Chapter 529 Reuniting with the Empress in the City
The calmness on Zhao Duan's face slowly disappeared, and turned into confusion and surprise.
He did not pay much attention to the embroidered robe envoy who was lurking beside him, and he uncovered the other party's disguise mostly to satisfy his curiosity.
As for the idea of trying to incite rebellion, I have some, but I don't hold out any hope.
But when Nie Yurong's face that looked like Yuxiu came into his sight, Zhao Duan finally became serious.
Coincidence? There are many similar people in the world, but it is rare for them to be so similar that they are almost cut from the same mold. What's more, the Jade Sleeve Priest is in the city.
Did Prince Mu’s Mansion do this on purpose?
Found someone who looked like Yuxiu to get close to?
No, that doesn't make sense. If he wanted to disguise himself as Yuxiu, then disguising himself as "White Falcon" would be superfluous and unnecessary.
Besides, Yuxiu's joining was not originally planned, and in order to avoid trouble, the priest always wore a veil on his face.
"What's your name?" Zhao Duan suddenly asked.
Nie Yurong had already prepared herself for death. When she heard this, she was stunned for a moment, then her eyes mocked:
"Does the empress's husband dare to have affairs outside?"
She had already enacted a murder-first scenario in her mind.
Zhao Duan frowned and suddenly said to Song Jinxi:
"Please invite the Jade Sleeve Priest here."
The latter turned and left without hesitation.
Soon, a man in a green Taoist robe, with his face covered by a light veil, walked into the backyard:
"Master Zhao, what does it mean to be looking for me?"
Zhao Duan walked out of the inner hall, pointed behind him seriously, and briefly explained Nie Yurong's identity. Then he said:
"This matter is too strange, so I would like to ask the priest to come."
A killer who looked exactly like her? Yuxiu was stunned, her gaze bypassing him and casting towards Nie Yurong, who was as still as a piece of wood in the hall.
Yuxiu's breathing suddenly became a little rapid, and she turned her head and said to him:
"Would you allow me to interrogate this person alone?"
So excited?
Zhao Duan looked at the priest with a strange look in his eyes and nodded happily:
"good."
After saying that, he raised his chin towards Song Jinxi, and the two of them walked into the yard. Yuxiu hurried into the inner hall, and the door slammed shut, isolating the inside and the outside.
"Sir... what is the Jade Sleeve Priest doing..." Song Jin was curious.
Zhao Duan shook his head, looked back at the closed door, and suddenly said:
"I don't know either. When the results come out, there might be some unexpected surprises."
His intuition told him that this might be an unexpected gain from this battle.
Because he was unsure how long the interrogation would last, Zhao Duan did not leave. Since the backyard was big enough, he went straight into another empty room and told Song Jinxi to guard outside while he went to practice.
Zhao Duan stepped into the house and closed the door.
When there was only one person left in the room, he walked to the table and took out a silver scroll from his arms. This was the Taixu Scroll, a talisman for creating illusions that he had obtained a long time ago.
However, because he is not a warlock, it has almost become a storage space.
Zhao Duan shook the scroll, and with two "bangs", two heavy objects fell on the round table.
A wooden bow and an iron stick were the trophies from killing Lu Tong and Fan Long respectively.
"If a cultivator in the World Realm can use it as their main weapon, it must be something that is not cheap."
Zhao Duan rubbed his hands and entered the joyful unboxing phase.
He first picked up the iron rod. The iron rod was extremely heavy in his hand, black all over, and had bronze hoops at both ends.
Looking closely, the stick body is engraved with the Buddhist character swastika in relief, and the name of this weapon is engraved on one side of the stick.
"Fearless Root...what a crappy name. The people under the old bald donkey Xuanyin are not serious, and the names of their weapons are not serious either." Zhao Duan said with disdain.
He completely ignored the fact that the Mirror of Love and Lust on him was not a good name.
"The weapons used by monks should fall into the category of weapons." Zhao Duan tried to mobilize the remaining energy to pass in.
In an instant, a strange sense of tranquility came over him, and all his fear, dread, timidity... disappeared.
It gives rise to a courage to fight against heaven and earth, and is so brave and fearless that it even dares to confront gods.
At the same time, a faint circle of Buddha's light emanated from his body, and the blue lotus in his sea of consciousness seemed to be attracted, catering to each other, and a cool feeling flowed through his body.
"So that's how it is. Besides the weapon's inherent strength, this Fearless Staff also instills courage in its bearer, and... it also seems to have a certain negative effect, like dispelling curses..."
Zhao Duan had recently been in Beijing and Taicang, handling a large number of rare objects in order to smelt the Red Flame Holy Armor.
Although most of them were of low quality and he didn't feel bad about melting them, it trained his eyesight and gave him a lot of experience in "appraising treasures" by judging the effects of some artifacts.
"Buddhist monks pursue the 'Vajra Ultimate Yang' and take a tough approach. They naturally avoid all evil and are able to restrain Yin objects and curses... They are very suitable for dealing with Jianghu sects like the White Clothes Sect and the Underworld Cult."
"It's a good thing, but it would be a shame to melt it. I can keep it for now, but unfortunately I'm not good at using a stick, and it's really a disgrace for a royal husband to walk around with a stick... Well, unless you're born with one."
Zhao Duan played with Fanlong's stick for a long time, put the fearless root aside, and picked up the ancient bow left by Lu Tong.
This big bow was extremely light in the hand, as if made of wood. The golden bowstring was a little dull, but Zhao Duan could not recognize the material of the bow.
Only two ancient characters were seen on the bow: "Taibu".
"I remember seeing this name in the records of the Royal Armory. It's also a magical weapon from six hundred years ago. Similar to the Zhen Dao, it's both a weapon and a talisman.
Tsk… It seems like all weapons in that era were like this, usable by warriors and sorcerers alike. The Scarlet Flame Sacred Armor was also in the form of armor, not a robe… No wonder Old Xu created the Martial God Path and practiced both… It must have been the trend of that era…”
"Let me think about it. The information seems to indicate that this Taibu bow does not have a matching 'arrow'. Therefore, the arrow Lu Tong used was a fine iron arrow forged later. It's not special. The key lies in this bow."
Zhao Duan bent the bow tentatively, without putting an arrow on it, he just pulled the bowstring and made a gesture of drawing the bow.
In an instant, wisps of energy were drawn out, and mottled spots of light were spit out one after another. As the bow was bent, an illusory arrow was condensed.
The sound of wind suddenly echoed in Zhao Duan's ears, mixed with the whimpering of ancient tree branches being blown by the wind, like a whisper.
He suddenly had a premonition that as long as he shot, he would hit the target every time!
"This Taibu bow can transform Qi into arrows similar to sword energy and shoot them out. It can also attach itself to physical arrows. And most importantly, as long as I aim, I'll hit the target. I don't need to worry about archery skills... Pah! No wonder Lu Tong is known as the best archer. I can do it too!"
Zhao Duan complained in his heart, but his pupils were full of surprise.
After advancing to the mortal world, the Golden Crow Flying Knife gradually couldn't keep up with his pace. Although the Suppressing Knife was handy, it was a cold weapon for close combat.
The existence of this "Taibu Bow" can greatly enhance his long-range attack capabilities.
"Good stuff!" Zhao Duan grinned, as if caressing a beauty.
Both of these items are good. It would be a waste to melt them into the Red Flame Holy Armor, so he plans to keep them for his own use.
"But the cost is also very high. I can't find enough resources in a short time to recharge the Scarlet Flame Sacred Armor..."
Zhao Duan took off the white half-body armor on his body and put it into the silver scroll.
At this moment, waves of fatigue came over me again.
"There's really not a drop left." Zhao Duan sighed softly, walked to the bed beside him, sat cross-legged, and prepared to meditate to recover.
However, he hesitated when choosing which picture to visualize.
He had been visualizing the big dream scroll these days, and in his dream he followed Pei Niannu on a journey through the martial arts world. Unfortunately, he never met Lao Xu, nor had he ever heard of Lao Xu's name.
Perhaps the time in the dream was too early, and the Emperor Taizu of Yu State had not yet risen.
"Would you like to visualize the 'Human World' again? I briefly touched the threshold of heaven this time and felt something. Perhaps visualizing this picture will be different."
Without hesitation, Zhao Duan held his breath and entered the "Human World" scroll for the second time, the "city" that was familiar yet unfamiliar to him.
…
Capital city.
The empress did not get a detailed answer in the Tianshi Mansion.
According to Zhang Yanyi, he had no way of knowing what exactly happened as he was thousands of miles away, but the result of the feedback from heaven was a happy event for the empress and the court.
"Could it be that we won the battle? Then why is there such a big commotion?" Xu Zhenguan frowned, unable to understand.
She returned to the imperial study in the palace and tried to calm down and continue reviewing memorials, but she could never calm down.
"Forget it." After trying again and again, Xu Zhenguan threw the slender brush, sighed softly, gave up his desk work, left the palace servants, walked out of the room and relaxed in the palace.
What he was worried about was not the battle situation - with the reinforcements from the Beijing camp, and with Xue Shence's command ability, it was impossible for him to fail in a few steps.
Not to mention defeating the vassal kings, but regaining the lost territory is almost a foregone conclusion.
What worried her the most and made her unable to let go was that little imperial guard.
Unfortunately, the era he lived in was different from the magical world in the scroll. There was no magic weapon that could transmit sound over thousands of miles, which was everywhere and owned by everyone. Even if he used the fastest route to send a message, he would have to wait a long time before he could know the situation of the battle ahead...
Xu Zhenguan was lost in thought, and before he knew it, he arrived at the Yuanzu Hall in the palace.
This is the place built by Emperor Taizu. There is a secret room underground for storing wine. Deeper down, there is a secret room for hiding dragon souls.
At that time, Zhao Duan stayed in this palace with the empress for a whole night.
Whenever Xu Zhenguan felt depressed and wanted to be alone, he would come here habitually.
The female emperor in white clothes and black hair pushed open the door of the palace, sat on the cushion, looked at the empty altar, was stunned for a while, and simply sat cross-legged in meditation to calm her mind.
What she visualized was naturally the "human world".
When it comes to the royal scroll, everyone has always visualized it as an independent painting, and they are not interconnected.
At this moment, the empress in the capital and Zhao Duan in Linfeng were visualizing and entering the same painting at the same time, one in front and one behind.
…
A familiar feeling of weightlessness came over me, and the lights of thousands of homes in the night sky flashed before my eyes.
Inside a modern office.
Zhao Duan, who was lying on the computer desk, opened his heavy eyelids. His vision was blurred at first, and then gradually became clear.
The first thing that came into his sight was a computer screen that had been inactive for a long time and had entered the "screen saver" mode.
Immediately, there were "sticky notes" of different colors pasted on the edge of the computer, each of which had a "reminder" written on it in neat handwriting.
Behind him, in the filing cabinet in the room, through the translucent cabinet door, the files were crowded like sardines in a can.
“Ding Di——”
Outside the window, a car horn sounded in the distance. He subconsciously turned his head to look. In the dead of night in summer, a gust of wind came in through the window railings, blowing through the half-closed curtains and ruffling his hair.
"I'm back—"
Zhao Duan let out a light breath. The second time he entered the world in the scroll, he no longer felt the shock he felt the first time.
Fingers tapped the keyboard, entered the password, and the computer entered the boot interface... His eyes glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer.
As expected, it was just after midnight.
"Every time I visualize and enter the Human World, is it always at the same time? Doesn't that mean that no matter what I do here, the next time I enter, it will be refreshed and started over?"
Zhao Duan was pondering, trying to figure out the rules of this painting.
He stood up, unbuttoned his shirt collar, walked to the mirror in his office, and looked at the face that was once very familiar but now seemed a little unfamiliar.
That was his appearance in this world. Here, he was no longer the skin of "Zhao Duan", but his true appearance in his previous life.
Here, he has his own identity and the name "Zhanghui".
"Unfortunately, everything is fake." Zhao Duan looked at himself in the mirror and grinned with a complicated smile.
Bend over and dip your hands in the basin.
“Crash!”
The cold water hitting his face quickly sobered him up and swept away his fatigue.
"Here, I have no cultivation and have become an ordinary person again. Speaking of which, what use is this city to celestial cultivators? Do all the treasures need to come here to practice? To study?
Oh, a dignified empress, a swordsman at the celestial realm, should she go to a factory to screw screws, or register as a delivery rider?
Oh, with Zhenbao's looks, she can easily debut... But judging by what she said last time, she won't be able to stay here for too long...
And if she has to 'restart and refresh' every time she enters, she won't be able to really accomplish anything in this fake world..."
"No... I can't be sure whether the details of Zhenbao's entry into the 'human world' are the same as mine...
Oh, in the entire history of the imperial family, apart from Old Xu, only Zhenbao and I know that the "human world" we imagined is this city. What everyone else saw was just an ancient city..."
"Well, maybe I can try to find the secret hidden by Old Xu here..."
Zhao Duan's thoughts flashed through his mind and he sorted out his ideas.
According to experience, there is a "guide NPC" hidden in every picture on the mural.
The NPC in "The God of War Picture" is Lao Xu.
The NPC in "Six Chapters Sutra" is the golden armor version of Pei Niannu.
The guiding NPC in "The Great Dream Scroll" is the young silver-armored version of Pei Niannu.
so……
"I should be able to find a guide in this world... Well, but it's not certain. After all, I'm not in the Heavenly Realm, but entered here in the 'Worldly' Realm...
It’s like a game cheat program. The version of the scroll I experienced might be incomplete…”
Zhao Duan's thoughts were in a mess. He picked up a towel to wipe his face, and without putting on his coat, he pushed the door and walked downstairs along the marble corridor of the building.
He was not sure how long he could stay here this time and did not want to waste time.
However, when Zhao Duan walked out of the compound, stood on the street, and looked at the city with flashing neon lights, he suddenly felt confused.
Without an NPC to guide me...where can I go?
"Gurgle..." His stomach suddenly rumbled and he felt hungry. Zhao Duan had an idea and decided to have a midnight snack first.
"I've gotten so used to eating plain food in Yu State that I've almost forgotten what good food tastes like..."
He took out his phone and started typing away. Although the internet was completely blocked, he had managed to call a car...
What a world full of bugs...
After a while, an online-hailing car stopped. Zhao Duan looked at the license plate, sat in it, and read out the last digit of the cell phone number.
The driver stepped on the accelerator and drove away.
Zhao Duan was going to eat at a good barbecue restaurant on the street near Taiqing Palace, not far from here, and only a few minutes' taxi ride away.
…
In a park near Taiqing Palace.
Xu Zhenguan walked out. Here, she still maintained the same appearance as in the outside world, but her clothes were very different.
Her upper body was a women's shirt, her slender legs were covered with trousers, and her feet were wearing a pair of light-colored sandals, revealing ten delicate toes.
Her long hair, slightly curled at the ends, was lazily draped over her face, and there was a red mark on one side of her cheek, left by a deep sleep on a park bench.
"Where should we go this time?" Xu Zhenguan wondered blankly.
This time, she did not choose to go to Taiqing Palace to find the female temple priest.
"I still have to continue exploring this world. In every previous map I entered, I encountered a 'guide,' just like in the first map, 'Martial God Map,' where Emperor Taizu led me through cultivation... Logically, this 'Human World' should also have such a person..."
"I previously suspected it was the female temple priest, but after several contacts, I found that it didn't seem to be..."
Xu Zhenguan pondered, it was just such a vast city, where to start?
“Gurgle——”
Suddenly, her stomach rumbled, and the empress's cheeks turned red. She gritted her teeth, clutching her phone, which she couldn't open because she didn't know the password, and walked towards a barbecue restaurant not far away.
(End of this chapter)
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