Chapter 28 Shangshan Bureau Twenty-one
The fact that the emperor kept giant scorpions is quite rare and is not recorded in historical books. He initially thought it was a minor matter, so it's normal that the historical books couldn't record everything in detail.
If the giant scorpion has purple aura, does that mean it is also one of the key elements of the King Serpent Formation, an important entity that the formation needs to protect?
Since he couldn't remove the poison from its body, he guessed it was because of the interference of the restrictive laws. This small world was much more treacherous than he had imagined; he should refrain from making any rash moves before fully understanding its nature.
Therefore, Shinjuku did not try to touch the giant scorpion again. Seeing that he had no intention of approaching, the giant scorpion of Hitomi Mountain stretched out its tail again.
But Zhen Su not only didn't approach it, but seeing that there was nothing poisonous to catch, he only glanced at it before climbing over the wall and leaving the Scorpion Shadow Palace.
The giant scorpion remained motionless, seemingly in a daze.
As he walked, Shinjuku activated all six senses, trying to ascertain whether Crimson Purple still existed in the palace. His current limit for the coverage of his six senses was less than half an acre, far less than the range of his five senses. However, this range would gradually expand with more use, so Shinjuku consciously extended his six senses further each time.
Scorpion Shadow Palace, Zhengren Palace, Xuanyuan Palace, Luoxin Palace... then to Yulan Palace, Yicui Palace, Bixuan Palace, Luoyan Palace...
Shinshu scanned the palaces of the Emperor and his princes and princesses, as well as the three palaces and six courtyards of his concubines, but found nothing suspicious. He pondered that crimson purple was indeed the rarest color, and apart from the Emperor and the giant scorpion of Tongshan, it had never been seen again.
Shinju was about to continue sweeping through the Five Guards and Ten Bureaus, but before he could take a step, he felt his body suddenly become extremely heavy, as if he had overdrawn his spiritual power after using the Mountain-Moving Technique a long time ago. In an instant, he could no longer maintain his six senses, and everything went black before his eyes.
Oh no! He overcame the problem of exhaustion from using his five senses, but forgot that the sixth sense consumes dozens of times more energy than the five. If he uses it without restraint, his body won't be able to take it.
Just before he completely lost consciousness, to avoid frightening anyone with his unconscious appearance, Shinju deliberately leaned forward and fell heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust and fallen flowers.
Before long, a group of people stopped in front of the Luoyan Palace next door. A graceful woman in purple robes stepped down from the palanquin, followed by servants carrying long-handled fans on both sides. A maid took out a handkerchief to wipe her sweat, while the servants bowed and escorted her into the palace.
"What kind of handkerchief did you pick? It's so tacky, you dare to put anything on my face?" The woman in purple, Consort Yan, glared at the maid with displeasure, about to lash out, but then she caught a glimpse of several guards huddled together at the corner of the palace wall.
"What are you all doing gathered there?" Consort Yan glanced at the servants indifferently and called out, "Xiao Chunzi."
The father-in-law, who was called Xiaochunzi, immediately understood and quickly walked to the other end of the crowd.
"Your Highness, the guards have found an eunuch lying on the corner."
Upon hearing this, Consort Yan frowned slightly, "...Eunuch?"
.
Two quarters of an hour ago, Kotsuki, who had been left in the servants' quarters by Shinjuku, was suddenly called by someone from the bureau to help move heavy objects.
There are many miscellaneous items and tasks in the palace. Usually, the eunuchs do their best to move them, but their strength is not much greater than that of the palace maids, so it is very difficult for them.
Therefore, Xiao Dunzi, who was physically strong and had no connections, was still often ordered to do heavy work even though he was appointed as a food servant.
Xiao Dunzi never cared about such things, and this little bit of stuff was nothing to him, so he happily picked it up.
However, while moving the object, he was also distracted by sensing the person a little further away. The sensation was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and the other person seemed to be constantly moving and changing location.
Where did Qingqing go? She seems so busy... always walking around. Xiaodunzi thought to himself.
But after a while, Xiaodunzi discovered that the distance between him and Zhensu had not changed for a long time. It was exactly the same distance as before, and even the direction had not changed.
Xiao Dunzi couldn't help but feel anxious. He wanted to put down his work and go find Zhen Su first, but the other eunuchs had already disappeared somewhere, and it was difficult to even inform anyone.
What if we don't finish moving in time and cause delays... and Qingqing runs into trouble!
Xiaodunzi hesitated for only a moment before placing the heavy, life-sized vase on the ground beside him and turning to run away quickly.
When he finally found the place after wandering around, he discovered a group of people surrounding Masakatsu, who was lying on the ground, roughly slapping his face in an attempt to wake him up.
"Your Highness, this person is still breathing. Should we splash water on him to wake him up?" suggested a maidservant beside Consort Yan.
"He's not dead? What a pity." Consort Yan was furious when she looked at the man's face on the ground. He was covered in mud and looked dirty, but it couldn't hide his handsome features at all. The stark contrast made him look even more beautiful.
"Tsk, it would be such bad luck if he really died in our palace. Men, carry him inside and fetch Imperial Physician Jiang," Consort Yan ordered with a disdainful glance.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
At this moment, a dark-skinned man pushed through the crowd. He looked taller and stronger than all the guards around him, like a big black bear.
"Qingqing, Qingqing, what's wrong with you?!" When Xiaodunzi saw that Zhensu was unconscious, his heart jumped into his throat. He rushed forward and helped Zhensu up.
"What an unruly brat! Where did he come from?" Consort Yan said angrily.
"Which palace do you work for? You don't kneel or greet our Imperial Concubine, how utterly disrespectful! Believe me or not, I'll make sure you get out of the capital!" Xiao Chunzi scolded, slapping Xiao Dunzi's face with his whisk.
Because Xiaodunzi was still holding Masakatsu in his arms, he couldn't dodge and took the hit squarely.
It doesn't hurt much, but it's extremely humiliating.
Xiao Dunzi wasn't ignorant of the rules; he remembered everything Shinju taught him. However, he possessed an almost wild animal-like intuition, allowing him to keenly sense the malice in these people. Having spent so long struggling in the lower classes, he couldn't help but be sensitive to malice; after all, if he were oblivious to this, he certainly wouldn't have survived to this day.
He overheard them mentioning that they had summoned the imperial physician, but he feared it wouldn't be that simple. He couldn't hand Masatsu over to them; he worried that Masatsu wouldn't receive proper treatment if he were in their hands. Therefore, despite being beaten, Xiaodunzi insisted on carrying the boy on his back, saying, "Qingqing is sick, I need to take Qingqing to the Imperial Hospital, please make way!"
However, before Consort Yan could speak, the guards could no longer contain themselves. This was the outer perimeter of Consort Yan's palace, and outsiders were not allowed to trespass. Now, this trespasser was showing disrespect to the Empress. As guards protecting Luoyan Palace, they naturally had to step forward and apprehend Xiaodunzi.
After being cleansed, Xiaodunzi became incredibly strong. He never knew any fighting techniques, but he took down five or six guards with just brute force. When Zhensu was carried on his back, he would occasionally be accidentally injured by the guards. When Xiaodunzi turned around in a hurry, he found that the guards were covering their hands, grimacing, and keeping their distance from them.
"...What kind of superhuman strength..." The guards had no choice but to draw their swords and stand in front of Xiaodunzi, who was unarmed and carrying someone on his back.
The commotion was quite loud and attracted many people from the vicinity. However, no matter how loud the commotion was, when everyone looked up, they realized it was the territory of Luoyan Palace, and no one dared to spread the word.
Just then, Luli passed by and recognized a familiar face in the crowd. She quickly and quietly ran back to Yicui Palace to inform Consort Shao.
"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! This servant saw... saw Eunuch Qing and another eunuch being surrounded in front of Luoyan Palace!"
Consort Shao was about to say that she was being reckless and lacking in decorum, but after hearing Luli's words, she immediately stood up from her chair. "Luoyan... it's Consort Yan! What does she intend to do to Xiaoqingzi and the others?!"
"This servant doesn't know either. When I got there, I saw several guards had drawn their swords! Eunuch Qing was being carried on someone's back; he seemed to have fainted or something..."
"Fainted?...I understand. Luli, go find Imperial Physician Zhao. Consort Yan wouldn't dare offend him easily, so he's the most suitable person to consult." Consort Shao nodded as she gave her instructions.
"But when I went to get the medicine yesterday, I heard that Lord Zhao was temporarily summoned back to the Zhao family, and I'm afraid he won't be back for three to five days."
Upon hearing this, Consort Shao's cherry lips went dry with anxiety. After a moment's hesitation, she slammed her hand on the table and exclaimed, "I'm going to find the Emperor!"
.
East side room of Zhengren Hall.
"Your Majesty, Master Fuyin and his junior brother are waiting in the front hall," the attendant eunuch reported.
"Send it." The King of Zhen's sword-like eyebrows twitched slightly, his dark eyes devoid of any warmth.
"yes."
A short while later, two elderly men dressed as Taoist priests entered the side room together. They did not kneel, but instead performed the traditional bowing ceremony of their Xuxuan sect.
The Emperor knew that this was a privilege granted to them by the Empress Dowager. Although this was in front of him, not the Empress Dowager, he did not intend to embarrass the Empress Dowager, so he naturally did not say anything.
"Please have a seat, both of you."
Two elderly Taoist priests with white hair sat down.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the older Taoist priest with a white left eye stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, as instructed by the Empress Dowager, I wish to present this item to Your Majesty."
Another plump Taoist priest then presented a simple wooden box.
"This is the Heart Nourishing Pill, which my senior brother and I refined after traveling all over the continent of Yaozhou, searching for many rare treasures, compiling new pill formulas, and going through eighty-one processes."
The fat Taoist priest used his thick fingers to lift the wooden box, revealing a golden pill placed inside, cushioned with wood ash.
The eunuch wanted to take the box and hand it to the emperor so that he could see it clearly, but the fat Taoist priest wouldn't allow it.
"Please, Your Majesty, move over here. The formula for this elixir is sought after even by the Emperor of Feng Kingdom at great expense. Although it is not the life-extending elixir he most desires, its efficacy is no less than that of the life-extending elixir, and it is equally priceless." The fat Taoist said with a smile, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, but this elixir must be made without the slightest mistake."
They had come on the Empress Dowager's orders, so the eunuch in charge could only flick his whisk, chuckle awkwardly, and retreat outside.
The emperor stared at the box of golden pills, narrowed his eyes slightly, slowly got up, walked around the table, and went to the fat Taoist priest.
The plump Taoist priest smiled kindly, “This is the Empress Dowager’s loving heart for her son. She has only received one such heart, yet she asks me to give it to His Majesty. Our country is fortunate to have such a loving Empress Dowager who cares for her son and her people. It is truly a blessing from heaven for our dynasty and a blessing for all the people.”
Just as the Emperor was about to touch the golden elixir with his fingertips, a message came from outside that Consort Shao had an urgent matter to discuss with him.
"Consort Shao?" The Emperor's expression showed a lack of interest, and he intended to have the head palace maid handle it.
Before the order could be given, a powerful, penetrating female voice rang out from outside the hall—
"Something's happened at Qingchuan Restaurant!!!"
A note from the author:
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