Chapter 4: Soldiers

Mu Qi was very excited and rode into the mansion on horseback. He sent the family members in charge to investigate, but he was greatly disappointed: the mansion was quiet all around, and there was no sign of impending turmoil; the relatives and friends of the Duke Mu’s mansion had also been informed of the news, and there was no sign of what the prince had been expecting.

The court is the only ship that leaks from the top. Considering the weak and lax confidentiality level around the old Taoist priest, which is as leaky as a big shower head; considering the connections of Duke Mu's Mansion, which are as important as those of the country, there is basically no news if they cannot get any information, and there is probably no possibility of it being blocked. Mu Qi felt bored and his interest quickly cooled. He sat in the chair without moving.

Seeing that the prince looked unhappy, Jinbao, the butler who was ordered to investigate, was very frightened and quickly reported the other two pieces of information he had learned: the Imperial City Bureau and the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent people to the home of Left Vice-Chief Censor Di Maoyan, but it was a secret act and could not be publicized.

"Do it in secret?" Mu Qi asked, "Do you mean that everyone in the court knows about it?"

"This is a real secret." The butler had to emphasize: "Top secret."

Mu Qi moved in his chair, feeling a little dazed. According to the information provided by the system, Afu Xia, the chief minister and Yan Ge Lao's censor, was in charge of the four salt transport commissioners for more than ten years. He was known as "holding all the benefits of the world in his hands" and was very powerful at the time. Later, the iceberg collapsed because he was too ruthless and bold enough to take money from the emperor's pocket, which alarmed the emperor and led to his complete failure.

But now…now should be the honeymoon period when everyone can make great efforts and open up new sources of wealth for the old Taoist priest. How could Lao Deng do such a ruthless thing when his business is barely halfway started?

Such inexplicable historical changes inevitably made Mu Qi a little confused.

Of course, the most troublesome thing is not the fall of the Chief Censor, but the person behind the smoke. As everyone knows, Di Maoyan used to follow the connections of Yan Donglou, the young elder Yan, and climbed up the job of salt inspector by currying favor with the powerful. Now that he has been convicted and is being investigated, could he have any connection with the Yan family?

If the Yan family fell twenty years earlier, the impact would be too great, and it might bring unknown variables to the system tasks. Mu Qi thought about it and was still a little worried:

"How is it going with Elder Yan?"

"Your Highness is wise." The housekeeper quickly complimented: "The emperor did send Eunuch Li to pass on his decree, giving each of the Grand Secretaries in the cabinet a box of elixirs, and ordering them to take them on time to understand the emperor's love for his subjects."

Speaking of this, the butler's tone also showed some envy. As a seventh-rank official in front of the duke's mansion, he was able to stay in the capital to look after the old duke's household. He also donated a future as a tribute student and was qualified to become an official. However, the official fortune of a servant in a government office still depends on the official fortune of his master. Seeing that the ministers had such a great favor in their hearts and had been granted such a precious gift, the steward Jinbao was of course very touched. He hoped that his master would work hard and go to Qingliang Palace to ask for a golden pill to eat.

But the respected and honorable Prince of the Duke just snorted, patted his butt, stood up leisurely, and didn't ask any more questions.

By that evening, the entire situation became clear. The court was calm and there was no news in the capital. It didn't seem like they were going to attack the Duke's Mansion, nor did they seem like they were going to overthrow Yan. In a nutshell, it is still a simple, boring and tedious daily life.

The Duke's son was very unwilling. After the servant prepared the white cloth and red paint, he took the things and went out for a walk. It stands to reason that if the surveillance target's behavior was so abnormal, any spy from the Imperial Guard with a little bit of vigilance should have taken action on the spot. But there was still no movement outside the Duke's Mansion. Only a few new vendors nearby looked up at the prince and continued to do their business.

Of course, there is nothing we can do if these people don't pay attention. The fried fruit wrapped in the pancakes they made was so mushy and rotten that even dogs were unwilling to come. With the craftsmanship trend at this point, how is it possible to gain a foothold in the capital? This is basically like carving the word "suspicious" on your forehead.

Mu Qi stared at it for half a minute, but finally shook his head and ordered someone to buy two kilograms of rotten pancakes.

...Forget it, why should working people make things difficult for working people?

Mu Qi was very unhappy that his expectations were dashed. He went home and fell on the bed, feeling hungry. Then he asked the servant to bring him food and asked about his itinerary for the next few days. Knowing that he would have to go to court in the middle of the night every three days to accompany the old Taoist priest in drinking heavy metal, the depressed prince became even angrier. So I let off some steam during my routine post-meal journal reporting.

However, in addition to the usual insults about the shitty system, the insane, and the utterly reactionary feudal system, Mu Qi also wrote down his worries: seeing that the emperor was addicted to drugs and behaved in a secretive manner, he had greatly exceeded the bottom line of Confucian ethics. If this continued, I'm afraid that some moralists would stand up and make a desperate appeal.

"…Death remonstrances also need to be timely. Once a celebrity sets the trend, those who come after will just follow suit." He wrote worriedly, "What if the novelty is gone? What influence will it have? I'm afraid the historian will just say 'wait' and forget about me. How can I complete my mission? Why is it so difficult to get the first kill of death remonstrance when working for Lao Deng?"

After quickly finishing writing, Mu Qi sighed deeply, then abandoned the system, skillfully ignored the slowly uploading progress bar, and went out to wash up.

·

To be fair, True Lord Feixuan and Emperor Qingmiao have been practicing for decades, and it is hard to say whether they have developed internal strength, but they have certainly developed some concentration. Although he encountered such a severe stimulation, except for the time when he yelled and lost his composure in front of eunuchs such as Li Zaifang, who had served him since childhood, late at night, he had managed to suppress the indescribable surge of emotions throughout the day, and went about his business and met people as usual, without letting anyone notice the clues beneath his orange-peel old face. It was not until late at night that he could no longer wait, so he dismissed all the palace servants and quietly stepped into the secret room of Qingliang Palace again.

Within just one day, the emperor had calmed down and made full preparations for this evil book of unknown origin. The narrow secret room was meticulously decorated by Li Zaifang and his men. From inside to outside, talismans to ward off evil spirits written by dozens of high-level masters from Qingxu Temple, Baiyun Temple, Xuanzhen Temple, and Longhu Mountain were hung. Gold paper and cinnabar fluttered in the wind. The incense burner in the center of the incense stand was removed and replaced with a long sword that Emperor Gaozu used when he led an uprising.

According to Taoist Lan of Xuanzhen Temple, the extremely yang nature of the Holy Son of Heaven can ward off all evil, and the Emperor is even more immune to all poisons when meditating here; Taoist Lan probably said this just to flatter the emperor, but the old Taoist was never confused when it came to his own interests. So he thought about it and decided that he did not trust the yang energy of himself, the Holy Emperor, so he ordered people to dig out the good things from his ancestors.

Such preparation is foolproof. The emperor forced himself to remain calm and placed the rare magic book on the incense table and talismans. At 1:00 a.m., the ordinary "Diary" really began to emit white light:

[Data uploading...]

[Upload error, saving locally. 】

[…Alas, working for Lao Deng, why do I have to queue up even for a death order? 】

emperor:? ! ! !

Zhenjun’s hands tightly grasped the incense table and he almost fell down. His hair stood on end, veins popped out on his forehead, and his eyes were wide open. He finally used all his life's skills to suppress the blood that spurted out of his heart, and avoided having his arteries burst on the spot.

certainly. Although "Lao Deng" and "Daoist priest" were also disloyal and indignant, they made people indignant, but after seeing them for a long time, they became numb and were not enough to make Master Fei Xuan confused. What really made him unbearable were the two extremely glaring words in the diary:

"Death Advice"

Damn it, according to what this means, will I end up with people lining up to die for my advice to me in the future? !

When His Majesty thought of this, his eyes bulged and his heart immediately ached again!

No matter whether he was the young emperor who swept the court and was feared by thousands of men in the past, or he was the old Taoist priest who was weird and did not speak human language now, Master Feixuan has been making plans for decades, and his essence has never changed; the so-called mysterious cultivation in name but secretly ruling alone, the so-called many desires in heart but pretending to be kind and righteous on the outside, glory, wealth, and immortality are what we are striving for, and the reputation of a sage and benevolent ruler cannot be lacking.

In short, Your Majesty wants both the substance and the appearance.

But from ancient times to the present, has there ever been a sage king or benevolent ruler who died for his advice? What's more, they are lining up to make the remonstrance, so the power is greatly doubled. Looking through the entire "General History", perhaps the only two people who were fortunate enough to receive such treatment were Jie and Zhou.

He, Feixuan Zhenjun, Qingmiao Emperor, who is in charge of the six directions, and Wulei Dazhenren, has practiced martial arts for decades, but in the end he has become shoulder to shoulder with Xia Jie and Shang Zhou?

He can never accept it!

The emperor, who was deeply traumatized, exhaled two puffs of air from his nostrils, raised his hand to grab the evil book, and quickly flipped through it, reading ten lines at a glance; he vowed to find the clues of "death remonstrance" between the lines. Unfortunately, the diary was long-winded and contained nothing but a bunch of angry complaints, and it did not reveal any useful information - at least not information that the emperor could understand.

But Master Feixuan was extremely smart. After checking it carefully several times, he still found some clues: although the log was long-winded, many scattered fragments showed an eager anticipation for certain intense events.

For example, dying for advice, for example, sacrifice, for example, being passionate and righteous, and dying for justice, just do it with Lao Deng to his heart's content!

So many self-destructive remarks inevitably caused the True Lord to look askance. He thought about it and subconsciously ruled out the possibility that this was a sincere act (if he forced people to fight him sincerely, then he would be a failure as an emperor), and felt that there must be a great conspiracy and unfathomable interests behind this.

But life is what I want, and nothing is more important than life. What kind of interests can make people disregard their own lives?

Quite naturally, the emperor, who was well versed in Taoist scriptures, gradually thought of the only possibility:

Soldiers are eliminated.

Dismemberment and escape from death; the immortals, star gods, and demons who were banished to the mortal world have made great progress in their cultivation and have completed their tribulations. With the help of external forces, they can destroy the physical body that binds their true spirit, and their souls can ascend to the upper realms to obtain eternal freedom.

——In a nutshell, it is a secret method to achieve immortality and become an immortal.

Thinking of this, the emperor, who was originally furious, began to breathe heavier; in just a few breaths, his explosive temper subsided, and unbearable desire surged up from the deepest part of his heart - being insulted as "Lao Deng" was of course very frustrating; but thinking about the glimmer of hope of becoming an immortal, he seemed to be able to calm down instantly.

No matter whether it is a god or a demon, the ability of this strange book to come out of nowhere and create something out of nothing seems to be a magical power never seen before in Taoist books. With such magical powers and such an origin, the words "disappearance in battle" or "escape from death" cannot help but make people believe it.

This three-point credibility has undoubtedly surpassed the magic power that all the high-level magicians in the world have displayed for Zhenjun over the decades of his cultivation. It is enough to make people dizzy and unable to control themselves!

As for those vulgar and embarrassing insults...the gods and demons are high above this world and don't know the etiquette of the mundane world, so isn't it normal for them to say something inappropriate sometimes? As the incarnation of Feixuan Zhenjun and Qingmiao Emperor, he should be more magnanimous.

After spending half a minute to figure out the trick, the emperor immediately lost his anger. He was even too lazy to care about the issue of his death-remonstration that would affect his reputation for generations to come, and his thoughts went straight to the point - if there really was someone who wanted to use his death-remonstration as a weapon to help him ascend to heaven, who was this person?

——We must investigate, we must investigate; even if we have to turn the sewers in the capital upside down, we must get to the bottom of this!

...However, according to the Taoist scriptures, the death of a soldier is related to destiny and must not be known to ordinary people. If it were not for the successful cultivation and noble character of Master Feixuan, probably the heaven would not have given him this wonderful book to tell the secret. But the secret of heaven cannot be leaked. If it leaks out inadvertently and causes surprise to outsiders, it is not a big deal. I am afraid that Master Feixuan’s path to becoming an immortal will also be filled with twists and turns.

What if some people die prematurely? How can he find the opportunity to ascend to heaven?

The emperor made up his mind instantly.

"…It is better to let the Imperial City Bureau conduct a secret investigation. There is no need to resort to violence for the time being."

He muttered to himself, picked up the golden ruyi beside him, and knocked on the incense burner.