"Where is there a better place to recuperate than the palace? Are you afraid I'll harm him?"
"Master, if you want to execute someone, do you need to wait until he is injured? The Immortal Marquis certainly knows this!"
"Then why didn't he report back?" Emperor Jiajing turned to Huang Jin with a cold smile.
Huang Jin couldn't sense any dragon vein energy, but that didn't stop him from trembling.
He said tremblingly, "Master, if you don't want to harm the Immortal Marquis, then naturally there are others who want to harm him."
The Jiajing Emperor looked at him: "Who?"
“Your Majesty, when evil spirits appeared in the palace, this servant speculated that perhaps someone wanted to frame the Immortal Marquis.” After saying this, Huang Jin kowtowed, not daring to look at Emperor Jiajing.
The Jiajing Emperor's voice, as clear as the heavens, came from above him: "Continue."
"Does Master know who the only survivor among the Five Heavenly Kings of the Divine Sect is? It is the younger sister of the Immortal Marquis. To fulfill Master's orders, the Immortal Marquis must kill his own sister."
In the quiet, warm pavilion, only the increasingly heavy breathing of the Jiajing Emperor could be heard.
Bang!
As if unleashing a hidden divine power within his body, Emperor Jiajing kicked the pine wood basin used for foot baths away, sending it crashing into the wall with a loud bang.
Amidst the hurried footsteps, a group of eunuchs rushed in. Seeing that the Jiajing Emperor was unharmed, they quickly knelt outside.
"Your Majesty, please don't catch a cold!" Huang Jin cried out, throwing himself to the ground and using his body to warm Emperor Jiajing's feet.
The Jiajing Emperor kicked him away again.
"Shao Yuanjie, how dare you mislead me!" The entire warm pavilion echoed with the Jiajing Emperor's furious roar.
It felt as if thunder was rolling overhead, or as if they were weaving through a hail of bullets. Huang Jin crawled on his stomach and used his body to cover the Jiajing Emperor's feet.
Meanwhile, to the west of the palace, inside the Manifestation Palace.
With a roar from the Jiajing Emperor, Shao Yuanjie coughed up a mouthful of blood. His life, which should have ended in 1539, could not last until the first full moon of 1540.
"Quick, quick, call Master Tao!" The disciples panicked.
Tao Zhongwen, who was reading Taoist books at Lingji Palace, rushed over immediately upon receiving the news, only to find that Shao Yuanjie was already on his deathbed.
"Brother Zhongkang!" Tao Zhongwen grasped Shao Yuanjie's hand and called out his courtesy name.
The two studied Taoism together and were close friends. When Shao Yuanjie gained the favor of the Jiajing Emperor, his first thought was to invite Tao Zhongwen to join him in enjoying wealth and honor, and to read the supreme Taoist books in the palace together.
"I have left a will for His Majesty, recommending you to him. Cough cough, Zhongwen, you must stop the Demon Emperor and protect our Great Ming Dynasty!"
As soon as Shao Yuanjie finished speaking, his body stiffened, and his hands gripped Tao Zhongwen like iron.
Tao Zhongwen's eyes were bloodshot as he said, word by word, "Don't worry, I will personally kill the Demon Emperor and use his head as a blood sacrifice for you!"
His aura appeared and disappeared intermittently, giving Tao Zhongwen the feeling of leaving the mortal world.
Inside the Manifestation Palace, Shao Yuanjie's disciples were overwhelmed with grief and failed to notice the strange phenomenon. Some players hidden among them stared at Tao Zhongwen with astonishment and horror.
If he had a dragon vein within him, or if his environment were different, Tao Zhongwen would probably become an immortal!
No wonder he was a Taoist priest who served as Emperor Jiajing's favorite minister for twenty years in history!
On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Li Changzhou returned to the Forbidden City, carrying five disguised corpses—finding corpses was easy in this era; Anda had raided Xuanfu last spring, and thieves were everywhere.
Emperor Jiajing glanced at the corpse of "Dapeng Tianjun". She was dressed in a green dress and was quite pretty, but she was not qualified to be called Li Changzhou's sister.
This is the Eternal Heavenly Lord.
In reality, the Eternal Heavenly Lord had become a young girl of sixteen, but in front of the Jiajing Emperor, reality could not be discussed; logic had to be followed. Therefore, the Eternal Heavenly Lord was actually the corpse of another old thief.
Emperor Jiajing withdrew his gaze from the corpse, waved his hand, and Huang Jin directed the eunuchs on duty to move the body away.
"You've worked hard, Immortal Marquis." Emperor Jiajing picked up a jade cup from a rosewood tea table next to him, which was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, agate, jadeite and Han jade to form a picture of fish playing among colorful lotus flowers, and took a sip of hot tea.
“It wasn’t hard work. Your Majesty, my purpose in killing these people is actually the same as when I joined the cult and went to the palace to meet the emperor.”
"oh?"
"For the sake of immortality," Li Changzhou said. "I am neither greedy for wealth nor lustful. My lifelong pursuits are boundless magical power and longevity. I joined the Divine Cult to learn its secret techniques for the sake of immortality; I challenged various sects for the sake of immortality; and I entered the palace to serve His Majesty, also for the sake of immortality."
"Immortality, immortality," the Jiajing Emperor put down his jade cup, "How can one achieve immortality?"
Li Changzhou looked at the Jiajing Emperor: "Your Majesty trusts me?"
“The true man climbs thousands of feet of snow-capped mountains, walks thousands of miles of desert, suffers in hell, and commits endless killings—I believe in you, I believe in your heart of seeking the Way.”
“Good,” Li Changzhou said. “Your Majesty, I have found my way to immortality, Your Majesty’s path to enlightenment.”
The Jiajing Emperor narrowed his eyes slightly.
"you say."
“Extract the dragon vein.”
The Jiajing Emperor didn't ask how he would take the throne; instead, he asked, "Is my imperial throne still valid?"
"I will divide the dragon vein in two. I will use one half to achieve immortality, and the other half to build a golden crown for Your Majesty. With the dragon vein separated from His Majesty, Your Majesty can cultivate the Dao; with the golden crown on His Majesty's body and the bloodline of the Zhu family, the throne will remain."
"half?"
After much deliberation, the Jiajing Emperor said, "Let me think about the legacy of our ancestors."
“Of course,” Li Changzhou said with a smile. “The path to enlightenment has been found, and foundation building is no longer necessary, but Your Majesty can continue your cultivation.”
"Alright." Emperor Jiajing nodded.
This time, he did not bring any palace maids or concubines to serve him.
Two hours later, Emperor Jiajing's complexion was rosy, his foot injury had healed, and he was once again full of energy.
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