Tai sui

In the election year, at the root of the imperial city, under the eyes of everyone, the son of a court official just met Hades in silence.

Hades also released him in the middle of the night and asked him to sing an auspicious folk tune in public, which added a different color to the beauty pageant night in the imperial capital!

It just so happened that a small city defense army patrolled here, and when they saw Wang Baochang's death, they knew that something serious had happened. They immediately blocked the crowd of onlookers and notified Tianji Pavilion.

The so-called "Tianji Pavilion" belongs to the outer sect of the state religion Xuanyin.

The immortals of Xuanyin Mountain focus on their cultivation, and they don't usually go down to the world. They are all handled by Tianji Pavilion as an agent, so Tianji Pavilion is also called "walking in the world".

"Walking in the world" is the "enlightenment period" monks who stepped into the immortal gate with one foot. It is said that they can lead spiritual energy into the body, but they have not really established the foundation to enter the Tao. They are generally called "half immortals" because they wear blue when they are on business Clothes, and the folks also call them "blue clothes and half immortals".

The life expectancy of the monks in the enlightenment period is as long as one or two hundred years old, and they can use various magical methods, and they will not bow down when they see the king.They go up to the Immortal Sect to eliminate demons and defend the Tao. They are sent by the state religion to Dawan to keep the country safe. They are not under the control of the imperial court at ordinary times. When it is cheap, they can even mobilize local garrisons with less than a thousand people.

Tianji Pavilion's "walking in the world" came very quickly - in Jinping City, in addition to the Tianji Pavilion General Administration, there are seven resident, corresponding to the seven dragons in the sky. There are people guarding them.

Qinglong Xinsu Pagoda was just not far from Huafang Ferry. The chief guard guarding Xinsu Pagoda at night was surnamed Zhao Mingyu, and as soon as the zombie Wang Baochang let out his broken gong, the bronze bells on the eaves of Qinglong Pagoda vibrated in unison, alarming everyone. Zhao Weichang who was meditating.

When Zhao Yu arrived at the ferry with two of his subordinates, the city guards saw the eye-catching sapphire blue robes from afar, they gave way one after another, and respectfully called "the elders".

Without squinting, Zhao Yu strode to the corpse. Before he could take a closer look, he heard a heart-piercing cry from a hundred meters away.

The captain of the city defense army who was guarding the corpse hurriedly said: "Sir, we have sent away the idlers. This is the deceased's family."

"The evil spirit has many methods, and the corpse has not been investigated clearly. Don't let mortals come here to make trouble," Zhao Yu ordered lightly, and then asked, "Who is dead?"

The captain replied: "The son of Lord Wang, the Minister of War."

Zhao Yu paused slightly when he heard the words, and his tone was somewhat polite: "Explain the whole story to the family, and ask them to sit aside for a while... I will go and express my annoyance to Mr. Wang in person after a while."

The captain responded, turned his head and told his subordinates to go on. He carried the lantern, followed step by step, and handed over a sapphire plaque wrapped in silk cloth: "Master, this fell from the body of the deceased. Character."

A corner of the sapphire tablet was smashed, leaving only a row of birth and birthday characters on it.

Before Zhao Yu could take a closer look, a city defense officer trotted over.

"Come and talk back," Zhao Yu rolled his eyelids, "What's the matter?"

"Return, return to your lord," the little soldier was led to walk in front of the world, almost unable to speak, and said incoherently, "We found his family... boy, the boy said, my father... no, his son Half an hour ago I was still drinking with people in Zui Liuhua, nothing unusual. The show at Zui Liuhua hasn't finished yet, and many people have seen the dead... Just now I just said that I drank too much and wanted to go out for a walk, Who knows that after going out, he never came back."

The captain said with a stern face: "Nonsense, I haven't brought that boy for a strict interrogation yet. The body is so stiff, at least it has been dead for five or six hours!"

The little soldier trembled, and responded in a nonchalant manner.

"Not necessarily." After Zhao Yu heard this, he asked someone to turn Wang Baochang's body over. After looking at it for a moment, he took out a wrench from his bosom and put it on his thumb. There was a soybean-sized water jade inlaid on the wrench.Zhao Weichang tapped Guanyuan, Qihai, and Tanzhong lightly in a circle, and thrust his finger into Tiantu acupoint of the corpse, and at the same time pressed the water jade on the finger against the mouth and nose of the corpse.

Wang Baochang's corpse made a "poof" sound, like a gas leak from a coal stove burned with inferior charcoal, and black smoke spewed out from the seven orifices, all of which poured into the water jade on the wrench.

The surrounding city defense officers and soldiers retreated collectively, and the captain who turned on the lamp couldn't help but raise his neck, desperately holding his breath.

I saw that the water jade, which was originally as clear as ice, was full of smoke and turned into a coal ball. If you look closely, there is a little rust-like dark red on it.

"The blood energy has not dissipated," Zhao Yu asserted, "a person's breath has just been swallowed, and it is still fresh."

The city guards didn't dare to vent their anger, they could only exchange glances, and agreed that this man didn't look very fresh in terms of appearance.

Zhao Yu ordered: "Shave his hair off."

The captain of the city defense school was too flattering, and happened to be next to him at the moment. Hearing the words, he didn't dare to shirk, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and do it himself.

The corpse's hair was shaved in half, and the captain jumped up from the ground with a horrified "hoo"—from the top of the head, the skin and flesh turned bright red, like a piece of rouge paper stuck to the scalp, red The side is already close to the hairline, and it is about to overflow to the face.

Zhao Yu weighed the jade card with the date of birth in his hand, his face darkened slightly: "'Ming hijab', someone snatched his yin relative."

Xi Ping only heard about it early the next morning.

The night before, he "flyed" into Prince Zhuang's mansion gracefully.His Royal Highness Zhuang Wang was born deficient and suffered from "dark eyesight". He was alarmed in the middle of the night, and when he came out in his clothes, he almost went blind. .The son of the world has a big heart, so he simply stayed in Zhuang Wang's mansion after cleaning up, and planned to sleep until the sun was up as usual.

Unexpectedly, at dawn, Zhuang Wang squeezed him out of the quilt to meet the guests.

Xi Ping was cleaned up with all kinds of delusions, and was driven to the South Study Room, where he saw a human being who looked like a Bodhisattva walking in the world. The "Bodhisattva" threw a thunderbolt at him: Wang Baochang, who was as strong as a bull, had a "crack" last night, and he died as soon as he said he was dead!

Xi Ping forgot to take back the opened folding fan for a while, and the four big characters "National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance" lay across his chest on the fan, and he became a wooden chicken with national beauty and heavenly fragrance.

Zhuang Wang coughed lightly beside him.

Xi Ping habitually picked up the teacup, tested the temperature of the water with the back of his hand, and then handed it to him. Then he came back to his senses, and his face changed: "People in our house found the body? What about my father? He was there at the time ? Did you see the dead too?"

When Hou Ye was young, he was known as "Dawan Weijie".

Walking in the world said: "That's not the case. Don't worry, my son. Hou Ye was a step behind at that time and was not with your guards."

"Oh," Xi Ping slapped the wind twice, his heart sank back into his stomach, "what did you just say? What do you mean by 'grabbing a yin relative'?"

"It's a kind of evil forbidden killing technique," Human Walking patiently explained, "The evil sycophants who practice it will try to make the victim accept a dead person's invitation, and then take away a coin of blood, three strands of hair, and mix it with corpse oil. , incense ash, cinnabar, etc., made into pigments, and wrote a "marriage letter" on a piece of completely peeled off human skin. The horoscope written on the post was the original owner of the human skin. The "auspicious time" written on the "marriage letter" was When the victim died, his words and deeds were as written in the marriage letter. Even if he was asked to cut off his own flesh and swallow it in his stomach, he would do so. The person who was robbed of his yin relatives was still alive and his body was stiff. The top of the head starts to turn red, and within three hours, the red marks will spread all the way to the chin, like a bride's hijab, so this kind of dead face is also called 'dead hijab'."

After hearing this, Xi Ping was taken aback: "No, wait a minute, that... Senior, you mean, a ghost captured Wang Dagou to be his son-in-law... No, daughter-in-law? What the hell tastes so shocking... Hiss!"

Zhuang Wang gave him a kick under the table, interrupting his heartless opinion.

The person walking in the world who came to pay a visit to Prince Zhuang's mansion was none other than Zhao Yu and Zhao Weichang himself.

The night before, Tianji Pavilion searched the Huafang Ferry overnight, but found nothing, so they found Xi Ping—he was the last living person to see Wang Baochang.Because he heard that he stayed overnight at the residence of His Highness the Third Highness, Zhao Weichang came to visit him in person.

Zhao Yu was quite self-cultivated, and he didn't have the same knowledge as Xi Ping, so he just asked, "I want to ask my lord, did you notice anything unusual at the Huafang Ferry yesterday?"

Xi Ping thought for a while: "No, I am the strangest person on the whole ferry."

Zhao Yu asked again: "You know, who did the deceased have any grievances with?"

Xi Ping let out a "huh", and when he said this, he got excited and closed his fan: "That's too many, just Wang Da...you can go to the banks of the Lingyang River to inquire about the popularity of high officials, ten people Nine want to curse him to death..."

Seeing that his words became more and more unreasonable, Zhuang Wang had no choice but to interrupt him again: "The family education is not strict, and he is used to be like no one, the elders are laughing at it."

Prince Yongning Hou's "famous name" has spread far and wide, Zhao Yu has heard of it for a long time, and when he saw this pheasant-like man himself, he knew that it would be of no use to ask, so he turned his head and said to King Zhuang: "In the general election year, evil spirits sneaked into Jinping , using a dead body as a matchmaker to murder the son of a high official in the imperial court, the plan must be big. Naturally, Tianji Pavilion will do its best to track down these evil heretics, and please take care of your nobles—in addition, people who die in yin marriages often have corpses on them Poison, I heard that the prince had contact with the deceased last night, I have Zhang Anshen's charm to ward off evil spirits, remember to soak it in water and take it."

King Zhuang waved his hand to order the servant who was about to step forward to step back, went up to take it himself, and then turned around and ordered someone to bring over an ancient painting from his collection, and said to Zhao Yu: "It was a coincidence a while ago that I got such a treasure. As an ordinary person, I don't know how to keep it so that it is not disgraceful to the famous painting. I heard that there is a senior Zhao in the Tianji Pavilion who is an expert, and I happened to meet you today, so I must have the audacity to entrust you."

Zhao Yu raised his eyebrows slightly: "Your Highness recognizes me?"

Zhuang Wang smiled and said: "When I was young, I learned painting from Mr. Tang Hua from the Zhao family in Ning'an. Mr. Tang mentioned the elder more than once."

Zhao Yu laughed as soon as he heard it, and against his young face, he couldn't help showing the attitude of an elder, nodding his head and saying, "Tang Hua is the son of my third younger brother."

Xi Ping got up early and hadn't eaten yet, so Zhuang Wang didn't let him talk, so he kept his cheap mouth idle, so he secretly ate snacks from the table next to him.Hearing this, he almost choked the lotus flower, and couldn't help admiring the blue-clothed elder in front of him—that Mr. Tang Hua was so old that he was confused, how old was his uncle?

This is too alive!

King Zhuang was a mortal no matter how rich he was, Zhao Yu had nothing to say to him at first, and planned to come over after chatting about business.Unexpectedly, he was dragged back to the mortal world by a "Tang Hua". He remembered the young nephew he had coaxed when he was a mortal, and he couldn't help being a little more friendly. Remember not to go out for a few days, and don’t accept things that have written horoscopes and similar to Geng’s post. Suppressing evil spirits and demons is our job, Your Highness, you don’t have to be polite, and painting is not..."

Before he finished speaking, a servant had already brought a wooden box, and when the box was opened, Zhao Yu's refusal words stuck in his throat.

Xi Ping took a look, and saw that the wooden box contained a fragment of scroll, only half a foot square, tattered, and said to himself: What is this, a rotten rag that was pickled in the dyeing vat?

But Zhao Weichang, who was walking in the world, saw this "rag", but he used all his strength to keep the turmoil in his heart from showing, because he was holding it too tightly, and his voice was a little tight: "Fushanhaishitu. "

Zhuang Wang said with a leisurely smile: "I only know the surface of calligraphy and painting, and I only got such a corner of the painting. I really can't tell whether it is true or not. I heard that the elder has a 'Guanlan'. It can be fake. I also ask the elder to taste it." .”

The corners of Zhao Yu's eyes twitched slightly, he stretched out his hand silently, and put on his water jade finger wrench.As soon as Shui Yuzhu was an arm's length away from the canvas, she emitted a soft white light, announcing impatiently that this painting is no longer real.

"It seems that I have not been fooled. It is easy to suspend. If it is true or false, today I will be ashamed in front of my elders." After Zhuang Wang finished speaking, he ordered his servants to wrap it up, "Your elder, please don't be polite. You are Mr. Tanghua's elder, so you should respect your elders."

"Floating Mountains and Sea City Map" was torn apart due to the disaster of war. Zhao Yu searched painstakingly for more than 50 years, and so far only got two fragments.

But regardless of how King Zhuang obtained it, Zhao Yu was horrified because this ancient painting was the key to whether he could go further and successfully build a foundation.Every half-immortal in practice has such a "key", which is a top secret.

Why did Zhuang Wang give him this painting?

Coincidence or...

The sickly crooked young man had a clean smile, as if he knew nothing about the value of the ancient painting.

Zhao Yu was puzzled, but he really couldn't refuse the fragment of the ancient painting.After pondering for a long time, he clasped the slightly hot "Guanlan" Shuiyu into his palm, cupped his hands and said in a low voice: "So, I would like to thank Your Highness. I don't know what His Highness can send..."

"Hey," King Zhuang interrupted him, "how dare you, I just want to form a good relationship with the elders. I can live in Jinping City safely and securely, thanks to the protection of the immortal gate and the protection of the elders."

Zhao Yu took a deep look at him, put away the painting, and got up to leave.Zhuang Wang personally delivered to the door.

Xi Ping didn't bother to think about what charades these two were playing, as soon as Zunzhang Zhao left, he came up behind King Zhuang like a dog and wanted to beat King Zhuang's back.

"Go away," Zhuang Wang turned around and changed his face, and pulled down the smile that seemed to grow on his face, "I can't help but beat you."

Xi Ping withdrew his paw and poured tea for King Zhuang: "Thank you, third brother, for taking me in. Third brother will drink tea."

Zhuang Wang lowered his face and stared at him.

Dawan's surname is "Zhou", and his third highness, Zhuang Wang, is named Ying. He is as gentle as jade, and with a three-pointed sickness, he can't be harsh no matter how hard he stares.

Anyway, Xi Ping had a playful smile on his face, so he wasn't afraid of him at all.

Zhuang Wang interrogated him: "What happened last night?"

"It's too late for fate, and it's a bad year." Xi Ping squeezed a chilled lychee, peeled it off and threw it into his mouth, "A girl in Zui Liuhua, the musician had an accident when she was on stage yesterday. The song she was going to sing It was written by me, and I thought she was in a difficult situation... Well, it was a trick, so I disguised myself and set it up for her. Who would have thought that such bad luck would happen to meet my father. As for our old man, he didn't go anywhere seriously Well, let the state officials set fires and not allow the people to light lamps, and send people to chase and kill me all the way for eight streets, and the skin of my feet is worn out..."

King Zhuang said angrily, "What kind of decency!"

"Who said it wasn't?" Xi Ping slapped his thigh, "I bumped into each other, it's so embarrassing, can't we just pretend we don't know each other well? He's the only one who has to shout so loudly, and now the city is full of storms, No embarrassment!"

King Zhuang: "..."

Uncle's family couldn't explain it in a single word, and His Royal Highness had a pain in the temple.He knocked on the armrest of the wooden chair, had someone serve warm water, melted the paper amulet given by Chief Wei into the water, and drank it according to Xi Ping.

"Hmm, I'll do it myself... Hey... Good guy, what does this smell like? This talisman is not drawn by tearing straw paper."

Zhuang Wang: "If you talk nonsense again, I will stuff your mouth with toilet paper."

Xi Ping hurriedly fumbled for the candied fruit, and plugged his mouth first, so that the toilet paper had no place to stuff it.

King Zhuang stared at him for a while, his eyes were sore, and his eyes couldn't penetrate the boy's thick skin, so he had no choice but to say: "Didn't you hear that the envoy is coming, you can stop for a few days. These few days Stay at home for me, sleep when you don’t want to study, and don’t go to those messy places again.”

Xi Ping spat out the core: "What does the general election have to do with me..."

"You are also the son of the Hou family, and you are of the right age. Why has nothing to do with you?" Zhuang Wang downcast and called out his words, "Shiyong, you are not young, and you should take care of your own future!"

"Houmen also has a golden threshold and a wooden threshold. Isn't that the 'water threshold' rented from the Dragon King Temple?" Xi Ping said nonchalantly, "Third brother, don't feel bad about my father, he is so old. Give him some face."

It's no secret that the threshold of Yongninghou is "water".Today's son is a man with a strong fist. After succeeding to the throne, he endured it for several years. Once he brought order out of the chaos, he cut down the ancestral graves of several relatives, and almost abolished his own queen.

Many of the nobles in the palace were of noble birth, and they had more or less been left behind by their natal families, and that's it, the Xi family stood out by accident.

The Xi family was born in a small family with a father who was a Zhima official. He died too early, and only his elder brother, who was incompetent, was left in his natal family to set up the family.She was like a bristlegrass accidentally mixed in in a peony garden, accidentally caught the eyes of the king, and later gave birth to a stunning and talented Third Highness, who was favored all the way and promoted to the imperial concubine.

There are three generations of the Xi family, including men, women and children, there is no one who is not beautiful, and no one who is not stupid.

However, although the straw bag is useless, it is also harmless.This family does not cause trouble, does not fight for power, and concentrates on destroying their own family without harming the country and the people.It's so pleasing to the eye to put it on the court.Back then, in order to disgust the old political enemies, His Majesty conferred the false title of "Yongning Marquis" on the noble concubine and his elder brother with a stroke of a pen—I hope they will not forget their original aspirations, and they will fade away forever.

This kind of "decoration" of the Hou family is nothing more than bluffing ordinary people, but the "recruitment post" to deceive Xuanyin Mountain is almost meaningless. After all, King Zhuang is still young, and he hasn't replaced his eldest brother, the prince.

Unless the children in the family are exceptionally outstanding, their names are outside.

But as far as Master Xi's "name"... tsk, don't mention it.

Xuanyin Mountain's selection invitation cards can be scattered all over the streets in Jinping City, but they can't be found in his arms. His mother has been thinking about proposing marriage to him for the past two years.

Zhuang Wang: "You are worthless yourself, don't take uncle with you."

Xi Ping snorted: "The father of a dog has no cubs, and if he raises me, what face will Hou Ye have?"

King Zhuang was speechless for a moment.

Xi Ping wiped his hands, grabbed the small porcelain plate, peeled two lychees and placed them in front of King Zhuang.

His piano skills are superb, his fingers are very good, and the skin and flesh of the peeled fruit are not sticky at all, and they are clean: "This thing gets angry after eating too much, third brother, I will peel it for you and put it here, sweet mouth, but Don't eat too much."

This kid is really not a thing when he is messy, and he is really good when he is good. King Zhuang's raised brows softened again.

Then Xi Ping came up with a new nonsense: "Besides, I don't want to go. Xuanyin Mountain pays so much attention to what's called 'Three Cultivations and Three Precepts'. This is not allowed and that is not allowed... Is this how people live? It is better to die young than to live forever."

As he said that, he might have eaten too much lychees, so he burped on the spot.

Just as Zhuang Wang was about to take the lychee, he withdrew his hand, both heartbroken and annoyed: "Fart, there is nothing taboo about talking! I... you... get out of here."

Xi Ping quickly stood up: "Okay."

"Wait, Xi Shiyong," King Zhuang called to stop him again, "Even if it's not for other reasons, there have been a lot of troubles in Beijing recently, and people have died. You don't go out to fool around, do you hear me?"

Xi Ping yelled "obedience", and his feet had already slipped out of the South Study Room - as long as he ran fast enough, the third brother's earnest orders would not be able to catch up with him.