Expatriate
While the men summoned by the Emperor and Empress cleaned up the mess, Xiao Wan'er placed her right hand on the wound on her left arm, and it healed in no time. After treating the injury, she walked straight to the Xuanwu Gate, with Pei Yingguan following closely behind her.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Prince Cheng led his troops in rebellion at Suzhang Gate and has been beheaded by us."
"Good!" The emperor, having escaped danger, was overjoyed and ordered Pei Yingguan, "Lord Pei, I order you to summon the Shenlong Guards to come here and in front of the Suzhang Gate to clean up the battlefield."
"Yes!" Pei Yingguan took the order and left.
Xiao Wan'er stood guard in front of the Xuanwu Gate. Empress Wei stood on the emperor's left, Shangguan Wan'er on his right, and Princess Anle followed behind. The emperor didn't calm down until Pei Yingguan and his men pulled all the bodies from the Suzhang Gate.
Xiao Wan'er walked to the pile of corpses, closed her eyes, and made some hand gestures. After a moment, she opened her eyes again and pointed out several corpses.
"These few are still useful and need to be taken back to the Dragon Guards. Your Majesty can send others to deal with the others."
She left leisurely with the few corpses she pointed out. After the emperor, empress and others behind her could no longer see her, she ordered Liu Jingren to sort the remaining corpses, burying and compensating her own soldiers, and throwing those who participated in the rebellion into a mass grave.
Xiao Wan'er looked calm and composed, but she actually walked faster and faster after leaving Xuanwu Gate. After arriving at the government office, she rushed directly into the dungeon, picked a cell, and threw Li Qianli's body to the ground.
She quickly set up a formation to isolate herself from the outside world, and then drew a complicated formation. She threw Li Qianli's body into the center of the formation, and then activated the formation with spiritual power.
In an instant, the cell was filled with smoke, and several wisps of green smoke condensed together and formed a figure. It was Li Qianli who died under Xiao Wan'er's knife.
Li Qianli's shadow gradually grew from faint to solid. He was dazed, unaware of his own death. Xiao Wan'er walked forward and waved before his eyes. He snapped back to his senses, seeing the look of horror behind Xiao Wan'er.
Just as he was about to escape, Xiao Wan'er stretched out her hand, and he was pulled in front of her. Then Xiao Wan'er placed her hand on his head, and he felt a powerful force coursing through his brain, and then all his memories were revealed to Xiao Wan'er.
Soon, Xiao Wan'er selectively read through his memories. Seeing that he was no longer useful, Xiao Wan'er removed the formation and let him go.
"Okay, go reincarnate!"
As if he were pardoned, he would immediately escape and enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Xiao Wan'er also received the information she had sought—the formation that blocked spiritual energy was originally hidden by the Longxi Li clan. It was the only one in the world. After the establishment of the Li Tang Dynasty, the clan unanimously decided to give it to the Li Tang royal family. After this use, it would be gone forever. Xiao Wan'er felt relieved after receiving this good news, and she slowed down her divination of the other corpses.
It was not until dawn that she walked out of the Shenlongwei office.
Most of the main culprits in the rebellion had been brought to justice, with the exception of Crown Prince Li Chongjun. Seeing defeat inevitable, he fled Chang'an with over a hundred cavalrymen, heading straight for Mount Zhongnan.
When Xiao Wan'er entered the palace to report the results of the follow-up investigation, she happened to meet the emperor issuing an order on the matter.
"Have Zhao Sishen lead the light cavalry in pursuit. No matter if he's dead or alive, we must bring him to justice!"
His face was serious and violent. The eunuch who delivered the order ran very fast, but when he saw Xiao Wan'er stepping into the hall, his expression immediately changed and he tried his best to appear kind.
Xiao Wan'er suddenly felt a little tired.
Meanwhile, Li Chongjun had run all the way to a point over ten miles west of Hu County, with only a few servants left by his side. As it was getting dark, he went into the woods to rest, while several of his servants stepped aside.
They gathered together, discussed in low voices for a moment, then quietly walked into the forest and headed straight for Li Chongjun.
"Why are you here?" The sound of footsteps woke up the already asleep Li Chongjun. He looked unfriendly and asked, "Didn't I tell you to stay outside?"
The servants said nothing. One of them drew his sword and stabbed Li Chongjun directly. Li Chongjun was caught off guard and could not dodge in time, and died instantly.
Several servants walked out of the woods and took advantage of the situation to eliminate those who did not follow them. Then they took Li Chongjun's body back to Chang'an as quickly as possible.
Several people thought that by taking Li Chongjun's body they could atone for their crimes or even be promoted. However, they did not expect that the emperor would send someone to take the body away and then put them in prison to be executed on a later date.
After launching the rebellion, Li Chongjun's position as crown prince was naturally lost. The emperor beheaded him and offered his head as a memorial to Wu Sansi and his son Wu Chongxun. The memorial ceremony was grand, and almost all the prominent officials in the court brought their families to attend, with the exception of Xiao Wan'er.
"Junior sister, why do you suddenly want to go back to the mountain gate for seclusion?" Pei Ying was very puzzled as he watched Xiao Wan'er packing her luggage.
"We've killed too many ordinary people in the past few years," Xiao Wan'er said without raising her head. "Brother, we are cultivators, not butchers in the hands of the higher-ups. Killing too many ordinary people is not a good thing for us."
"But you are currently favored by the Emperor and Empress, and you have a bright future. If you take leave like this, who knows what the court will be like when you return. Opportunities cannot be missed." Pei Yingguan still disagreed and tried to stop him earnestly.
Xiao Wan'er finally raised her head and looked at Pei Yingguan seriously: "Brother, we are cultivators, and cultivation is our primary task."
She always felt that since her master passed away, Pei Yingguan’s primary goal was no longer to practice Taoism.
The next day, as soon as the city gates opened, Xiao Wan'er left Chang'an and headed straight for the mountain gate. She reached the Taoist temple as quickly as possible, simply tidied her room, and settled down to meditate. The demoted official in Chang'an no longer concerned her.
After entering the transcendental realm, one can practice fasting, and there is no need to worry about time when meditating. Xiao Wan'er concentrated her mind and calmed her breath, calming all her thoughts and gradually merging with the entire mountain.
When I opened my eyes again, it was already a new year.
When Xiao Wan'er returned to Chang'an, Pei Yingguan was at a banquet hosted by Prince Linzi. A servant trotted over to Prince Linzi and whispered the news to him. Then, Prince Linzi put down his wine glass and said to Pei Yingguan with a smile, "Brother Pei, your junior sister is back."
The wine glass in Pei Yingguan's hand almost slipped to the ground.
The smile on Prince Linzi's face deepened. "I know Brother Pei is anxious, but it's rare to have so many guests at today's banquet. I hope Brother Pei will give me some face."
As they were talking, the waiters brought another dish. Pei Yingguan's mood stabilized and he continued to sit at the table, eating, drinking and chatting.
At the first court meeting after Xiao Wan'er returned to Chang'an, when it was more than halfway through, a eunuch suddenly knocked on the door of Xiao Wan'er's house and invited her to the court.
"Do you know what it is?" Xiao Wan'er asked the eunuch, but the eunuch was very secretive.
Only the chief and deputy commanders of the Shenlong Guards were required to attend court meetings, but this time, the captain, Xiao Wan'er, was invited to attend, which was truly unusual. Unfortunately, the eunuch remained silent about the reason, leaving Xiao Wan'er bewildered and unable to make her way to the Daming Palace.
Sitting in the carriage, she simply cast a fortune and got a confusing answer - it was good for the court but not for her.
When they arrived at the court meeting place, all the civil and military officials looked like they had just had an argument. When the emperor saw Xiao Wan'er coming, he looked like he was saved.
"Lord Xiao, I intend to establish three surrender cities within the territory of the Western Turkic Empire and send you to command them."
Xiao Wan'er didn't react for a moment - she had just returned to Chang'an, and she was going out again?
She secretly performed a magic spell and a simple divination, finally understanding the underlying situation: Zhang Renyuan, having conquered the Turkic people south of the desert, intended to establish three surrender cities on their territory to weaken and deter the enemy. Court officials, led by Tang Xiujing, opposed this plan, but after Zhang Renyuan submitted a petition, the emperor adopted his suggestion. The current dispute was over who would be sent to guard the three surrender cities.
"Your Majesty!" One of the ministers, who had clearly been arguing, continued to object. "Captain Xiao is the most powerful cultivator in the Divine Dragon Guard and the only one who has reached the Transcendent Realm. If we rashly send him to Chang'an, what will we do if anything happens to Chang'an?"
"Master Tang is wrong," it was Prince Linzi who stood up to argue with the minister. "If we don't send Captain Xiao, the Divine Dragon Guard will need to send at least two teams to suppress the Turks, which will put even greater pressure on Chang'an. Moreover, Chang'an is under the emperor's rule and is well-defended. Even if there are thieves in the tower, they can be strangled. But our Tang Dynasty has just defeated the Turks. There must be many disaffected people in the three cities. If we don't send a strong man, how can we deter the Turks? Sending Captain Xiao is indeed the best option."
Even though he spoke with high-sounding words and awe-inspiring righteousness, Xiao Wan'er knew at a glance that Prince Linzi had ulterior motives, having already cultivated to this point. Unfortunately, the emperor still adopted his nephew's advice, and Xiao Wan'er still didn't understand where this evil intention lay.
"Just follow what the Prince of Linzi said, and there is no need for you to discuss it further."
As a result, Xiao Wan'er had only been back for less than five days and had to leave Chang'an again without even seeing her friends.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
