The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 190 The World Will End
In the end, Jia Zheng changed his job and became a military officer.

It is more difficult for military officers to become civil servants these days, but it is much easier for civil servants to become military officers.

The imperial court wanted to control the military with civil power, and wished that all military generals were civil servants.

Jia Zheng also seized the opportunity. Not long after he took office, he made great achievements. Relying on the powerful armed forces of the miscellaneous regular army, he suppressed riots everywhere, and his achievements were recognized one after another.

He was originally a staunch supporter of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, and had people in the court taking care of him, so no one would embezzle his credit. If his official position was not already high and the credit required for promotion was not too much, he would have been promoted long ago.

For a while, the two heroes of the Jia family received frequent good news, as if they were trying to restore the prestige of their fathers and grandfathers.

With such powerful external support, Empress Yuanchun's environment in the palace also improved. However, the Empress was so obsessed with the cause of cultivating immortals that she no longer paid attention to these trivial matters.

But one day, Empress Yuanchun got up early in the morning and suddenly felt nauseous while eating, and could not help but dry heave.

The palace maids and eunuchs who were serving him did not dare to be negligent and hurriedly went to invite the imperial physician to come and treat him.

Empress Yuanchun relied on the fact that she had already established a solid foundation and was immune to all diseases, so she didn't care about it. However, she also knew that these were the rules of the palace, and she didn't want to embarrass the palace maids and eunuchs, so she let them do as they pleased.

When the imperial physician arrived, he examined Empress Yuanchun, then stood up with a smile, clasped his hands, and congratulated her:

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty, You are pregnant."

When Empress Yuanchun heard this, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Not only was she surprised, but even the personal maid was very surprised.

The Emperor has not been to Yuanchun's bedroom these days. How could the Empress be pregnant? How could she be pregnant?

Yuanchun hurriedly asked the palace maid to give the imperial physician some silver and begged:

"Thank you for your hard work today, Imperial Physician. The Imperial Physician is also well aware of the affairs in the palace. If this news gets to certain people, I'm afraid the baby in my belly will be in danger."

"I beg the Imperial Physician to keep this secret for a while. I will report to you later when the fetus is a little older."

After hearing this, the imperial physician broke out in sweat on his forehead and agreed reluctantly.

Yuanchun thanked him profusely and asked her trusted palace maid to send the imperial physician out, but she was still a little uneasy.

Although she was most likely pregnant with a fairy baby, the emperor was a mortal being who could not tell the difference between a fairy and a mortal. If the imperial physician leaked the news, there would be a conflict.

Although she is not afraid of the emperor at all now, and thinks that the worst that can happen is that she will just ride away on a cloud like an immortal, her parents, brothers and sisters still have to make a living in the capital, so she has to consider them.

She wanted to discuss it with Master Zhan, asking him to use his magical powers to change the emperor's mindset, but Master Zhan did not come every day, only once every few days. She didn't know which would come first, him or the crisis.

Mr. Zhan is a stranger, so it is not convenient for her to ask anyone to contact him directly.

After thinking it over, Yuanchun had no choice but to ask the palace maid to go home and deliver the letter to her mother, who would then convey the message.

After receiving the letter, Mrs. Wang was very happy at first, but when she opened the envelope, she almost fainted.

Things that were too confidential would definitely not be written in the letter, so Mrs. Wang only saw her daughter inviting Mr. Zhan to the palace to meet her.

This made Mrs. Wang feel a little difficult to accept.

She had long known that Mr. Zhan was a lustful person, but how dare he seduce even the Empress?
If the emperor knew about this...oh, it would be like Master Zhan was an immortal who had descended to earth and was not afraid of these things.

But you have already eaten your mother, why are you still flirting with her daughter... Oh, it seems that Master Zhan likes mother-daughter pairs the most.

Mrs. Wang was very angry, but she could do nothing about Master Zhan. She could only complain in her heart that her daughter was not living up to her expectations. She was already the queen, so how could she still cheat?
Even if she was cheating, there were so many good eunuchs and palace maids in the palace, why did she have to mess with this Master Zhan!

She didn't know that Yuanchun had been having an affair with Master Zhan for a long time. She was very unhappy about it and didn't want anything to do between the two of them, so she kept the letter in private and didn't tell Master Zhan.

As for Yuanchun, she waited until dawn that night but did not see Mr. Zhan coming. She knew that the letter must have been withheld by her mother, so she had no choice but to write another letter, telling her about her pregnancy and asking Mrs. Wang to convey the news.

This time, Mrs. Wang realized the seriousness of the problem. She dared not hide the news again and hurried to find Mr. Zhan to report the news.

Now that Jia Zheng and Jia Lian were not in the mansion, many things did not need to be hidden too much. It was common for Master Zhan to stay overnight in the Grand View Garden. For convenience, the servants in the Jia Mansion were gradually replaced with his own men.

When Mr. Zhan heard that Yuanchun was pregnant, he was quite surprised.

"Don't worry, since he is the master's child, no one can hurt him."

"As for Yuanchun, we can arrange a fake death for her, or use some other method to bring her out. It will be a good opportunity for her to be filial to you by your bedside, and complete the deep love between you two mothers."

When Mrs. Wang heard this, she rolled her eyes and spat:
"Bah, Master, this filial piety by the bedside, is it serious?"

Master Zhan then hugged her with a smile and said:

"Proper filial piety must be performed, and informal filial piety must also be performed."

"They are all mother and daughter, why do we have to make such clear distinctions?"

Mr. Zhan was aroused by Mrs. Wang and played with her for a while. When it was dark, he rode on a cloud and headed for the imperial palace.

As for the imperial physician, after returning to the Imperial Hospital, he found an excuse to delay writing the medical records of this visit, in order to avoid having to resort to force once the matter was put into writing.

The imperial physicians in this court may not necessarily have the best medical skills, but they must know how to protect themselves. Otherwise, once they are involved in an incident, their lives will most likely be in danger.

Things in this palace are either death or life, there is basically no in between.

Unfortunately, the next day it was the emperor's turn to conduct routine examinations. The people in the Imperial Hospital each did their own job, some took the emperor's pulse, some gave him acupuncture.

This imperial physician was just an attendant, but when he checked the emperor's daily life, he suddenly discovered that the emperor had not visited the Empress Yuan recently.

Then the question is, whose child is in Concubine Yuan's belly?

After figuring out the key issue, the imperial physician suddenly became afraid. After careful consideration, he decided to turn himself in, so as to avoid being regarded as a shelterer and having his entire family executed.

As for whether he would be silenced, he didn't care at this moment. For the sake of the lives of the hundreds of people in his family, it was acceptable for him to die alone.

"You said that Concubine Yuan... is pregnant?" The emperor had a gloomy face, his hands resting on the desk, his body leaning forward, staring at the imperial physician with burning eyes.

The imperial physician fell to the ground, his body shaking like a quail, and he said in a choking voice:

"According to my diagnosis, it is indeed a positive pulse, but it is possible that I am not skilled enough and made a mistake. Your Majesty, please have someone go and diagnose it again to confirm the diagnosis."

"Another treatment?" The emperor snorted coldly, "Wouldn't that mean there's one more person who knows this secret?"

He took a few deep breaths, glanced at Xia Shouzhong who was standing next to him with his head huddled, and uttered a few words through his teeth:

"Just find an excuse to banish her to the cold palace!"

Xia Shouzhong didn't dare to say more. He bowed and walked out the door in small steps.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the door, he was stopped by the emperor again.

"return!"

Xia Shouzhong turned around on the spot and waited by the door with his head bowed.

The emperor walked around the place for a few times, then said gloomily:

"Don't rush to deal with her, first check who the adulterer is!"

Xia Shouzhong took the order and went out, beginning to secretly investigate all suspicious behavior.

In this palace, Xia Shouzhong had almost unlimited resources. Soon, the news reported by the commander of the guards that day was discovered and presented to the emperor.

"A fairy rode a cloud and landed in Concubine Yuan's bedroom?"

The emperor stared at the words on the paper and read them word by word. Then, veins in his neck throbbed and he slammed the table and yelled:
"Nonsense!"

"Where are the gods in this world?"

"This is clearly another evil trick played by the Jia family!"

"First, he was born with jade in his mouth, and then he was blessed with the treasure mirror. Now, the immortal has landed directly in Yuanchun's bedroom!"

"What on earth do the Jia family want to do? Do they want to be the emperor?"

"what?"

As an emperor, known as the Son of Heaven, he cares the most about these gods and immortals.

But precisely because he was the emperor, he actually knew that he was just a mortal and not the son of God at all. That was why he least believed in nonsense like gods and immortals.

The wiser the ruler is, the less he believes in this.

If even the emperor of a country, using all the resources of the country, cannot find the gods, how can ordinary people come into contact with them?
Throughout history, there have been countless rebels who have pretended to be gods, but who has ever received the favor of the gods in the end?
Especially since this was something that came from the Jia family, who were good at creating momentum, he was even more unconvinced.

Hearing the emperor's anger, the eunuch who was lying on the ground was overjoyed and followed suit:
"Your Majesty is right. I thought the same thing that day. I felt that even if this immortal entered the palace, he would definitely go to pay homage to Your Majesty. How could he run to the Empress's palace?"

"In my humble opinion, someone probably bribed the guards to report false information and deceive Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, these guards are so bold and daring that they deceive the emperor and cannot be forgiven easily."

"If Your Majesty trusts me, you may hand these people over to me. I will surely be able to torture and find out who is behind this."

He had secretly withheld the news before, and now he was most afraid of incurring the emperor's wrath, so he kept following the emperor's words, wanting to take the opportunity to kill those guards and save his family from future troubles.

The emperor walked back and forth behind the table several times, and finally slapped the table and shouted:

"The guard commander is from a loyal and brave family. If he is executed rashly, I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble."

"Bring him here. I want to ask him in person who gave him the courage to deceive the emperor, who was the mastermind behind it, and what is his relationship with the elders of his family!"

The eunuch chief was startled, knowing that this might turn into a big case, so he didn't dare to say anything more. He kowtowed quickly, got up, bowed, and walked back out to call in the chief guard.

The guard leader knew what they were investigating this time. After he came in, he first knelt down and kowtowed, shouting "Long live the emperor!" and then swore an oath:
"Your Majesty, I am not talking nonsense. I really saw the auspicious clouds with my own eyes."

"When those men first reported it to me, I didn't believe it. So I stayed outside the Empress Yuan's bedroom for a few nights and finally saw with my own eyes the auspicious cloud descending from the sky and entering the Empress Yuan's bedroom."

"If Your Majesty does not believe it, you can send your trusted confidant to wait with me. Within a few nights, we will surely find something."

After hearing this, the emperor was half-believing and half-doubting at first. He then brought the other guards up for interrogation. As a result, they all said that they had seen it with their own eyes, so he could not help but believe it.

As the saying goes, three people make a tiger. There are more than thirty people in this case, so it is inevitable that the emperor will be suspicious.

"Since you all say you saw it with your own eyes, then well, Xia Shouzhong, you..."

As soon as the emperor mentioned Xia Shouzhong's name, he frowned again and became suspicious.

Everyone knows that Xia Shouzhong is his confidant, but what if someone specifically targets this point and bribes Xia Shouzhong as well?
After much deliberation, the emperor finally decided that seeing is believing, and he wanted to go and see it with his own eyes.

"Xia Shouzhong, please make arrangements. I will take people to guard outside the Yuanfei's palace tonight to see if there is really an immortal coming on a cloud."

Xia Shouzhong hurriedly agreed and went out to make preparations.

At night, the group found a corner and hid there openly or secretly, waiting for their opportunity.

As the sun sets and the moon rises, the palace gradually becomes quiet. All sounds are still, the moon is dark and the wind is strong. When everyone is gradually falling asleep, Master Zhan finally descends from the sky on a cloud and lands directly into Yuanchun's bedroom under the emperor's nose.

"hiss……"

This time everyone was shocked.

The guards were fine as they had seen this many times before, but the emperor and his personal guards were all dumbfounded.

This is really a god!
Everyone's eyes turned to the emperor, waiting for his orders.

Today everyone came here to catch an adulterer, but now the gods have arrived, what should they do next?

Should I rush over and hack him to death, or should I quickly set up the incense table and kneel down to welcome the god's arrival?
The emperor's face turned pale and green, and his head was green and radiating a fairy spirit. However, those who could become emperors were not ordinary people, and their mental quality was very strong. In just a moment, he calmed down.

Although I'm cheated on, this is also a good thing!

If the gods cheat on you, can you still call it cheating?

That's called an immortal delivering a child!

It would be fine if there were no immortals, but now that an immortal has really come to the world, he must get two pills of elixir to taste the taste!
As for women, there are not many of them in the palace. If the immortal likes her, he can hold an audition across the country for her!

Can the matter between the emperor and the gods be called by the Minotaur?
That is clearly a discussion of the Dao!

The emperor thought quickly for a few rounds, then he pulled himself together and led the team towards Concubine Yuan's bedroom.

When he arrived at the door, he stood there and waved to Xia Shouzhong, indicating that he should go up and knock on the door.

In his eyes, I am the Son of Heaven after all, and you are just a wild immortal who came from nowhere, and I don’t know what position you hold in heaven. I have come to see you in person, which has already given you a great honor. You should take advantage of the situation and come to brag about your business with me, and then we will each get what we need.

You play with your woman, and I eat my pills. Maybe we can meet again in heaven in the future and be colleagues.

Unexpectedly, Master Zhan was "practicing" with Yuanchun inside at this time. While practicing, he listened to Yuanchun's intermittent recounting of the incident when the imperial physician discovered that she was pregnant.

Just when they were having fun, Xia Shouzhong came over and knocked on the door.

Mr. Zhan waved his hand, and a camera captured the situation outside the door and projected it onto the wall opposite the two of them.

I saw the emperor leading a large group of guards, who had surrounded the door, each holding a sword in their hands, and it seemed that they had bad intentions.

"Ah... The emperor is coming, what should I do?" Yuanchun was practicing martial arts at a critical moment. She was stimulated by this and suddenly twitched. She was in danger of going crazy.

"It's okay. I will take you out of the palace later. Let's continue. Don't pay any attention to them."

Feeling Yuanchun's "tension", Master Zhan waved his hand, and the positive and negative charges in the sky outside the door began to rub against each other. "Crack" a thunder fell and hit the emperor on the head, instantly burning him to a crisp.

He didn't know that the emperor already knew about the "immortal" affair and that he didn't come here to catch the adulterer, but had "good intentions" and wanted to seek a chance to become an immortal. However, his affair was exposed and he couldn't let it go. In order not to add trouble to the Jia family, he simply decided to replace the emperor.

As far as he knew, the current emperor had no offspring, so as soon as the emperor died, the emperor emeritus would ascend the throne again. At that time, no one would care about Yuanchun's affair.

As for the regicide, the thunder in the sky that day clearly showed that the current emperor did not govern with virtue and had done all kinds of evil things, so God took it away. What does it have to do with outsiders? Could it be that Yuanchun could control thunder and lightning?

I can only say that the emperor's death was really unjust!

If he had asked someone to come over and say hello to Yuanchun first, or come at another time, none of this would have happened. But he chose to come when Master Zhan was having fun, so he can only blame himself for being tactless.

As we all know, men always use their small heads to control their big heads. When doing that, they are more impatient and seriously lack patience. It is not surprising that they do anything.

No matter what, the emperor is dead.

Xia Shouzhong and others were stunned for a moment, then screamed and hurriedly took the emperor's "corpse" to the Imperial Medical Bureau to see if the imperial doctors had the ability to bring the dead back to life.

The guards were not fools. When they heard the shout of "Protect the Emperor", they all ran out in a swarm, throwing their weapons and armor all over the ground, for fear that the gods would see them and misunderstand them, then throw a bomb at them to make them follow and serve the emperor.

The messy situation outside was all displayed on the opposite wall through the camera. After seeing it, Yuanchun was once again amazed at the power and freedom of the immortal.

He was the emperor, the Son of Heaven, and he was killed just like that. This is really... too exciting!
Yuanchun's twitching became more frequent, and her eyes were shining as she stared at Master Zhan, as if she wanted to swallow Master Zhan.

It was also the first time for Master Zhan to kill an emperor, and he found it quite exciting. His movements in practice became more and more vigorous, and he soon completed a big cycle.

"Okay, just pack up and we'll leave the palace and go home."

Master Zhan patted Yuanchun, who was still in a lingering mood, and reminded her with a smile:
"The emperor is dead. The palace will surely be very lively from now on. He died in front of your door. No matter who takes the throne, they will cause trouble for you. You might as well not give them this opportunity."

"As long as you leave the palace, most people in the palace will think that you have eloped with a wild man, but they will not think that you are a regicide."

"Although the Jia family is now in decline, they have been loyal to the emperor for many years. You don't have to worry about anything happening to your family. Just concentrate on your cultivation when you return."

Yuanchun had been conquered by Master Zhan a long time ago, so naturally she obeyed his orders in everything. She packed a small bag and took with her some things that she couldn't bear to leave behind. She didn't take any of the remaining gold, pearls, jade and other things.

After Yuanchun had prepared everything, Master Zhan rode on a cloud, carried the two of them, and flew out of the palace.

Unexpectedly, not long after he walked out of the palace, he heard someone behind him calling out, "Daoyou, please stay!"

Upon hearing this line, Master Zhan shuddered with fear. Without even turning his head, he urged the cloud to speed up and ran away.

However, the speed of the cloud was too slow, and the people behind were chasing it closely. They caught up in a moment and blocked Master Zhan's way.

Master Zhan took a closer look and realized it was the lame Taoist priest. He was relieved and landed on the cloud. He smiled and bowed to the Taoist priest, saying:
"It turned out to be a fellow Taoist calling me. I got so scared that I thought it was Shen Gongbao who came!"

The Taoist priest also bowed in return, then glanced at Master Zhan and Yuanchun, shook his head and sighed:
"Alas, fellow Taoist is indeed a disaster star. It's not enough that he has brought disaster to so many fairies who have descended to the earth, now he has even killed the emperor!"

Master Zhan chuckled and said disapprovingly:

"Anyone can be the emperor of this world, and it doesn't matter who does it. The general trend of history will not change because of the actions of a few individuals."

"Heaven and earth are not benevolent and treat all things as straw dogs. The emperor is just a more refined straw dog. Why can't he be killed?"

"Besides, the emperor dared to call himself the Son of Heaven, which is a crime of usurpation. I am punishing him on behalf of Heaven, which is a great merit!"

The lame Taoist priest did not argue with Master Zhan, but just sighed and shook his head again:

"You have now achieved the status of a Yang God and are now eligible to be included in the immortal class. I am now following the Jade Emperor's order to invite you to ascend to become an immortal."

"Oh, there is such a good thing?" Master Zhan was overjoyed. "Fellow Daoist, please wait for a moment. I will go back and pack my things and take my family to heaven."

"Wait!" The lame Taoist priest was horrified and waved his hands hastily, saying, "The Jade Emperor only allowed you to become an immortal, but did not mention anyone else."

Master Zhan frowned, pointed at Yuanchun and said:

"Fellow Daoist, you may not know that my concubines are not ordinary mortals, but fairies from heaven who have come to earth."

"Now that I have ascended to become an immortal, why can't I take them with me?"

The lame Taoist shook his head and said:

"These fairies have not yet completed their calamity. They need to stay in the lower world and only after they have survived the calamity can they return to the heaven."

"Furthermore, I don't know what method you used to absorb all the immortal spirits in their bodies. It is still uncertain whether they can return to heaven in the future!"

“Under normal circumstances, with so much immortal energy infused into you, you should have become a True Immortal long ago. But now you are still a Yang God. This is really... a waste of God’s gifts!”

"Huh?" Master Zhan was shocked after hearing this. It turned out that what he had absorbed over the years was the immortal spirit from the bodies of the women!

But what the lame Taoist said made sense. These women were originally immortals. Although the immortal energy in their bodies was not complete after they came down to the earth, if all of it could be used, he would have become a true immortal long ago!

I am!

Broken Stone, you took a kickback from this, right?
Master Zhan cursed the golden finger in his body in his heart, but considering that the stone had a good attitude of admitting its guilt and had no intention of resisting, he finally decided to forgive it.

"If that's the case, then I can't ascend so easily."

"In ancient times, Liu An and his chickens and dogs ascended to heaven. Now, I don't care about those useless chickens and dogs, but I must take all the women in this mansion with me to ascend to heaven."

"Also, fellow Taoist only told me to ascend to heaven and become an immortal, but didn't tell me what I would do after I ascend to heaven. You're not going to ask me to be the Horse Keeper, are you?"

The lame Taoist priest was even more displeased when he heard this, and immediately said with a look of regret:

"How can you be so ignorant, fellow Taoist?"

"How can anyone become an immortal?"

"You were able to ascend to heaven because of the Jade Emperor's permission. If not... how could it be your turn?"

"And the duties in heaven are all related to the operation of all things in the world, and they can never be vacant. There has always been one person for one job, so where can I find a job for you?"

"Although you are not from a formal cultivation background, since you have been accepted by the Heavenly Court, you should be grateful. When you are in Heaven, you should work hard and accumulate merits. In the future, you may have the opportunity to obtain a divine position."

After listening to this, Mr. Zhan smiled coldly.

"Haha... I understand. Just let me do odd jobs!"

"Your ability to draw cakes is not even as good as that of the private capitalists."

"As expected, no matter where you are, if you want to be a high-ranking official, you can't just follow the rules. You have to kill people and set fire to others to be recruited!"

"It's a pity that I don't have the ability of that monkey. I can't afford to provoke you for the time being, so I won't make trouble in the Heavenly Palace. But if you want me to go to heaven to do chores for you, then you are blinding your heart!"

"Master won't go!"

"You can find whoever you want. Anyway, I am living a happy life in this world and I don't want to ascend to heaven at all!"

After finishing speaking, Master Zhan hugged Yuanchun and left. Unexpectedly, the lame Taoist snorted coldly and said in a cold voice behind him:

"You are also a Yang God now, don't you realize that this world is about to fall apart?"

"Hmm?" Master Zhan had no choice but to stop again and turned around to ask, "You are talking about the various cracks in the space. What is going on and why is it like this?"

The lame Taoist looked at Master Zhan with an unfriendly look and said in a cold voice:

"It's all your fault!"

"I don't know what you did, but something went wrong with the Heaven-Repairing Stone."

"First, over the East China Sea, the sky leaked, and heavy rain poured down. The sea level kept rising, and the Western countries had already been submerged by the sea."

"When I discovered that you were the culprit, I reported the matter to the Heavenly Court. But I don't know what the Heavenly Court was thinking. They never sent troops to arrest you."

"But your good days won't last long. Regardless of whether you go to heaven or not, as time goes by, the cracks in space will get bigger and bigger. I'm afraid that in a few years, this world will be submerged by a flood."

"If you don't want to die at that time, the only way you can do is to ascend to heaven."

After listening to him, Mr. Zhan was stunned at first, then he compared what he had learned over the years with his words and found that everything was very consistent. He immediately believed most of what he said.

"You said that this world will collapse, but will heaven not be in trouble?"

Seeing that Master Zhan understood nothing, the lame Taoist continued to sneer.

"Haha, there are so many worlds under the control of Heaven. How could it be affected by the destruction of a small world?"

"A grain of sand is a world, a tree is a bodhi tree. Your perspective is still that of a mortal after all."

"From the perspective of the long time span of the gods, the number of worlds that are born and destroyed every day is as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River. What would it matter if they were destroyed?"

"But if the people in this world are destroyed in this world, they will only have one way to go, that is, to enter the six realms of reincarnation."

"I have said this much, please think carefully and don't make the mistake!"

After saying this, the lame Taoist priest leaped up and disappeared into the night.

Mr. Zhan stood there for a while with a frown on his face, snorted coldly, then hugged Yuanchun and went home.

No matter what we say, in the end, it is still strength that determines everything.

If he was strong enough, he wouldn't need the permission of Heaven at all and could ascend by force.

Master Zhan is very confident about this.

He is a man with a trick!

(End of this chapter)