Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 260 The truth about the destruction of the Mangshan Ghost King and the Shenji Camp

"My lord," Xiao Wanjun, the princess of Zhaoning, nodded slightly, and said in a pleasant voice, "I have some things here, and I need your advice and help. I wonder if you are free today?"

As before, Princess Zhaoning still showed a student-like polite attitude in front of the national teacher, without the slightest bit of arrogance that is often seen in high-ranking people.

She didn't bring any servants with her, and her carriage was parked hundreds of meters away.

She walked alone against the cold morning wind.The sun illuminated her face and cast long shadows behind her.

"Your Highness, please come in!" The national teacher smiled lightly.

The furniture in Guoshi's home is simple and plain, without extra chairs.The two sat on the ground by the window.

The national teacher's sitting posture is carefree and informal; the princess is sitting on her knees, with her back straight and her posture elegant.

"My lord, since I saw the 'fire character' designed by the exorcist director Gu in Longmen Academy yesterday, I have some ideas about the future development of the 'Shenjiying' in my mind, and I want to ask Let me know your opinion."

"What do you think, Your Highness?"

"I think maybe my previous concept was wrong," Princess Zhaoning lowered her head and said slowly, "When the 'Long Night' comes, the best way to deal with ghosts is not to gather talents together, Form a special team. No matter how talented they are, it will be very difficult for them to have the ability to confront the strengthened 'sinister' level ghosts before the 'Long Night' arrives.

"In the "Shenji Camp" of the previous generation, there used to be the famous "Xiaoyao Swordsman" Su Wangshan, and the "Jade Faced Yan Luo" Fang Hongshu...their brilliance at the beginning was no less than that of Jiange Su Xiao and Youzhou Zhao today. Yan. Gathering them together may easily eliminate ghosts such as Zhu Yan, Jiao Jiao, and Wutongshen. The record is indeed brilliant, but it will be difficult to really help the people across the country. When such a terrifying monster comes, they can only wait to die."

"Then what does His Highness think we should do?"

"Let me give you a simple example! For example, if a young man like Gu Xu is placed in the "Shenji Battalion" as a pure combat unit, it would be a waste. Although he has great potential, But in the end, it couldn't have a decisive effect on the battle situation.

"However, if he is allowed to guard one side and lead a group of monks to fight together, he can rely on his own wisdom and use methods similar to 'fire characters' to arm the people around him, thus saving more lives. In addition, the gossip array he designed yesterday, which can be used for calculation, may not directly replace the household department, but it has extremely important strategic significance in the long night of human resource shortage, at least it can help many remote areas. Governments and counties distribute resources. Talents like him can obviously exert greater value besides fighting."

"However, Your Highness, Gu Xu can be regarded as a rare genius in the Great Qi Dynasty for hundreds of years... Using him as an example, isn't it a bit general?"

"I've thought about this too," Princess Zhaoning frowned slightly, "but I later felt that it was more due to the imperial court's guiding role to the monks - the imperial court chose stereotypes to select scholars, and the scholars put down the piano and chess Calligraphy and painting, one after another went to recite "Four Books Collection Notes"; the imperial court chose to hold a group arena and distribute resources with meritorious deeds, and monks wielded swords and swords one after another, obsessed with improving their cultivation realm and combat ability."

Speaking of this, she looked up at the national teacher, her bright phoenix eyes glowed: "Master the national teacher, I was very impressed by the inventions of Chi Yangzi's predecessors you mentioned yesterday. Maybe in In the eyes of others, whether it is to reform Quyuanli or to study the talisman array for calculating accounts, it is not the job of respected monks-but, as a mortal with no talent for cultivation, these things make me feel There was a strong resonance."

As she spoke, she took out a few pieces of yellowed paper from her pocket.

On these papers, some fanciful and detailed imaginary pictures were drawn—for example, a formation driven by real yuan that could replace the mill for grain husking or bran removal, such as a smelting device that could replace water drainage, and There are complex formation diagrams capable of transporting large quantities of food resources over long distances, and so on.

"These are all my unrealistic fantasies from the past, which made Master Guoshi laugh at me," Princess Zhaoning smiled sheepishly, then she paused for a moment, and said in a heavy tone, "It's just that I'm dealing with the imperial court recently. When doing government affairs, I learned that in the territory of our Daqi Dynasty, many places lacked food resources—because of the scourge of ghosts, many people were killed and injured, and the fields were uncultivated. The food taxes collected by the treasury also increased year by year. Young. This makes me very worried, whether we have the ability to survive the long night smoothly. It’s just that as a mortal, I often feel powerless and hate myself for not being able to help more.”

The national teacher looked at her bright face like a flower, and remained silent for a long time.For a while, he couldn't see whether Princess Zhaoning's words were sincere or just used to persuade him.

But no matter what, her words finally caused ripples in the heart of the national teacher.He thought of Chi Yangzi who stopped to meditate on the edge of the field back then, and Gu Xu who was writing hard in the "Siqi Hall" of Longmen Academy, and he couldn't help sighing softly.

"If you need, I will try my best to help you," the national teacher said after a while, "but I am just a widowed old man after all. If you want more help, you may need to go to the Exorcist Division Find Chief Luo."

"Thank you, Master Guoshi!" The corners of Princess Zhaoning's mouth turned up slightly.Her smile was like the first rays of light at dawn, instantly dispelling the haze in the room.

And at this time, she suddenly remembered an important thing: "By the way, Master Guoshi, I learned from some documents recently that although the members of the previous generation of 'Shenji Battalion' were killing The entire army was wiped out in the mission of the beast 'Qongqi', but it was not 'Qongqi' who actually killed them, but the 'Mangshan Ghost King'... How much do you know about this?"

"'Mangshan Ghost King'?" Hearing what the princess said, the national teacher frowned.

Mang Mountain is located in the north of Luojing City, also known as "Beimang Mountain".

Because it is located above the dragon veins of the Great Wilderness, it is surrounded by mountains and faces water, and it hides wind and gathers energy.

The tomb of the former dynasty, that is, the Great Chu Dynasty, is located on Mount Mang.

However, after the fall of the Great Chu Dynasty, the Mang Mountain area was full of howling winds and evil spirits, and was completely shrouded in gray mist that could not be seen.

In that thick fog, a ghost at the level of a "fierce god" was born.

Wearing a crown on his head, wearing a yellow robe, his face is blurred, and he has many ghost soldiers and generals under his command.

It is not a "ghost king" in the true sense, and has not held a promotion ceremony, but it calls itself the "ghost king".

Perhaps because of its reputation for being too fierce and evil, people have accepted its self-proclaimed title over time.

Many people have wondered whether it has a relationship with the former emperors, but so far no definite answer has been obtained.

"Sorry, Your Highness, it's all about this... I don't know too much." The national teacher shook his head.

The "Shenji Camp" of the previous generation was established under the leadership of Lu Huan, the chief assistant of the cabinet at the time, and had little to do with him.So naturally, he didn't know much about the hidden secrets.

"It's okay." Princess Zhaoning smiled lightly, and quickly moved over the topic.

…………

In the next period of time, the two briefly chatted about the recent court affairs.

About a quarter of an hour later, Princess Zhaoning bid farewell to the national teacher and left the simple brick house.

It is a sunny day.

The sun has climbed into the sky, and the air is bright and dazzling.Staring at it, I only feel the vastness of the world, my eyes are aching, and the dead branches of the miscellaneous trees are rustling in the cool wind.

But Princess Zhaoning was not in a calm mood.

As she returned to her carriage through the dead grass, many things were on her mind.

The first thing that bothers her is the many prophecies that have been circulated among the people in the recent period—for example, "the northeast has the spirit of heaven", "the four barbarians gather in the dragons and wilds, and when the sun rises, fire dominates" and so on. Wait.

Many people think that these prophecies all point to the Zhao family in Youzhou.

And Princess Zhaoning also learned from some books that some monks who advocated metaphysics would use the mutual generation and restraint of the five elements to explain the change of dynasties.

For example, the Great Chu Dynasty belonged to Mude, advocating the blue color and emphasizing benevolence and righteousness. Whether it is the background color of the flag or the sacrificial dress, they are all blue and blue.

The later Daqi Dynasty belongs to Jinde, and the flag is also white and gold.

The reason why Qi was able to destroy Chu was because "gold overcomes wood".

According to this theory, after that, it should be "Huo Ke Jin".

But Princess Zhaoning felt that there were many doubts in it.

On the one hand, her father, Emperor Tianxing, has always left her with a very powerful, even invincible impression; on the other hand, after Zhao Changying, the patriarch of the Zhao family in Youzhou, was promoted to a "sage" level powerhouse, He has never broken through again, and his strength has always been the weakest among the five saints of the Great Qi.

She didn't think that the Zhao family in Youzhou had the ability to confront the Daqi court head-on.

"Perhaps... this is father's way to take this opportunity to weaken the power of the powerful family?" She secretly guessed in her heart.

The second thing that bothers her is that among the servants of the palace, there are rumors similar to "the queen is immoral and jealous" and "your majesty wants to depose the queen".

When she heard these words for the first time, Princess Zhaoning thought it was outrageous.

After all, Emperor Tianxing lived in the deep palace for a long time, practicing in seclusion, and hadn't touched a woman for many years.Many women who entered the palace through drafts a few years ago are still perfect, waiting in the dark and cramped courtyard for a long time, feeling unhappy.

And the queen herself had not seen her husband for a long time.

From Princess Zhaoning's point of view, if one wants to discuss "the queen's loss of virtue", then His Majesty the emperor should first reflect on his own problems.

However, the princess soon realized that these rumors were likely spread by the emperor deliberately - just like he did not pursue the assassination case of the fourth prince Xiao Shangzhen before, this was also a means for him to beat the Chen family in Xiangyang.

The third thing that worries her a lot is what the other princes have done recently.

After the disaster in Qingzhou Mansion ended, Gu Xu became a rising star in Luojing City.

But few people remember that when Kongxuan Sanren held the promotion ceremony of "Ghost King" in Yishan, the eldest prince Xiao Shangyuan and his entourage - the royal family with the sixth level of cultivation were actually there to worship Fancheng.

According to her understanding, when they were rescued back to the capital by the three saints who rushed to the scene, the First Prince stayed behind closed doors in his mansion, behaved extremely low-key, and was almost forgotten by the world.

No one knows what he's doing.

"Maybe he is practicing in seclusion?" Princess Zhaoning made such a guess.

She knew that before going to Qingzhou Mansion, the eldest prince Xiao Shangyuan already had a cultivation base that was close to the peak of the fifth realm, and he was only short of knocking on the "Fengdu Gate" and being promoted to a strong man in the sixth realm.

It is very likely that he was mentally stimulated during this narrow-death trip to Qingzhou, and took this opportunity to find an opportunity for promotion.

"If he can really break through the sixth realm, then the 'Tai'a Sword' should be in his pocket sooner or later, right?"

The other princes seemed to be indifferent to the eldest prince's recent experience, and they were still living step by step on the original track.

The second prince Xiao Shangheng still stayed in his luxurious mansion, enjoying singing and dancing all day long, tasting food and wine, and having fun with beauties.

The third prince, Xiao Shangli, still stayed in the northwest frontier, following the border guards of the Great Qi Dynasty, fighting against the barbarians in the northwest.

As for the fourth prince Xiao Shangzhen... he was still in the backyard of the Princess Mansion, laughing and playing spinning tops with a few servants.

——The four princes seemed to have chosen to lie dormant quietly in their own ways, fading out of the scope of people's communication and discussion.

Sometimes, Princess Zhaoning can't help but think, if she is also a favorable competitor for "Tai'a Sword", what would she choose to do at such a time.

"I think, I should try to communicate more with a few talisman masters in Longmen Academy, try to develop contacts in the 'Luoshui Conference', and then try my best to make friends with that genius boy named Gu Xu, like him Such a person must be the key to victory..."

But she quickly cut off these wild thoughts.

Thinking too much about this impossible thing will only add to the sadness.

She sighed softly, and boarded the carriage waiting for her on the side of the road.

"Go home!" she told the coachman.

"Yes, Your Highness!" The coachman responded respectfully.

…………

at the same time.

Shen Qiu was also in Luo Jing's inn, busy with his own private affairs.

He wrote a letter to his father, the head of the Shen family, saying that he had a very good home in the capital, and he would not return to Jinling for a long time.

"Have you found a wife?"

"There is a woman in Luojing City who likes you?"

These are the two sentences that the Patriarch of the Shen family replied to him.

Shen Qiu also replied a few words to his father.

"It's not a woman, it's a man."

"It's not the daughter-in-law, it's the boss."

Then the Patriarch of the Shen family ignored him for a whole day.

(End of this chapter)