Chapter 140: King Against King!

The reason Li Liansheng had such a strange demeanor just now was naturally due to the effect of the Nightmare Prayer Technique.

After advancing, the function of this Earthly Fiend Art is no longer limited to hypnosis; it can, to a certain extent, tamper with others' memories and cognition. In layman's terms, it is brainwashing, which can make the timid bold, the affectionate hateful, and the despicable upright.

For instance, just now, Lu Yuan forcibly altered Li Liansheng's cognition, twisting the other party's awe and loyalty toward Xici into hatred.

Of course, since he only has the cultivation of Refining Essence into Qi, and the Nightmare Prayer Technique—even after upgrading—is only Earth Tier and has not transformed into a Supernatural Power, this tampering with memory and cognition is only temporary and will be influenced by the subject's cultivation and strength of will.

Do not be fooled by Li Liansheng's seemingly thorough change; as time passes, he will inevitably wake up.

However, that will take at least two or three days, which is enough time for Lu Yuan to conduct an interesting experiment.

"Interesting."

"Let me see which is stronger: decades of unwavering loyalty or this Nightmare Prayer Technique."

At this thought, Lu Yuan smiled silently, his figure slowly sinking into the ground.

The next morning.

Before the light of day had fully broken, Li Liansheng rose early and set off on his return journey with two accompanying eunuchs.

A railway has already been opened between Tianjing and Jinjin, and a Steam Train can make the round trip in just two hours, which is far faster than the jolting of riding a horse or taking a carriage.

Today, there happened to be a train departing, so the group of three arrived early at the Jinjin station, boarded a first-class carriage, and rushed toward Tianjing.

Nowadays in Great Jin, the Steam Train is still a very rare commodity. Although a railway has been opened between Tianjing and Jinjin and the journey is short, only wealthy families can afford to ride the train; a single ticket for a first-class carriage costs several hundred Silver Yuan, which ordinary small merchants cannot afford.

The train whistle blared, and in the rather quiet carriage, Li Liansheng closed his eyes to rest, with no one knowing what was in his heart.

Two hours later, the train slowly decelerated and came to a stop. The group of three got off the train, went straight to the post station set up by the imperial court beside the station, ordered a carriage to be arranged immediately, and headed straight for the Forbidden City.

Given the size of the Capital, after riding in the carriage for another hour or so, Li Liansheng and his party finally arrived before the towering Forbidden City. Relying on his face as a favorite in the presence of the Old Buddha, the journey was smooth and unobstructed.

Returning to the Imperial Household Department, he quickly changed his clothes and hurried to the Qianqing Palace to see Xici.

It was currently noon, and Xici had just finished her lunch and returned to the side hall for a nap. Upon learning the news, Li Liansheng's eyes flickered, and he immediately went to the Imperial Kitchen located in the Outer Palace.

Lunch had already passed, and there were not many cooks in the Imperial Kitchen at the moment, only a dozen or so. When the Imperial Kitchen manager learned of Li Liansheng's arrival, he hurriedly brought people out to welcome him:

"Manager Li, you've returned! We haven't seen your face or heard your voice for days; we've missed you dearly!"

Although the Imperial Kitchen manager held the title of manager, he was still under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department. Li Liansheng gave a dry laugh:

"Xiao Linzi, I haven't seen you for a few days, and your mouth has become increasingly sweet."

Although called Xiao Linzi, he was actually a eunuch over forty years old. At this moment, he lowered his head and eyes, nodding and bowing:

"That's for sure. Not just us, but not having seen Manager Li these past few days, the Old Buddha hasn't slept as peacefully as usual, and she has eaten much less at her daily meals!"

Li Liansheng chuckled: "After all, I have served by the Old Buddha's side for over a decade. Come to think of it, this is the first time I've been away from her for so long. I was afraid she wouldn't be used to it, so I rushed back. What soup are you making for her today?"

"It is Qinglong Small Hanging Pear Soup."

Xici drinks a bowl of soup every time she wakes up. The Imperial Kitchen manager said respectfully:

"It is still simmering on the stove and will be ready soon. Are you planning to deliver it to the Old Buddha yourself?"

Li Liansheng nodded:

"That's right. The Old Buddha is still sleeping, so I have nothing to do and came over to take a look. I will deliver the soup myself in a moment."

The Imperial Kitchen manager nodded repeatedly:

"Very well, then please rest in the side room for a moment. As soon as it's ready, I will call you immediately."

"No need. I've been sitting for a long time on the road, so I'll just walk around and stretch."

Li Liansheng waved his hand casually and, taking his two subordinate eunuchs, wandered aimlessly around the Imperial Kitchen.

After wandering for a while.

The Qinglong Hanging Pear Soup was finished and taken off the heat. Half the Imperial Kitchen was filled with a refreshing fragrance. Li Liansheng stepped forward to open the lid himself and nodded with satisfaction:

"Very good, very good. I will ladle it myself and send it to the Old Buddha!"

The cook immediately offered the utensils. Li Liansheng poured the soup into a porcelain bowl, prepared a small soup bowl, and placed everything into a food box.

Just then, a subordinate eunuch came to report that Xici had woken up and was waiting in the Ten Thousand Flowers Garden next to the Qianqing Palace. Li Liansheng immediately led his men, carrying the food box, toward the Ten Thousand Flowers Garden.

Stepping into the Ten Thousand Flowers Garden, all kinds of flowers were competing in beauty, a scene of overwhelming floral splendor. Li Liansheng was unfazed by this and went straight to a pavilion in the garden.

In the pavilion, Xici was speaking kindly to two young princesses. She saw Li Liansheng at a glance and immediately smiled and beckoned:

"Xiao Li, oh Xiao Li, you've finally returned!"

Li Liansheng immediately took two steps in one, trotted into the pavilion, knelt, and performed a salute:

"May the Old Buddha be blessed with ten thousand years of peace. This servant was worried that other servants would not take good care of you, so I hurried back as soon as there was progress on the matter."

Xici raised her hand to have the palace maids behind her take the two princesses away, then asked:

"To have progress so quickly, sending you personally was indeed the right choice. How is it? Have Mankeduo and Lugu Ta died at the hands of that Lu Yuan?"

Li Liansheng lowered his head and said heavily:

"The Old Buddha is sharp-eyed. After investigation, Lord Man and Elder Lugu sacrificed their lives for the country that very night. Now, this servant has bribed a disciple under Lu Yuan and is currently investigating the location of the two lords' remains. Once confirmed, I will find a way to bring them back as soon as possible."

Having already anticipated this, Xici was expressionless:

"Both of them were pillars of the imperial court and backbones of the nation, yet they were lost at the hands of a rebel. This is truly a massive loss for our Great Jin. Heaven's justice is clear; this hatred and grudge cannot be washed away even by the waters of the five lakes and four seas. No matter what price the imperial court must pay, we will surely avenge them!"

Li Liansheng said respectfully: "The Old Buddha is right. Such rebels are intolerable to Heaven and Earth. Once the imperial court has investigated clearly and made preparations and arrangements, this thief will be annihilated in an instant!"

Xici nodded slightly:

"You said you have bribed his disciple; do you know his background and origins now?"

Li Liansheng lowered his head and said:

"Not yet. The disciple of Guangwu Hall that this servant turned has very limited knowledge. This servant has already had him investigate in secret, and I believe there will be results soon. When that time comes, this servant will present them immediately for the Old Buddha to review."

Xici did not say much more:

"Very good. Xiao Li has worked hard. Once the matter is settled, I will record a great merit for you."

"I dare not. Compared to the Old Buddha, who exhausts her heart and mind for the sake of the country and handles ten thousand matters a day, this servant does not dare to claim hardship."

Li Liansheng said respectfully:

"Old Buddha, when this servant came over just now, I went to the Imperial Kitchen, and while I was at it, I brought the Qinglong Small Hanging Pear Soup prepared for you. The temperature should be just right now, otherwise, it would affect the taste for you."

Xici nodded:

"Present it."

Li Liansheng immediately turned around in person to open the food box, scooped a small bowl from the pot that was still emitting heat, and respectfully carried it before Xici:

"Old Buddha, please enjoy."

Xici reached out to take it, scooped a spoonful with measured movements, blew on it lightly, and then delivered it into her mouth.

And in just the next blink of an eye.

Pfft!

Xici's complexion changed abruptly; she suddenly spat out the soup in her mouth without regard for her image, emitting a furious, shrill sound:

"Scoundrel!"

Like a ghost or god in a rage, this sharp reprimand from Xici spread throughout the entire garden; the other palace maids and eunuchs inside and outside the pavilion were frightened out of their wits, their faces turning ashen, and as their legs went weak, they knelt to the ground, while Li Liansheng said with a look of terror:

"Ol-, Old Buddha, what happened!?"

Even though she had spat out that mouthful of soup, a tiny amount of toxin had still invaded; a faint, unnatural grey-blue color appeared on Xici's face at this moment, and she looked at Li Liansheng with a ferocious expression:

"There is poison in the soup! You scoundrel, did you not taste it first before bringing it here!?"

Knowing full well that the number of people in the world who wanted her dead was countless, Xici would always have her servants taste her food before every meal, morning or night, to avoid being poisoned or ambushed.

Li Liansheng said while trembling all over:

"This servant, this servant did taste it, there was no problem, this, this..."

As he spoke, his eyes became chaotic, and he began to painfully clutch his forehead, his head feeling as if it were about to explode.

Hm?

Seeing this scene, Xici's complexion changed again; a layer of visible Qi armor suddenly appeared all over her body, she retreated a step abruptly, and simultaneously shouted sharply:

"Someone, take Li Liansheng down for me!"

Two Niangan Office guards stepped forward at the first moment, their Yingzhua tearing through the air, fiercely locking onto Li Liansheng's left and right shoulders, instantly dislocating his shoulder and arm joints, causing Li Liansheng to emit another painful muffled groan.

Subsequently, another guard leaned down and searched Li Liansheng's body, finally discovering a small porcelain bottle, and immediately turned to present it to Xici:

"Old Buddha, there is a discovery!"

Xici looked at Li Liansheng, whose condition was clearly abnormal, with a livid face:

"Was the poison planted by you, this scoundrel servant!? What kind of poison is this?"

The captured Li Liansheng's expression twisted and shifted; suddenly changing from his usual fawning and servile manner, he laughed wildly:

"What else could it be? Of course, it is 'Meteor Dragon'! You old witch shouldn't fail to recognize it, right? How about it, how does it taste to you!?"

Meteor Dragon!?

Hearing Li Liansheng's wild laughter, Xici's eyes changed drastically, and an incomparable chill instantly swept through her body and mind.

She certainly would not forget the Meteor Dragon Poison; this was a top-tier strange poison that Mankeduo had spent a great deal of time and energy to concoct according to the Five Poisons True Scripture, specifically effective against Qi, capable of poisoning a True Martial Grandmaster-level powerhouse to death, and even she was quite wary of it.

But at that time, only one portion of this poison had been successfully concocted, and it had already been taken by Mankeduo to deal with Lu Yuan, who was far away in Jinjin. How could it appear in her soup today, and it seemed to have been planted by Li Liansheng, the old servant and confidant she trusted so much!?

One must know that Li Liansheng had entered the palace for over forty years and had served by her side for over ten years; her trust in him was even higher than that of her own blood descendants. How could she have imagined that one day she would be harmed by him?

An indescribable shock and rage surged like a stormy sea; Xici used her Qi to suppress and expel the trace amounts of toxin affecting her body, furious to the extreme:

"Audacious servant, you deserve to die ten thousand times!"

Her sharp reprimand caused a rolling, murderous pressure to surge out like a tsunami; the thousands of flowers throughout the pavilion and its surroundings trembled, and even the two Niangan Office experts holding Li Liansheng felt their hearts turn cold and tremble, almost subconsciously wanting to kneel to the ground.

And under the impact of this coercive pressure, Li Liansheng's eyes became chaotic and vacant again, and he began to shake his head desperately, as if wanting to make himself sober up.

After shaking it fiercely a few times, combined with the pain in his body, Li Liansheng seemed to finally break free from the influence of the illusory memory cognition, staring blankly at Xici, who looked like a ghost or god in a rage before him:

"Ol-, Old Buddha?"

"This, what is this? This servant just now..."

Seeing this situation, Xici's face twitched, her tone icy:

"This is being manipulated in spirit... Quickly go and invite Elder Bu Tiansuo here!"

Even though she had only stepped into the Eighth Realm after receiving the Empowerment Great Method from the previous Sect Leader, Xici had lived long enough that her vision and experience were far beyond what an ordinary Grandmaster could compare to; at this moment, she saw at a glance that Li Liansheng seemed to have had his spirit influenced by some kind of Evil Method or strange art, leading him to betray her and plant the poison.

And among the three Mangyi Great Shamans of the Shaman God Sect, Bu Tiansuo was the only one who followed the Daoist Arts path of soul cultivation; no one in the entire Jin Dynasty could surpass him in his understanding of various Daoist Arts.

Following Xici's order, the eunuchs outside the pavilion, who had been completely shocked by this scene, suddenly came to their senses; with trembling legs, they hurriedly acknowledged the order and then flew out to seek Bu Tiansuo.

At the same time, in the pavilion, Xici spoke again, shouting sharply:

"You dog servant, who did you meet before you returned, and where did this Meteor Dragon Poison come from? Was it given by that Lu Yuan? Tell this Empress the truth!"

"If there is even half a concealment, I will make you wish for death!"

Realizing vaguely what he had done, Li Liansheng was terrified, crying out as if mourning his parents:

"Old Buddha, spare my life, Old Buddha, spare my life! Everything just now was absolutely not from this servant's own heart; it was that last night..."

Ssh!

Before he could finish speaking, a golden ray of light arrived from the void, instantly piercing Li Liansheng's chest and opening a bloody hole in his heart.

His mouth hung wide open, all his expressions frozen, and at this instant, Xici was also shocked, looking suddenly toward a certain place:

"Who!"

Boom!

While speaking, her figure moved like lightning, suddenly rushing out; she struck out with a palm from a distance, just like a giant wave crashing through the sky. A massive Qi palm print, nearly a zhang in size, formed in the void, crushing the air as it blasted toward the suspected source of the golden light!

Wherever this palm print passed, the terrifying wind pressure exploded and surged, reverberating back and forth in the vast garden, one wave stronger than the next; the momentum was as strong as a stormy sea, like ten thousand horses galloping, a mountain flood erupting, a river bursting its banks, or heavenly fire burning a city...

Everything gave one the feeling that it was as if the Tathagata Buddha had struck this palm out of thin air, intending to cleanse and destroy all the sins and karmic debts of the world!

(End of chapter)