In the Taiji Palace, the emperor asked the guard with an inscrutable expression, "Are you saying that the Empress recently rearranged the Imperial Study and is even teaching there herself?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, and all the concubines in the harem attended the lectures."
"How dare she! The Imperial Study is not a place for her to act recklessly!" The emperor slammed his fist on the table, and the palace servants all trembled with fear.
Only Master Qingfeng remained calm: "Your Majesty, remember not to be impatient. Those who cultivate must maintain a peaceful mind."
Hearing this, the emperor's expression indeed softened, though his eyes remained cold and sharp: "Thank you for the reminder, Daoist."
"Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, the Empress sent someone to discuss this matter. If Your Majesty were to punish someone now, wouldn't that damage Your Majesty's dignity?"
Did I promise that?
The eunuch replied, "Your Majesty, you did not object at the time."
Master Qingfeng flicked his whisk and said, “Your Majesty, I have calculated that Your Majesty’s princes are all exceptionally talented and will surely contribute to Your Majesty’s empire in the future. The Empress’s star shines brightly, indicating that she is destined to assist the Emperor. Your Majesty need not worry.”
The emperor remained silent, clearly indicating that Master Qingfeng had not struck a chord with him and was unable to lower his guard.
Master Qingfeng remained unmoved: "Your Majesty, the most important thing now is cultivation. If you achieve immortality, who in the world can escape your control?"
Then the emperor waved to the eunuch: "Go down. Do not disturb me and the Taoist priest unless necessary. Taoist priest, as you said, I feel a surge of heat rushing to the top of my head today."
The usually calm and collected Daoist Qingfeng finally revealed a look of surprise: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! This is the achievement of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top. In such a short time, Your Majesty has been able to cultivate to such a level. Your Majesty is truly a genius. Back then, it took me a full three months to cultivate to this level!"
The emperor laughed heartily: "Daoist Master is too modest. Three months is already quite an achievement. After all, according to you, there are very few people in this world with the talent for cultivation."
"This will further demonstrate Your Majesty's exceptional talent. Next, Your Majesty's task is to circulate your true energy to your dantian and form genuine spiritual energy."
Is there a difference between true qi and spiritual qi?
"Of course, some people in the world with martial arts talent can cultivate true qi. All those who cultivate true qi are highly skilled in martial arts and can be considered as acquired masters in the mortal world. However, those who can transform true qi into spiritual qi are barely able to step into the threshold of immortality cultivation. Without guidance, most of them will explode and die."
The emperor listened with a mixture of shock and fear: "Then I..."
"Your Majesty, rest assured, with this old Taoist priest protecting you, I will surely ensure your safety. However, just to be on the safe side, this old Taoist priest intends to refine a batch of pills for Your Majesty."
"Then I'll trouble you, Daoist Master. If you have any instructions, please feel free to speak."
"The materials for alchemy have been brought from the immortal sect by this old Taoist priest, and the rest were prepared by others some time ago. Now Your Majesty only needs to focus on cultivation before the pill is completed and not let trivial matters disturb your mind."
The emperor then issued another decree: the affairs of the inner palace were to be handled by the empress, and the affairs of the court were to be handled by the prime minister, the six ministries, and the Marquis of Cheng'en. Before he left the pass, no one was allowed to disturb him.
When the imperial court and the inner palace learned of this imperial edict, their reactions varied. For example, Consort Zhuang, Consort Xian, and Consort Li cursed Song Xia's good fortune, while Consort Shu and Consort Zhen breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your Majesty seems quite concerned about the Empress?"
Consort Shu smiled and said, "Your Majesty the Empress has done so for the good of my son and has also saved the harem from a lot of trouble. I am naturally grateful to Your Majesty."
"To be honest, Consort Zhuang and Consort Li haven't caused any trouble in the harem for a long time."
"His Majesty has not visited the inner palace for a long time, and everything has been decided by Her Majesty the Empress. They are reckless, not stupid. Haoxue, have all the books that I asked my father and brothers to find been delivered?"
"Your Highness requested many books, and the eldest son has not yet found them all, but he has already ordered some to be sent in."
"Quickly, let me see it."
"Why is Your Highness reading these travelogues now? Didn't Your Highness used to think they lacked substance?"
"I was confused before, but now I have learned from the Empress that many of the amazing things in the travelogues are not made up or exaggerated. The world is vast and full of wonders. I didn't realize that I was ignorant just because I hadn't seen them. Now I know that behind every amazing phenomenon, there may be knowledge."
"But Her Majesty cannot leave the palace, so what use is it for her to know all this?"
Consort Shu smiled and said, "How do you know I won't be able to leave the palace in the future? I believe that Her Majesty the Empress will bring us more than just these surprises."
Meanwhile, the other palaces were also collecting travelogues, historical records, and other materials. In particular, Consort Zhuang and Consort Li were eager to find fault with Song Xia. Even if they couldn't find anything, they wanted to use the unsolved mysteries to make things difficult for Song Xia.
Song Xia was pleased with this. As long as you love learning, you won't have time to do anything else.
"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has sent a letter in."
"Bring it here."
Song Xia opened the book. Her grandfather had written very little, mostly just telling her to be careful in the palace and not to give anyone any leverage over her. He didn't ask a single question about her starting a new type of classroom or about the things he gave to Daoist Qingfeng.
Song Xia sighed inwardly and replied with words of comfort to her grandfather, telling him to take care of his health and not to overwork himself, assuring everyone that she would take care of everything in the harem.
Upon receiving the reply, the Prime Minister personally burned the letter and immediately dispatched someone to deliver the elixir.
Song Wencan, who is Song Xia's uncle, sighed: "The Empress is indeed more suitable for that position than Xiu'er. In such a short time, she has already taken control of the harem."
"It is clear that what the Taoist priest said is true."
Song Wencan sighed, "If only the Taoist priest had made it clear earlier."
"Even if we had been prepared, who could have resisted His Majesty's decree then?"
"My son just feels sorry for Xiu-jie."
“Back then, we were fully prepared, but who knew that tyrant…” Prime Minister Song Linren clenched his fist. “It’s no use thinking about it now. The most important thing now is to assist the Empress and help the First Prince ascend to the throne. Only in this way can we do justice to Xiu’er.”
"Father, I have always been puzzled. Where does Your Majesty, who lives in the inner palace, get elixirs?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Since the Taoist priest said before that the Empress is a person chosen by Heaven and can save all living beings, it means that the Empress has her own magical abilities. We just need to follow the Empress's arrangements."
Song Wencan still finds the events of that year incredibly miraculous. Because of his second brother's foolishness, he had been out having affairs while his sister-in-law was pregnant, causing his niece to suffer from intellectual disability from birth. When his niece was five years old, the Taoist priest Qingfeng came to their door and said that his niece was a person destined by heaven. After that day, his niece's intellectual disability was cured without medicine, and she could even occasionally utter astonishing words. From then on, their Prime Minister's Mansion only dared to raise his niece carefully and dared not let her go out and see many people, until the Emperor's decree to make her Empress was issued.
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