Chapter 227: Joining the Game (Part )

It was the hottest time of August, and the green bamboos on Mount Zhongnan were so lush and green that they looked like green waves rolling in the wind. Looking over the railing, the scenery was still the same and still breathtaking.

However, the scenery remains the same and the people remain the same.

Shangguan Yunque had been gone for a long time. He had not returned since he went down the mountain a year ago. The last bit of lively atmosphere in the Cangbing Valley seemed to have died down.

But for Yuan Tiangang, he never needed to take these to heart, just as whether Shangguan Yunque was loyal to him was never important. He even didn't care how many people in the whole Bad People were consistent in their words and deeds.

The only thing he cares about is whether Li Xingyun can grow as expected and whether he can help him become a wise leader.

It can be said that Yuan Tiangang, who had experienced a series of events such as the collapse of a prosperous era, the death of close friends, the fall of a dynasty, and the rise of heroes across the world, had even reached the point where he could remain indifferent to everything after walking alone for two hundred years. No matter how chaotic the world was, he could remain calm and unperturbed.

But it was just like that. As cold-blooded as he was, he was actually disgusted by Yang Shuzi, who was far inferior to Li Chunfeng, two hundred years after his best friend's death. He even felt so disgusted that he just wished he could get rid of him in one fell swoop!
Even Li Chunfeng couldn't make him so disgusting, but Yang Shuzi actually did it.

In fact, Yuan Tiangang had received the news as soon as Yang Shuzi left Jianlu, but he did not want to interfere at that time. He just wanted to see what this thoughtful subordinate was going to do.

Therefore, Yang Shuzi was able to report to him quickly from various directions all the way out of Sichuan, into the Central Plains, and to meet Shangguan Yunque, basically within a day's delay.

Everything is under control. This so-called Tianlixing will naturally not cause any waves. Even if he goes to see Xiao Yan, Yuan Tiangang will not care.

But despite all the preparations, a piece of news suddenly reached the Soldier Storage Valley.

That was the former Imperial Physician, the bad man of Yanzhou, Lin Juzhen, who turned out to be Yang Shuzi's close friend many years ago. Both of them were skilled in medicine and had the desire to save the world. Although Yang Shuzi had lived in seclusion in Shu when Emperor Xizong took refuge in Chengdu, and the two had some disagreements, they still trusted each other...

The emergence of this news is not accidental.

After Yuan Tiangang verified that 'Li Yu' was not 'Li Yu', he had already started to ask Jing Xin Mo, who was claiming to be selecting actors from all over the world for Li Cunxu, to investigate the previous Tian Anxing, that is, Xiao's father, in order to thoroughly investigate all those who knew about this secret.

After several twists and turns, Jing Xinmo and his men tried their best, but they could only trace from Xiao's father to Lin Juzhen, and there were almost no important clues. But unexpectedly, he actually traced from Lin Juzhen to Yang Shuzi.

Out of suspicion, Jing Xinmo naturally passed the news back to Cangbing Valley without stopping.

That is why Yuan Tiangang had already figured out what Yang Shuzi wanted to do. Not to mention that the news about Qi Wang Li Maozhen had also been passed on, he had already understood the thoughts of his subordinate in advance.

Yang Shuzi was the one who knew about the orphan’s care.

King Qi was the representative of the vassal kings.

And Xiao Yan was the one who was entrusted with the care of the orphan.

The meeting of the three is truly wonderful.

Therefore, on the same day, several different orders were sent to three sides at the same time.

…………

"Commander."

Shi Yao walked up the steps into the hall, and knelt down to salute Yuan Tiangang who was standing at the desk with his hands behind his back.

There were several spirit tablets on the long table facing Yuan Tiangang. Shi Yao glanced at the one on the top and saw the words "Great Saint of Civil and Military Affairs, Great Emperor of Great Filial Piety..." written on it. He did not read any more and said respectfully, "I happened to be passing through Shanzhou. When I heard that the commander-in-chief had summoned me, I rushed here without stopping. Please give me your instructions."

At this moment, Yuan Tiangang did not respond immediately. He looked at the tablets for a while again before turning around.

"What do you think about the late emperor entrusting his son to me?"

Shi Yao obviously didn't expect that the first question she asked was so big, so she felt quite pressured. After pondering for a while, she slightly opened her lips with light purple rouge and said, "Although I am the Dark Star of Jingtian...but the late emperor has passed away for many years, how can I testify about the so-called entrustment of an orphan? Whether it is true or not, I dare not believe it easily. And--"

She paused, looked up at the tablets on the table, bowed, and said calmly, "Who is the heir to the throne and who is the crown prince? I only follow the commander's word."

There were no other people in the hall, and the Soldier Storage Valley was usually empty with few people moving around freely. However, Shi Yao could say this in front of the tablets of the Tang emperors, which clearly showed that he was not truly loyal to the Tang Dynasty.

Being loyal to the Tang Dynasty and being loyal to the Marshal are two different things.

Yuan Tiangang nodded and didn't care about such unacceptable presumptuous words. Then he said slowly: "The late emperor entrusted me with the care of my son. It was not a lie. I just kept it a secret from you."

Shi Yao was startled, and then frowned and said: "Is the late emperor too..."

As she spoke, she realized that something was wrong, so she changed her topic and said, "According to Mirror Heart Demon, since Yang Shuzi was not the person the late emperor entrusted his son to, this so-called entrustment can be ignored. And Tian Anxing..."

She followed behind Yuan Tiangang, frowning slightly, thinking carefully about the situation when she faced the young man in Youzhou in the past. After a pause, she continued, "And Tian Anxing doesn't look like a controllable person. Your Highness is a pure young man and may not be able to fight with him. Since the commander-in-chief regards your highness as the orthodox of the previous emperor, he cannot allow Yang Shuzi to act recklessly... I think that we should quickly bring Yang Shuzi back and free him, and take your highness to the Cangbing Valley for the commander-in-chief to teach him personally."

Unexpectedly, Yuan Tiangang stopped, looked at the bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain, and said, "It's useless."

"I don't understand..." Shi Yao frowned.

"Yang Shuzi is not important. Even his life is not important. This commander has no intention of asking whether he lives or dies."

Yuan Tiangang sneered and explained with his hands behind his back: "But since he met Li Xingyun, his fate in this life has changed. He is naturally different from ordinary people."

"The commander-in-chief means..."

"He is Li Xingyun's only master." Yuan Tiangang was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "This is a rare privilege for me."

Shi Yao also hesitated for a moment.

In fact, Yuan Tiangang certainly wanted to keep Li Xingyun by his side and teach him since he was a child, but Zhaozong did not allow it. Moreover, since the chaos in Luoyang and Li Xingyun's wandering in the world, he has completely lost his whereabouts. In addition, this experience in the world is exactly what was expected in the hexagram, so Yuan Tiangang was not in a hurry to look for him.

However, when the news about Li Xingyun came, he had already been adopted by Yang Shuzi from Lu Youjie, and he had long known about his identity as a prince who had been living among the people. When Jing Xinmo hurriedly went to look for him as ordered by Yuan Tiangang, Li Xingyun had already developed a master-disciple relationship with Yang Shuzi.

From then on, it was no longer easy to take Li Xingyun away from Yang Shuzi by force. Yuan Tiangang did not want Li Erhua, who had been waiting for a hundred years and was born out of necessity, to have a rift with him, just like his relationship with Zhaozong, so he waited until today.

However, Li Xingyun's destiny should include Yang Shuzi, and Yuan Tiangang did not force it. He only planned to let Yang Shuzi face the calamity after Li Xingyun came of age. Of course, this also meant to cultivate Li Xingyun's mind.

After all, not to mention Yang Shuzi, everyone in this world, including him, Yuan Tiangang, can be a chess piece for Li Xingyun to grow into a qualified king as long as he needs it. No one can be an exception. If there is an exception, Yuan Tiangang will make it an accident.

But this exception was an unexpected event that even Yuan Tiangang had never expected.

"So what the Marshal means is... Uncle Yang cannot be touched?" Shi Yao said.

After saying that, she frowned and rejected it, and then said: "I understand. The key point now is not Yang Shuzi, but the female emperor Li Maozhen. Therefore, it is useless to mention Yang Shuzi."

Seeing that he reacted so quickly, Yuan Tiangang nodded and said, "Continue."

Shi Yao frowned and stood up, pacing back and forth, saying, "Yang Shuzi must have known that he couldn't make this orphan a success, and that Tian Anxing might not recognize him either, so he dragged the Empress into this matter. Or, in other words, he wanted to use the Empress to make the various tribes realize the title of the so-called 'Crown Prince'... He claimed to be praising Tian Anxing, but in fact he was secretly forcing him to accept this matter with the Empress, so as long as he could make the Empress deny it, the matter would be resolved."

But she immediately frowned again: "But the empress owns Qidi, which is a powerful vassal of Longyou. The commander can certainly let her not obey this order on the surface, but it is not good for His Highness Li Xingyun's reputation. And I heard that the Huanyinfang under the empress has a good personal relationship with Tian Anxing, so it is inevitable that she will have some thoughts... After all, Tian Anxing is an uncontrollable person, and I don't know what he thinks... I am stupid, please give me some advice, commander."

After hearing this, Yuan Tiangang finally said indifferently: "Since the key lies in Li Maozhen, the decision for Qiguo should be made by Li Maozhen."

Hearing this, Shi Yao suddenly came to her senses: "The Marshal is talking about going to the one in Raojiang?"

She thought about it and said hesitantly, "But this man is very ambitious, and Your Highness has never..."

"He is a smart man." Yuan Tiangang said slowly, "He will not do stupid things easily before he truly achieves his goal."

Shi Yao remained silent, as if she didn't know whether this was right or wrong.

But on second thought, the reason why the empress was uncontrollable was that she did not know how terrifying the Marshal was. But if the real Li Maozhen came back, Qi Country could be controlled instead. This was because the latter was different from the empress. He was just a pure ambitious person. He did not have as many emotional thoughts as the empress and it was impossible for him to make a choice that he could not choose.

And with the Marshal in charge, there shouldn't be any problems...

After thinking about it, she asked softly, "So, if this key point can be solved, how does the commander-in-chief intend to deal with Yang Shuzi?"

Yuan Tiangang sneered and did not answer. Instead, he said in a deep voice: "Have you prepared everything?"

Shi Yao was stunned for a moment, then leaned forward and said, "It has indeed been arranged, but I think it is too early to force Your Highness to come out at this time..."

"Early, it's indeed a little early."

Yuan Tiangang raised his head, squinted at Yaori, his voice a little hoarse.

“However, time waits for no one.”

"His opponent is growing too fast."

"..."

Shi Yao was still frowning. She turned around and looked at the rows of tablets hidden deep in the hall. She suddenly felt a thorn in her back, so she shifted her gaze away and slightly lowered it to the ground.

It seems that the dark star Xiao Yan that day.

He is really the prince...

------

Qianzhong, Qianzhou.

An enchanting woman in white adjusted the high official hat on her head that said "Make Money at First Sight" and lazily took the letter held in both hands by the ghost soldier of Xuanming Sect. She waved to the two ghost soldiers who were pinching her legs to retreat, and squinted her eyes to open the letter and scanned it carefully.

Then, she licked the corner of her mouth with her long scarlet tongue, sighed, and complained, "Meng Po is really something. My brother and I have just come to Qianzhong to enjoy a few days, and you want us to go to Yuzhou. I am too lazy to run. From Shuzhong to Qianzhong, I have been looking for the corpse ancestor Hanba for the Hades every day for the past few months. My legs are sore from running. It's not easy to have a branch to take a break. What's the big deal?"

"Alright, we haven't found the corpse for half a year, and the Hades didn't punish us. This is already Meng Po showing us mercy. Don't complain. Do you think making enemies in the sect is not enough? Without Meng Po as a backer, you and I would really become two little ghosts."

Behind the screen opposite her, Hei Wuchang was still leaning back in his chair, calmly enduring the service of the two women. After ordering the two women to leave, he put on his clothes and walked over.

He was much more prudent than his nominal younger sister, so he couldn't help but reprimand her.

Bai Wuchang covered his mouth and laughed, "Brother, you are too cautious. This place is a thousand miles away from the Central Plains. The entire branch is full of bumpkins. Who dares to eavesdrop on our conversation?"

Hei Wuchang had no choice but to pick up the letter. He glanced at it carefully and couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"The thief saint Wen Tao? How could Meng Po arrange this rare person to be together with my brother and me..."

"Who knows." Bai Wuchang wrapped his arms around Hei Wuchang's arms and rubbed his chest against his arms. "Meng Po never discusses things with us. It really disturbs our interest to send someone here out of nowhere. But Wen Tao has no foundation in the sect. He is useless except for his tomb-robbing skills. He is at the mercy of my brother and I..."

Hei Wuchang just frowned and shook his head: "Meng Po didn't give us any special instructions, so we'd better not make any preconceived decisions. Let's go meet the Thief Saint first. If he has other instructions, we won't be left with any excuses."

"Tsk, big brother, you think too highly of these little ghosts. You and I have Meng Po at our backs, so what are we afraid of? Yuzhou is hundreds of miles away from here, don't make my butt hurt."

Hei Wuchang sighed, and wanted to warn Bai Wuchang to lower his attitude, but thinking that Bai Wuchang had restrained himself a lot over the years, he was too lazy to mention it again. He just put the letter in his arms, frowning secretly.

"Yuzhou, why does it look so familiar? Have we been on a mission there before?"

"Brother, have you forgotten?"

Bai Wuchang covered his mouth and laughed: "Six years ago, we killed a master in Yuzhou. I think his name was Lu Jie, I can't remember clearly."

Hei Wuchang suddenly remembered.

Six years ago, it seemed that he was chasing the Longquan Sword...

However, the Longquan Sword disappeared into the hands of Yang Shuzi of Yuzhou from then on.

This time, Meng Po would rather change the order of the Emperor of the Underworld to find Hanba and urgently summon them to Yuzhou. Why?
(End of this chapter)