The lamp flickered, and the steam rising from the teacup gradually cooled down. Lu Liangsheng looked at the emperor with his fingertips pressing on the Kongtong Seal, but there was no reaction at all. He sighed in his heart, thinking that the seal was originally left for him, but it was useless now.
"Your Majesty, don't take it to heart. The Kongtong Seal carries the land of the Five Heavenly Emperors. It is not easy to obtain the power to confer the title of God. Perhaps there are things that I have not thought through."
Looking at the seal in his palm, Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, raised his sleeve to brush away the cover, and put it back into his sleeve. If it is placed in the palace, it is not appropriate, and it may even bring disaster to Yang Guang. The emperor over there also nodded. He knew this, but he reluctantly withdrew his gaze and said with a smile:
"There is no such thing as having the best of both worlds. Even if I really can't be the emperor, I can still be a saintly monarch."
Yang Guang quickly concealed his disappointment and gave two dry laughs. Since there was no other way and he couldn't force it, he said a few words to comfort Lu Liangsheng and asked the old man to stay in the palace for dinner.
"The Imperial Master has been on a long journey and is returning to the court today. I will definitely host a welcome party for him. There are new imperial chefs in the palace, and they have changed some new flavors. If you like the flavors they cook, I will have them delivered to the Wanshou Temple tomorrow morning."
"Your Majesty, that's not necessary." Lu Liangsheng bowed and stood up. The emperor thanked him for his kindness. But he had other important things to do right now, so he didn't have much interest in staying for dinner, so he simply stood up and walked out of the hall.
"… The chaos in the city today was caused by City God Ji, who had his statue destroyed and his spirit injured by those gods. I will go over to take a look and will not stay in the palace for dinner."
Seeing that he couldn't keep him, Yang Guang could only nod and spread his hands: "I will send the Imperial Master away."
Outside the palace gate, the eunuchs and maids who were waiting to be summoned retreated to the left and right. Lu Liangsheng came out with his hands behind his back. He looked like he was dyed a piece of red sunset, and his beard was swaying in the wind.
The two men walked down the white rock steps one after the other, neither of them spoke a word. The eunuchs and guards tactfully followed them from a distance. When they passed the square and were almost at the palace road, Yang Guang stopped and looked at the hunched figure with pale beard in front of him. He could not help but be moved. He was indescribably happy that the Imperial Master had returned, but when he saw the old face and the somewhat hunched back, he felt a pain in his throat and his eyes turned red.
He called out with sobs.
"National Master."
In front, Lu Liangsheng, who was walking with his hands behind his back and hunched over, stopped, turned around, and a smile appeared on his wrinkled face.
"What else does your majesty want?"
"National Master."
Yang Guang repeated, and suddenly took half a step forward, tears rolling down his eyes. He lifted up his dragon sleeves, bowed and said, "Thank you, Imperial Master!"
"hehe… "
Lu Liangsheng had a smile on his face, and he didn't say anything like "Your Majesty, there's no need to be so polite." He just nodded with a smile, turned around and walked into the long palace corridor.
The setting sun dyed the western clouds red as a lonely figure walked past the towering palace walls. The red paint had peeled off in some places, revealing a desolate and antiquated look. When the soldiers of the Imperial City Administration at the city gate saw the old man coming out, they all half-knelt on the ground with their long weapons in hand.
"We are here to see the Imperial Master!"
"Everyone, get up."
Lu Liangsheng responded and took a step forward. When the soldiers in front of the city gate stood up and looked again, his figure had already reached the end of the long street. In the blink of an eye, he stepped into the bustling and noisy street. Passing Yiningfang, the crowds of people there had dispersed, and the group of bandits were nowhere to be found. The tall wooden building was being dismantled bit by bit by the craftsmen, and the supervising yamen runners were patrolling nearby with swords on their shoulders, scolding them from time to time and asking them to speed up.
"If all these gods gather together, I'm afraid I won't be able to deal with them... If the person I entrusted myself to has military power, I'm afraid he will lead his troops to rebel in Chang'an, and then the smoke of war will rise everywhere, which is contrary to my wishes."
A figure with white beard and beard walked down the long street with his sleeves clasped behind his back in the sight of passers-by. Lu Liangsheng walked out of the city gate alone, bathed in the sunset glow and walked through the official road. Passers-by and merchants saw him, a lonely old man, and asked him if he was lost and if he needed a ride, but Lu Liangsheng smiled and refused all of them and continued to think about the problems he had to deal with later.
'... They are numerous and powerful, especially the Jiazi Taisui who escaped. He must be familiar with other gods. Once they gather together to kill us, it will be the biggest trouble... Unless... '
Thinking of this, his hand subconsciously reached for the square seal in his sleeve pocket. Lu Liangsheng turned the road and looked at the outline of the temple standing on the hill in the distance.
"One day, one land. Then I will confer titles on a group of underworld gods. Perhaps we can even have a fight."
Having made up his mind, he walked briskly, passing the ancient pines casting rays of sunshine, and stepped on fallen leaves to the gate of the City God Temple. The weapons that were stuck here before had disappeared at some point, leaving only dense holes on the ground. He entered the ancient and heavy temple gate. While cleaning, the crying temple priest and several pilgrims who had received the notice were also cleaning here. No one noticed an old man coming in and walking straight to the main hall.
Magic power is gathered in the eyes.
Lu Liangsheng lifted the hem of his robe, stepped over the threshold and walked into the hall. The messy altar blurred and faded in his sight, and a gloomy court scene came in like a tide. Then, a thin young man with a tuft of yellow hair on his head came into view. He was wearing a Taoist robe, had a short mustache on his upper lip, a goatee on his chin, and looked wretched.
Between the two of them, there was a short black shadow wearing a robe and flippers on his back. He stood there with his legs stretched tight, watching the flaming talisman paper wrapped in some dust slowly burn out.
"Master, Lao Sun, why are you here?"
The Taoist already knew who had come in. He folded his hands and rested them on the back of his head. Without even looking at Lu Liangsheng who was approaching, he raised his chin towards the young man beside him.
"I'm afraid your little disciple might get into trouble, so I came to see for myself."
They basically knew what had happened before. The Toad Taoist in the middle of the two people looked at a ray of dark green floating in the air in front of them that was slowly growing larger. He turned his head to look at his disciple behind him, put down the purple gold gourd, sat down on the ground, and casually shook out a few small pills from the gourd and threw them into his mouth, grinding them with a crackling sound.
"Liangsheng, when you encounter something like this, how can you not call your master? With someone to help, it will be better to prevent any of them from escaping."
Probably because he had heard the City God's story, Lu Liangsheng walked over and stood aside. He just smiled, and was a little embarrassed to respond. After all, the incident happened suddenly, and even if he informed his master and others, they might not be able to stop it in time.
Seeing that his disciple remained silent, the Toad Taoist patted the crumbs on his webbed feet and asked, "Have you thought of a solution?"
"Um."
Lu Liangsheng waved his hand to let Li Yuanba, who was looking around, stop for a while, and sat down next to his master. He also looked at the faint light floating opposite and expressed his thoughts on the way in the future.
"Even if we call on Lao Zhu, Zuo Zhengyang, and Yan Chixia, we may not be able to defeat them all. If they send down heavenly soldiers and generals, the mortal soldiers here will also be pulled into the vortex, and there will be heavy casualties. The only way is to confer a few heroic souls that have not yet been reincarnated. Maybe we can deal with them for a while and then find a chance to 'send' them back to heaven."
"Master, this method is wonderful!"
As soon as Lu Liangsheng finished speaking, the faint light floating in front gradually extended to the ground and took on a human form. After smelling the elixir, Ji Xin's soul felt much better than before. He walked over with a crown hanging down, first said thank you, and then continued with what he had just said.
"However, it is not easy to find these ghosts. I don't know which ones have not yet been reincarnated. There is only one way to find out."
A cold wind blew through the courtroom. Lu Liangsheng's hair hung in front of his forehead and swayed twice. He looked at the City God who came over. Amidst the flickering blue light, his thin lips slightly opened and he said what the other person wanted to say.
"The underworld."
On the other side, Ji Xin nodded heavily.
"Tongyou."