Chapter 696: The Bright Moon Reflects a Thousand Years, Leaving Datang, the Moon Wheel

A full moon hung high, shining brightly.

Scenes appeared one after another within the full moon.

The scenes began with a person writing in the Yushufang.

That person looked incredibly familiar; the Datang Emperor stared intently, and wasn't that person himself?

In the scene at this moment, the Emperor had just finished writing the five characters "Fish leap at this time in the sea," and was admiring them to himself.

Only this time, the Emperor in the scene did not feel sleepy, but instead waited for Master Yan Se to come and report that his and Chao Xiaoshu's plan had succeeded.

The next day, he flew into a rage in the imperial court.

These so-called pillars of the Imperial Court had used the power of the court and even the military for petty gains, which completely touched his bottom line. Thus, those who were to be demoted were demoted, those to be sent home were sent home, and those to be exiled to the frontier were exiled; even a prince was scolded by him.

It was just a pity that although he had purged the imperial court, he could not keep Brother Chao, who had long grown tired of palace infighting; in the end, the two had a huge argument, and Brother Chao left the palace, traveling the world with his sword.

Later, in the study, he discovered a piece with the five characters "Flowers bloom on the other shore," which were written with the style of a great master, and he liked them very much, though he did not know who had written them.

A few more scenes flashed by, and the Datang Emperor soon learned that the little fellow who wrote the "Flower Script" was a student of the Academy, and this little fellow later became the disciple of Fuzi and Master Yan Se.

Events continued to unfold scene by scene, and the Datang Emperor watched the bright moon on the horizon, completely immersed in it.

The scenes displayed in the moon were extremely consistent with reality, interlocking perfectly; the only difference from reality was perhaps that in the world within the moon, there was no uninvited guest named Yu Liancheng from beginning to end.

As the plot within the moon continued to develop, the Datang Emperor changed from relaxed and casual to tense; his lips were pressed tight, his expression grew slightly heavy, and his gaze was fixed on the moon, not blinking once.

This was only because the scenes in the moon had gradually turned unfavorable for Datang.

The Talisman Master Yan Se and the Great Divine Official of Light, Wei Guangming, perished together.

Ning Que's maid, Sang Sang, was the legendary daughter of Pluto.

In the battle to suppress the Wild People, Fuzi slew the golden giant dragon and fought a battle ascending to heaven, from then on becoming the moon, and Datang lost its true pillar of heaven.

Immediately following this, driven by the Xiling Divine Palace, the various Zhiguo attacked Datang.

Just at this time, he, the Datang Emperor, fell terminally ill and could no longer hold on, and died.

This vast empire had already fallen into a state of precariousness.

Emperor Li Zhongyi's heart tightened; he had originally thought that even if he died and Fuzi became the moon, Datang could still be maintained by its profound national foundation and the various gentlemen of the Second Floor.

However, the subsequent situation made the Emperor's mood grow worse and worse.

There was a traitor in the Haotian Dao Southern Gate, and the Jingshen Array was destroyed.

The Fourth Princess Li Yu, whom he doted on deeply, actually disregarded his last edict and forcibly pushed Li Hunyuan onto the throne.

The three jun of Hebei Dao rebelled, the Temple Master of Zhishou Temple appeared, and the Great General Xu Shi was killed by the Xiling Sect Leader...

One bad event after another followed in quick succession; even though he was only watching the moon, it still gave Li Zhongyi a feeling of being unable to breathe.

"Your Majesty, come back to your senses."

Just at this moment, a call came to the Emperor's ears.

The next moment, the full moon on the horizon suddenly shattered, turning into specks of starlight that scattered down.

The Datang Emperor Li Zhongyi was dazed for a moment, then suddenly woke up.

Yu Liancheng smiled and said, "Your Majesty, how was this realm?"

The Datang Emperor was silent for a long while, then sighed, "Is this Mr. Yu's method? It is truly mysterious beyond imagination, but why was there no sign of Mr. Yu?"

"I am a Person Beyond Heaven, so naturally I was not there," Yu Liancheng laughed.

The Datang Emperor took a deep breath, looked at Yu Liancheng again, and hesitated, "Earlier... was everything I saw real or an illusion? Or was it just a dream woven by Mr. Yu?"

Yu Liancheng said, "Your Majesty's wisdom is like the sea, and you have even organized the vast Tang Empire in perfect order; whether it is true or false, you must naturally distinguish it yourself."

The Datang Emperor was silent for another moment, "Then why did you bring me into this dream, sir?"

"The New Religion," Yu Liancheng said. "I believe Your Majesty must have heard of the New Religion. If one day the New Religion spreads throughout Datang, I hope Your Majesty can show leniency toward it. Only by replacing the Xiling Divine Palace with the New Religion can we further sever the connection between Haotian and the human world, so that when the world attacks Datang in the future, Datang will have a chance to catch its breath."

"As for Your Majesty's old wounds, take this pill; even if it cannot be completely cured, it can sustain Your Majesty's life for ten years..." Yu Liancheng handed a pill to the Datang Emperor.

Hearing Yu Liancheng's words, the Datang Emperor felt slightly stirred and took the medicine into his hand.

"Your Majesty is a smart man; I look forward to seeing what choice you make." Yu Liancheng's figure shattered and dissipated like the moon in the sky.

"Ah." The Datang Emperor woke up with a start, sat up straight, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and found that he was still in the study. He paused, his brow furrowed slightly: "What is going on? A dream of a yellow millet? But this dream was a bit too absurd, too real, and even now, I can still remember the details clearly."

Just then, a strange fragrance suddenly wafted from his right hand, and his palm felt warm; he opened his palm, and a pill was actually lying there.

"This... this..." The Datang Emperor's eyes widened, and he said with pleasant surprise, "So, everything was real. Can this pill really preserve my life for ten years?"

In the past, a woman from the Demon Sect had attempted to assassinate Li Zhongyi; although she did not kill him, she left him with a chronic illness.

Over these years, the Datang Emperor had been taking medicine to recuperate almost every day, but even so, he could sense that his end was not far off.

This was unavoidable; although there were ancient monsters like Fuzi who had lived for thousands of years in the Haotian world, there were not many things that could truly be counted as heavenly treasures, and there were certainly no precious medicines that could "bring the dead back to life and regrow flesh on bones."

Over these years, Li Zhongyi had indeed often worried about his injuries and illness.

Once he fell, who would be left to inherit this position?

However, it is worth mentioning that although the Demon Sect enchantress had severely wounded the Emperor back then, he had fallen in love with the enchantress who had tried to assassinate him.

That enchantress was named Xia Tian, who was also the current Empress, and she had an older brother named Xia Hou.

Looking at the pill in his hand, Li Zhongyi just smelled the faint fragrance emitted by the pill and felt a sense of lightness, his whole body feeling comfortable.

But he did not take it blindly; he would wait until he had the imperial physician check it first.

"That Mr. Yu does indeed have some methods. As for what was seen in that silver plate, perhaps it really could happen." Li Zhongyi's gaze flickered, and his brow revealed a look of contemplation.

Just then, an imperial guard knocked on the door and said from outside, "Your Majesty, Master Yan Se requests an audience, saying he has an urgent matter to report to Your Majesty."

"Let him in."

Soon, Yan Se rushed into the Yushufang in a hurry. Seeing that the Emperor was not missing any arms or legs, he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to report to the Emperor what had happened tonight, the Datang Emperor said, "Master Yan Se, you have come at the right time. I want you to secretly investigate someone."

Looking at the Emperor's serious expression, Yan Se was slightly startled, "Please give your orders, Your Majesty."

"The National Master's first disciple, He Mingchi. Investigate this person in secret; do not tell anyone, not even the National Master himself." The Datang Emperor's gaze grew cold.

It was simple to verify the events of the dream; one only needed to verify and investigate some of the situations in the dream that had not yet occurred.

In reality, the Emperor of Datang still trusted Yu Liancheng quite a bit.

The reason is simple.

According to what he knew, because that Mr. Yu had been living in the Back Mountain during this period, if the other party truly harbored ill intentions toward Datang, he feared the person would have already been beaten until their head was covered in bumps by Fuzi using a Short Stick.

"Yes..."

Although Yan Se was puzzled, he still agreed, then reported the events that occurred tonight, and secretly probed for the Emperor's attitude toward the New Religion.

The Chunfeng Ting incident drew to a close amidst the Emperor's angry shouts.

Afterward came another grand event in Chang'an: the Academy was recruiting students, and the Emperor attended in person, with strict and solemn ceremonial guards.

The Academy tested six subjects, among which Young Master Xie from Dahe Kingdom received top marks in two. There was also a small soldier from the border town named Ning Que who received top marks in three subjects, which was very dazzling.

The next day, the Academy officially began classes.

Just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Ning Que took a carriage to the outside of the Academy, straightened the right lapel of his student uniform, took out the small bronze mirror that Sang Sang had stuffed into his bag during the night to check that the black headscarf on his head wasn't crooked, and only after confirming everything was correct did he step off the carriage.

After greeting the students who were chatting outside the school gate, he walked alone into the main entrance.

"Any dropout who comes out of the Academy is a Sword Master; Lü Qingchen and the Princess mention the Academy with extreme respect; yesterday when the Academy recruited students, even the Emperor came out, but why are the people here all about the same as me, and I don't see anything special?"

At this moment, Ning Que had already walked alone past the Academy's main gate, crossed the stone terrace, and moved away from the main building; not far ahead on the street were the bustling study halls, and one could faintly hear the students' conversations.

"There is nothing special in this world to begin with; the Imperial Palace is like this, the Xiling Divine Palace is like this, and those Buzhi Zhidi are also like this; what could the Academy possibly have that is special?"

Hearing this voice, Ning Que's expression did not change, but his right hand suddenly tensed, ready at any moment to reach for the large black umbrella strapped to his back; the difficult living environment from his childhood made him instinctively judge any sudden situation as dangerous.

A figure appeared in Ning Que's field of vision.

The person who arrived was dressed in black, handsome to the point of being almost dazzling.

"It's you!?"

When he saw this person's appearance, Ning Que's muscles tensed even more, full of caution; this was the man in black who had appeared when Xiao Hei had vanished for no reason, and he suspected that Xiao Hei's disappearance at that time had a great deal to do with the person before him.

"Rest easy, rest easy, we are not enemies for now." Yu Liancheng waved his hand, a breeze-like smile seemingly on his face.

Ning Que's body immediately relaxed, every muscle loosening; he could clearly feel that his hostility toward the person before him was melting away like ice and snow. However, his mood became tense, tense to the point of feeling some fear. He could guarantee that the only person in the whole world who could completely erase his hostility was Sang Sang.

His deceased parents could not.

The vanished Xiao Hei could not either.

What's more, he had only seen the person before him twice, and didn't even know his name.

Yu Liancheng's gaze fell on the cloth case behind Ning Que, as if he could see what was inside, and he smiled slightly: "That umbrella on your back is quite interesting, may I take a look?"

Ning Que very much wanted to refuse.

But this thought of refusal also dissipated just like the hostility.

Thus, he helplessly took a large black umbrella from the cloth case behind him and handed it to Yu Liancheng.

With a "thud," Yu Liancheng opened the large black umbrella; the moment it opened, Yu Liancheng felt as if he had arrived in a world of Darkness, isolated from everything in the outside world.

"A bit interesting." Yu Liancheng muttered to himself; the large black umbrella was a treasure second only to the Buddha's Chessboard, and its ability was very simple: it was to block attacks. As long as one hid under the large black umbrella, there were very few things that could penetrate it. This umbrella was one of the safeguards Haotian had in the human world.

Yu Liancheng returned the large black umbrella to Ning Que and asked with a smile: "How did you deal with that old man who was pestering your Sang Sang on that rainy day?"

Ning Que replied subconsciously: "He is working as a handyman at Old Brush Studio."

"Heh heh, a Great Divine Official working as a handyman; young man, you have a lot of face." Yu Liancheng patted Ning Que on the shoulder and smiled: "Don't be too good to that old man, otherwise you will regret it in the future."

Having said that, he waved his hand and turned to leave: "See you again if fate allows, young man."

When Yu Liancheng completely walked out of the side alley, Ning Que's original feeling of fear suddenly surged up; his heart felt as if it had sunk into an ice cellar, and he felt a boundless chill rising in his heart.

"This person... who exactly is he..."

Ning Que was a person who had killed his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood; he had thought he would not feel fear, but he was wrong...

"He told me not to be too good to Lao Wei, otherwise I will regret it in the future; why is that?" Ning Que frowned, deep in thought, for he was no fool: "Could it be that Lao Wei is my enemy? Did he also participate in the events of that year? But this is impossible..."

On the other side, Yu Liancheng had already walked to a secluded side gate of the Academy.

A lonely ox cart was parked at the side gate.

First Brother Li Manman sat on the shaft of the ox cart and smiled at Yu Liancheng.

Yu Liancheng nodded, lifted the carriage curtain, and stepped into the carriage.

"How is it? Did you see my new disciple?" An ordinary old man's voice came out, accompanied by the rich fragrance of wine.

"I saw him." Yu Liancheng's voice rose, followed by the sound of "gulping" wine.

"How is he?"

"He is a good seedling for killing."

"Haha, among my disciples, I am just lacking someone who can fight. By the way, where are you going this time?"

"Hanging Temple."

"That place is not clean."

"It is precisely because it is not clean that I must go; I once promised an old monk that I would sweep away the dust there."

"Heh heh, good ambition."

After traveling a distance with Fuzi and Li Manman, Yu Liancheng parted ways with the two and headed west, toward the Yuelun Kingdom.

And in the Yuelun Kingdom, there was the Buddhist Buzhi Zhidi, Hanging Temple, a place as dirty and filthy as the Xiling Divine Palace.

Moon Wheel.

Located in the far west of Datang.

Because it was extremely close to the Buddhist Buzhi Zhidi, Hanging Temple, everyone in the Yuelun Kingdom, from the monarch to the peddlers and porters, believed in the Buddha Sect and pursued a realm of being free from worldly disputes; although the Dahe Kingdom, which had a blood feud with the Yuelun Kingdom, would certainly not think so, at least within the Yuelun Kingdom, there were indeed very few instances of powerful officials plotting rebellion or shocking blood cases.

It was also because they were influenced by the philosophy of the Buddha Sect that many cities in the Yuelun Kingdom had no city walls.

Chaoyang City of the Yuelun Kingdom also has no city walls and can be entered or exited at will.

Yu Liancheng stepped into Chaoyang City, looked around, and a cold sneer curled the corners of his mouth.

Can this even be considered a Buddha Kingdom?

This nation appears relaxed and peaceful, but in reality, it is corrupt and cruel; it is truly laughable.

The reason Yu Liancheng had such thoughts was because of what he had seen and heard along the way.

The Yuelun Kingdom has no city walls or city gates; the soldiers responsible for collecting taxes simply set up a few tables and sun umbrellas to serve as a tax station. Yet, the taxes collected in Chaoyang City are even higher than those collected in Chang'an, the greatest city in the world. As for the reason, it is very simple: the Yuelun Kingdom levies taxes ten times higher than the Tang Kingdom.

In Chaoyang City, Buddhist temples can be seen everywhere, with jewels embedded above them, yet no beggar holding a broken bowl dares to try and pry one off. The reason is also very simple, because stealing Buddhist jewels results in having one's hands chopped off, or even being beaten to death. Even if one truly managed to steal a jewel, no one would dare to accept it.

As for those Buddhist monks who claim to view all living beings as equal, not a single one of them casts their gaze upon the filthy and ugly beggars.

The Yuelun Kingdom is sick.

Yu Liancheng cannot be bothered to care.

The only reason this Yuelun Kingdom has not been crushed by its neighbor, the Dahe Kingdom, is entirely because the Xiling Divine Palace and the Buddha Sect have been interfering to favor them.

Once he wipes out the Xiling Divine Palace and the Buddha Sect, then this Yuelun Kingdom in the future... hehe...

"I remember that the Flower Addict among the Three Idiots of the World seems to be in Chaoyang City. Although this Flower Addict is the weakest in strength, it is said that she is the most beautiful among the Three Idiots; should I go take a look?"

Just as this thought arose, Yu Liancheng shook his head again.

He first had Little Red Fish kill the Flower Addict's fiancé, Longqing Prince, and then personally slaughtered her aunt, Quni Madi, at Lanke Temple; if the Flower Addict Lu Chenjia didn't stab him seven or eight times upon meeting, it would be because she was kind-hearted, so he should forget about such things as chasing after beauty.

This trip is for the sake of saving countless serfs and fulfilling his promise, so he will not create extra complications.

After casting aside distracting thoughts, Yu Liancheng suddenly felt his image become infinitely tall and grand; Amitabha.

The Buddhist faith speaks of the eight sufferings of life, and "meeting those one hates" is one such suffering—those who harbor hatred and resentment are forced to be entangled together, unable to break free.

Yu Liancheng soon faced the suffering of meeting those one hates.

He encountered the Flower Addict.

The Flower Addict, Lu Chenjia.