"You are really strange."
"Seemingly going with the flow, taking an indifferent attitude towards everything."
"But in fact, he is a domineering character at heart. Once he makes a decision, others can't change it at all."
Xiao Qiushui stared at the wine bottle in his hand, with a smile on his lips.
He practiced "The Heavenly Book of Forgetting Love" and had a deeper understanding of other people's characters.
After saying this, he realized that he could not convince Zhao Yan.
"I can still tell the difference between a good word and a bad word. Don't praise openly and belittle others secretly."
"Oh, if you want to go, go quickly. If everything goes well, we will pass through Sanlang County in Wuzhou in five days and we can take you back with us."
"Wuzhou, it's not that far away. Okay, I'll definitely catch up."
Zhao Yan agreed readily.
Sanlang County is no more than a hundred miles away and can be reached in half a day.
"You're welcome when you get here. If you need anything, just ask Cuiyu."
"The wine is good."
Xiao Qiushui picked up the wine bottle and shook it.
"Every drop is gold..."
Zhao Yan sighed melancholy, stood up and walked out.
"Are you going to travel all night?"
"Well, it's like it's stuck in my throat, I'm confused and unhappy."
"Take care of yourself."
"Don't worry, I can't die."
……
……
Tread...
The rapid sound of horse hooves was particularly loud in the silent night.
Zhao Yan sat cross-legged on the horse as if walking on the ground.
I just chose to set off overnight for the sake of setting a good character, but I ignored that the gates of Yulin City will be closed after nightfall...
In desperation, he could only secretly carry his horse over the city wall.
Fortunately no one saw it, otherwise the image would be ruined.
After leaving the city, we quickly left Linzhou along the official road.
After estimating the distance, it will be tomorrow evening before we can return to Kaifeng.
I hurried away in the dust, Zhao Min couldn't catch me anymore...
My thoughts are in turmoil, and the boring journey has become less boring.
Along the way, Zhao Yan fell into concentration like an old monk.
At first, I was still thinking about a few things, but later I became more focused.
Countless martial arts fragments and experiences come to mind.
There were some that Wang Yuyan compiled and read to him, and there were also some that she had casually glanced at and remembered in her mind.
These things that were once forgotten after having been heard and seen before, are now becoming vivid one by one, turning into clear and vivid pictures in the memory.
As this scene evolved, the internal energy in Zhao Yan's body also began to grow slowly.
The internal strength that had reached the bottleneck seemed to have been improved again as if someone had pulled the cork out of the bottle.
Although the Wuji elixir mentioned by Xiao Qiushui is good, Zhao Yan knows his own affairs.
No matter how good the elixir is, it is useless to him. Even if he takes a hundred pills, he will not gain any internal strength.
Only by constantly reading and understanding more inner skills and mental methods can his internal strength make great progress.
The deeper your understanding of the skills, the more improvements you can get.
It's just that Zhao Yan rarely thought about it seriously before. This ability came too easily, leaving him little motivation to make progress.
But now that he is getting closer to the truth of the world, he feels more and more urgent.
In the past, he would not have thought about Lao Shizi's martial arts skills when he was alone.
However, if there is a chance to get the Wuji elixir, he still has to fight for it.
After all, he has many people under his command, so he doesn't need them. He Mingyan can use them.
The power of the extraordinary realm can no longer keep up with the rhythm.
Once you enter the state of enlightenment, time flies by so quickly that you feel no sense of day or night.
By the time Zhao Yan noticed that the horse beneath him had stopped, another dark night had fallen.
He opened his eyes faintly, and in the distance was a huge city.
Zhao Yan jumped off the horse like a ghost, stroked the horse's head and said:
"Be good, go back to Zhuangzi by yourself."
The horse leaned over his face and rubbed his palm for a while, then spread its hooves and headed in the direction of Sanxian Village.
He is a thousand-mile horse raised in Zhuangzi, otherwise he would not know the way home.
Standing quietly on the road, looking at the huge city in the darkness.
Zhao Yan felt surprisingly calm in his heart.
When I was dealing with Xiao Qiushui before, I was just talking nonsense.
I thought I would be a little nervous before the battle, but I didn't expect that I was not at all.
"Every time there is a big event, there is calmness..."
Zhao Yan shook his head and sighed that his mentality was indeed good.
After thinking to himself for a while, he stepped lightly, lit up a circle of smoke, and disappeared in an instant.
……
……
Imperial City.
Having been to the grand palace complex in Shengjing, Zhao Yan felt ashamed when he saw these extremely simple and short houses.
It's hard to believe that the imperial brother has lived here for many years, and the second brother and third brother Xi Ge have been detained for so many years just for the right to live in these shabby houses.
He came to the roof of Zhao Lu's palace by familiar means, and after sensing the position of Mr. Kang and Mr. Gui, Zhao Yan's figure became even more mysterious and unpredictable.
If there were traces of his movement skills before, but after gaining insights on horseback, they are now as incomprehensible as an antelope hanging its horns.
Outside the palace, Kang Lao Gui Lao conscientiously guarded the secret place outside the house.
As the guardians of Zhao Lu, the two of them have done their best over the years.
A gust of cold wind blew by. Mr. Kang, who had closed his eyes to rest, suddenly opened his eyes and looked ahead warily.
"Old ghost...do you feel the atmosphere is a little strange?"
"Why is it strange? The prince has made a name for himself outside, how can he dare to have Xiao Xiao come to him and feel uncomfortable?"
"That's true...but why do I feel like I'm being watched?"
"Don't worry about you too much. If there is an attack from a foreign enemy, our ancestor would have given us a warning."
"That's right..."
The two of them chatted for a few words and lowered their guard. But at this moment, a very familiar voice came to their ears.
"Thanks to Mr. Kang for your love..."
Before they finished speaking, the two of them suddenly felt that the acupoints on their backs were being restrained and their bodies could not move at all.
Then the acupuncture points on the chest were also tapped, and no part of the body could move except for the eyeballs.
"Since the first song, I thought you two were targeting me... I didn't expect you to think so highly of me in private."
In the frightened eyes of Mr. Kang and Mr. Gui, Zhao Yan suddenly appeared.
Neither of them could understand how Zhao Yan quietly appeared within the range of their Qi sensing range, but they didn't feel anything at all.
"I used to think that I was the backbone of the Song Dynasty... Brother Huang was also under my protection..."
Zhao Yan smiled and covered his face, feeling a little ridiculous.
"I didn't expect that the person who was blinded by a leaf would be myself."
From Kang Lao Gui Lao's mouth, Zhao Yan had confirmed Zhao Yin's existence.
This shows that Zhao Lu knew all about the Immortality Society...
I also know the underlying operating logic of this world.
But he had been pretending to be in front of Zhao Yan for so many years.
"I'm sorry, you two have been standing here for two hours. I and my brother have important matters to discuss."
After saying that, Zhao Yan ignored the two of them and lightly opened the palace door and stepped inside.
And as he entered the dormitory, Kang Lao Gui Lao's expression became worse and worse...
They even thought that Zhao Yan finally embarked on the path of killing his brother to seize the throne.
I'm afraid this would be the same idea for anyone else...
In the middle of the night, he broke into his brother's room. If he said he had no other ideas, no one would believe him.
In fact, Zhao Yan looks quite similar now...
He stood expressionlessly beside Zhao Lu's bed, looking coldly at his sleeping brother.
Over the years, the imperial brother always said that he couldn't sleep well and his health was getting worse.
This must be a rare good sleep.
Zhao Yan just stood quietly, not disturbing Zhao Lu's sleep.
But as time passed slowly, Zhao Lu, who was sleeping soundly, slowly started to look troubled.
He frowned and twitched his chin from time to time. The look of surprise showed that the scene in the dream was definitely not a good thing.
Zhao Yan still didn't bother him and just watched with cold eyes.
I don’t know how long it took, but Zhao Lu suddenly sat up in the nightmare...
He covered his forehead and took a few deep breaths, but he didn't notice Zhao Yan standing next to the bed.
The two brothers remained silent for a long time...
"Fifth brother?"
When Zhao Lu was about to lie back down, he suddenly noticed a dark figure standing beside the bed.
Surprisingly, he didn't panic, but looked over calmly.
When he saw Zhao Yan's face through the dim moonlight for the first time, he asked in surprise.
"Brother Royal."
Zhao Yan carefully observed Zhao Lu's reaction, verifying his conjecture bit by bit in his mind.
"You're back…"
"I'm back."
"It's good that you're back. Don't go out again..."
Although Zhao Lu looked calm on the surface, his words seemed somewhat unnatural.
"Brother Emperor, don't you have anything to explain to me?"
"Explain what?"
"There are 100,000 troops stationed outside the Shenyang Pass. Did the emperor forget to welcome his younger brother home?"
When Zhao Yan left Fengqian, Zhao Lu personally said that he would garrison troops at Shenyang Pass to respond to him.
But the news that came later was that Shenyang Pass did not add a single soldier.
Zhao Lu broke his promise, which was a sign of disregarding Zhao Yan's life and death.
"Is fifth brother coming to settle accounts with brother Wei because of this matter?"
After hearing Zhao Yan's question, Zhao Lu seemed to be relieved.
He asked with a smile, like a doting elder brother.
"yes."
"Not only do I want to settle the score, I'm also going to kill my brother and become the emperor myself."
Zhao Yan said coldly, raising his right hand to his chest, glowing with a cold blue light.
"It's brother's fault, fifth brother, please take action."
Zhao Lu didn't refute. He closed his eyes and raised his chin, as if he was about to kill him.
"In this case, I invite you to die."
Zhao Yan didn't say much, raised his right hand high, and then slashed towards Zhao Lu's neck with the force of thunder.
This strike was merciless. Even a transcendent martial artist without certain strength would find it difficult to take the strike, let alone Zhao Lu, who was just an ordinary person with mediocre martial arts skills.
If the attack is serious, one hundred Zhao Lu will die completely.
However, just when the knife was only half an inch away from his neck, an extremely powerful force suddenly struck in front of Zhao Yan, completely neutralizing his attack.
At the same time, a magnetic voice also sounded next to the two of them.
"You two brothers don't have to act here. If you want to see me, just ask Zhao Lu to bring you here."
Hearing this voice, Zhao Yan's lips curved into a proud smile.
Zhao Lu also looked relieved.
"If you want to hide this from your great-grandfather, your and my acting skills are still not good enough."
"It's not my fault, it's my brother's acting that was too unnatural."
"Hey, brother, you wink at me as soon as I wake up. It's pretty good to be able to do that."
"It's not satisfactory, it's a bit worse than when I was a child."
Zhao Yan flicked his finger, and the candle on the table suddenly lit up. He walked to the side and took two thick coats and helped Zhao Lu put them on.
Now that the weather has turned cold, Zhao Lu's body cannot withstand the cold wind.
"Where's Mr. Kang and Mr. Gui?"
"I killed two old bastards."
"Fifth brother can't do such a thing. The second elder is loyal to the royal family. Although he often targets you, he is not a villain. The fifth brother is like a mirror in his heart."
"Okay, okay, don't flatter me, they are all standing outside, just freeze them all night."
Zhao Yan pretended to pick his ears to show that he was tired of hearing it.
After serving Zhao Lu to get dressed, Zhao Yan picked up the candle on the table and walked out of the palace with him.
Zhao Lu looked at Mr. Kang and Mr. Gui Lao who were standing motionless from a distance outside the palace, shook his head and smiled bitterly.
Knowing that he couldn't persuade Zhao Yan, he simply gave up and led the way forward.
Anyway, the two elders are both in extraordinary physiques, so they won't freeze to death just because of the slight wind and cold.
"It was my great-grandfather's intention to not let Chen Bing pass at Shenyang Pass..."
"I got it."
"When did fifth brother notice it?"
"In hindsight, I only thought about it recently, when was the imperial brother summoned by my great-grandfather?"
"Two years after my brother ascended the throne..."
"It's amazing. It's been hidden from me for six years."
Zhao Yan sneered, somewhat unhappy in his words.
"In vain, I thought that my hard work was great and I prevented many disasters for the Song Dynasty. I was just being sentimental and acting like a clown when I co-authored it."
"Fifth brother, please don't say that. Great-grandfather doesn't just do it when he wants to... He also likes it very much when you are here."
"Whether it's true or not, you have to meet your great-grandfather before it counts."
"It's true. My fifth brother went to Wudang, passed the border and came back, bringing national prestige to the Song Dynasty. My great-grandfather was extremely happy."
Zhao Lu said with a pleased smile.
"It's just that the old man probably didn't expect that the fifth brother would come back so early. He thought that at least the flowers would bloom next year."
"Spring is blooming? What does it mean?"
Zhao Yan frowned slightly, always feeling that this life was not easy.
"No intention, just a good day."
After Zhao Lu finished speaking, he led Zhao Yan around a corner.
Dozens of night guards happened to bump into the two of them. When they saw their faces, they were so surprised that they bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
"The last general has met with His Majesty and the King of Qi!"
Encountering this weird scene in the middle of the night, it was pretty good to have such a reaction.
The emperor and the only prince of the Song Dynasty...
Two people walking in the palace in the middle of the night?
It’s incredible to think about it, let alone see it with your own eyes.
"No courtesy, let's continue patrolling."
Zhao Lu did not explain, but continued walking inside with Zhao Yan.
"Yes, I will retire at the end!"
The soldier on night patrol walked forward with a dull expression on his face, still full of shock in his heart.
Zhao Yan, on the other hand, looked at the road thoughtfully.
"In here... there should be only Baixian Palace."
"Well, the 30 famous generals and virtuous ministers who founded the Song Dynasty are all enshrined here. Our great-grandfather takes care of the palace here every day."
"Um?"
Zhao Yan suddenly thought of someone, and a trace of doubt flashed across his face.
"It seems that there is only one old eunuch cooking here in Baixian Palace."
"Well, that's great-grandfather."
