Lin Xuan hesitated for a moment, but chose to tell the truth.
Zhang Zhongjian, an old man who has been involved in the world for decades, may not be as sophisticated as Fang Xuanling and Sun Wuji, but ordinary lies cannot deceive them.
"This is normal. All mortals think about longevity, let alone the emperor who owns the world. In this regard, there is no difference between emperors and ordinary people." Zhang Zhongjian was not surprised at all after hearing this.
Lin Xuan nodded and said: "Senior is right, but the emperor's pursuit of immortality is not a good thing for the whole world. In order to make your majesty believe that there are no gods and immortality in the world, I can only pretend to be senior.
My disciple. If there is any offense, please forgive me, senior."
Throughout history, there have been countless emperors who pursued immortality.
In order to pursue immortality, he favored the alchemists and neglected government affairs.
The most bizarre one is Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Jiajing did not have any great achievements during his reign, but he overthrew minister Gu Ming, took power into his own hands, and maintained social stability.
From this point of view, Emperor Jiajing can be regarded as a wise king.
But people called him the "Taoist Emperor". Emperor Jiajing was very obsessed with refining elixirs. Even in the palace, he often wore Taoist robes to refine elixirs.
The most puzzling thing is that Jiajing also carefully selected many beautiful girls aged thirteen or fourteen to enter the palace, and used their "sunflower water" as a medicine for alchemy, which is now called "aunt".
In order to maintain their purity, the show girls were only fed dew, so many died of illness or starvation.
The palace maid finally couldn't bear it anymore, and more than a dozen people united to kill Emperor Jiajing.
This is also the only incident in history where a palace maid revolted.
Zhang Zhongjian smiled and said: "As long as you don't use my name to do anything harmful to nature, I won't care about anything. However, pretending is still pretending. If you are discovered, you will have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor.
"
Lin Xuan wanted to say that as long as you don't come back, you won't find out at all.
Zhang Zhongjian seemed to read Lin Xuan's thoughts and said: "Even if I don't come back, do you think Li Shimin won't investigate? It would be okay if you didn't say that I was overseas. Once you do, as long as there are traces to follow, you can always find out."
Order something. Don’t underestimate an emperor’s desire for immortality.”
He established a small country overseas, and he was not an unknown person.
Li Shimin didn't know where he was before, but now that he knows, he can always find out if he pays a little attention to overseas news.
"Then senior is coming back this time?" Lin Xuan asked.
Li Shimin was able to investigate Zhang Zhongjian's whereabouts, and of course he had considered it before.
But he was not worried. After all, even if he knew the whereabouts of Zhang Zhongjian, Li Shimin would not be able to find Zhang Zhongjian for verification.
On the contrary, finding Zhang Zhongjian's whereabouts overseas convinced Li Shimin that Lin Xuan did not lie to him.
But now that Zhang Zhongjian is back, things are different.
It would be easier to tell if it were somewhere else, but this is Chang'an, and maybe Li Shimin already knows about it now.
Zhang Zhongjian sighed and said: "I am sixty-four this year. Although I am still in good health due to martial arts training, who can say how long I can live at this age? When I come back this time,
It’s to see Li Jing and his wife.”
Zhang Zhongjian looked like he was in his forties, which made Lin Xuan ignore his age.
Li Jing is already sixty-three this year. At the time of the sworn vows, Zhang Zhongjian was the eldest, so he was naturally older than Li Jing.
"Then why didn't senior go see Mr. Dai Guogong and his wife? Instead, he came to the boy's house." Lin Xuan asked strangely.
He had just met Zhang Chuchen, and he was certain that Zhang Zhongjian had not yet met Li Jing and his wife.
You said that since you were here to see someone, wouldn't it be better if you finished it as soon as possible?
Zhang Zhongjian said with a half-smile, "I've gone."
Gone?
Lin Xuan exclaimed: "When I was talking to Aunt Li just now, were you nearby?"
Zhang Zhongjian nodded and said: "Although Third Sister's martial arts have not been neglected in recent years, living in Chang'an has reduced her alertness a lot, otherwise she would not be able to discover me."
"So, the seniors heard what we said?" Lin Xuan's face was a little gloomy.
Not to mention that Zhang Chuchen's alertness was reduced, even he did not retain his alertness, otherwise he would not have been able to detect that someone was eavesdropping.
Zhang Zhongjian nodded and said with a smile: "How else do you think I found your home?"
After listening to the conversation between Lin Xuan and Zhang Chuchen, he left while they were chatting.
After leaving Li's house, I asked someone to find out where Lin Xuan's house was. I went to Lin's house in advance and waited for Lin Xuan.
Seeing Lin Xuan's ugly face, Zhang Zhongjian said: "Don't you just want to kill the Wang family and his son? If you agree to my condition, I can help you."
"What conditions?" Lin Xuan asked.
If Zhang Zhongjian helps, the chance of success will be greatly increased, and he will naturally be willing.
Zhang Zhongjian smiled and said: "I want to accept you as my disciple."
"You want to accept me as your disciple?" Lin Xuan was stunned.
He thought that Zhang Zhongjian would put forward various conditions, but he did not expect that his condition would be this.
"Reason?" Lin Xuan stared at Zhang Zhongjian and said word by word.
He was not so narcissistic that he thought he was loved by everyone, so Zhang Zhongjian rushed to accept him as his disciple.
"What? You don't want to? There are so many people in the world who want to be my apprentice." Zhang Zhongjian said with some displeasure.
He was abandoned by his family since he was a child because of his ugly appearance, which made him accustomed to being self-centered.
This is why when he met Li Shimin, he felt that there was no hope of conquering the world and chose to go overseas.
His character is destined to be incapable of being restrained.
"Then you go and collect them, I don't care." Lin Xuan said lightly.
"Haha." Zhang Zhongjian laughed and said: "Your temper is somewhat similar to my temper. I will explain it to you."
Lin Xuan had no expression on his face, looking at Zhang Zhongjian, waiting for his explanation.
Zhang Zhongjian was silent for a while and said: "I have no children in my life and have taken in more than a dozen apprentices. However, these apprentices have all gone wild overseas and are unwilling to come back to the Tang Dynasty. Once I go this time, I may never come back to the Tang Dynasty again."
There is no chance to come back. This land is the place where I was born and raised. I want to accept a disciple here, so I can keep him as my wife."
Lin Xuan cursed in his heart, are you looking for a disciple or an adopted son?
"Why choose me?" Lin Xuan asked.
"Because you are cruel but not impulsive, such people can live a long time. In addition, I can see that you have martial arts skills, and they are not bad. I don't plan to stay in the Tang Dynasty for too long this time. You don't need me.
Teaching is a good choice." Zhang Zhongjian said.
"There is no benefit at all, why should I become your disciple?" Lin Xuan said angrily.
Zhang Zhongjian was not angry at Lin Xuan's rude tone and said: "Who said there is no benefit? Didn't I promise to help you kill the Wang family and his son?"
"I can still kill without you." Lin Xuan said lightly.
There was no Zhang Zhongjian in the plan, so it would be nice to have his help, and it would not be affected if he didn't.
"You underestimate the aristocratic family. Do you think the Wang family and his son are so easy to kill?" Zhang Zhongjian shook his head and said.
Lin Xuan's face condensed and he asked: "Do you know something?"
Zhang Zhongjian said: "I have dealt with the aristocratic family. The important strongholds of the aristocratic family have secret passages. You are right in your investigation. The Wang family in Chang'an does not have many people, but as long as there is the slightest movement, the Wang family and his son can hide in the secret passage.
Do you think your people can find the Wang family and his son before the imperial army arrives?"