Chapter 341: The First Imperial Prince

47th Year of Hongguang, January 6th.

Five days after the sacrifice to heaven ended, Yunshu was finally returning.

The Zhengfa Pavilion sent a True Person to station in the Great Daluo Sect.

Of course, this True Person did not undertake any affairs in the Great Daluo Sect, nor did he have any authority.

He represented the imperial court's supervision of the Great Daluo Sect!

Even if this supervision only had superficial significance, it was enough to change many things.

Just like Yunshu presiding over the grand ceremony of sacrificing to heaven with Tai Yu every year from now on.

After the True Person of the Zhengfa Pavilion arrived, Yunshu took Li Fei and the others to leave the Great Daluo Sect, taking a special train in Daluo Town to return to Lanling City.

On the train, Lu Wenxing took the opportunity to roughly explain to Li Fei what had happened over the past period of time:

"Previously, seeing you, my lord, immersed in cultivation all day, I didn't disturb you. But now that we have left the Great Daluo Sect and are about to return to the capital, there are some things I think you should know, my lord."

Under his narration, Li Fei learned what had happened over the past two-plus months:

The Great Daluo Sect's influence on the Great Lan Dynasty was not limited to Ming Province; there were people from the Great Daluo Sect in the Zhengfa Courts of seven or eight provinces.

Over the past two-plus months, Yunshu sat in the Great Daluo Sect, while the imperial court cleared out the "tentacles" of the Great Daluo Sect outside.

In two-plus months, the Zhengfa Courts of over a hundred cities were cleared once!

Twenty-three provinces, including the Central Forbidden Army, all border armies, and the baleful weapons used by the Imperial Camp Army were all checked once.

Besides that, a total of eleven cabinet officials, seventy-seven seat officials, and four hundred and fifty-nine imperial court officials were imprisoned!

As for the implicated subordinate officials and clerk officials, they were countless!

And this was already handling it leniently; otherwise, the number of people to be handled could be several times more!

After all, the Great Daluo Sect was the ancestral court of Daoism, and it was inevitable that the imperial court would involve people from the other two sects in the process of handling it.

Regarding this, the attitude given by the Central Cabinet was to release them if possible, and they did not kill them all just because of the Great Daluo Sect.

After all, targeting just the Great Daluo Sect was already no different from scraping bone to treat poison!

A towering tree that had existed for over eight hundred years fell, and the roots pulled out along with it were truly too many to imagine...

"My lord, after returning to the capital this time, do you intend to bring up the matter of retrying the old case?"

Lu Wenxing said to Li Fei, starting to talk about future matters.

He knew that Li Fei had taken on the case of the Longevity Pill at the court meeting previously just to restart an old case.

Li Fei did not hide it and nodded: "That's right, although the Longevity Pill wasn't found, with the merit I've established, it should be enough to exchange for an opportunity to retry the case."

Lu Wenxing looked into Li Fei's eyes: "My lord, forgive me for being blunt, your merit might be enough, but this time returning to face the Emperor, you had best not bring up this matter actively; you must let His Majesty bring it up."

Li Fei smiled.

With his experience from his previous life, he naturally understood what taboos those in power had.

If there is merit, it should naturally be rewarded, but specifically how to reward and what to reward should not be brought up by him actively.

Lu Wenxing hesitated for a moment, then said softly: "If you are worried that the matter won't succeed, my lord, you can ask His Highness the Crown Prince for help."

Li Fei was startled and looked at the opponent somewhat unexpectedly: "Do you think I should stand on the Crown Prince's side?"

Lu Wenxing first used a strand of force to completely wrap the space inside the private room, ensuring that the sound wouldn't spread out, and then said cautiously:

"In my humble opinion, if His Highness the Crown Prince doesn't make mistakes, the chance of success in the future should be the greatest."

Li Fei looked into Lu Wenxing's eyes and saw a piece of sincerity.

These words were a top-tier taboo no matter where they were said or to whom!

That the opponent could say such words to him meant that he truly intended to mix with him in the future.

"Then what do you think of the other two Imperial Princes?"

Since Lu Wenxing had spoken to this point, Li Fei no longer "stood on ceremony" and continued to deepen the topic.

Lu Wenxing was very happy to hear this.

Li Fei being able to talk about this with him meant that he had started to treat him as one of his own, so he decided to take out some "dry goods":

"I entered the capital fifteen years ago and entered the Zhige Pavilion; I have sat in this position for fifteen years. I don't have great skills, but I consider myself to have a bit of discernment. Of the two Imperial Princes in the court, the First Imperial Prince is brave and domineering, and the Third Imperial Prince is gentle and deep. It looks like the First Imperial Prince is more reckless and unwise, but if I were to say, if there really is a ten-thousand-to-one chance, the First Imperial Prince's opportunity is actually greater."

"Oh?"

Li Fei was somewhat surprised.

He recalled the First Imperial Prince who chased him out of the palace to step on him; he had thought he was a narrow-minded, arrogant person, but he hadn't expected Lu Wenxing's evaluation of him to be even higher than the Third Imperial Prince's.

"My lord should know that most imperial family members don't have very high martial arts achievements or technique cultivation."

Lu Wenxing said.

"Yes."

"Just because the children of a thousand gold don't sit in the hall, it is originally the most noble life under heaven; how many people are willing to take such a good life to fight with poor and lowly people?"

"..."

"But there are always some anomalies in the imperial family, and the First Imperial Prince is one of them."

"Just because of his martial arts achievements, you think more highly of him?"

"Of course not just that; does my lord know His Highness King Li?"

"I know, the Emperor's uncle, a Martial Saint of the human world."

"His Highness King Li might be closer to the First Imperial Prince!"

Lu Wenxing said somewhat nervously.

Li Fei revealed a look of surprise: "... How do you know such things? Or is it that everyone knows?"

"How could everyone know."

Lu Wenxing laughed.

Li Fei also reacted that he had asked a stupid question.

Imagine if a member of the imperial family with the cultivation of a Martial Saint publicly approached an Imperial Prince who had the opportunity to fight for the dragon chair; what kind of scene would that be?

No matter who became the Emperor, it would be impossible to allow such a thing to appear!

Li Fei looked at Lu Wenxing, not expecting the opponent to actually expose a "big melon" to him!

"This matter is also just my speculation, there is no solid evidence."

Lu Wenxing said, "I serve as the Supervisor of the Strange Artifact Division in the Zhige Pavilion, responsible for the casting, maintenance, distribution, etc., of strange weapons in Yong Province. About nine years ago, the Zhige Department of Yong Province submitted an application to request a level 5 strange weapon for a regular martial master.

I read that merit-requesting record; it was a record of suppressing bandits. The Zhige Department of Yong Province calculated most of the merit to this regular martial master because his performance was the most outstanding. But even so, with his merit this time, it was very difficult to obtain a level 5 strange weapon.

This person had no background, and no one had greeted me in advance, so the approval I gave was not to pass, and then I submitted this matter up. As a result, the above actually approved this application.

Of course, such things had happened before... I didn't pay attention to it, until half a year later when a good friend of mine in Yong Province came to Lanling City, and when I talked to him, he said that a junior in his family had gained the appreciation of King Li's Mansion; this junior was the person for whom the Zhige Department of Yong Province had requested a level 5 strange weapon before.

I was somewhat surprised after hearing it, because King Li's Mansion had no connections in the Zhige Pavilion, and that application for a level 5 strange weapon was ultimately approved by Pavilion Member Lu Feng, and Elder Lu is a person on the First Imperial Prince's side."

After listening, Li Fei sorted out the connections inside.

King Li had his own fief, which was in Yong Province, so King Li's Mansion was also in Yong Province, it was just that King Li himself was in Lanling City all year round.

But being able to be appreciated by King Li's Mansion and doing things for the Mansion could naturally be counted as King Li's person.

"You mean to say that the regular martial master in Yong Province nine years ago was able to obtain that level 5 strange weapon only through the First Imperial Prince's relationship, and this regular martial master ultimately became King Li's person?"

Lu Wenxing nodded: "That's right, so I said there is no solid evidence, just speculation. After all, this regular martial master only started working for King Li's Mansion after obtaining the level 5 strange weapon."

Li Fei: "But just relying on this one thing, to say that King Li stood on the First Imperial Prince's side is far from enough; perhaps it was just a show of goodwill."

Li Fei murmured.

"My lord, even if it was just a show of goodwill, the First Imperial Prince being able to let King Li's Mansion accept this show of goodwill nine years ago also shows that the First Imperial Prince is not as simple as he looks."

Lu Wenxing said.

Li Fei was startled, then nodded: "Indeed."

In a world where martial power is respected, the support of a Martial Saint is naturally a very heavy bargaining chip; even if it was just a possibility, Lu Wenxing was willing to place the First Imperial Prince's ranking ahead of the Third Imperial Prince's.

He said these things to Li Fei at this time, naturally because Li Fei had already offended the First Imperial Prince, and offended him severely!

"I will not choose a side."

Since Lu Wenxing gave such a secret, Li Fei did not hide his thoughts.

He did not intend to stand on the Crown Prince's side.

After he was ordered to investigate the Longevity Pill case, the Crown Prince and the Third Imperial Prince had each had a conversation with him.

The two had completely opposite views on this case; the Crown Prince advised Li Fei to give up the investigation, while the Third Imperial Prince told Li Fei that this was a very good opportunity.

The final result proved that what the Third Imperial Prince said was correct.

Afterward, Li Fei thought about it: did the Crown Prince really not know the inside story here?

If he really didn't know, why was it him who went to the Great Daluo Sect, why was it him who personally came forward to win over Buddhism, and why was it him who spoke for Buddhism at the court meeting in the end?

Without knowing the imperial court's plan in advance, did the Crown Prince really dare to offend Daoism so unscrupulously?

And if he knew, the Crown Prince should have been very clear that Li Fei going to the Great Daluo Sect to investigate the Longevity Pill case would not have any risk; this was a test from the Emperor to him.

So the mind of this Crown Prince was actually also worth deep thought.

Li Fei had never thought about relying on the opponent, and now he would be even less likely to get too close to the opponent.

"That's right, my lord has established great merit this time and has the opportunity to soar into the sky; plus your talent and brilliance, my lord, you can become a towering tree yourself, so you really don't need to rely on anyone."

In the private room, Lu Wenxing said with certainty.

He could be sure that after returning this time, Li Fei would inevitably be heavily rewarded, it was just unknown to what extent.

At this time, the train happened to pass through a field of flowers.

Colorful flowers bloomed in competition under the sun, and the mountains in the distance rose and fell, layered and overlapping, lush and dripping with green.

A breeze blew, and the petals swayed gently.

Outside the train window, the scenery was just right.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 342 =====

Outside the carriage window, the scenery was just right.

(End of chapter)