For most people at the Dragon Palace banquet, Lin Zhengren was merely an insignificant, irrelevant minor episode.

Apart from Beigong Ke’s few remarks that directly hit a nerve, only Sheng Xuehuai gave him an extra glance, likely wondering how the fellow didn’t just spontaneously cough up blood and die on the spot.

Chong Xuan Sheng remained unfazed, slowly sipping the wine in his cup. This long river of the world, this water of time, the great trend is like waves, all to be drunk in the cup.

What kind of person is the current Bo Wang Hou?

He isn’t like Champion Hou or the former Wu An Hou, who were self-important in their official careers with no ulterior motives, acting like guards when they went to court.

He actively participates in politics and has a firm grasp of it. In an extremely short time, he completely absorbed the political legacy of the previous generation of Bo Wang Hou, seized control of the political resources accumulated by the Chong Xuan clan over generations, and navigated the treacherous court like a fish in water. By supplementing his cultivation with his official path, he effortlessly achieved Shen Lin.

In the early days, when he was still unknown, he could leverage force against force, manipulate the Qiyang war, and gain political capital for himself.

Now, having succeeded to the title of Bo Wang Hou and married Yi Xingchen, a court official, the political power he can mobilize is already terrifying.

As a true high-level figure in the empire, he can already influence imperial decisions and even guide the direction of the country!

Lin Zhengren leaving his seat on the pretext of needing to was, of course, seen by him immediately.

But he had no intention of interfering.

The situation had developed to a point where it was no longer something a Lin Zhengren could influence.

Lin Zhengren is a smart person.

Smart people will make the right choices.

Compared to those fools who just act on impulse, the actions of smart people are easier to predict—of course, the prerequisite is that you are smarter than this smart person.

The verbal sparring between Dou Zhao and Ye Er on the floor became increasingly heated, both clearly intending to fight to the death.

Everyone was giving their full attention.

Fu Yunqin spoke again, halting the tension: “Killing and taking lives is not the original intention of this Tianjiao gathering banquet. Fighting but not dying is the responsibility of my Dragon Palace. Unfortunately, your wagered battle cannot be established.”

Dou Zhao looked at him with dissatisfaction: “We are willing to fight to the death, and the Dragon Palace will not be blamed regardless of the outcome. Director Fu, is this life-and-death play not as captivating as a sword dance?”

Fu Yunqin calmly said: “The Dragon Palace banquet is convened to cultivate Tianjiao, not to strangle them. Outside the Dragon Palace, you can do as you please; life and death are determined by fate, and things compete naturally. But within this Dragon Palace, I must fulfill my duty and protect every one of your lives. Sparring is acceptable, but at the moment of life and death, I will definitely intervene.”

Dou Zhao killing Ye Er, or Chu Country acknowledging the Three Points Incense Building, were not things the Long River Dragon Palace wished to see.

So his attitude was very clear.

Dou Zhao put down his wine cup: “That’s too dull then!”

“Young Master Dou seems to think he can definitely kill me.” Ye Er lightly laughed: “Things in this world don’t always go as planned. I’m already used to it, but Young Master Dou isn’t yet.”

Dou Zhao bared his teeth in a grin: “You are all people used to this world. I will make this world get used to me.”

He turned his head to look at Fu Yunqin, his wildness unconcealed: “Wait till you intervene too late, I will definitely kill someone in this Dragon Palace for you to see.”

Fu Yunqin showed no sign of anger: “This old man will wipe his eyes and wait.”

In the hall, Long Boji had subtly changed positions, sitting next to the Jade True nun from the Wash Moon Nunnery. In this situation, he lightly sighed: “This sword dance won’t happen, life and death won’t be seen, it truly feels a bit bland.”

It must be said, opening the topic like this was quite natural.

In Jade True’s watery eyes, innocence and curiosity flickered: “Do you want to challenge Dou Zhao to add some excitement to this banquet?”

Long Boji gave a dry cough: “Forget it, the Dragon Palace doesn’t allow private duels. After the Dragon Gate opens, treasures are given by fate, there will be many opportunities to act.”

The voice of the Long River Dragon Monarch echoed from high above: “Today is a good time, this banquet is a family banquet. I want to speak a few heartfelt words to you all—the current scene is unprecedented in ten thousand ages, the ten thousand worlds are settled, the rivers are clear and the seas are calm. I have emptied the Dragon Palace treasury to entertain the younger generation. I seek nothing else, only wishing for the world to be stable and for you, the younger generation, to grow strong and not fail the sacrifice of the Human Emperor of that year.”

“The great prosperity of the human path brings me great comfort. The light of the human path is like a bright candle. It can illuminate all worlds, from ancient times to the present. It is only through the struggles and sacrifices of former sages and the continuous efforts of later generations that this is possible.”

Her crown gently swayed: “The Youque of former years is no longer seen, which makes me sad. My desire to witness Jiang Wang’s sword dance is for the same reason. It is nothing more than reflecting on the past and expressing feelings for the future. Now Jiang Wang has temporarily gone out for something… I wonder who is willing to take his place?”

Silence fell in the hall for a moment.

No one was willing to be the substitute for the leader of the Yellow River, let alone be in the mood to perform for others.

Only Ye Qingyu’s heart felt a slight tightness. She didn’t want people to speculate too much about where Jiang Wang had gone, but the Dragon Monarch always loved to mention him…

She lightly nodded, her clear jawline drawing a beautiful arc in the air.

Her voice, like a clear stream flowing out of a forest, said: “If the Dragon Monarch doesn’t dislike it, I am willing to play a zither tune.”

“Good!” Huang Sheli was the first to exclaim.

She was annoyed with Jiang Wang, but she wouldn’t direct her anger towards the beautiful Miss Ye. She simply moved over, occupied Jiang Wang’s seat, and looked at Ye Qingyu with anticipation: “I have loved music all my life, I will wash my ears and listen respectfully!”

Chong Xuan Sheng had long heard of Jiang Wang’s ‘Qiao Yan Jun’, and had even secretly investigated it. At this moment, he also enthusiastically supported the scene: “Clouds float above the country, flowing wind melts the spring frost. This Hou is full of anticipation, willing to listen to immortal sounds!”

Huh? Xu Xiangqian lightly hummed. This fatty has known this young master for a long time, and he has some culture. Flowing wind melts the spring frost… hmm, this sentence is quite good, I can copy it… adapt it!

From her high position, the Long River Dragon Monarch said: “Ling Xiao is one, a near neighbor of the Dragon Palace. Music is one, benefiting human culture. My joy is boundless, please play it quickly!”

Just then, the nun from the Wash Moon Nunnery also spoke: “Today is a good time and a good gathering. How can there be music without dance? Miss Ye has such refined taste, Jade True is willing to dance with you.”

“Wonderful!”

Huang Sheli clapped her hands till they were red: “Two peerless beauties, one playing the zither and one dancing, is this not an unparalleled scene in the human world? Only now do I know what a Dragon Palace banquet is, I, Old Huang, have come at the right time!”

Even before the Yellow River meeting began, Zhao Wuyan could have achieved Shen Lin at any time. Because she had studied too widely and chosen too many paths, she was confused for a while, not knowing how to choose. After that, she traveled ten thousand li, experienced the world, and then cultivated diligently in the Heaven Tablet Snow Ridge, contemplating and enlightening herself. This led her to embrace “a hundred schools of thought, forging her own path,” and prove her body in Shen Lin.

In terms of clarity regarding worldly matters, she far surpassed Xu Xiangqian. Xu Xiangqian only relied on his simple moral standards and thick skin to navigate the world, acting sincerely and recklessly, spouting philosophical nonsense, and truly couldn’t be said to possess any profound wisdom.

When Jiang Wang resigned from the country, she just expected this was Jiang Wang preparing for the Gao Xian of the Pulled Sword Village. Xu Xiangqian still said things like my brother is born free and so on… Today, Jiang Wang’s move made her realize something. Although she didn’t know where Jiang Wang’s confidence came from…

The reason she pulled Xu Xiangqian was because the difficulty of this matter was beyond Xu Xiangqian’s ability to bear. If the matter failed, then Xu Xiangqian would be buried together with Jiang Wang in Catch Horse Mountain. If the matter succeeded, the Dragon Gate Academy and the Green Cliff Academy combined would not be able to protect this conspicuous figure.

Regardless, she did not want Xu Xiangqian to walk the path of death, so she had a tacit understanding with Jiang Wang this one time.

But this ‘tacit understanding’ was especially regrettable.

At this moment, she couldn’t help but sigh: “This scene and feeling are hard to come by again, it’s a pity Jiang Wang has no fortune to enjoy it.”

“No harm,” Xu Xiangqian waved his hand grandly from the side, full of momentum: “I will write a poem to record it, and share it with him later, so he can be immersed in the scene!”

Zhao Wuyan fell silent.

Ye Qingyu sat down in front of her seat, her posture like a painting, and said lightly: “Master is willing to respond, that is even better. But the Brahma Dance is feared to be difficult to match, this tune I am about to play… is not clean.”

Jade True looked at her and only felt that this woman was indeed serene and beautiful, but no evil thoughts arose in her heart. How could there be such a person in the world who is not stained by dust?

She had never walked on muddy ground, born directly among the clouds.

Her embroidered socks are not stained with dust, her heart is not bound by myriad things.

Truly clean!

The nun from the Wash Moon Nunnery lightly opened her red lips, and her charming voice replied: “The Wash Moon Nunnery entering the red dust is not necessarily for cleanliness.”

Ye Qingyu also looked at her, and within that detached clarity and tranquility, she saw a kind of brilliant vitality. She thought she lived very seriously, she thought she also bloomed alone for a long time.

She slightly pursed her lips, and couldn’t help but ask: “Cultivating Zen is not for cleanliness, then what is it for?”

Jade True pressed her palms together: “It is good that the donor asks—the Buddha loves the people of the world, of course he wants to save all sentient beings, and he also wants to save himself.”

Ye Qingyu also returned the礼 (lǐ – etiquette, ritual) with her palms pressed together, only saying one word: “Please.”

She parted her hands, which were as exquisite as carved jade, and took out the zither Jiang Wang had given her.

A Dragon Palace attendant came to remove her food table and brought a zither stand, allowing her to place the zither on her lap.

This zither was made by a famous craftsman in Great Xia.

It was a section of parasol tree wood rescued from a fierce fire. Because it was made into a zither, the tail of the zither retained scorch marks, hence its name ‘Jiaowei’.

Jiang Wang and Chong Xuan Sheng led the army to attack Xia, and the latter plundered quite a few good things. He only picked out a select few and sent them as gifts to An An Qingyu.

He didn’t actually know whether Ye Qingyu played the zither or not, he just felt that this zither was very beautiful, even the scorch patterns were elegant, and it matched Qingyu very well. It would even look good hanging on the wall as decoration, so he sent it.

But he didn’t expect Ye Qingyu to start learning the zither from then on.

After placing the Jiaowei zither and tuning the strings, Ye Qingyu took out a beautiful round pearl, sky-blue with white silk clouds inside, and placed it on a corner of the zither stand—

This was the first gift Jiang Wang had given her. It was the Law Artifact Fixed Wind Pearl obtained from the Hidden Star World.

She treasured it greatly and always kept it with her. This time she took it out because its ability to fix the wind would prevent the zither sound from being disturbed.

After doing all this, she cleaned her hands with magic, then suspended her fingers over the strings, quietly waiting for Jade True.

The Jade True nun rose and left her seat, like she had walked out of an ancient painting of green lamps into the bustling red dust, step by step, walking towards the center of the empty main hall.

Beautiful eyes met—

One was like a clear stream flowing through a tranquil bamboo forest.

The other was a red-dressed, jade-faced figure in the human world.

Ye Qingyu’s slender fingers turned—

Ding dong ding dong!

The strings began urgently, instantly transforming from extreme stillness to extreme movement, urgent like sudden rain hitting glass.

The sound was sharp, and the meaning was heavy.

Her ten fingers crossed rapidly, each sound heavier than the last.

It was precisely the tune—

《Military Martial Formation Breaking Music》!

From her high position, the Long River Dragon Monarch’s expression could not be seen.

This tune was composed by the Lishan clan on the eve of a great war in former years. One wondered if it would move her?

Then, amidst this intense zither sound, Jade True moved.

She was like wind blowing through a sea of bamboo, like ten thousand li of waves.

She wore simple grey monastic clothes and ordinary cloth shoes, her appearance plain to the extreme. But with just one step of her lotus feet, she exuded boundless charm, dragging out threads of the red dust, shaking out ten thousand kinds of allure!

Extremely charming, extremely demonic, extremely beautiful.

Yet within this Dragon Palace, she responded with a tune of the Heavenly Demon Dance.

Only then did people suddenly realize that for a long time, the Wash Moon Nunnery had always been at the forefront of suppressing demons.

The Wash Moon Nunnery has a terrifying Great Bodhisattva, who is said to have already stepped halfway into transcendence. The number of Heavenly Demons she has suppressed and killed is countless. Within that secret bamboo forest, how much research has been done on Heavenly Demons is not surprising.

Using Bodhi thought to control the Heavenly Demon Dance, coupled with the crashing, jade-shattering 《Military Martial Formation Breaking Music》, actually perfectly complemented each other, leaving people intoxicated.

Truly a spectacular scene in the Dragon Palace!

Drip drop!

A drop of true blood fell from the long sky, burning scorch marks into the space.

Han Xuping’s Tian Crown had already been knocked off, his black and yellow Sui dynasty crown clothes were only a few rags covering his shame.

The emperor’s body of ten thousand gold could hardly be called majestic.

At this moment, his temples were disheveled, his face was pale, and his breath was clearly weakening.

He had no weapon in his hand, and his footsteps were slightly unsteady.

Several Shen Lin-level puppets had already been completely dismantled. The Mo family’s specially made mechanisms and formations, each costing a giant million, were also unable to block Zhuang Gaoxian for long.

He had to admit that as a true person, he was temporarily still no match for Zhuang Gaoxian.

That was someone who had, after all, achieved the Cavern True realm under the absolute suppression of the former emperor Han Yin, who gave no chance to breathe… still grabbing chestnuts from the fire.

This opponent had, after all, only recently achieved the Cavern True realm, and had just blocked the former emperor Han Yin in a head-on confrontation,

forcing him to recycle the power of the country and brew the war armor method to take effect.

In his plan to assassinate his father and seize power, Zhuang Gaoxian was the absolute main force.

He had believed in Zhuang Gaoxian’s strength before, and of course he wouldn’t underestimate him now.

Precisely because he never underestimated him, he took the emperor’s risk, so desperately!

He… after all, escaped!

Not far ahead was Yong Soil, and his safety was no longer a concern.

If Zhuang Gaoxian dared to chase him into the Yong border, he would immediately gather the power of the world, deplete his own country’s army, and boldly counter-kill. Not to mention, there was the Mo Gate that had established itself in Yong Soil that could be leveraged!

“Han Xu! Your time of death has arrived!”

Zhuang Gaoxian’s voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

Han Xu staggered several steps, then suddenly turned his head, only to see Zhuang Gaoxian’s unremarkable, wealthy-gentleman-like face, and… a fist that was constantly approaching, constantly enlarging, smashing firmly into his chest!

A huge explosive sound buried the air.

Circles of qi patterns pushed away the cloud layers.

Feeling the intent to crack through like defeat leather, Zhuang Gaoxian couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, thoroughly shaking apart the blood and flesh puppet attached to his fist.

He had actually underestimated Han Xu. After a bloody battle to this point, at this critical juncture, he could still possess a means of preserving his life.

He even still hid a counterattack…

But it stopped there.

In the continuous pursuit and confrontation, he had already seen through all of Han Xu’s cards. There was still a segment of road to the Yong country, and he would not give him any more opportunities. For this, he would not hesitate to expose the trump card he had never shown to others!

He lifted his foot and had already crossed space. All distances were ignored, and he spread his five fingers, pressing down towards Han Xu’s head.

Just then, a furious shout suddenly rang out: “Stop hurting my lord!”

A flash of knife light broke through the sky, blocking the palm strike.

The one holding the knife and chopping was none other than Xue Mingyi, the Martial Merit Hou of Yong Country!

Zhuang Gaoxian casually pinched and shattered the knife light, just preparing to kill this person, but stopped his footsteps.

Because just behind Han Xu, one after another, strong figures from Yong Country emerged.

Shen Boyao Qi, the Province Governor of Yong Country!

Li Ying, the Chengde Hou of Yong Country!

Jiao Wu, the Weining Hou of Yong Country!

Lang Xiaoshu, the Fenge Hou of Yong Country!

Qi Maoxian, the State Minister of Yong Country!

Beigong Yu, the First Rank Duke of Ying of Yong Country!

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