Tai sui

The 28th year of Taiming started with a jubilant Xuanyin General Election Year. Unexpectedly, the auspicious aura wafting from the fairy mountain came to an end so quickly, and it failed to last until the end of the year.

On the eighth night of the twelfth lunar month, a fire in the outskirts of Nancheng shocked the government and the public, and the smoke lingered for days.

In the early afternoon of the second day, in the cotton mill where the fire started, the boss hanged himself on the beam of his house, with the words "blood for blood" spread under his feet.

Two days later, Sun Yuqing, the director of water transportation, was assassinated on the way to worship his ancestors in the suburbs. Although the guards tried their best to protect him, Mr. Sun, who was overly frightened, still couldn't get sick.Someone painted a blasting magic circle outside the Canal Office building, but it failed—the evil spirit was spotted by Qinglong Tower when he buried the jade chapter stone in the magic circle, and when Tianji Pavilion arrived, he blew himself up and died.

The people complained, the evil spirits were rampant, and the people walking in the world were exhausted, and the Tianji Pavilion branches in various places frequently reported injuries.

Emperor Taiming was furious, and indiscriminately imprisoned several important ministers of the Water Transport Department, which alarmed the four peak masters of Xuanyin Mountain to jointly send a letter of concern.

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, at the Great Court Meeting, Emperor Taiming issued an order to order Prince Zhou Huan to preside over the misfortune of Xueniang. Zhuang Wang Zhou Ying thoroughly investigated the labor exploitation in factories along the canal, and left Beijing immediately before the Chinese New Year.

As soon as the decree came down, even the prince and Zhuang Wang himself were stunned.The two of them looked at each other for a rare moment, and they both murmured in their hearts: What does the old man mean by this?Examination school?

After the court meeting ended, Emperor Taiming said a few words of encouragement to the crown prince, and ordered him to go back to study the regulations, leaving King Zhuang alone.

King Zhuang was not surprised - the matter of Xueniang was actually not difficult to find out, without the crown prince's instructions, the subordinates had already prepared a scapegoat, cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle for the New Year.The water in the canal transportation is too deep, not to mention that His Majesty not only guides the suburbs with a sword, but also intends to go to war throughout the whole territory.

"I made tremella pear soup today, didn't I? Go and serve a bowl to the third child," Emperor Taiming ordered his servant, "Pick out the tremella, this kid has a lot of problems, he won't eat that."

"Don't bother," Zhuang Wang said with a smile to Emperor Taiming, "What is the age of my son, I will stop being picky."

"Talk about your age in front of your old father!" The emperor nodded at him, "It's unreasonable."

The emperor was not really angry, so King Zhuang made a half-truth accusation, waiting for him to talk about the southern tour.

The old emperor's thunderous rage in the court hall was like a mask, and when he went to court, he took it off, and he became a kind "old father" again.Aside from talking about business, he didn't know what was wrong, so he pulled King Zhuang to talk about daily life, counted a bunch of trifles endlessly, and finally brought up Xi Ping.

"That kid from Zhengde's family, I heard that he had voted for General Zhi's eyes and entered the inner door ahead of time?"

"Zhengde" is the nickname of Lord Yongning, Zhuang Wang said "yes": "No one thought that my uncle's family would be flattered, and I was afraid that he would still be so ignorant when he came to the inner sect, and would annoy the peak master."

"General Zhi is famous for his good temper, so he wouldn't care about the younger generation." The old emperor remembered something, and smiled again, "I remember that little bastard, when he was a child, he couldn't walk steadily. Dare to pull my beard with your hands, you are so daring... At the age of three, I would say that he may have a great fortune in the future."

Serving Shangli Tang inside, he quietly retreated, leaving only father and son in the spotless Nuan Pavilion protected by the inscription.

King Zhuang really didn't want to talk about Xi Ping with him, so he made up his mind and was about to divert the conversation, but Emperor Taiming suddenly said: "Back then you wanted to take him off the candidate list. It was filled in again by the immortal envoy by accident. I see, General Zhi had a predestined relationship with him at that time."

How did he know?The Zhao family leaked the news?

Zhuang Wang paused with his fingertips rubbing the porcelain bowl, but his expression remained motionless, as if nothing had happened, he said: "Grandmother is getting old, and she doesn't want to be separated from her children and grandchildren. Uncle also thinks that he is very incompetent and lazy. That's why I asked my son to try to take him down."

The old emperor stared at him, the smile lines at the corners of his eyes deepened, he stopped talking, and only urged Zhuang Wang to drink the pear soup while it was hot.

Zhuang Wang put it down after a few perfunctory words: "Father, the southern tour..."

"I'm not busy, I'll tell you later, come and appreciate my new paintings first." Emperor Taiming called Zhuang Wang to go with him to appreciate the paintings with great interest, like an urchin.

King Zhuang had no choice but to obey his orders patiently.

In order to celebrate the new year, the Nuan Pavilion changed a "Spring Festival Picture".It is an ancient painting, the brushwork is a bit immature, not like any famous artist's handwriting, but the colors are very lively and bold. Even though it has faded over time, the children fluttering on the butterfly and the bright spring are still lively and lively through the paper.

"How, do you guess whose authentic work this is?"

Dawan regards simplicity and subtlety as beauty, but actually doesn't take anything that is too ostentatious and exposed.

Zhuang Wang saw that the signature was "Tao Ran Weng", and he felt that the artist was no more than 15 years old. He thought that this kind of children's graffiti was worthy of being called "authentic work". Could anyone imitate it?

"It's hard to tell. The painting style is unique, and it looks a bit southern."

It hurts the eyes.

"You guessed wrong, this person is a native of Jinping." The old emperor smiled, "Unexpectedly, this is a painting that Princess Duanrui left in the palace when she was young."

King Zhuang was taken aback.

Princess Duanrui?

Zhou's ancestor in Xuanyin Mountain... the one who practiced the Pure Way?

"It is said that this old ancestor was lively and mischievous when he was young, and he was very popular. He often wore men's clothes to go out with his father and brother. He was good at calligraphy and painting. When he was ten years old, at the birthday banquet of Empress Dowager Ren'an, she put on a beard and pretended to be an actress. She imitated that street artist's storytelling, which made everyone laugh, and the Queen Mother asked someone to come and appreciate her, and only then did she recognize her."

King Zhuang suspected for a moment that he was old and dim-sighted. He read some unofficial history and misunderstood people's names.He was too lazy to chat with the old man about these gossips, so he wanted to bring the conversation back to the right track: "I really didn't expect—Royal Father, Nan..."

Emperor Taiming turned around and said, "She is the same as you, she is a congenital spiritual bone."

King Zhuang's pupils shrank suddenly.

"Xuanyin Mountain's Xu Zhou family is firmly on the throne, so the cicada surnamed Zhou will never be allowed to shed. She can only enter the ruthless and pure way. If she wants to go further, she has to become an unintentional and selfless grass, completely forgetting the name 'Zhou Xueru'; Otherwise, she can only be entangled and torn by many miscellaneous things, practice the pure way without being pure, and stop at ascension for the rest of her life... But she is luckier than you," the emperor looked up at the naive painting, and said softly, "She only has innate Spirit bones, without natural top-level inspiration, are not as sensitive to the many distracting thoughts of people around you as you are, so when I was young, I lived a carefree and happy life, not as heavy-hearted as you are."

There was a sudden silence in the warm pavilion.

King Zhuang gently pushed back the corner of the white paper protruding from his sleeve, and put on a posture of "Although I don't know what nonsense His Majesty Father is talking about, but the saint farts right", he responded with the same attitude. Change, silent.

"Okay, stop pretending, after so many years, don't you feel tired, only your mother will think you are 'deep in love and weak' and don't know anything." Emperor Taiming held a strange smile on his mouth and waved his hand , showing a little old-fashioned, "Ying, I have six sons and five daughters, none of them look like me...except you."

King Zhuang stood up straight, and replied calmly: "Your honor."

Emperor Taiming asked again: "Xi Ping is the only son of your mother's uncle's family. Entering the immortal gate will be of great help to you. Why do you want to stop him?"

King Zhuang lowered his eyelashes like crow feathers, and after a moment of silence, he said: "Your Majesty sits on the world, and the world is His Majesty's game. I was born with nothing. For more than twenty years, there are only a few cats, cats and dogs around me." , reluctant to take it out and put it on display. If you can’t get on the stage, Your Majesty will laugh at you.”

"That can't be up to you, and it can't be up to me. The destiny can't be up to anyone." The old emperor's cloudy eyes were frighteningly bright, and he sat down with a golden knife on his horse, and he said, "I ordered you to tour the south, do you know what it means? ?”

"Your Majesty is stupid." Zhuang Wang replied in a businesslike manner, "Please show me, Your Majesty."

"I want you to spare no effort." The old emperor lifted the sticky "father" skin just now, and said solemnly, "Check out those monsters who are full of fat and fill people into iron furnaces, and get rid of those greedy and hard-to-satisfy monsters." All the beasts have their stomachs ripped open, no matter who the master behind them is, can you do it?"

Zhuang Wang replied: "I would like to follow your majesty's orders, and I will investigate this matter thoroughly, and wait for your majesty's decision."

Even if you give me away, how can you pick it up yourself?

More than 20 years ago, the old emperor made a special masterpiece, relying on the 36 peaks of Xianshan to fish in troubled waters. This time, Xuanyin Mountain did not give him acquiescence.

Emperor Taiming was silent for a moment, and then said word by word: "The wound has rotted, and I have to amputate a limb to save my life. Ying, I want to hand this knife into your hands."

King Zhuang frowned, he was not sure what Emperor Taiming meant.

What, Your Majesty is planning to rebel?

"The sky is about to collapse, the prince is too kind and gentle, he...he can't bear it, only you are cruel enough."

I don't know if Zhuang Wang had something on his mind, but he always felt that he saw a bit of madness in the emperor's father's smile.

Emperor Taiming said: "The boy from the Xi family enters the Immortal Gate and worships under Si Ming's lineage. There must be the handwriting of Princess Duanrui in it. Ying, the Immortal Gate has chosen you."

Zhuang Wangxin said: so?

Let's assume that Xuanyin really favors him, what kind of bias can make Xianshan tolerate this kind of provocation?

The old man also drank those snow brews with ingredients, right?

Emperor Taiming didn't say any more, and only told: "You go, don't let me down... Remember to visit your mother before you leave."

It wasn't until the lights came on that Zhuang Wang came out of Guangyun Palace and got into the carriage. The inscription immediately blocked the smoke and dust, and a piece of paper Bering came out from the sleeve of his court clothes: "My lord, your majesty just now..."

"Don't make noise." Zhuang Wang waved his hands and pressed his temples hard, "I'll be quiet for a while."

Bering remained silent, took out a bottle of Chunhui Pill from his bosom and put it beside King Zhuang, and accompanied him silently.

The carriage walked slowly towards Prince Zhuang's mansion, and a small amount of snow fell outside the inscription, like ashes scattered all over the sky.

King Zhuang kept his eyes closed all the way to the Prince Zhuang's mansion, but the car hadn't stopped when he heard the sound of a piano.

He frowned all the way and opened his eyes, and asked, "Where is the sound of the piano?"

Bering listened intently: "It seems to be a mansion..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhuang Wang had already pushed the car door open and almost jumped out of the car.

Beringfei turned into a piece of paper and stuck to his sleeve. The servant was startled and hurriedly opened his umbrella to catch up: "My lord, it's snowing, be careful of catching a cold! My lord!"

King Zhuang entered the courtyard three steps at a time. When he looked up, he saw a man, a cat, and a pair of enemies on the roof of Nanshu House.

The big black cat walked around the visitor suspiciously, sniffing at the hem of his robe, probably feeling familiar, but it seemed that something was wrong.

And the person who had been away for almost four seasons raised his head and smiled at Zhuang Wang: "Third brother, I'm here to eat again!"

As if he never left.

King Zhuang exhaled lightly, loosened his shoulders, and took off the haze from Guangyun Palace at the door.

He wanted to laugh at first, raised the corners of his mouth halfway, and forced a straight face: "You have been in Xianmen for more than half a year, and you have learned to go up to the roof tiles? How decent is it, you still don't come down!"

"Okay!" Xi Ping caught the black cat up unexpectedly, and jumped off the roof while holding it under the cat's screams.

The black cat had thought of this monstrous evildoer at that time, with new and old grudges mixed up, its hair was raised high, and it was about to scratch Hua Xiping's face with one paw across.

However, the "old hatred" is not what it used to be, as if stepping on the wind under his feet, Xi Ping's figure flashed, and he had already landed lightly behind King Zhuang, stood on tiptoe, poked his head out, and made a big face at the black cat.

King Zhuang: "..."

Well, there was a thrilling scene in the Qianxiu Temple. It turned out that others were the ones who were shocked, and this person didn't grow up at all.

"Master asked me to go down the mountain to do some errands." Xi Ping entered the study of Prince Zhuang's Mansion as if he was at home, and made tea by himself - his usual sapphire cup was still in the original small tea tray. After returning home, I didn’t want to come to see you at night, but I heard from my father that His Majesty asked you to go far away...I said, is Your Majesty your own father? Is there someone who orders people like this, and I won’t let you go for a year!"

King Zhuang had no choice but to wave his hand to let the servants back down, feeling that General Zhi's good temper really deserved his reputation-it's even more shameful to get used to this thing!

As soon as the servant left, Xi Ping rolled his eyes and greeted King Zhuang on his sleeve, "Hello, Brother Dark Guard!"

Zhuang Wang gave a meal.

Bai Ling, whose hiding place was pointed out by him, had no choice but to float down and turned into a human body, and greeted him: "Master Feiqiong Peak really has a deep foundation, and the son has only opened his spiritual aperture for half a year, and he is already stronger than Tianji Pavilion for a long time."

Xi Ping said, "That is."

Bering: "..."

He won't take that.

Fortunately, King Zhuang rescued him, and King Zhuang asked, "When did you know that Bering was not a mortal?"

"I knew it when I was young," Xi Ping said, "Brother Dark Guard also taught me an inscription. I feel that he is nearby most of the time, but I couldn't hear any movement before."

The paper figurine's concealment technique is excellent, and it can be sensed by a mortal. Bering's mentality almost froze: "How does the prince feel that his subordinate is nearby? But what's wrong with this subordinate?"

"No," Xi Ping said, "You can tell by my third brother's face."

King Zhuang squeezed the teacup and asked quietly: "Don't you wonder why there are monks around me as secret guards?"

Xi Ping glanced at him inexplicably, and bluntly put "what's none of my business" on his facial features: "Hey, by the way, third brother, I'll show you something good."

"You..." King Zhuang was taken aback when he saw what he had brought out, and saw that it was a white jade pendant the size of a fingertip. Taking advantage of the natural greenness of the jade, he carved a budding snow lotus in the hollow.

Xi Ping didn't touch it with his hands, and through a layer of spiritual energy, he grabbed the white jade pendant from the mustard seed and put it in the hands of Zhuang Wang with a dangerous appearance.

When the jade pendant touched someone, the bean-sized snow lotus bloomed slowly. Zhuang Wang suddenly felt a breeze sweeping over his body, and the pain in his chest that had been in the past few days subsided a lot.

As if frightened by the petals, Bering lowered his voice: "This is the legendary... the heart-protecting lotus carved by Master Lin Chi himself?"

"Yes, Master ordered me to pick up a few fairy artifacts at Feiqiong Peak before going down the mountain, and I begged for them when I saw this. This jade has absorbed spiritual energy in Feiqiong Peak for more than 100 years, and it is marinated, even if there is no monk to push it , it’s enough to keep it open for 100 years. Wearing it on the body can cure diseases and get rid of filth, and it’s invulnerable to all poisons...Anyway, drinking three catties of snow wine with added ingredients will do nothing.”

King Zhuang heard the word "Xue Niang": "Did General Zhi tell you about the factory in the southern suburbs?"

"Yeah." Xi Ping nodded, as if he didn't care too much about these things, he quickly covered the subject unnaturally, then lowered his head and took out a thick stack of talisman papers from his body, "And this... hey ,wrong."

He rummaged through it, and saw that he had accidentally mixed in the scraps of the painting, and pulled out more than half of it: "You can use the ones above, the ones above are good, and the ones below are more or less problematic, but there are some problems anyway. Effect."

Bering looked at it: "They are all dust-avoiding charms."

"I've mastered this one now." Xi Ping complained, "except for the sword, my master is unreliable, so he threw me a book of spells and asked me to look it up myself. 》 as if you can flip it over, how easy it is!"

King Zhuang held the heart-protecting lotus into his palm, and for a moment, he seemed a little embarrassed, and said, "I have Bai Ling by my side, and there is no shortage of spell envoys."

Without even thinking about it, Xi Ping said, "That's different, I drew this."

It seems that "his paintings are more meaningful than others' paintings" is a self-evident truth.

King Zhuang was dumbfounded for a moment, then smiled while holding his forehead: "What skills do you have, let's show them off one by one."

"There is also the qin." Xi Ping said, hooking his fingers, as if there was an invisible string, making a clear and clear sound.

Bai Ling said: "Feiqiong Peak really has a profound foundation, what kind of magic weapon is this? I am ignorant and ignorant."

"This is called 'Bone Qin'." Xi Ping didn't say much, "Third brother, you haven't slept well these days, I'll play a piece for you."

King Zhuang was afraid of his music, so he hurriedly said: "Not busy, eat first, and then play when you are full."

I thought that he would forget about it after eating and drinking, but Xi Ping made up his mind to perform on stage today.King Zhuang didn't know why General Zhi gave this guy a piano, so he had to open his ears, adjusted his state, and listened attentively to Yu Gangong's masterpiece.

However, Xi Ping didn't play his unrecognizable rogue tunes. He sat down and tapped his fingers lightly, and he played "Kong Ming Tranquility Mantra".

Zhuang Wang listened, his "bone qin" should be a healing instrument, the sound of the qin was peaceful and quiet, and it spread far away over the courtyard wall of the palace.The jackdaw and the sparrow fell on the wall outside the south study room, and the black cat, which gasped when it saw Xi Ping, slipped in at some point, found a corner in the study room, and lay down with its ears up.

The sound of the piano paused for a moment, and Bering, who was about to fall into a trance, came back to his senses, and saw Xi Ping pointing a finger at him.

Zhuang Wang didn't know when he fell asleep with his head propped up, as if he had nothing on his mind.

Bering stepped forward lightly, placed the man on the couch, and covered him with a quilt.

The tranquilizing mantra rang again.

Ah Xiang——Wei Chengxiang came to the ruins of the fire in the southern suburbs just before dawn.Walking fifty steps south along the original site of Mouse Alley, I lifted a scorched board and found a purse.

The bag was full of sapphires.

She bit her finger and dripped a drop of blood, and a blue light flashed on the purse, disappearing in her palm.Wei Chengxiang put his luggage on his back—it contained two tablet tablets, a reincarnation wooden tablet, a dozen mixed dough cakes, a handful of small change...and a gold pan lottery that had not been drawn.

Then she walked to the ferry, where a small boat was waiting for her.

There were already five or six people in ragged clothes crammed into the boat, all young and middle-aged, all of whom had nowhere to go after the fire in the southern suburbs, with the same blank and numb faces.

The person who punted the boat was the old beggar who was singing on the ruins of the fire that day. With a swing of the long pole, the boat cut through the waves, as if it wanted to carry the boat to the river of forgetfulness where humans and ghosts meet.

Drive to the crossing to change to a steamboat, and a person who escorts them will get off the steamboat.

Wei Chengxiang glanced around and saw several similar boats parked nearby, and knew that there were more than one boat of people like her who had been recruited by this group of evil spirits.

The guide who got off the steamboat saluted silently with everyone who got on the boat, and when it was Wei Cheng's turn to ring, the guide met her gaze and couldn't help being stunned for a moment—as if a living soul had mixed into the crowd of dead ghosts.

Wei Chengxiang smiled at him without avoiding it, took a step forward, and said in a low voice: "The fire will not go away, and the cicadas will make endless noises."

The receptionist said in astonishment: "You are..."

"Before Lao Ni was martyred, he was talking about Lingshi with my family Tai Sui, but he was suddenly arrested by Lan Yi." Wei Chengxiang held the two tablets in his arms tightly through the package. The tablets were her blood and soul.

"My code name is Sixty, Tai Sui ordered me to go to the chaotic southern border with you."