Rebellious officials bow their heads

Xie Linze closed his teeth, let him move calmly, without any response or retreat.

The water mist filled the clear pond, and it was so quiet that only the sound of autumn leaves falling into the water remained. Qing Ci felt the other party's attitude of ignoring him. He dawdled for a moment, then took a bite.

The pain made Xie Linze tremble a little. He raised his hand to push him away, but Qing Ci grabbed his hand as expected.

The bright red blood flowed down his shoulder, and along the slender collarbone, drew a strange red mark.

He frowned tightly, "Qing Ci, it's impossible between the two of us, you already understood."

Qing Ci slowly raised his head, turned his eyes around the hall, and sighed, "Unfortunately, I have never been self-aware."

"Is that true? From the moment you stepped into the palace gate, the taboo in your heart is like a thorn, which can never be pulled out." Xie Linze drooped wet eyelashes, "Even if you become a high-ranking official National teacher, you always remember your original identity - a little beggar in Yushui City."

Qing Ci looked at him firmly, "It seems that you have gained a lot this trip out of the palace, then you should already know why the Queen Mother Huijin came to Yushui to look for me in person, right?"

Xie Linze's Adam's apple moved awkwardly, and he said after a while: "She wants to get rid of you."

Qing Ci turned around with a slight smile, dragged her wet robes and walked towards the shore, her fingers unconsciously rubbed the piece of white jade, "Her thoughts really haven't changed, but she came a step late, at that time I It has already been picked up by the former national teacher."

"Aze," he turned his head and looked at the black-haired man shrouded in water mist, "I want to ask, after you killed so many people, the Frost planted in your body may no longer be able to suppress it. Maybe it's on the verge of an outbreak?"

Xie Linze's face changed slightly, and he quickly covered it up again, and said plainly: "If I can't suppress it, is it possible to talk to you now?"

After saying these words, he got up and went ashore, put on a snow-white robe and tied his girdle, walked past Qing Ci, stepped on cobblestones with wooden clogs, and walked towards the bedroom.

Qingci watched his movements with interest, and didn't look back until his back disappeared behind the ink calligraphy and painting.

Not far away, Xuanxie Wei hurriedly approached, Shi Li bowed his head and said: "Report to my lord, Ji Yan broke into Ji's mansion last night to meet Ji University scholar, and left half an hour later. His subordinates were not doing well and did not catch up with him Dare to continue to trace his whereabouts?"

Qing Ci said calmly: "I remember that he has given up his identity as the sixth son of the Ji family. Now he will go back to see the old man Ji. He just wants to find out the past and send a team to continue the investigation. If he finds it, he will be killed directly. Go back to level."

"Yes." Xuanxie Wei took the order to retreat.

Another day passed quickly. In the early morning, the majestic and towering Linghe Tower was half-hidden in the morning mist, and the people below were already surrounded by people who came to watch the puja. They were bustling with each other, talking about Taoism and the national teacher. There are also crowds who just want to see the grand occasion. There is a lot of traffic outside the venue, mixed with many dignitaries.

When the state teacher's mighty guard of honor appeared, all the people became excited and looked forward with their feet. The majestic [-] Battalion was like a barrier, blocking the crowd who rushed forward. Che Luan stopped at the stone steps, Qingci, who was wearing a gray Taoist robe embroidered with crane patterns, walked down, but did not continue to move, but stretched out his hand to the curtain of the car.

Afterwards, Xie Linze leaned out from the car, and without holding on to the other's hand, he walked down directly and stood on the stone steps.The crowd below was silent for a moment, and then erupted at an unimaginable speed. All kinds of voices merged together, and the overwhelming atmosphere was so high that it was even difficult for the Three Thousand Battalion to control the crowded crowd.

Ordinary people may not recognize Xie Linze's face, but they can know his identity from the clothes he wears. One must know that Emperor Xuanhe rarely shows up among the people. , Kneeling and saluting as if receding from the tide, the voice shook the sky: "Long live my emperor——"

With his back to the crowd, Xie Linze walked up to the Linghe Terrace, and Qingci walked beside him, seeming quite emotional, "The imperial power of the Xie family has stood for hundreds of years, even if you are left alone, the reputation of the people is still high, ah Ze, don't let them live up to their long live."

Xie Linze sat down on the chair in the middle, looked down and raised his hand, "It's been like this for a hundred years, how can there be long live."

The ritual officer raised his voice: "Get up——"

Only then did the crowd get up in a mighty state, several Taoist priests, Mu He and others stepped forward to salute, Xie Linze and Mu He looked at each other, "Sit down."

Qingci lit the incense and inserted it into the incense burner, wisps of light smoke floated up, and the distant knocking sound of the chime came from the top of the spirit crane platform, and the audience gradually became quiet. , as ethereal as singing a movement.

Light the talisman paper, pass it through the peach wood sword tip, and light the candlestick on the altar with flames before the talisman paper is burnt out. This is the most important ritual of Qingjiao, in order to offer sacrifices to the gods and pray for disaster relief and blessings.

Originally, this step should be done by the national teacher, but when Qing Ci handed over the wooden sword to Xie Linze, everyone naturally felt that this was an expression of the emperor's importance to folk beliefs.

Xie Linze faintly felt that something was wrong, but he still took the wooden sword under the attention of all the people. The moment the two of them handed over, Qingci's palm slid across the sword edge, wiping a stream of blood.

He took a few steps back and smiled slightly at the emperor in front of him.

Xie Linze immediately understood the intention of Qingci, but it was too late, the sound of chanting in his ears disappeared, only the humming and trembling remained, and his mind became blank. Driven, he began to struggle, sweeping his consciousness for a long time.

The surrounding light suddenly dimmed, and the moving heads in the field formed a messy shadow. Xie Linze lowered his head and tried his best to maintain the little clarity left. He clenched the wooden sword tightly, and the veins on the back of his hand were particularly obvious.Seeing that the emperor had not moved for a long time, everyone in the audience began to discuss uncomfortably.

Mu He, who was sitting next to him in the chair, could see clearly, and looked at Qingci in disbelief. If Fo Luosan lost control and the emperor killed innocent people here, the impact on the hearts of thousands of people can be imagined .

The wooden sword in Xie Linze's hand fell to the ground with a thud, and he turned back to look at Mu He with difficulty.

Mu He stood up dazedly, "Your Majesty..."

Qingci's eyes moved over, and he said to him calmly: "Have you thought it through clearly? Your every move is related to the lives of hundreds of Mu family. General Mu is old, and you have to think more about him consider."

Mu He was stiff and lost his mind for a while, Xie Linze took a few steps back, gasping for breath and wanted to leave here, but was stopped by Qingci.

The three of them were at a stalemate, when there was a sudden confusion from the audience, a figure stepped on the stone sculpture and jumped towards the high platform, there were so many guards that none of them could stop his footsteps, but he jumped onto the platform in an instant.

The two guards wanted to step forward to take him down, but they kicked him down without even touching each other's clothes.

The man, masked in black and extremely agile, grabbed Xie Linze and put the knife against his throat. This action caused a lot of exclamations from the crowd.

"There are assassins!"

Mu He turned pale with shock, but heard Qingci on the side say in a deep voice: "Ji Yan, you dare to appear here."

The man who held Xie Linze hostage whispered in his ear, "Linze, it's me."

Xie Linze tightly closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief, "Xu Yan..."

"Don't be controlled by Qing Ci, I will take you away."

Qingci raised his hand and ordered, "Come here, kill this assassin who caused chaos in Linghetai."

At the same time, Mu He shouted sharply: "The soldiers of the Three Thousand Battalion are not allowed to act rashly!"

Hundreds of soldiers in armor and sharp armor looked at each other and stayed where they were, only a dozen or so black scorpion guards stepped forward to surround Xu Yan.

Xu Yan sneered at Qingci who was not far away, "What? Your Majesty is being threatened by an assassin like me. You sent troops forward to put the emperor's safety at risk. The people in the city can see it all. You are sure to tear off your mask and expose you. Is your wolf ambition?"

The smile on the corner of Qingci's mouth has never changed, "Even if Xuanxiewei doesn't move, do you really think you can take Aze away? Have you ever seen him kill everyone when he sees Frost in a real attack?"

Xu Yan held Xie Linze and stood still in the encirclement, with stern eyes and a sharp blade in his hand, "Qingci, hand over Fo Luosan's mother Gu, or today will be your death day."

"I wanted to give you the mother's poison a long time ago, but unfortunately you didn't accept it. Is it too late to ask for it now?"

Xu Yan's pupils constricted slightly, and he realized something, "You—"

"Yes." Qingci nodded, raised his hand, and lay the piece of white jade named Qichi on it. There was a red thread sealed in the depth of the jade, which seemed to be floating around, "This is the mother Gu."

It turned out that as early as the first meeting, the other party deliberately took out the mother gu to test him, but Xu Yan missed it without knowing the truth. When he thought of this, he immediately shouted angrily: "Qingci! You really can play these vicious tricks! Handy!"

Xie Linze's consciousness was ups and downs on the edge of darkness, trying to maintain a trace of clarity, his face was pale, his forehead and bridge of nose were covered with cold sweat, he said softly: "Xu Yan, he is provoking you."

Xu Yan hugged him into his arms, looked around coldly, and his eyes fell on Qingci, "I'm afraid your plan to turn this Linghetai into a killing field will come to nothing. There used to be countless It was the altar where Dai Guoshi preached and preached, but from this moment on, it is no longer."

As the words fell, there was a violent turmoil under everyone's feet, only hearing the deafening bang, the entire Linghe Tower was trembling precariously, and countless rubbles collapsed and fell!

The crowd in the audience fell into chaos, screaming and fleeing outward.

Qing Ci's smile disappeared from the corner of his mouth, "Did you bury gunpowder underneath?"

The sound of collapses and explosions continued one after another, and the Xuanxie guards were dodging around. Xu Yan picked up Xie Linze, "You are right."

He turned around and quickly jumped towards the stone sculpture below, and disappeared in the chaotic crowd in a blink of an eye. Mu He and other Taoist priests on the stage dodged in a panic. The pavilion turned into ruins amidst the deafening noise, and ceased to exist.