Chapter 128 The Truth (1)
White smoke slowly rose from the Boshan furnace. In the warm hall, Li Zhibai sat at the head of the desk, looking at the pile of memorials in front of him. His temples throbbed and he couldn't help but close his eyes.
Among them, apart from a small number of memorials that mentioned the snow disasters in various places and the hidden dangers caused by the floods, most of them were impeachments for his "improper position."
Some ministers with unstable foundations can be killed, but there are a few old and immortal ones who cannot be killed or touched.
What made him even more headache was that his good fourth brother had kept it a secret from him for so long.
He rubbed his temples with his knuckles for a long time. When Li Zhibai opened his eyes again, the redness in his eyes caused by irritability had faded away, leaving only a cold look.
He lifted his hand and swept aside the topmost impeachment memorial, revealing a secret report beneath it. The ink was still wet, and every word told of his fourth brother, Li Daoxuan, who had left Dongshan Temple with his men the previous day and taken the abbot to an unknown location. Li Daoxuan was already rushing from the Imperial Guards camp south of the city to the palace.
"Empty shell, waste..." He chuckled softly, and his fingertips rolled over the word "Cang Wang", and his fingertips turned white.
In the past, this younger brother was really good at pretending. He didn't care about anything in the court. He would either carry a peach wood sword and go to the mass grave all day, saying that he wanted to catch some "rebellious monsters", or he would hang out in brothels and drink and fight cocks with the prince.
No one in the community could discuss him without shaking their heads and silently declaring him a "devil of the world." Even Li Zhibai himself considered him simply heartless, and keeping him around allowed him to demonstrate his magnanimity while also relieving himself of the need to be on guard.
Who would have thought that this "devil of troublemakers" was hiding so deeply.
When did Emperor Jingren hand over the Jinwu Guard to him...
"Your Majesty," came the eunuch's hushed voice from outside the palace, barely concealed in his panic, "The commander of the Imperial Guards requests an audience. He says...that the Fourth Prince is gathering troops outside the palace, accusing Your Majesty of regicide and usurping the throne. He wants...to purge His Majesty's court."
Li Zhibai clenched his fists so hard that the paperweight on the table jingled slightly. He had expected Li Daoxuan to rebel. After all, he had personally brought the charge of "treason" upon him—the forged letters, the hidden weapons, everything had been flawlessly orchestrated. He had intended to force Li Daoxuan to lose his composure so he could legitimately eliminate him.
But he didn't expect that Li Daoxuan would not defend himself, but instead followed the charges he gave and directly raised the banner of rebellion.
"Purge the emperor's side?" He raised his eyes and looked towards the palace door. His voice was as cold as the ice outside the palace. "He is good at finding excuses for himself."
Before he could finish his words, a sudden, rapid clash of armor could be heard outside the hall, followed by a chorus of shouts and cries of killing, which spread from far away and approached, shaking the candlelight inside the hall violently. The white smoke from the Boshan inn was scattered by the air currents, curling around Li Zhibai's robe.
The eunuch rushed in, his face pale as paper. "Your Majesty! This is bad! The Fourth Prince... The Fourth Prince has surrounded the palace with his soldiers! He's shouting outside the palace gates, saying that if you don't come out and confess your guilt, he's going to... he's going to burn down the Taiji Hall!"
Li Zhibai stood up suddenly, and the hem of his dragon robe swept across the edge of the table, causing the pile of memorials to fall to the ground with a clatter.
He walked to the palace gate, passed the heavy vermilion lacquer door, and looked towards the direction of the palace wall - torches had been lit there, illuminating half the sky red. He could vaguely see a familiar figure riding on a tall horse, still wearing the dazzling red robe, but instead of his Qiuren sword hanging around his waist, he had a wooden sword casually strapped to his waist.
Li Daoxuan seemed to notice his gaze and looked up. Across the distant palace road, Li Zhibai couldn't see his expression, but he inexplicably remembered that when he was a child, his younger brother always had a cold face when he saw him. Now that he had grown up, he was even more against him in every way.
The light from the torch fell on Li Daoxuan's face, half bright and half dark, like a knife tempered with ice.
"Good second brother," the voice drifted over on the wind, clearly penetrating Li Zhibai's ears, with a calmness that bordered on mockery. "I admit the crime you've charged me with. Then I'll also 'confirm' your claim to power in this world."
The warmth of the Boshan furnace had long since dissipated, and Li Zhibai, standing at the temple's entrance, felt a bone-chilling cold. He thought he had the situation under control, but he hadn't anticipated that the most deceptive person would always be the seemingly most defenseless "devil king."
He had expected that Li Jinxiu would hinder him, and even thought that Li Yu would pose a threat to him. After all, the Li family had once produced an empress.
So he let Li Jinxiu die of illness, and poisoned Li Yu, even Li Yu's lover. He only missed Li Daoxuan.
He should have thought about it long ago when Gao Haizhou mastered all the secrets of the master's family. Without the help of his fourth brother, how could Gao Haizhou become so successful?
Because he failed to seize the gilded silver box from his fourth brother, Gao Haizhou, and even the pepper and weapons on the Wei River boat were confiscated - to this day, he still doesn't know where his good father took his things.
Soon, he found out.
Li Daoxuan's sharp eyes seemed to be able to penetrate Li Zhibai's heart. He guessed what he was thinking. He curled his lips and said, "I also want to thank my second brother for the funds and weapons he sent. My brother's people are using them quite well."
Li Zhibai frowned and looked solemnly at the young man opposite him.
"So it's you."
Li Daoxuan: "Not bad."
Li Zhibai suddenly raised his eyes and said, "Do you think I dare not kill you? A mere few thousand people dare to attempt to usurp the throne!"
Hearing his self-proclaimed title, Li Daoxuan raised his eyebrows. "A few thousand people is enough. After all, you only have a few thousand people, right?"
He was right.
Both gilded silver boxes were in Li Daoxuan's hands. If he didn't take action, only he and his master's family would die. He knew too well how cold and indifferent the saints could be.
Once Emperor Jingren knew what the Shi family had done, he would surely die. So Li Zhibai lost his patience.
After the autumn, Emperor Jingren went out of the palace and fell ill when he came back. He was bedridden for half a month before he recovered. Since then, Emperor Jingren has been obsessed with the art of cultivating immortality. Li Zhibai joined hands with the abbot of Dongshan Temple to research the "immortal pill" for strengthening the body, and presented it to Emperor Jingren through the abbot.
The abbot was originally from the same school as You Daozi. Although he was not as famous as You Daozi, he still had a certain amount of prestige. Emperor Jingren never doubted the medicine he refined.
This medicine seems to be able to strengthen the human body, but in fact it is like draining the pond to catch fish. It is just overdrawing health in advance. The later it is, the more deficient the owner's body will become, until he dies of exhaustion.
When he learned that Li Daoxuan had obtained the second gilded silver box from Gu Ze, he took action.
He sent his father away with a bowl of medicine, and then imprisoned all his trusted ministers at Dongshan Temple. The remaining court was filled with his trusted aides, and without sacrificing a single soldier, he easily ascended to the throne. He was the crown prince, and his succession to the throne was a matter of course.
Unfortunately, the Shi family's soldiers were still on their way to Chang'an, but were now restrained by his fourth brother.
After hearing that Li Daoxuan had guessed most of what he had said, Li Zhibai fell silent. After a while, he chuckled deeply, "You try it."
His confidence goes beyond this.
Li Daoxuan waved his hand and his subordinate handed him a bow. Li Daoxuan casually drew out an arrow, strung it, aimed, and pulled the string, all in one go.
The arrow was shot out at an extremely fast speed. Just before it hit Li Zhibai's eyebrows, a skinny and pale hand appeared out of thin air and grasped the arrowhead. The tail of the arrow was still buzzing due to inertia.
The visitor stared at Li Daoxuan with a pair of cold eyes, "Long time no see, Your Highness."
At this moment, Bai Shuisha and Li Zhibai were standing cross-legged with each other, which made Li Daoxuan discover more mysteries.
For example, Bai Shuisha's eyes are very similar to Li Zhibai's, with both having long and thin eye ends and dark pupils. Their mouth shapes are also somewhat similar.
Li Daoxuan saw the clue at a glance.
He calmly probed, "Nice to meet you again, Commander Feng, or rather, Li, Chang, Feng."
Li Changfeng, the name of the former eldest prince.
After he finished speaking, Bai Shuisha's expression did not show any abnormality, but Li Zhibai's eyes twitched, and a few blue veins could be vaguely seen bulging.
Li Daoxuan became more convinced of his suspicions and said, "So that's it, it's 'Big Brother'."
"What?" Bai Shuisha was caught off guard by the call of "big brother".
His reaction didn't seem like he knew, but the panic in Li Zhibai's eyes was undeniable.
As expected, before Li Daoxuan could even speak, Li Zhibai lost his temper and said, "Don't listen to his nonsense. Changfeng, kill him!"
Master Feng said: "I have thought so for a long time. You deserve to die for harming my Ranran like this."
He formed his five fingers into claws and attacked Li Daoxuan in the face.
Seeing that Commander Feng had held Li Daoxuan back, Li Zhibai ran to a separate place surrounded by the crowd.
Li Daoxuan's men were no pushovers either. Seeing Li Zhibai trying to escape, they immediately chased after him. Soon, the two groups were fighting each other, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.
Someone took advantage of the chaos to light a fire, and soon the flames climbed up along the beams, and thick smoke filled the sky in a moment.
Li Daoxuan dismounted and patted the horse's belly. The horse trotted away with great agility. He slowly drew the peach wood sword from his waist and held it horizontally to block the attack from Master Feng.
The peach wood sword is a rare piece of lightning-struck wood. You Daozi had been squatting in the mountains for several years before he got this piece of lightning-struck peach wood. Gu Yun cried and made a fuss for a long time but still didn't get a piece. You Daozi used all of it to make him a peach wood sword.
There were two swords in total. One was broken by him while practicing martial arts, and You Daozi kept the remaining sword until he had the ability to eliminate demons independently, and then You Daozi returned it to him.
A peach wood sword is more than enough to deal with Master Feng who has just formed a pill.
Commander Feng's pair of dry claws were burned black by the peach wood sword. He shook his hands as if he didn't feel any pain.
Li Daoxuan sarcastically said, "He's quite resilient. His body was destroyed, his demon core shattered, yet he's still alive today." He squinted at Master Feng's Dantian, "It's remarkable that he can even form a new demon core."
The sharp wind was blowing straight at his face. Li Daoxuan leaned back, his waist bent into a terrifying arc, and then raised his foot - kicking him in the jaw.
"Crack--" Commander Feng's jaw was broken.
Commander Feng stopped and put his dislocated jaw back into place.
Li Daoxuan said, "It is said that you were torn into pieces by five horses by Emperor Jingren. Now it seems that the rumor is wrong."
"Do you know who you are protecting? It's your good brother."
Master Feng's mind suddenly became confused, and his weaknesses increased. Li Daoxuan took the opportunity to break one of his arms. Master Feng was aroused and his moves became increasingly cruel. Li Daoxuan said again: "Do you know who harmed your Ran Ran, turning him into this monster that is neither a monster nor a ghost?"
"Your good brother, Li Zhibai."
Master Feng froze for a moment. Li Daoxuan curled his lips and took the opportunity to dismantle his other arm.
"If I'm not mistaken, you weren't killed by Emperor Jingren, but by your good brother, who schemed to kill you through the hands of the Happy Funeral Demon."
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