Chapter 360: Famous flowers

Mu Xiulan did not ask about the origin of the penglai immortal tea.

Because there was no need to.

Being able to produce this penglai immortal tea itself explained a lot.

This was penglai immortal tea...

That was something only found on Penglai Island, and the other party was a Shaman, yet she could still obtain such a thing...

This already explained the identity of the other party.

A Disciple of Shaman God Mountain, and a seventh-rank at that.

A true Shaman.

Perhaps she was one of the people from the three main lineages.

Such a person wanting to visit the Country Lord, the Country Lord would most likely not object.

Of course, he never even considered the possibility of ‘Young Master’.

That was too far-fetched.

Besides, if the Young Master wanted to visit a Country Lord, he wouldn’t need an introduction; he could simply walk in grandly, and the Country Lord would even have to come out to greet him.

Just like the Great Deer Kingdom Lord back then.

So Mu Xiulan didn’t even think about it, he took his leave, said goodbye to Li Qi, and went to contact the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord through his own connections.

Only Li Qi was left alone in the garden, told to treat it as his own home and to just ask for anything he wanted.

Li Qi, of course, was well aware of the Young Master’s identity and the fact that he could directly call on people.

However, he had his own considerations.

The Lingxiao Kingdom Lord was different from ordinary Baiyue Kingdom Lords; other Baiyue Kingdom Lords had their Dao paths cut off, so they had no choice but to take shortcuts and rely on such methods to advance to the fifth-rank.

But the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord was different; she had been unable to stay in Tang Nation and had come to Baiyue. As the Flower Goddess of the world, reaching fifth-rank was not difficult for her.

In fact, the existence of Lingxiao Kingdom was merely optional for her; it wouldn’t matter if Lingxiao Kingdom was destroyed, she wouldn’t drop in rank because of it, at most she would lose some strength.

However… Li Qi looked up at the decorations around him.

Everywhere, there were traces of lingxiao flower.

Li Qi got up, not intending to stay longer in the Prefectural City, but rather to go and see the customs and traditions of Lingxiao Kingdom.

Anyway, it would take at least a day or two for the other party to deliver the message.

As he walked out, he also pondered the ranking of the Flower Goddesses.

Among flowers, the most noble were undoubtedly orchids, peonies, and plum blossoms, which were considered first-class flowers.

Next were peonies, lotuses, lilacs, and jasmine.

After that came chrysanthemums, apricots, berries, pears, peaches, and pomegranates.

Only then did it come to crape myrtles, lingxiao flowers, and crabapples.

As for cockscombs, sunflowers, carnations, papayas, and camellias, they were considered inferior.

In other words, the lingxiao flower was a medium-grade Flower Goddess, much stronger than the lower-grade ones like carnations and papayas, with the saying ‘flower outside screen’.

“Outer screen” means something placed outside a door, implying a tree wall.

A tree wall means to erect a barrier to delineate a certain area.

“Flower outside screen” probably means “wall of famous flowers,” a doorkeeper among flowers, barely reaching a certain status, not falling to the lower ranks.

However, due to a poem by a famous scholar from Tang Nation, she directly lost her doorkeeper status and fell to the level of a lower-grade Flower Goddess.

So, restoring and maintaining her status was probably the most urgent need for the Lingxiao Flower Goddess.

As for climbing higher… that was no longer something Li Qi could interfere with.

The struggle for Flower Goddess rankings was a battle among hundreds, even thousands, of beautiful women with many loyal supporters.

Three women make a play, let alone so many beautiful women.

Flower Goddesses were like celebrities, with many admirers, and the number of high-rank cultivators involved was definitely not small.

It was said that the peony could become the most revered among flowers due to a decree from the Human Emperor’s Palace.

Then what about the lingxiao flower?

Who were the original supporters of the lingxiao flower?

This was truly unclear; he would probably have to ask the Lingxiao Flower Goddess herself.

Li Qi walked alone on the street, pondering these questions.

Just then, Li Qi suddenly saw a large crowd of people pouring onto the street.

Originally, Li Qi wouldn’t have cared about such things, but he still stopped, maintaining his natural state of being one with nature, and curiously watched this group of people riding horses.

Because, on their chests, they uniformly wore a bunch of lingxiao flowers.

This made Li Qi carefully observe these people.

All of them were riding horses, each as proud as a little rooster, both male and female, but with one commonality: they were all young people, no older than Li Qi, mostly under thirty years old.

They wore identical uniforms, had many attendants, and were all cultivators, with cultivation levels of ninth-rank.

This made Li Qi somewhat speculate.

These should all be Genius Disciples, right? There were quite a few of them, forty or fifty people.

Genius Disciples gathered together? It must be an event.

The Genius Disciples of Lingxiao Kingdom...

Seeing them swaggering around, believing themselves to be exceptionally talented, was truly a bit nostalgic.

Li Qi was somewhat interested in them because they all wore lingxiao flowers on their chests, indicating that it was at least related to this. He wanted to see how Lingxiao Kingdom viewed the lingxiao flower during such large-scale events.

Along the way, these people received a lot of attention, and many residents nearby looked at them with envious eyes, whispering.

Many dung collectors followed behind them, constantly picking up the horse droppings.

Horse manure was a good thing, not usually found, because it was rare to see so many spirit horses.

Li Qi followed them, listening to the comments of the people around them, but no one could see him.

This gave him a sense of absurdity, wondering if back when he was a Boat Towmen, there was also a seventh-rank walking beside him, listening to him talk to himself?

Yet he couldn’t even notice it at all.

Just like what he was doing to others now.

But no matter what, Li Qi still learned about the origins and some circumstances of this group of people through this method.

It turned out that this was E'zhou’s oath-taking ceremony.

These forty or fifty young Geniuses would represent E'zhou and go to Lingxiao Kingdom to listen to the Country Lord personally preach the Dao, and then stay there to receive the best education.

Hmm, the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord truly valued education.

Li Qi followed these proud little roosters all the way to an altar in the center of E'zhou’s provincial capital.

Upon arriving at the altar, there was an elderly eighth-rank Shaman, who seemed to be presiding over the sacrifice.

Seeing that the people had gradually arrived, the Shaman began to preside over the sacrifice.

Li Qi wasn’t interested in the process of the sacrifice; it was all simple stuff that could boost morale and give these young people some combat power and spiritual buffs, nothing special.

However, after watching for a while, Li Qi immediately noticed something special.

The element of the lingxiao flower was incorporated into this sacrifice.

Li Qi saw the old Shaman waving a large number of lingxiao flowers and chanting: “Climbing the clouds with the ambition of Lingxiao, facing the sun with a heart that embraces it, bravely challenging the red sun like a Dragon entering the ethereal realm!”

The meaning of this poem was simple: it hoped that these young people would have the grand ambition of the lingxiao flower, daring to race alongside the sun like Kua Fu chasing the sun, rather than merely fawning over it. The climbing lingxiao flower was like them, like a True Dragon soaring straight into the clouds.

It had a somewhat patchwork meaning, but generally, that was it.

It seemed that this was the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord’s accusation and rebuttal.

She was not a flower that clung to others, but one that was tenacious and full of vitality.

The incorporation of this element into the sacrifice, along with other segments, allowed Li Qi, a true Shaman, to decipher the meaning of this sacrifice.

The creator of this sacrifice wanted to say: ‘Among climbing flowers, none are more respectable than the lingxiao flower.’

Flattering and fawning, clinging to the powerful and influential?

Striving to climb, tenacious and unyielding?

Hmm…

The Lingxiao Kingdom Lord was very unconvinced.

After witnessing the entire sacrifice, Li Qi silently left and returned to the Prefectural City.

He released his “being one with natural” state, allowing others to see him.

Then, he waved his hand and summoned a servant from the Prefectural City.

“Does Lingxiao Kingdom have official historians?” Li Qi asked the servant.

The servant chuckled, “Sir, you jest. Which country doesn’t record its history? Of course, there are official historians. Does Sir wish to summon an official historian?”

Li Qi shook his head and said, “No need to summon them. I just want to read the national history. There shouldn’t be any taboos about that, right?”

“Of course not. It’s just that unrevised national histories cannot be viewed, as they contain many omissions and are not suitable for public viewing. But those that have been revised, you may read at your leisure, Sir.”

“Then I’ll read the revised ones,” Li Qi replied.

“The revised ones are from ten years ago. Shall I fetch them for you, Sir?” the servant immediately asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Li Qi nodded.

This thank you made the servant feel a bit at a loss; he felt a bit unworthy of thanks from a significant person like Li Qi.

But he still left quickly and, in less than half an hour, brought dozens of books to Li Qi.

This was the national history of Lingxiao Kingdom.

Li Qi thanked him again, then sealed off the room and began to read.

He planned to create a profile of the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord, using what he knew and what he was about to learn, to see what kind of person she was.

He began to read history.

By now, Li Qi’s reading speed was extremely fast; he could quickly digest even the most complex and abstruse documents, let alone these simply recorded national histories.

The national history did not contain any profound language, nor did it have complex and disorganized information; everything was simple and clear.

Year, month, day, what happened, end.

This was the format, written in dozens of books.

There was no personal emotion whatsoever, purely a logbook, not writing stories, not writing thoughts, only writing what happened.

This narrative style made Li Qi’s reading much easier.

As long as he knew what happened, he could naturally draw other conclusions.

As he read, he also learned about the major events in Lingxiao Kingdom since its founding several hundred years ago.

It turned out that initially, the Lingxiao Flower Goddess was despised and suppressed, and angrily left Tang Nation, originally intending to go to the Western Regions.

Because, the supporters of the lingxiao flower were not scholars, literati, or anything else, but monks.

That’s right, Buddhism was the supporter of the lingxiao flower.

There is a poem that says:

Gui trees are newly planted, vines also climb high.

Layered leaves are round like canopies, tall flowers are as vibrant as burning flames.

Thus, they bloom continuously, far better than falling and drifting.

When there are trees, one thinks of planting; from monks, one begs for saplings.

The lingxiao flower was considered by Buddhism to be a flower blooming before the Buddha’s seat, so Buddhist temples planted a great many of them.

In the White Horse Temple, known as the ‘Source of Buddhism in the Central Plains,’ the walls and roofs were covered with climbing lingxiao flowers. (Note 1)

Therefore, when the Lingxiao Flower Goddess left Tang Nation, the first place she wanted to go was the Western Regions.

Then, before she even went to the Western Regions, she received guidance from a high monk of White Horse Temple.

If she were to go to the Western Regions this time, although the lingxiao flower would not be in danger of losing its life, it would become a pure scenic object.

Upon hearing this, the Lingxiao Flower Goddess immediately declared: “Since I possess the posture of Lingxiao, how can I be merely an object for others’ amusement?”

I am the flower of Lingxiao, meant to climb towards the sun, how can I be reduced to a mere plaything?

So, she changed her mind.

At that time, the lingxiao flower was a sixth-rank, and in order to continue ascending, she thought of a quick way to go from sixth-rank to fifth-rank.

That was to become a Baiyue Kingdom Lord.

This was the path to the founding of Lingxiao Kingdom.

Of course, Li Qi felt that there might be some embellishment in it, but it didn’t matter.

The general outline should be correct.

After that, it was the many hardships and difficulties the Lingxiao Flower Goddess faced in establishing Lingxiao Kingdom.

It was by no means easy to establish a country in a place like the world, especially since she was only a sixth-rank at the time.

There were many incredible challenges in between, such as facing provocations, exploitation, and coercion from numerous neighboring countries.

Internal strife was constant, and there were also natural disasters.

Resources were scarce, and she even had to use her own savings from Tang Nation to stabilize the situation, and she also relied on a lot of external help, requesting high monks from White Horse Temple to take action.

White Horse Temple perhaps out of gratitude for the lingxiao flower blooming before the Buddha, did not refuse.

After that, White Horse Temple dispatched several high monks to spread the Dharma and also built the Zunfo Mountain and Fengde Temple, which are still famous buildings in Lingxiao Kingdom today.

Only then did Lingxiao Kingdom finally overcome the difficult initial construction period and embark on the path of development.

“Zunfo Mountain…” When Li Qi read this passage of history, he recalled the address mentioned by the young monk Xin Ming whom he had met on the road.

That Buddha statue was on Zunfo Mountain.

Was it the Buddha statue built by Fengde Temple? Built recently?

Anyway, it certainly wasn’t built before, because historical records didn’t mention anything about large Buddha statues, and if one had truly been built, it would definitely have been written down.

This was no small matter; a statue capable of bearing the Celestial Eye would be heavily documented and couldn’t be concealed.

This indicated that it must have been a recent event.

With such assistance, the subsequent development of Lingxiao Kingdom was very smooth, and she also silently accumulated strength. From the national history, it seems that every hundred years, the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord was able to pull back a world with a rank from outside the realm as a resource world.

These worlds were not far from the world, similar to Great Deer Kingdom’s Earth Oil Realm, so even if one was in the world, one could quickly reach them, without even needing transportation like the Golden Dais or the Star-Mansion Array.

The Holy Flame World was too far away in comparison. If one wanted to go to the Holy Flame World, one would need to go to the Star-Mansion Array and spend several hours to get there. So, in the future, when Li Qi controls the Holy Flame World, he will also need to drag the Holy Flame World to a location closer to the world, so that transportation can be convenient.

From this perspective, the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord was truly a diligent and progressive person, pulling back one world every hundred years; she was practically a workaholic, working tirelessly, wasn’t she?

Li Qi continued to analyze the situation.

About three or four hours passed.

Suddenly, Li Qi put away the Lingxiao Kingdom history and looked up.

The True Knowledge Dao Resonance began to tremble.

The aura of a fifth-rank.

The Lingxiao Kingdom Lord had arrived.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, a female voice came from beside Li Qi: “Young Master is truly perceptive, to be able to sense my arrival.”

Note 1: The lingxiao flower is widely planted in Buddhist temples. In reality, Fengde Temple and White Horse Temple both have lingxiao flower bushes that are over a thousand years old.