Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 347 The Jealous Person
When Zhao Guanxiang saw Jiang Ping'er, he immediately realized: "You have been following me?"

Jiang Ping'er admitted it openly: "It's boring to stay in the house all the time, so I just wanted to see if there's anything I can do to help. Look, now I'm helping, right?"

Zhao Guanxiang was speechless for a moment, but thinking about what had just happened, Jiang Ping'er had indeed been a great help.

Jiang Ping'er looked in the direction where Gu Changqing fell to the ground, with a fierce look in her eyes: "This man dared to kill you, I will skin him alive, so that you can feel better."

"Wait!"

Just as Jiang Ping'er pulled out a dagger from her boot and walked towards Gu Changqing with her sleeves rolled up menacingly, a shout suddenly came from the other end of the street.

Someone had already reported the fact that the two celestial warriors had just attacked with all their might.

The one leading the team now is Li Shengtian!
Li Shengtian arrived at the scene. When he saw Zhao Guanxiang, his face suddenly darkened and he asked in a cold voice, "What's going on?"

"General."

Zhao Guanxiang stepped forward and saluted, pointing at Gu Changqing and saying, "Captain Gu is killing his colleagues and wants to kill me!"

Li Shengtian looked at Zhao Guanxiang who was intact, and then looked at Gu Changqing who was helped up from the ruins, and his face twitched a few times.

Gu Changqing's mouth was full of blood and his chest was sunken. It was obvious that Jiang Ping'er's kick had broken several ribs. Hearing what Zhao Guanxiang said, he immediately became excited: "You are talking nonsense! General, Zhao Guanxiang is colluding with the Salvation Church. Please take this beast down!"

Zhao Guanxiang immediately said, "That is not true. I am willing to confront him in front of the general!"

Li Shengtian turned sideways and said coldly to Zhao Guanxiang, "Are you worried that I will protect my subordinates?"

Zhao Guanxiang immediately waved his hand and said righteously: "General, that's not right. I naturally believe that you will give me justice in front of everyone!"

After hearing this, Li Shengtian knew that Zhao Guanxiang was reminding him that there were so many witnesses to today's incident, and if he wanted to cover it up, he would probably not be able to suppress it.

It was normal for him to have such thoughts. After all, Gu Changqing was a direct subordinate of Li Shengtian. Who knew whether it was this Major General Li who was behind the attack on him just now.

Li Shengtian snorted coldly: "Zhao Guanxiang, are you looking down on me?"

Zhao Guanxiang could only bow his head and salute: "I dare not."

Li Shengtian stood with his hands behind his back and said, "I have my own way of judging whether your words are true or false. Take them all away!"

Jiang Ping'er immediately protected Zhao Guanxiang, but Zhao Guanxiang gently pulled her sleeve, signaling her not to move.

……

A moment later, Zhao Guanxiang and Gu Changqing were brought into the backyard of the county magistrate's mansion.

There is a Buddhist temple in the backyard.

Although Buddhism had been expelled from the Nine Provinces of Daqian after Tianwu destroyed Buddhism, Buddhism had been operating in the Nine Provinces for many years, and there were still many devout believers among the people who secretly worshipped it, and this continued despite repeated bans. In the end, most local officials chose to turn a blind eye.

However, the former prefect of Tianyuan County dared to privately build a Buddhist temple in the prefectural government. This was more than just bold. This crime alone was enough to sentence him to a confiscation of his property.

After the imperial envoys moved into the county governor's mansion, they dragged out the golden Buddha statue in the original Buddhist hall and smashed it, and kept the room sealed.

And today, Li Shengtian brought the two of them to this Buddhist temple.

Inside the Buddhist temple, the space originally used to house the golden Buddha statue has been vacated and replaced by a painting.

This painting is a picture of a goddess wearing feathered clothes, who seems to be about to ascend to heaven.

Zhao Guanxiang quietly looked up and was surprised to find that the face of the goddess in the painting was extremely similar to that of the national master. The hair, eyebrows, and even the eyelashes were silver-white, which matched the national master.

The only difference is that in real life, Chinese teachers always cover their eyes with silk and rarely open them.

But the goddess in the painting has her eyes uncovered, and her open pupils are not silvery white, but the same as those of ordinary people.

Li Shengtian lit three incense sticks, bowed three times towards the portrait, and then inserted the incense into the incense burner.

He turned sideways and said to the two of them, "You two, tell me everything that just happened."

"Yes."

Zhao Guanxiang and Gu Changqing bowed and were about to speak.

But at this moment, Li Shengtian snorted softly: "The Benevolent Mother said: Don't speak nonsense!"

As the words fell, the eyes of the goddess in the portrait suddenly emitted white light.

When Zhao Guanxiang's eyes met the white light, leaping white flames also appeared in his pupils.

He was stunned and didn't know what was happening for a moment.

Just at this moment, he heard Gu Changqing's voice filled with hatred, gritting his teeth and saying:

"Zhao Guanxiang entered prison 20 years later than me. He is only about the same age as my child. How could he be favored by the general? Even the imperial teacher looks up to him?"

"Those members of the Salvation Church in the dungeon bow down to him. If he is not colluding with the Salvation Church, then what is he? I was wondering why he was able to achieve so many great feats after coming to Jingzhou. Maybe he is a spy planted in the Patrol Observatory by the Salvation Church. Now that he has achieved great feats, it is just to help him climb to a higher position!"

"What surprised me is that Zhao Guanxiang was willing to confront the general. Could this really be a misunderstanding?"

"No matter if it's a misunderstanding or not! I'll kill him with this blow, and no one can do anything to me!"

Gu Changqing seemed to have gone mad and confessed all his thoughts truthfully, whether they were beneficial to him or not.

This was obviously not intentional on his part, but rather he was influenced by some kind of magical power.

After listening to this, Li Shengtian nodded silently, then looked at Zhao Guanxiang: "Why did you go to the dungeon today?"

Zhao Guanxiang answered honestly: "The general wanted to send me back to Jingdu City, but so many brothers died in the Xie family incident. I was unwilling to go back like this. I wanted to find a breakthrough from other prisoners so that I would have a reason to stay in Jingzhou."

He then pointed at Gu Changqing and said, "Gu Changqing stopped me from interrogating the prisoner. I knew I was in the wrong and wanted to leave, but the prisoner in the dungeon suddenly kowtowed to me. Before I knew what was going on, Gu Changqing attacked me. In my opinion, Gu Changqing must have been jealous of me for a long time and ordered the prisoner to do this in order to slander me for having a connection with the Salvation Church and get rid of me."

Li Shengtian couldn't help but frown. He thought that in front of the portrait, the two could only tell the truth and the matter should be easily judged.

But now the two still hold different opinions, as if it was just a misunderstanding.

The only thing that is certain is that Gu Changqing was jealous of Zhao Guanxiang and wanted to take advantage of this incident to kill him.

"This matter...I will ask the general to make the decision!"

In the end, Li Shengtian could only push the matter to the general, waved his hand and said to the people outside: "First keep the two of them here and wait for the general's decision!"

……

"General, how should this matter be judged?"

Not long after, Li Shengtian came in front of Ling Fang, bowed and asked respectfully.

Ling Fang understood the whole story and had a guess in his mind, so he said, "Zhao Guanxiang is fine."

Li Shengtian was surprised and said, "But those salvationists treated him..." "That was the work of the national teacher, don't ask too much."

This is obviously... related to the holy remains of the Lord Wuwang in Zhao Guanxiang's body.

Li Shengtian suddenly understood and stopped asking about this matter. He just asked, "What do you think should be done with Zhao Guanxiang and Gu Changqing?"

Ling Fang walked to the desk and sat down. He picked up a pen and wrote two lines on the paper. Then, after the ink was slightly dry, he folded the paper and handed it to Li Shengtian.

Li Shengtian took it and looked at it, with a hint of surprise in his eyes, but he still bowed and accepted the order: "I understand."

Ling Fang waved his hand and said, "Go down."

"Yes."

……

Inside the Buddhist temple, Zhao Guanxiang sat obediently on the cushion in front of the incense table.

However, Gu Changqing seemed a little impatient. He walked around the room with his hands behind his back, his face full of anxiety and regret.

Seeing his anxious look, Zhao Guanxiang couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

This gossipy Gu is in big trouble this time!

The truth has just been revealed. He cannot escape the punishment for deliberately harming his colleagues and will definitely be punished!

In comparison, Zhao Guanxiang felt much more relaxed.

To the bigwigs of the Astronomical Survey, his secrets were not secrets at all, and there was nothing to hide.

I believe that after General Ling learns about this, he will quickly figure out the cause and effect. He is not afraid of being blamed for "colluding with the Salvation Church".

After the two waited in the Buddhist temple for a while, Li Shengtian finally came to the temple again.

"Zhao Guanxiang, Gu Changqing, listen to my orders!"

Zhao Guanxiang and Gu Changqing quickly stood up and came over, bowing and not daring to act rashly.

Li Shengtian unfolded the memorial in his hand and read out with a blank expression: "It is true that Gu Changqing deliberately harmed his colleagues. Although there are reasons for it, his selfishness outweighs justice. He will be dismissed from his post as the patrol lieutenant and demoted five ranks to the rank of brigade commander. All other treatment will be demoted five ranks."

Gu Changqing raised his head suddenly, stared at Li Shengtian with wide eyes, and said anxiously: "General..."

He has average talent and no distinguished family background, and he has climbed to his current position through years of hard work and experience.

Now he had finally become a captain and had the power to command the troops. Even among the officials in the capital, he was considered to have a certain status... But now, this punishment had made all his twenty years of hard work go to waste!
How could he be willing to do this?
Li Shengtian frowned and scolded, "This is the general's intention. The general is merciful and only demoted you. Otherwise, how could you survive if you only harmed your colleagues?"

Gu Changqing bit his lower lip and clenched his fists tightly.

But in the end, he said dejectedly: "I dare not disobey."

Li Shengtian's face was gloomy. He ignored him and turned his head to look at Zhao Guanxiang and shouted, "Zhao Guanxiang!"

Zhao Guanxiang was startled and bowed his head quickly: "I am here."

"You trespassed into the dungeon. The general has fined you three months' salary. Do you accept the punishment?"

After Li Shengtian read out the punishment for Zhao Guanxiang, Gu Changqing on the side suddenly raised his head with an expression of shock and anger on his face.

Three months' salary?

He was demoted five ranks, but Zhao Guanxiang only fined him three months' salary?

Why not make him drink three cups of wine as punishment?

This is not fair!

The National Master is unfair, General Ling is unfair, and even his old leader, General Li, is unfair!
There is no justice in this world...

A feeling of "malice" gradually took root in Gu Changqing's heart and continued to grow.

On the other side, Zhao Guanxiang's face wrinkled when he heard the punishment, and he said bitterly: "No way? Another salary deduction? My salary has been deducted to three years later!"

Li Shengtian had a wooden face: "You don't want to? If you don't want to, I will report this to the general and I won't deduct your salary, but I will demote you."

Seeing Li Shengtian turning around and about to leave, Zhao Guanxiang hurriedly tried to stop him, saying nicely, "I am willing to accept the punishment."

Li Shengtian looked at his shameless appearance and did not look happy.

He reached into his sleeve, took out a transfer order, and said in a cold voice: "This is what the general ordered me to give you. Take a look at it yourself."

Zhao Guanxiang was a little confused, but still took it.

After unfolding it, he was surprised and delighted at the same time.

The content on the paper was actually the approval document from General Ling Fang allowing him to interrogate the prisoner.

It seems that General Ling has allowed him to continue tracking down the Salvation Church along the lines of these Jingzhou families.

……

"The Demon Suppression Tower appeared in the Xie family. It seems that the failed product of the Xie family has fallen into Ling Fang's hands."

"In this way, we can spread the news that the flawless holy fetus is about to be born, so as to attract bigger fish... but Ling Fang is not enough!"

Thousands of meters beneath the earth, there is a hidden underground palace.

The scale of this underground palace is not inferior to that of a county city. The interconnected corridors extend outward like a spider web.

And inside the underground palace, there is an inverted spire.

Below the spire is a building that looks like a Colosseum, with spiral steps winding downwards. At the lowest point is a pool of water. The deep red water is constantly surging, and large bubbles are forming on the surface of the water. They eventually burst, emitting bloody vapors and filling the entire space with a pungent smell of blood.

Above this pool of blood, there stood several people wearing black cloaks.

The words just now were said by one of the people in this group.

After the man said this, he turned his head to look at another person wearing a black cloak beside him and said with a smile: "Brother Yunwen, why do you look so unhappy? Are you not used to this place?"

The person next to this person was none other than Lin Wenxu, who had left Tianyuan County for several days!
Lin Wenxu felt as if he was standing on the edge of an abyss. He looked down the spiral staircase with trepidation. Looking at the pool of blood, he asked tremblingly, "Xu Muye, is this how you made the blood pill you gave me?"

As he finished speaking, the identity of the person next to him was revealed. It was Xu Huawen, with whom he had been in spiritual communication for many years!
Xu Huawen and Lin Wenxu are of the same age, but his face is still as young as it was thirty years ago, like a young man in his early twenties, with a smooth chin and no stubble.

Xu Huawen laughed loudly upon hearing this: "Brother Yunwen, why are you so angry? Could it be that the 'elixir of immortality' I gave you is fake? Since it can really prolong life, can really make people rejuvenate and turn back the old age, why do you care where it came from?"

(End of this chapter)