Outside the Danbo Palace, Wang Shizhen and Wang Xijue paced back and forth anxiously. Whenever they came to the open palace door, they stretched their necks to look inside. However, they were blocked by the wall of people from the security department and could not see anything.

The two of them seemed to have heard the Immortal Master crying, but when they pricked up their ears again, they could hear nothing. The two kings thought it was their own illusion. Why would the Immortal Master cry? They must have heard it wrong...

Inside the Danbo Palace.

The noble and sacred Master Tan Yang in the hearts of the two kings was kneeling in front of Zhao Hao at this time, admitting all his absurd acts of using magic to impersonate immortal arts and lying that he was the incarnation of Tan Luan Bodhisattva. There was also a clerk beside him who was taking shorthand.

Zhao Hao sighed and said, "Girl, why don't you just stay a good lady and learn to play tricks like those charlatans?"

"Because if I don't become a Taoist priest, I will have to be a widow for the rest of my life." Tan Yangzi said sadly, "Grandpa always said that my father and second uncle both got second place in the imperial examination. We are now a well-off family. Women can no longer remarry casually like before. That would bring disgrace to the family."

"Is that so..." Zhao Hao's expression eased a little and said, "But if you want to be a Taoist priest, just be a Taoist priest. Why do you have to say that you know magic?"

"Because my family always laughs at me!" Tan Yangzi said angrily, "I have always been yellow, thin and ugly since I was a child. I don't like needlework, nor do I have the talent for playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. I can't even manage the household finances. I only like to study religion. The aunts and uncles in the clan all look down on me, saying that I am stupid and crazy, and I will never get married in the future!"

Zhao Hao recalled that he had met Tan Yangzi once when he first came to Taicang. She was only a little over ten years old at the time and indeed looked very unremarkable. If Zhao Hao had not known that this little girl named Wang Gui was the famous Master Tan Yangzi in the future, he would not have even looked at her.

"Later, I finally got engaged to the Xu family, but my husband died before we even got married, and I became a widow again." When she talked about the sad part, she burst into tears and said:

"Those mothers-in-law comforted me on the surface, but secretly laughed at me for not being able to get married. I hated these foolish men and women, and decided to take revenge on them! I knew they were the most superstitious, burning incense and kowtowing all day long. It happened that I had studied Buddhist scriptures, Taoist scriptures, and books of alchemists since I was a child, and learned a lot of magic. After becoming a monk, I decided to use these tricks and claimed that I had magical powers to cure diseases, tell fortunes, and have children. As expected, they all bowed down to me, and no one dared to laugh at me or say bad things about me behind my back like before."

"That was all you had at first." Young Master Zhao couldn't help but laugh, "Then why did you want to get involved with 'Longsha Chen' and say you were the second Wang Chongyang?"

Tan Yangzi whispered, "It's all bragging anyway, so of course I'll brag about the bigger one."

"That's right. The bigger your heart is, the bigger the stage is." Master Zhao nodded.

"At first I really enjoyed the feeling of being worshipped as a god, and I was completely flattered. Later, Uncle Wang wanted to become my disciple, and I got carried away and agreed to accept him." Tan Yangzi said with a look of regret:

"At that time, I just thought that with the leader of the literary world as a disciple, no one would dare to look down on me in the future. But I didn't expect that Wang Shibo was so powerful that my influence increased a hundredfold. Originally, I was only famous in Taicang, but after he became my disciple, the whole Suzhou and even Jiangnan knew me. There were even people from Jiangxi and Huguang who came to become my disciples. But I felt more and more uncomfortable."

"Why, do you feel like you're in a dilemma?" Zhao Hao asked softly.

"Yes. It's hard to get off the tiger." Tan Yangzi nodded vigorously and said, "My father was furious when he returned home. He felt that I had brought shame to the Wang family and wanted to punish my family. It was Uncle Wang who persuaded him, and I performed various magic tricks to make him believe that I was a person with great magical powers. Uncle Wang also told him that I was the immortal master of Yinglong Shachen, and I was destined to accept 800 disciples as earth immortals. My father got excited and said that he couldn't fall behind, so he also worshipped me as his master."

"If he dares to become your disciple, you dare to accept him?" Young Master Zhao was shocked and said, "A tiger father will have a dog daughter."

"My father has been the only one who doesn't treat me as a monster since I was a child. How can I, as his daughter, make him sad?" Tan Yangzi said confidently, "I can't let my father think that I am a traitor!"

"Oh, okay..." Zhao Hao couldn't help but sigh. The Wang family's strong-willed nature has been passed down from generation to generation without exception.

~~

In another period of history, the second king was criticized by the whole court the following year for becoming a disciple of Tan Yangzi, saying that they had insulted the ministers. However, the old king had done many confusing things in his life, and this was no less than one of them.

The most confusing thing is that this guy did so many ridiculous things, but he was still able to become the Prime Minister.

Tan Yangzi told Zhao Hao that as the farce grew bigger and bigger, more and more people were involved, and the situation became more and more out of control.

"But not everyone believes me." Tan Yangzi's face was filled with more and more fear. "My younger brother Wang Heng doesn't believe me. He angrily told me that the fact that my father took me as his teacher has become a joke in their school. It's okay for his classmates to laugh at him, but some people think that what we did affected the dissemination of science and threatened to expose me and let the truth come to light!"

"There are also colleagues from various immortal mountains who have posted messages to challenge me. There are also censors who have impeached my father and uncle, and asked the court to investigate me thoroughly..."

Tan Yangzi covered his face and cried in fear, rubbing his shoulders and said:

"As the ancients said, if one's virtue is not in line with one's position, disaster will surely follow. Honestly, I am not lying. I know that sooner or later, someone will expose my true identity, which will harm not only my own family, but also the other Wang family. By then, they will not just say that I am a liar, but will definitely think that my father and Uncle Wang not only knew about it, but are most likely the masterminds behind it. The charge of fooling the entire Jiangnan literati community and even plotting something illegal is enough to make the two Wang families a laughing stock, and may even bring danger to both families... I heard that both of our families have offended Prime Minister Zhang."

"So you plan to ascend into heaven with your physical body and put an end to it all?" Zhao Hao handed her a handkerchief and said.

"Yes." Tan Yangzi wiped his tears and nodded, "It's impossible not to do this. Even if no one sees me, my trick won't last long. I said that you can achieve something after five years of practice, and Uncle Wang has already been practicing for four years. And those disciples who are ranked among the top 800 earthly immortals will also become suspicious if there is no effect after practicing for a long time."

"Silly child." Zhao Hao sighed, "Do you know how Taoism was defeated?"

"How did you lose?"

"It's because we fail in cultivating ourselves and this life! It's too difficult to see results. How many people have you seen who can ascend to heaven? Other big religions either cultivate the afterlife or the life after death. There's no place to verify, so of course they won't prosper for a long time." Master Zhao said earnestly.

“But cultivating this life is effective quickly, and it is easy to recruit believers.” Tan Yangzi whispered, “And the people around me seem to be more interested in this life.”

"That's because you are surrounded by superior people! Of course, you can never live long enough." Zhao Hao snorted, "A rich girl who doesn't know the sufferings of the world claims to be the reincarnation of a bodhisattva. How ridiculous!"

"Uncle is right. I know I am absurd and I dare not make the same mistake again." Tan Yangzi cried, "I originally planned to ascend to heaven in April, on the day of Tanluan Bodhisattva's death, but something went wrong..."

"What's the problem?"

"I was scared and didn't dare to take the prepared poison." Tan Yangzi whispered: "But Jiu Yue Jiu will definitely not regret it this time, because there will be 100,000 people coming to watch the ceremony. And this time I prepared a white festival and a black one."

"Good fellow..." Zhao Hao couldn't help but gasp. The so-called white-segmented black snake is the common name for the Bungarus serpentis. "Your so-called ascension in broad daylight means committing suicide in public?"

"I don't have any other way. No one can help me except my personal maid." Tan Yangzi looked at Zhao Hao with tears in his eyes and said, "Unless Uncle can save my niece."

Zhao Hao frowned slightly, obviously Tan Yangzi had already figured out his attitude.

But this is normal, all charlatans can read people's expressions and understand human nature. Religion is a technique to manipulate people's hearts. What's the point of practicing religion if you don't understand people's hearts?

"Of course I can save you." Zhao Hao smiled teasingly, "I'll call your father in and ask him to promise not to beat you to death."

"Uncle, please don't do that." Tan Yangzi was terrified. "If my father knew the truth, he would be so angry that he would die."

"Then I can't just watch you die." Zhao Hao said slowly.

"Uncle, as long as you don't let my dad find out, I'll do whatever you tell me to do. You can even take my life now." Tan Yangzi called him 'Uncle' all the time and pleaded pitifully.

"Okay, then I'll reluctantly take your life." Zhao Hao nodded slightly and waved his hand, and the clerk next to him quickly handed over the transcript.

Young Master Zhao quickly glanced through it and said with a smile, "Sign and seal first."

The clerk then unfolded the confession record book and placed it in front of Tan Yangzi, and brought out pen, ink and ink pad.

Tan Yangzi's face turned pale. She didn't expect her Uncle Zhao to be so rigorous in his work.

"Don't be afraid, as long as you behave yourself from now on, this is just a file." Zhao Hao said like a human trafficker who kidnapped a little girl: "Be good, don't I say you should do whatever you are told to do?"

"Okay..." What else could Tan Yangzi say? He could only obey the other party's request and sign and fingerprint every page of the confession.

She finally understood that she couldn't forget his identity as the Lord of Jiangnan just because he looked young.

Compared to this old demon, my own skills are so shallow...

Finally, Zhao Hao nodded in satisfaction and said, "Okay, I'll help you with this lie. It's just ascending to heaven in broad daylight, a little trick, is there any need to risk your life?"

After a pause, he looked at Tan Yangzi again and said, "But there is one thing. After you ascend, you can no longer show up in Jiangnan. You must stay in Nanyang with me."

"Ah..." Tan Yangzi was mixed with joy and sorrow when he heard this. He was happy that he didn't have to die, but it was terrible to leave the paradise of Suzhou and go to the malaria land of Southeast Asia.

Zhao Hao coughed lightly and knocked on her confession record book.

"Yes, my niece will listen to my uncle." Tan Yangzi smiled sweetly and said, "Anyway, my second uncle and my brother are both my uncle's disciples, and with my grandfather's relationship, my second uncle will never harm me."

"Hahaha, Second Uncle loves you so much that he can't wait." Master Zhao laughed out loud and gave Tan Yangzi a few instructions, asking someone to let the Second Prince in.