Chapter 580: Your Majesty, the rebel king Xu Jingtang has just died at the foot of Zhengyang Mountain!
Talk alone?
Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment and looked at Lao Zhang suspiciously, wondering what the other party was up to.
Jin Jian and Yu Xiu were also stunned and didn't want to move, but since their master had spoken, they had no choice but to follow Zhong Pan away reluctantly.
After the three men left, only an old man and a young boy were left in the hall.
Zhao Duan stopped pretending and acted nonchalantly: "Why would Heavenly Master want to betray others?"
He was a little angry. Although Lao Zhang had helped him solve a big problem this time, he still felt a little unhappy about being treated as a tool.
Zhang Yanyi looked at him meaningfully and suddenly said:
"Do you know why I'm so sure that Xu Jingtang will keep chasing you?"
This is a bug in the old Taoist priest's plan. How to ensure that Xu Jingtang always holds on to Zhao Duan and comes to Zhengyang Mountain?
I didn't expect him to take the initiative to propose it.
Zhao Duan thought for a moment and then asked tentatively, "Because I'm valuable enough and have always given him the illusion that he can catch up with me at any time?"
Unexpectedly, Zhang Yanyi shook his head, and looked at him with an intriguing look:
"That's possible, but more importantly, if my guess is correct, Xu Jingtang is determined to get you. To be more precise, he's determined to get your body."
No, what are you talking about, you old frivolous guy? You can’t say that... Zhao Duan’s buttocks tightened, and then a flash of inspiration suddenly came to his mind.
Then, Zhang Yanyi slowly uttered a sentence that shocked him:
"To put it more clearly, I'm interested in the dragon soul in your body."
Buzz...
At this moment, Zhao Duan's mind was confused, and he instinctively became very alert. He looked at Zhang Yanyi with a look full of vigilance.
This old guy... knows that he has a dragon soul?
When did he know this? Or is he trying to trick me?!
Zhang Yan shouldn't have known this secret. He and the Empress should have been the only ones who knew about Dragon Soul!
A numbness shot up from his spine to his head. Zhao Duan almost subconsciously controlled the micro-expression on his face and said in confusion:
"What does this mean, Master?"
Zhang Yan smiled and said:
"There's no need to play dumb in front of me. I have no reason to deceive a junior like you. It doesn't matter if you don't admit it. In the eyes of the world, everyone believes that your majesty secretly helped you summon the Taia Sword. No one suspects Long Po."
Zhao Duan was silent.
The old Taoist priest spoke with a firm tone, as if he had known this for a long time. But Zhen Bao couldn't have told him, so when would it have been?
The most likely possibility was the Buddhist-Taoist competition. Perhaps Zhang Yanyi had already seen it at that time, but pretended not to know.
There was a brief silence, and then he said:
"I've heard a little about the Taizu Dragon Soul. I think the Heavenly Master must have misjudged it. But if such a divine object existed, it should be in the hands of Your Majesty. How could it be in my possession?
"But, Senior, what you're saying is that Xu Jingtang mistakenly believed that thing was with me? So he'd rather abandon the Huai River and his second son's life to capture me?"
Haha, pretend... you keep pretending... Zhang Yanyi didn't point it out to him, but just said lightly:
"With the blessing of the gods, Xu Jingtang's perception will be countless times stronger."
He didn't say it all, but the meaning was clear:
As a member of the royal family, Xu Jingtang must have known about the existence of the Dragon Soul. After gaining divine power, he gained insight into the remains of the Taizu sleeping in Zhao Duan's Qi Sea.
That's why he was so persistent in hunting him down... The old Taoist priest might have guessed this early on, and that's why he was certain that Zhao Duan could lure the God of Death to Zhengyang Mountain.
"Senior..." Zhao Duan asked doubtfully:
"Let's not talk about why Xu Jingtang mistakenly believed that the Dragon Soul was with me. What did you mean by saying this to me, Senior? Please explain it clearly."
Zhang Yanyi sighed softly, stood up, and walked to the eaves of the hall with his hands behind his back. He looked out at the scenery outside the mountain and said calmly:
"Don't overthink it. I'm just curious about the Great Yu Ancestor who lived six hundred years ago. Since the Dragon Soul is not in your hands, I guessed wrong.
However, if that thing were really in your hands, when you were truly facing a desperate situation, with it in your hand, you would surely not die, hehe...
Rumor has it that the Dragon Soul is the prototype of the 'Martial God' that Great Yu Taizu cultivated throughout his life. If it has survived for hundreds of years without disappearing, its level must be much stronger than that of a god. If Xu Jingtang can use the power of the Lost God to contain the Dragon Soul, why can't he do the same?"
Zhao Duan stared at the old man's back, as if thinking about something.
"Well, now that Xu Jingtang is dead and you've been on the run for days, you must be anxious to return to see His Majesty. Zhengyang Mountain is a peaceful place. I've asked Zhengyang to prepare a room for you. You can stay here and rest. Once you've rested enough, I'll send you back to Jingchuan."
Zhang Yan waved his hand: "As for the cost of helping you this time..."
Zhao Duan sneered, "I risked my life to help you fish, you made a lot of money, right?"
Zhang Yan shut up in dismay. Although he liked to get things for free, if he asked himself, he did make a profit by suppressing the God of Destruction this time.
Zhao Duan walked out, and when he was about to walk out of the courtyard gate, he suddenly stopped, turned back, and said calmly:
“Just now, Senior said in the hall that practitioners of the Heavenly Dao act in accordance with the Great Dao. This reminded me of a scholar I once met who said something similar.
He said, "At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I was free from doubts; at fifty I understood the will of Heaven; at sixty I was able to listen to others at will; at seventy I followed my heart's desire without transgressing the rules."
After leaving behind this incoherent sentence, Zhao Duan turned around, pushed the door open and walked out of the yard.
Zhang Yan was stunned, lowering his head to chew on this sentence, especially the last seven words "Do what you want without going beyond the rules", his narrow eyes shining brightly.
He suddenly grabbed the Heavenly Book at his waist, and had the urge to engrave this sentence into the Heavenly Book as well.
The free Taoist priest returns for a limited time.
"This brat..." Zhang Yan sighed, "Don't you want to owe me a favor? This sly guy..."
…
Thousands of miles away, the territory of Yunfu.
A group of white-robed sorcerers were walking sparsely in the mountains and forests, but their number was much smaller than before.
Many people's mourning sticks were lost or broken, and the coffins around their waists were dull and rotten.
The white-robed leader of the sect, Shi Youlian, walked in front. The clothes of this charming old woman were dirty and stained with blood. Her face became paler under the shaking hood as she walked.
There was even a huge crack on the coffin around his waist.
That night, she led the White Sect sorcerers to evacuate from Jingchuan Town, but encountered Zhao Shixiong who came to kill her with a knife.
A fierce battle.
Under normal circumstances, although Zhao Shixiong is strong, he will only be defeated if he faces the entire Baiyi Sect.
But there was nothing they could do. At that time, the entire Baiyi Sect had almost exhausted all their magic power in order to summon the God of Death.
In order to protect the subordinates of Baiyimen from being killed, Shiyoulian was restrained, because the sorcerers were far inferior to the warriors in frontal combat.
As a result, he was defeated and was slashed three times by Zhao Shixiong, causing serious injuries. Even his son Shiluoyi was cut by Zhao Shixiong's sword.
They were only able to retrieve his body and escape with the remaining white-robed disciples.
But on Zhengyang Mountain, almost at the same time when the God of Death was suppressed, the white-robed sorcerers walking in the woods stopped almost at the same time, looked up at the sky in astonishment.
“Plop!”
“Plop!”
The light in the eyes of a warlock who was already at low health went out, and he fell to the ground and died without even a scream.
Backlash!
A powerful ritual is bound to be accompanied by a powerful backlash. The "Death of the Lost God" caused the curse on a group of evil sorcerers to erupt.
In the blink of an eye, almost all the sorcerers in the forest were killed!
"Puff!" Shi Youlian suddenly raised his head and spurted out a mouthful of scarlet blood. He fell down with his head tilted back and was unconscious for a short time.
The backlash was not enough to kill a strong person of her level, even if she was seriously injured.
If no one disturbs her, she will regain consciousness and wake up in about an incense stick of time.
However……
Just a short while after the White Clothes Sect members died collectively.
“Ga ga ga…”
High above the forest, a pitch-black crow circled with its wings flapping, as if laughing.
Then, a puff of yellow mist emerged from the forest. In the mist, a middle-aged man with extremely sloppy clothes and a sword made of copper coins on his back walked slowly towards them.
The leader of the Dark Cult looked down at the corpses in the forest with pity and sighed, "Why bother?"
A crow spun down from the sky, its feet planted on a nearby branch, and it uttered in human language, "Dead, dead, will you save me?"
The Dark Cult has the ability to bring the dead back to life, but the cost of using it is huge every time.
The sect is also closely related to the White Robe Sect.
However, the number of members in the Underworld Cult is far too small, and the core members in each generation do not exceed five people at most.
The leader of the Dark Cult said unhappily:
"So many people, what's the point of saving them? It was Zhang Yan who took action. I've advised her countless times to quit while she's ahead. Why does she have to tie the sect to a prince? Does she really want to make the White Robe Sect bigger and stronger and become the Imperial Master? The previous experience of bewitching demons is a lesson for her..."
He muttered to himself and walked straight to the front of the corpse curtain. He leaned over and looked at the female leader of the White Sect who was lying on her back on the ground, muttering to herself.
The crow sneered:
"Don't want to save him? Then do you still want your wife? Let me remind you, her son is still in the coffin. He's probably asking you to revive him."
The leader of the Hades Cult, who looked like a sloppy puppy, muttered:
"You Lian, You Lian, in the past, whenever I talked about marriage with you, you wanted to hit someone. Now that you are so weak, just obey me. As for your son, it is better not to have him. People usually say that husband and wife should be buried together after death, but there is no reason to take such a big son with you..."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pulled out the sword full of copper coins from his back. He gripped the hilt with both hands and stabbed it towards Shi Youlian's heart with a "puff"!
Shi Youlian suddenly opened his eyes and stared at him in disbelief. He wanted to say something but couldn't.
There were many grave mounds rising up on the ground around, and with each one, the body of a White Sect sorcerer was devoured.
The crow was so frightened that its feathers fell off. It flapped its wings and circled around, making a loud noise:
"Murder, murder, forced ghost marriage."
After a while.
The leader of the Hades Cult put away his blood-stained sword, picked up the corpse of Shi Youlian with both arms, and walked out. His right foot crushed a small coffin on the ground, and a palm-sized corpse, broken into two pieces, fell out of it. It was the young master Shi Luoyi.
"As a sorcerer of evil ways, you should be aware of your evil ways. Why would you want to get involved in the struggles of the dynasty?"
“Huahua——”
The illusory Yellow Springs Road appeared out of thin air, and the leader of the Hades Cult walked in holding the female corpse and disappeared.
Only graves remain in the woods.
It symbolizes the demise of the Baiyi Sect.
…
…
In the capital, in the imperial palace, on the third floor of an old building deep in the Martial Arts Hall.
In the quiet room, a light flashed on the surface of the stone wall, and Zhao Duan's soul shadow took a step forward after many days!
“I’m back!”
Zhao Duan looked around the familiar old building and felt relieved. He had been running for his life these past few days, and now it was finally over.
He turned his head to look at the stone wall, and his soul sank into the puppet skillfully.
Then, the puppet substitute, which had been dormant for many days and was almost covered in dust, woke up again. Zhao Duan moved his stiff joints and muttered, "It's a bit stiff. Damn it, I should have thrown it outside in the sun to charge it..."
Fortunately, the substitute puppet was not unable to move. After he adapted to the body, he excitedly pushed the door open and stepped out.
"Ding-ling-ling..."
The bells hanging on the eaves above my head began to swing, making clear and pleasant sounds.
Zhao Duan did not continue to walk out, but just stood upstairs with his eyes squinted, enjoying the midday sunbath.
"A few days have passed. I wonder if the military intelligence from the south has been reported back to the capital. Zhenbao is probably worried sick. Haha... Xu Jingtang is dead. This good news must be told to her quickly..."
The corners of Zhao Duan's mouth curled up.
After a while, a figure in white riding on golden light came from a distance.
The Queen of Dayu, Xu Zhenguan, had her black hair swaying as her stunning figure slowly appeared on the corridor on the third floor, her clothes fluttering.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Zhao Duan bowed.
Xu Zhenguan looked at him meaningfully, with an imperceptible complexity and more unspeakable meanings passing across his fair face.
All these expressions only lasted for a moment before she hid them well.
"No need to be so polite, Mr. Zhao. I just received the battle report from the front and I didn't expect you to come back."
Xu Zhenguan looked delighted.
This is true.
Not long ago, when she returned from "The World" with mixed feelings, her mood was extremely turbulent.
But she didn't have much time to think about it, as she once again clearly sensed the faint celestial fluctuations coming from the southwest.
However, perhaps because it was too far away, or because of the obstruction of the Zhengyang Mountain formation, the fluctuation this time was smaller.
But it was enough to make her pay close attention.
As a result, not long after returning to the study, an urgent military report was sent back from the direction of Jingchuan Town at the fastest speed by a falcon and delivered to the palace.
The military intelligence was sent back by Yuan Feng, which basically said that the imperial court had occupied Jingchuan Town and was hunting down the rebels.
At the same time, the military intelligence mentioned the disappearance of Xu Jingtang, Zhao Duan and others.
The empress's heart became even more confused. As she was like an ant on a hot pan, pacing around in the Yangxin Palace, the bell on the table suddenly rang.
She hurried over again and saw Zhao Duan in front of her.
My heart finally settled down a little.
However, all these changes happened within one or two hours, which caught her off guard.
At this moment, she had countless questions. She wanted to ask about Zhao Duan's relationship with the human world, whether he was safe, what had happened during the past two days of disconnection, and what was happening with Xu Jingtang...
Many questions were stuck in her throat, but in the end she just opened her red lips and said:
"I'm glad you're back."
Zhao Duan had no idea of the Empress's complex emotions at the moment, and he had no idea that his vest had fallen off...
He was stunned for a moment and asked curiously, "Has the military intelligence been sent back? What's the current situation in Jingchuan?"
He is also concerned about what will happen after he leaves.
Xu Zhenguan suppressed the urge to ask about his vest and decided to postpone it for the time being, instead talking about business first:
"Yuan Feng and Zhao Shixiong have occupied Jingchuan. Zhao Shixiong severely injured the White Clothes Sect leader... Later, Lang Shiba returned to Jingchuan, seriously injured, and brought back your orders. They only then learned what happened that night. So, are you out of danger now? Is Xu Jingtang still pursuing you?"
So many things have happened... Zhao Duan took a deep breath, met the empress's worried and earnest gaze, and said in a deep voice:
"Your Majesty, the rebel king Xu Jingtang has just died at the foot of Zhengyang Mountain!"
(End of this chapter)
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