The long street was quiet late at night, with the occasional sound of night watchmen's gongs.
There was a creaking sound of a door closing behind me.
Lu Liangsheng walked across the street and looked back. There was a house with lanterns still on. The father and daughter over there went in and gently closed the door.
He stroked his silver hair in the wind, came back to his senses and continued to walk forward. It was a good thing after all that he hadn't seen her for all these years. It was like repaying his debt of love that he had created himself with her essence and blood to accompany her.
"It's good like this now."
Several years passed, and the changes around them were difficult for ordinary people to keep up. Lu Liangsheng saw clearly from his parents that the relationship between the two could not be made up just by "you are willing". There are things that are difficult to overcome between ordinary people, immortals, and ascetics. In the next few decades, one of them is about to become a rotten wood, and the other's age seems to have stagnated on his face. In the end, nothing is left except sadness.
"That's fine."
Lu Liangsheng repeated the sentence again, walking slowly on the long street in the dead of night, and unknowingly arrived at the foot of the imperial city. The soldiers brought a special carriage and drove through the long palace road. At this time, Yang Guang had not yet gone to bed, and was meeting people who had escaped from Taiyuan in the side hall.
"I feel relieved that Li Qing can return safely from Taiyuan."
"Your Majesty, I was able to return only because General Qu and my son escorted me along the way... Right now, the two bandit armies have merged into one in Jin, and their power is huge. Your Majesty should have responded as soon as possible!"
Li Yuan, who said this, is a cousin of the emperor above. They grew up together in Chang'an. They not only have family ties, but also a friendship that comes from working together through hard work. Others would hardly dare to say this so directly.
"My cousin is right, but I have never been afraid of them!" Yang Guang stood up from behind the dragon case, not caring about Li Yuan's tone. He put his hands behind his back and walked down the steps. He helped the other party up and raised his hand to let his nephew stand up. "At worst, I will die with the country. In the underworld, I will be worthy of my father and Han Zhuguo."
"Your Majesty, do you really want to perish with the country?"
"Humph, it's nothing more than death." Yang Guang gritted his teeth and walked past the crowd to the front, looking at the night outside the palace, "I will die with my country. Even if I become the king of a fallen country, I will still be honored in defeat."
There were faint sounds of footsteps jogging outside.
"Cousin, it was not easy for the late emperor and his civil and military men to build this country..." He took a deep breath, turned around, looked at Li Yuan, and clenched his fists, "... When my father passed away, I promised him that I would complete the Grand Canal and create a peaceful and prosperous era. Until now, I still remember it clearly and dare not forget it... Moreover, I have been doing so all the time."
Li Yuan pursed his lips. He was also standing by Yang Jian's side at the time. He felt the same way when he heard it again. He nodded, took a half step forward, and clasped his fists fiercely: "Your Majesty has such ambitions. Regardless of whether I am your cousin or your subject, I swear to advance and retreat with your Majesty. If I take even a step back, I will be punished by both humans and gods!"
There was determination in his voice.
As he was talking, footsteps approached from outside the door. An eunuch came to the palace door and bowed, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Master is visiting you late at night."
In the brightly lit side hall, the continuous voices suddenly became quiet. Li Yuan's face showed joy. Li Yuanba, who had covered his ears and didn't want to listen to his father talking to the emperor, also widened his eyes and grinned. He hurried to the outside of the hall with Qu Yuanfeng, who had his arm bandaged.
At the foot of the white rock steps in front of the main hall, a carriage drove across the square and slowly stopped here. The curtain was opened, and Lu Liangsheng slowly got down. When he saw the two disciples who came to greet him, a smile appeared on his tense face.
"Master!" The two, one big and one small, knelt on the ground and raised their hands.
"I'm glad you're okay." Seeing that Qu Yuanfeng's injuries were not serious, Lu Liangsheng helped his two disciples up. Li Yuanba, who was standing beside them, kept gesticulating excitedly.
"Master, you don't know how powerful Yuanba has been these days. He can crush any immortal with just one swing of his hammer..."
"National Master!"
Listening to the young disciple talking, Yang Guang, Li Yuan and Li Shimin were standing at the entrance of the hall. The former made a gesture of invitation and invited Lu Liangsheng to come in and sit down to talk.
"Your Majesty, please."
…
"National Master, why are you here so late at night?"
"I felt that Delong, Yuanba and Yuanfeng had returned to the city, so I came to take a look."
The burning lamplight cast a warm yellow atmosphere, and the firelight cut out the shadows of people sitting on the seats and projected them onto the pillars of the hall. Lu Liangsheng exchanged a few words of greeting, glanced at everyone, and then spoke of his intention.
"Your Majesty, there is no outsider here, so I will just talk about the important things."
The three words "no outsiders" made Li Yuan and Li Shimin straighten their chests and listen quietly to what the imperial teacher had to say without looking away.
"The Conferred Gods have been conferred, and the heroes in the world have all returned to their positions. I will not leave the city to confront the stars any day. However, I hope Your Majesty will order the soldiers deployed on the front line to withdraw and protect Chang'an."
Yang Guang was stunned for a moment, and even Li Yuan was puzzled.
"National Master, why is this?"
Over there, the light illuminated Lu Liangsheng's old face. He raised his drooping eyelids. It would be better to put aside such concerns. He sighed and put down the teacup in his hand.
"It is difficult for ordinary soldiers to hurt them, and even the enemy soldiers cannot hurt them. Rushing forward will only increase casualties."
The night wind blew into the shop, and rows of burning lamp posts flickered with flames. For a moment, Li Yuan frowned and fell silent. Yang Guang walked back and forth in front of the dragon table with his hands behind his back, and tilted his head to look at Lu Liangsheng under the lights.
"Master, if we do this, can we stop the Yin Spirits?"
This matter involved many stars incarnating themselves and descending to earth to disturb the human world. It was not as simple as committing a rebellion, otherwise Yang Guang and other civil and military officials would not have been in such a passive position, especially when they were surrounded on all sides. They would have had little chance to even go out and demolish the temples in the various states and counties.
"With only a general but no soldiers, I can't predict the outcome!"
Lu Liangsheng shook his head, but he always felt as if he had missed something, but he couldn't remember it. He looked at the night outside the palace. The wind blew through the imperial city with a slight chill. In the city with thousands of lights, the lights in every household gradually went out. Far away in the southeast of the Hibiscus Pond, the Wanshou Temple was in the water. The Toad Taoist was sticking his butt out and taking out pieces of robes and pants from the small wardrobe and throwing them on the bed.
After a while, he found a fur hat and put it on his bald head. Then he jumped to the desk, looked at himself in the bronze mirror, turned his head and asked the scroll hanging on the wall.
"Little ghost girl, do you think I look like... the emperor?"
What it attracted was a soft chuckle from the painting.
The night was deep. Outside the city of Chang'an, hundreds of miles to the north, under the starry sky, there were dotted bonfires burning. Soldiers patrolled past a large tent, and voices continued to be heard.
"It seems that Lu Liangsheng in the city has used the Kongtong Seal to start the Conferred God Ceremony again."
"Humph, so what? There are fewer and fewer god positions in this world, and even fewer people who can use them."
"Black Evil Star, you can't say that. The Yin God who shot and killed several of my immortal soldiers with one arrow two days ago seems to be called Lu Bu, who is quite powerful. Who knows, the Yin ghosts that Lu Liangsheng has been conferred are all rare and powerful figures in the world."
"In the final analysis, Huang Feihu is no longer on the same page with us."
"He cannot lack offerings from the world."
"If you encounter such a fierce Yin God appointed by the human world, you will inevitably have some troubles."
"That may not be the case. When we, the stars, come down, there are also people like the Third Prince. Moreover, the Four Heavenly Kings are here too. Why should we worry about the Yin Gods in the human world?"
Three people named Liang Shidu, Liu Wuzhou and Yuchi Gong were sitting in the tent drinking and talking. Then, they all turned their heads to look at four figures on the other side of the tent.
The next moment, four young men who looked like scholars nodded with their heads held high and their chests puffed out, looking serious.
"There are four of us here, so you three can rest assured!"