Large quantities of supplies began to be transported from Zhushan City to Qingzhu Mountain. In just three days, a simple yet luxurious building appeared next to the Taoist temple, serving as a small palace for the Empress in this area.
Lin Xuan had some complaints about this, but there was nothing he could do now. Zhu Zhu had already recognized Lin Linglong, but he had one request: that they not interfere with the people's work of digging bamboo shoots in the mountains. The Empress naturally agreed, but ordered that the area within a mile of the Taoist temple be sealed off, while other areas would still be open to the people to enter and exit the bamboo mountain.
These past few days, Empress Linglong has wanted to hold Zhuzhu in her arms all the time, but the little girl is very stubborn and gets up before dawn every day to practice her skills.
In the bamboo forest, the Empress reclined on a luxurious bed, watching Zhu Zhu diligently practice her martial arts alone. After watching for a long time, she realized that this body-tempering technique was indeed extraordinary, but she still had some doubts about Zhu Zhu's severed meridians.
"Your Majesty." A dark figure flashed by, and Hei Yi appeared before them.
"How's the investigation going?"
"Your Majesty, these people have never appeared in my territory before, and they seem to have suddenly appeared in Zhushan. I have asked the local people, and no one has seen them before," Hei Yi replied.
Upon hearing this, the Empress raised her eyebrows slightly. She was very curious about the origins of Master Zhuzhu and the others, but she couldn't ask Zhuzhu directly. So she could only have someone investigate secretly.
"Could they be powerful figures from other continents?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked from the side.
"Alright, you may leave. Let's drop this matter." The Empress waved her hand.
"Yes," Hei Yi replied in a low voice. Then his figure slowly disappeared into the bamboo forest.
"Li Daoyi? Interesting. And that little house, I couldn't find any information inside. Xiaoxiao, I'm afraid Zhuzhu's master is a remarkable person!" The Empress said with a slight smile.
"The imperial court has records of most of the human race's powerful figures, even those from other continents. But Li Daoyi and those two women seem to have appeared out of thin air. Your Majesty, I think we should be careful. All of this is too much of a coincidence," Lin Xiaoxiao said, looking up at Zhuzhu, who was diligently practicing her martial arts not far away.
"Are you referring to his taking Zhuzhu as his disciple?" the Empress asked.
“Yes, Zhu Zhu and the others have been hiding for ten years, and even we could hardly find them. It’s such a coincidence that this person appeared in Zhushan. I have a feeling that there’s more to this than meets the eye,” Lin Xiaoxiao analyzed.
The Empress did not speak upon hearing this, but instead fell into deep thought.
After a long silence, the Empress spoke softly.
“You know what? Zhuzhu has been sleeping with me these past two nights. Besides your father and her grandfather, the person she talks about the most is this Li Daoyi. They've only known each other for a few days, but Zhuzhu trusts him completely. She says she can feel her father's presence in him.”
"Children can perceive things that we adults cannot. I trust Zhuzhu's intuition. People my daughter approves of are definitely not bad people," the Empress said confidently.
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded upon hearing this. She had also been in contact with Dongfang and the other person in the past few days. Although the two were not good at communicating, she could tell from her years of experience that they were not evil people. Moreover, they personally prepared medicinal baths for Zhuzhu every night.
In the courtyard of the Taoist temple, Dongfang and Xiaolongnu were playing with Mengmeng when suddenly they stopped, as if they had heard something.
"Eeya?" Mengmeng looked at the Mental Time Chamber in confusion.
Immediately afterwards, a palm-sized puppet appeared in front of Dongfang Bubai.
"Okay, I understand." Dongfang Bubai nodded.
"Hehehe, this is Dan Chenzi." Mengmeng leaned closer and saw the three characters "Dan Chenzi" written on the doll.
Dongfang Bubai and Xiaolongnu exchanged a glance and nodded.
Dongfang reached out and tapped the floating puppet.
"puff…"
The doll instantly turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared.
"The Taoist brother is going to do something naughty again..." Mengmeng said happily.
Hei Yi and his group were patrolling the area. Although this was within the territory of Da Gan, they still dared not relax their vigilance, as assassinations among the various tribes were common.
Suddenly, Hei Yi sensed something and quickly looked up at the sky, only to see a figure flying rapidly towards Zhushan.
"The leader is a winged human."
A guard looked up at the sky and exclaimed in surprise.
"Protect the Emperor!" Hei Yi shouted, then flew into the sky, while the other guards rushed into the bamboo forest.
At this moment, Hei Yi, who had already flown into the air, blocked the other party's path. He saw that the person was wearing strange armor and had a pair of wings on his back. What puzzled him was that the other party's wings were actually made of metal.
"Who are you?" Hei Yi asked, raising his sword.
The newcomer also sized up Hei Yi, then pressed a button on the helmet, and the helmet's visor instantly disappeared, revealing a handsome face.
"And who are you? Why are you stopping me?"
"Hei Yi, Commander of the Imperial Guards of the Great Gan Dynasty, are you a Winged Human?" Hei Yi asked.
"What winged human race? I am a human, my name is Dan Chenzi, is Master Li here?" The person who came was indeed Dan Chenzi.
Hei Yi was stunned upon hearing this. It wasn't a winged human. He looked at the wings behind the other person with a puzzled expression. Although they were very similar to those of the winged humans, they seemed to be some kind of weapon.
"Whoosh..."
At this moment, a red figure appeared beside Hei Yi; it was none other than Dongfang Bubai.
“Alright, he’s one of ours,” Dongfang said to Hei Yi.
"Greetings, Miss Dongfang," Dan Chenzi said, bowing.
"Okay, let's go down!"
"yes."
Dan Chenzi then ignored Hei Yi and fell from the sky with Dongfang Bubai.
On the ground, the Empress and others were also watching this scene. When they saw that the person came down with Dongfang Bubai, they knew that he was a friend, not an enemy.
"I'm sorry to have made you nervous. He is Dan Chenzi, not an enemy," Dongfang said to the Empress and the others.
"Greetings, everyone," Dan Chenzi said.
"Young man, is that a trap behind you?" the Empress asked.
“It’s a sword,” Dan Chenzi said.
"Whoosh..."
After he finished speaking, the two pairs of metal wings behind him began to change. The feathers gradually merged together, and soon two swords appeared.
"How amazing, it's so exquisite." Linglong's eyes lit up immediately.
"Where do you come from?" the Empress continued to ask.
"Your Majesty is asking a bit too many questions, isn't he?" Dongfang Bubai said coldly.
Upon hearing this, the Empress turned to look at Dongfang Bubai, but her expression remained unchanged; she merely smiled slightly.
"It was I who spoke out of turn," the Empress said.
"Miss Dongfang, the things the Daoist Master asked me to find are ready." After saying this, Dan Chenzi took out an exquisitely beautiful box.
Dongfang Bubai took the box, opened it, and a rich spiritual energy flowed out of the box, instantly increasing the concentration of spiritual energy in the surrounding air by dozens of times.
Dongfang quickly closed the box, and the spiritual energy gradually disappeared. However, the Empress and the others were shocked.
"What was that just now?" the Empress murmured.
"Your Majesty, the spiritual energy around us just increased many times over," Lin Xiaoxiao said hurriedly.
The two then looked curiously at the box in Dongfang's hand.
"These are top-grade spirit stones, prepared for Zhuzhu," Dongfang said without hiding anything.
"What? Top-grade spirit stones? You actually have these?" The Empress was immediately shocked.
"Oh? Your Majesty knows about this too?" Dongfang asked.
The Empress shook her head and then said.
“Spirit stones are not rare; we use them all the time. However, top-grade spirit stones only appear in legends, and even the three holy lands rarely have them. I never thought I would actually see one in person today.”
Dongfang Bubai nodded upon hearing this, and then opened the box again.
The rich spiritual energy reappeared, and the Empress and the others gathered around. Inside the box were more than a dozen crystal-clear stones, radiating bursts of spiritual energy that made one feel comfortable simply by being near them.
"It really is a top-grade spirit stone, there's no mistake," the Empress murmured.
"Give me one."
Just then, a chubby little hand reached out to Dongfang Bubai.
Mengmeng tilted her head back, her big, dark eyes staring at the east.
Dongfang involuntarily looked at Dan Chenzi and saw him nod.
"Here you go." Dongfang took one and handed it to Mengmeng.
The Empress and her companions initially thought the child was just being curious and might be playing with it, but what happened next left them speechless.
"Awoo..."
Mengmeng took the spirit stone and stuffed it directly into her mouth.
"Click...click..."
The sound of a spirit stone shattering followed immediately from the little guy's mouth.
"Delicious..." Mengmeng said while chewing.
"I thought you were going to do something else? This isn't candy." Dongfang Bubai was both amused and exasperated, and picked up Mengmeng, tossing her to Xiaolongnu to hold.
"Give me a few more, and I'll be able to take other things out of my bag," Mengmeng suddenly said.
"A bag? What bag?" Li Daoyi, disguised as Dan Chenzi, asked, puzzled.
"Here it is!" Mengmeng said proudly, holding up her handbag.
"This bag suddenly appeared on Mengmeng. She said it contains many, many things sealed inside, and it seems that a huge amount of spiritual energy is needed to unseal it," Dongfang Bubai explained.
"..." Dan Chenzi was clearly taken aback, then fell silent for a moment, before giving Dongfang a disapproving look without leaving a trace.
"No, we'll talk about it after your Taoist brother comes out of seclusion," Dongfang said, walking over and pinching Mengmeng's cute little face.
The little girl glared at Dan Chenzi with dissatisfaction, but didn't say anything. Clearly, she knew her limits and was going to cooperate with Li Daoyi's act.
After a brief exchange, the Empress and her companions watched from the sidelines, their hearts filled with shock. It seemed they still had many top-grade spirit stones. They knew that one of the keys to breaking through to the Martial Saint realm was top-grade spirit stones. If news of the existence of top-grade spirit stones here were to leak out, the entire Great Gan Kingdom would likely become the target of all races and even the human race.
"Black One, immediately increase patrols in the vicinity. Any suspicious persons approaching should be dealt with without prior notice," the Empress said.
"Yes." Hei Yi quickly replied, clearly understanding the potential trouble this top-grade spirit stone might bring.
"What? Will this cause you trouble?" Dongfang Bubai asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Miss Dongfang, this is more than just trouble; a slight misstep could lead to war," Empress Linglong said with a wry smile.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com