Chapter 93: Changing the Monarch

Layers of wind and rain poured onto the majestic palace roof, splashing a layer of fine water mist, which then scattered rapidly with the wind. The sky was covered with heavy clouds, and the rain, which seemed never to stop, kept knocking on the glazed golden tiles, dragon pillars, and cloud steps, making a dense sound.

A heavy thunder rolled by, and the two in the palace did not hear the power of this thunder. In the light smoke of green bamboo fragrance and mysterious, the green shirt was covered with white fur, elegant and graceful, the snow clothes spread out cloud light, high and handsome.

The sound of falling pieces was light, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, occasionally laughter was heard, and occasionally low and faint coughs, which made the palace extremely quiet.

"Click." Huang Fei seemed to drop a white piece on a corner of the chessboard casually. Zi Hao held the tea cup, seeing the changes in the chessboard, and praised in his heart.

His gaze swept along the white piece like a dragon soaring into the clouds, as if seeing the momentum of the Liefeng Cavalry sweeping the Nine Domains, and a domineering spirit that shook people's hearts rushed toward him. Zi Hao narrowed his eyes slightly, picked out a smile, as if he extremely enjoyed this rare game of chess.

The wide sleeves fluttered slightly, and the slender fingers picked up a black piece.

Thunder rumbled and shook the universe.

Huang Fei's handsome star eyes, which made many women intoxicated, were full of leisure, but he looked at the piece about to fall with great interest, as if this ordinary piece was more attractive than thousands of beauties, just like facing the Blood Luan Sword blooming with gorgeous light on the top of the Red Peak Mountain.

A happiness of meeting an opponent in chess.

The black piece was about to fall on the chessboard. Suddenly, a sharp pain that Zi Hao didn't expect flashed through his heart, like a shock of lightning breaking through the flat lake, creating waves out of thin air, but disappeared without a trace in an instant.

This was by no means the situation when the medicine poison broke out. With such an abnormal fluctuation in his state of mind, even if he was usually very good at concealing his emotions, Zi Hao could hardly avoid showing a trace of shock.

The piece on his fingertips still fell lightly on the chessboard, neither biased nor slanted, as quiet as still water.

Huang Fei's eyesight was so sharp that he naturally noticed his sudden strangeness for a moment, but there was no need to ask. The black obsidian on Zi Hao's wrist suddenly shone brightly, and the spirit stones flowed and circled, changing endlessly in the space filled with smoke and fragrance above the chessboard.

A bolt of lightning arrived in the air, across the deep palace, breaking through his calm eyes when Zi Hao looked up, and the thunder roared.

Like strange stars reflected, countless rays of clear light remained hidden yet undissipated, like crystal and water, darting through the depths of the spirit stone, revealing a nether color within the purity. Zi Hao finally ignored Huang Fei's presence, closing his eyes slightly; the light of the spirit stone flared once, then returned to normal.

A few low coughs were covered in the sound of the rapid wind and rain outside the palace.

Huang Fei looked thoughtful, "Is the Monarch okay?"

Zi Hao suppressed the strangeness in his heart. The trace of movement earlier had already been traceless, and he said faintly: "It's okay."

Huang Fei withdrew his hand from the chess box and interrupted the progress of the chess game, "The Monarch's complexion seems much better today than last time. I wonder if Qi Shi's medicine is indeed effective?"

Zi Hao's deep eyes looked into Huang Fei's eyes.

The step of chess borrowed from Qi Shi made Huang Fei know the condition of his body like the back of his hand, thereby deciding his attitude toward the Imperial Capital. The current treatment also made people think that Qi Shi could be used to control the Eastern Emperor, but they didn't know that the life and death of the Eastern Emperor was the most irrelevant link in this game of chess.

A good step of chess, but if it is placed outside the game, it may be a completely useless step.

Zi Hao smiled faintly and said: "Speaking of this, I have to thank the pair of white phoenixes gifted by the Shao Yuan Jun, otherwise it would be difficult to gather the blood of the three spirits as a medicine guide."

Huang Fei's eyes flashed with surprise, "The white phoenix I gifted?" Although he didn't say much, the doubt was obvious.

The gazes collided suddenly. There was no need to say or ask again, and both knew where the mistake was in this matter. Zi Hao felt something, his eyebrows frowned imperceptibly, and his hand under his sleeve held the cold spirit stone.

A drop of crystal bright blood seeped from his jade-like fingertips, full, and fell.

The cold ice jade cup made this concentrated blood, which gathered the essence of life, seem to have a crystal clear luster. Every drop fell silently, touching beautiful ripples in the depths of the bright red.

The tourmaline spirit stone shone with ghostly light, shrouded in the space where the green gauze wind and rain fluttered.

Zi Rao sat cross-legged on the couch, one hand lightly buckled the spiritual formula, one hand suspended above the jade cup. Her charming face was as pale as transparency, but the red shadow between her eyebrows was thicker and more gorgeous. Between the white clothes spread out in layers, there were ten thousand wonderful lotuses, half-hidden and half-revealed, clear and virtual, like a void. With every drop of blood falling, clear and quiet brilliance bloomed.

Life and death, the essence of the lotus. The lotus of destruction can silence all things, and the lotus of life can form heaven and earth.

Only by inheriting the orthodox bloodline of the Witch Clan can one bring this lotus technique to the extreme. Through unique internal cultivation methods, one can stimulate the virgin Yuan Yin that represents the woman's innate essence, and then use one's own blood and energy as a guide to lead out the true Yang essence hidden in the pure Yin body, combined with the Witch Doctor's prescription, to facilitate the final spirit medicine.

The practice of turning blood into medicine in this way, the harm of the medicine is entirely borne by the practitioner. What is taken in exchange is the precious true Yang essence born in the woman's Dan Yuan True Qi, which is always nourished and guarded by Yuan Yin. The benefit to the medicine taker is self-evident.

But all things in the world are not Yin containing Yang, Yang containing Yin, Yin and Yang blending, only then there is heaven and earth, life and death, two poles. The so-called lone Yang does not grow, and the lone Yin is difficult to flourish. Whether the true Yang in Yin is damaged or the true Yin in Yang is exhausted, it means the loss or even extinction of one's own essence.

Although Li Si had used the golden needle method to cultivate the origin and consolidate the foundation before, helping Zi Rao minimize the damage, this medicine was strong and not something that ordinary people could bear. Zi Rao urged the lotus heart method to stimulate it like this, not to mention that her own True Essence was damaged day by day, just the severe pain of passing through the meridians when the medicine and blood merged was indescribable.

But she was willing to do it.

A smile appeared on Zi Rao's face, a deep and gorgeous beauty, faintly revealing the phoenix eyes that opened slowly. If you don't try the medicine yourself, you will never know how he survived such pain day and night.

Twenty years is not long, thousands of years. That indifferent smile, light words, what kind of strength and resilience did he use to bear it? That clear and quiet look, the increasingly difficult-to-hide fatigue, what kind of consumption of life and will? Those turning hands to plan and deep calculations, those indifferent killings and dark currents of wind and clouds, what kind of endurance, what kind of price, what kind of heart's blood?

Without having experienced it yourself, you have no qualification to say you know.

After being seriously injured and then consuming True Essence, a burst of irresistible weakness surged from the depths of her heart. Zi Rao bit her lip tightly, but the faint and charming smile became more and more prosperous. In a trance, there seemed to be strange and compelling brilliance, bright and incomparable.

Coldly looking at the world for a lifetime, she had never been so grateful to heaven for the life given to her as she was at this moment. With the warmth of this life, she touched his deepest and most painful wound. From now on, his flesh and blood merged with her blood, and his heart, soul, and spirit would never be separated again. From now on, only she in this world could be with him, live, die, and share together.

The fine rain was drizzling, dyeing the ancient wooden corridor, the breeze all around was like a curtain, and the green shadows were like smoke.

Li Si carefully held the medicine cup and walked with her head down, full of worries. This was already the third cup of medicine. She lied to her master that she borrowed the ancient method of "Great Zhou Scripture", using the blood of the three spirits of white phoenix, white ape, and white deer as a guide to buffer the medicinal power, but it was actually the Nine Princess using the lotus strange technique to turn blood into medicine. Doing so was really a last resort.

The prescription opened by Qi Shi was to use several rare drugs to seal the human body's eight extraordinary meridians, soak in blood and energy, and use this medicinal power to forcibly destroy the True Qi born from the poison of the Nine Nether Mysterious Penetration, thereby resolving the severe poison accumulated in the master's body for many years. But this method was no different from completely abolishing martial arts, destroying meridians, making him have no chance to truly recover, and would also plant more terrible disasters due to new drugs.

Therefore, some of the medicines listed by Qi Shi were not something Li Si had not thought of before, but she was concerned about perfection and dared not use such a destructive method to solve the severe poison. What Qi Shi's intention was in doing this was clear, but I am afraid that even this old monster did not expect that the Nine Princess would actually dare to use the Blood Shadow Lotus Transformation to resolve his conspiracy.

The silent footsteps did not disturb a trace of fine rain. Li Si frowned slightly, couldn't help but sigh softly, just stepped out of the medicine house, looked up, and suddenly stopped abruptly.

Outside the heavy green gauze, a slender figure stood alone in front of the rain, the green shirt fluttering as if merging into the endless cold rain. The face could not be seen in the haze, but Li Si clearly knew who it was. A red color trembled slightly between her fingers.

Until Zi Hao came to her, Li Si knelt down on both knees involuntarily, with a pale face and whispered: "Master..."

The cold hem of the clothes hung quietly in front of her eyes. Li Si didn't know how long he had been here. If he didn't want to be discovered, he could hide from anyone in this palace. If he wanted to know something, no one in the world could hide it.

Li Si could feel his gaze as if it were substantial falling on her, but it seemed as if he had never looked at her at all. That kind of invisible pressure made people's hearts and souls terrified. However, it was only for an instant, Li Si heard a very low sigh, Zi Hao moved his gaze away from her, looked at the vast rain curtain, and then reached out and took the medicine cup.

The blood like jade and emerald, with the warmth belonging to life, reflected the incomparably bright red color into those deep eyes.

Li Si had never thought that the master's eyes would have such deep feelings, as if the sunset had sunk into the sea, burning people's hearts with pain, as if the sunset had burned out the west mountain, that moment of endless sinking.

She saw a light smile passing away from the master's thin lips. That smile reminded people of the beautiful face of the Nine Princess when she was asleep.

Zi Hao raised his sleeves slightly, drank the medicine in his hand, and turned to walk into the medicine house.

The cold jade medicine cup, which was harder than stone, turned into a dense powder and scattered into the rain...

Walking through the heavy gauze curtain into the depths of the medicine house, the woman sleeping on the low couch did not know his arrival at all. White clothes flowed like snow, and her weak face was like a white lotus quiet in the center of the lake. He gently raised his hand to brush her hair, but she did not open her eyes like before and show him a moving smile. She never felt him not coming. Zi Hao looked at her carefully with the rain light, and suddenly knew that it turned out that there were countless nights, she accompanied him to sleep like this, using her gentle fingertips to smooth the slightly frowned eyebrows in his sleep.

Without waiting, you will never know the taste of expectation; without cherishing, you will never be afraid of losing.

He closed his eyes slowly, smiled faintly, and sighed lightly.

Two people, one world, one smile and one sigh, is a lifetime.

When Zi Rao woke up, she saw Zi Hao's familiar back standing in the green gauze shadow at a glance. The fine rain was cold, as if he had been standing for a long time. She didn't expect him to be here, and was surprised to prop herself up, but felt a burst of dizziness. Zi Hao had already turned around and helped her into his arms. Zi Rao tried her best to adjust her breathing. When she opened her eyes, she suddenly fell into his gaze like the deep sea.

Touching those deep eyes lightly, she knew that if he opened his mouth to ask, she would not be able to say any prevarication under such a gaze. She had vaguely felt his displeasure, and the coolness of the rain-wet cold steps permeated quietly.

The rain kept falling, endlessly.

His gaze swept across her eyebrows, stayed on her gorgeous and lonely lips, watched for a long time, and asked slowly: "Did Ji Cang hurt you?"

Zi Rao was stunned, then lowered her eyes, and after a while, whispered: "The Blood Luan Sword is really the most terrifying weapon in the world."

After a silence, she felt Zi Hao's arm tighten slowly, bit by bit, that tight strength, decisive and strong strength, finally protected her completely in his arms. Zi Rao suddenly felt afraid, and couldn't help but clench his clothes tightly. His low voice came word by word from above her head, "Zi Rao, I will make him pay the most painful price, everyone who hurts you."

Cold as ice, heart like fire, Zi Rao couldn't see his expression, just leaned tightly against his heart, as if the cold and warm double torrents poured down.

His smile, his sigh, his tenderness, his ruthlessness, his warmth, his heartlessness. Water and fire, desire and evil, flowing through all things, she couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, five colors were confused, five sounds were taken away, only the deep throbbing beside her filled the whole world.

Zi Rao, even if heaven and earth are destroyed, I will protect you for a lifetime of peace.

The wind was light and the rain was dense, and the green gauze was boundless, as if it were stained with the woman's gentle sigh, floating quietly, like water and smoke. Zi Rao felt peaceful in her heart, leaned gently against Zi Hao's chest, smiled as if she were asleep, and didn't say a word.

Zi Hao finally let her go, and for the first time, he personally covered her with a soft and warm silk quilt. He got up and walked out slowly. At the moment when the curtain was lifted, the footsteps stopped, and the calm voice sounded indifferently, "I have approved Huang Fei's request. The grand wedding ceremony is set for five days later. At that time, I will personally preside over the wedding for you."

Zi Rao raised her eyes abruptly. Between the scattered smoke curtains, the rain all over the sky gradually blurred with his cold figure, and that green shirt was decisive and never returned.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 94 =====