The Way of Spiritual Journey

Chapter 43, The Five Strokes of Heaven's Dao

As the saying goes, once you enter the world of martial arts, the road ahead becomes long and arduous.

The four men descended the mountain with a clear objective and acted directly, heading west towards Dadu (Beijing).

Dadu was a place that all the people of Dayuan longed for.

Along the way, the four endured countless hardships, but never thought of turning back; their dreams were their strong spiritual pillar.

Finally, they arrived in Dadu, only to be met with even greater suffering. It was here that the fourth hero's leg was broken, because they had taken the work of other laborers...

"Sigh, the dream of wandering the martial world is not easy." Li Lang was deeply moved as he watched the genuine emotions revealed by the four men after drinking.

Back then, didn't I also crawl out of a pile of dead bodies and get to where I am today step by step?

Li Lang finished the last sip of wine in his bowl, no longer caring about the people in the courtyard, and got up to walk towards his room.

"Hey, where am I?" Li Lang was drunk and didn't know how long he had been walking or where he was. He only felt that the space ahead was getting more and more empty and darker.

Suddenly, a faint light appeared in the darkness. The firefly-like light flickered, as if it were shimmering, or perhaps struggling.

After a long while, the light spot began to jump, initially slowly and gently, then quickly and abruptly, the light spot flashing across the darkness, leaving a horizontal line of light and shadow.

The next instant, a vertical line appeared in the trajectory of the light spot, and in the blink of an eye, a slanted light appeared again, followed by a downward stroke, and finally a hook.

Horizontal stroke, vertical stroke, left-falling stroke, right-falling stroke, hook.

Just as the heavens draw five strokes, this is the basic structure of Chinese characters.

These five strokes are fluid and graceful, flowing like water and clouds, like the will of Heaven and the foundation of the Great Dao. A single glance at them can cause a tremor in the soul, thus imprinting an indestructible belief; the five strokes in succession can open the heavens, split the earth, and even shape everything in the world.

Sure enough, the five strokes began to appear in a continuous flash, and the characters began to evolve from all things, taking shape from thousands of mountains, changing through thousands of rivers, and being passed down by billions of living beings.

Initially complex, it gradually becomes simple. The ancient and profound characters have been refined over time, and each character contains the essence of creation. When characters are combined to form texts, they reveal profound truths and profound meanings. The wonders within are beyond words.

Three thousand characters, each one rooted; roots deep in the earth, leaves flourishing and piercing the sky.

"Chinese characters are truly profound!" When Li Lang woke up, it was already broad daylight. The evolution of the characters in his mind had long since disappeared, leaving only these few core meanings that made him sigh.

At this moment, Li Lang once again felt that the horizontal stroke in his mind seemed to have come to life, faintly exuding a powerful aura that could penetrate everything.

"Is this the effect that cost ten thousand taels of silver? Ten thousand taels for one transaction? That's really expensive, and I don't even know what effect it will have." Li Lang stretched lazily and mocked himself. Only then did he realize that he had indeed spent ten thousand taels of silver by last night.

Li Lang pushed open the door, and a figure was already standing in the doorway, holding a basin of water in his hand.

"Master, you're awake. Please wash your face." The man bowed and whispered; he was one of the Four Heroes.

When Li Lang saw this, he was first taken aback, but then he understood. This fawning attitude meant they didn't want to leave.

Li Lang smiled but didn't say anything, as if being waited on wasn't so bad.

When Li Lang entered the living room, he was stunned again. Breakfast was laid out on the dining table, with Zhuge Liang and Feng Chu each sitting on one side, and the other three heroes standing behind them.

"Brother Lang, you're here. Have breakfast, it's hot." Seeing Li Lang arrive, Wolong chuckled and greeted him repeatedly.

"Hmm." Li Lang nodded. As soon as he sat down, Yi Jie, who was behind him, brought over a bowl of hot porridge and said, "Master, have some porridge." Then he naturally stepped aside.

"Don't be so formal. I don't even know your names yet." Li Lang was a little uncomfortable, mainly because he had never been served like this by such rough men before, from his past life to this one.

"My former name is not worth mentioning; I am now called Lang Yijie," the man replied respectfully.

"Pfft!" Li Lang had just picked up the bowl of porridge and taken a sip when he heard this, and he almost spat it all out.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? I told you to pay attention, pay attention! How did you manage to burn Brother Lang?" Wolong was also shocked when he saw this, and loudly scolded the four heroes.

Upon seeing this, the four heroes' expressions changed drastically, and they stood there, unsure of what to do.

"No need for that." Li Lang waved his hand. "Your name is Lang Yijie, so they must be the second, third, and fourth heroes?"

The four of them nodded in unison.

"Hehe, you're quite talented!" Li Lang chuckled, his mood brightening considerably. "Judging from your tone, you want to stay?"

The four nodded again.

Seeing this, Li Lang did not speak, but simply looked at the Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix.

"Brother Lang, it's them. They're not bad people. They took good care of us when we were in Langya Mountain." Wolong seemed to have been prepared and spoke first, then winked at Fengchu.

"Yes, Brother Lang, those four of them ended up on this path, in such a miserable state. If we're talking about the root cause, we also bear some responsibility. You're a kind-hearted person, so let them stay in the yard and do some odd jobs or something. Don't worry, they don't want wages, they just want to have enough to eat." Feng Chu took over the conversation, her eyes full of expectation as she looked at Li Lang.

"Well, since you've vouched for me, then stay. From now on, the security of this courtyard will be your responsibility." Li Lang's expression was slightly hesitant, as he wanted to leave this favor to Wolong and Fengchu.

At this point, neither of them needed to feel any more guilt.

Then, Li Lang took out a silver note and handed it to Wolong, saying, "Later, take them to buy some clothes. We can't let people look down on the image of our Wangcai Cooperative."

Wolong took the silver note, glanced at it, and immediately beamed. One hundred taels—that was a fortune! His smugness surged, "Brother Lang is awesome! Brother Lang is so clever! Brother Lang is so handsome, even girls are ashamed!"

"Get lost!" Li Lang rolled his eyes and said irritably.

"Alright! I'll be off right away." Wolong, holding the silver notes, was beaming with excitement. He even shouted at the four heroes, who were still in shock, "See? Follow Brother Lang, and you'll have plenty of money to spend. Aren't you going to thank Brother Lang?"

The four heroes, jolted back to their senses by the shout, cried out in unison, "Thank you, Master!"

"Just call him Brother Lang from now on." Li Lang smiled when he saw these four lively characters, waved his hand, and signaled them to let them pass.

Upon seeing this, Wolong chuckled, wiggled his large rear end, and led the four out the door.

"Thank you, Brother Lang." Fengchu thanked Li Lang again as everyone left.

"No need, we're brothers, we came from Langya Mountain together, no need to be so formal." Li Lang smiled, and he meant it sincerely.

"Hmm." Hearing this, Fengchu felt inexplicably moved. Of course, following Li Lang down the mountain was definitely the right choice at first. As for whether he was the benefactor her master had mentioned, that was anyone's guess.