At the end of the long river of blood, it seemed to be shrouded in a swirling black mist, and the river flowing out of the mist was just a trickle, which might stop at any time.
Qianye flew towards the source, and vaguely saw several imprints floating in the river. Those are the signs of the second generation of ancestors, some are still shining, while others have dimmed.
Every time he saw a mark, Qianye had a strange feeling. Those marks were not just clan crests, each of them represented a method of using power, and represented a path to become a strong man.
The imprint is near or far from the source, and it is also big or small. Perhaps these differences are the root of the differences in strength among the second-generation ancestors of the blood race.
And he also discovered that the distance between the imprints is not absolute. In the slow flow of the long river, some distances are enlarged and some distances are shortened. If there is enough time, their arrangement may also change.
Qianye suddenly thought of an ultimate question, at the end of the river of blood, is there always the legendary first drop of blood? What does it look like
As long as you fly to the source and pass through the fog, will this ultimate question be answered
Qianye became excited, speeded up, and flew towards the black mist. However, at this moment, he suddenly felt a great danger, and he was shocked!
He looked up, and saw a surge of black mist in front of him, and suddenly a ferocious beast jumped out. This ferocious beast is strange, ugly and distorted. There is no symmetrical part on the whole body, and it looks indescribably awkward. It is like the origin of chaos and evil in the universe, and everything is disgusting.
As soon as it appeared, it went straight to Qianye. Qianye was shocked, at this moment he had nothing, not even a body, how could he be its opponent. He tried his best to dodge, but his speed was not as fast as that ferocious beast, and he was overtaken in a blink of an eye, and then a big mouth full of messy sharp teeth appeared in front of Qianye, swallowing him in one gulp!
Qianye's consciousness fell into darkness again.
Tianji Pavilion in the imperial capital.
A group of celestial warriors came out one after another. Everyone was solemn and solemn, but it could be seen that they were extremely tired. The square has already waited for vehicles to take them away one by one.
When the crowd had almost dispersed, a woman finally walked out, with slanted skirts and wide sleeves, long hair plainly pulled up, without a trace of accessories on her body, and she was also dressed in the simplest celestial magician's attire, but her face was so beautiful, it was Li back.
The attendant next to him came over and saluted, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty is waiting for you in the 'Xiacao Garden'."
Li Hou was slightly startled, took the cloak and put it on, said: "Okay." Then boarded the car and left.
"Xiacao Garden" is called a garden, but it is actually one of the lower-standard palaces in the imperial palace. Emperor Hao was only one of the many princes and lived here.
After he ascended the throne, this place will naturally not arrange for other people to live in it, and it will be maintained all the time. Emperor Hao occasionally went to visit, but never allowed any concubines and princes and daughters to set foot there.
However, although Empress Li had never gone in, she knew that there was a room inside that was completely kept in the same order. The successive deaths in those years were a big taboo in the empire, so no one would touch them, even Concubine Zhao, who had always been the most dancer in the harem, just pretended that she hadn't seen this special place.
"Xiacao Garden" is very cramped. After turning around the screen wall at the gate, the main hall is right next to it. There is no setting in the yard, but all the places where there is soil are covered with Xiacao. Thick and exuberant almost like weeds.
These should have been intentionally left without modification, allowing them to take root in every inch of soil solely by their own vitality. At the top of the slender flower stalks, there are petite white flowers blooming, and the breeze shakes gently, just like the stars all over the sky, shining brilliantly.
The whole "Xiacao Garden" was quiet, and the servant who led the way for Empress Li only stopped at the gate.
Empress Li walked in alone. She was born in an ancient family. Even though she had not had an independent courtyard when she was a girl, she had never lived in such a small house.
Emperor Hao is in the left side hall of the main hall. The layout here is a study room, but there is a large embroidery shed under the window, and there are sorted needles and threads on the couch, as if the hostess will come in at any time.
Li Hou looked at the embroidery shed and was a little curious. She showed incomparable talent when she was young, and what she learned was no different from that of the men of the family. Female celebrities and the like were not in her curriculum at all.
However, when she looked at the layout of the room, it was obvious that half was the master's study and half was the hostess's embroidery room. She couldn't help but feel a little dazed. Ordinary couples probably look like this, right
Emperor Hao stood in front of a pair of calligraphy and painting. It was a color ink painting. The composition and inscription all implied the joy of newlyweds. This kind of work should not be called a good one.
Empress Li walked over and saw the familiar handwriting, and couldn't help but feel a little twitch, wasn't it the work of that emperor teacher
Emperor Hao said: "Master Lin's family was cold when he was young, and he entered the military academy early on to study, and his attainments in the six arts of calligraphy and painting were mediocre." Speaking of this, he chuckled lightly and said: "I remember when he was my prince's attendant lecturer. , the first sentence is to tell me that his calligraphy is not as good as that of Zhang Wang."
Empress Li naturally followed suit with a decent smile, but her heart was even more dazed. She had never heard about Lin Xitang's private affairs from Emperor Hao, and she felt that it was very different from what she had imagined before.
Emperor Hao turned his head and said to Empress Li: "The empress has worked hard, is there any business at Tianji Pavilion?"
Empress Li suddenly came back to her senses, bowed her head and said: "The sacrifice is over. But it's a pity that although we took advantage of the chaos and stirred up the secrets over there even more, we didn't get more gains, and we still couldn't judge what the dark race wanted. What kind of things in the new world."
Emperor Hao nodded, and said: "The Demon Emperor unexpectedly came in person, so it's hard to hide it from him. This is already very good, the battlefield of the juniors is over, and the next is ours."
Empress Li frowned slightly and said, "Since Song Zining's rise, the prophets at the Eternal Night Council have shown obvious signs of avoiding the war, but this time, the concubine feels it more clearly."
She paused, and then said: "The concubine still has a feeling that the secrets of Yongye's side are extremely tightly covered, tighter than ever before. In fact, there are many famous masters of prophecy in the history of the Yongye Council. Lifespan calculations are not limited to those who are currently at the front desk. If some of those masters are sleeping, once they are awakened, they will have extremely terrifying power. The concubine even suspects that a great prophet among them has awakened."
Emperor Hao nodded, "It's not surprising, this is the advantage of the longevity species."
He let out a long breath, and said: "When Master Lin heard that the Eternal Night Jihad was over, he judged that there would be another big change within the dark race. Now that the dark powerhouses who have been sleeping for a long time are recovering one after another, it is not very strange things."
Empress Li was a little surprised, "Isn't it because of the arrival of the new world?"
Emperor Hao said: "Not only."
After Li Hou was stunned for a moment, he sighed softly: "Sure enough, the concubine is far from Prime Minister Lin, and I haven't seen this until now."
Emperor Hao said: "This is not Tianji technique, he was still in the Tianji Pavilion at that time."
Empress Li listened quietly, she had only heard a little about what happened at that time, and she didn't dare to touch Haodi Leichi. But today Emperor Hao suddenly mentioned it by himself, and I'm afraid there is something else to say.
Emperor Hao walked to the embroidery shed under the window, touched half of the embroidery on it, and said: "When I was young, I hated the emperor's attitude towards his sons very much, and almost watched them strangling each other with inaction. I was not the target during the 'Yeting Change', but when the killing came, who would bother to identify the person under the sword? It was Master Lin who led me to escape the last two crazy days and one night. "
Empress Li trembled in her heart. She didn't know if she had enough concentration to keep her face calm. But Emperor Hao didn't look back at her.
"Later, my father was in charge of me, and smart people came to me one after another and said that Mr. Lin is very powerful in Tianji, and he deliberately saved me." Emperor Hao laughed. .”
Empress Li naturally knew how ridiculous this kind of statement was. Let alone saying that magicians of secrets are not gods, how could it be possible to see everything in detail.
Touching a corner of the secret, the result is a glimpse of the leopard, and it is not that there are no wrong judgments in the end. On the contrary, there are more such cases. Otherwise, there would be "chaos of the secret" in the empire many years ago. The reason why Lin Xitang shut up all the masters of Tianji is because of years of accumulation, which has proved that he has almost no mistakes.
What's more, the secrets of heaven are immutable, just like the thread of fate of the dark race, the future is only a possibility, and the present is one of countless possibilities that has been realized. After all, all creatures are eager to spy on the secrets of the sky, is it just to accept their fate? It's not for changing fate against the sky.
And since he changed his life, is the future he saw still the future
"What happened that night is clearest in my heart. I don't need anyone to teach me to see the truth. Everyone is wrong. They think that the father let me into the small study before the palace change. In fact, it was only at that time that he realized that he had forgotten a son, and the noble concubine in charge of the palace also forgot to arrange a lecturer for me."
"Even after the palace change, my father didn't have the intention of choosing me as his heir. My aptitude really didn't catch his eye, and without the influence of my mother clan, it would be difficult to compete against the ancestor of the clan, and I would encounter a lot of trouble behind him. Emperor Hao straightened up and said, "I asked for the position myself, because I saw Uncle Linjiang forcing Master Lin to kneel down and apologize to him."
Empress Li shuddered.
At this time, Emperor Hao turned around, still with a gentle expression, and his eyes did not change much, as if he was telling someone else's story, not the court secrets he had personally experienced.
He stared at Empress Li and said, "It wasn't until I sat in the seat in the main hall of Lingyun that I realized why my father allowed the dispute in the harem to eventually lead to a bloody case. Interests and feelings cannot coexist. Interests are big or small. , Do feelings also have size and severity? Especially once interests and feelings are superimposed, how to distinguish the weight? "
"For Wu Yue, for you, for all the concubines and emperor's children, I am neither a good husband nor a good father. I have done everything that my father and emperor hated back then. Fortunately, in Wu Yue Afterwards, no one who enters Weiyang Palace should simply come to express their feelings to me."
There is a family behind every noble lady, and a contract behind every concubine. However, Emperor Hao's maternal lineage was slightly cold, and when he was the prince, there were no women around him at all.
Empress Li let out a sigh of relief, knowing what to say later was the key point for Emperor Hao to recruit her here.
"I know that when you were in the boudoir, you also had ambitions and ideals. Now, with your attainments in Tianji art, you are completely qualified to be the head of the Royal Tianji Academy. I will inform several heavenly kings and bestow this position on you."
"However, all the princes and daughters under your name will not have the right to inherit. Especially if the Li family wants to be promoted in this generation, there will never be an emperor with the blood of the Li family. And from now on, as long as the Li family If the surname is in charge of the Royal Tianji Academy, a woman surnamed Li will not be admitted into the harem."
Empress Li was extremely calm at the moment, and said with a formal ceremony: "Yes, my concubine obeys."
Emperor Hao finally said slowly: "The Heavenly King of the Empire has adjusted its defenses. Come and listen to it. I will fight as the Heavenly King."
Empress Li looked up in astonishment.
Emperor Hao smiled slightly at her, and said: "The clothes are very good, there is no need to change into court clothes, let's go now."
All the servants in "Xiaolan Palace" stood outside the palace, and were at least ten meters away from the gate of the palace.
The side hall on the right was originally a casual layout, with high-backed chairs, soft couches, desks and piano seats, which is not suitable for meetings. However, when all the king-level figures gather together, it is particularly suitable. There is no need to sit in order, and everyone can find their own comfortable way.
King Zhiji and King Dingxuan sat on each side, sipping tea and talking by themselves, looking very leisurely. King Dingyue was lying on the ground, as if he was taking a nap. He was located in the farthest west land, and he usually would not come to the imperial capital if it was not for important matters.
With a move of the door curtain, Fang Qingkong walked in. He was wearing a civil servant's court uniform, and his eyebrows still looked a little cold.
Facing a room full of heavenly kings, Fang Qingkong didn't show any signs of strangeness. Seeing that everyone was doing their own thing, he didn't bother him. He just walked up to King Dingxuan and whispered something in his ear.
King Dingxuan stopped the chess piece in his hand, and said strangely: "'Hall of Heroes'? You should ask the Zhao Clan about this matter? Who told me last time that Qianye still has a daughter in Yonglu. Besides, that ship was originally It refers to the extreme, if you want to ask how to deal with it, you should also ask him, what advice can the old man have?"
Even if King Zhiji was clear-eyed, he would not intentionally listen to Fang Qingkong's whispers to King Dingxuan. At this moment, he turned his head when he heard his name mentioned, and he understood most of it when he saw Fang Qingkong's expressionless expression. .
Zhiji Wang said: "Fang Qingkong, I have something to say, don't follow Lin Xitang's half-hidden and half-revealed behavior." He said to King Dingxuan: "I know a little bit about this. Your great-grandson borrowed your name to borrow your name. I don’t know who the next branch of Zhang’s family is, but I went to cooperate with Song Zining, intending to share the benefits of Runyong Lu.”
King Dingxuan was taken aback, "Which great-grandson?" Then he asked, "Song Zining would believe it? I don't think he's that stupid, is he?"
The Finger King glanced at his long beard, and gave Fang Qingkong a meaningful look.
After Lin Xitang's death, Fang Qingkong took over from him the highest level of strategic intelligence in the empire. Of course, this upstart who is already a master is not stupid, but it has nothing to do with being stupid if he dares to go to the king to mention this matter.
Fang Qingkong stood like a piece of wood at the moment, but he didn't speak anymore.
King Zhiji shook his head and smiled, knowing that Fang Qingkong was trying to force the two of them to express their views, and he didn't mind his scheming, so he said to King Dingxuan, "Zi Ning came to ask me, and I told him, there is no need to restrain yourself. How does he feel comfortable?"
King Dingxuan was not surprised when he heard the words, he nodded and said: "This is the truth."
Zhiji Wangdao: "I also said that there is nothing wrong with sacrificing a person."
King Dingxuan said: "You have said everything, and you still come to block me? Those juniors are nothing more than thinking that the rest are mediocre. Only their own talents are outstanding, so they will not be abandoned by the family. If they think that the old man is on the new world battlefield If the military exploits obtained are not enough for them, then earn it yourself, if the method of earning is wrong, you will lose your life, and you can’t blame others.”
Speaking of this, King Dingxuan got a little angry, turned his head and asked Fang Qingkong, "Which one is it?"
But Zhiji Wang said: "Don't worry, since Zining came to ask me, he should have a countermeasure, and let him use your name."
King Dingxuan was stunned, and after a while, he understood, and said: "That's fine, there are all dark races over there, so it's good to let him spread his banners."
At this time, Emperor Hao and Empress Li came in hand in hand to greet the heavenly kings, and the king of Beiyue also got up from the couch.
Everyone was short on time, so they immediately got to the point, and Fang Qingkong reported the latest camp situation.
The movement of the Eternal Night Council was extremely strange. After the Battle of the Black Sun Valley, the Council began to arrest some Eternal Night nobles, and they were high-ranking nobles of the four major races.
This is a rare thing. In most cases in the past, although the parliament had a resolution, it was generally other small races that were directly attacked by the parliamentary forces, and the four major races resolved it on their own.
No matter what their crimes are, as long as the high-ranking nobles are involved, this kind of arrest will inevitably involve the issue of force. The parliament actually dispatched many unnamed machines, and those things have never appeared on the battlefield of the camp.
After Fang Qingkong got the map and description, he felt something, and went to the Royal Library to check the oldest batch of files, only to be able to vaguely find the source of some equipment.
Fang Qingkong said: "When Lin Shuai heard that Yongye's jihad had ended, he asserted that there had been major changes within the dark race. At that time, the new world opened, and those changes were covered up. It was difficult for us to monitor the exact situation .”
"However, both Taizu and Emperor Wu once pointed out that if any two of the dark four clans unite, our clan will be overthrown. However, even with the Eternal Night Council, they will not really join hands. This is the space for our clan to develop. But such a strategic space cannot continue indefinitely. Our family must always be alert to changes in the balance of power among the dark four races. Once the balance is broken, the crisis will come immediately."
"During the founding of the Great Qin Dynasty, the practice of the Dark Four Clans was that each clan maintains the combat power of four Great Monarchs, and there are two active Grand Monarchs on duty for the clan affairs, and the other two can be rotated at any time. As for those who can be awakened at the same time The number of maharajas has always been the top secret of each clan, we have never obtained it, and they have not estimated it among each other."
"However, in the past few hundred years, since the dark race no longer directly attacked the mainland of the empire, the number of rotating maharajas of the four races has decreased significantly."
"And in the past thousand years, the blood clan's holy war against the werewolf has completely wiped out 23% of the werewolf's clan totem, and reduced the other 15% of the clan's population to less than half. The impact is not obvious, but we don't have specific data on the quality of the servants. In addition, the werewolf has never been out of the Holy Mountain Supreme in the past thousand years."
"The blood race also constantly challenged the authority of the demons with such a record. Thousands of years ago, during the Dawn War, in our history books, the large war machines of the demons far exceeded the current level. We always thought that their population caused the technological decline."
"So for a long time, whether it is high-level or research institutions, it has been believed that the last leader who breaks the balance of Yongye will be the blood race, and once they annex the werewolf, they will try to attack the empire again. Because the population plundering of various gray channels is now And trading, still cannot meet the needs of their bottom members, which is the root cause of restraining the vampires from building a large number of servants like werewolves and nerubians."
"Because the appearance of the high-level vampires is the most similar to ours, the proportion of vampires and human descendants in the gray area is extremely high, and vampires can transform ours. Therefore, they have always been the most active in infiltrating the empire. Especially floating Lu Zhizhan, the person who connected with the Longevity King was a Grand Duke of the Blood Race, who has since disappeared, and we are still not sure whether he obeyed the order of the King of Lightless, Mei Danzuo, or Habs, the crown of fire."
"Since the opening of the new world gate, we have been preparing for an all-out war. Now a series of movements on the side of Eternal Night also prove that the final crisis predicted by the ancestors is coming. These actions of the Eternal Night Council show that there is a strong authority. gone."
"But Weichen is suddenly not sure, who is the leader of the other party, the blood race? Or the demon descendants."
After a moment of silence in the room, Li Hou said: "The secrets of Yongye's side are extremely tightly covered and completely undisturbed. Even if our side has spying or even intrusion actions, they will just expel them and never pursue them. The core of the new world , still shrouded in darkness."
King Zhiji thought for a moment, and said, "Is there a full map of the arrests by the Eternal Night Council?"
Fang Qingkong shook his head and said: "After the end of the Eternal Night Jihad, the intelligence work was several times more difficult, and the news I got this time was extremely sporadic. The reason why there is a more detailed one is because it happened in the dark occupied area of the West Land, and there is only that content." A little more."
"Xilu." Beiyue King frowned, "Did Zhao Clan know the news?"
Fang Qingkong said: "It has been notified. There is no news that the empire has been invaded, but we must start to implement a nationwide alert."
Zhiji Wang nodded and said, "I agree."
Emperor Hao agreed with the rest of the kings.
Fang Qingkong said again: "Because the current situation is very close to the triggering conditions of a full-scale war, while the heavenly kings are present, we still need to determine the strategic contraction plan."
Strategic contraction refers to the plan to shrink the front line to protect the core territory when the empire is invaded and the general situation is unfavorable. The last time the empire launched this plan was during the "bloody funeral" after the fall of the Longevity King.
Fang Qingkong turned over a page of the document in his hand and said: "At present, the western land occupies the smallest proportion of the empire. There are only three aristocratic families on it except the Zhao Clan, and the construction of the western land was relatively late. It was originally the place with the weakest continent-level defense. .”
"However, during the last invasion of the Alien Beast Legion, Yuelu was greatly damaged, and the restoration and construction of the destroyed city was also very slow. Especially after the rise of Yonglu, many aristocratic families invested their main forces and resources there."
"So judging from the current comparison of existing war forces, Yuelu is the best point of contraction. Moreover, the Alien Beast Corps only destroyed ground facilities, but those continent-level war facilities facing the void should still be able to activate."
King Dingxuan first said: "Agreed." Then he turned to King Zhiji and said, "You and I will always have one to defend the strategic contraction point, this time it will be me."
King Zhiji was silent for a while, and said: "Okay." Of course, King Beiyue also seconded the proposal.
Emperor Hao said at this time: "King Zhang is recuperating from his wounds, so I will do the maneuvering."
As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes focused on Emperor Hao. Most of the emperors of the Great Qin Dynasty had excellent martial arts and martial arts, but after the situation in the mainland stabilized, except for very rare cases, they rarely went to battlefields other than Qinlu. But the kings did not raise any objections immediately, and listened quietly to the following.
Emperor Hao said: "The injury Zhang Wang suffered in the new world this time is difficult to deal with. It is best to spend more time recuperating and get rid of all future troubles. Uncle Linjiang and I come from the same source, and he will be in charge. There won’t be any problems in the imperial capital’s “King’s Realm”. At the same time, King Zhang stays in the imperial capital to assist in the defense, which will ensure that our Great Qin will not be lost at all.”
King Zhiji said slowly: "Does Your Majesty know that this matter is serious?"
Emperor Hao said: "The empress is in charge of the Royal Academy of Heavenly Secrets, and all princes and daughters under the name of the empress are not allowed to establish heirs. The princes of the Li family are not allowed to be crowned princes. From now on, all daughters of the family who are in charge of the Academy of Heavenly Secrets will not enter the harem."
The room was silent for a while.
After a while, Zhiji Wang said: "The old man agrees. However, the heavenly king-level deployment must be passed unanimously, and Qingyang's opinion needs to be sought." The rest of the kings also nodded together.
Emperor Hao said: "Naturally, I will visit King Zhang in person."
So far, the meeting is over.