Chapter 87 087 Fine, go ahead and complain, but come back tonight to do my bidding...
Yun Tianjiao was slightly startled.
The real reason she promoted Qingyuan back then is unknown to anyone but herself. As for the curse that she wouldn't live past nineteen, she only mentioned it to Zhiwei in jest.
Why is Qingyuan bringing this up now?
Despite his inner doubts, Yun Tianjiao's expression remained unchanged as he coldly looked at Qingyuan, saying, "I don't understand what you mean by that, Divine Venerable Qingyuan."
"Does Your Highness not understand?"
Qingyuan smiled, her gaze towards Yun Tianjiao carrying a hint of pity.
“In the past, I observed that Your Highness’s fate seemed to indicate an early death. However, such was destiny, and it could not be changed. Although I am a god, I cannot shake it. Since I could not help, I naturally did not mention it to Your Highness. Now that I have ascended to the position of God, I have gained new insights into the art of destiny. I have discovered the special nature of Your Highness’s fate. You are cursed, and your lifespan will be limited to nineteen in every lifetime.”
Seeing that he had seen through her hidden danger, Yun Tianjiao saw no need to pretend any longer. She forcefully pulled her leg away from Qingyuan's grasp and said, "This matter has nothing to do with you. Goodbye, Divine Lord."
Qingyuan ignored Yun Tianjiao's order to leave, and instead became even more gentle and considerate, with a look of self-reproach in his eyes. "Your Highness has probably suffered from this curse for so many years, living in nightmares every day. I blame myself for my weak divine power back then, which prevented me from relieving Your Highness's worries."
Yun Tianjiao sensed the hidden meaning in Qingyuan's words and raised an eyebrow: "What, could it be that Divine Venerable Qingyuan can now relieve my worries?"
Qingyuan said solemnly, "With the power of a Divine Lord, one can naturally accomplish many things, but..."
Yun Tianjiao knew he was up to no good, like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken, and asked with a smile, "But what?"
Qingyuan looked troubled. “Although I have been promoted to God-Emperor, my strength is still far inferior to that of the other three God-Emperors. I hope Your Highness will build a new God-Emperor level temple for me and announce to all the pilgrims in the world that they should offer me more incense to help increase my divine power. Then I can get rid of this curse for Your Highness.”
"In the end, it's all about the incense offerings." Yun Tianjiao sneered. "I'm sorry to trouble Qingyuan Divine Venerable with his worries, but I'm afraid I'm powerless to grant your request."
Seeing that Yun Tianjiao remained unmoved, Qingyuan raised his voice: "Does Your Highness truly not value your own life and willingly let your soul perish before your nineteenth birthday?"
With a bang, the palace door was pushed open.
Yun Tianjiao looked up and saw Yun Tianqi's deathly pale face.
"Elder sister, what he said... is it all true?"
After finishing the morning court session, Yun Tianqi felt uneasy about the new order he had given. He was afraid that if his elder sister found out that he had misappropriated disaster relief funds, she would beat him up and make him kneel before the memorial tablets of their father and mother.
So after thinking it over, he turned around and went back halfway to the Heavenly Venerable Temple, heading directly to the Chang Le Palace.
Regardless, I still need to inform my elder sister first.
Unexpectedly, they overheard Qingyuan Divine Venerable's words outside the door.
"What do you mean by 'dying before the age of nineteen'? Elder sister, what does Qingyuan Divine Venerable mean by this? I don't understand." Yun Tianqi stared at her with wide eyes, a hint of unease in his expression.
Yun Tianjiao pretended to be relaxed, "Don't you know that we went out of the palace for a stroll before and ran into an old fortune teller with a long beard? He just said a few nonsense words, but somehow it reached the ears of the Azure Origin God Venerable."
Yun Tianqi remembered that when he, his elder sister, and Shen Hengzhen left the palace, they encountered a fortune teller. Because the old man spoke ill of them, he almost got into a fight with him. It had only been about half a year since then, but to him it felt like a lifetime had passed.
"Yes, yes, I remember now, I remember now..." Yun Tianqi muttered to himself. When he came to his senses, a fierce look appeared in his eyes. "Wait, I will issue an order to have this person arrested throughout the country and to have him torn to pieces!"
Before Yun Tianjiao could speak up to stop him, Qing Yuan said, "Even if Your Majesty kills this person, it will be of no use..."
Yun Tianjiao's gaze turned cold as he interrupted, "Qingyuan Divine Venerable has just been promoted to the position of Divine Venerable, and he is probably very busy. We mortals need not trouble you with our trivial matters."
Since Qingyuan had made up his mind to reveal this matter to Yun Tianqi, how could he let it go? He spoke gently and seemingly sincerely, "Your Highness, there are no secrets in this world. His Majesty will find out about this sooner or later. Can you bear to wait until His Majesty loses his beloved family before you learn the truth?"
Yun Tianjiao was struck by Qingyuan's words. She did not want Yun Tianqi to know about the curse, but if this was her predetermined fate, Yun Tianqi was completely unprepared. How would he accept the departure of his only close relative?
Seeing her silence, Yun Tianqi became even more panicked. He looked at Qingyuan again and suddenly bowed to the ground, crying out, "God, save my sister!"
Qingyuan hurriedly helped Yun Tianqi up, "Your Majesty need not worry. I am where I am today entirely thanks to the Princess's support. I will do everything in my power to protect her life."
Yun Tianqi said urgently, "Just now I heard the God say that as long as a new temple is built for the God and incense is offered more, the God can lift my elder sister out of this curse, is that right?"
At that moment, a commotion arose outside the palace gates; it was a group of court officials who had come to lodge a complaint.
A palace maid came in to report, but Yun Tianjiao was confused, while Yun Tianqi's expression changed drastically.
Yun Tianjiao guessed that something must have happened in the previous court today, so he turned his questioning gaze to the emperor beside him.
Yun Tianqi's face darkened, and he cursed under his breath in annoyance: "These old bastards."
"Your Majesty," Yun Tianjiao reminded him reproachfully, then ordered his men to let the officials in.
When Yun Tianqi saw Prime Minister Shen at the head of the group, his anger surged. Thinking of the trouble Shen Hengzhen had caused these past few days, he couldn't help but curse inwardly: Why is the Shen family so annoying? They're always causing trouble and doing the opposite of what I want!
Prime Minister Shen and the others were equally surprised to see the Emperor there. Moreover, the third party involved, the Divine Lord Qingyuan, was also present.
To come and complain about the emperor in front of him, and then to make things difficult for the newly promoted deity, was simply courting death. For a moment, no one dared to speak. Finally, when Yun Tianjiao asked, Prime Minister Shen reluctantly stepped forward and explained that Yun Tianqi planned to transfer disaster relief funds to Qingyuan Deity to build a temple.
Yun Tianjiao listened with his eyes downcast until Prime Minister Shen finished speaking before calmly saying, "Your Majesty has your own considerations. Building a palace for the God in accordance with the will of the people is perfectly reasonable. However, such an important matter may not be settled in one or two court meetings. Your Majesty is young, and I hope that everyone will provide you with more assistance and guidance."
The officials readily agreed and quickly followed the steps laid out for them by Yun Tianjiao, vying to take their leave.
As soon as everyone left, Yun Tianjiao slammed his fist on the table and stood up, pointing at Yun Tianqi's nose and yelling, "You're talking nonsense! What do you want to do? Are you trying to destroy the country?!"
Yun Tianqi was startled by the shout and instinctively shrank his neck. However, thinking of something, he suddenly straightened his back and said coldly, "If this were before, this matter might have been negotiable, but for your sake, elder sister, the construction of the temple of the Azure Origin God Venerable should be the top priority. Let alone disaster relief funds, even if it means increasing taxes and exploiting the people, I will do it!"
"You're talking nonsense! If you really did that, I might as well die right now, so you wouldn't become a tyrant and bring disaster to the country." After saying that, he pointed at Qingyuan, "What is he? He just wants to swindle some offerings, and you're willing to believe him?"
Qingyuan's expression turned ugly. He had always known that the Princess had never taken them, the gods, seriously. In his opinion, she had always regarded them as playthings, and would favor whichever one she wanted.
But that should only apply to lower-level gods... The princess has always respected the Heavenly Venerable and the three Divine Venerables, which is why he is now willing to stand before her again after being promoted to Divine Venerable.
He thought she would treat him differently, or at least look at him with more respect.
Unexpectedly, she still treated him as if he were nothing, just like before.
Qingyuan couldn't quite describe his feelings at that moment. He just stared silently at that imposing, arrogant, and noble figure, his eyes growing increasingly dark.
"Elder sister, you shouldn't interfere in this matter. My mind is made up." Yun Tianqi said this and turned to leave.
Yun Tianjiao was so angry that his liver hurt. "Fine, you can leave. Come and collect my body tonight."
"If you die, I will go with you."
"You...you..." Yun Tianjiao was really angry now and was about to hit him, but he suddenly saw Yun Tianqi turn around with tears in his eyes.
She was stunned.
"Elder sister, I am the emperor, possessing the wealth of the entire world, but if I cannot even save you... then what is the point of being emperor?"
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