The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 46 Roadlessness (3)

The youths stood in different positions, but they were quite close to each other. The place by the lake was small and the falling stone was huge, so half of them were under it. The stone fell very fast and aggressively. It was clear that someone had added Spiritual Qi to it. The stone was going to fall to the ground when they looked up.

“Get out of here!” They realized that it would hit them and scattered around.

Unfortunately, Li Ye was under the stone. He could not escape when he saw the stone falling. Suddenly he heard Li Jing’an’s roar from the other side. “Save Prince An!”

Before his voice disappeared, the woman appeared in front of Li Ye and picked him up and left. Li Ye was somewhat stunned. He was able to avoid the stone, but was surprised at Li Jing’an’s reaction. But after thinking for a moment, he understood. If Li Jing’an didn’t want to be isolated from the others, he would have to find a way to redeem his sins and prove his position. At this time, the huge stone falling from the sky gave him a chance.

The sudden arrival of the huge stone was bound to be the result of a master. Everyone couldn’t help but think of avoiding it. When the huge stone was about ten meters away from the ground, it suddenly exploded by the force of cultivation. It was broken into hundreds of pieces that flew in all directions. Dust enveloped the air, making them unable to open eyes.

The rubble fell into the lake, causing numerous water sprays. Water sprinkled on the trees on both sides, leaves rustling. The situation was chaotic. In this chaotic turmoil, the youths thought they had been attacked again. They all cursed at Li Guanshu and tried their best to protect themselves. So when Li Jing’an’s short and urgent voice rang, it did not attract much attention.

The voice of Li Jing’an’s attendant suddenly sounded shrilly with unspeakable anger. “Let Childe go!”

Almost all of the rubble had fallen, but the dust hadn’t disappeared, so no one could clearly see what had happened. Li Ye only saw a shadow pass by and go straight to Li Jing’an. When Li Jing’an quickly retreated into the depths of the forest, there was a tremor in the forest, then there was no sound.

When everything was calm again, there were no attackers by the lake. They came out of the forest one after another and looked at each other in a confused way, especially Fang Zheng and the other two Taoist priests who were more confused.

It soon became clear to them that Li Jing’an had disappeared. In combination with the sound just now, it was assumed that when his attendant helped Li Ye, he was attacked and abducted. And then his attendant perceived in time and went to chase them.

Li Jing’an’s attendant was in Level 5 of Qi-refining. She spared no efforts to catch up with them, which was quick. And she left no trace. Then everyone immediately realized that the cultivation of the people who abducted Li Jing’an would be higher.

“Did Li Guanshu come in person?” Wu You asked. Although she was very dissatisfied with Li Jing’an, she still didn’t want him to disappear.

“I’m afraid so.” Li Ye nodded. It was Li Guanshu who had rescued Wei Tianhe in Luoping Village. Li Guanshu’s cultivation was in Level 6 of Qi-refining, so it was easy for him to make a mess and take Li Jing’an away. Even if Li Jing’an’s attendant was beside him, as long as Li Guanshu was well prepared and acted properly, Li Jing’an’s attendant could not stop him.

“Why did he abduct Li Jing’an? Does he want to kill us one by one in this way?” Wu You thought of horrible things.

“Duchess, don’t worry. I’ll risk my life to protect you! I won’t let him succeed.” Wu You’s attendant immediately bowed down and said.

Li Ye did not think that Li Guanshu would do this. Killing the youths of the Imperial Clan was not good for Li Guanshu. Once things were exposed, he and his whole family would die. He looked at Fang Zheng and suddenly thought of something. He knew that the matter was becoming more and more complicated.

They didn’t want to stay here any longer because of the fighting that took place in succession. So they sped up their speed to the maximum and followed Fang Zheng to Sanqingguan.

The Sanqingguan was far better than the Taixuan Monastery. On the mountainside of the main peak of Niushou Mountain, there was a large group of buildings built by the hillside, which was the main Taoist temple of Sanqingguan. Just here, there were thirty to fifty houses and nearly a hundred Taoist priests, not to mention the other scattered buildings on the other peak.

In a slightly darkened house, the smoke of sandalwood rolled up. Xu Qingfeng sat in a wooden chair against the wall and looked at Xu Fengzhu, who was standing in front of him. His face was somewhat gloomy. “So you didn’t kill the young Prince An, but he cut off your arm instead?”

Xu Fengzhu’s face was pale and his left arm sleeve was empty. Although the wound had been dealt with, the condition of it had not improved. He gritted his teeth and said, “Prince An has acquired the inheritance of Celestial Master Yuan. He really has some capabilities. I underestimated him before... I belittled the enemy, please punish me, master!”

Xu Qingfeng sighed. “It seems to be of no benefit to the overall situation that only Li Ji died. It’s a pity that Prince An did not die.”

Xu Fengzhu suddenly knelt down and said sadly, “Prince An Li Ye killed the Sixth and Ninth Junior Male Apprentices. This grudge is absolutely irreconcilable. I hope that master can avenge the Junior Male Apprentices!”

Xu Qingfeng shook his head, and his gaze was somewhat elusive under the shadows, “They have arrived at Sanqingguan, how can we kill him at this time? If he dies in Sanqingguan, how can you and I get rid of that matter?”

“Master, there are already three buds in the lotus pond. If...” Xu Fengzhu still wanted to say something more.

“Shut up!” Xu Qingfeng suddenly became fierce both in look and voice and interrupted Xu Fengzhu’s words. He stared at Xu Fengzhu with fierce eyes full of warning. “That Lotus Pond is the place where the Luck of our temple is and it also relates to our long-term plans. Can it be damaged for a Grand Prince?”

Xu Fengzhu quickly knelt down and bowed to the ground. “I made an indiscreet remark!”

Xu Fengzhu hadn’t expected Xu Qingfeng’s reaction to be so intense. He only knew that Xu Qinggeng had spent a lot cultivating the lotus in the Taoist temple. It contained a power that ordinary people couldn’t imagine and it was more important than the treasure of the mountain. However, Xu Qingfeng’s reaction showed that the importance of the lotus was much higher than that he had expected.

“It relates to our long-term task... What kind of long-term task is it?” Xu Fengzhu secretly guessed. The long-term task of Sanqingguan was to bring shame on the Imperial Court by virtue of Li Guanshu’s villainy. The long-term task of the Taoist sect was to overthrow the Tang Empire which had little Luck left and at the same time choose a hero from all over the world and help him ascend to the throne...

Xu Fengzhu didn’t know what role the Sanqingguan would play in the upcoming worldwide turmoil and how much weight Sanqingguan would carry. But from Xu Qingfeng’s usual words and deeds, it was not difficult to find out the fact that he pinned almost all his hopes of the prosperity of Sanqingguan on the lotus.

When Li Ye and the others arrived at Sanqingguan, Xu Qingfeng welcomed them in person. Both sides needed the other side’s help and to some extent their interests were identical and their destinies were closely related. So they happily exchanged greetings with each other. Because it was getting dark, the two sides didn’t talk any longer. Xu Qingfeng arranged accommodations for Li Ye and the other youths first and they were going to talk about Li Guanshu in detail the next day.

Because Li Ye was the Grand Prince, so Sanqingguan didn’t dare to slight him openly. Therefore, he was assigned a separate courtyard. But the courtyard was really small, with only four houses, and the other two sides were courtyard walls.

In the evening, Wu You came to Li Ye from a place which she thought was far away from Li Ye’s small courtyard. She was not satisfied with Sanqingguan’s arrangement. The reason was that she was too far away from Li Ye. She had tried to change places with the youth whose room next to Li Ye’s. But she did not come here for these trifles.

“We haven’t heard from Li Jing’an so far. Has he been killed? We even didn’t receive a message from his attendant.” Wu You sat down in Li Ye’s room. There was only one bed and one chair in the room. Li Ye let her sit in the chair and he stood by the window.

“Li Jing’an should have been taken away by Li Guanshu, but hasn’t died yet. If he is really dead, his attendant should have been able to come back and report to us. Now that his attendant hasn’t come, it should be that he is under the control of others, so his attendant can’t leave either.”

Li Ye analyzed and said, then smiled. “Of course, the premise is that his attendant had found him...” “However, the possibility of not finding him is very small. Since they are together, they should have a magic tool or invocation which can contact or sense each other.”

Wu You nodded and suddenly said, “I feel that today’s fight by the lake was unusual. The strength of those attackers was not strong and they caused little damage to us. Today’s attack was destined to have no results for them and it is of little benefit to the overall situation. Why did Li Guanshu arrange this action? Is it for the purpose of abducting Li Jing’an? They killed Li Ji and kidnapped Li Jing’an, what’s the purpose?”

Li Ye did not answer immediately but asked Wu You’s attendant to set an enchantment outside the house which could stop others from eavesdropping. Then he said to Wu You slowly, “The Sanqingguan is suspicious.”

Then Li Ye told Wu You in detail about the anomaly of what had happened in Hu County, and it was almost the same as the conversation between Li Guanshu and Wei Tianhe.

After listening to Li Ye’s story, Wu You was very frightened. “So, Sanqingguan was questionable from the beginning, and Fang Zheng was questionable too?”

She was young and had experienced too little. It was hard for her to imagine that the young Taoist priest who was gentle and kept a smile on his face all the time was an evildoer.

Li Ye nodded and said, “If Sanqingguan wants to bring shame on the Imperial Court by virtue of what Li Guanshu had done in Hu County, then they will try their best to worsen the situation. The deaths of youths of the Imperial Clan can achieve their expected result... Especially my death.”

Wu You was shocked and said, “So the attackers who attacked us by the river were not sent by Li Guanshu, but were sent by Sanqingguan?!”

Li Ye nodded. “The result of that attack is that only Li Ji died. According to our speculation, this is what Sanqingguan hoped, not Li Guanshu.”

Wu You jumped up from her chair. “The people of Sanqingguan are so vicious. What are we doing here? Why don’t we hurry away?”

“Sanqingguan has achieved its purpose. They will not attack us anymore, so we are safe.” When Li Ye said this, his gaze flickered. He knew that Wu You and the other youths were safe now, but he was still in danger.

Li Ye continued. “Before, I’ve been thinking. We have known that Li Guanshu had framed Sanqingguan, so as long as we return to Chang’an, he will die. Then what should he do to save himself? Kill us all? That is clearly impossible. But after today’s fighting by the lake, it is likely that Li Guanshu saw a turning point, so he kidnapped Li Jing’an. It should be that he knows how to solve the problem...”

Wu You raised her small face and looked at Li Ye with a blank look, which showed that she hadn’t understood. After a while, she chose to directly ask, “What shall we do next?”

Li Ye was about to speak when Wu You’s attendant suddenly said out of the window, “Somebody’s here.”