The Song Dynasty was the king for thirteen years before he knew that he was Tianlong.

Chapter 7: Evil-Repelling Alley

Zhou Tong nodded: "Your Majesty, that's right. Li Dahuan's martial arts are very powerful, but the martial arts he uses are not known in the martial arts world."

Zhao Ti slowly withdrew his body, leaned against the back of the chair, and was silent. Why did Li Xian's martial arts feel so inexplicably familiar? It seemed like... the Sunflower Manual?
The Sunflower Manual appeared in the Ming Dynasty's "Swordsman Era". Some say it was created by eunuchs from the previous dynasty. This previous dynasty certainly does not refer to the Yuan Dynasty, but most likely the Song Dynasty.

But... could this be something created by Li Xian?
Although Li Xian was extremely favored during the reign of Emperor Shenzong, and served as the Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Envoy of the Imperial City, and later on in military service, he served as a Prime Minister and the Commander of the Northwest during the Five-Route War against Xia, in charge of five armies. However, Li Xian's reputation in later generations was actually not as great as that of his godson Tong Guan.

Zhao Ti was suspicious, but even if it was not created by Li Xian, the other party should know the true origin of this martial art.

"Li Xian..." He thought about it, where is Li Xian now?

After Emperor Shenzong's death, Zhao Xu was young and the Empress Dowager Gao Taotao was in power. No one protected him anymore, and all his past mistakes and oversights when governing the northwest were picked up by court officials, who reported them to the emperor.

Although Empress Dowager Gao had no grudge against Li Xiansu, in order to appease the public anger, she demoted him to the deputy chief of Yongxing Army Road and the supervisor of Chongfu Palace. In the following years, he was constantly implicated and was repeatedly demoted. Finally, he was appointed as the governor of Xuanzhou and the supervisor of Mingdao Palace.

It seems that later Li Xian proposed to retire, and Zhao Xu approved it, allowing him to live wherever he wanted.

To live anywhere means to find a place to stay, but Li Xian is originally from Tokyo, so he probably came back here to retire.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ti called Bai Zhan in and asked him to call Zheng Fu, the chief steward of the palace.

Zheng Fu was his personal eunuch in the palace. He was brought out when the palace was established and was in charge of all the internal affairs of the palace.

After a while, Zheng Fu came in to pay his respects. Zhao Ti looked at him and asked, "Do you know where Li Xian lives now?"

Zheng Fu was stunned when he heard this, and asked cautiously: "Your Highness, are you talking about Tong Guan's godfather Li Xian?"

Zhao Ti nodded: "I know you have always been in contact with Tong Guan, have you ever heard him mention it?"

Zheng Fu pondered for a few breaths and said, "Your Highness, I remember now that Tong Guan did mention this matter. He said that his godfather returned to the capital after he retired and lived in Bixie Lane."

"Bixie Lane?" Zhao Ti raised his eyebrows. This was an alley on the west side of the inner city of Tokyo. People living there were not officials or court officials, but Taoists, alchemists, and lay Buddhists. The name of the alley came from this.

"Li Xian was once a high-ranking official, commanding a huge army and making great contributions in the war against the Western Xia. How come he ended up living in that place?"

"This..." Zheng Fu said, "Your Highness, Tong Guan said that Li Xianggong was not liked by the court officials, and the army also had many opinions about him, so he chose the Pixie Lane. It is quiet and undisturbed there, which is perfect for retirement."

Zhao Ti pondered for a few breaths, then looked at the sky outside and said, "In that case... follow me to meet this great eunuch Li."

Now that it was confirmed to be Tianlong, Zhao Ti felt that there was no time to lose. Although he had done nothing wrong in learning martial arts since childhood, he still had to race against time.

Tianlong arose during the Yuanyou period of the Song Dynasty, but it did not say which year it was, or whether the events in the Jianhu Palace of Wuliang Mountain had happened at this moment.

If it hasn't happened yet, he would definitely find a way to sneak out of the capital to investigate and obtain the Lingbo Weibu and Beiming Divine Art secrets. If it happened and the Wuliang Sword Sect was attacked, he could take advantage of the chaos to seize the treasures.

But no matter which one, one needs to have high martial arts skills, at least to be able to protect oneself in front of the opponent, or even from the four evil guys. After all, if the Wuliang Sword Sect is attacked by the Shennong Gang, the four evil guys will also go there. These four people kill innocent people indiscriminately, and they will not listen to reason if they meet.

Even if he had practiced martial arts since childhood, even the weakest Yun Zhonghe would not be able to escape with him easily. The reason was simple. Although he had practiced martial arts since childhood, he did not cultivate internal strength.

It's not that there is no internal strength in the palace that he didn't practice it. With his status, it was easy for him to get methods of practicing internal strength from the guards of the Imperial City or from some gangs and martial arts schools in the market. In fact, he did get a few books, but after careful examination, he didn't practice them.

The reason was that he felt those methods of cultivating internal strength were too superficial, and those who practiced those internal skills were not that powerful, and were even not as powerful as him, who only practiced the quick sword and external techniques.

Once you start practicing internal energy, not only is it laborious and laborious, but if you encounter a better one in the future, it is also a question whether the two internal forces can coexist. As for changing to other practices, it may not be easy, so it has been delayed until now.

But now that I know it is Tianlong, it is different. It is not that those famous skills are difficult to practice. Unless I can obtain the Beiming Divine Art and be compatible with everything, otherwise I must first practice a mysterious and famous martial art.

Bei Ming Divine Art is his first choice at the moment, but he must be able to protect himself when going to Wuliang Mountain. He cannot find other masters in the capital at the moment. Although Li Xian is very likely practicing something like the Sunflower Manual, which will cut off his own retreat, there is no guarantee that he has other secret manuals of divine art. He can ask for them and then go to Wuliang Mountain to find out.

They set off as soon as they said they would. This time they did not walk, but took a carriage. Zhou Tong and his four companions, plus Zheng Fu leading the way, headed straight for Bixie Lane in the west of the city.

It was early summer at that time, and the waves in the sky were relatively long. When we arrived at Bixie Lane, it was not yet dark, but just a little closer to dusk. The huge setting sun hung in the western sky like rouge, which looked quite stunning and strange.

The carriage entered the alley. The alley was very quiet. Only the sound of horse bells could be heard. Not much other noise could be heard.

Su Da slowed down the driving speed, and Zheng Fu looked around on the shaft.

Most of the people living in this alley are Taoists and lay Buddhists with wealthy families, so their houses are not small, but they are far inferior to the mansions of some court officials.

"Your Highness, it seems that this is where Mr. Li lives." Zheng Fu pointed to a house on the side of the road and said to the carriage, "I have seen no plaques on other houses, but this house has the words 'Li Mansion' written on it."

Zhao Ti leaned out of the carriage to take a look, and sure enough, there were words written on a house on the side of the road. However, the house was far from being a mansion, so the words on it were a bit awkward and funny.

"Go down and take a look."

He jumped off the carriage and walked towards the gate of the house. At this moment, the door opened with a creaky sound, and a dejected man came out.

The man was about thirty years old, had no beard, had yellow skin, broad shoulders and a round waist, and seemed to be strong, but he had a depressed look on his face.

"Daofu..." Zheng Fu shouted hurriedly when he saw the man.

"Ah?" The man was startled when he heard the words, and looked at Zheng Fu, then his eyes fell on Zhao Ti. He was immediately startled and hurriedly stepped forward to salute: "I am Tong Guan, a humble servant, and I pay my respects to His Majesty the Prince of Yan."

Zhao Ti nodded. This man was Li Xian's godson Tong Guan. It seemed that the house in front was indeed Li Xian's residence.

"Your Majesty has condescended to come here..." Tong Guan looked puzzled.

"Doctor, the king is here to visit Mr. Li. Mr. Li is..." Zheng Fu frowned: "Why do you look so bitter? What happened?"

"My adoptive father is indeed at home, but he is seriously ill and I'm afraid he won't have much time left." Tong Guan actually shed tears as he spoke.

(End of this chapter)