Chapter 739

Look at me—my eye bags have gotten heavy, my hair is falling out.

Yet you, heartless and carefree, only know how to slack off…"

Wu Zetian looked at Shangguan Waner's exaggerated performance, her heart stirred, and she could not help stretching out her index finger to prop beneath her chin.

Then she gently lifted it and examined her closely.

"Mm! This is clearly radiant and glowing—where is even the slightest hint of fatigue?

Eye bags? This is clearly eyeshadow, alright?"

Shangguan Waner, being looked at like this by her, could not help but feel a wry, helpless smile.

She lightly patted away her hand and said,

"Alright, alright! With state affairs so busy lately, how can you still not attend court properly?"

Wu Zetian had no choice but to briefly recount what had just happened in the great hall.

After hearing it, Shangguan Waner asked with a wry, helpless smile,

"Your Majesty the Empress, do you really think experts on the Heavenly Dao Gold List are like cabbages? That they can just appear anywhere?"

Your Majesty, you're being a touch too self-flattering!

"Then why did Great Qin first have some ghost of a Lishan Plan that produced Xuan Jian and Wang Ben!

And then Great Yuan had its Thirteen Wings and the reincarnated one.

And now, to top it off, even a tiny Daoist school has produced a Heavenly Dao Gold List expert like Master Xiaomeng."

As she spoke, Wu Zetian pouted and argued indignantly.

"This…"

Shangguan Waner was instantly at a loss for words.

Thinking about it, what Her Majesty the Empress said did seem to make some sense.

The Lishan Plan, the Great Yuan Fomen reincarnation, the Thirteen Wings—these counted as efforts at the national level.

Great Tang had naturally also prepared related plans, they just had not yet been revealed.

But the existence of Master Xiaomeng somewhat challenged the imagination of the other powers.

Great Qin's Daoists, nicely put, were a Daoist Zong Sect.

Put less nicely, they were really just a mid-tier Men Sect.

After all, their sect had never even had a Heavenly Being Realm expert to begin with.

A sect like that could not compare to the three great imperial courts, nor even to the Xuanxinzheng Sect.

So why did their Heaven Sect and Humanity Sect join forces and produce an expert like Master Xiaomeng?

"What you say does have some reason to it."

Shangguan Waner gave a soft sigh and said,

"How about this! Once this matter is settled, I'll personally have the Luan Guard sweep through all sects within the Great Tang Realm.

Any sect with secret arts like Great Qin's Daoists—no matter the cost—order them to hand them over."

"Should have done this long ago…"

Wu Zetian, seeing Shangguan Waner say this, immediately brightened up a bit,

"Actually, it doesn't have to be a method that produces Heavenly Dao Gold List experts.

Even ones that can only produce Heavenly Being Realm, or even Earthly Immortal Realm experts, would do.

After all, when it comes to experts, the more the merrier."

"Yes! I obey your command, my Empress Your Majesty."

Shangguan Waner bowed and accepted the order.

The two immediately burst into laughter together.

After a while, once the laughter and play were done, Shangguan Waner finally asked,

"Do you know the good news from the front lines has arrived?"

"What good news? Don't all reports go through you first, and only then do I find out?"

Wu Zetian did not have the slightest intention of blaming her—this had always been her arrangement.

Seeing Di Renjie had his own channels for memorials, Shangguan Waner had her own channels for intelligence.

Even Zhang Jianzhi had his censors and informants.

In short, news not coming from a single source was actually for the best.

"Oh! I forgot—I just received this news myself and was about to tell you."

Shangguan Waner deliberately kept her in suspense for a moment.

"Tell me…"

Wu Zetian, playing along, grabbed her arm and started acting coquettishly.

By now her palace maids had long since sealed off the surroundings, leaving the space entirely to these two supreme figures of Great Tang.

"Do you know of the great victory at Yanmen Pass?"

Shangguan Waner's eyes lit up as she said with some excitement.

"Oh? That little whelp of the Sikong Yuchi family is not bad, eh."

Sikong Yuchi Gong was a founding meritorious official of Tang, honored with a place on the Lingyan Pavilion.

Sikong Yuchi Zhen was his descendant, which is why Wu Zetian put it that way.

"It has something to do with him, but you could also say it doesn't."

Looking at the information on the battle report, Shangguan Waner again gave a wry, helpless smile, suddenly feeling she should not have brought this up in front of Wu Zetian.

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

Sure enough, Wu Zetian's curiosity had been piqued; she didn't even look at the battle report, only turning to ask Shangguan Wan.

Shangguan Wan then laid out the situation at Yanmen Pass in full detail.

Naturally, she began with how Sikong Yuchi Zhen, wielding his Kanglong Mace, had often sallied forth to give battle, holding Yanmen Pass for seven days with a mere five thousand men.

Then came the part about how the Tang Army joined forces, letting Sikong Yuchi Zhen pay the price of shattering the bones in his fingers to hack down Boerhu's great banner.

Hearing this, Wu Zetian couldn't help but let slip a soft sigh of admiration.

It carried the meaning: "A tiger ancestor begets no dog-grandson."

Right after that came the moment of final decisive battle.

Hearing that Meng Chixing — a master barely clinging to the bottom of the Heavenly Dao Golden List — had been driven back in a single strike by Sikong Yuchi Zhen.

And that Meng Chixing hadn't even dared to counterattack again.

Wu Zetian could no longer contain her curiosity and asked,

"How is that possible? No matter how weak Meng Chixing is, he's still a master on the Heavenly Dao Golden List, isn't he?

Under heaven, though it may look like there are many masters above him, in truth there are very few.

Even within our Great Tang Realm, there aren't many who surpass him.

How could that boy Sikong Yuchi Zhen defeat him in a single move?"

"The Qinglong Society!"

Shangguan Wan said those three words with a smile in the corner of her eye.

"Huh? What do you mean? Spell it out for me!"

Wu Zetian had already been growing increasingly fond of the Qinglong Society — to be precise, she had been harboring fantasies about Ximen Wudi.

Now hearing such an outlandish story connected to the Qinglong Society, Wu Zetian grew even more curious.

"It's like this! Earlier I didn't mention how that brat Pei Xingjian had the nerve of the devil, disguising himself as an altar master of the Qinglong Society to defend Yanmen Pass, right?"

Shangguan Wan then laid out the Qinglong Society's entanglement with Yanmen Pass, as well as the appearance of Yi Tianxing, the November Hall Master.

"But even so, that wouldn't be enough to let Sikong Yuchi Zhen defeat Meng Chixing in a single strike, would it?"

Wu Zetian still felt something was off. By Shangguan Wan's account, Yi Tianxing moved freely in and out of the Yuan army camp.

It looked like high cultivation, but in truth it was the prestige of the Qinglong Society's name.

If even he couldn't defeat Meng Chixing in a single strike, how could Sikong Yuchi Zhen transform into a flash of lightning and defeat him in one move?

"It's said that all of this seems to be connected to the Great Dragon Head."

At this point, Shangguan Wan couldn't help but raise her head.

That place was where the Sword Realm had first opened.

"Huh?"