Even the emperor was afraid?
Xu Yi initially thought the emperor wasn't afraid of her because he appeared calm throughout. However, upon hearing his words, she realized that he had been feigning strength to avoid showing weakness in front of her...
Xu Yi pouted and sighed, "So even emperors have fears; they're just ordinary people after all..."
Just then she heard a soft chuckle. It was the eunuch relaying a message: "His Majesty is also human, and he has human emotions. In this respect, there is no difference..."
After delivering the message, the supervisor flicked his whisk to the side at Xu Yi. The whisk turned into a long thread, seemingly entangled in someone and remaining motionless in the air. Xu Yi looked at the whisk entangled in the air, puzzled: "Supervisor, what are you doing?"
She heard the supervisor relay the message: "We're acting, don't talk..."
Xu Yi fell silent, watching as the supervisor made a sword-like gesture with his other hand, pressed it to his lips, and then rattled off a string of words. He pointed the sword-like gesture at the air he was holding and shouted, "Thirteenth Princess, it's time to go..." He then gave Xu Yi a meaningful look... Xu Yi understood, nodded, and followed the supervisor, who was still holding the air in his hand, out of the room...
After they left, the sound of the emperor letting out a long sigh of relief could be heard coming from the imperial study...
After the supervisor had been walking for a while, still holding the air in his hand, and seeing that no one was paying attention to them anymore, he put away his whisk and called to Xu Yi, "Let's go, Thirteen."
"What were you doing just now?" Xu Yi still couldn't believe that someone of the rank of Director of the Imperial Observatory would put on an act, so she asked again.
The supervisor glanced at Xu Yi and said naturally, "If we don't put on an act in front of His Majesty, how can he believe that you really came with me?"
"I'm here mainly to handle matters in Quhua Town. Why do you say I want money?" Xu Yi asked, puzzled.
The Imperial Astronomical Bureau chief glanced at Xu Yi: "Doesn't disaster relief require money? Besides, even if you don't want it, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau does. I have plenty of people under my command who are short of money..."
"Ah..." Xu Yi covered her mouth in surprise: "So you were just asking for money for yourself?"
The old supervisor blushed and hurriedly flicked his whisk a couple of times to cover Xu Yi's mouth: "Keep it down, keep it down..." Then, realizing that the others couldn't hear Xu Yi, he quickly regained his dignified and otherworldly demeanor: "In this world, what doesn't cost money?"
"Even enlightened masters love money?" Xu Yi muttered.
"It's not time to ascend to immortality yet. Are you going to starve to death for free?" The supervisor glanced at Xu Yi again. Speaking of starving to death, Xu Yi thought of the dog that had been killed and eaten, and his mood became somewhat depressed. He remained silent for a long time...
Seeing Xu Yi fall silent, the supervisor assumed that his actions had silenced the young girl, so he spoke up to comfort her: "In this world, one must follow the laws of the world. Exchanging money and grain for necessities in the human realm is a very humane thing, there's no need to worry about it too much..."
Upon hearing the supervisor's explanation, Xu Yi waved his hand and said, "No, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I just suddenly thought of an old dog that had just become an immortal being killed and eaten, so I was a little silent..." Xu Yi raised his head and asked the supervisor, "Supervisor, what do you think is the purpose of cultivation?"
"Hmm?" The supervisor exclaimed in surprise, "You've thought of this at such a young age?"
"This... is probably a question that many people would have..." Xu Yi didn't find it strange.
"Hmm..." The supervisor shook his head: "There are many people in this world who blindly follow orders, but few who delve into the underlying reasons for their actions... This little girl is quite good... She has potential..."
"Heh..." Xu Yi gave an awkward laugh and didn't answer.
After a long pause, the supervisor solemnly spoke: "Girl, cultivation is about correcting one's own flaws and shortcomings. Correcting flaws and shortcomings is not about pursuing any fixed goal, not about becoming an immortal, not about attaining enlightenment... When you understand this, you will naturally understand why you cultivate..."
Xu Yi didn't understand at all, but she politely replied, "Oh."
"Haha..." the supervisor laughed, "It's normal that the little girl doesn't understand now. I hope you'll figure it out someday!"
Xu Yi cupped his hands in greeting: "Then... I'll take your kind words..."
The supervisor nodded: "Good boy, do you want to stay in the palace? Eat and drink well."
“No,” Xu Yi shook her head: “I eat and drink very well with Wu Zi, and I also enjoy doing things with him that I can do.”
"Hmm..." The supervisor nodded, "Walking the path of merit is difficult, but the rewards are plentiful; it's a good path..." Then the supervisor took a sachet from his bag and handed it to Xu Yi, "Wear this, and you'll have a shadow from now on..."
"Hmm?" Xu Yi took the sachet, quite surprised. "Can this help me create a fake shadow?"
"Um...cough..." The supervisor cleared his throat and said, "Just...take it as..."
Xu Yi noticed that the supervisor seemed hesitant to speak, and felt something was amiss. However, she also thought that such an important figure as the supervisor wouldn't harm her, so she nodded and accepted the item, wearing it on her waist. Sure enough, a shadow appeared on the ground. Xu Yi hadn't seen her own shadow in a long time and felt a little nostalgic. She turned around and watched the shadow make the same movements as her, and they had a lot of fun along the way...
He didn't notice that the supervisor next to him was watching with great tension, his eyelids twitching repeatedly.
Thinking of the purpose of her visit to the palace, Xu Yi asked the supervisor, "The supervisor didn't mention Quhua Town just now. Are you sure there won't be any problems later?"
"Of course... I'll handle the rest..." The supervisor finally felt relieved when he saw Xu Yi walking normally...
“But you didn’t mention Quhua Town at all…” Xu Yi whispered.
The supervisor rolled his eyes at her: "You're not a government official, you don't understand. People only feel truly at ease when they make their own choices... His Majesty is the same. If we directly mention Quhua Town, we'll inevitably have to explain the whole story, and if we investigate like that, His Majesty's attention will be diverted to corruption or other issues, creating unnecessary complications. Our ultimate goal is to resolve the matter in Quhua Town. As for how to guide His Majesty to choose Quhua Town as the solution, I have my own methods. You can rest assured."
"Oh, that's good." Xu Yi achieved her goal and happily swayed back and forth in the moonlight... which made the supervisor frown again... but he couldn't say anything... he could only sigh and let her be...
Upon returning to the Imperial Observatory's teleportation array, the Director flicked his whisk left and right, and the array patterns on the ground lit up. Unlike Wu Zi, it didn't take nearly as long. Xu Yi couldn't help but exclaim, "Is it really that easy?"
"Haha," the supervisor laughed and stroked his beard, then said to Xu Yi, "Girl, go ahead."
"Oh," Xu Yi nodded, stepped into the formation, and watched as the formation's patterns began to rotate. Instinctively, her stomach started to feel uncomfortable again. Just as she closed her eyes, intending to tough it out, she heard Wu Zi's voice: "Xu Yi, you're back?"
"Huh?" So fast? Xu Yi carefully opened her eyes and saw Wu Zi standing outside the formation looking at her. She was very surprised and walked out of the formation, asking Wu Zi, "How come you came back so quickly? And without any dizziness?"
Wu Zi smiled awkwardly: "Well, my skills are not good enough, so the process will naturally take longer." He then asked Xu Yi: "Who brought you back?"
"Director, Director of the Imperial Observatory." Xu Yi answered and had just taken two steps toward Wu Zi when he saw Wu Zi frowning as he looked at Xu Yi's shadow on the ground and asked, "What...did you bring back?"
"Huh?" Xu Yi turned around: "The magic artifact that the Supervisor gave me, saying it can help me create a fake shadow."
Unexpectedly, Wu Zi frowned even more deeply: "That's what he said?"
Xu Yi thought for a moment and repeated the supervisor's words verbatim: "He said: 'Wear this, and you'll have a shadow from now on.'" After saying this, Xu Yi even showed off the sachet pinned to her waist to Wu Zi...
Unexpectedly, Wu Zi took two steps back unconsciously upon seeing the sachet, looking as if he had something to say: "You..." He couldn't say anything for a while, then looked up and asked Xu Yi: "You... do you have any special feelings?"
"No..." Xu Yi said very honestly, "It's nothing..."
"Oh..." Wu Zi's brows furrowed, and after a long while, he swallowed hard before managing to say, "Then, then let's leave it at that..."
"What's wrong?" Xu Yi was very puzzled. She took two more steps closer to Wu Zi, but to her surprise, Wu Zi's body visibly broke out in goosebumps. He took a step back and said to Xu Yi, "Nothing, nothing, I... I need to get used to it..."
Xu Yi didn't know what Wu Zi needed to adapt to, so she could only stay where she was and obediently nod: "Oh."
Unexpectedly, Wu Zi sat down on the spot and began chanting an incantation. A faint golden light slowly emanated from his body... After Wu Zi finished chanting the incantation, the golden light disappeared. Then Wu Zi chanted the same incantation again... After repeating this three times, Wu Zi finally felt much better. He opened his eyes, and a faint golden light appeared in his pupils, swimming like a dragon... After a while, it disappeared.
Wu Zi stood up and said to Xu Yi, "Now it's all right."
Xu Yi didn't know what had happened to Wu Zi, or what had been wrong with him before, so she could only reply with a dry "Oh, okay."
Wu Zi walked over and asked Xu Yi, "Has the matter in Quhua Town been settled?"
"Yes, the supervisor assured me that he would handle the matter in Quhua Town well." Xu Yi thought for a moment and then honestly added, "However... the supervisor didn't mention Quhua Town to the emperor, saying that I only came to him because I was short of money..."
“The procedures in the palace are complex, and people’s hearts are unpredictable… The Supervisor should have his own plan. As long as the Supervisor agrees, there shouldn’t be any problems.” Wu Zi looked at Xu Yi: “So, should we stay here and wait for His Majesty to send someone to handle things before leaving, or should we leave first?”
"Let's wait until they arrive and handle things before we leave. If all else fails, I'll go into the palace and scare the emperor again."
"Oh?" Wu Zi laughed, "You actually went and scared His Majesty?"
"Ah... I was just venting my anger. Who told him to lock me up in the wilderness? He didn't react at all, and I thought he was no longer afraid of ghosts and gods now that he's an emperor... In the end, I found out that he was actually terrified by me, but he just kept quiet..."
Xu Yi recounted her journey to the palace to Wu Zi, detailing what she said and did... Wu Zi listened attentively, occasionally chiming in, creating a harmonious atmosphere...
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