A golden opportunity
After we finished eating, it was already quite late. Ah Shi saw me off from the Prime Minister's residence: "Aunt, thank you for taking me out to relax today. You even had to be punished along with me. Thank you for your hard work, Aunt."
"No," I sighed, "I think you've had it harder, but things have come to this point, there's really no other way but to proceed step by step. You also need to take better care of your mind and not let it get too out of control!"
"Yes, I know, Aunt. Then you should go back to the palace soon, and remember to call me if you need anything!"
"Okay, I understand."
I mounted my horse and slowly made my way to the palace. But when I reached the path closest to the capital, I found it deserted and quiet. I jerked my horse to a halt, and the next second, a large number of men in black sprang up from all around me. They surrounded me and drew their knives.
I never imagined that, so many years after my death, after my bones had been tempered by heavenly lightning several times, I would still encounter assassination attempts from the mortal world...
I drew my bone whip and looked at the people around me: "Did the Crown Prince send you?"
They didn't say anything, but all raised their knives and slashed at me.
I rode on my horse, brandishing my bone whip to repel those who approached. But there were too many of them, and they swung their blades at me from different directions. Inevitably, I couldn't reach everyone. Those broadswords struck me, cutting me off my horse and slicing off my flesh, but they couldn't hurt my bones.
I withstood the swords and blades with my strong bones. When the crowd gathered around me and saw that I was covered in wounds but no blood was flowing, they slowly stopped and surrounded me in the center.
As I was cautiously looking around, a magical artifact suddenly floated down from the sky. The artifact's protective shield, like a pot lid, descended straight down and enveloped me. At that moment, the main entity finally revealed itself.
I watched the Crown Prince approach me step by step and sneered, "Nephew, you've really given your aunt quite a surprise!"
"Hahaha, Aunt, today is a golden opportunity! You took your tenth brother to a brothel today and also dragged Muli away from his post. Muli is being punished at home right now, while your tenth brother is studying hard at the Prime Minister's residence. The people in the palace just think you haven't gone back. At this good time, you are all alone."
I looked up at the bright yellow protective barrier around me and repeated, "Yes, I only have myself right now. What do you want?"
“I want to kill your aunt,” he said calmly.
"Go ahead and try! Recite all the magical artifacts and incantations you know in front of me, and see if I'll be pierced to dust!"
The prince frowned slightly, but still waved to the servants behind him. Three people dressed in monks' robes stepped forward, each carrying a magical artifact. I examined them one by one: one was a Taoist treasure, one a Buddhist staff, and the other a writing brush gleaming with white light…
To destroy me, they even brought out the magical artifacts of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism! I casually put away the bone whip in my hand and hung it back on my waist, chuckling, "It seems I really make you wary, so you've gathered treasures from three schools to save me?"
"Hmph..." The Crown Prince merely snorted coldly, then nodded to the three of them.
First, a cultivator carrying a Taoist treasure came out and chanted incantations in front of me. After chanting for a long time, the artifact emitted a yellow light and rushed towards me. However, it circled around me once and then flew back to the cultivator's hand. No matter how much the cultivator chanted, it wouldn't move.
I pursed my lips: "This Taoist treasure that the Crown Prince found is no good!"
The prince remained silent. The cultivator beside him raised his staff and activated it with his spiritual power. The staff began to hover and spin in the air, emitting an arc of yellow light that swept over me from head to toe. Then the light faded and the staff stopped moving.
"Ha..." I laughed: "Even this Buddhist treasure is useless!"
The prince frowned even more deeply, then nodded to the last cultivator. The cultivator tossed his brush towards me, and it hovered above my head for a long time, making only a few haphazard strokes, never forming a character. Undeterred, the cultivator bit his middle finger, injecting his own blood essence into the brush. The brush shone brightly, but still only managed a few strokes before flying back into the cultivator's hand.
The monk frowned and reported to the prince: "Your Highness, this woman is extremely bewitching; even the Zen-sealing brush cannot capture her true nature."
"Oh, so this brush was meant to depict my true nature so you could target and kill me?" I laughed, somewhat amused. "Haha, what a pity, nephew. My current state transcends the Three Realms and is outside the Five Elements. This brush can no longer define my nature."
"Shoot the arrows!" the crown prince ordered fiercely.
Suddenly, many men in black appeared behind the prince, each holding a bow and began shooting arrows at me. After they finished shooting, I calmly pulled all the arrows out of my body, not caring at all as I tore out flesh and blood.
After I finished removing the arrows from my body, my body was covered in mottled marks, revealing many skeletons without flesh...
I calmly looked at the Crown Prince: "Red-Powdered Skull, Your Highness has never heard of it?"
"You!" The crown prince stormed up to me, furious. "What exactly are you?"
"What a pity, nephew. You'll never know, because from the very beginning, you've walked a completely different path from mine." I calmly flicked the bone whip at my waist, striking him with lightning speed. He reacted quickly, turning his head, and the whip only managed to leave a bloody welt on his face...
"Your Highness, be careful." The person behind him rushed forward, blocking my next whip and pulling the prince back, looking at me warily.
The prince shoved the person in front of him away in dissatisfaction and said to me fiercely, "If I can't kill you today, I'll kill you tomorrow. If this method doesn't hurt you, I'll find another one. In any case, you've already been captured by me. It's just a matter of time."
I glanced at the protective barriers around me: "Oh? It seems my nephew specifically inquired about my weaknesses in order to deal with me! That's right, any formation that traps ghosts or demons could stop me before, but now, is it the same as before?"
I calmly approached the magic barrier, dragging my long bone whip, and in one step, I stepped outside the barrier. By the time I was completely outside the barrier, the people around me hadn't even reacted yet.
I lashed out with my whip, charging straight at the crown prince at the front. I shoved aside the people around him, then gripped the end of the whip and thrust it forward, aiming straight for his heart. He was startled and grabbed my arm, trying to push me away, but I was focused solely on moving forward. The mortals around me couldn't pull me away, so they kept hacking at my body, but I ignored them. I pushed forward again, shoving the crown prince to the ground. I continued to thrust, intending to penetrate the bone whip even deeper, but then the servants behind me pulled the crown prince backward, and the bone whip only managed to slash a straight wound across his chest...
But the crown prince was eventually out of my control. I turned around and saw the person behind me supporting the crown prince. I wanted to retreat, so I shouted, "Axi, you brat!"
In an instant, the two ghosts were bewildered and called to my side. I pointed at the prince and said, "Stop them."
The little devil landed on all fours and leaped in front of the prince. It bit the arm of the servant who was shielding the prince, and the servant cried out in pain. The little devil then leaped and swooped down towards the rapidly retreating prince.
Ah Xi also began to release his ghostly aura. The aura was shallow and not strong enough, but it still slightly obscured the view of those around him. I raised my bone whip and lashed it here and there, quickly shoving everyone around me away. I left Ah Xi with a "Hold on" and chased after the little ghost.
I rushed forward quickly, and could faintly hear exclamations coming from ahead. I quickened my pace to catch up, and just as I saw the little devil, I saw the cultivator beside the prince raise the brush again. I quickly called out to the little devil, "Little devil, come back!"
The little devil darted back to my side in a flash. I looked at the Crown Prince, who stood facing me, clutching his injured chest: "Aunt, you may be fearless, but they are not!"
"Let them go. That's enough for today. We'll meet again another day!"
"Very well, Auntie is so generous!" After saying that, someone next to the Crown Prince played a flute. After a few melodious notes, the Crown Prince spoke again: "Auntie, shall we meet again?"
"Fine!" I tilted my head and looked at him defiantly. "I'll wait for you."
His lips moved slightly, his teeth ground together, and after a long while, he managed an awkward smile: "Then, farewell, Aunt."
After he finished speaking, the people around him warily blocked his way, protecting the crown prince as he retreated step by step back to the crown prince's residence not far away.
Before long, I heard rustling footsteps and some indescribable sounds around me. The mortals finally made it to the front, but when they saw me standing there, they stopped and stared at me. I turned around with the little devil and made way for them, saying, "Get lost!"
Their eyes lit up, and they all rushed past me, throwing themselves back into the Crown Prince's residence. Only after the last group had all retreated back to the residence did I hear A-Xi's voice: "Grandma, didn't I do a good job!"
I turned to look at Ah Xi, who was grinning, and asked, "How did you stop them?"
"Everyone has desires. I myself am the sum of three of the seven desires, so naturally I use desires to hold them back."
I looked him up and down: "Are you alright? There are two cultivators behind you."
“It’s alright,” Ah Xi waved his hand at me. “Everyone has desires. Those two aren’t saints in the physical body, so they’re easy to deal with. Besides, I just stopped them.”
“Alright,” I nodded. “It happened so suddenly that I could only call the two of you over. That’s all for today. You go back now and keep a low profile. Don’t let the Crown Prince find out. If there are any problems, come to the Imperial Observatory to find me!”
"Okay!" A-Xi nodded: "I understand. But you're really amazing, Grandma! You summoned me from so far away in an instant. I didn't even have time to react at first!"
"I just had a gut feeling that I could summon you two here, so I gave it a try, and I didn't expect it to work so well."
Ah Xi gave me a thumbs up: "Wow, my great-aunt is amazing!"
"Let's go back first, be careful."
"Mm." Ah Xi nodded, and a moment later turned into a wisp of pink smoke and left.
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