Chapter 11: All or Nothing
For the next half month, he practiced the art of Yin and Yang with the concubines during the day and with the Queen at night. In the second half of the night, he returned to the underground secret room in Qianyang Palace to practice the vast Qiankun Jue.
With his joyful practice day and night, coupled with his profound inner strength, his Vast Universe Art reached the eighth level, and his inner strength also reached the hundred-year mark.
Now, except for the Queen who can help him increase his internal strength a little, other women can no longer help him improve at all, at most they can make him feel better.
This made Zhou An think about whether he should let Shangguan Rong and Sai Naimu improve their cultivation. Now that he has reached the ninth level of acquired cultivation, he has no problem protecting himself. If he also has the skill of lightness skill, as long as he doesn't get targeted by immortal heroes and powerful demons, he can go anywhere in the world.
Internal strength of more than a hundred years is extremely rare, and only the founding emperor of the empire had ever achieved that.
Based on the inner strength displayed by the Queen Mother at the banquet last time, Shangguan Rong guessed that her cultivation level should be at the peak of the eighth level of the acquired realm. However, the Queen Mother usually would not reveal her cards easily, so the possibility of a higher cultivation level could not be ruled out.
Zhou An now has zero practical experience. Besides, the empress dowager must be surrounded by many experts, so he cannot crush them all. So he decides to stay in the harem.
Anyway, the Queen Mother will take care of any problems. If, after solving the problem of leaving the city, she suddenly finds that staying in the harem is still a very good thing, she will think about how to prolong this balance between the Left Prime Minister and the Queen Mother.
Now, except for the West Palace, all other surface maps of the palace have been lit up. If he wants to increase his internal strength or get more powerful skills, he must sign in at more valuable places.
Just ask the Queen to get him some books about the imperial palace and the secrets of Qianjing. Maybe he can find a place similar to the underground secret passage of Qianyang Palace.
Inside the Left Prime Minister's residence, a group of ministers looked panicked. The Left Prime Minister sat there with a hesitant look, as if he was making a very important decision.
The Sixth Prince stood behind the Left Prime Minister, but his expression was not calm as he looked at the person in front of him.
"Lord Left Prime Minister, we can't wait any longer. Shangguan Yuchen is using chicken feathers as a token of authority and is using every possible means to frame others. Many of our colleagues have been wrongly arrested and tortured into confessing. If this continues, all the ministers who oppose the Queen Mother will be persecuted to death." A minister could not help it and said to the Left Prime Minister with a fist salute.
Jiang Xian sighed, stood up and said, "It's too early to implement it now. If you give us another two months, we will have a better chance."
"Lord Left Prime Minister, we can't wait for two months. By then, I'm afraid everyone here will be in jail and it will be difficult for us to help you overthrow the evil queen." Another minister said hurriedly.
After walking around the hall twice, the left prime minister took a deep breath and said, "Master Xu, Master Chen, Master Zhu, let your people take action. The other masters, please proceed according to the plan."
"Okay." All the ministers immediately stood up and left in a hurry.
At this time Zhou Di said, "How confident are you, Lord Zuo Xiang?"
"At most 50%. It's a shameless Shangguan family. The means they use are too despicable to deal with us. Otherwise, I would have at least 70% chance of success." The Left Prime Minister sighed. Now they were forced into a corner.
"Then I'll trouble you, Left Prime Minister. I'll go and invite the Duke of Protectorate right away." Zhou Di clasped his fists, smiled slightly, and turned to leave. It seemed as if the current serious situation had nothing to do with him.
"Thank you, Your Highness." The Left Prime Minister personally escorted him out through the back door, then strode back to summon his own followers.
That afternoon, Zhou An, as usual, enjoyed singing and dancing, drank and had fun with Sainaimu and other concubines in Changle Palace.
Suddenly, a musician's rapping stick broke and fell to the ground, and the music stopped abruptly. Sainaimu frowned, Zhou An smiled, and saw a figure on the beam out of the corner of his eye.
Because of the last incident with the poison pill, the Queen Mother sent four purple-robed guards to guard Zhou An, and there were more purple-robed guards guarding outside. Any wine and food sent in would undergo strict inspection.
At this moment, because one of the musicians suddenly had a problem, everyone instinctively looked at her.
As a result, the black shadow took the opportunity to land behind the purple guard and stabbed with a dagger. Fortunately, the purple guards were all masters who had undergone rigorous training and were very alert to crises.
When the black shadow fell behind him, he sensed something was wrong and immediately dodged while turning around and sweeping across with his sword.
As a result, the purple-robed guard only avoided the vital points, but the dagger still pierced through the leather armor and penetrated part of it.
The assassin was also forced back by the Purple Guards' counterattack. Purple Guard No. 7, who was responsible for protecting Zhou An, immediately jumped out and shouted, "There is an assassin, protect the emperor."
The purple-robed guards outside rushed in immediately after hearing the shout. The musicians pulled out weapons from their instruments and rushed forward. At the same time, the concubines around Zhou An pulled out the special hairpins on their heads and used them as daggers and rushed forward.
Purple Guard No. 7 swung his knife to shake off the hairpins, then swept it with his backhand, with the tip of the knife scratching the throats of the two concubines who were approaching.
But the blood that spurted out was actually purple-black, and the blood on the blade actually made a hissing sound.
"Poison!" Purple Guard No. 7 was surprised. These concubines had to be people without martial arts skills, but they didn't expect that the one sent in was poisoned.
Sai Naimu screamed and asked the beauties from the Western Regions to stand behind the emperor. She grabbed Zhou An and shouted, "Your Majesty, please follow me. I know there is a place where we can hide not far from Changle Palace."
Zhou An escaped with her from the door behind without any hesitation. Purple Guard No. 7 frowned, but now she was being stopped by these concubines, and she couldn't follow up to protect them for the time being.
In a rage, he infused the purple lightning internal force into the blade, and the blade swept across, creating more than a dozen purple lightning blade auras, which killed the four concubines around him.
However, the poison emitted from the blood made Purple Guard No. 7 feel dizzy. He saw double, lost his sense of balance, and walked unsteadily.
Zhou An followed Sainaimu to the palace next to Changle Palace. He looked up and saw the words "Yikun Palace" written on the plaque.
The two entered the desolate palace with a courtyard overgrown with weeds.
Zhou An looked here and heard the fierce fighting outside. He smiled and said, "It really is you."
Sai Naimu was surprised, and with a guilty look on his face, he said, "Your Majesty, if you knew, why did you follow me?"
"I want to see what the left prime minister has planned. You really know how to choose a place. This Yikun Palace has been abandoned for more than 30 years. It was where one of the emperor's concubines lived. It should be considered a cold palace."
Zhou An glanced around, took out the Hundred Poison Pearl from his belt pocket and said, "Since you are an assassin, why bother giving me this? It will be inconvenient for you to poison me."
Sai Naimu suddenly knelt down and said, “Your Majesty, I am not the left prime minister’s man, but the Sixth Prince sent us here to protect Your Majesty.
The Sixth Prince has issued a secret order to take you out of the palace through the secret passage under the well, and to escort you out of the Qianyuan Empire, never to return. This slave will follow you forever and serve the emperor for the rest of his life."
"Sixth brother Zhou Di? Are you doing this for the Hundred Witches Kingdom?" Zhou An asked.
"Yes, the Sixth Prince agreed. After he ascended the throne, the first thing he would do is to deal with the problem of voodoo in the Western Regions. Moreover, if voodoo cannot be solved, the Sixth Prince agreed to allow the Baiwu Kingdom to enter the territory of the Qianyuan Empire, become citizens of the Qianyuan Empire, and rebuild the Baiwu City for us." Sai Naimu said.
"Well, what you and I agreed on before was all a show. You never thought that I could help you." Zhou An looked at her with a smile.
Sai Naimu showed a little embarrassment, but still said firmly: "The emperor is too restricted by the queen mother, and I can see that the emperor really likes women. Even if he regains the imperial power, it will be difficult for him to achieve anything."
Zhou An laughed loudly, and when he heard the footsteps approaching from outside, he said, "If it weren't for my imperial robe, it seems that no one would believe that I am an emperor. This is good. Take me to the secret passage to have a look."
"Yes." Sai Naimu thought Zhou An agreed, and immediately took out the prepared rope and put it down.
As a result, Zhou An jumped directly into the well, which scared her so much that she screamed and quickly pulled the rope to go down.
Seeing Zhou An standing safely at the bottom of the well that had already dried up.
Zhou An walked to a stone wall, slid his fingers through the gap, and pressed on a stone brick. The stone door in front of him turned, revealing a passage.
Sai Naimu looked at Zhou An in disbelief and broke out in a cold sweat. She suddenly realized that she didn't know this emperor at all. The secret passage here was told to her by the Sixth Prince. The Sixth Prince said that this was a secret passage left behind by the retired emperor, and only the retired emperor and the concubines guarding here knew about it.
"What are you still standing there for? If you are caught up by the Purple Guards, you'll be dead. It's hard to say whether Sixth Brother will admit it or not." Zhou An walked into the secret passage. Sai Naimu looked at Zhou An's back and suddenly felt strange and uneasy.
She thought she had figured out the emperor these days, but now she realized that she must have been deceived by the emperor's appearance. She gritted her teeth and followed him in, and the stone door behind her closed.
(End of this chapter)
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