The night wind blew over the palace eaves, and rows of lanterns swayed. Within the range of the flickering light, a eunuch bent forward to greet the figure coming up the stone steps.
"Master, please come this way."
On both sides of the palace gate, the serving palace maids and guards bowed their heads one by one, and a figure came up and stepped into the range illuminated by the lanterns. It was a young man in a blue shirt and a white robe, wearing a silk scarf. The heart-shaped pendant with a dragon and cloud pattern on his waist swayed gently. He nodded and said "hmm" to the eunuch who was waiting for him.
As they walked towards the palace gate, the eunuch who had reported the matter turned back and carefully retreated to one side. With his eyes lowered, he walked over in a pair of auspicious cloud shoes, stepped over the threshold, and hurriedly followed behind with small steps, bowing his body. After the imperial teacher entered, he waved his sleeves to the eunuchs and guards on both sides, and they closed the palace door together.
There was a sound when a heavy door opened. Lu Liangsheng shook out his sleeves and bowed to the old man who was sitting on the headboard of the dragon couch with the curtains drawn in front of him.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
"Master, no need to be so polite."
Yang Jianqiang endured the dizziness and asked the palace maid to bring a chair. When she saw that it was far away, she shouted, "Put it in front of my bed!!"
The palace maid turned pale with fear. She put down a circle of chairs and returned to the corner, still shaking.
"Your Majesty is sick and still so angry. Look how scared they are." Dugu Jialuo pushed her husband back, tucked the corners of the quilt for him, stood up slowly, and smiled and nodded at Lu Liangsheng opposite her.
"Master, please discuss matters with His Majesty."
After saying that, he took a few palace maids with rather agile figures to the side hall. Hearing the footsteps fading away, Yang Jian turned his neck and took a look through the thin curtain, then he breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Liangsheng was sitting opposite, so he naturally saw the old man's entire expression. He curled his lips but held it back, sitting there not knowing how to start talking.
"Haha, if you want to laugh, then laugh now, Imperial Master."
The palace was quiet. Yang Jian held his forehead and tried to stand up a little. After he leaned back to get more comfortable, he continued, "My queen is good in every way, but she is a little stubborn. At my age, I feel a little overwhelmed."
"Your Majesty has accomplished great things in literature and martial arts. It is time to show your ambitions. How can you say such things?"
There were no civil or military officials here, so Lu Liangsheng smiled and cast a small spell to control the wind, causing a gentle breeze to blow, circulating continuously in the bedroom and blowing away the stuffiness of the early autumn night.
As the rows of candle flames swayed, the old man finally felt a little more comfortable. He opened his collar to let the wind blow into his underwear, then he looked at the dome of the curtain and sighed.
"You are wrong, Imperial Master. I am indeed old. Yesterday something happened that left me bedridden. When I was young, I attacked Northern Qi with the Duke of Yue and fought for days and nights without sleeping for three days and three nights..."
"Your Majesty felt unwell when he returned yesterday?"
Lu Liangsheng frowned and quickly put his finger on the old man's wrist. His serious expression was then filled with a smile. The emperor was not contaminated by the aura of the evil star, nor was he infected by the aura of the corpse. He was probably too frightened and caught a cold.
"Your Majesty, don't worry, there is nothing wrong with your health."
Passing some magic power to the old man to nourish his body, Yang Jian closed his eyes and felt the warmth flowing through his limbs. He felt indescribable comfort. Thinking of his son who stayed in Wanshou Temple, he couldn't help laughing.
"Amo stayed with the Imperial Master. It seems that I did the right thing."
"What did your Majesty do wrong?" Lu Liangsheng rarely said a word of flattery. He retracted his fingertips and sat back in his chair: "Your Majesty should not get angry easily recently, stay up less late to review memorials, and rest more."
Yang Jian put his hands back into the quilt, adjusted his sitting position, and said with a smile: "Before the Imperial Master came, the Queen just advised me to go to the newly built Renshou Palace to recuperate for a while. Imperial Master, why don't you go with me? The Renshou Palace was built by the Duke of Yue himself, and it is quite luxurious. I have been frugal all my life, but this is the first time I live in it..."
"His Majesty."
The old man was talking about the luxury of Renshou Palace when Lu Liangsheng interrupted him and continued, "I came here because I have something else to tell Your Majesty."
The soft candlelight shone on his handsome face. Lu Liangsheng thought about what he wanted to say, looked at the emperor who was listening quietly, and then told him everything about the demon star fragments that he was worried about.
"… The current situation of King Jin is unclear, and I dare not say that everything will be fine, but there are still many scattered fragments of the demon star outside. If they are not cleared in time, it is very likely that there will be another invulnerable corpse demon like the one yesterday, or even more powerful. If a person gets stuck and is possessed by the demon star's aura, an ordinary person will become extremely powerful and do something that harms the world and morality."
Yang Jian listened quietly, and frowned when he heard the 'ordinary man', and whispered: "Master, what if the generals leading the troops are possessed?"
It was surprisingly quiet in the bedroom. The palace maid who was originally standing in the corner had quietly retreated at some point. As the emperor hated rebellion the most, when he asked this question, there was a hint of ferocity in his turbid eyes.
Lu Liangsheng knew the old man's temper. Anyone in this position would react the same way after hearing these words. However, it would be better to tell the emperor the truth about the impact caused by the evil star so that the emperor could be on guard.
"Even if you don't have ambition, you may develop ambition and affect the temperament of people or monsters. A kind person may become vicious and do all kinds of bad things."
"What should the Imperial Master do? I will ask Duke Yue to assist with all his efforts!"
"No, I decided to go outside and search around first, and explain the dangers of this matter to other cultivators, and see if I can get the same efforts from fellow cultivators in the world."
"Since the Imperial Master has something in mind, I have no choice but to agree. If you need anything, please inform Duke Yue. I will do my best to support you. If you need anything, please feel free to ask me when the time comes!"
"Then I would like to thank Your Majesty first."
…
The warm yellow candlelight illuminated the two figures, one sitting and one lying, who talked for a long time in front of the couch. After Lu Liangsheng discussed some details with the emperor, he said goodbye and left. It was late at night, and the number of eunuchs and palace maids waiting outside the palace was half of what it was before. When they saw the imperial master coming out, they all saluted and respectfully called out, "Greetings, imperial master!"
After all, apart from Duke Yue, no other minister had the honor of entering the emperor's bedroom late at night.
Thinking that he could get outside, Lu Liangsheng quickened his pace. He casually looked towards the figures crouching or kneeling on the side, brushed off his robe sleeves, and helped them up one by one after a few steps.
"No need to be polite, just take good care of His Majesty."
Not far away, under the eaves, a figure came out hurriedly with his upper body slightly bent. Seeing Lu Liangsheng walking down the stone steps, he quickly stepped forward and raised his hand to bow.
"Master, please walk slowly."
Lu Liangsheng walked down the stone steps and heard the voice. His eyes moved away from the front and fell on a figure bowing with his hands clasped on the side. The man was wearing a Qianniubei suit of armor and had his face buried, so his appearance could not be seen.
"No need to be polite, just stand up and talk."
The man said, "Yes." He slowly raised his face, reflected in the light from the palace eaves behind. He was about forty years old, with a broad forehead, a high nose, high cheekbones, and a half-foot long beard on his chin. He looked a little mean and ungrateful.
“Please forgive me, Imperial Master. My surname is Yuwen and I am one of the guards of Prince Jin. I have always been close to Your Highness…” He looked at the Imperial Master, who was standing with his back to the light. His whole face was in shadow and his expression could not be seen.
"Gu..."
He swallowed hard and his voice became quieter.
"It's just... it's just that I haven't seen His Highness for two days, and I was worried. Not long ago, I heard that His Highness was in the Taoist temple of the Imperial Master, so I wanted to go over and serve him. I wonder if the Imperial Master... can agree?"
Lu Liangsheng frowned and looked at him carefully. Judging from his aura, this man had a bad appearance, with hostility between his eyebrows and eyes, and was definitely not a good person.
After a while, the scholar denied his words, "I have always been a person who treats others with respect. You are a palace guard, so just stay here and perform your duties. Don't think of anything else."
The last few words had a commanding tone. Over there, the Qianniu Beishen, whose surname was Yuwen, trembled all over and lowered his head hastily, not daring to say another word.
Lu Liangsheng nodded, flicked his sleeves, and disappeared into the darkness.
The long street was quiet, with only the occasional barking of dogs. Lu Liangsheng left the imperial city and walked alone on the sparsely populated street. In the distance, lanterns were hung high in brothels, and the bright lights cut out people's shadows and stuck to the window frames, presenting a bustling scene.
On the way back to Furong Pond, he passed by a mansion with the word "Min" written on it. He stood outside the range of the lantern light for a while, but ultimately did not go in. Lu Liangsheng rubbed his cheeks, exhaled a breath, looked at the mansion door again, then flew to the nearby roof and left quickly on the tiles.
Passing through Quchifang and all the way back to Wanshou Temple, the fire burning in the square had long been extinguished, leaving only a pool of burn marks, and the remains of corpses must have been cleaned up by the Taoists.
When they entered the attic, everyone was still awake. Yan Chixia sat on the window frame with a gourd and drank, Sun Yingxian was playing chess with Zhu Ganglie, and Toad Taoist was still the same as before, with a frog web hanging from his feet, sitting next to them watching them play chess.
On the side, Qiyou opened his mouth, separated several tiny roots, and quietly tied a bow on the bandage on the toad's head.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Toad Taoist shook the bow on his head and turned around: "Liangsheng, did you gain anything from your trip to the palace?"
The Taoist priest, Old Pig, Sui'an, and Yan Chixia, who were playing chess, drinking, and dozing off, all looked over. Lu Liangsheng sat directly on a chair, took a sip of the tea handed to him by Qi You, and seemed to be thinking about something.
Everyone looked at each other.
Toad touched the whiskers at the corners of his mouth and was about to speak when the scholar who was drinking tea over there suddenly put down his teacup and looked at them.
"Tomorrow, we will leave Chang'an and go outside to search for fragments of the demon star!"
Outside the door, the old donkey came over excitedly, holding the reins in its mouth and jumping up and down. Lu Liangsheng patted it on the head with his hand.
"I'm talking about tomorrow!!"
The old donkey's long ears drooped, and it walked outside, biting the reins, looking back every two steps, and crawled down under the eaves. It looked back from time to time, rested its head on its folded forelimbs, closed its eyes, and sighed dejectedly.
However, after a moment, he suddenly heard some noise. The old donkey shook his ears, stood up, stuck his head out, and carefully reached into the door. There was no one in the hall, and there was a loud noise of banging.
The Taoist, Toad, and Qiyou went up and down the stairs, in and out of the compartments, packing up their things, carrying them down in large and small bags that piled up like a small mountain.
…Scholar Lu was also standing among them, carrying a bag.
There was excitement.