The news that the emperor had beheaded the immortal and was looking for him all over the city quickly spread by word of mouth. Even ordinary people knew that since the immortal had been beheaded by the emperor in a rage, he would most likely not return.
Emperor Yuande handed this matter over to Yan Chang, who simply informed the runners and officials of the old beggar's appearance in detail and asked them to go to various places in the city where there were many beggars to take a look.
Even when the officials went to various places to inquire, Yan Chang also asked everyone to be friendly and not to look ferocious, and it was even more impossible to post portraits of beggars everywhere. After all, they were looking for a master, and Yan Chang really didn't dare to do it in the way of looking for an imperial criminal.
Until that evening, he had received a lot of news. Some people heard that the old beggar appeared on a street, some heard that he appeared in a teahouse, and some people even "found" the old beggar. But when Yan Chang went over to take a look, he was just an ordinary old beggar, so he was sent away after giving him a bowl of rice.
After finishing the day's affairs, all the princes and ministers began to move towards the palace because the Longevity Festival Banquet was about to begin.
Although Emperor Yuande had suffered a great shock in the morning, at night he turned back into the majestic and cold emperor, as if the frustration he felt during the day was not reflected in him at all.
Before the dinner started, Yan Chang was secretly summoned to the imperial study for questioning. The questioner only asked about the result, not the process. Yan Chang, who had prepared a lot to say, was unable to utter a second sentence and could only nervously answer "no result".
Fortunately, he was not taken out on and convicted this time. Emperor Yuande actually knew some things clearly in his heart, so he could only encourage Yan Chang with a few words before attending the banquet with him, which made the Taichang Envoy, who had been living in fear, flattered.
The entire Wanshou Festival banquet was very grand, and because it was the 70th birthday, it was larger than in previous years.
The emperor even directly conferred the title of "Heavenly Master" on the remaining fourteen masters at the banquet, and each of them was given the title of "Heavenly Master" and rewarded with a thousand taels of gold.
Yes, there were indeed fourteen people left. Before the dinner started, one monk said that he was suffering from acclimatization problems and was bedridden in the inn.
Yan Chang even asked the imperial physician to see him, who confirmed that he was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, and was very weak.
Emperor Yuande himself did not have much hope for the remaining people. A person who was seriously ill was unlikely to be worthy of his attention, so he directly disqualified him from being enthroned, thus saving a thousand gold coins.
Of course, most of the remaining fourteen people only wanted the title of "Heavenly Master" and had no intention of serving the old emperor.
While the palace was hosting a banquet for all the ministers, with toasts exchanged and dances sung, in an inn near a certain platform, a handsome monk who was originally sick and pale, secretly lifted his quilt.
Because it was the Wanshou Festival, the people in the inn were given wine and food by their superiors. Many people were drinking and eating meat, while the room where the monk lived was pitch black.
The monk quietly got off the bed, put on his clothes and robes, tied the ropes on his shoes, then went to the corner to pick up his Zen stick and put on his hat.
"Good be to the Great Light Buddha... Let's just run away!"
He tiptoed to the door and opened it with a creaky sound.
“Ouch…!”
As soon as she opened the door, she saw an old man with a stern face standing outside. His aura scared the monk Queen Cang so much that she ran more than ten feet away.
"Hehehe... Monk, what are you going to do?"
The monk's face was neither red nor dry, but beads of sweat were oozing out from his bald head under his bamboo hat.
"Good be to the Great Light Buddha... I am preparing to leave the inn. Who is the donor?"
The man with a bad look outside the inn was Old Long Yinghong, who became even more furious when he saw the monk's appearance.
"You...you didn't go to the birthday banquet for no reason, but pretended to be sick and slipped away?"
"Uh... Donor, are you from the Dazhen court?"
The monk was very worried. With such a person in the court of Dazhen, why would the old emperor still need to seek immortals everywhere
'Good Lord Buddha, this is ridiculous!'
"Hehe... Me? From the Dazhen court? Hehe..."
Lao Long was so angry that he laughed, and stretched out his hand to grab the monk. He was clearly standing at the door, his arms were not extended, and he did not use any method of grabbing, but the space of the entire house seemed to be compressed, and the monk had no way to avoid the wall, so he was grabbed by Lao Long directly by the collar.
Then, like an eagle catching a chick, the old dragon picked up the monk, stepped out of the inn, and flew away.
"Hey, hey, hey... Benefactor, Immortal! If you have something to say, let's talk it over. I don't know how to fly!"
The monk in the air didn't dare to wave his hands and feet, but instead held on to Lao Long's arm tightly, for fear of falling down. Falling from such a height of hundreds of feet, he would either be smashed to pieces or become paralyzed on one side.
There had been no signs of this disaster before, and it could not have been predicted anyway. The monk had no idea when he had offended such a powerful figure.
The old dragon took the monk and soared into the air for a while, and finally flew over the palace, pointing at the noisy singing and dancing below.
"Where is this?"
The monk swallowed as he felt the strong wind in the sky at night.
"The Imperial Palace."
"Well, the Heavenly Master has just been conferred. Do you want to go and ask for one? Don't worry, I won't kill you if I throw you down. And if you show up like this, the old emperor will definitely reward you!"
"Stop, stop it! Immortal, please stop teasing me. When did I offend you? You have to tell me the truth even if you die."
Seeing that the monk was unwilling to do so, Lao Long let out a sigh of relief and calmed down.
"If you really don't want to be the Heavenly Master, why did you show off your prowess during the Nine Heavens and Ten Meetings? Are you bored? I made a bet with Ji Yuan. I originally thought I would win, but later I thought it would be a draw. Good, very good. Just now in the underworld of Jingji Prefecture, I felt something in my heart. After calculating, I found that I lost inexplicably. I couldn't figure it out. It turned out that you, a monk, pretended to be sick!"
The monk thought quickly and found the right opportunity to speak.
"Master, since you have made a bet with someone, you must accept the loss. You are cheating now. You can't do that! You can't do that!"
Lao Long was just a little depressed, so he grabbed the monk to scare him. If the monk had remained calm, he would have been very annoyed, but now seeing the monk's panic, he felt a lot less angry.
Without saying anything else, he carried the monk and flew directly to Gyeonggi Prefecture on the wind, then escaped into the underworld.
All the evil demons who were captured a few days ago were detained in the underworld. Of course, they were all souls, and their real bodies had mostly been digested by dragons.
This was the first time that the monk truly entered the underworld. A strong yin energy rushed through his body, and he kept chanting "Great Bright King Buddha".
Inside the City God Palace of the underworld, a huge circular fog filled the center of the palace. In the center of the fog, there was a scene which was exactly the scene of the deepest part of the underworld.
A large group of people were watching in the City God Hall. There were a group of Jade-Hugging Monks, ghosts from the underworld, the City God of the Capital Prefecture, and some people who were obviously transformed monsters.
"Dad, why did you suddenly go out? Uh, shouldn't this monk be in the palace?"
Long Zi Yingfeng talked about everything, but there was nothing to hide, and Lao Long was a man who was willing to accept defeat.
"This monk pretended to be sick and didn't go to the palace, so he didn't get the title of 'Heavenly Master' conferred by the old emperor."
"No way, this is also possible?"
The dragon girl at the side couldn't help but exclaimed.
"You can lose this?"
Then, except for some people who were confused, the few people who knew about the matter looked at Ji Yuan on the side.
Ji Yuan looked at the monk who had brought back the cup by Lao Long. The latter was paying respects to a group of fairies, demons, ghosts and gods. He had practiced Buddhism till now, but he had never seen such a scene, let alone imagined it. It felt like he was standing with the Mingwang Buddha, or a group.
"I just came to participate in the Water and Land Dharma Assembly. Now that the Dharma Assembly is over, I am ready to leave the capital. I wonder if you can give me some convenience?"
Ji Yuan looked at the monk's anxious expression, smiled at him and spoke.
"Master, you don't think that Mr. Ying was just angry and took you to the underworld?"
Is not it
"Well... the old gentleman is very magnanimous, so he certainly wouldn't..."
The monk was surprised, but what he said was still very realistic.
"Master, please look!"
Ji Yuan pointed his finger at the scene in the fog inside the City God Temple. Although there was no sound, the scene was full of tragic images of evil spirits being punished, and their screams of pain were revealed through their hideous and terrifying expressions.
"These are the evil demons who have infiltrated Dazhen. Of course, there are many who are trying to take advantage of the situation, but there are also some with unusual backgrounds. Although they couldn't stand the torture in prison and confessed some things, they themselves know only a limited amount."
Lao Long also snorted coldly.
"My Dongtu Yunzhou seems to be in turmoil. You are a monk from Daliang Temple in the north of Tingliang State. You traveled to Dazhen. How many years have you been away from home?"
The monk frowned and thought for a while before returning.
"I am now forty-two years old, which should be seventeen years."
Although he knew that the hall was full of old monsters whose ages were unknown, the handsome face of this monk was too "un-middle-aged" that made Ji Yuan subconsciously take a second look at him.
"Well, then you should go back and take a look. Although we don't know the further involvement behind these evil spirits, a large number of them come from Tianbao Country, which borders the northern border of Tingliang Country."
"Tianbao Kingdom!? How could it be?"
"Haha, why are there so many demons?"
Hearing what Lao Long said, the monk nodded subconsciously. Tianbao Kingdom was known as the "superior country" among the people in the northern border of Tingliang Kingdom, so it naturally wouldn't be too bad. But with so many powerful demons coming here, something must have gone wrong.