Chapter 73 Mother Wants to Live
Di Ting was able to enjoy Fanlou's dishes as he wished.
Jiang Yuzhi took the time to send a message to the Black and White Impermanence, inquiring about the cause of the person's death.
That night, neither the Black and White Impermanence came in person, but sent a ghost messenger on duty. The messenger said that there was no problem with the cause and time of death, so the ghost messenger in charge of the person did not report anything unusual.
Fan Wujiu frowned as he read the small note that Jiang Yuzhi had burned.
Possessing and harming people? It doesn't seem like a ghost lingering in the human world at all; it's more like someone who has mingled in the underworld and learned some low-level magic from country bumpkins.
The person who was possessed has just entered Fengdu and is waiting to be reincarnated.
Xie Bi'an secretly visited him and found that apart from being a bit lazy and trying to run a gambling table in secret, he had no problems with his soul.
They definitely took advantage of the loophole.
As his lifespan nears its end, he hides himself in the body of an unlucky fellow with a weak will, and then deliberately approaches his true target.
The Emperor of Fengdu glanced at the note and solemnly instructed the Black and White Impermanence to keep a close eye on Zhao Qingyun, as he needed to go to Heaven.
During this time, Zhao Qingyun must not be allowed to out of sight for even a moment.
After saying that, he thickened the barrier several more times and went up to the sky alone.
The Heavenly Court and the Underworld are in charge of matters concerning the living and the dead, respectively.
Favorable weather and the flow of fortune are largely under the control of the Heavenly Court.
Humanity has been plagued by natural disasters for several years, yet the Heavenly Court has failed to send any deities to intervene; this is a dereliction of duty.
The Emperor of Fengdu shouldn't have any jurisdiction over the Heavenly Court, and he considered Zhao Qingyun's unusual behavior as a temporary minor oversight.
However, the wisp of soul that escaped clearly indicated that this matter was not as simple as he had imagined.
No matter how powerful a mortal's soul is, it is impossible for it to escape the shackles of the underworld and flee to the human world.
There are only souls that have leaked the hook, but no ghosts that have escaped.
Considering Zhao Qingyun's special qualities, the Emperor of Fengdu still personally went to the Heavenly Court.
Before going to heaven, the officials in charge of the underworld must routinely burn incense and inquire about the heavenly way to see if they are permitted to go.
If a wisp of smoke rises straight up, it means it's agreed; if the smoke drifts in any other direction, it means it's not acceptable.
The Emperor of Fengdu left in a hurry without burning incense, and surprisingly, Heaven did not send down heavenly lightning to punish him.
He traveled smoothly all the way to the Jade Emperor's residence.
He was recognized by all the fairies along the way.
"Why did the Emperor come up here? His Majesty should be in Yuqing Palace right now."
"When Your Majesty is done with your work, you can come to my place and get some fruit wine. It's all brewed from the finest celestial fruits, and our Empress loves to drink it."
"Yes, yes, bring some more fairy fruits back with you. Lord Di Ting will definitely love them."
The Emperor of Fengdu thanked them all with a smile, his steps never faltering.
The closer the Emperor of Fengdu got to Yuqing Palace, the more he felt the chilling cold emanating from the clouds around him, even more eerie than his underworld.
Even though he knew it was just psychological, the Emperor of Fengdu's expression became even more serious.
Almost all the immortals I encountered on the road were female; I didn't see a single male immortal.
This is very abnormal.
Female immortals are under the jurisdiction of the Queen Mother of the West, while male immortals are under the jurisdiction of the Jade Emperor.
The Emperor of Fengdu and the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother were quite familiar with each other, after all, they were both created by the Heavenly Dao at the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, and assisted the Jade Emperor in managing the order of heaven, earth and humankind. Unlike what is written in folk tales, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother were not husband and wife, but colleagues.
The fact that the female immortals are still going about their business as usual at least indicates that the Queen Mother was not involved in this matter.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the Queen Mother might act unpredictably.
There was no one guarding outside Yuqing Palace. The heavy gates, seemingly cast in jade, were tightly shut, and the surroundings were desolate and silent; even the sound of the wind had vanished without a trace.
Apart from the Heavenly Dao, the Fengdu Emperor is one of the most powerful beings in the world, and nothing can harm him.
Moreover, if the Jade Emperor had truly done such a thing, his own power would likely have been gradually weakening, making it even less likely that he could defeat him.
Without much thought, the Emperor of Fengdu raised his hand and pushed open the jade door that weighed over a thousand pounds.
After passing through layers upon layers of covered walkways, not a single fairy attendant appeared.
This doesn't seem like the behavior of someone as particular as the Jade Emperor.
The Emperor of Fengdu became even more certain.
He searched the entire Yuqing Palace but couldn't find the Jade Emperor. Finally, he found him at the foot of Yunshan Mountain behind the palace.
At the foot of Yunshan Mountain, there was a chessboard, and the Jade Emperor sat on the ground for an unknown period of time.
There was a small pool not far to his side, which soaked three or four parts of his sleeves and the corners of his clothes.
The Emperor of Fengdu slowed his pace and silently sat down opposite the Jade Emperor.
The white pieces on the chessboard were in a state of collapse, and there was no way to salvage the situation.
At most two more moves, and the game will be over.
"Tianqing, what exactly do you want to do?"
The white-haired man closed his eyes, his eyelids trembling slightly. How long had it been since he had heard that name?
"Our mother will soon no longer need us."
The Emperor of Fengdu understood the seemingly random sentence.
When the order of heaven and earth gradually stabilizes and can operate autonomously, these so-called gods and ghosts will no longer be needed.
In the underworld and the heavenly court, there are always gods and ghost messengers who enter the human world to observe all things in the cycle of reincarnation. In each cycle of reincarnation, their power is like sand in an hourglass, falling one by one into the boundless operation of order.
Tian Qing's lips curled into a smile, his colorless eyes gazing at the furrowed brows of the Fengdu Emperor. "No need to worry, Di Yan. This small pool was formed by the convergence of merit and faith. Mother, you cannot hear our conversation."
He remained silent not because of this, but out of the corner of his eye, Di Yan glanced at the seemingly bottomless pool and keenly sensed a barely noticeable undercurrent at the bottom, slowly guiding the water to an unknown destination.
Fearing that watching any longer would arouse Tianqing's suspicion, Di Yan naturally said, "Since you don't like it, why do you insist on calling her 'Mother'?"
"Don't you like it?" Tianqing forced a smile through his lips. "After all, it was our mother who gave birth to us."
"Is that so? You've really mastered all the ethics and morals of mortals. Now you're going to kill your brother and mother for 'family property'?"
"Ha, it's rare that Di Yan is willing to call me elder brother. I just want to live on."
"Does Xuanyu know?" Xuanyu is the name of the Queen Mother.
"With the great cause unfulfilled, I will not allow Xuan Yu to get caught up in it."
"At least you still have some conscience. I don't want to beat around the bush with you. Zhao Qingyun is your clone who entered this cycle of reincarnation, right? You're the one who taught him to refine the Sheji Map, aren't you? What exactly are you trying to do? You don't really think that doing this will solve your inexplicable worries, do you? If Heaven truly wanted us to return, would it have allowed you to continue like this until now?"
"Yes, I can feel the life force draining from my body... Mother, you haven't let me get away with this."
"Now that things have come to this, let's stop. Perhaps there's still room for maneuver." Di Yan was practically kneeling before Tian Qing's inexplicably stubborn idea.
When the Three Realms were first created, and the three of them were just three weak orbs of light beside the Heavenly Dao, Tianqing was the weakest of them all, and therefore received the most care from the Heavenly Dao.
Di Yan and Xuan Yu were slightly jealous, but after being instilled with some human ethics by the Heavenly Dao, they felt it was nothing.
As the youngest brother, it's only right that he gets some pampering.
Even after the three of them took human form, Tianqing always made Diyan feel something strange that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
He believes that he was too weak when he was young, which caused him to take human form and become mentally impaired.
In addition, Xuan Yu was thick-skinned and the Heavenly Dao didn't say much, so Di Yan didn't say anything more either.
“Brother should know that although that person is my clone, he is not under my control. Just as you cannot control whether you are male or female when you enter the cycle of reincarnation, I naturally cannot control the actions of my clone.”
Di Yan remained silent, that strange feeling returning, and spoke words that sounded sarcastic without any expression.
"Even so, Zhao Qingyun's actions will still affect the original body. Is it possible that the loss of vitality you feel is simply because he committed evil deeds in the mortal world, and part of it is being attributed to you?"
Tian Qing's figure froze for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. "Then let it be on my head. I'm just as useless as Zhao Qingyun..."
"you……"
Di Yan was utterly speechless.
He truly did not believe the argument that Heaven no longer needed them.
The current ghost messengers in the underworld have only recently become almost complete. It's normal for anyone to lose some power when they go through the cycle of reincarnation.
Moreover, with their vast sea of power, unless they commit numerous evils and exhaust themselves, they could be ravaged for millions of years without any problem.
Di Yan could barely guess Tian Qing's general plan, which was nothing more than accumulating more merit and faith to prolong his life as an ordinary minor immortal.
One of the fastest ways to accumulate merit is through an avatar that has been trained in the mortal realm. The birth of a wise emperor will bring countless merits to the main body, making it possible to become a god on the spot.
Unexpectedly, Tian Qing underestimated the complexity and diversity of human nature.
The Heavenly Court, being a relatively new entity, was still undergoing adjustments and refinements, leading to chaos and instability in the mortal realm.
Turbulent times produce heroes.
Zhao Qingyun did indeed stand out and become emperor. Tian Qing guessed that he wanted to add fuel to the fire. In addition, the birth of the "Map of Mountains and Rivers" made him feel even more threatened that the Heavenly Dao was going to replace him. So he went all out and first secretly guided the struggle for the Map of Mountains and Rivers, then destroyed the map and refined it for his own use.
However, Tianqing did not personally experience all of this as Zhao Qingyun; he only knew the general direction of his clone's journey.
Tian Qing never anticipated that Zhao Qingyun's parents would treat their child differently than ordinary parents.
One of his parents was a nobleman, and the other was a princess. In the Yu Dynasty, it was common for princesses to keep male concubines, and his father was also a playful person.
That would have been fine, but after Zhao Qingyun was born, his parents had a big fight over some trivial matters, and from then on, they were unwilling to even maintain a semblance of peace.
The father disliked the mother and prevented him from marrying the woman he loved; the mother hated the father and hurt one of her favorite male lovers.
The two completed their mission in the same way and had a child named Zhao Pingfeng.
Zhao Qingyun never received a kind word from his parents since he was a child.
As the emperor grew older, he was unable to produce a son. Therefore, he decided to choose one of the princess's children to inherit the throne. One of the conditions was that whichever grandson could first produce a great-grandson would be the heir to the throne.
All the princesses were captivated.
At that time, Zhao Qingyun was not yet twenty years old, nor was he married.
His princess mother and noble father began to worry, and the two, who had always been at odds, came up with a foolish idea.
Zhao Qingyun certainly couldn't have imagined that even if his biological parents disliked him, they wouldn't poison his food.
The family of three had a rare meal together, which ended when Zhao Qingyun was carried into the room.
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