The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 529: Reuniting with the Empress in the City

The calmness on Zhao Duan's face slowly disappeared, and turned into confusion and surprise.

He did not pay much attention to the embroidered robes envoy who was lurking beside him, and he uncovered the other's disguise mostly to satisfy his curiosity.

As for the idea of ​​trying to incite rebellion, I have some of it, but I don't hold out any hope.

But when Nie Yurong's face that looked like a jade sleeve came into his sight, Zhao Duan finally became serious.

Coincidence? There are many similar people in the world, but it is rare to be so similar that they are almost cut from the same mold. What's more, the Jade Sleeve Priest is in the city.

Did Prince Mu’s Mansion do this on purpose?

Found someone who looks similar to Yuxiu to get close to?

No, that doesn't make sense. If he wanted to disguise himself as Yuxiu, then disguising himself as "White Falcon" would be superfluous and unnecessary.

Besides, Yuxiu's joining was not originally planned, and in order to avoid trouble, the priest always wore a veil on his face.

"What's your name?" Zhao Duan suddenly asked.

Nie Yurong had already prepared herself for death. When she heard this, she was stunned for a moment, and then her eyes mocked:
"Does the husband of the empress dare to have affairs outside?"

She had already enacted a scenario of first sex and then murder in her mind.

Zhao Duan frowned and suddenly said to Song Jinxi:
"Please invite the Jade Sleeve Priest here."

The latter turned and left without hesitation.

Soon, a man in a Taoist robe and a green dress, with jade sleeves covering his face with a veil, walked into the backyard:

"Why is Lord Zhao looking for me?"

Zhao Duan walked out of the inner hall, pointed behind him seriously, briefly explained Nie Yurong's identity, and then said:
"This matter is too strange, so I would like to ask the priest to come."

A killer who looked exactly like her? Yuxiu was stunned, her eyes bypassed him and turned to Nie Yurong who was as motionless as a piece of wood in the hall.

Yuxiu's breathing suddenly became a little rapid, and she turned her head and said to him:

"Would you allow me to interrogate this person alone?"

So excited?
Zhao Duan looked at the priest strangely and nodded happily:

"it is good."

After saying that, he raised his chin towards Song Jinxi, and the two of them walked into the yard. Yuxiu hurried into the inner hall, and the door slammed shut, isolating the inside and the outside.

"My lord...this is what the Jade Sleeve Priest is doing..." Song Jinxi was curious.

Zhao Duan shook his head, looked back at the closed door, and suddenly said:

"I don't know either. When the result comes out, there may be a pleasant surprise."

His intuition told him that this might be an unexpected gain from this battle.

Because he was unsure how long the interrogation would last, Zhao Duan did not leave. Since the backyard was big enough, he went straight into another empty room and told Song Jinxi to guard outside while he went to practice.

Zhao Duan stepped into the house and closed the door.

When there was only one person left in the room, he walked to the table and took out a silver scroll from his arms. This was the Taixu Scroll, a talisman for creating illusions that he had obtained long ago.

However, since he is not a warlock, it has almost become a storage space.

Zhao Duan shook the scroll, and with two "bangs", two heavy objects fell on the round table.

A wooden bow and an iron stick were the trophies from killing Lu Tong and Fan Long respectively.

"If a cultivator in the secular realm can use it as their main weapon, it must not be cheap."

Zhao Duan rubbed his hands and entered the joyful unboxing phase.

He first picked up the iron rod. The iron rod was extremely heavy in his hand, black all over, and had bronze hoops at both ends.

Looking closely, one can see that the stick has a swastika Buddhist character engraved in negative script, and the name of the weapon is engraved on one side of the stick.

"Fearless Root...what a crappy name. The people under the old bald donkey Xuanyin are not serious, and the names of their weapons are not serious either." Zhao Duan said with disdain.

He completely ignored the fact that the Mirror of Love and Lust on him was not a good name.

"The weapons used by monks should fall into the category of weapons." Zhao Duan tried to mobilize the little remaining energy to pass it in.

All of a sudden, a strange sense of tranquility came over him, and all his fear, dread, timidity... disappeared.

He developed a courage to fight against heaven and earth, and was so brave and fearless that he even dared to confront gods.

At the same time, a faint circle of Buddha's light emanated from his body, and the blue lotus in his sea of ​​consciousness seemed to be attracted, catering to each other, and a cool feeling flowed through his body.

"So that's how it is. In addition to the strength of the weapon itself, this fearless stick can also make the holder more courageous, and... it seems to have a certain negative effect of dispelling curses..."

During this period, Zhao Duan had been in the capital and Taicang, handling a large number of rare objects in order to smelt the Red Flame Holy Armor.

Although most of them were of low quality and he did not feel bad about melting them, it trained his eyesight and also helped him gain a lot of experience in "appraising treasures" by evaluating the effects of some artifacts.

"Buddhist monks pursue 'Vajra Yang' and take a tough approach. They are naturally shunned by all evil and can control Yin objects and curses... They are very suitable for dealing with martial arts sects such as the White Clothes Sect and the Underworld Cult."

"It's a good thing, but it would be a pity to melt it. I can keep it for now, but unfortunately I'm not good at using a stick, and it's really unsightly for a royal husband to walk around with a stick... Well, unless you are born with it."

Zhao Duan played with Fanlong's stick for a long time, put the fearless root aside, and picked up the ancient bow left by Lu Tong.

This big bow was extremely light in the hand, as if it were made of wood. The golden bowstring was a little dull, but Zhao Duan could not recognize the material of the bow.

Only two ancient characters were seen on the bow: "Taibu".

“I remember seeing this name in the information of the Royal Armory. It is also a magical weapon from six hundred years ago. It is similar to the Zhendao, which is both a weapon and a talisman.

Tsk… It seems that weapons of that era were all like this, and could be used by warriors and sorcerers. The Red Flame Sacred Armor was also in the form of armor, not a robe… No wonder Old Xu would create the Martial God Path and practice two paths at the same time… It must have been the trend of that era…”

"Let me think about it. The data seems to record that this Taibu bow does not have a matching 'arrow'. Therefore, the arrows used by Lu Tong are fine iron arrows made later. They are not special. The key lies in this bow."

Zhao Duan bent the bow tentatively, without putting an arrow on it. He just pulled the bowstring and made a gesture of drawing the bow.

In an instant, wisps of energy were drawn out, and mottled spots of light were emitted one after another. As the bow was bent, an illusory arrow was condensed.

The sound of wind suddenly echoed in Zhao Duan's ears, mixed with the whimpering of ancient tree branches being blown by the wind, like a whisper.

He suddenly had a premonition that as long as he shot, he would hit the target every time!
"This Taibu bow can convert Qi into arrows similar to sword Qi and can also be attached to physical arrows. And most importantly, as long as I aim, I will hit the target. I don't need to consider archery skills... Bah! No wonder Lu Tong is known as the best archer. I can do it too!"

Zhao Duan complained in his heart, but his pupils were full of surprise.

After advancing to the mortal world, the Golden Crow Flying Knife gradually couldn't keep up with his pace. Although the Zhen Knife was handy, it was a cold weapon for close combat.

The existence of this "Taibu Bow" can greatly enhance his long-range attack capabilities.

"Good stuff!" Zhao Duan grinned, as if he was caressing a beauty.

Both of these items are good. It would be a waste to smelt them into the Red Flame Holy Armor, so he plans to keep them for his own use.

"But the price is also very high. I can't find enough resources in a short time to recharge the Scarlet Flame Sacred Armor..."

Zhao Duan took off the white half-armor on his body and put it into the silver scroll.

At this moment, waves of fatigue came over me again.

"There's really not a drop left." Zhao Duan sighed softly, walked to the bed beside him, sat cross-legged, and prepared to meditate to recover.

However, when it came to choosing which picture to visualize, he hesitated.

He had been visualizing the Great Dream Scroll these days, and in his dreams he followed Pei Niannu on his journey around the world. Unfortunately, he had never met Lao Xu, nor had he ever heard of Lao Xu's name.

Perhaps the time point in the dream was too early, and Taizu of Yu State had not yet risen.

“Do you want to visualize the Human World again? This time I briefly touched the threshold of heaven and man, and I felt something. Perhaps visualizing this picture will be different.”

Without hesitation, Zhao Duan held his breath and entered the "Human World" scroll for the second time, the "city" that was familiar yet unfamiliar to him.

……

Beijing.

The empress did not get a detailed answer in the Tianshi Mansion.

According to Zhang Yanyi, he couldn't know what happened even though they were thousands of miles away. However, the result of the heaven's feedback was a happy event for the empress and the court. "Could it be that they won the battle? Why is there such a big commotion?" Xu Zhenguan frowned, unable to understand.

She returned to the imperial study in the palace and tried to calm down and continue reviewing memorials, but she could not calm down.

"Forget it." After trying again and again, Xu Zhenguan threw the slender brush, sighed softly, gave up his desk work, left the palace servants, walked out of the room and relaxed in the palace.

What he was worried about was not the battle situation - with the reinforcements from the Beijing camp, and with Xue Shence's command ability, it was impossible for him to fail in a few steps.

Not to mention defeating the vassal kings, but regaining the lost territory is almost a foregone conclusion.

What worried her the most was that little imperial guard.

Unfortunately, the era I live in is different from the magical world in the scroll. There is no magic weapon that can transmit sound thousands of miles away that can be seen everywhere and possessed by everyone. Even if I use the fastest route to transmit the message, I still have to wait a long time before I can know the situation of the battle ahead...

Xu Zhenguan was thinking absentmindedly, and before he knew it, he came to the Yuanzu Hall in the palace.

This is the place built by Emperor Taizu. There is a dark room for storing wine underground. Deeper inside, there is a secret room for hiding dragon souls.

At that time, Zhao Duan stayed in this palace with the empress for a whole night.

Xu Zhenguan would come here whenever he felt depressed and wanted to be alone and quiet.

The female emperor in white clothes and black hair pushed open the palace door, sat on the cushion, looked at the empty altar, was stunned for a while, and simply sat cross-legged and entered a meditative state to calm her mind.

What she visualized was naturally the "human world".

When it comes to the royal scroll, everyone has always visualized an independent painting, and they are not interconnected.

At this moment, the empress in the capital and Zhao Duan in Linfeng were visualizing and entering the same painting at the same time, one after the other.

……

A familiar feeling of weightlessness came over me, and the lights of thousands of homes in the night flew past my eyes like fleeting shadows.

Inside a modern office.

Zhao Duan, who was lying on the computer desk, opened his heavy eyelids. His vision was blurry at first, and then gradually became clear.

The first thing that came into his field of vision was a computer screen that had been inactive for a long time and had entered “screen saver” mode.

Immediately, there were "sticky notes" of different colors pasted on the edge of the computer, each with a "reminder" written in neat handwriting.

Behind me, in the filing cabinet in the room, through the translucent door, the files were crowded like sardines in a can.

"Drip-"

Outside the window, a car horn sounded in the distance. He subconsciously turned his head to look. In the dead of night in summer, a gust of wind came in through the window railings, blew through the half-closed curtains, and messed up his hair.

"came back--"

Zhao Duan let out a light breath. The second time he entered the world in the scroll, he was no longer as surprised as he was the first time.

I tapped the keyboard with my fingers, entered the password, and the computer entered the boot interface... I glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer.

As expected, it was just past midnight.

"Every time I visualize and enter the Human World, is it always at the same time? Doesn't that mean that no matter what I do here, the next time I enter, it will be refreshed and started over?"

Zhao Duan was pondering, trying to figure out the rules of this painting.

He stood up, unbuttoned his shirt collar, walked to the mirror in the office, and looked at the face that was once very familiar but now seemed a little strange.

That was his appearance in this world. Here, he was no longer the skin of "Zhao Duan", but his true appearance in his previous life.

Here, he has his own identity and the name "Zhanghui".

"Unfortunately, everything is fake." Zhao Duan looked at himself in the mirror and grinned, revealing a complicated smile.

Bend over and dip your hands in the basin.

"Wow!"

The cold water hitting his face quickly sobered him up and swept away his tiredness.

"Here, I have no cultivation and have become an ordinary person again. Speaking of which, what use is this city to the celestial cultivators? Do all the treasures need to come here to practice? To study?

Oh, a dignified empress, a swordsman at the celestial realm, should she go to a factory to screw screws, or register as a delivery rider?
Oh, with Zhenbao's looks, she can easily debut... But from what she said last time, she can't stay here for too long...

And if she has to 'restart and refresh' every time she enters, she won't be able to really accomplish anything in this fake world..."

"No... I can't be sure whether the details of Zhenbao's entry into the Human World are the same as mine...

Oh, in the entire history of the royal family, apart from Old Xu, only Zhenbao and I know that the "human world" we imagined is this city, and what others saw is just an ancient city..."

"Well, maybe I can try to find the secret hidden by Old Xu here..."

Zhao Duan's thoughts flashed through his mind and he sorted out his ideas.

According to experience, there is a "guide NPC" hidden in every picture on the mural.

The NPC in "The God of War" is Lao Xu.

The NPC of "Six Chapters Sutra" is the golden armor version of Pei Niannu.

The guiding NPC of "The Great Dream Scroll" is the young silver-armored version of Pei Niannu.

and so……

"I should be able to find a guide in this world... Well, but it's not certain. After all, I am not in the Heaven Realm, but entered here in the 'World Realm'...

Just like a game plug-in, the version of the scroll I experienced might be incomplete..."

Zhao Duan's thoughts were in a mess. He picked up a towel to wipe his face, and without putting on his coat, he pushed the door and walked downstairs along the marble-paved corridor of the building.

He was not sure how long he could stay here this time and did not want to waste time.

However, when Zhao Duan walked out of the compound, stood on the street, and looked at the city with flashing neon lights, he suddenly felt confused.

Without an NPC to guide you... where can you go?

"Gurgle..." His stomach suddenly rumbled and he felt hungry. Zhao Duan came up with an idea and decided to go have a midnight snack.

"I've gotten used to eating unseasoned food in Yu State, and I've almost forgotten what good food tastes like..."

He took out his cell phone and tapped away for a while. Although the information in the online world was stagnant, he actually managed to call a car...

What a world full of bugs...

After a while, an online-hailing car stopped. Zhao Duan looked at the license plate, sat in it, and read out the last digit of the cell phone number.

The driver stepped on the accelerator and drove away.

Zhao Duan was going to eat at a barbecue restaurant that was not a bad idea. It was on the street near Taiqing Palace, not far from here and only took a few minutes by taxi.

……

In a park near Taiqing Palace.

Xu Zhenguan walked out. Here, she still maintained the same appearance as in the outside world, but her clothes were very different.

The upper body is a women's shirt, and the slender legs are covered with long pants. On the feet are a pair of light-colored sandals, revealing ten delicate toes.

Her long hair was slightly curled at the ends and draped lazily, and there was a red mark on one side of her cheek, left by sleeping soundly on a park bench.

"Where should we go this time?" Xu Zhenguan thought blankly.

This time, she did not choose to go to Taiqing Palace to find the female temple priest.

"I still have to continue exploring this world. In each of the previous maps, I would meet a 'guide' after entering, just like in the first 'Martial God Map', Emperor Taizu would lead me in cultivation... Logically speaking, there should be such a person in this 'Human World'..."

"I previously suspected it was the female temple priest, but after several contacts, I found that it didn't seem to be..."

Xu Zhenguan pondered, it was just such a vast city, where to start?
"Gulu——"

Suddenly, her stomach rumbled. The empress's cheeks turned red. She gritted her teeth, clenched her fingers around the phone that she couldn't open because she didn't know the password, and walked towards a barbecue shop not far away.

(End of this chapter)