Chapter 241 I'm betting my kingdom, my dear ministers...are you willing to take a chance?
Three years after the White Deer Academy came into being, in the Daying Dynasty, the Imperial Palace.
"Your Majesty, the patriarchs of several major families have already..."
Daying Emperor Zhao Zhongming raised his hand.
Seeing this, the old eunuch wisely chose to keep silent.
Zhao Zhongming leaned back on the dragon chair and closed his eyes to rest.
Unlike the energetic Zhao Zhongming three years ago, it seems that he has completed the journey that ordinary people would take thirty years to complete in just three years.
Not only did his black hair turn silver, but his face also gained many more wrinkles.
It seems like I have aged a lot in just three years.
This is completely different from the rumors about the Immortal Emperor Daying.
But starting from a certain day three years ago, Zhao Zhongming completely retreated behind the scenes and only allowed a few eunuchs to go to the court to convey messages.
Therefore, many people have been speculating during this period whether Zhao Zhongming has had problems with his cultivation, so that he dares not easily appear in front of outsiders.
However, Zhao Zhongming's disappearance did not cause unrest in the Daying Dynasty.
The influence of the Immortal Emperor who has been in power for five hundred years is far beyond the reach of any ordinary emperor.
It is no exaggeration to say that the current Daying Dynasty is a one-man show by Zhao Zhongming.
After about an incense stick of time, Zhao Zhongming seemed to have finished his rest and stood up.
As he stood up, a special force began to surround Zhao Zhongming.
As a result, his appearance began to become younger.
Not long after, the once majestic and piercing Immortal Emperor Daying appeared in front of the eunuch again.
However, the chief eunuch Guan Shilun looked at Zhao Zhongming with worry in his eyes.
Perhaps noticing Guan Shilun's gaze, Zhao Zhongming said calmly: "Don't worry, I won't fall down until I find a way out."
"Lead the way."
“Yes.”
At the same time, in the imperial palace of Daying Dynasty, the imperial study.
At this moment, the patriarchs of the four major families of the Daying Dynasty are all present in the imperial study.
These people are not only the heads of the cultivator families, but also the patrol envoys of the Four Directions Demon Suppression Bureau.
They can be said to be the last few people with strength and power in the Daying Dynasty except Emperor Zhao Zhongming.
These people are Cui Shouye from the Haoran Cui family, Yue Qingshan from the Baiju Yue family, Li Zhaofeng from the Tianjian Li family, and Xu Yuanrui from the Shanhe Xu family.
The last time the four major families were gathered together was during the Demonic Rebellion a thousand years ago.
And this time, Zhao Zhongming gathered them together, obviously he had something important to announce.
Although the four did not know what Zhao Zhongming was going to do, they could all sense a storm that might soon sweep across the entire Daying Dynasty.
In this storm, even the four major families cannot guarantee that they will be safe and sound.
It was precisely because of this worry that the patriarchs of the four major families at this moment all had serious expressions, quietly waiting for Zhao Zhongming's arrival.
"Your Majesty has arrived!"
Accompanied by a sharp and penetrating eunuch's voice outside the study, the four people in the study knelt down one after another.
They all said in unison: "Your Majesty, we are here to see you."
"No need to be polite."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Zhao Zhongming walked into the study.
He first looked at the people from the four major families calmly, and then said to the palace maids and eunuchs around him: "Except for Eunuch Guan, the rest of you should go out first."
“Yes.”
With Wu Ran and others leaving, there were only six people left in the imperial study: the patriarchs of the four major families, the emperor Zhao Zhongming, and the chief eunuch Guan Shilun.
Zhao Zhongming came to the dragon chair in the study and sat down directly.
"My dear ministers, please take a seat."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After everyone from the four major families was seated, Zhao Zhongming finally spoke.
"My dear ministers, you are all important officials of our dynasty, and you are also rare third-level masters of our dynasty. You should be very curious about the reason why I called you here, right?"
Cui Shouye, Yue Qingshan and others looked at each other and nodded.
Zhao Zhongming looked at them and did not explain immediately. Instead, he said, "Before I tell you the purpose of summoning you, I want to tell you a story first."
"After listening to this story, you may understand what I am thinking and what I want you to do next."
Cui Shouye and others immediately sat up straight with serious expressions.
Because they felt that what Zhao Zhongming was going to say was definitely extraordinary.
"You all should have heard a saying that if you don't enter the Heavenly Palace in this lifetime, the third realm is already the peak."
"This statement not only reveals that the path above the Three Realms is completely in the hands of the Heavenly Questioning Palace, but it also tells us another thing, that below the Heavenly Questioning Palace, we are all ants."
"The so-called dynasty is nothing more than a game similar to children playing house. As long as the Heavenly Palace wants, they can replace us at any time."
"And what I want to tell you is related to this Wentian Palace."
As he spoke, Zhao Zhongming's gaze immediately became profound, as if he was lost in some memories.
"Everyone in the world says that I am the immortal emperor, the reincarnation of a true dragon, and the destined emperor."
"But what they don't know is that I was actually the same as my brothers five hundred years ago, not much different from them."
"Everything changed after I met someone."
"At that time, I had no ambitions. I didn't want to be the greatest emperor in history, nor did I want to become an immortal. All I wanted was to be a free and easy prince living in a remote corner, indulging myself in life and being carefree."
"And do you know why I started on the path of cultivation?"
Cui Shouye and others looked at each other and shook their heads.
Because they actually didn't know much about Zhao Zhongming's early years.
Although the life span of a cultivator is very long, the life span of a cultivator in the third realm is no more than three hundred years.
When the four of them were born, Zhao Zhongming had already been emperor for many years.
As for Zhao Zhongming's early years, most people don't know much about them.
It was as if someone had secretly erased a part of Zhao Zhongming's history.
The most important of these is the fifteen years between when Zhao Zhongming became emperor at the age of twenty-five and when he was forty.
Neither the libraries of the four major families nor the historical records of the Daying Dynasty have any records of this part.
So many people think that this is because Zhao Zhongming came from an illegitimate background and erased the history of this period.
As for those who know this history, some are old and some are dead.
To this day, no one knows what happened during those fifteen years.
And as Zhao Zhongming's cultivation and power became increasingly consolidated.
No one dared to explore this secret.
But now Zhao Zhongming was actually prepared to tell them this history directly.
This made Cui Shouye and others curious but also nervous.
For some things, knowing too much is not necessarily a good thing.
Although they were curious about this matter, they also knew that sometimes just being curious... would result in a heavy price to pay.
If given a choice, the four of them would rather not know this history.
But at the moment, Zhao Zhongming undoubtedly did not give them a choice.
They...have no choice.
Zhao Zhongming ignored the uncertain expressions of the four people and said to himself: "Before I was 25, I thought I had seen countless women, but few women could touch my heart, until I met that woman..."
"She is like the orchid in the valley and the clear spring in the mountain. I see neither the vulgarity of the world nor the arrogance of the immortals in her. What I see is only the indescribable innocence."
"And from that moment on, I understood what love is."
"After that, I stayed with her shamelessly and followed her around the mountains and rivers."
"At first, she didn't resist me, but she didn't get close to me. She didn't drive me away, nor did she talk to me. It was as if she ignored me and was looking for something in the Great Ying Dynasty."
"And for some reason, the more she acts like this, the more curious I become about her."
"Now that I think about it, perhaps it was her disregard for me that aroused my competitive spirit."
"Some time after that, I mobilized all my connections to investigate the origins of this woman."
"But after a long investigation, I was surprised to find that this woman seemed to have appeared suddenly without leaving any trace."
"Although I was uneducated in my early years, I did know some of the secrets of the dynasty."
"There are only two types of people who can suddenly appear in our dynasty and leave no trace."
"One comes from above, and one comes from beyond."
"The sky is the Heavenly Palace, and outside the sky is the Extraterritorial Demon."
"It's different from today. Although the Heavenly Demons had a bad reputation in our dynasty at that time, they were not to the extent that everyone wants to kill them now."
"The reason is that the Demon Rebellion a thousand years ago was essentially instigated by the previous dynasty. The establishment of our dynasty also benefited from this. Therefore, our attitude towards the Demons in the early days was not to contact them, nor to offend them."
"So after guessing that the woman might be from heaven or beyond the heavens, I became even more curious about her."
"In other words, besides her, I am also curious about the scenery of the world she comes from."
"After that, I began to pursue her even more fiercely."
"If she goes to Youshan, I will go to Youshan too. If she goes to the four seas, I will follow her. Anyway, wherever she goes, I will do everything I can to follow her, like a shadow."
When talking about this, a rare happy smile appeared on Zhao Zhongming's face.
It was as if that memory was more precious to him than anything else.
When Cui Shouye and others saw this scene, they all looked strange.
Because they thought Zhao Zhongming was going to talk about some dynasty secrets.
In the end, what is being talked about is Zhao Zhongming's early years of being a "dog-licker".
To put it nicely, Zhao Zhongming is bravely pursuing love.
To put it bluntly, he is just pestering others.
But you know what, in their eyes, Zhao Zhongming is more humane.
After all, no matter in terms of cultivation or age, Zhao Zhongming is their well-deserved senior.
Coupled with Zhao Zhongming's identity and cultivation, they often look at Zhao Zhongming with awe.
But this awe completely collapsed at this moment, turning into an indescribable contrast.
But Cui Shouye and others...are not averse to this.
"After following her for three years, I finally learned her name for the first time. It's just 'Jiu'. I call her Miss Jiu."
"Three years later, I found out what Miss Jiu was looking for. She said she was looking for a way home."
"Do you know how complicated my mood is after knowing this?"
"I don't want her to find her way home, but I can't bear to see her searching aimlessly like this."
"I couldn't bear to see her wandering like this any longer, so I offered to help her find a way home."
"And it was from this day that Miss Jiu finally changed her attitude towards me. She began to talk to me actively and was willing to share some of her few memories."
"She said her memory was very vague. One of her memories was of her being on a high mountain. She couldn't remember what the people there called her. She only remembered that she seemed to often go in and out of a hall, and that there were many large pots burning with fire in that hall."
"As for what was burning in those cauldrons, she couldn't remember."
"And the other memory is that she was in an uninhabited bamboo forest. At that time, she seemed not to be a human, but just a small insect, looking for food everywhere."
"But she herself can't tell which memory is real."
"She just knew she had one very strong thought in her mind, which was to go home."
"Since then, I have mobilized all my connections to help her find a way home."
"Gradually, I did find a lot of useful clues. For example, the cauldron in her memory was actually a cultivator's alchemy furnace."
"And according to her memory, the place where she first found herself was a hall full of alchemy furnaces."
"There is no such place in the Daying Dynasty, so I guess she is either from Wentian Palace or from the land outside the sky."
"But I have been in contact with people from Wentian Palace, and they said that there is no such person as Miss Jiu in Wentian Palace."
"So I know one thing, that is Miss Jiu... comes from outer space."
"It was from then on that I made a decision in my heart."
"Anyway, I don't want to inherit the throne, so the Daying Dynasty won't be any more or less if I'm here."
"If everything went well, I should have left Daying with Miss Jiu and headed for that mysterious land beyond the sky."
"But everything changed after nine years."
"At that time, I actually knew that the demons seemed to be looking for something in the Daying Dynasty. In order to avoid the tragedy of the previous dynasty, the Daying court at that time not only did not hostile to the demons, but also helped them search together."
"And in order to help Ajiu find the way home, I deliberately contacted a few demons."
"They are called demons, but they are actually not much different from normal people. The Qingyun Sect disciples are the most interesting among them."
"Although the Qingyun Sect disciples have very different personalities, each of them is a man of character and is open-minded, which suits my taste very well."
"Surprisingly, after I found Ajiu with a few Qingyun Sect disciples, they actually looked at Ajiu in shock and said that she was a disciple of their Qingyun Sect's Danyang Peak and disappeared at the trial site during the last True Immortal Trial."
"After they left a few people behind, the others ran back to the Sambar Academy to verify something. When they came back, they told Ajiu that as long as she wanted, she could leave with them at any time and go home together."
"Do you know how I felt at that moment?"
"It's a feeling that can't be described in words. I'm happy and sad at the same time."
"I'm happy that Ajiu found her way home, but I'm sad that I, a person without any cultivation, will probably be separated from Ajiu soon."
"So I made a decision that I regret the most, which is that I asked Ajiu to stay and accompany me to walk through the places we visited nine years ago."
"Ajiu agreed, and in order to cherish this precious time, I asked several Qingyun Sect disciples not to come with me, so that Ajiu and I could be alone for some time."
"But this decision has become the biggest mistake of my life."
"Because I had no idea that besides being a disciple of the Qingyun Sect, Ajiu had another identity... that is, the Immortal Wineworm."
"Another memory of Ajiu is her memory of the alcoholic period."
As he spoke of this, Zhao Zhongming's expression gradually became ferocious.
"The immortals are cruel and use all things as poisons. Ajiu is one of them."
"Just as I and Ajiu left the imperial city and arrived at Jiuyou Mountain, a group of demons found us."
"I don't know how they found out the identity of Ajiu Jiuchong, and they tried every means to capture her and offer her to the immortal in exchange for the method to become an immortal."
"In order to protect me, Ajiu temporarily repelled those demons, but he was still unable to get rid of them."
"I tried to seek help from the court, but the court told me not to interfere."
"I hate it. I hate why I indulged in pleasure when I was young. I hate why I was not able to hold any official position."
“Those Qingyun Sect disciples came to rescue immediately after receiving the news.”
"But they were no match for the other demons who joined forces with our dynasty, and were eventually trapped in the academy..."
Having said that, Zhao Zhongming stood up and looked at the four people in front of him.
"I won't talk about what happened afterwards, because those things are not important."
"I once said that I would bring Ajiu home, so I will definitely bring her home. For this... I can do whatever it takes."
"I have summoned you today for one purpose only: to follow me, enter the Imperial Academy, and embark on the path to heaven."
"Because only there is a way to the outside world."
"After this matter is over, no matter what the outcome is, you can take all of Daying's kingdom."
"I'm betting my kingdom on this. My dear ministers... are you willing to join me in the gamble?"
After hearing what Zhao Zhongming said, Cui Shouye and others fell completely silent.
Because what Zhao Zhongming said was so shocking.
If successful, their major families will completely become the masters of the Daying Dynasty.
If they fail, they will face revenge from the academy.
After all, the academy has always only allowed disciples to enter. If non-disciples want to enter the academy, the only way is to kill their way in.
The stakes... are too high.
PS: Sorry for the late update.
(End of this chapter)
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