Dedicate One’s Mind

The next day, when Wu Yi followed Li Gu to leave the inner courtyard and go to the outer courtyard to meet other disciples, when he walked out of the inner courtyard, the outer courtyard was a completely different world, with lights and decorations everywhere, ribbons fluttering, and objects with meanings of happiness and longevity everywhere.

The monks who really entered the door of cultivation in the capital Taoist temple all practiced in the inner courtyard, and those in the outer courtyard were ordinary registered disciples who did not get the true method and had not comprehended the sense of qi. There was a big difference between the capital Taoist temple and the Taoist temples in other regions, that is, this Taoist temple was built in a densely populated area, unlike other Taoist temples that were far away from the city and secluded and sparsely populated. For example, the back mountain of the Liucheng Yiqi Taoist Temple where Wu Yi was located was even more rampant with beasts and poisonous insects.

However, this capital Taoist temple often had pilgrims, including many royal relatives. Even the emperor had to hold a major event of offering sacrifices to heaven and conferring the empress and establishing the heir, and people from the capital Taoist temple had to come forward to hold it, in order to reflect the influence of the Yiqi sect on the country and consolidate the status of the state religion. Compared to other Taoist temples, the requirements in this regard are not as strict as those in the capital. They just come forward to solve some problems that cannot be solved in the mortal world and involve the extraordinary.

But the Taoist temple is a place outside the world after all. For example, the inner courtyard has not changed even for the emperor's birthday. The outer courtyard often receives pilgrims and naturally has to be well decorated. Even if many disciples come and stay, they are just not allowed to stay. They are still allowed to come to burn incense.

Seeing Ge Yunyi and other disciples again, Wu Yi turned a blind eye to the envy in their eyes and walked into their team calmly. At this time, all of them gathered outside the main hall of the outer courtyard, Lingchen Hall. There was a large open space here that could accommodate thousands of people. Dayu has thirty-six counties and more than a hundred Taoist temples. This time, more than two thousand disciples came, filling the entire open space.

Each temple has its own position, and even the Taoist robes are all in a uniform blue-white color, with a sense of elegance and transcendence. Although they are not as neat and orderly as the mortal army, and they seem to be sparse, they do not walk around randomly. The leaders of the Taoist temples, such as Li Gu, stand at the front of each Taoist temple and have the responsibility to enforce discipline.

Next to the copper-plated and gold-plated gate of Lingchen Hall, Bai Yu, the master of the Ducheng Taoist Temple, wears a Five Mountains crown, a purple-bottomed and gold-painted Bagua Taoist robe, and holds a whisk, looking like a Taoist master.

"My fellow Taoists, since Emperor Gengshi ascended the throne, he has worked day and night to revive the government, and the sea and rivers are peaceful and the world is stable. Today is the birthday of the king, and the whole world is celebrating, and our Taoist sect is celebrating together." Bai Yu's full voice spread throughout the entire hall, and everyone heard it clearly.

But Wu Yi remembered that when Wang Chuchen spoke, it was as if he was speaking right next to you, while Bai Yu relied entirely on his true qi to spread the sound waves. As someone who was relatively close, Wu Yi felt his eardrums vibrating constantly, and even had a moment of tinnitus. Of course, such a comparison is naturally unfair, after all, Wang Chuchen was only talking to more than a hundred people, while Bai Yu was talking to thousands of people.

But Wang Chuchen, after all, had mastered the Dao rhyme of the Great Dao of Sound, so he should be stronger. Wu Yi thought to himself. Now he was so bored that he was thinking about these boring things in his mind. The reason was that after Bai Yu made an opening, he talked endlessly about what the disciples should do on their birthdays. Everyone practiced in the Taoist temple all day long, and even when they went out of the cave, they mostly went out to listen to the professor's explanation of Taoism. They were rarely restricted, and practiced and rested at their own will. Now this is not allowed, that is not allowed, how can they not be bored.

Not only Wu Yi, but other disciples had the same attitude. They were just embarrassed by the professor standing in front of them. It was not easy to breathe to kill time, and it was even harder to express dissatisfaction. They could only droop their bodies, listlessly, and wandering in the sky.

Bai Yu didn't want to do this originally. He said so much nonsense. Not to mention the disciples, even Li Gu, a foundation-building cultivator at the professor level, was very dissatisfied. But what could he do? Behind him stood the old Taoist with white eyebrows. This Taoist was from the Ping family, so he had to make him happy.

The oath-taking ceremony lasted for more than half an hour. It was not until the sun was tilted to the center that Bai Yu stopped talking and asked everyone to attend the banquet.

The Taoist disciples of the Taoist temples traveled in a large number, occupying three or four streets. Seeing these Taoists traveling, even if there were enough gaps between the Taoist temples for other pedestrians to cross the street, no one dared to cross. Even mortals knew that these were real Taoists and should not be despised.

After all, it was the birthday of the king, so it was shocking and offensive to the imperial power. Wu Yi and his party were not allowed to use Taoist magic easily in the capital, and the magic of driving clouds and playing with qi was not allowed. But even so, with the speed of Wu Yi and his party, ordinary people could not see the change of footsteps clearly, but they saw the heavy shadows of footsteps, and the shadows in front had not dispersed, and the back foot came again, which made them dazzled for a while, and they were even more awed in their hearts.

Wu Yi and his party were at the peak of the fourth transformation of Qi Refining, so their footsteps were not weak. Even so, they walked for half an hour when they arrived outside the Sheji Hall of the banquet.

When they arrived at the place, they had to stand in the designated position. At this time, all the officials and ministers had arrived, and countless golden armored soldiers stood on both sides with swords. They all got up early in the morning before dawn and waited in the cold wind, not daring to let the emperor wait. In comparison, Wu Yi's group of Taoists were the last group to arrive.

As the time was approaching, Wu Yi and the others hurriedly stood at the designated positions under the guidance of the master of ceremonies. Wu Yi and the others complained that Bai Yu had wasted too much time and told too many useless things before, which made them so flustered now, but they did not open their eyes and say it now.

In order to stand as quickly as possible, everyone could not help but use their spiritual energy, and their bodies were surrounded by white mist and breeze. With the carefully prepared sky-blue Taoist robes, they looked more elegant and graceful. Even the officials were dissatisfied when they saw that the people from the Taoist temple came so late, but they dared to bury it in their hearts at this time, and did not dare to whisper and complain privately as before.

Seeing the admiration of all the officials, Bai Yu closed his opened eyes and meditated as if no one else was around. Wasn't it his intention to see the current scene? It is not an empty talk that religious power overrides official power, even if he tried not to do so in order to maintain the dignity of the emperor. The capital has evolved magical powers, but these officials who are accustomed to being aloof still need to understand the superiority and inferiority of the city.

After the Taoist priest stood in position, Emperor Gengshi arrived belatedly accompanied by a group of palace maids and warriors. If you look closely, you can see that Emperor Gengshi's steps were unsteady and he often walked in the wrong direction. It was only the support of the queen beside him that kept him from falling and making mistakes. .

This queen has curved eyebrows, plump cheeks, and white teeth. She wears a emerald crown with dragons and phoenixes on her head. She wears a red long-sleeved dress with Xia pei, a long red skirt, a red mandarin skirt, a special bun with dragons and phoenixes on her head, and embroidered clothing. With golden dragon and phoenix patterns, Gu Panjian is very noble. Emperor Gengshi married her in her sixties after their husband and wife died. It was a political marriage at the time. She was the daughter of the leader of Linxia Kingdom, a neighboring country of Dayu Kingdom. .

Linxia Kingdom does not have a large character in front of its name to express respect, and its national power is naturally not as good as that of Dayu Kingdom. However, its people grew up in the bitter cold land of the Northeast, made a living by fishing and hunting, and were good at fighting and hunting. They helped Emperor Gengshi to quell many border invasions. Even many Linxia people were still conferring marquises and generals in the Kingdom of Dayu, reaching the top of the ministers. Relying on the power of the mother country, the queen was able to firmly control the national affairs of the Kingdom of Dayu after Emperor Gengshi was unable to handle the affairs. It was not her who The prince who suffered from fetal bleeding had to rely on the power of the Taoist sect to ascend to the throne.

The queen is already in her forties according to her age, but she is still radiant, graceful, and lovable. However, any man who sees the arrogance in her eyes will feel ashamed and dare not look up at her.

The emperor and the empress sat down, and the ceremony officially began. The master of ceremonies began to list the achievements of the first emperor since he succeeded to the throne. In addition to those that have been spread all over the world, there are also a lot of small things, and the beautiful articles expand into a long list.

Wu Yi suddenly understood why so many professors and deacons declined the matter. Even Wang Chuchen looked impatient. After practicing Taoism for a long time, the restraint in his heart gradually disappeared, leaving only the persistent pursuit of the Tao. How could he care about these things? Interested in trivial things.

Wu Yi had no intention of listening to these words of praise, so he closed his voice consciousness and began to practice on his own. Naturally, he did not dare to completely calm down. He just meditated and breathed out. Like many other disciples, at this time, the Taoist disciples seat Most of the disciples were like this. The master of ceremonies was not surprised and continued his recitation. After reading the lengthy eulogy, he announced the start of the banquet.

All the officials and ministers bowed down, while Wu Yi and other Taoists bowed their heads and said flattering words of longevity.

The Altar of Sheji is a place for singing praises, not a place for banquets. The place for banquets is in the attics behind the Altar of Sheji. After the emperor and queen left, everyone followed the master of ceremonies to the place where they should go.

There is a group of relatives of Longzi, Longsun and Emperor, a group of civil servants and ministers, a group of generals and soldiers, and the rest is Wu Yi, a group of Taoists.

Before leaving, sharp-eyed Wu Yi saw a young man who seemed to want to step forward to help Emperor Gengshi, but was scolded by the queen and did not dare to step forward to help him again and retreated.

Wu Yi didn't know who this young man was, but combined with the four-clawed golden dragon suit on his body and his movements, it was not difficult to guess that he should be the prince.

Such a thing happened in front of the ministers, which shows that the rumors from the outside world are not groundless. Wu Yi thought.

It can be said that the relationship between the prince and the queen is complicated. The reason why the current prince can become the prince is mainly due to the support of the queen. Emperor Gengshi was already over sixty years old when he married the current queen. He may not be inhumane, but if he wants to continue to reproduce heirs, it is This is unlikely, which also leads to the fact that the queen is now childless.

But the fact that the queen had no children did not mean that she had no other choice. The couple who married Emperor Gengshi gave birth to a son before his death. It was the current prince Ping Yunce. It should be noted that he was already in his forties at that time. The court Many people inside and outside believed that the first queen died because she desperately wanted to give birth to this child.

The first queen gave birth to a total of three sons and one daughter. The first two sons were already adults. She was not happy about the birth of the third brother. Putting aside the royal family's struggle for power, this brother took the life of their mother as soon as he was born. , so he never wanted to see him, and even Emperor Gengshi didn't particularly value him. If there were no accidents, his life would be spent in confusion.

But an unexpected thing happened. The current queen arrived. She knew very well that she might not be able to give birth to an heir at the age of Emperor Gengshi. So on the one hand, she invited famous doctors to try to give birth to an heir, and on the other hand, she lost her mother while she was still in her infancy. Ping Yunce brought him in and raised him personally. Not only to give the outside world a virtuous and kind image, but also to leave a way out for yourself.

In the end, the queen did not give birth to an heir, so Ping Yunche was naturally raised by her as her own son. Then, through various suppressions, Ping Yunche's two brothers were deposed from the throne, relegated and placed far away, and Ping Yunche was promoted to the East Palace. Bit.

It would be fine if Emperor Gengshi was still in good health, but suddenly his body collapsed. Who would hand over the baton of power? The court was divided into two factions, and they were extremely unbalanced factions. I originally thought that I would get more power. Ping Yunche, who was very supportive, found that almost all the people in the court were under the influence of his mother. He couldn't pour a drop of water at all. It was all the veterans of Emperor Gengshi who supported him.

That's why Ping Yunche found another way out, found the ancestor of the Ping family, and begged for help from the extraordinary power.

The queen scolded Ping Yunche and left, which extinguished Ping Yunche's last thoughts on a peaceful solution.

He lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong, but no one noticed the complex expression in his eyes, which showed unwillingness, reluctance, regret, and resentment, but in the end, they all turned into ruthlessness, like a hungry wolf, with green light emitting from his eyes.