In the dark attic, Song Xi held a bronze pestle more than a foot long and full of inscriptions, and walked quickly through the dark corridors of the palace.
Because when taking the pestle, the emperor screened everyone away, so the noise outside did not reach here for a while.
Because he did not have royal blood, the pestle had burned his palm until it was red and swollen, but Song Zi still held it tightly, his expression calm and almost indifferent.
He remembered the way the emperor looked at him in shock and panic just now, and couldn't help but smile.
"After being a king for more than ten years, I have only learned some superficial skills of the emperor and have not made any progress."
The corners of his mouth curled up coldly. Everything went smoothly, but some unnecessary blood was saved.
He followed the route that he had calculated countless times and walked towards the back of the palace.
After walking dozens of steps, he took out a ring from his robe. There were four keys hanging on the ring. These keys could open the lock on the only way to the rear palace door.
This morning, in the name of welcoming the immortal, he quietly took over these keys from the secret guards in the outer city.
At that time, when he looked at the replica keys, he realized that this matter had been secretly planned for a long time.
It's just that the young His Majesty still didn't know it.
As long as no one blocks him, the next road will be smooth for him.
It wasn't until he passed the first door that chaotic sounds finally sounded from behind.
"Song Zi! Since you don't have the blood of the emperor, taking this burning pestle will be harmful and useless. Don't go crazy!"
"Your Majesty is kind and kind. There is still room for you to turn around now."
A deep voice came from behind. The person speaking was still far away from me, but it was because of his deep internal energy that it reached his ears.
Song Zi was unmoved, walked through the You Pavilion, opened a door, and tied it behind his back after passing through.
Although many of those masters were secret guards of the palace, they were not as familiar with the structure of the palace as he was. Many secret doors and passages in the palace were so intricately designed that even the emperor was probably not aware of them.
Behind the gate, the sound of pursuit could be heard in the distance.
Song Zi walked quickly through the corridor. At the end of the corridor was a pavilion. He opened the door, then quickly and accurately counted the order of the floors, and raised a certain floor with the tip of the fire pestle. Walked into the secret passage.
At this moment, the emperor was sitting paralyzed in the rain. Several palace maids gathered around him, lifted him up from the ground, and carefully carried him into the palace.
The dragon robe was soaked by the rain, and the emperor looked pale and murmured to himself.
He has always trusted Song Tie, so why would he turn against himself? Is it just because I asked him to pull out the pestle once
Impossible... Could it be that...
The emperor held his forehead, only to feel pain in his head. He stumbled to his feet, pushed the palace maid away, and shouted: "Come here, grab Song Bian, I want to interrogate him personally!"
The palace maid said repeatedly: "Reporting to your majesty, the masters of the imperial guard have already gone to arrest him. The rebel has no martial arts skills and should be captured soon."
The expert guarding the emperor also said: "Could Song Zong be the illegitimate son of a certain prince? Otherwise, how could he drive that thing without the emperor's blood?"
The emperor was startled, then shook his head repeatedly and said: "No... no, Song Tie, Song Tie is impossible, he must be obeying someone..."
"Who could it be..."
The emperor held his head with a painful look on his face: "Don't those masters usually say that one is more powerful than the other? How come they are all a loser now, and they can't catch a Song Dynasty for so long?"
The emperor gasped for air, and the pain of being betrayed oppressed his heart. His eyes were red and extremely angry: "Trash... you can't catch it, I will catch it myself!"
The young emperor straightened up with a hoarse voice and walked towards the outside of the palace.
The palace maid wanted to stop him, but a minister who heard the sound pressed his hand and motioned for them to stop moving.
The emperor walked outside the palace gate again. He turned around. Those who were looking at him behind him either lowered their heads or looked away. The entire palace seemed to be echoing with faint sighs.
The emperor finally woke up a little. He sneered, his sleeves fluttered, and said: "You... won't you also want to betray me?"
The minister sighed: "I just hope that your majesty can calm down. Now that the imperial city is in trouble internally and externally, we must not mess up our position. Although the Song Dynasty took the fire pestle, it will never go far. Your majesty should not be so panicked."
The emperor looked at him and said angrily: "If the pestle falls into the hands of others... If the pestle falls into the hands of one of my younger brothers or uncles... Oh, they should have been killed long ago."
The guard replied: "The security is extremely tight today, and there is absolutely no one else near the palace."
The emperor sneered: "Then why did Song Tie do this? Is he a fool?"
No one in the palace answered.
The emperor looked at the heavy rain outside, and the light from the thunder and lightning struck his face, making it pale. Amidst the thunder that followed, the emperor's murmur was inaudible.
"Do you know what the Suzaku Burning Fire Pestle really means? Do you know... what is under this imperial city? If I am pressed into a hurry, I will release that thing. When the time comes, the country of Jin will be prosperous, and I will... We must die together with Nanzhou!"
The thunder died away, and the second half of his words echoed clearly in the palace.
He suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him, even the palace maids timidly raised their heads.
He realized he had said the wrong thing.
Even if he is the king of a country, he should not say such things.
He wanted to say something to make up for his majesty, but at that moment, a light flashed in his mind.
"Old monster... the palace is heavily guarded..." He suddenly shouted: "Who said it was heavily guarded? There are no guards guarding it there!"
"What your Majesty said is..."
"There is a well behind the main hall!" The emperor clenched his fists: "Is there anyone there to fortify it?"
The others became increasingly puzzled, "Your Majesty, are you talking about the well on Zhenghuang Road?"
"That's it!" the emperor said firmly.
The minister laughed dumbly: "The well is right in the middle of the road. There are so many people passing by it every day. How can there be anything strange about it?"
The emperor regained his composure, exhaled a breath, and said in a deep voice: "What do you know? Come here! Follow me to capture Song Bian."
…
…
The back door of the palace opened, and the two guards standing with halberds first nervously assumed a posture of facing the enemy, then withdrew and said respectfully: "Sir Song."
The chaos hadn't spread here yet, and they didn't know that Song Bian was already the criminal being searched for in the palace.
Song Xi nodded and walked forward.
One of the guards looked at him and frowned: "Where is Mr. Song going? Why did he come out from here?"
Song Zhi answered casually: "Your Majesty has explained some things. Don't ask questions that shouldn't be asked."
"Master Song, do you need an umbrella for you?"
Song side waved his hand: "No need, continue to guard the post, don't say anything more."
The guard quickly fell silent, but the other person noticed his hand and whispered: "Look... what is Master Song holding in his hand?"
The man lowered his voice, "It should be a treasure of the palace..."
"That's not right. This door has not been opened for many years. The commander-in-chief told us back then that only His Majesty holding the most precious weapon in the palace can open this door. Why did Mr. Song..."
"Is there any change?" The other's expression changed immediately.
Song Zi turned a deaf ear to their low-pitched conversation. Between a few words, he walked far away until he stopped at the ancient well in the middle of the road.
In order to prevent the palace ladies from slipping, the well has a high mouth and is surrounded by a jade fence. Because it is very close to the Changxiang Palace, the palace ladies often come to fetch water, and they have lived in peace for decades.
This well looks extremely ordinary.
Master Song, who was usually amiable to everyone, looked extremely solemn. He knelt down by the well, his knees soaked by the rain, and held the copper pestle in his hands with both hands.
The two guards finally realized something was wrong. Just when they were going to Song Side to see what he was up to, the sound of horse hooves sounded like rain on the side of the palace.
Song Tie raised his head, looked across the vast autumn rain, and looked at the group of people coming, slightly surprised.
The leader of the emperor was dressed in a dragon robe. When he saw Song Tie, he clapped his hands, dismounted from his horse, and glared at Song Tie: "Okay, you are indeed here!"
"Your Majesty is indeed wise and decisive." Someone agreed.
The emperor sternly said: "Stop talking nonsense and capture him quickly for me!"
The men and horses quickly surrounded him.
The emperor looked at him with a sneer and said: "Song Zi, who are you taking orders from? Hehe, let me guess, although Zhao Shiqiu is highly skilled in martial arts, he is far away in Mincheng at the moment. Although Zhao An is intelligent, I always send people I'm staring, but there is no information coming. Zhao Shisong is my uncle. He has treated me very well since he was a child, and he also promised me to be a rich prince... I am becoming more and more curious, who is the person you are waiting for?"
Song looked at him side by side and smiled: "Your Majesty can guess that I am here. It seems that you are not stupid."
The emperor frowned, anger pouring out of his pupils: "Kill him, take back the Suzaku Burning Fire Pestle, and I will wait for you for the person you want to wait for!"
No one took action.
The emperor turned around and looked at them, confused and angry: "What? You want to rebel too?"
"Hey, Zhao Fu..."
The autumn rain is like beans, falling to the earth, causing a noise.
A sound suddenly came to mind, very clear and shallow, but at that moment the emperor felt that he could no longer hear the sound of rain. He turned around numbly and saw a beautiful woman in black dress sitting on the edge of the ancient well. The girl, she was looking at herself quietly, gently swaying her skirt to reveal a small section of her white legs, with a soft smile between her beautiful brows.
"Zhao Fu, I called you a fool when you were very young. Now it seems that my words at that time really hurt you. After all these years, you still like to be smart. Compared with your two younger brothers, you were born earlier. , what else can you do?"
The girl spoke calmly, her tone not too disturbing, neither questioning nor scolding, just a casual conversation.
The emperor looked at her and suddenly remembered that many years ago, he was called stupid by a little girl ten years younger than him in an innocent and innocent tone.
He always told himself that although this sister was called the daughter of the Son of God, she was still young and ignorant, and how could she take her childish words seriously
Until this moment, he discovered that he had been taking it seriously for so many years. He always wanted to prove that he was no worse than his father or even half as good as his two younger brothers.
He looked at the girl in front of him, still puzzled: "Zhao Xiang'er... aren't you in the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion? Why..."
He suddenly remembered the legend of the well, and cursed himself for being stupid in his heart. Over the years, he had been doubtful about the secrets his father told him before his death. Now that he thought about it, those words were probably not the nonsense his father told him when he was about to die.
Zhao Xiang'er blinked at him, as if to say, is there any place in this palace that I can't go to
Song Tie raised his head, looked at the little girl in front of him, and said with a wry smile: "Your Highness, it's very difficult for me to hold this."
Zhao Xiang'er snorted coldly: "More than twenty days ago, you failed to save my mother. What's wrong with making you kneel for a little longer now?"
Song Zhi sighed: "Yes, Your Highness."
The emperor still didn't understand, "When did Song Tie become loyal to you? Were you all acting before?"
Song Side said: "Your Majesty, you are wrong. In all these years, I have never betrayed your Majesty. Before you besieged Qianyu Palace, I was just helpless. Now that Your Highness is back, I must be loyal to Your Highness."
The emperor said: "I sent people to keep an eye on you, and the witch master sent you to keep an eye on you, but they still can't keep an eye on you. This matter is so detailed, when did you start conspiring?"
Song Zi replied: "A few days ago, Her Highness came to the Young General's Mansion. Before leaving, in full view of everyone, she straightened my clothes."
At that time, she put a note under her lap.
it is more than words.
Zhao Xiang'er looked at the fallen emperor who was drenched by the heavy rain, smiled and asked, "Do you have any more questions?"
The emperor looked at her and said, "Don't you know that only the blood of the emperor can drive this pestle? Could it be that you are really the illegitimate daughter of your father?"
"Emperor's blood..." Zhao Xiang'er blinked. She finally took the Suzaku Burning Fire Pestle from Song Zi's hand, held it in her palm, stared at the tip of the Burning Fire Pestle, and said, "Do you know what the Emperor's Blood is?"
The emperor was stunned. He did not expect Zhao Xiang'er to ask this question. He said, "The imperial blood is naturally the bloodline inherited from the founding of the Zhao royal family."
Zhao Xiang'er shook his head slightly and scratched the palm of his hand with the tip of the burning pestle. Blood flowed out and dripped on the copper pestle. The blood dripped on the smooth surface of the pestle and penetrated into it. Then, the copper pestle lit up. , each inscription glowed with scarlet light, as if it were a mini hollow copper furnace, and the charcoal fire in it was ignited by her blood.
The emperor was stunned: "How... is this possible? Who are you?"
Zhao Xiang'er looked at the pestle in her hand and smiled with satisfaction. She looked at the emperor and said calmly: "The emperor's blood is the blood that the immortal rewarded your Zhao family. I am the daughter of the immortal, so of course the emperor's blood is my blood." .”
As soon as these words came out, everyone present was shocked and speechless. Only Song Xiu kowtowed. He finally eliminated the last doubts in his heart and was sincerely convinced.
The emperor staggered back and pointed at her tremblingly: "You... is the empress really... we killed..."
The emperor covered his heart and spoke incoherently.
Zhao Xianger walked down holding the burning fire pestle. Behind her, a pair of flaming wings were vaguely outlined. The heavy rain falling around her was evaporated into a vast white air, and not a single drop could be found. fell on her body.
"The late emperor had already planned to depose you, but he was kind-hearted..." She walked past the emperor, glanced at him faintly, and sighed calmly: "This country of Zhao was originally lent to you by my mother. Now, The national calamity is at stake, and since you can do nothing, I will take it back on her behalf, Zhao Fu, go to your Changxiang Palace and have a good rest, and don't bother me."
They passed each other in the heavy rain, and the emperor stood there in despair, his bright yellow robe looking even more desolate in the wind and rain.
Zhao Xiang'er stopped, looked at the people standing in the rain, and asked, "Where are you?"
Almost everyone remembered the scene three years ago.
At this moment, there was no sunset but heavy rain, and there was no blood on the girl's dress.
But people involuntarily parted ways.
Zhao Xiang'er passed through the crowd and walked towards the palace.
"Song Bi is willing to stay with His Highness forever." Song Bi shouted loudly, knocked his forehead to the ground, and bowed heavily.
That scene was like frost and wind blowing away all the grass, and the people facing the girl's back all fell down like reeds.