In the imperial city at midnight, the two princes were in a gloomy mood.
The King of Wu led his soldiers to confront his father face to face outside the imperial study. Under such circumstances, the old eunuch Li Sizhe still held the imperial edict and read out the decree to pass the throne to the King of Jin.
Subsequent developments did not go as the angry King Wu had wished. Among the three armies led by him, the commanders of Zhang Jianying and Beixuanying immediately turned against their own side the moment the old eunuch finished reading the imperial edict. They loudly declared in front of their own soldiers that the King of Wu was in rebellion and surrounded the Southern Army in the middle.
Finally, after another fierce battle, the commander of the Southern Army was killed. In addition, the soldiers now knew that they were not "righteous and loyal to the king", and their morale collapsed. They knelt on the ground and surrendered. After all the masters in the palace were killed, the pale-faced King Wu was also captured alive.
At the same time, the Prince of Jin had fled to the government office in the capital, escaped the pursuit, and learned that the Prince of Wu had raised an army to force the palace.
But the information was also asymmetric. Prince Jin originally thought that his father had killed Han Baishan last time and should have cut off some of Prince Wu's tentacles, but he did not expect that three armies, namely Zhang Jianying, Beixuanying and Nanjun, would respond to Prince Wu's order and march towards the palace.
In this situation, the defenses in the palace would most likely be no match for the forces of the King of Wu, and the King of Jin didn't know whether this would be a blessing or a curse, so he could only pin his hopes on his father.
What made the King of Jin even more sad was that his teacher, Li Mushu, who had accompanied him since childhood and taught him countless knowledge, could not survive the assassination and was shot to death.
When he fled into the capital's government office and masters from various Kyoto government offices rushed out to kill him, Li Mushu was already dead.
"Your Highness, drink some water!"
In the lobby of the government office, a guard brought a bowl of steaming tea. Prince Jin, who was sitting next to Li Mushu's body, just shook his head.
Men don't shed tears easily, but they do so until they are sad. Since he became an adult, the Prince of Jin could control his emotions without showing his emotions on his face over many things, but the death of Li Mushu made the Prince of Jin unable to hold back his tears.
"Your Highness, why don't we find a way to hide first? If King Wu succeeds, he will definitely not let us go."
"Hide? Huh..."
When Prince Jin moved, his wounds were affected and he frowned in pain. He looked at the body of his teacher beside him, then at his loyal guard, and smiled.
"No need to hide. I am still a little arrogant. I am not interested in exile. Those who want to win the world must be able to afford to lose! If the news from the palace is not good, you can take me to see my brother."
The King of Jin also made a self-deprecating remark when he spoke of this.
"I just didn't expect that Big Brother would choose to act immediately without waiting for me to return to the palace. I thought those old ministers could at least persuade him to calm down for two days. What a quick news and decisive heart."
While Prince Jin was speaking in an obviously sad voice, Li Mushu's ghost was actually standing next to his own corpse, looking at Prince Jin with reluctance, who had arrow and knife wounds on his body.
He had called King Jin several times, but the other party did not respond. He guessed that they could not meet each other due to the separation of Yin and Yang.
'I didn't expect that ghosts really exist after death...'
As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a sinister voice coming from the side.
"Li Mushu, since you are dead, please come with us."
Li Mushu turned around and saw several officers in black robes and tall hats standing not far away. Their gloomy faces showed that they were not living people.
Even though he was already dead, Li Mushu still felt subconsciously afraid.
"You are?"
"We are the underworld officials under the jurisdiction of the City God of Jingji Prefecture. We have been ordered to take you to the underworld! Li Mushu, don't delay any longer. Come with us. The affairs of the living world have nothing to do with you anymore."
The ghost came forward while they were talking. They did not torture Li Mushu, but under the pull of the Yin Qi, Li Mushu involuntarily followed them out.
"Wait! Please wait a moment!"
Li Mushu begged the ghosts to stop, but the ghosts did not force him to leave. They watched Li Mushu's ghost walk to the opposite side of the lost King Jin and bowed deeply.
After Li Mushu accepted the gift, several underworld officials took him away.
They passed through the door, left the government office in the capital, and walked on the streets of the capital late at night.
As the saying goes, the speed of ghosts. At this time, Li Mushu could feel that their speed was much faster than that of an ordinary carriage.
"Excuse me, officers. A lot of people died in Jingji Prefecture tonight, right?"
"Yes, many died here, and even more died in the palace."
"What about the Imperial City? Do you know the result?"
Li Mushu asked with concern.
A soul-catcher who was in charge of taking him to the underworld looked at him and smiled sinisterly.
"Forget it, I'll let you be a clear-headed ghost so that you can rest in peace. In the palace, it is said that the King of Wu failed in his mission, and the king of Jin was passed on to your family in the imperial edict."
The ghost Li Mushu was absent-minded for a moment, and finally laughed out loud.
“Hahahahaha… hahahaha… I’m closed with my eyes, I’m closed with my eyes, thank you very much, sir, hahahahahaha…”
Some of the ghost officials nearby also shook their heads. They were about to die but still cared about these things.
The soul-sending team was still moving forward quickly. In the middle, Li Mushu could even see some ghosts locking up a large group of ghosts and moving them forward, while he was the only ghost on his side. It seemed like a special treatment to him.
On the way from the government office to Miaosifang, one has to pass by the largest post house in Gyeonggi Prefecture. When approaching, Li Mushu discovered that the direction of the post house was different from other places. There was actually a bright light there, as if forming a small, slightly dim daylight around it.
When several Yinchai reached this section of the road, they had already gone around and moved forward for a distance instead of maintaining a straight line.
"Excuse me, officers, why is there a light at the post station?"
It was still the soul-catcher. He looked towards the posthouse and then looked back at Li Mushu.
"Because that's where Lord Yin is!"
Li Mushu immediately realized who Yin Gong was referring to, but he was somewhat surprised that Yin Cha used a respectful title.
"Then why, why..."
"Haha, everyone in the underworld of Gyeonggi Prefecture knows that Lord Yin in the Yang world is full of righteousness and has the blessings of all the people. Evil spells cannot harm him, and ordinary demons stay away from him. He is loved by humanity and admired by ghosts and gods. He is a great scholar and wise man of the time!"
When the ghost messenger spoke, the respectful tone in his voice was obvious.
Upon hearing this, Li Mushu looked towards the direction of the posthouse with emotion, clasped his arms together and bowed towards that direction.
"Mr. Yin, I feel at ease when you are here!"
After this worship, Li Mushu had no more worries and followed the ghost to the temple and walked into the gates of hell.
. . .
At the same time, Ji Yuan and the Taoist priest Du Changsheng were sitting on the bell tower on Yongning Street. The bell tower would tell time for the people in the capital according to the time during the day, and this job was done by the night watchman at night, so naturally there was no one on the bell tower.
From nightfall till now, the two have talked a lot, mostly about how the old emperor consulted several Heavenly Masters on cultivating immortals after the water and land ceremony, how he asked them to refine elixirs, and some dirty things between several Heavenly Masters.
Du Changsheng also understood that he had met a true master, so he basically told the master everything he knew and did not dare to tell any lies. He felt that he had won a little favor from the master.
"Master Du is the only one among the few masters who remain in Beijing who has real skills."
"No, no, sir, you know that I am not really capable of anything. At best, I am only slightly better than others."
Ji Yuan smiled. After two or three hours of contact, he had gotten to know Du Changsheng a little better. He was not a bad person and was quite smart.
"When I said you have real skills, it was not a lie. For example, your paper musket is very interesting. At least I have never seen it before."
Du Changsheng suddenly felt honored and said happily.
"It's just a little trick, but I didn't expect it to catch the eye of Mr. Ji. This method was researched by my master during his lifetime, and I improved it a little bit. Although it's not presentable, it can sometimes be used to help a little, or to show off one's skills. Don't underestimate it because it's just paper, it has quite a bit of strength, equivalent to that of an adult man!"
"Interesting, but seeing how nervous Master Du is about the yellow paper man, it seems that this method is difficult to succeed?"
Du Changsheng nodded with emotion.
"That's right. Over the past few decades, I have only made six yellow paper figures. Two of them were damaged after years of use. Now that I don't have the energy anymore, I'm afraid it will be difficult to make up for the one I lost."
Ji Yuan looked at him and finally spoke out what was in his mind.
"Master Du probably doesn't have an orthodox method of practicing Qi. I would like to exchange this self-developed method with you for a Qi training sutra. Master, would you be willing to give it up?"
Du Changsheng subconsciously widened his eyes and looked at Ji Yuan.
"The orthodox Qi training method? The one that can transform Yin and Yang, divide the five elements, and point to the path of immortality?"
"It's not that easy to achieve immortality. It's not something you can achieve just by learning the Qi Training Technique. But it's better than the meditation that Master Du has practiced. Master Du's direct meditation of visualizing the heart fire to refine his magic power is indeed too crude. Learning the Qi Training Technique can at least create the Golden Bridge Alchemy Furnace of the Inner Heaven and Earth..."
“Master!”
Du Changsheng shouted loudly, then stood up and knelt down to Ji Yuan.
This voice scared Ji Yuan.
"Master Du, why are you doing this? Please stand up quickly. I don't deserve this kind of honor."
"You want to teach me the authentic immortal method, so Du Changsheng will naturally perform the master-disciple ceremony. Otherwise, it will not be enough to show my respect. Master, please accept me as your disciple... Woo... Woo..."
Du Changsheng suddenly found that he couldn't say the rest of the words. He couldn't open his mouth at all, and his tongue moved left and right in his mouth but he couldn't open his mouth.
Ji Yuan rubbed his forehead.
"Farewell, Master Du. I cannot accept this great gift. How about we just call it quits?"
Du Changsheng was very anxious. He took out a book from his arms and placed it in front of him, knocking his head on the ground continuously, which made Ji Yuan's mouth twitch.
"He is also a wonderful person. How about this, if you feel that you have suffered a loss this time, I will pass on the method I have perfected in the future. Don't mention the master-disciple gift anymore..."
Du Changsheng knew when to stop and nodded quickly, but when he looked up, there was no one in front of him. The book he had placed in front of him also disappeared, but there was an extra thread-bound book in the place where the book was placed.
There were only two words on the title of the book on the front, "Xiao Lian". Turning the pages, the text inside was extremely delicate and beautiful, with a continuous sense of Taoism. After just a short while, Du Changsheng's mind was attracted. In a trance, he seemed to be able to sense the divine will, but it only lasted for a while, and he could not concentrate due to mental fatigue.
But in excitement, Du Changsheng would take a rest to recover some energy and then try again immediately.
The sky gradually brightened during this period...
On September 23rd in the autumn of Dinghai, King Dazhen Wu rebelled but failed and was eventually captured, and his brother King Jin was named crown prince.
At the morning court session on September 24, the clean and unharmed King Wu knelt in the court in shackles, while the King Jin, who was wounded in several places and had not even had time to change his blood-stained clothes, stood in the same hall.
In front of all the civil and military officials in the court, the chief eunuch Li Sizhe read out loudly the imperial edict of succession again in front of the emperor.
After this incident, everyone in the court and the country, inside and outside the court, was convinced.