Chapter 111: The Moon Bends to Shine on the Eastern Mountain

In the middle of the quiet royal courtyard, a guard was patrolling outside the window, seemingly blind and deaf, unable to hear or see at all, the key object of the royal family’s watch, the eldest princess was plotting something in secret with her close confidant.

“He’s too suspicious, so he doesn’t need to design anything, he’ll jump out and initiate the design himself.” Li Yunrui slowly closed his eyes and said, “And he is very arrogant, so arrogant that he can make the scheme …… something bullshit! Where is there any scheme, it’s simply him playing there all by himself.”

She suddenly opened her eyes and said, “Just …… this palace is afraid of my brother’s loneliness, but also had to accompany him to play a game, the Great East Mountain assassination …… seems to have become a very absurd explicit thing, he knows I want to kill him, waiting for me to Kill him, I know he waited for me to kill him, but still have to go to kill him, really funny.”

Yuan Hongdao listened to this tongue twister and looked at the smile on the corner of the Rapunzel’s lips, but did not find it interesting, instead, it gave birth to a faint chill, knowing that on the Great Eastern Mountain is a bureau, the Rapunzel jumped into it without any hesitation, did she really think that Ye Liuyun, the Great Master, could change the whole world?

Although after Huang Yi’s death, he had become Li Yunrui’s closest strategist, he knew that although this Her Highness the Eldest Princess seemed to have been forced by His Majesty and Fan Xian to take every step backward over the past two years, and never had any wonderful hands to release, there really wasn’t too much need for her own in terms of scheming.

Because of this, he had not been able to figure out the details of the Princess’s final plan, and naturally had no way to inform the Dean and His Majesty.

However, as a strategist, at such a critical moment, whether for the sake of camouflage or to be more trustworthy, Yuan Hongdao had to say something that should be suggested, so he looked into the eyes of the Rapunzel and said softly: ”Interesting, at certain moments, is a combination of absurdity and stupidity …… I don’t know exactly which side is more absurd, which side is more stupid, but since the one who moved at the very beginning was your majesty, then you should choose another path, or else how to move again, the chess piece that moves will always be one step slower than the one on the other side of Shiping.”

Eldest Princess Li Yunrui slowly closed her eyes and said after a long silence, “Another path? You are advising me not to move for the time being?”

“Precisely.”

The eldest princess suddenly opened her eyes and smiled, smiling with extreme innocence, “What’s the use of not moving? If the Great Eastern Mountain Sacrifice ends …… smoothly Mother will always have to go that day, do you expect me to be secluded in this separate courtyard forever.”

Yuan Hongdao was silent for a little while and then smiled, since he could easily enter this separate courtyard, then the eldest princess must have many ways to easily leave this separate courtyard, he knew that the eldest princess was only thinking about the situation of the country of Qing in the future, no matter which way you look at it, if this time his majesty’s opportunity to leave the capital wasn’t grasped, the eldest princess would want to make a comeback again, what kind of chance could she have?

“Fan Xian.” Yuan Hongdao tried to convince the Elder Princess, before he received further instructions from the courtyard, he certainly wanted to delay the Elder Princess’s movements as much as possible, “This is your chance.”

“Fan Xian?” The Eldest Princess came to be interested and smiled, “Even if His Majesty is going to cut Fan Xian’s power in the future, this won’t be my palace’s chance.”

“It’s not just as simple as cutting his power.” Yuan Hongdao lowered his voice and said, “Fan Xian’s relationship with the north is too close, and once your majesty …… calms down the internal contradictions within the court, the blade will definitely be pointed at Northern Qi, and what Fan Xian will do at this time will be worth considering, and maybe then it will be your chance. ”

“So I have to live?” The eldest princess smiled to herself.

“You must live.”

She laughed somewhat lazily without comment, her orchid-like fingers tapping the teacup on the table. When Yuan Hongdao got up to pour tea for her, this woman slowly lowered her eyelids and quietly thought, Yuan Hongdao’s thoughts were not wrong, it was just that he did not understand what kind of character the Emperor was.

Under this heaven, only the eldest princess Li Yunrui, most clear about what kind of person her emperor’s brother is, also only she is clear, right now is the emperor to give himself a chance, and if he did not go to seize this opportunity, what aftermath does not need to be mentioned again.

The emperor has too many opportunities to kill himself, but he does not kill, naturally, he hopes to draw out some people through himself, Junshan will those who have been hidden in the dynasty and field, a certain old monster ……

She thought in her heart, if she wins, that’s nothing, but even if she loses, it’s still good that His Majesty the Emperor was able to achieve his goal …… Thinking of this, the corners of her lips once again revealed a hint of a self-deprecating smile.

“Brother Hongdao, what do you say is the final competition in something like killing?” Rapunzel looked at him with a smile.

Yuan Hongdao thought for a moment before saying, “Time, opportunity, and great power.”

“Not bad, but again, wrong.” The Eldest Princess slowly bowed her head and said, “In fact, in the end, what is more than the most crudely obvious, most uninteresting, and most direct of those things, to see who’s sword is faster, and who’s got more fighters.”

“Competition for the dragon chair, in fact, and the gangs in the jianghu to fight for territory, there is no essential difference …… His Majesty is arrogant and suspicious, thinking that he has calculated the world, but he has forgotten one thing, not all the knives are in his hands, do not forget the words I said before, because of his suspicion, he will definitely lose. ”

This sentence of the eldest princess’s indifference set the tone for this whole thing.

Yuan Hongdao smiled, knowing that he couldn’t convince the Elder Princess any more, his heart was inevitably a little anxious, but he hid it extremely well and said, “The Crown Prince and the Second Highness side have already contacted more or less, just waiting for the news as soon as it arrives, they will start to make the arrangements, and there shouldn’t be any problems with the civil officials, mournful news is always the most important thing in order to hit the heart of the civil ministers to defend themselves. …… And no matter from which angle, they have no reason to refuse.”

“What you said makes sense.” The Eldest Princess smiled and said, “The Supervisory Court is always out of sight, they are very powerful tools, but they can never be a decisive force at certain times, as long as the courtiers support it, and the palace supports it, what use can Chen Pingping be?”

Then she smiled and said, “I heard that Wan Er has been taking care of that concubine …… who is about to give birth This matter is arranged.”

Above the summit of the Great Eastern Mountain, Fan Xian looked at the man sitting on the futon outside the door, the blind man covered with a black cloth, not very tall, but always looking that calm, and opened his mouth, but did not say anything.

The emperor let out a laugh and turned away, leaving this place to their uncle and nephew.

Fan Xian walked in, carefully closing the door and making sure that no one was listening beside him, before indulging his joyful expression on his face, embracing the blind man and gently patting him on the back.

Five Bamboos was still indifferent, and this indifference was different from that of Prince Xiao Yan, not a self-protective release of emotion, but a kind of viewpoint brought about by the absolute calmness of the heart when external objects were not tied to the heart.

But when Fan Xian hugged him tightly and was overjoyed, this blind man, in the back of his head where Fan Xian could not see, the corners of his lips blossomed slightly, revealing a gentle smile that was very hard to see.

It was a pity that Fan Xian didn’t see it, or else he would have made some very perverted moves.

A hug and a parting of the ways. Five Bamboos was not a person who liked to be physically intimate with people, and neither was Fan Xian, it was just that after a long goodbye, Fan Xian was unable to suppress the joy in his heart and indulged in a hug.

The two of them sat on top of the futon, looking at each other, and were quiet for a long time without speaking.

Fan Xian’s face became more and more gentle and happy. He confirmed that Uncle Blindie’s injuries had almost healed, but for a moment he didn’t know what to say or where to start. Since they parted a year and a half ago, he had traveled south to Jiangnan to fight the Ming family, encountered sniping in the valley, and killed people in Kyoto in the middle of the night, and he didn’t know how many dangerous winds and waves he had passed through.

However …… all of this is only not what Uncle Five Bamboo wants to hear. These things for five bamboo is nothing, Ming family is something, five bamboo simply will not care, as for in the valley was sniped when the danger, five bamboo will only think Fan Xian performance is very poor.

So after holding his tongue for a long time, Fan Xian opened his mouth and said, “Uncle, I’m going to be a father.”

It was Five Bamboo, whose face didn’t change color even when the Great Eastern Mountain pressed down on him, who was very rarely silent after hearing these words, seemingly slowly digesting the news, and then he slightly inclined his head and said, “You …… are also going to have a child?”

This word also, I don’t know how much information it contains. For Five Bamboo, there are only two people in this world, yes, although there are thousands of people, there are only two people in him, everything else does not exist, only the things of these two people are worth letting him remember.

Twenty years ago, the woman gave birth to a child, twenty years later, the woman gave birth to a child to give birth to a child, the two things, although twenty years apart, but in his feelings, it is like two things that happened one after the other, that is why there is that word also.

Then the corners of his lips bloomed into a gentle smile once again, and he said to Fan Xian very seriously, “Congratulations.”

Because of this smile and these two words, Fan Xian naturally fell into a state of endless shock and joy; how could he not understand that after not seeing Uncle Five Bamboo for more than a year, he would say such a cheesy two words and not be shy about showing his most human side in front of him-when was the last time he saw Uncle Five Bamboo’s smile? Probably when he was still talking about his mother in that grocery store in Tanyu City.

Fan Xian somehow felt a warmth in his heart, as if he felt that the fact that Five Bamboo was finally willing to smile for himself, and no longer just because of Ye Qingmei, was something worth remembering.

Five Bamboo’s smile immediately tightened and returned to her usual appearance, saying seriously, “When you’re going to have a child, you have to say congratulations, this is what Miss taught me, and I haven’t forgotten, so don’t be surprised.”

Fan Xian smiled bitterly and was speechless, and spoke again in a biased manner, “This should be an emotion that comes from the heart, and we don’t need to memorize it.”

Five Bamboo’s face turned toward the mural inside the temple and said, “For me, this is a hard thing to do, and for you, you’re happy too soon.”

The thin and never-permeable black cloth tied over his eyes made the bridge of his nose look extraordinarily straight, and the next words he spoke were as direct as that, “The time is not right.”

The meaning of these words was too simple and too subtle to be understood by an ordinary person, but Fan Xian, who had lived with Five Bamboos since he was a child, easily understood the meaning embedded in these four words. He gave a bitter smile and nodded, acknowledging Uncle Five Bamboo’s judgment.

The Emperor had sacrificed to the heavens at Dadong Mountain, and if someone really dared to rebel, then Dadong Mountain was the first dangerous place in the world, and correspondingly, Kyoto was naturally the second most dangerous place in the world. Fan Xian at this time is far away from the sea shore, simply can not be concerned about the situation in Kyoto, if the eldest princess and those imperial sons really have the guts to make that thing to, then for Fan Xian this surface diehard royalist faction …… will exert what kind of means?

Wan Er is the eldest princess’s own daughter, Fan Xian is not very worried, but Si Si and her belly will be born in the child how to do? Even if the Emperor had earned a great bargain in Dongshan, once Kyoto was in chaos, what kind of damage would be done to those in the Fan family, those Fan Xian was worried about?

This was the root of Fan Xian’s shocking worry after seeing the Emperor in Tanyu. It was just that in front of the Emperor, it was impossible for him to express anything, and it was only after Five Bamboos had directly stated the root cause that his face confessed the true emotions of his heart, a heavy one.

“Dean and father are in the capital, there shouldn’t be any major problems.” He seemed to be trying to convince Uncle Five Bamboo, but also seemed to be comforting himself.

“The Emperor has never allowed Chen Pingping and Fan Jian to take charge of the army. That’s the problem.” There was still no inference in Five Bamboo’s words, only results, and he lowered his head as he said indifferently, “It might not be too late for you to rush back to Kyoto immediately at this time.”

Yes, even if there was a revolt in the capital, but it always needed a name, and the assassination death of the emperor would surely need a scapegoat to take the blame, so the time of the Kyoto mutiny would surely be around fifteen days after the incident at Dadong Mountain.

Now Fan Xian rushed back to Kyoto, it should still be too late.

Five Bamboos said, “It’s useless for you to be here.”

After Fan Xian thought for a while, he suddenly spoke, “My role seems to have been completed the moment I met you.”

The moment he went up Da Dong Mountain, entered the ancient little temple, and saw Wu Zhu, Fan Xian understood why His Majesty the Emperor had decreed that he should be summoned to accompany the Heavenly Sacrifice, and why he had gone to block himself in Tanyu to bring himself up Da Dong Mountain.

Just as the Emperor had said earlier, since this bureau was aimed at Ye Liuyun, he needed the participation of the Five Bamboos. Not only would the Five Bamboos not leave Daedong Mountain because of the Emperor’s scheme, but even if he was on top of Daedong Mountain, if he didn’t want to take action against Ye Liuyun, he wouldn’t do it – the Emperor could order everyone in the world, but he couldn’t order the Five Bamboos – so the Emperor needed Fan Xian’s help to help him convince the Five Bamboos to get involved in this matter.

“His Majesty brought me here to see you, so I’m sure you’re well aware of what it means.” Fan Xian looked at Five Bamboo and said with his head bowed.

“You are also clear.” Five Bamboo said.

Fan Xian slowly raised his head, his face wearing a very complicated look, and said after a long time, “Three and a half years of being in the capital, I’ve done a lot of things, but in fact, I know myself well, all of these things, they’re all about certain people utilizing me …… and now, those people are utilizing me to utilize you. I then just, because I myself have something to ask, but you have nothing to ask for this world, so this is unfair to you.”

“There is no such thing as fair or unfair in the world.” Five Bamboos said calmly, “The key is whether or not this matter is good for you.”

Fan Xian noticed something very peculiar, after being separated from Uncle Five Bamboos for more than a year, nowadays Uncle Blind seemed to be talking a lot more than before, with a less enriched expression. He shook his head with a bitter smile and said, “His Majesty has thrown himself into this perilous situation, and if we don’t help him, and he’s really beheaded …… by Ye Liuyun with a single stroke of his sword, things will be a big deal. He is using his own life and the turmoil of the world to force us to help him.”

“These two points, even if we don’t care, I must care about the safety of those people in Kyoto.” After Fan Xian paused, he said with a bitter smile, “If Ye Liuyun makes a move, the Eldest Princess must have reached an agreement with the Second Prince in Kyoto. We can’t let them succeed.”

After a little silence, Five Bamboo said, “Speak directly.”

Fan Xian sat down carefully in front of him and said sincerely, “Please ask Uncle to save His Majesty’s life, and as for Ye Liuyun’s side, don’t worry about it.”

Five Bamboos nodded very directly.

Fan Xian’s heart breathed a sigh of relief, the emperor could use him, but he didn’t want to use Uncle Five Bamboos, he only had a few relatives in this world and didn’t want to mix too many other things. And let the five bamboo uncle, does not mean that Fan Xian does not worry about the safety of the five bamboo uncle, because before the sacrifice of heaven, the movement, must be the biggest in this continent in twenty years of the biggest shock, the five bamboo uncle, even with the cultivation of the great masters, may not be able to get good to go.

But Fan Xian was not very worried, because this temple was on top of a high mountain cliff, even if Uncle Five Bamboo lost in the end, he could just jump into the sea, and this is a skill that Ye Liuyun and those big bulls can’t even catch up with.

“I should go down the mountain at this time.” Fan Xian bowed his head and said, he didn’t have much of a say in the great events that were about to take place, and deep down, he wasn’t willing to follow His Majesty the Emperor in his madness and adventures.

However, he was clear that the emperor should not let him go down the mountain. This kind of hostage-taking tactic was used well in order to mobilize Uncle Five Bamboo to use it for him, and if Ye Liuyun’s sword occasionally veered and pointed at Fan Xian, Five Bamboo wouldn’t be able to make a move even if he didn’t want to.

“If the other party makes a move, they will definitely rush before the completion of the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony……. Stay here and I’ll try to convince His Majesty to let me go down the mountain.” Fan Xian frowned and said, “After this matter is completed, please come to me as soon as possible.”

Speaking of this matter, he looked at Uncle Five Bamboo’s face and asked in a daze, “I don’t know what the Heaven Sacrifice Ceremony is all about, what it does symbolically, but I’m curious, Uncle, have you been recuperating from your injuries in the Great Eastern Mountains this year?”

Five Bamboo nodded.

“They say that the Great Eastern Mountain has divine wonders, could that be true?” Fan Xian looked at the black cloth on his face and asked seriously with a frown.

Five Bamboo spoke, “I don’t know if it’s useful for those people’s illnesses, but it’s good for me to recuperate from my injuries.”

Fan Xian’s heart trembled slightly, somewhat confused by this statement, and asked, “Why?”

“The thickness of the Yuan Qi of the Great Eastern Mountain exceeds that of any other place in the world.” Five Bamboo said.

Fan Xian’s frown tightened, “I can’t feel it.”

“You can only feel the true essence in your body.” Five Bamboos said, “And the yuan qi between heaven and earth isn’t so easily captured.”

After a pause, he spoke, “Bitter Lotus once practiced western spells, so he should be able to feel it.”

Fan Xian fell silent, suddenly thinking of the two chicken-hearted spellcasters that had once appeared occasionally in his own life, vaguely seeming to guess a bit of what was going on, but unable to connect the whole thread. Spells …… This is such a distant and unfamiliar word, he once moved to practice spells when he was young, but in this continent, no one is proficient in this point, even if it is a bitter lotus, more is also in the theoretical knowledge of the collection of research.

At this time the night gradually deepened, the temperature of the mountain top slowly dropped, those insects in the grass were frozen to stop chirping, several temples gradually condensed into a solemn aura. Fan Xian tilted his face in a daze, looking at the murals painted on the four walls of the temple. Those drawings, which were basically similar to those of Kyoto’s Qing Temple, made him a bit lost in thought.

Fan Xian was filled with too much curiosity about the divine temple, and the Qing Temple that followed its style. Originally, he would have liked to ask Uncle Five Bamboo about it, but the pressing situation today prevented him from staying too long.

He stood up, saluted Five Bamboos, and said in a lowered voice, “It doesn’t matter who dies on this mountaintop, you can’t die.”

Five Bamboos did not reply to these words, but inclined his ears, then his right hand halfway up his sleeve came out and pressed it directly onto the ground, steadily remaining motionless.

A moment later, Five Bamboo said quietly, “You can’t get off the mountain.”

“You convinced him.” The Emperor stood on the edge of the dark cliff with his arms crossed. There were clouds in the sky today, hiding the moon behind a thick layer of clouds, and the blue sea in the extreme depths below the cliffs glowed with a dark color like ink, and only one or two points of light could be vaguely seen, which should be the sailors’ ships escorting the Jiaozhou sailors.

Fan Xian walked behind the emperor and frowned slightly, he almost fell down in the afternoon, how did this emperor’s guts get practiced. However, the situation was urgent, so he did not answer the emperor’s questioning and said directly, “Your Majesty, there are cavalry attacking under the mountain.”

The emperor slowly turned around with a smile on his face, not questioning how Fan Xian knew of the movements at the foot of the mountain from high up in the mountains, and said peacefully, “Is that so? How many are there?”

“Unclear.” Fan Xian bowed his head and responded, “I thought that since the enemy was attacking, I should immediately send out the Tiger Guards to break out and ask for local assistance.”

The emperor looked at him quietly, not agreeing to his sentence, but only said slowly, “I have another matter for you to do.”

Right at this moment, a rocket at the foot of the mountain swished through the night sky, illuminating some of the sky and informing of the urgent enemy situation at the foot of the mountain. At this time under the mountain, I am afraid that has long been the killing sound of the sky, the scene of blood and flesh, the most audacious regicide in the history of the Qing Dynasty, this opened the curtain.

“Report!” The Vice Commander of the Forbidden Army ran out from the mountaintop camp and knelt in front of the Emperor, quickly reporting what had happened at the foot of the mountain, only that the mountaintop and the foot of the mountain were extremely far apart, and it was impossible to fully understand the specific situation with just a few token arrows.

This vice commander’s face was pale, sweating profusely in the cold wind of the night, he only knew that there was an enemy attack at the foot of the mountain, and this fact was already enough to make him lose his head. He really couldn’t figure out how these incoming troops had arrived at the foot of Dadong Mountain without alerting the local authorities, and under the cover of night, had launched a ferocious and disastrous attack on the two thousand forbidden troops at the bottom of the mountain.

There is no specific content, Fan Xian looked at the vice commander of the forbidden army up and down the lips, but the ears as if they could not hear a word, there is like an absurd and ridiculous silent picture.

Indeed ridiculous, the king of a country was surrounded on Dadong Mountain, deep within the country’s borders!

The sound of killing could not reach the top of the mountain, and the fishy odor of blood and water could not float up, the peak of Dadong Mountain was still clear, and at this time, on the night sky very close to the top of the mountain, the layer of thick clouds suddenly dissipated, revealing a round of bright moon.

The moonlight like silver sunshine shines on the body of the emperor and Fan Xian at the top of the mountain, Fan Xian slightly squinted his eyes, looked at the emperor shrouded in the moonlight like a god-like figure, began to be nervous and began to be excited, and even more through the emperor’s pair of iron-like shoulders, he saw a small boat drifting in the sea in the distance.

The small boat rose and fell in the waves, lazily traveling forward in the moonlight, coming towards the Great Eastern Mountain.

The top of the mountain was extremely far away from the sea, but Fan Xian still sensed the small boat.

Because, on the boat stood Ye Liuyun.