Chapter 255: The Phoenix Maiden of Our Family Has Grown Up (4K)

Qi Yuhua mentioned a detail, the Empress Dowager asked Qi Yuhua about the marriages of many sisters of the Qi family.

Although the Empress Dowager Li and the Qi family have some connection, that connection, for an elderly woman who has long resided in the deep palace, is probably not worth mentioning.

In the mansion, Qi Yuhua was somewhat worried and could not help but ask.

"Husband, what do you think the Empress Dowager means by this?"

Zhang Jian's eyes flickered; he is what kind of existence, the Empress Dowager wants to do what, he has already seen it clearly, so he smiled and said.

"The Qi family has good fortune coming to the door!"

"The Empress Dowager should have taken a fancy to one of your sisters, wanting to summon her into the palace!"

Zhang Jian smiled lightly, thinking in his heart.

I just don't know whether this is the Empress Dowager's intention, or perhaps the Emperor Jingwu's intention?

In Zhang Jian's mind flashed many impressions related to Emperor Jingwu, and after a moment he shook his head.

Emperor Jingwu has long resided in the imperial city; I have seen him a few times, but my understanding is not deep.

"Or perhaps it is simply the Dongshen Guan, or the opinion of those few National Guardian True Persons?"

Zhang Jian thought secretly!

Others only know he possesses righteous and noble spirit, and has a little cultivation.

Only Chaomu and others have seen his methods, possibly able to guess a bit of his hidden card.

He merely smiled at the corner of his mouth, not caring.

If the Great Qian royal family wanted to use this to restrain him, it would obviously be useless.

His gaze flashed, Zhang Jian laughed and asked.

"Wife, a while ago, I heard you mention, Yuzhu seems to have a marriage engagement?"

Qi Yuhua slightly nodded, a hint of smile appeared on her jade-like face.

"The third younger sister had her marriage arranged long ago; if not for the groom's sudden accident, she would have already married!"

Qi Yuhua sighed lightly.

The marriage of Qi Yuzhu is actually somewhat troubled.

Qi Yuzhu is two years younger than her, this year she is also nineteen, in the Great Qian she truly belongs to the 'old maiden'.

Originally, four years ago she had once arranged a marriage, but the fiancé had an accident in a fight with martial artists, and Qi Yuzhu, before even marrying, gained the reputation of a husband-killer.

For this, Qi Yuzhu's marriage was delayed, and Qi Yuzhu herself also developed aversion to it.

Until recent years, through matchmakers making connections, she finally chose a good husband again.

Seeing Zhang Jian's expression showing a strange color, Qi Yuhua's face froze for a moment, unable to help but exclaim in astonishment.

"Husband, could it be that the Empress Dowager favors the third sister, wanting to summon the third sister into the palace as a consort!"

"But the third sister already has a marriage engagement!"

Zhang Jian shook his head, correcting.

"Not as a consort, this is for empress!"

Qi Yuhua opened her small mouth wide, after a moment she said.

"Husband, how could this be possible?!"

Zhang Jian's face remained calm, how could it not be possible, this matter is probably a settled fact.

If it is the Dongshen Guan, or if Chaomu is pushing from behind, Qi Yuzhu is the most suitable person to enter the palace.

Moreover, if we want to befriend this future human sage of his, or the Yuanshen True Person, we must necessarily offer a high position.

The most likely position is that of the Empress of the Central Palace.

"This..."

Qi Yuhua also felt somewhat speechless, she instantly turned her gaze toward Zhang Jian.

"Husband, what is your opinion?"

"My suggestion on this matter is probably insignificant!"

Zhang Jian sighed lightly.

Actually, the Qi family refusing the Great Qian royal family would be the best choice, because Great Qian is in decline, and at this time the dragon vein is damaged, there will surely be backlash.

Whoever gets involved at this time will probably be implicated.

The Great Qian royal family has deep foundations, can withstand it, but the Qi family may not necessarily be able to withstand it.

But he knows, the olive branch extended by the Great Qian royal family, the Qi family cannot refuse.

Moreover, they cannot refuse the glory brought by giving birth to a Central Palace Empress in the family.

At this time, Qi Yuhua's thoughts are somewhat chaotic, but she also knows what Zhang Jian said is true, her grandfather and grandmother probably cannot refuse such temptation.

But looking at her husband's intention, this is probably not a good thing.

Zhang Jian's gaze has always been sharp, Qi Yuhua trusts this greatly, but she knows, her weight in the Qi family may not be significant, even if she speaks up to remind, it will be of no use.

But Qi Yuhua still decided to write a letter to Fengyang Commandery, to remind Qi Yuan si and Qi Wan shi.

And in the Cixin Palace, after Li Taihou figured out Emperor Jingwu's intention, the next day she summoned Princess Qingfeng Chang into the palace.

Choosing Qi Yuzhu as empress cannot be too direct, otherwise it would damage the emperor's holy countenance.

The best way is undoubtedly through Princess Qingfeng Chang.

Princess Qingfeng Chang is now the legitimate wife of Qi Yuanwu, and also the aunt of Qi Yuzhu; she can first think of a way to pass this selection of consorts to send Qi Yuzhu into the palace, then Emperor Jingwu personally bestows the title, everything will be natural and proper.

A few days later, within the imperial palace, the news spread that they would select consorts for the current emperor, to fill the harem.

When this news came out, it immediately made the city of Haojing lively.

Emperor Jingwu has only just ascended the throne not long ago, he once held a consort selection, after that he has been diligent in state affairs, the matter of consort selection was delayed.

Now it is time to select consorts again after an interval of eight years.

The Great Qian follows ancestral custom, usually selecting a portion of talented and graceful ladies from the families of titled officials to send into the inner court; of course, they must first pass the screening by imperial envoys dispatched by the inner court to the localities.

Generally, there are two directions: selection by appearance and selection by talent; cultivators are another matter.

After the first screening, there will be a second screening, which is usually overseen jointly by the Empress and the Empress Dowager of the Central Palace; if one passes, they may remain in the palace, undergoing further training for one or two years, and only after being selected by the Emperor Jingwu will they finally stay.

If they fail to remain, they are given travel expenses and sent back to their native place.

Or they remain in the palace to serve as various grades of female officials.

Zhang Jian also later received an imperial edict sent from the capital, but he had only one son, Zhang Chang'an, who had not yet reached maturity, so naturally it had nothing to do with him.

He continued simply doing his own affairs in order, lecturing in Haojing City on one hand, and on the other hand perfecting his own system's learning.

He organized all his learning, which was entirely focused on governing the world and putting knowledge to use, and also on investigating things to extend knowledge.

This is what he has always been doing: pursuing the essence from all phenomena.

And in dealing with the poor commoners, Zhang Jian also exerted himself to promote education and widely enlighten the people's wisdom.

He knew that in this great age, if he wanted to accomplish something, relying solely on a pile of pure theory would be useless; the great environment shaped this era.

Only by cultivating more men of insight could the many work together to transform the realm and enable countless commoners to escape the sea of suffering.

The key is still just one: only by first obtaining the authority capable of transforming the realm can one truly resolve the 'people's hardships'!

……

After settling all trivial matters, Zhang Jian continued to immerse himself in the contemplation of the Golden Crow True Classic.

This trap became the most luxurious "gift package" he had received so far.

In the ancestral temple, Zhang Jian still used the Map of Mountains, Rivers, and the State to seal off the courtyard, his yin spirit escaping into the void dharma realm, following the solar mark straight into the depths of the solar star.

The domineering, magnificent Golden Crow Dharma Body appeared again, like a blazing sun floating in the ocean of true solar fire on the periphery of the solar star.

The Golden Crow Dharma Body was filled with a magnificent, ancient, noble aura, its entire body presenting a gold-red hue, its eyes sharp, its wings spread open, resembling a floating sun.

The Golden Crow spread its wings, delving deep into the solar star, countless Golden Crow Dao patterns appearing on its body; in an instant, Zhang Jian felt himself merge into the origin of the solar star.

In the inner layer of the solar star, there is a magnificent power of heavenly and earthly principles; it is not only scorching and domineering, but also contains a layer of terrifying divine power, beginning to pour through the Golden Crow true fire on his body's surface into his yin spirit's physical form.

Zhang Jian finally felt his yin spirit beginning to yang-ify once again.

And in this process, the solar mark kept changing, the Golden Crow divine form manifesting; that Golden Crow was no longer merely a cultivator's yin spirit transformed, but rather more like the primordial Golden Crow divine bird 'come alive', and once again a naturally bred Golden Crow divine bird was born between heaven and earth.

A Golden Crow traversing the starry river reappeared.

Yet no matter how similar it seemed, it always lacked something.

"Those who learn from me live; those who merely resemble me die!"

At this time, Zhang Jian was still constantly adjusting the structure of the solar mark.

Within the Golden Crow True Classic, there is a ready-made method for certifying the Golden Crow primordial spirit.

However, in Zhang Jian's view, although the method for condensing the Golden Crow mark is complete, he still faintly feels that if he follows its steps, he will likely still encounter problems in the end.

According to the cultivation method in the Golden Crow True Classic, the condensed Golden Crow primordial spirit will ultimately approach the existence that authored the Golden Crow True Classic.

But in Zhang Jian's view, contemplating the other's form inevitably risks absorbing their qi mechanism, possibly suffering interference from their Golden Crow mark, ultimately leading to failure just short of success.

Even if successful, he would probably become the 'little fanboy' of some old master!

What he needs to achieve is not someone else's descendant, nor becoming their 'fanboy', but rather achieving himself.

He hopes that every feather of the Golden Crow Dharma Body possesses its own will, not that of others.

Not something that can be recalled by a single thought of another.

Of course, this is merely Zhang Jian's own pursuit of perfection playing tricks.

In fact, he merely wishes to cultivate the first primordial spirit immortal method through this, while incidentally transforming his yin spirit's quality into yang.

At this time, upon entering the inner layer of the true solar fire, it was as if he had entered the depths of the great sun; the great sun entering the spirit, Zhang Jian's substantiated yin spirit felt pain for the first time at this degree, enduring it with such difficulty.

But the benefit is visible.

His substantiated yin spirit began to shrink again, gradually refined from ten zhang high to the size of an ordinary person, and even became a 'three-cun valley tree bark'!

The pure yang golden light at the core burst forth from within, leaving only nearly one-third of the yin quality within his yin spirit yet to be transformed.

……

Prince Consort's Manor

At this time, Princess Qingfeng and her husband sat facing each other, both faces overflowing with indescribable joy.

"I never thought that the blessings of my Qi family would still come later; that little girl Yuanzhu actually being favored by the Empress Dowager—this is the fortune cultivated over several lifetimes!"

At the seat, Qi Yuanwu at this time grew a faint beard, laid down the authority of the Commander of the Imperial Guards, after five or six years of rest and recuperation, he gained a touch of scholarly elegance, and his countenance also became fair and clean.

Princess Qingfeng glanced at Qi Yuanwu, who seemed to be exhaling with raised brows, secretly laughed in her heart, but also rejoiced for the Qi family.

Yet she faintly sensed that Qi Yuzhu being selected was probably not due to that female relative of the Qi family being exceptionally beautiful or talented, but likely related to another son-in-law of the family.

After all, the Qi family had nothing particularly noteworthy that would cause the Great Qian royal family to value them so highly.

"Prince Consort, this matter still requires you to write a letter back, so that your father-in-law can make preparations!"

Princess Qingfeng referred to the matter of dissolving the engagement, lest a scandal arise later.

Qi Yuanwu's expression carried joy, and he directly agreed on the spot.

……

Fengyang Commandery

The Qi family almost without distinction received the family letters sent back by Qi Yuanwu and Qi Yuhua.

However, the matter did not spread, being limited only to Qi Yi and Qi Yuan Si and their spouses.

"Everyone says our Fengyang Commandery has a thousand-year-transmitted dual phoenixes coming to court pattern, that a phoenix-fated noble lady must appear every certain period; I never thought it would actually fall to our Qi family, Yuanzhu is a blessed person!"

In the study of the second branch, Qi Yi's face was flushed; after stepping into the Master realm, Qi Yi seemed to return to youth, his vitality and spirit increasing day by day, his bearing surpassing before.

Qi Yuan Si and Qi Wan Shi at this time also faced each other, gazing at the letter before them, the couple almost doubted they were dreaming.

Yet when the couple glanced at each other, Qi Yuan Si recalled the letter Qi Yuhua had sent back that morning, felt hesitant, and thus spoke.

"Father, the second young lady also sent a letter this morning, and her letter mentioned..."

"Oh, Yuhua also sent a letter?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Yi's eyes flickered; seeing Qi Yuansi's expression, he sensed something amiss and furrowed his brow.

"Speak plainly!"

Qi Yuansi said pensively.

"The second young lady's letter mentioned that our ancestors founded the Qi household with great hardship, so she urges us to be cautious in speech and conduct, and to avoid entanglements during this time."

"She also mentioned that at the time of the Imperial Preceptor's death, he spoke of the rapidly shifting situation in court, warning against reckless interference."

"What does this have to do with that?"

Qi Yi frowned, his face stern; although Qi Yuhua spoke tactfully, Qi Yi could not fail to understand her meaning.

Qi Yuhua's meaning was likely the same as Zhang Jian's.

Yet faced with such a tremendous opportunity, Qi Yi could not refuse.

The Qi family were originally founding nobles, dukes of the state.

Qi Yi, like the head of the Qi household, constantly wished to restore the Qi mansion to its peak, and would not willingly miss such an opportunity.

Moreover, Princess Qingfeng Chang hinted that soon an imperial envoy would personally arrive at the God-Warlord Marquis's mansion to proclaim an edict, bestowing a ceremonial decree upon the Qi and Qian families.

However, as Qi Zhuzhu was about to enter the capital, Zhang Jian's cultivation progressed unusually smoothly.

After a month of arduous training.

Guiding the great sun into his heart to refine his spirit, he finally transformed most of his yin spirit into yang spirit, leaving only a few strands of yin essence at the core.

At this time, Zhang Jian did not hesitate but directly began to trigger the Heaven and Earth Great Tribulation of condensing the Golden Crow seal, completing the final leap.

In the depths of the sun star, an unprecedented tribulation coiled and raged.

At this moment, Zhang Jian's Golden Crow seal formed within his body; layers of Golden Crow true fire continuously surged across his surface, as if resonating perfectly with an invisible frequency surrounding the sun star, his golden feathers shimmering with ripples of Golden Crow true fire, resembling the operational pattern of the sun's true fire.

Then, an invisible heavenly pressure suddenly erupted like an opening cavern, directly acting upon the depths of Zhang Jian's yin spirit.

As if countless flames, intense heat, and even the vast solar divine power passed through that invisible resonance, penetrating deep into his yin spirit, submerging him and reducing him to dust.