The First Lackey Under The Empress

In the desolate mountains and wild forests, humid winds swept through the forest sea, carrying a blanket of mist.

Xu Zhenguan, dressed in plain white robes and carrying a sword in one hand, slowly descended from the sky, lifting her eyes warily to look at the figure emerging from the misty forest.

It was a young sorcerer-like fellow, with ordinary features, easily overlooked in a crowd.

She had never seen him before, but the youth's expression was extremely incongruous with his appearance, as if he had experienced many years, his gaze seemingly compassionate, yet deeply concealing indifference.

"Amitabha, His Majesty is destined by heaven and has once again obtained an opportunity to ascend to the realm of the Celestial Being. It seems that this old monk has miscalculated."

The young sorcerer pressed his palms together and sighed softly.

Xu Zhenguan's eyes shone with golden light as she recognized the youth before her as another incarnation, like the "Law God." She suddenly chuckled softly:

"It seems that your 'Law God' body has suffered extremely severe damage."

The cultivation of this youth before her was only at the Divine Chapter Realm.

"Abbot? Abbot, save me!"

The Dragon Tree Bodhisattva, with blood overflowing from his lips on the ground, propped himself up and looked at the young sorcerer with joy, crying out for help.

Xuan Yin ignored the Dragon Tree and met the Empress's gaze calmly:

"Your Majesty has killed many people today. One should show leniency where it is due."

He seemed unsurprised that the Empress had "guessed" that the Law God was his incarnation.

The Empress's fairy-like face showed a slight astonishment, and she was so amused that she laughed in anger:

"Xuan Yin, how can you say such a thing? When you interfered in the mortal world, colluded with the Eight Kings, and assassinated me, I didn't see any compassion in you. You have stirred up this war that is sweeping through the Yu Kingdom, and you pretend not to see how many people will die.

But now that I want to kill the Bodhisattva of your Divine Dragon Temple, you come out to stop me. Is this the Dao of the Divine Dragon Temple? Is this the cultivation of Buddhism?"

Her face was full of coldness and sarcasm.

Xuan Yin's expression was indifferent as he slowly said:

"This old monk originally had no intention of interfering in worldly affairs, but it was only because Your Majesty forbade Buddhism that I was forced to do so."

"What a joke!" Xu Zhenguan sneered, looking down at the bald donkey from a high position:

"Don't you monks say you don't lie? How can the dignified Grandmaster Xuan Yin speak such nonsense? Do you really think I don't know your thoughts?

You are constantly thinking about establishing great achievements, intending to promote the confluence of the East and West, and annex the Western Regions Ancestral Temple to become the True Buddha of the human world. As the Son of Heaven, how can I allow your Buddhist sect to dominate the Yu Kingdom?

No, not just me, but no emperor would allow it."

"Therefore, regardless of whether I forbid Buddhism or not, you don't want me to stabilize my reign. But you won't fully support any of the vassal kings either, because what you want is never to replace the emperor. What you want is for the imperial family to kill each other.

In this way, no matter which one eventually ascends the throne, the imperial power will be greatly weakened.

And in the chaos, your Buddhist sect can spread its faith. In this way, when the chaotic war ends, the imperial family will no longer be able to suppress your Divine Dragon Temple... Is this your goal?"

"Let me guess, this bald donkey should only promise the Eight Kings to overthrow me, but won't favor any one of them.

In this way, the Eight Kings will all try to win you over and show goodwill to the Divine Dragon Temple, while you can reap the benefits. What a good plan!"

The Empress hurled each sentence out.

Every word was like a nail, hammered into Xuan Yin's dark heart, exposing his schemes and calculations.

Xuan Yin fell silent.

After a moment, this old monk, who had stepped into the Celestial Being realm many years ago and had been planning for a long time, sighed softly:

"Your Majesty's mind is insightful, and this old monk has nothing to say."

He admitted it!

"However... since Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, you should know the advantages and disadvantages of weighing the situation. This old monk has no intention of arguing with Your Majesty about right and wrong, good and evil. Dragon Tree's cultivation is not easy. Your Majesty can offer a price to exchange for Dragon Tree's life. As long as this old monk can do it, I will not refuse."

Buy a life?

Xu Zhenguan's eyes flickered, and she smiled:

"Is that so? I can spare Dragon Tree's life, as long as the Abbot brings the heads of those rebellious vassal kings, I will let him go. How about it?"

Xuan Yin sighed: "Is Your Majesty unwilling to let him go?"

Xu Zhenguan smiled. She shook her head and stopped talking nonsense, pointing her sword at Dragon Tree with a cold tone:

"Today, I will kill him. If you want to keep him, you can try to rescue him from my sword! I'm just afraid that this incarnation of yours doesn't have the ability!"

Xuan Yin fell silent for the second time! A hint of bitterness appeared on his face.

Did he have the ability to save him? No.

At this moment, his true body was still far away in the capital, being stared at by Zhang Yan, unable to move.

And the strongest incarnation, the "Law God", was severely damaged in the Battle of Fengchan and was almost crippled.

Now, this incarnation only had the Divine Chapter Realm and could not bear the power of the "Celestial Being" realm to descend.

If it weren't for this, why bother negotiating?

"Abbot! Save me! Save me... I have contributed to the temple..."

The Dragon Tree old monk, who was still spitting blood, was shocked and kept begging. Seeing that Xuan Yin was silent, he suddenly turned into a ray of Buddha light and fled swiftly to the west.

Xu Zhenguan smiled contemptuously, and the Tai'a sword light flickered.

"Boom!"

The Dragon Tree's figure in the distance was forcibly knocked out of the Buddha light. He held up his Zen staff with both hands, his face pale.

At this moment, the Zen staff was almost dented. He took a few steps back, and suddenly thrust the Zen staff into the soil, and a Dharma Idol of a deity descended behind him.

The Dharma Idol stepped into his body, Dragon Tree's eyebrows were compassionate, he sat cross-legged, pressed his palms together, and a wisp of gold paint traveled throughout his body, turning into a golden Buddha.

With such protection, his life-saving ability greatly increased.

However, the Yu Kingdom Empress only had one sword, and then another sword.

"Bang!", "Bang!", "Bang!..."

The large Buddhist beads on Dragon Tree's chest shattered one by one. Each Buddhist bead represented one of his "lives."

When the last Buddhist bead, as big as a fist, cracked, a crack appeared between his eyebrows, the gold paint on his body faded, he did not move, his head drooped, and his life was cut off.

The dignified Buddhist Bodhisattva died on the spot!

Xuan Yin remained expressionless throughout the process and could only watch Dragon Tree die:

"The Martial God inheritance is indeed known for its killing. In terms of attack, it is unparalleled in the world."

Xu Zhenguan said strangely:

"Is this bald donkey so indifferent? Seeing his fellow disciple die tragically, he doesn't show any grief, but he still has the mind to admire."

"Life and death are impermanent. The universe is also a great silence, what is there to grieve?" Xuan Yin shook his head and looked at the Empress: "Now that Your Majesty is out of danger, where are you going?"

Xu Zhenguan sneered: "First kill the vassal kings, then destroy Buddhism."

Although her dragon energy was greatly damaged, she had stepped into the Celestial Being Realm, and she also had Celestial Being combat power outside the capital.

The best way was to capture the ringleaders first. As long as she killed King Jing and King Mu, the two largest rebel armies would retreat on their own.

The assassination at Fengchan had erased the last bit of affection between her and the vassal kings.

Xuan Yin shook his head and said: "Your Majesty will not be able to kill them. The reason why Zhang Yan was willing to agree to Your Majesty and stop this old monk's true body was not to serve the imperial family, but for the word 'balance'.

Now that Your Majesty has stepped into the Celestial Being Realm, Zhang Yan is proficient in deduction and must already know this. He will no longer restrain this old monk."

Xu Zhenguan's eyes flickered: "So?"

Xuan Yin said clearly: "If Your Majesty goes to kill King Jing and others, this poor monk will do everything to stop you, so Your Majesty will fail."

Without Zhang Yan restraining him, Xuan Yin was confident that he could suppress the Empress.

In the current situation, the Divine Dragon Temple could not turn back and could only try its best to maintain the existence of this chaotic world. It was impossible to sit idly by and watch the Empress use her personal martial power to restore the country.

And with the Buddhist methods, even if the Empress went to assassinate secretly, Xuan Yin would still be able to detect it in advance - sorcerers are always better at these things.

As for Zhang Yan... As Xuan Yin said, what the Heavenly Master's Mansion wanted from beginning to end was "balance", so as to maintain the inheritance of the Heavenly Master's lineage for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Suppressing Xuan Yin and preventing the Empress, this "fourth Celestial Being", from being killed was for the sake of balance.

But now, the Empress has successfully advanced, and the balance has been rebuilt. The Heavenly Master's Mansion will naturally not risk their lives for the imperial family.

"Your true body is in the capital, but I am in the Huai River. You won't be able to rush to help in time," Xu Zhenguan said calmly.

Xuan Yin shook his head: "This old monk can't make it in time, but the Martial Immortal Kui can. Although that martial madman has a strange mind, but things have come to this, does Your Majesty think that he will allow Your Majesty to slaughter the vassal kings?"

After a pause, Xuan Yin said very seriously:

"Moreover, since this poor monk's true body is in the capital, Your Majesty wouldn't want everyone to break the rules, would you?"

Xu Zhenguan's eyes narrowed!

She heard the implication in Xuan Yin's words. Since ancient times, the Celestial Being Realm has had an unwritten agreement, that Celestial Beings should not attack the subordinates of the other party's forces unless it is special circumstances.

It was like the Supreme Elders of the two major sects in the cultivation world, who could fight each other, but would not slaughter the "disciples and grandchildren" of the opposite sect, because exchanging families was purely a lose-lose situation and meaningless.

Of course, exceptions were excluded, such as when the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva brought people to kill the Empress. Being killed in retaliation in this way did not count as breaking the rules.

Xuan Yin's meaning was very clear. If you go to kill King Jing and King Mu... Whether the Martial Immortal Kui will stop you is another matter, but Xuan Yin, who is far away in the capital, will attack the people of the court.

Even if he doesn't attack in the capital, going to Linfeng Road and killing all the local officials would also be an unbearable pain.

This was the "balance" that had been followed in this world for thousands of years.

No one dared to easily and completely break this balance, at least not openly.

Just like this time, Xuan Yin's assassination of the Empress was only aimed at the Empress and did not help the Eight Kings to destroy the court officials.

Xu Zhenguan was silent for a moment and said:

"What do you want?"

Xuan Yin said seriously:

"Next, this old monk promises not to interfere in this war, and this old monk will also ensure that the Martial Immortal Kui will not personally enter the arena. At the same time, I will also persuade Zhang Yan to participate in the agreement. Your Majesty can still deploy troops and quell the war, but you cannot enter the arena to fight in the capacity of a Celestial Being."

In other words, the Celestial Being combat power promised not to enter the arena again.

The Empress's eyes flickered. The advantages and disadvantages of this proposal were very clear to her. The disadvantage was that she could not use personal martial power to quickly quell the rebellion.

The advantage was that once the "Celestial Being Balance" was reached, she would not have to worry about Xuan Yin and the Martial Immortal Kui killing the court army.

As for whether Xuan Yin would tear up the agreement, she was not too worried. As long as Zhang Yan also participated in the agreement, a certain "strategic balance" would be achieved with two against two.

It was a pity... She had lost the best opportunity to quell the war, but from the moment she knew that the Divine Dragon Temple and Green Mountain had entered the arena, she had not harbored the illusion of killing those uncles with her own power.

It was said that in the imperial court, there was a need for checks and balances.

Then this vast Jianghu, this world, was also a larger imperial court?

"Okay," Xu Zhenguan said, "But I want to collect some interest."

Her beautiful eyes contained murderous intent, and she sneered:

"Bald donkey, you did not break the rules with your true body, but you repeatedly tried to assassinate Zhao Du'an with your 'Law God' incarnation. This matter must be explained."

Xuan Yin was silent, and a trace of pain finally appeared on his calm face:

"Isn't today's explanation enough?"

He was referring to the destruction of Dragon Tree, Tianhai, and others.

The Empress smiled: "What do you think?"

Xuan Yin's heart was bleeding. The more elites the Shenlong Temple lost, the further away they were from achieving their goal of merging the East and West:

"What does Your Majesty want?"

The Empress said, "I will return to the capital later. In the capital, I don't want to see Shenlong Temple anymore."

Xuan Yin was silent for a long time, then put his hands together, closed his eyes:

"Amitabha."

An agreement was reached.

Xu Zhenguan lightly turned her wrist, and the Tai'a sword芒 flickered. The sword energy tore the "Xuan Yin" in front of her to pieces,削成 a skeleton.

She lowered her eyes and glanced at the two corpses on the ground, silently:

"It's time to return to the capital."

……

……

The capital, on this day, was equally gloomy and the atmosphere was oppressive.

Due to the ban on Buddhism, Shenlong Temple was deserted, with no pilgrims or believers to offer sacrifices.

The monks in the temple gathered in twos and threes in the meditation room, either meditating and chanting scriptures, or whispering, discussing the news circulating in the capital today about the Empress's failed封禅, her whereabouts unknown, and the藩王s from all over the country launching the banner of "Serving the King" and marching towards the capital.

And in the depths of Shenlong Temple, in that Buddhist殿.

The sound of the wooden fish "咚咚" suddenly stopped.

The abbot Xuan Yin, wearing a brown monk's robe, his face full of wrinkles, and his stature short, opened his eyes. His turbid pupils,隔着 the incense on the shore, met the eyes of the huge "世尊" golden Buddha statue in the殿.

The 世尊's expression was compassionate, while Xuan Yin's expression was cold and寂.

He put down the wooden mallet in his hand, and the wooden fish, almost the size of a chair, also fell silent.

Xuan Yin slowly sat up from the蒲团 and turned around to gently call out:

"Bianji."

No one answered, Bianji was not there.

But Xuan Yin's voice seemed to have wings, flying out of the Buddhist殿, not knowing where it went.

Xuan Yin stepped forward, pushed open the door of the Buddhist殿, and walked down the steps. In the courtyard, there was a Buddhist bell, and under the bell was a water well.

This was the first well dug and the first bell forged when the Shenlong Temple headquarters was established in the capital.

At that time, the scale of Shenlong Temple was far smaller than it is today. The monks who fled from the Western Regions into Yu State had nothing with them. They begged for alms day and night to raise money to build such a small temple.

Guarding this well to feed a group of monks.

Striking this broken bell to recite a scripture.

Unconsciously, the incense became more and more prosperous, the monks became richer and richer, and the scale of Shenlong Temple expanded again and again, even to the point where Buddhist temples bloomed everywhere in the nine provinces and eighteen prefectures of Yu State.

不知何时, a layer of gold漆 was applied to the世尊 Buddha statue in the殿宇.

But the Buddhist bell in the courtyard was still破破烂烂.

Xuan Yin rolled up his sleeves, grasped the hemp rope with his somewhat dry palms, gently pushed the heavy hammer, and began to strike the bell.

"当——"

"当——"

The bell sound was not loud, and could not even penetrate the walls of the Buddhist temple, but nearby monks were attracted, and gathered in the distance in surprise, as if they had seen a ghost, watching the abbot ringing the bell himself.

How many years had it been since such a奇景 had been seen?

All the monks in the world respected Xuan Yin, who was like a god on earth, and dared not approach him at this moment, only putting their hands together from afar.

Xuan Yin struck the bell twelve times. He let go of his hand, took a step, and disappeared into the Shenlong Temple out of thin air.

……

Deep in the Heavenly Master's Mansion, in that small courtyard.

The big banyan tree swayed gently.

Zhang Yan, wearing a black神官 soft robe, tall and slender, with narrow eyes, stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of Shenlong Temple.

Xuan Yin suddenly appeared in the courtyard. The big banyan tree stopped swaying, as if holding its breath and concentrating, not daring to move.

"Are you leaving?" Zhang Yan asked indifferently, looking at the old monk with淡然 eyes.

Xuan Yin lightly "恩"ed and said:

"The old monk has agreed with His Majesty that there will be no Shenlong Temple in the capital from now on."

Zhang Yan did not comment, and suddenly said:

"You bald donkey surprised me. Although I am unwilling to admit it, your means of stealing the identity of the leader of the Fa Shen Sect did not escape my notice."

Xuan Yin's old face seemed to smile:

"Zhang Tianshi follows the Heavenly Dao and understands all things in the world. The old monk also spent a lot of effort to avoid the探查 of Heavenly Secret."

He was very得意, because with this move, he had won against the Heavenly Master's Mansion once.

There are not many people in the world who can deceive the Heavenly Master, and he is one of them.

Zhang Yan frowned deeply:

"What exactly do you want to do? Just to merge the East and West? To leave a mark in the Qing史 of Buddhism, directly chasing the Buddha? No, you use化身 to cultivate the Heavenly Dao, your plot is definitely not just this."

If you strip off his monk's robe, Xuan Yin, who is almost indistinguishable from an ordinary old farmer in the fields, "嘿嘿" smiled and said:

"Haven't you already guessed it?"

Zhang Yan said in a deep voice:

"You are not the only one who has tried to integrate the Heavenly Dao and世尊 into one and冲击 Human Immortal. Those who tried this path back then all failed. Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

Xuan Yin shook his head and smiled: "You cultivate the Heavenly Dao, emphasizing顺势而为, but I cultivate世尊, which is different from you."

"Hum," Zhang Yan sneered and waved his sleeve:

"I don't care what path you take, but if you try to plot against the Heavenly Master's Mansion, I don't mind emulating the predecessors six hundred years ago and灭一灭佛."

Xuan Yin smiled without saying a word and disappeared.

After he left, the big banyan tree, which was so frightened by the conversation between the two top天人 that it dared not breathe, swayed its branches again, and a human face appeared on the crown of the tree:

"This monk went north."

North? Zhang Yan's heart moved, and he guessed something. He waved his sleeve and returned to the house:

"Won't shed tears until you see the coffin!"

……

……

Jizhao Nunnery.

Inside a meditation room, Princess Yunyang lay lazily on the榻, her two white蟒-like long legs exposed to the air.

Her two snow arms were also stretched out随意, and she was only covered with a薄毯. At this moment, she咕哝ed wearily and reached out to摸了个空 beside her.

She撐开 her eyelids and saw that the window of the meditation room had been opened. Bianji, wearing a white monk's robe, was standing quietly in front of the window, looking at the草木天空 outside.

"法师… What are you thinking about?"

A痴痴 smile appeared on the corner of Yunyang's mouth. She撑着 her body and sat up, and the薄毯 on her upper body slipped from her shoulders, revealing 春光 大泄, but she didn't care at all.

The 長公主, who had been abstinent for almost a year, had been very happy recently. That討厭的 old nun,般若, was gone, and that niece who ordered her to be禁足 was also "gone". No one in the entire nunnery could control her anymore.

Of course, if the Empress was still in the capital, someone would have sent the news to the palace long ago.

But… Although Yunyang still couldn't leave the庵 these days, she also learned from the mouths of those little nuns that the entire capital had been uneasy recently.

People were frightened and the atmosphere was oppressive. From the court to the people, there was a strong sense of unease.

At this time, who would have the mind to pay attention to her, a废長公主 who had been禁足?

If it weren't for Bianji, she might have already found a few姘头 who she hadn't contacted for a long time, 嗯, provided that those窝囊废 hadn't been scared out of their wits by Zhao Du'an and dared to come.

"Princess, I'm leaving," Bianji said softly.

Princess Yunyang smiled如花. She撑着 her body and stood up, and walked to the window like this without any shame:

"法师 is leaving so soon? It's still early, why not have lunch before returning to the temple?"

"I'm not returning to the temple," Bianji said, turning his head back. His red lips and white teeth, and handsome face, were a little寂寥.

"What do you mean? If you're not returning to the temple, where are you going?"

Princess Yunyang finally noticed something was wrong and her face changed.

Bianji shook his head and did not explain, but just said:

"Some people are coming back, so I can only go out to avoid them."

Leaving behind these ambiguous words, he stepped out and pushed the door open to leave.

"法师 wait…" Princess Yunyang went to追, but when she reached the door, she was still不好追出去, only喊 anxiously:

"What happened?"

Bianji did not answer and disappeared outside the nunnery. In the wind, only his last words飘来:

"Princess, don't go out in Jizhao Nunnery. The capital is going to be in chaos next."

……

……

Baihua Village, in the countryside宅院.

Zhao Du'an sat in the天井, next to the方池 where he and Zhenbao bathed,托腮 and dazed.

Suddenly, a low破空 sound came from the air. He擡起 his head and smiled:

"Your Majesty, you're back?"

In the sky, the white-clothed Empress, with the Tai'a sword hanging from her waist, descended into the天井 like a rainbow of light, and a sincere and relaxed smile appeared on her face: "Yes, I'm back. Did anything unexpected happen while I was out?"

She was referring to whether there were any漏网 enemies. Although she had used her divine sense to scan the entire Baihua Village several times, considering the variable of Xuan Yin, she was very worried when she rushed back.

Zhao Du'an stood up and nodded seriously:

"Yes. Tianhai is gone."

"What?" Xu Zhenguan was stunned for a moment, a little unresponsive.

Zhao Du'an said in a serious tone:

"It's that little monk Tianhai from Shenlong Temple. He wanted to force his way in before, but I defeated him. After Your Majesty left, I went to摸 the corpse… that is, to pick up the spoils. As a result, as I was摸着, I turned around and found that the whole person lying on the ground had disappeared."

"He's not dead?" Xu Zhenguan was also stunned.

At that time, she broke through and walked out of the house, killing all the enemies standing, but Tianhai was almost昏迷 at that time, lying on the ground motionless, almost dead, but avoided the Empress's群攻 sword.

Zhao Du'an was a little牙疼 and said:

"He shouldn't be dead. I suspect he has some life-saving magic weapon on him, similar to a teleportation orb or something."

Xu Zhenguan also拧紧 her eyebrows: "I will search again later."

Zhao Du'an smiled: "It's not too important. This person's Dao heart was shattered by me today, and he won't become a threat. If you can't find him, kill him again when you meet him in the future, but…"

He was a little worried and said:

"It's just that Tianhai should have seen the existence of Pei Niannu when he fought with me. I'm not sure if he saw clearly. I'm just afraid that he will fall into the hands of Prince Jing and then expose the existence of Lu Yan'er."

Beside Prince Jing, there is also a spy王妃 he planted!

The Empress frowned when she heard this, feeling it was a big or small trouble, but even if Lu Yan'er was really exposed, it would just be the loss of a spy.

Although it was a pity, it was not unacceptable.

"I will search again. If I can't find him, I will order the Shadow Guards to continue searching later," Xu Zhenguan said.

Zhao Du'an nodded and smiled:

"It's not urgent. This person is, after all, a disciple of Shenlong Temple and may not be with Prince Jing. Besides, Your Majesty's advancement to 天人 is the greatest victory today."

Xu Zhenguan also smiled. It was the joy of晋级, but thinking of the situation where six路藩王 were殺向 the capital, she felt a headache:

"I just met Xuan Yin."

Ah? Zhao Du'an was stunned.