personally, just one sentence, there are a lot of people in Youzhou who chop him in order to please Bai Shangxian.

"You can't buy and sell by force, you have to be voluntary. The number of people at a time is not too large, about 200 people is enough, and it will take about a year to complete, and I will buy these children at twice the usual price. ”

"Yes!"

"I also need thousands of young men, who can do heavy work, and those who have handicrafts are preferred, and they can bring their families with them."

"Yes! The little one is written down! ”