Chapter 341

Li Miao squinted his eyes and looked at the Emperor on the dragon chair, their eyes meeting in mid-air. He suddenly stepped forward and reached out to block Zhu Zai behind him.

The Emperor slowly turned his head, his gaze only following Li Miao tightly. Although there was no movement, his spirit was full, and his body was faintly surging with *Qi* more vast and vigorous than Li Miao's.

When Li Miao left the capital half a year ago, the Emperor was still in a confused and haggard state, not only in speech and action, but even eating had to be fed mouthful by mouthful. If it weren't for this, Li Miao wouldn't have been at ease leaving Shuntian.

But now, Li Miao couldn't see any difference between the Emperor and before he was possessed last year. Even the touch of stubbornness in his eyes had disappeared, and a pair of eyes were like deep pools, unable to find a trace of emotion.

With the shortcomings in temperament removed, even if both were in the realm of four paths combined, with the Emperor's foundation, Li Miao didn't have the certainty of winning.

The corners of Li Miao's mouth slowly split into a ferocious arc, and his black gold gloves slowly clenched, making a creaking sound.

"Commander."

He didn't look back, greeting, wanting Zhu Zai to exit the hall first.

But following the end of his sentence, two voices sounded at the same time.

"Big Li."

"Big Li."

One came from behind, one came from the dragon chair in front.

"?"

Li Miao's curled mouth stiffened.

"What kind of thing?"

He looked at the Emperor who stood up.

"What did you call me just now?"

The Emperor's movement stiffened, it seemed he was also embarrassed, hesitated for a while, before he slowly exhaled.

"Li Aiqing... in Nanjing, were you hurt by the thieves?"

The Emperor walked down the steps, his gaze scanning Li Miao, as if observing whether Li Miao was injured, and after a while, he nodded slowly.

"It's good that you're fine... thank you for your hard work."

Li Miao's expression became increasingly strange.

"It's not you who should say these things to me... Commander, what is the procedure for this?"

Zhu Zai and the Emperor spread their hands together.

"As you can see."

Li Miao's gaze went back and forth between the two.

*Slap.

He covered his face with a palm and slid down slowly.

"Sect Leader Ji... good job..."

Li Miao suddenly remembered that after defeating the Emperor in the Imperial Mausoleum, he proposed to use Zhu Zai as a blueprint for the *Gu* insects controlling the Emperor, and Ji Tianrui seemed to show a playful smile on her face.

But this demoness was always like that, even if her mother died and she was cut in half, her face would always have an inscrutable smile, plus she didn't say anything, so Li Miao didn't care at the time.

Now that he thought about it... Ji Tianrui was laughing at him at the time.

Laughing at him for recognizing a thief as a father.

"Big... Li Aiqing..."

The Emperor hesitated to speak.

"Shut up first."

Li Miao raised a hand, and pointed at Zhu Zai, who was relying on his long beard to cover his smile, but his shoulders were shrugging non-stop.

"You too."

After a long while, he let out a long sigh.

"I shouldn't have believed that demoness."

"Forget it... the Qianqing Palace gate is too big, it's inevitable that some eunuchs and maids will pass by, let's find a quiet place to talk."

————————

Qianqing Palace back hall, where the Emperor lives.

Li Miao lay back in the chair, supporting his face with his left hand, his gaze scanning the Zhu Zai and the Emperor sitting upright opposite him.

Zhu Zai was leisurely sipping tea, his eyes stealing a glance at Li Miao from time to time. "This old man..."

Li Miao curled his lips and looked at the Emperor on the side.

There was no difference in appearance from before, thin cheeks, full forehead, eyes bright and energetic, three strands of long beard hanging down from the chin, looking less like an Emperor, more like a Daoist.

But this demeanor... couldn't find half a similarity to before.

Even, Li Miao could see that he was a bit nervous.

The cultivation of the Celestial realm, the three paths of life are perfect, and naturally there will be no big flaws under deliberate concealment. But Li Miao could naturally see the Emperor's current emotions from his somewhat rapid breathing, slightly dodging eyes, and surging *Qi*.

Looking like that kind of old man who hasn't seen his children for many years, wanting to get closer but not knowing how to open his mouth.

"Tsk."

Li Miao curled his lips and looked at Zhu Zai.

"Commander, talk about it."

Zhu Zai put down the teacup and cleared his throat.

"Hmm, in short, the *Gu* insects left by that demoness Ji Tianrui have problems, at least they are not the same as the possession of the Miao King."

"The current Majesty has lost most of his previous memories, and the remaining memories are fragmented, only instinctively maintaining consistency with my likes and dislikes."

"That is to say..."

Li Miao took over the conversation.

"He is now the same as you who lost your memory."

"Correct."

Zhu Zai nodded, picked up the teacup again, and sipped, his eyes aiming at Li Miao from above the teacup.

Li Miao let out a long sigh.

"No wonder... no wonder you still handle political affairs yourself. Logically speaking, the Emperor's methods are a hundred times better than yours, it's just that he didn't care much about the world before..."

"No wonder those civil officials who were firmly held in the Emperor's hands before dared to fight with you who were unconditionally supported by the Emperor... they have already noticed something wrong..."

"So that's how it is... can you stop looking at me with that kind of eyes? I don't know what you feel, but I don't have any friendship with you." Li Miao pointed at the Emperor.

The Emperor's eyes dimmed, and he turned his head.

But he was so obedient, which made Li Miao increasingly irritable.

"What kind of broken thing is this!"

"Forget it... that Majesty over there."

The Emperor turned his head.

"Big—"

Changed his words abruptly under Li Miao's cold gaze.

"—Li Aiqing, what is it?"

"How much can you remember now, about Liu Jin's group of eunuchs?"

The Emperor pondered for a while and said sincerely.

"He doesn't have any background, he just sold himself into the palace as an ordinary family and became a eunuch. At first, he was responsible for sweeping at the Chenglu Terrace. One day, I saw him come to deliver dew, and it happened that I found his appearance pleasing, so I kept him by my side to serve."

"After I started practicing Wu Gong, I saw that he was gifted, making progress with each passing day, so I handed him a few tasks, all of which were done without a leak, so I trusted him more and more."

As he spoke, the Emperor raised his hand and grabbed it in the air, grabbing a stack of documents from a bookshelf on the side, and sent them lightly to Li Miao's hand.

"Before, I had some friction with Zhu Aiqing, and in recent years, the Ministry of War has intervened more and more in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so I wanted to establish a yamen in the inner court to replace the Embroidered Uniform Guard. These are the personnel selected."

Li Miao flipped through the stack of documents casually, and his brows frowned.

"The number of personnel doesn't look like much, but this quality is truly terrifying. First-class experts occupy a page."

"Also, with a pile of Celestial inheritances and massive resources in the palace, and deliberately searching from the world, it would be strange if they couldn't pile up these experts."

Li Miao closed the document, looked at the cover, and read in a deep voice.

"Eastern Depot."