The emperor's funeral, burial, funeral and burial in the imperial mausoleum should be completed on the third day. What remains is for the new emperor to ascend the throne, seize power as soon as possible, exercise the power of the Son of Heaven, and benefit the world. All the civil and military officials in the city got up early and gathered outside the imperial city.
At four o'clock in the morning, cocks were crowing in Quchifang in the distance. In the dark sky, candlelight illuminated the window lattice. Through the slightly opened gap, Lu Liangsheng held a brush and sketched the outline of a person on the drawing paper.
The Toad Taoist also got up early. He propped up his flat chin, squeezed his sleepy eyes, and looked at his apprentice at the desk with a dull look: "Liangsheng, what are you painting? Why are you painting for so long?"
As he said this, he yawned again.
“Draw myself.”
In the wind that squeezed in through the window, the swaying firelight illuminated his handsome face. Lu Liangsheng paused for a moment as he held the brush in his hand, dipped it in the inkstone, and then dropped it on the scroll along the spot he had just outlined. Faintly, the ink drawn by the tip of the brush emitted a light blue glow.
"The evil spirit of the demon star is much more ferocious than I expected. Now that I am going back to Qixia Mountain, I don't know how long it will take. There are some things here that need to be arranged properly... There is also a cause and effect that should be resolved."
"What is the cause and effect?"
The toad climbed up along the table leg with great effort, walked to the side of the scroll with its webbed feet and its white belly sticking out. It leaned over to take a look at the person in the painting. His hair was combed into a bun, his eyes were starry, two strands of black hair hung down his forehead, he was wearing a green robe and white clothes, and a green jade pendant with fish pattern hung around his waist. He looked exactly like Lu Liangsheng, but with a more worldly air.
"Your painting skills are so impressive that I can travel across the world, and I have never seen a cultivator paint as realistically as you. Liangsheng, when can you draw a picture for me? It will be a great honor to hang it on the wall. Well... I will also hang it in the middle so that others can see it as soon as they enter the room!"
The blue ink outlined the details of the painting and embellished the texture of the jade pendant. Lu Liangsheng smiled and said, "I will draw a picture for Master when I get back."
As he spoke, the tip of the pen in his hand continued to move, stroking the hem of his robe, and he walked through the street with the scroll held in his ten fingers, looking around, as if searching for something in the crowd.
Over there, Toad Taoist looked for a while, then sat down on two books next to him and crossed his short legs.
"You haven't told me who it's about."
"In fact, Master should be able to guess it. You also know him." Lu Liangsheng looked at the almost finished painting and added a few strokes of the surrounding street scenes. In the distant view of the crisscrossing streets, a mansion could be vaguely seen on an adjacent street, with the word 'Min' written on the plaque on the door.
"She and I actually knew each other quite early. We didn't have much interaction while growing up, but we became familiar with each other because of Pudu Cihang. However, I can't have too much fate with that girl. First, I might end up in prison, and second, we won't be able to grow old together..."
Dotted with blue ink, the eaves stretch out, the tiles sparkle, wild cats run around, and on the noisy long street, the tip of the pen draws a variety of scenes in the world, highlighting the scholar in white and green robe in the crowd.
After finishing the last stroke, Lu Liangsheng put down the wolf hair brush in his hand and blew at the ink that had not yet dried on the painting.
"Later, we became closer and closer, and she stood up for me when I was in trouble. Marriage is hard to come by, but the cause and effect are too deep, and there must be a conclusion."
"You want to sever your karmic relationship with that woman?" Taoist Toad looked at his disciple opposite him, and thought of the bride who once sat in the sedan chair. He nodded and said, "It's right to sever it."
"It's not about cutting off, but about ending."
Lu Liangsheng was looking at his own portrait on the table. When he heard a few more rooster crows outside, he suddenly stretched out his index finger and scratched it with the fingernail of his other hand, oozing a drop of bright red.
"Liangsheng, what are you doing?" The Toad Taoist watched the scholar pull the drop of blood into the air, stood up subconsciously, then realized what his disciple was going to do and sat back down.
“That’s not a bad approach.”
The fire flickered, and Lu Liangsheng pinched his fingers to form a spell, causing the drop of blood hanging in the air to slowly fall onto the painting, onto his own portrait. The moment it touched the drop, it merged into the portrait.
In a moment, the streets and characters in the painting became vivid, different from the usual paintings, as if a living little world existed in the painting.
"That's it... Let him end this karma for me."
Lu Liangsheng looked at himself in the painting, smiled, put away the scroll, opened the window and put down the window frame, turned around and went to the basin rack to wash up. From the bookshelf in the corner, a Qilin cloak silently floated out and was put on the scholar.
The pitch-black night gradually turned into blue sky. Soon, Lu Liangsheng walked out of Wanshou Temple and got on the carriage that had been waiting outside, heading for the imperial city. He opened the curtain and saw that in the dark sky, the long street gradually became a little noisy. People who were trying to make a living were already running around outside.
Passing by the street where hundreds of officials' residences were located, the plaque of the Min Mansion disappeared from his sight. Lu Liangsheng thought of what had just happened, sighed, and lowered the curtain. Half an incense stick of time later, he passed the Yanxi Gate, but saw no trace of the officials. He asked the soldiers driving the carriage about the time, and learned that it was after five o'clock in the morning, and the coronation ceremony had already begun.
After passing through the Yanxi Gate, we arrived at the Chengtian Gate outside the Daxing Palace. It was already bright outside. The soldier driving the carriage jumped off and whispered outside:
"National Master, we're here."
"Um."
Lu Liangsheng lifted the curtain of the carriage and walked out. He glanced at the towering palace gate and strode over. The palace guards manning the doors on both sides knew who he was and let him pass without checking.
"National Master, the ceremony has already begun."
A captain standing at the palace gate saw the imperial teacher passing by and couldn't help but whisper a reminder. Lu Liangsheng turned his head away. He could naturally feel the other party's kindness, so he smiled and nodded. He walked along the long red-walled palace road in front of him. The soldiers patrolling along the way and the archers guarding on the palace walls were much more strict than usual. When he saw the imperial teacher walking forward in the palace road below, he quickly turned his gaze in another direction.
Lu Liangsheng roughly understood why these soldiers did this. Ordinary people either admired people who practiced Taoism, or were wary of them and stayed away from them. Moreover, he was now a teacher of a country, and looking directly at him would be disrespectful. Even if Lu Liangsheng didn't feel anything in his heart, he would be punished if reported by others.
This is the rule in the palace...
After passing the Chengtian Gate palace road, outside the Taiji Hall in front of the field of vision, hundreds of officials gathered and knelt down under the high platform in a black mass. A figure stood on the top, holding a wine vessel in his hand, facing the morning sun, and speaking words of heroic deeds.
Lu Liangsheng stood far away with his sleeves folded behind his back and did not go over. He just quietly watched Yang Guang offer sacrifices to the heavens and pray. The old emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. It was true that the country is permanent but the emperors are transient...
I hope that in the future the crown prince can succeed the late emperor and become another enlightened and ambitious new emperor.