Chapter 195 Obtained Without Any Effort
The night before Lu Yao arrived at the Zhong family's house.
Under the starry sky, she laid out a seven-star destiny chart, and with a light tap of her fingertips, calculated Zhong Zhengming's fate.
In the Xuanmen (Taoist school), the way of fortune-telling has always followed the ironclad rule that "the deeper one's cultivation, the more hidden one's heavenly secrets become."
The higher a person's cultivation level, the more difficult it is to discern their destiny. Families like the Zhong family, specializing in mystical arts, protect the destinies of their members with absolute precision.
The life tablets enshrined in the ancestral hall contain hidden secrets. Once they sense an outsider peeping, they will immediately form a golden soul-guarding array, concealing the fate of the descendants under the protection of the ancestors.
When each child is born, they must swear an oath by dripping their blood onto an ancestral secret destiny cloth. This blood oath will be integrated into their bloodline and become a natural barrier to their destiny.
The more powerful the aristocratic family, the more stringent this layer of protection becomes.
For thousands of years, countless diviners have failed and returned empty-handed before this barrier.
Even so, these defenses could still be breached layer by layer in the face of truly extraordinary means.
With just a flick of her finger, Lu Yao caused the Zhong family's carefully constructed defenses against fate to dissipate layer by layer, like morning mist meeting the rising sun.
In an instant, countless secrets unfolded before her eyes.
That ordinary baby who showed no reaction at the spirit-testing ceremony.
The girl whose spiritual roots were forcibly taken away on the Star-Shifting Disc.
as well as……
A grudge from a past life that spans a thousand years.
Oh, it's you.
It came without any effort.
A cold glint flashed in Lu Yao's eyes.
Xiao, Yuan, Xiu—
A thousand years ago, Xiao Yuanxiu finally succeeded in suppressing Lu Yao and ascended the throne.
At that time, Grand Tutor Chao Chengwen, in order to master the evil art of possession, asked him for a rare medicinal herb.
Xiao Yuanxiu generously gifted it, on the condition that Chao Chengwen lend him the Earthly Fiends Heavenly Book for a look.
He secretly memorized the Nine Nether Soul-Locking Array recorded in the "Book of Earthly Fiends and Heavenly Inversions," and it indeed came in handy.
"Lu Yao, Lu Yao..." Xiao Yuanxiu laughed triumphantly after ascending the throne, "No matter how powerful your cultivation is, you've still become my defeated opponent."
With Lu Yao no longer a major threat, he believed he could finally relax.
He squandered his imperial power recklessly.
On the first day, he ordered his men to inventory the imperial treasury and to admire all the rare treasures.
The next day, he wantonly humiliated the old ministers of the previous dynasty in the Golden Palace.
On the third day, he issued an imperial edict to select a wide range of beauties, intending to collect all the most beautiful women in the world.
However, on this third night...
After a day of debauchery, Xiao Yuanxiu fell into a deep sleep at night.
He suddenly woke up with a start. Something cold was tightly wrapped around his neck—
Three dark figures stood like ghosts in front of the dragon bed, surrounding him completely.
The moonlight was dim, and Xiao Yuanxiu could tell from their faces and clothes that they were the usual submissive eunuchs and palace maids!
"You... how dare you..." He struggled to get up, but found that his limbs were as limp as mud.
Is the problem with the tea, or with the food or desserts?
One of the women seemed to sense his confusion.
She said calmly, "His Majesty loves lychee cakes the most. He always orders them to be sent from Lingnan by fast horse. The 800-li express delivery killed three imperial horses and two couriers, but he just won't admit it. He says that his concubine Lu Shu loves to eat them. People say that the Seventh Prince is very affectionate, but they don't know that His Majesty didn't even blink when he offered sacrifices to his concubine."
"Your Majesty doesn't remember me, does he? I am Yingzhi, a palace maid by Princess Changping's side. Back then, Your Majesty strongly advocated for a marriage alliance and wanted me to replace the princess and be sent to the Turks for the alliance."
Xiao Yuanxiu stared in disbelief. He remembered this despicable woman; she used to always follow Changping around.
He had once coveted Yingzhi's beauty and wanted to ask Changping for her to play with, but Changping refused.
"If it weren't for the Grand Preceptor, I would have died beyond the Great Wall. You killed my benefactor, tell me, don't you deserve to die?"
Sakura sighed.
Another woman spoke up.
"Your Majesty, please allow me to speak. This servant is Xiangdie, a sixth-rank female official in the Department of Pharmacy." She took out a celadon medicine bottle from her sleeve. "This Qianji Powder uses the finest datura, combined with aconite, and its medicinal properties are just right to render Your Majesty unable to move."
"When the Imperial Preceptor promoted twelve female officials, he said that women could also practice medicine and help the world. Unfortunately, on the very first day of His Majesty's reign, he banished us all from the palace, saying that we were like hens crowing at dawn?"
The porcelain vase shattered in front of the dragon bed, and Xiangdie's voice suddenly turned cold: "Then today Your Majesty will taste what it's like to have your eyes pecked out by a 'hen'."
The last person's voice was very old. He walked out with a hunched back, and his rough hands still smelled of flour.
“Your Majesty, this old servant, Yu Jian, has served the imperial kitchen for thirty-eight years. I made the lychee pastry, and I added the 'trouble-inducing medicine' to it. My granddaughter is fourteen years old and has not yet come of age. Your Majesty’s flower-picking envoy has taken her to the palace, and this old servant is afraid I cannot comply.”
Yingzhi leaned closer, "Xiao Yuanxiu, it's not just the three of us; many others are hoping for your death. Princess Changping gave me the token, the prime minister escorted me into the palace, the general personally opened the palace gates, and guards stood watch outside. Xiao Yuanxiu, is this the emperor you've always dreamed of being?"
Under the moonlight, their pale faces showed no anger, only a chilling calm.
"I... am the emperor..."
Xiao Yuanxiu's angry voice was stuck in his throat and he couldn't utter it.
His body beneath the dragon robe convulsed violently, and until the very last moment, his bloodshot eyes remained frozen in disbelief and fury.
How dare these ants?
These lowly slaves he had never even glanced at...
How dare they murder the emperor!
Xiao Yuanxiu's soul hovered in mid-air in the bedchamber, watching helplessly as Yingzhi raised her knife and brought it down.
His noble head rolled down beneath the dragon bed.
The headless corpse lay limp on the dragon bed, the bright yellow brocade quilt soaked in blood.
What drove him even crazier was that Yingzhi used his dragon robe to wipe the blade, and then bowed gracefully to the void: "Grand Preceptor, this servant has not failed in her mission."
"You vile wench!" he roared silently, "Just to avenge that vixen Lu Yao?!"
The historian's vermilion pen was writing: "Emperor Yongchang, Xiao Yuanxiu, died suddenly after reigning for three days."
A torrent of resentment surged within his soul.
Xiao Yuanxiu stared intently at his severed head, making a solemn oath before it dissipated:
In his next life, he will definitely cultivate himself, become a person of metaphysics, and master the profound arts that reach the heavens!
That Lu Yao only won over so many people's hearts by relying on her ability to tell fortunes and perform mystical arts.
If he knew cultivation, magic, and divination, he would definitely be more successful than her!
He's the one destined to ascend!
...
Finally, in the 21st century.
Xiao Yuanxiu was reincarnated into the Zhong family, a prominent family of Taoist masters, just as he had wished.
"I will become the strongest."
Young Zhong Zhengming often mumbled in his sleep, his little hands unconsciously making hand gestures for cultivation techniques.
He had no memory of a thousand years ago, but that obsession was deeply ingrained in his blood like a malignant tumor.
Lu Yao smiled.
I thought that after a thousand years, the enemies and grudges of that time would be like fleeting shadows.
But fate had other plans and gave her this unexpected surprise.
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