His body just sat cross-legged in the quiet room where he usually practiced, with a peaceful expression, as if he was still in meditation.
"There are no wounds on his body and no symptoms."
An old monk wearing black monk's robes said.
"There are no traces of a fight in this room. No, there is not even the breath left by the second person besides him."
Red-robed eunuch Han Diao Si added.
"But he died."
Liyang Emperor Zhao Dun had no expression on his face and looked at Nan Huaiyu on the other side, "Jian Zheng, I need an explanation."
"It's the soul. His soul has been completely annihilated."
Compared to Yang Taisui, who was practicing Buddhism, and Han Diao Temple, who was a martial artist, Nan Huaiyu, who was also a Qi practitioner, obviously understood Xie Guanying's state at this time better.
To some extent, the practice of Qigong practitioners is quite similar to that of Taoism.
Deities and beings leaving the body are magical powers that only they have the opportunity to master.
Seeing that Nan Huaiyu had told useful information, Zhao Dun asked: "Who did this?"
In addition to anger, there was also a hint of undetectable fear in his tone.
You know, this is Tai'an City! The Imperial Capital of Liyang! Xie Guanying himself was also a Confucian sage, but he died quietly overnight.
In comparison, how safe can the palace, which is only a few feet away from here, be?
He was afraid.
Compared to the third time Cao Changqing entered Tai'an City, he was even more afraid when he was only fifty steps away!
Because at that time, there were imperial guards, Han Diao Temple, and many, many people between Cao Changqing and him... But now, looking at the entire Tai'an City, he didn't even know who could protect him.
"this……"
Faced with the emperor's questioning, Nan Huaiyu was a little embarrassed.
He could see that the cause of Xie Guanying's death was true, but who the murderer was... this question was a bit beyond the scope.
However, the person asking the question was the emperor. Even if he didn't know, he couldn't refuse so simply and straightforwardly, so he had to ponder: "Since Han Diao Temple said there was no trace of the second person in the house, it means that the person may have committed the murder from a distance.
.Given Xie Feiyu’s level, the perpetrator must be at least a saint from the three religions, among which a Taoist saint is the most likely.”
"The saint of the three religions...could it be Cao Changqing?!"
Zhao Dun shouted lowly.
In today's world, there are not many saints from the three religions who are on the bright side.
Among them, there are two Buddhists, monk Nagarjuna and Li Dangxin's master and disciple; one Taoist, Qilin Zhenren Yuan Qingshan of Beimang Taoism; and two Confucian, Cao Changqing and Xuanyuan Jingcheng.
Among these people, the one with the most motive to come to Tai'an City to kill people is Cao Changqing.
Therefore, Zhao Dun had this question.
But Yang Taisui shook his head: "Not to mention that Confucianism is not good at leaving the body, Xie Feiyu himself is a Confucian saint, even if he is not as good as Cao Changqing, he will not die so badly."
"Master Yuan, what do you think?"
Zhao Dun had no choice but to turn his questioning gaze to the Imperial Master Yuan Benxi.
Not many people knew about Xie Feiyu's death, but it caused a huge sensation among the highest levels of Liyang.
Yuan Benxi, Nan Huaiyu, Yang Taisui, Liu Haoshi, Han Diaosi and many other masters who were working with the royal family all came.
"Your Majesty, please take a moment to speak."
Yuan Benxi pondered for a moment and actually chose to ask Zhao Dunping to withdraw from everyone, leaving only the two of them.
This serious look made Zhao Dun a little nervous.
"Yuanshi?"
"Your Majesty, do you have any way to contact the person at Difeishan?"
"Ancestor Huang Chao?"
Zhao Dun nodded in confusion, "Of course there are ways, but generally if it's nothing serious, I won't disturb his old man's Qingxiu, and the ancestor won't pay attention to me."
"Then contact me immediately."
Yuan Benxi said solemnly.
"……good."
Although he was puzzled, Zhao Dun always obeyed Yuan Benxi's words and just contacted him.
After some operations, the Liyang Emperor froze.
"Yuan, Master Yuan, why can't I contact my ancestor...Yes, is this thing broken..."
Zhao Dun looked at the unresponsive magic weapon in his hand, and there was even a hint of crying in his voice.
Compared with Xie Guanying, the ancestor Zhao Huangchao is of far greater importance to the Zhao family in Liyang.
】
Hearing this, Yuan Benxi slowly closed his eyes: "As expected."
"Master Yuan, Master Yuan! Do you know something?"
Zhao Dun was already without a master at this time. His ancestor who was like a sea-fixing needle suddenly disappeared. He simply couldn't imagine what would happen next!
The long-term dependence made him regard Yuan Benxi as the last straw and hug him tightly.
"I'm afraid this is Beimang's conspiracy."
"Beimang?"
Zhao Dun was stunned. Although hundreds of thousands of troops from Liyang and Beimang were fighting bloody battles in the two Liaos, he really didn't spend much energy on that side during this period. Instead, he had been busy with Cao Changqing's affairs in the south of Western Chu.
"Not bad, Beimang!"
Yuan Benxi held the lake in his mouth with the remaining half of his tongue but said firmly: "Only the Taoist saints are the most skilled in the method of cutting off the fate of the soul without hurting the body at all. Xie Feiyu died and his energy was gone, but we are close at Chi Chi
But they are not aware of it at all, including those at Difei Mountain. This ability to hide the secrets of heaven is beyond the control of ordinary people. Looking at the world, I am afraid that the only one who can do these two things at the same time is Yuan Qingshan!"
"Qilin Master Yuan Qingshan? Moral Sect Master, Beimang Imperial Master?"
Zhao Dun barely suppressed the uneasiness in his heart by speaking quickly, "This is not the first time Liyang and Beimang have fought, why is it like this?"
"This shows that in their opinion, Liyang is in danger this time."
In contrast, Yuan Benxi could barely remain calm and calmly analyzed the opponent's attack, "The purpose of attacking the man in Difeishan may be to integrate Taoist destiny. After all, after the death of Longhu Zhao Xuansu, there were only two
He is a Taoist saint, and now he is probably the only one who dominates. As for this Xie Feiyu..."
Yuan Benxi frowned, "I heard that Empress Beimang hated him very much. She had sent Tuoba Bodhisattva to sneak into Liyang to kill him, but she failed and was eluded by him. Maybe it is the Empress's mission now..."
This reason was a little far-fetched, but he really couldn't think of a more reasonable situation.
In terms of importance to Liyang's dynasty, Yuan Benxi considers himself to be much more important than Xie Guanying, both of whom are the top counselors in the world, and his own strength is not as good as that guy. Wouldn't it be easier to kill him?
So we can only speculate on Empress Murong's personal grudges.
"A woman is a woman. Even if she becomes an emperor, she will inevitably have some inappropriate tempers."
In Yuan Benxi's view, killing Xie Guanying was an out-and-out bad move for Beimang.
Without this unnecessary step, they would not know how long it would take to discover that there was something wrong with Zhao Huangchao and realize Beimang's conspiracy. If the person chosen to kill was not Xie Feiyu but Yuan Benxi, Zhao Dun would have
He is probably too distraught to be able to govern.
But they chose Xie Feiyu, a man who, although famous, was indispensable to the Liyang Dynasty at this time.
Instead, he alerted the enemy and made himself aware of Bei Mang's plan, which was simply more gain than loss.
He still had time to ridicule Empress Murong, but Zhao Dun was already panicking.
"Master Yuan, what should we do?"
Zhao Dun, who had almost figured out Yuan Qingshan's murder method after many explanations, was very afraid of this method that could be called killing in a dream. He was afraid that one day he would be killed as soon as he closed his eyes.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry too much,"
Seeing the fear in Zhao Dun's heart, Yuan Benxi comforted him, "You have Liyang Guoyun to protect you. Unless Yuan Qingshan doesn't want to die, there will never be any danger."
"Sir, you are right, I am the emperor! They don't dare, they don't dare..."
Zhao Dun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and kept repeating.
"Now we have to think about how to respond."
Yuan Benxi brought the topic back on track, "Let's stop Zhang Julu's new policy for the time being. Gu Jiantang's old subordinates should also be more appeased."
"Huh? Master Yuan, Zhang Shoufu was promoted by you."
Zhao Dun had no objection to appeasing Gu Jiantang's old troops. After all, he was now the only pillar of Liyang's military, but he was a little confused about Zhang Julu's arrangement.
Zhang Julu, the current chief assistant of the Liyang Dynasty, is commonly known as "Bi Yan'er". His talent, learning and temperament are among the best in the world, but he was dormant in officialdom for more than ten years before he was promoted by Yuan Benxi.
After he came up, he carried out drastic reforms and wanted to give scholars all over the world a path of promotion that could lead to the world.
Although this matter touched the interests of many aristocratic families, with the support of the emperor and Yuan Benxi, Zhang Julu also gathered a large number of officials from humble backgrounds under his command, forming one of the four largest parties in the court today.
Among these four major parties, in addition to Zhang Dang, there is also Gu Dang, headed by Gu Jiantang, whose power is mainly distributed in the military; the Spring and Autumn Relic Party, headed by Sun Xiji, the old master of Western Chu, has already gained momentum following Sun Xiji's departure.
Great decline; and the final Qingdang.
It can be seen from the situation in the court that it is not easy to move Zhang Julu.
Although it is said that no matter how high the status of civil servants are, killing or beheading is just a matter of the emperor's words, if any emperor really believes this, then his own resignation may not be far away.
However, it is not difficult for an emperor to gain the freedom to kill. He only needs to meet one of the following two conditions.
The first is military power. Political power comes from the barrel of a gun. This is an eternal truth.
The second is to know how to check and balance, and let the ministers go dog-eat-dog.
Although Zhao Dun is not very wise, with Yuan Benxi controlling the situation behind the scenes, and Zhang Julu's reforms have already offended numerous powerful people, it is not too difficult to deal with it.
"He was indeed promoted by me. If Li Yang wants to live forever, he must implement reforms."
Yuan Benxi nodded, with some helplessness in his tone, "But doing the right thing at the wrong time will often lead to greater disasters."
What Zhang Julu did was to dig up the foundations of those aristocratic families. In peacetime, it was just a matter of paying it back. Now that the world is in chaos, what Liyang needs most is not to consider the future, but to seize the current branch's influence among various states and counties.
The hearts of wealthy and powerful officials in the country.
Because no one may believe it, Liyang's available troops are now somewhat insufficient.
To the north, an army of 200,000 troops under Gu Jiantang faced off against Beimang's 300,000 cavalry. Considering Beimang's secret moves, it can be predicted that additional troops will be needed to support that side.
In the south, the 100,000 Qingzhou Army of King Zhao Heng of Jing'an was guarding Beiliang. The Guangling Army of King Zhao Yi of Guangling was directly picked off by Western Chu, and faced off against the elite troops of King Yanla of Southern Xinjiang.
These are first-class elite troops. In addition to this, they are just second-class soldiers. Their combat effectiveness may not be much better than the private soldiers raised by aristocratic families. For Li Yang at this time, how much can he pull?
The more support you get, the more support you get.
So in order to appease them, what does it mean to sacrifice a chief assistant?
The fate of a generation of wise prime ministers was thus sealed.
…
…
South China Sea.
While all the monarchs and ministers in Tai'an City were still suspicious, the real culprit had already arrived at the coast of the South China Sea.
As mentioned before, in this world, after understanding the resonance of heaven and earth, if you want to continue to advance to the realm, the only way is to obtain great luck.
In fact, after absorbing Beimang's demonic luck, Chi Yao was able to complete his promotion from the celestial realm to the terrestrial realm of gods, and even had a lot of surplus.
But if he had been promoted at that time, his realm would have been at most the Great Vajra, the Great Zhixuan plus the Land Immortal. Compared to Wang Xianzhi's Great Vajra, the Great Zhixuan, the Great Celestial Phantasm plus the Land Immortal, it would be a step ahead.
So he chose to continue accumulating.
He had received all the luck from Tuoba Bodhisattva, Zhao Huangchao and Xie Guanying, but he still felt it was not enough.
Because this time he not only plans to break through to the realm of land gods, but also prepares to go all out to stand directly at the top of this world and achieve the highest realm above land gods - land gods!
So, he came to Guanyin Sect.
Repeating his old trick, Chi Yao activated the heavenly Gu and activated the heavenly and human beings to leave the body.
Soon, he found his target.
After successfully breaking into the interior, what came into view was a woman with gorgeous appearance, smooth jade-like skin, and a faint flow of brilliance. She had charming eyebrows, but her figure was quite tall, half a meter taller than the average Northland man.
The head and body can be said to be extremely powerful.
In addition, there is an ancient bronze mirror hanging on her waist, which looks like nothing ordinary.
Such obvious features allowed Chi Yao to immediately recognize the identity of this person, the master of the Guanyin Sect, Tantai Anping.
Although she looks like a newlywed bride, in fact she is already a hundred years old. She has been firmly in the realm of land gods many years ago and is a veritable leader of the Southern Qi Refiners.
"Who are you? It is not the way to be a guest if you come in without telling me."
Someone suddenly broke into the scene. Tantai Anping would not ignore it and immediately scolded him.
"What Master Tantai said makes sense."
Chi Yao smiled, and while letting the heavenly Gu secretly activate the erosion, he replied, "This time it's me, Meng Lang."
"Demon Lord Chi Yao?"
Tantai Pingping quickly recognized the identity of the visitor and raised his eyebrows.
The Nanhai Guanyin Sect basically has no interest in worldly affairs and only exists to safeguard the way of heaven. In the past, they were basically responsible for taking down big demons like Chi Yao. This is the first time that a demon has taken the initiative to surrender.
Snare.
"I heard that the Guanyin Sect has two treasures. I guess that one is the Moon Well Sky Mirror, right?"
Chi Yao gently pointed at the simple bronze mirror hanging on Tantai Pingping's waist, "I wonder if Tantai Sect Master can give up your love and let me have a look?"