Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 216
The twenty-first day of the first month of the 24th year of Tianxing.

Today is the day when Gu Xu entered the palace to face the saint and was conferred the title of title.

Before dawn, he put on Qiyao suit and black gauze hat, and took a carriage sent by the palace, starting from the Yamen of the headquarters of the Exorcist Division, and drove towards the majestic and magnificent Zichen Palace.

At this time, Luojing City has not yet awakened from sleep, and the streets and alleys are sparsely populated and silent.

The sky was a deep indigo blue, with only a faint whiteness in the eastern sky, scattered with a few stars.There was a faint mist in the air.

About half an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of Yingtianmen, the gate of Zichen Palace.

When Gu Xu got off the carriage, he saw five gates of different sizes in Yingtianmen at a glance.

The middle gate is the tallest, and usually only the emperor Luanjia is used; the left and right side gates are only for relatives of the emperor and officials above the fourth rank; officials of the sixth rank like Gu Xu can only enter through the very inconspicuous low Ye gate on the far right royal palace.

"If I remember correctly, the practitioners who won the top three places in the 'Luoshui Conference' can leave the palace through the middle gate," Gu Xu thought silently in his heart, "I don't know if I can experience walking once in my lifetime." The feeling of the middle gate."

According to the rules, it is not allowed to ride a car, ride a horse, or fly with a sword within the scope of the imperial city.

Gu Xu could only walk all the way among the red walls and golden tiles under the leadership of a young eunuch in green robes, to show his respect for the emperor.

Soon, they passed through two palace gates again, and saw the tallest building in Zichen Palace - Fengtian Palace.

It has load-bearing eaves and verandas on the top, and sits on a three-story white marble platform. There are eleven rooms in the bay and five rooms in depth, all of which adopt the highest shape.There are many metal statues of immortals and beasts on the roof.

In front of the hall is an open square, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people to worship and celebrate.

The "Golden Temple" commonly known by the people refers to it.

Of course, the "Fengtian Temple" is generally only used to hold major ceremonies, such as the emperor's enthronement, the emperor's wedding, the canonization of the queen, and the appointment of generals.

Gu Xu's canonization ceremony is not worthy of using the "Fengtian Hall", but only in the smaller "Guangzheng Hall" behind the Fengtian Hall.

At this time, Gu Xu finally saw a familiar face.

The visitor had a white face and no beard, and was wearing a dark blue brocade robe.

It was Cao Tong, the eunuch who was in charge of ceremonies and who was in charge of writing.

"Master Gu, please follow me!" He said to Gu Xu with a smile on his face.

Gu Xu nodded, followed Cao Tong up the white marble stairs, crossed the threshold, and walked into the gate of "Guangzheng Palace".

The hall is resplendent and magnificent, with carved beams and painted buildings.

On the top of the head, there is a caisson that protrudes upwards in the shape of a dome, carved with intricate and meticulous dragon patterns, supported by fine bucket arches.

The ground is expensive "golden bricks", bright as a mirror and flat as a stone.

On both sides are tall columns with exquisite dragon patterns painted on their surfaces.

Beside each pillar stood a guard holding a spear and wearing light armor, all of them fixed their eyes and looked dignified.

On the nine steps directly in front is the engraved golden lacquered throne of Emperor Tianxing.

It's just that the throne is empty now.

If there is no accident, Emperor Tianxing will still stay in the inner court as usual, practice in seclusion and ignore government affairs.

The knighting ceremony of such a small person as Gu Xu is obviously not enough for Emperor Tianxing to interrupt his cultivation plan, break through and preside over it himself.

"Master Gu, please wait here for a moment," the eunuch Cao Tong said again, "His Royal Highness Princess Zhaoning will be here soon."

After finishing speaking, Cao Tong left Guangzheng Hall through the side door.

The hall was silent.

Only Gu Xu and a group of silent sculpture-like soldiers remained.

Such an environment is undoubtedly easy to bring psychological pressure to people.Ordinary people would have been trembling after seeing such a battle, and surrendered to the majesty of the Tian family.

However, after all, Gu Xu is the one who has faced the "violent god" directly.

Even if the eyes of the soldiers around him were as cold as swords, he could still maintain a peaceful mind.

However, at this moment, an accident happened.

The golden dragon carved on the algae well and the golden dragon painted on the pillar suddenly seemed to have life force, and they turned their eyes to Gu Xu in unison.

A burst of strong coercion hit Gu Xu.

His body seemed to be subjected to more than ten times the force of gravity in an instant, pulling his spine downward; at the same time, this terrible pressure was also trying to invade his mind and wear down his willpower.

This feeling is very similar to Xiao Shangzhen's "Dragon Domain", but even stronger.

It seems that only by kneeling on the ground and bowing down can the terrible pressure be relieved.

"Is this considered to be the prestige given to me by Emperor Daqi?" Gu Xu secretly guessed.

The pressure didn't make him feel intimidated or surrendered.

Even, in the depths of his conscious world, there was a faint chuckle of indifference.

Gu Xu remembered what Luo Sishou had said - "Even if you see the emperor himself, practitioners don't need to kneel down to salute."

Perhaps, this may also be a test?And Luo Si had expected it in the first place?

Of course, in the imperial palace, Gu Xu cannot use the "Seven Burning Styles" to break through this coercion.

He had to rely on his true energy and spiritual power to fight head-to-head against it.

Fortunately, in the process of solving the "heart vomit" for businessman Yang Changfu recently, under the tempering of negative emotions, his mental strength has been greatly improved.

In addition, he has also comprehended the "star wall" spell, which allows him to construct a vast star dome, stick to his own conscious world, and avoid the invasion of external coercion.

After a quarter of an hour, the coercion dissipated.

Gu Xu still stood firmly in place, keeping a calm expression.

At this moment, he heard a eunuch drawling his voice, shouting loudly: "Princess Zhaoning is here—"

Immediately afterwards, a graceful woman, accompanied by several guards, strode into the Guangzheng Hall and stopped beside the steps in front of the throne.

Gu Xu has heard many rumors about this princess.

He knew that she was the most beautiful in the capital, that she had no talent for cultivation, but she had read all the Taoist scriptures in the world, and that she had been using neat means to manage the secular politics of the Daqi Dynasty in an orderly manner in recent years.

But it was not until today that he saw the true face of this "No. [-] beauty in Luojing" for the first time.

Her long hair is as black as ink, tied into a high bun with gold hairpins; her skin is fair and clear, like cream.

She was wearing a black robe embroidered with gold patterns. Although it was not a slim-fitting style, it still couldn't hide her curvy figure.

Gu Xu had heard more than once the officials in the headquarters of the Exorcism Department whispering that Princess Zhaoning "has the world in her heart" and she is really a hero among women--when I saw her today, she was indeed so.

Before that, the most beautiful woman Gu Xu had ever seen was Lu Shiyao who was known as "the most beautiful woman in Qingzhou" on the murals of Lu's old house.

Perhaps in terms of facial features alone, Princess Zhaoning is slightly inferior to Lu Shiyao, but her royal status and dignified and luxurious temperament endow her with a different charm.

I saw her holding a golden book and reading out the text in front of Gu Xu:
"Hanging a high rank to wait for the mediocre. Those who are capable will get it. Gu Xu, the head of the Exorcist Department, has learned a lot and has seven virtues. He has deep plans and can avert disaster. The hair of righteousness and bravery, how different it is from thunder...you can be named Jin Yangzi, give the iron certificate of Dan Shu, a hundred shi of lumi, and a hundred horses of silk."

"Jin Yangzi..." Gu Xu thought about his new title silently.

Since the Lu family in Qingzhou was punished by the nine clans for committing "treason", Emperor Tianxing no longer granted fiefdoms to his subjects.Therefore, Gu Xu's title is just a simple title, and it does not mean that he has any relationship with Jinyang County, which is hundreds of miles away.

Gu Xu bowed his hands in the direction of the throne first, thanking the emperor for his kindness.

Afterwards, he took over the gold book, seal and imperial coupon from Princess Zhaoning; at the same time, he silently calculated in his heart how many taels of silver he could get in exchange for all the Lumi and silk he got today.

"Keep working hard!" Princess Zhaoning showed a faint smile on her face.

Gu Xu suddenly felt that Princess Zhaoning's eyebrows looked familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before.

"Maybe it's because she looks similar to her younger brother, the Fourth Prince Xiao Shangzhen?" He secretly guessed in his mind.

…………

A few minutes later, Gu Xu, led by the young eunuch in green robe, left Zichen Palace along the original road.

At this time the sun has climbed into the sky.

Under the sunlight, the golden glazed tiles in the palace shone brightly, making it hard to keep your eyes open.

As for Princess Zhaoning, she walked side by side with Cao Tong, the eunuch of Bingbi, in the opposite direction.

"I really didn't expect that this young and newly promoted nobleman could stand under the pressure of 'Tianlong Caijing' for a full quarter of an hour," the eunuch Cao Tong said softly while walking, "Your Highness, do you still want to give up?" Remember the last young man with such potential?"

Princess Zhaoning thought for a while and replied: "Zhao Yan from Youzhou. She was 15 years old at that time.

"It's just that she passed out at the last moment. So compared to Gu Xu, her potential is still slightly inferior."

…………

Gu Xu took the carriage and returned to the Yamen of the Exorcism Department.

At this time, the officials, big and small, have already started their busy work - copying books, refining alchemy, keeping accounts... More monks are rushing to the outside of the capital.

After all, within the scope of the "Dragon Formation" in Luojing City, it is almost impossible for ghosts to exist.

If they want to do ghost killing missions to claim meritorious service, they can only go outside the city walls.

Regarding the source of the "heart poison" in the businessman Yang Changfu, the Department of Exorcism also sent people to investigate.It's just that the black hands behind the scenes hid too deeply and used spells to disrupt the secrets of heaven, so there is no result yet.

Gu Xu met Shi Xiaohan in the yamen kitchen.

At this moment, she was sitting at the dining table with a chicken leg stuffed in her mouth and a chicken wing in her hand. Her small mouth was greasy, and her clothes were also stained with oil.

Gu Xu ordered a bowl of fried noodles and almond tofu, and sat across from her.

After seeing Gu Xu, Shi Xiaohan immediately put the chicken wings back into the bowl, gnawed the chicken legs again and again, raised his head and asked, "Gu Xu, did the knighting ceremony go well?"

Gu Xu nodded, and at the same time, with a thought, he took out his gold book from "Xianyunju", shook it in front of her, and said in a joking tone: "It went well. From today on, I will be Da Qi The viscount of the dynasty is justified. Miss Shi, you have to call me 'Lord Gu'."

Shi Xiaohan laughed "puchi".

"Master Gu...that sounds like an old man," she commented, then changed the subject and asked Gu Xu, "By the way, Gu Xu, did you see His Majesty the Emperor when you went to the palace today?" ?”

"No," Gu Xu shook his head, "Your Majesty has been practicing in closed doors recently. Perhaps, in the eyes of a strong 'True Monarch' like him, the attraction of the Dao of Heaven and Earth is far greater than that of a little Viscount like me." .”

"When my father went to Beijing to report on his duties a year ago, he didn't see His Majesty either," Shi Xiaohan said, "Then, since Your Majesty hasn't left the customs, who is going to preside over your knighting ceremony today?"

"It's Her Royal Highness Princess Zhaoning."

"Princess Zhaoning? Is she as fierce as the rumors say?"

"Well...it's okay."

"Does she like to bully others with her talent?"

"Not that much. We didn't say a few words between us."

"Did she make things difficult for you?"

Gu Xu smiled wryly again and shook his head.

He remembered that Shi Xiaohan had always disliked the princess who was in charge of the government.

Whenever Princess Zhaoning was mentioned, she would frown, with a clearly unhappy expression on her face.

It's just that even today, Gu Xu still can't figure out what kind of conflict exists between these two people who have never met before.

Could it be that there was a fight in a dream?
Shi Xiaohan was silent for a few seconds, then smiled again.

"Anyway, Lord Gu," she bit the word "lord" very hard, "from today onwards, we are of the same family."

"My father is also a Viscount. Of course, his title was inherited from his ancestors, and your title was won by yourself. In comparison, you are still better!"

Gu Xu smiled humbly, expressing that he dare not compare with Shi Qianhu.

"To celebrate this great event, let's have a toast!" Shi Xiaohan imitated the heroic tone of the heroes and proposed, while holding up the big bowl full of rice in front of him.

"Cheers!" Gu Xu smiled, picked up the almond tofu in front of him, and lightly touched Shi Xiaohan's rice bowl.

Then Shi Xiaohan picked up the chopsticks and ate the rice in the bowl with three strokes.

Gu Xu picked up a small spoon and tasted the almond tofu slowly, only to find that the taste was very good.

After the meal, he returned to the "Qingxiang Pavilion", closed the door, took the elixir, and continued to practice.

On this day, he climbed dozens of steps on the "Homesick Ridge".

…………

The twenty-second day of the first month of the 24th year of Tianxing.

Today is the day that Gu Xu, Shangguan Jin, and Chu Fengge agreed to enter the "Warming Pot" to participate in actual combat training.

Early in the morning, Gu Xu heard two important news from the officials at the headquarters of the Exorcist Department——

The first news is that Chu Fengge has left the customs.

The second news is that Chu Fengge has broken through.

PS: I have finally officially resigned. This month, I will resume daily updates of 4000+ words. After my physical condition is adjusted better, I will strive for daily updates of 6000+. What is owed will be added.Ask for a wave of monthly tickets at the beginning of the month!
…………

Notes:

(1) For the booklet, refer to "The System of Fengli Guozheng Beiping County King" and "The System of Granting Wang Junshuofang Jiedushi".

(End of this chapter)