The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 42 Another Plight

Listening to Wei Tianhe’s words, Li Guanshu snorted, “Nonsense!”

Wei Baoheng was the Prime Minister of Tang Empire, commanded hundreds of officials, and had great power. So many masters had joined his team. And also many cultivators of Jianghu became his advisors and helped him.

Li Guanshu could not compare.

However, if Li Guanshu was willing to ask Wei Baoheng for help, he would not have gone through such trouble to make the illusion that the Taoist priests in Niushou Mountain were rebels.

The previous time he fought with Li Ye, he had failed and his son, Li Yao, lost cultivation. They also lost the title of Prince An that was going to belong to them. In front of Wei Baoheng, Kang Chengxun tried every means to sneer at his incompetence and tried to suppress him. And this time, as the General of Left Guards and Duke of Tang Empire, if he couldn’t solve the problem resulting from occupying the farmland of a small landowner, Wei Baoheng would believe that he was useless. It would be the same as stretching his face out to Kang Chengxun and letting him slap away.

Once this matter was known to Wei Baoheng, his position in front of Wei Baoheng would be suppressed by Kang Chengxun and he would be laughed at and despised by others, which would make it difficult for him to make a comeback in the future.

Of course, Li Guanshu would not say that to Wei Tianhe. Fortunately, there was another reason. “Li Ye is a Grand Prince, Wu You is a Duchess, Li Jing’an is the second son of Grand Prince Gong, and the others are not small fry either. Their status is very noble. If they all died here, won’t it be noticed or suspected? Their family and the Imperial Court will search Niushou Mountain to strictly investigate this matter. At that time, can we really hide it?! Duke Wei also doesn’t dare to act like that and he would not agree with me if I do!”

At this point, Li Guanshu suddenly realized something.

Yes, Wei Baoheng would not agree with Li Guanshu to kill Li Ye and others, so he would not send people to help him. That was to say, once he couldn’t cover up that he had harmed villages, attacked the youths of the Imperial Clan, and framed the Taoist temple of Niushou Mountain, Wei Baoheng would not save him. He would resolutely abandon him and draw a clear line with him to avoid being dragged into this matter.

After all, this matter was too big.

“What should I do?” Li Guanshu thought.

He found it extremely difficult to deal with this matter now.

Wei Tianhe did not know what Li Guanshu was thinking. He advised, “There’s a conflict between you and Li Ye. This time he has all the evidence, so he will not let us go. When he returns to Chang’an, he will report us... Duke, we must kill them all now!”

“Li Ye... Li Ye...” Hearing these two words, Li Guanshu felt uncomfortable all over. He felt his stomach and intestines spasm, and he almost vomited. “It’s Li Ye again, why is it always him?! In Chang’an, he hurt Yao’er and grabbed the title of Prince An, which made me lose face! This time in Niushou Mountain, it’s him again. He has ruined my plan and placed me in a dilemma. Damn it!”

“He was clearly trash. How did he make such rapid progress overnight and become outstanding in intelligence? How on earth did that happen?!”

Li Guanshu was so sad and angry that he almost couldn’t help but shout at the heavens. He wanted to ask Li Ye what was the conflict between them, and why Li Ye targetted him.

However, Li Guanshu could not ask this.

There was an absolutely irreconcilable conflict between them.

Wei Tianhe opened his mouth and wanted to say something. But he didn’t say it. How did Li Ye suddenly change overnight? Everyone already knew that. It was because he inherited Yuan Tiangang’s heritage in Tai Xuan Summit...

The reason why Wei Tianhe didn’t speak out was that it suddenly occurred to him that it was Li Yao who deceived Li Ye into going to Tai Xuan Summit to seek the Taoist’s Luck.

Li Guanshu was furious and he smashed a bush beside him with one hand. He gnashed his teeth with a fierce gaze. “I will not let Li Ye go!”

...

The opportunity to meet the Taoist priests of the Taoist temple at Niushou Mountain came much earlier than Li Ye and the others had expected.

Maybe the masters of the Taoist temple had noticed the fighting in Luoping village. Or maybe they were discovered by scouts sent down from Niushou Mountain. So, the Taoist temple sent people to see them.

Early in the morning, Shangguan Qingcheng, who happened to be on duty at the village entrance, came back to report to Li Ye, saying that there were Taoist priests who wanted to see him.

Li Ye gathered the others and they met at the old locust tree at the village entrance, where they saw three people there.

At the head was a young man in his twenties, wearing an old gray robe, with a peach-wood sword hanging on his waist which absolutely was not an ordinary wooden sword, but a spiritual sword. He stood outside the village with his hands clasped behind his back, looking calm like the two Taoist priests behind him.

In terms of manners, these three Taoist priests were not much different from the Taoist priests of Taixuan Hall in Cloud-engulfed Mountain. But their temperaments were quite different. Obviously, they had understood Taoism and had the spirit of detachment. They were natural and unrestrained.

“I’m the Taoist priest Fang Zheng, nice to meet you.” The young Taoist priest, with the other two, saluted the crowd. When they saluted, they clasped two hands to form a fist in front of their chest, with the left hand outside and the right hand inside, and then bowed.

At present, Taoism was prosperous, so decent Taoist priests had high status. The youths saluted back with admiration, sympathy, and joy. Then Li Ye stepped out of the crowd and invited Fang Zheng to the village.

Li Ye was a Grand Prince, so his status was the highest among the youths of the Imperial Clan. In the beginning, they were not familiar with him and Li Jing’an despised him and didn’t listen to his advice. However, after yesterday’s battle, they had already been convinced, so now they were willing to admit his position and let him be the host.

In the courtyard where they rested last night, they simply greeted the three Taoist priests. They were in a severe situation, so they did not talk nonsense and soon exchanged their respective situations.

Therefore, these youths knew that Fang Zheng, the young Taoist priest in front of them, was the younger brother of Rich Fang, and the three Taoist priests also knew the whole story of the two battles yesterday.

“Prince An has a good demeanor. You’re wise and brave, which reminds me of the old Prince An. I admire you a lot.” Fang Zheng stood up, this time solely saluting Li Ye, and his words were earnest. “If Your Highness hadn’t been clear-minded and planned well, Li Guanshu would have succeeded in his conspiracy and Niushou Mountain would have suffered a lot. On behalf of others and myself, thank you, Your Highness!”

Li Ye saluted back and said, “You’re welcome. Both you and I have gotten into trouble. I did that because I didn’t want to be played like a fool... So far, Li Guanshu will not give up. And I have to ask you for help.”

Fang Zheng said, “This is the reason why we came here. We’re here to invite you to the Taoist temple, our Great Taoist has been waiting for a long time.”

Going to the Taoist temple was already the idea of these youths. So without much discussion, they left Luoping Village, followed Fang Zheng and the other two Taoist priests, and headed for the main peak of Niushou Mountain.

...

There were many Taoist sects in the world. The small ones were Taoist temples while the big ones were Immortal’s Sects. However, both Taoist temples and Immortal’s Sects were under the supervision of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. To some extent, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory was the largest Immortal’s sect in the world, and all Taoist sects in Jianghu could be regarded as branches of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory.

When the dynasty was in its heyday, the Imperial Court held great prestige. The Imperial Astronomical Observatory which ruled the Taoist sects and Taoist methods naturally had unparalleled authority, and the world’s Taoist sects dared not disobey it.

However, ever since Li Cui ascended the throne, politics have become corrupt and the army has been in disorder. Those Taoist sects had other thoughts. Some collaborated with the vassal states. Some ignored the prohibition of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory and preached Taoist methods to ordinary people and expanded their team of cultivators. And some were in direct contact with people in Jianghu.

The name of the Taoist temple on Niushou Mountain was Sanqingguan, and its Great Taoist was Xu Qingfeng.

On a steep peak which was a little lower than the main peak, there was a pavilion. Because the top of the peak was not big enough, there were no other buildings. Xu Qingfeng stood in the pavilion with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at the mountain scenery.

Next to him, there was a purple-clothed woman standing. She didn’t wear a Taoist robe. Her sharp eyebrows looked like a lancet, which seemed to show that she did not have the peaceful temperament of a Taoist priest.

“Junior Fang has sent a message.” A middle-aged Taoist priest came to the pavilion and reported to Xu Qingfeng, “They have contacted them and are on the way back.”

Xu Qingfeng nodded slightly and did not turn back. “Are you all ready?”

“Great Taoist, everything has been arranged.” Said the middle-aged Taoist priest.

Xu Qingfeng nodded. “Then go ahead with the plan. But be careful. Among these youths of the Imperial Clan, there are two masters of Level 5 Qi-refining. You should avoid them as much as possible. Remember that your task is to kill one or two youths of the Imperial Clan and then run away quickly instead of fighting with them.”

“I know.” Then the middle-aged Taoist priest left.

Li Ye and the others would be shocked if they heard this.

It was not until the middle-aged Taoist priest had gone away that the purple-robed woman in the pavilion laughed and said ironically, “You’re going to assassinate the youths of the Imperial Clan. It’s true that Li Guanshu said you’re rebels.”

Xu Qingfeng still looked at the mountains in the distance and was not annoyed when he heard the words. He just said lightly, “Li Guanshu said that we made contact with greenwood heroes and people from Jianghu. He was not wrong either.”

The woman in the purple robe looked at Xu Qingfeng and said coldly, “Great Taoist Xu, what on earth are you going to do? If you assassinate these youths of the Imperial Clan, aren’t you afraid that the Imperial Court will send an army to attack Niushou Mountain?”

Xu Qingfeng said slowly, “It has always been Li Guanshu who assassinated the youths of the Imperial Clan. What does that have to do with us?”

The woman in purple robe said, “You want to frame this matter on Li Guanshu?”

A smile appeared on Xu Qingfeng’s face. “These youths of the Imperial Clan have turned against Li Guanshu. And it’s natural that Li Guanshu wants to kill them. He can’t explain it even if he had a hundred mouths.”

The purple-robed woman said, “The youths of the Imperial Clan will die in Niushou Mountain, which will make a big commotion!”

Xu Qingfeng smiled and said, “That’s exactly what I want.”

The woman said, “Li Guanshu is ruined and your goal has been achieved. Why do you still want to do this?”

Xu Qingfeng shook his head. “To overthrow or punish Li Guanshu was never our goal.”

“What else do you want to do?”

“When the youths of the Imperial Clan die in Niushou Mountain, there will be a bloody storm in Chang’an City. At the Imperial Court, no one can cover up Li Guanshu’s conspiracy and guilt, and everyone will know that Duke Xing and the youths of the Imperial Clan are killing each other. Once such scandals are exposed, the Imperial Court will lose face and its prestige will be greatly reduced. Everyone in the world will know the corruption and darkness of the Imperial Court. By then, the vassal states with evil intentions and the stirring forces will despise the Imperial Court, and it will not be far from a revolt.”

“You want to cause chaos?”

“Not me, it’s the Taoist sect!”

“What’s in it for you when the world is in turmoil? You have deliberately planned this!”

“It’s not my deliberations. It’s Li Guanshu who is seeking his own death. I am just taking advantage of the situation.”

“...”

After a long time, Xu Qingfeng suddenly sighed. Instantly, there was a kind of extraordinary brilliance in his eyes, which the purple-robed woman could not understand. The brilliance was so strong that the purple-robed woman could not look directly at it.

Xu Qingfeng stretched out a hand. “Only when the old world is destroyed, can a new order can be established!”