The Five Elements Bead was currently hanging above the Queen Mother's head, drawing the purple energy from her body.
After sucking the empress dowager's energy, the Five Elements Pearl wanted to fly towards the emperor, but Xue Huan didn't let it and controlled it to fly to the top of the imperial concubine's head.
The lesson from the previous dragon throne was still before her eyes. The purple aura on the emperor might be very strong. How could she dare to let the Five Elements Pearl get close to him?
The Five Elements Pearl jumped in dissatisfaction, but still followed her wishes and sucked the concubine.
Xue Huan happily plucked the wool.
The atmosphere at the banquet below has become extremely lively, and it is time for the gift-giving session.
It was more like a treasure contest than a gift presentation. Ministers competed with ministers, concubines with concubines, and princes with princes. Xue Huan looked at the various rare treasures being presented one after another, her eyes full of excitement.
At this time, the fifth prince's gift was carried in by two eunuchs. The fifth prince stepped forward and uncovered the red silk covering the gift, only to see that it was actually an exquisitely crystal clear iceberg!
The flowers, birds, plants, pavilions and towers on the iceberg are carved vividly and meticulously.
But no matter how well this ice sculpture is carved, it is just an ice sculpture. Not to mention comparing it with the gifts of the previous princes, even those of some ministers cannot compare with it.
Ice is rare for ordinary people, but it is nothing to the royal family.
Then the Second Prince spoke up, "Fifth brother, on the Empress Dowager's birthday, you gave her something like this? Ice melts easily. Are you trying to curse her?"
As soon as the Second Prince said this, the Queen Mother's expression turned pale.
The Fifth Prince seemed unaware and said slowly, "Second brother, you are mistaken. What I gave to the Imperial Grandmother is not this ice sculpture, but an inexhaustible supply of ice! Please take a look, Imperial Grandmother."
He presented a brocade box with both hands.
His words left everyone confused. The Queen Mother signaled to her personal eunuch, Li Xingqing, and said, "Little Qingzi, go and bring up the fifth brother's birthday gift. I want to see what this monkey is up to."
Li Xingqing took the brocade box from the fifth prince, opened it and made sure there was no danger before presenting it to the empress dowager.
There was only a thin piece of paper in the box. The empress dowager picked it up, unfolded it, and took a look at it, with a look of surprise on her face.
The emperor came closer and asked, "What is written on it that makes the Queen Mother so engrossed in it?"
The Empress Dowager restrained her expression and handed the paper over, "The Emperor, take a look too."
Everyone below was confused and very curious about the contents of the paper.
The fifth prince stood in the hall with a gentle smile that was just right, and nothing could be seen on his face.
"Qian'er, is this recipe real?" the emperor asked excitedly.
The Fifth Prince bowed and said, "I have had the recipe tested and it is indeed authentic. The ice used in this ice sculpture was made using the method described above."
"Hahaha, good, good, Qian'er's gift is really good." The emperor was very pleased.
As a superior, he easily saw the value of this prescription.
The Queen Mother beside him glanced at the Emperor with a look of reproach, "Emperor, this is the birthday gift given to me by my fifth son. Do you really want to snatch it from me?"
The emperor hurriedly handed over the prescription and said, "Look at what my mother said. How could I do such a thing?"
Anyway, the Queen Mother wouldn't keep it for herself, so it doesn't matter who has the recipe.
The people below listened to the conversation between the three people, but they didn't quite understand. So what exactly was written on the prescription? From what the Fifth Prince said just now, it seemed that the ice used in the ice sculpture was made by himself?
Hiss, can you make ice yourself?
Everyone exchanged glances frequently, becoming increasingly anxious.
The only thing we know is that the gift sent by the fifth prince pleased the two big bosses at the same time.
It seems that in this birthday gift battle, the fifth prince finally won the victory.
Everyone's gaze on the Fifth Prince subtly shifted, while the Second Prince's face darkened. He hadn't expected that instead of belittling the Fifth Prince, he'd actually made him stand out.
The only outsider who knew about this at the scene was Xue Huan. What the Fifth Prince gave her was the saltpeter ice-making method that she had given to the Ye family, right?
The Ye family is the Fifth Prince's maternal family, so they naturally stand on the Fifth Prince's side. After the Ye family got the prescription, they gave it to the Fifth Prince, who then presented it to the Empress Dowager at the birthday banquet. In fact, it was a disguised presentation to the Emperor, in order to increase his own political bargaining chips.
Xue Huan had no complaints about this. After all, she had already given the recipe to the Ye family. It was the Ye family's freedom to decide how to deal with it, and she had no right to interfere.
However, she has to be careful about how she interacts with the Ye family in the future, so as not to get accidentally involved in the internal strife of the royal family.
She just wanted to make some money and live a good life with her family. She didn't want to get involved in political struggles, nor could she afford to.
However, many times the development of things is not subject to human will.
At this moment, a sharp and long voice came from outside the hall: "The Imperial Master has arrived——"
Huh? This Great Qi Dynasty has a national preceptor?
I wonder what the national teacher looks like?
Under Xue Huan's expectant gaze, a handsome middle-aged man in his forties walked in calmly. His white clothes were whiter than snow, unstained by dust, and he exuded an ethereal air.
He is actually a handsome uncle.
But that's not the point. The point is that this national teacher is also a cultivator! There is spiritual energy floating around him, and his strength is probably in the middle stage of Qi Refining.
Xue Huan's worldview was refreshed again.
At first she thought this was just an ordinary ancient world without any special powers. It was not until she read the book "A Rambling Talk on Qi Refining" that she realized that in ancient times, this was once a world with a prosperous immortal cultivation civilization and full of all kinds of mysterious and strange things.
It just gradually declined as the spiritual energy decreased.
Nowadays, there is basically no spiritual energy in this world. For cultivators, this is the Dharma Ending Age.
It is impossible to practice without spiritual energy. The reason why she can practice is because she has the Five Elements Beads and the memories of her previous life. She is a special case.
Others are not as lucky as her, who has a Five Elements Bead artifact that can transform purple energy into spiritual energy!
So she took it for granted that there were no more cultivators in the world, and prepared to move forward alone on the path of cultivation.
But now she saw the National Master, a cultivator!
Since there's a National Master, then perhaps there are other cultivators as well? A National Master couldn't possibly have cultivated out of thin air, right? He must have a teacher, perhaps even a sect.
Xue Huan felt like a new door had opened in her world and she became inexplicably excited.
People always hope to find others like them. When she first started practicing, she imagined what the real world of immortal cultivation would be like. What was the difference between the life of a cultivator and that of an ordinary person? How would she react if she encountered other cultivators?
But these are just fantasies after all.
Now, the appearance of the monk Guoshi made her realize that there was a side of this world that she didn't know about, and that her fantasies might come true.
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