Chapter 339 I'll Accompany You for One Night

In the bedroom, candlelight flickered.

Zhao Duan and Xu Zhenguan sat opposite each other, each thinking about different problems.

"Your Majesty, I am relieved to hear this." Zhao Duan pretended to be relieved and said seriously:

"So, the demon dao is collaborating with the Kuangfu Society and is also connected to the Underworld Cult. Doesn't this mean that the Kuangfu Society may have formed an alliance with this evil organization?"

Xu Zhen looked at him and said:

"Not necessarily. Zhuang Xiaocheng is not a fool. His goal is to support Jianwen's descendants, regain the throne, and realize his ideal of following the emperor. Any involvement with evil sorcerers is a scandal."

Implications:

Even if Zhuang Xiaocheng has connections with the evil organization, the degree of connection will not be deep, because he is too closely involved to get rid of it.

After all, the reason why the people of Kuangfu Society have been fighting till now is that they still have the idea of ​​clearing their name and returning to the court.

Although Xu Jianwen died, the remnants of the rebels took away the second prince's wife and son when they fled. The banner raised by the rebels was to support this "grandson of the emperor" to ascend the throne.

Scandal? But your father was once the emperor of the underworld and served as the imperial tutor... Zhao Duan complained in his heart.

Xu Zhenguan seemed to see through his thoughts and said with a headache:

"However, if Zhuang Xiaocheng is pushed into a corner and feels the situation is too unfavorable, there's no telling if he'll go even further and mobilize these people."

Obviously, this is not what the empress wants to see.

The atmosphere in the bedroom was a little depressing for a moment.

Zhao Duan subconsciously wanted to pick up the teapot and pour tea for the female leader to ease the embarrassment.

But then he remembered that the teapot was empty, so he stopped and changed the subject:

"Your Majesty, that demon exploded in my dream. Are there any aftereffects? I just fainted for no apparent reason, and my blood is agitated."

This was his second concern.

Xu Zhenguan's expression became complicated when hearing this. She first soothed him and said:

"Don't worry, I've investigated, it's not a big deal. After the demon's soul disintegrated, it suffered a backlash and transformed into pure soul power. Originally, that soul power would attract the arrival of the rampant god, who would take it away..."

Zhao Duanfu was so happy that he blurted out:

"When I arrived, I saw red lightning in the southern sky."

"You guessed right, that's the vision of the God of Insurgency descending upon the world," Xu Zhenguan briefly explained. The death of the Five Insurgency followers would trigger events involving the God of Insurgency, and he said with a gloomy look in his eyes:

"Luckily, you're in the capital. If you were outside, the Impermanent God would descend and not only take away the demon's remains, but he'd also likely devour you as well... But there's no need to worry now. Tianshi Zhang has already taken action and defeated the Impermanent God. With this, Master Guhuo's entire spiritual cultivation is now yours."

She said in a strange tone:

"The Divine Chapter Realm is a realm that focuses on cultivating the soul. You were not yet firmly established, and I did not tell you about the subsequent training. However, I have accidentally hit you with a lucky break. Once you digest the soul power he left behind, it should be enough for you to advance to the middle level of the Divine Chapter."

Such a great tonic? Zhao Duan's face showed joy.

But Xu Zhenguan didn't seem to want him to get cocky, so he said with a half-smile:

"However, there is no such thing as pure good in this world. The demon's soul power is not entirely harmless. Your coma just now was a manifestation of it. I ordered someone to dissolve the elixir and feed it to you, which temporarily suppressed the power.

But the elixir can't completely eliminate the aftereffects; it can only help postpone the onset of symptoms. If you want to fully benefit from this gift, you'll have to rely on yourself and get through the next onset."

ton……

Zhao Duan's Adam's apple rolled for the second time. He was a little panicked and said cautiously:

"Your Majesty, the illness you are referring to is..."

"desire."

Xu Zhenguan opened his red lips slightly, uttered these two words, and said lightly:

"The rampant god was born from all kinds of human desires. The demon's soul is also full of desires. After his death, those desires will gradually dissipate, but before that, you will be dominated by desires, just like the onset of a disease.

Well, but next time, you won't just be unconscious, but will most likely lose your mind, your mind dominated by desire, degenerating into an irrational beast... and performing crazy acts."

Losing my mind... Du An's lips turned pale and he said in a trembling voice:

"What will happen to me?"

Xu Zhenguan said quietly:

"I'm not sure, but there are several possibilities. For example, you might develop a strong appetite and feel hungry. Driven by hunger, you rush out to try to eat. Considering it's nighttime and there's no food outside, you're very likely to try to eat humans."

Eating people... Zhao Duan's breathing tightened, and at the same time he felt a "gurgling" sound coming from his stomach, accompanied by a feeling of hunger.

Xu Zhenguan glanced at him and said slowly:

"You might also develop a bloodlust and destroy everything in sight. At the very least, you might smash objects and demolish houses. At the worst, you might charge into a crowd, killing everyone and transforming into a murderous demon."

Zhao Duan bit his lip and felt a surge of violence in his heart, wanting to destroy everything.

He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails almost dug into his flesh.

Xu Zhenguan continued:

"Or, for example, if you develop greed and go on a mad quest to plunder wealth, oh, I don't need to explain this in detail. It's nothing more than breaking into houses, killing people, and stealing gold and silver."

Zhao Duan looked at the precious treasures in the room, his heart was moved and he was eager to take some.

Xu Zhenguan jokingly said, "Or lust..."

"Your Majesty! Stop reading!" Zhao Duan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and smiled bitterly:

“I feel like I have…”

Xu Zhenguan chuckled, stopped teasing him, and said with a smile:

"You haven't reached the stage of illness yet, so don't scare yourself. If nothing unexpected happens, it will probably take another hour for the effect of the pill to wear off."

One hour... Zhao Duan said seriously:

"Your Majesty, to prevent me from going mad, I beg Your Majesty to have me tied up."

Xu Zhenguan was helpless but also a little amused:

"You think tying her up will solve the problem, but if the desire really comes, believe it or not, driven by hunger, you might eat yourself?"

Zhao Duan shuddered with fear, and bowed down with deep emotion:

"Your Majesty, save me!"

Xu Zhenguan said helplessly, "If I didn't save you, why would I order you to be thrown into this palace?"

Zhao Duan said in surprise: "Your Majesty means..."

Xu Zhenguan sighed: "I will keep an eye on you tonight to prevent you from losing your mind and doing something irreparable."

Translated, the two of them will have to stay in the bedroom until dawn tonight.

Zhao Duan breathed a sigh of relief and felt extremely grateful. At this moment, he didn't even think about anything else. He was just afraid of what would happen if Ma Yan didn't bring him to the palace.

If I go crazy, I might end up making some big mistakes.

If I, who am in the Divine Chapter Realm, go crazy and have the Dragon Soul by my side, even Ma Yan might not be able to suppress me.

However, now that the Empress is looking after me, I don't have to worry.

"Your Majesty, I have no way to repay your grace!" Zhao Duan took the opportunity to express his loyalty.

"Okay, put away your act. Even if you don't find it annoying, I do." Xu Zhenguan said unhappily.

Perhaps because there was charcoal burning in the warm room, the autumn night was not cold at all, and was even a little hot.

As Xu Zhenguan spoke, he raised his hand to pick up the jade pot in front of him, and as expected, he found nothing.

Xu Zhenguan: "..."

Zhao Duan: "..."

"minister……"

"Forget it, no need to explain." Xu Zhenguan sighed softly, thinking that he could not keep this teapot.

She turned her head and gave an order outside the door.

…

A moment.

The door opened, and palace maids brought in trays with many fruits, cakes and new tea, filling the large tea table.

Then he retreated silently, without even looking at Zhao Duan from beginning to end.

After the door was closed again, the king and his ministers simply started eating and drinking.

However, Xu Zhenguan had the habit of eating less after dinner, and Zhao Duan did not dare to eat too much, always suspecting that he was controlled by his "appetite".

So the way he eats is quite elegant.

Zhao Duan stuffed a date into his mouth. Knowing that the night was long, he made small talk and said:

"Your Majesty, I heard there's been some progress on the new market opening policy recently?"

The old supervisor had talked to him about this matter last time, but he didn't go into details.

Xu Zhenguan said "yes" and said:

"The general plan has been completed. However, after the news spread, the local clans, and even my eight uncles, have already shown their power. Probably in a while, Huting will hold a 'political meeting'. At that time, these princes and some of the nobles who are trying to interfere will gather together, which will be the biggest test."

Zhao Duan was stunned. It was the first time he heard the news.

Lake Pavilion... He knew this place. It was at the junction of Huai River and Linfeng, and was known as the "Ten-Li Lake Pavilion".

It was originally a place with extremely developed commerce. In order to solve the financial problems of the Ministry of Revenue, the court chose to open a market in Huting.

According to the empress, the eight princes and many aristocratic families obviously knew the significance of opening the market. Some people might not have seen through it yet, but they were not stupid and would not pretend not to see it.

Of course, this group of people will not and cannot do anything openly. After all, this is a policy that has already been agreed upon at the court meeting.

But it is possible to intervene, take a piece of the pie, or find ways to keep as much of the benefits in the "market" as possible in your hands and not give new merchants the opportunity to rise...

The so-called "political consultation" mentioned by the empress was nominally a meeting presided over by the imperial court, which gathered many merchants who wanted to participate in the market and set rules.

But the Eight Kings and many powerful families smelled the scent and came...

One can imagine what the scene will be like at the upcoming parliament meeting in Huting.

What a great event.

"Haha, when the time comes, I will definitely send someone to keep an eye on it. What do you think? Are you interested?" Xu Zhenguan suddenly asked with a smile.

Zhao Duan said frankly: "I don't have that ability."

The eight kings are discussing politics...what's going on?

Just think about it and you will know that the major forces will definitely not be happy to let the new policy be implemented smoothly. They will definitely try to force their way into a piece of the pie, which will inevitably lead to conflicts.

Just one Prince Jing made him feel pressured, let alone eight princes together.

Up to now, the only two people Zhao Duan had indirectly dealt with were Prince Jing and Prince Huaian.

There are six left, including Prince Mu of Yunfu Dao.

King Hejian of Xiping.

King Yanshan of the Northern Iron Pass Road.

King Heng of Qingzhou Road.

King Chen of Binhaidao.

And the King of Qiong in the most remote Lingnan.

Xu Zhenguan smiled and said nothing. After all, there was still some time and she had not made up her mind yet.

The reason for asking is that the new policy for opening the market was originally proposed by Zhao Duan. He knows it best and is loyal and capable enough.

He is the most suitable person to represent her at the meeting.

But...it's really too dangerous...on second thought...

"Yawn." Xu Zhenguan suddenly covered his mouth with his bare hands, stood up and walked towards the bedroom next door.

"I'm tired, do you want to sleep?"

(End of this chapter)