Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 155 Zhao Xu: Give me ten years, and the Western Xia will cease to exist! [Seeking monthly votes]

Li Qingzhao had assumed that Zhao Xu would seek immortality, and had already mentioned the phrase "there is no elixir of immortality" on his lips. However, she did not expect that Zhao Xu only wanted to know his remaining lifespan and whether he had achieved his ambitions.

She thought for a moment and answered seriously:
"According to the normal course of history, your ambitions remain unfulfilled, and you only have a little over half a year left to live..."

Upon hearing that he only had a few months to live, Zhao Xu let out a long sigh. Zhao Ji, who was beside him, quickly asked:
"Could the Osmanthus Fairy be mistaken? My imperial brother is only in his twenties, how could he... He must be mistaken!"

Zhao Xu shook his head and then asked:

"What about the Western Xia?"

Li Qingzhao said:
"This year, Empress Dowager Liang, who holds power in Western Xia, will be poisoned by the Liao envoy. The ruler, Li Qianshun, will take personal control of the government, sweeping away the decadence of the mother party's dictatorship. Western Xia's national strength will increase, and it will not be destroyed until more than a hundred years later."

Zhao Xu suddenly looked up:

"Was it defeated by my Great Song Dynasty?"

Li Qingzhao shook her head:
"They were the Mongol Tartars, a nomadic people from the north. There were many unimaginable twists and turns that happened here. I'll tell you the details later."

Zhao Xu and Zhao Ji exchanged a glance, the two brothers completely baffled. Weren't nomadic peoples the lowest class of the Liao Dynasty? How could they have risen to power and destroyed the Western Xia?

Before arriving, this iron-fisted emperor had a bellyful of questions he wanted to ask, but now that he knew that the Western Xia had lasted for over a hundred years and that he only had a few months left to live, the questions he had been pondering all the way suddenly became impossible to ask.

With his life gone and his life's goals unfulfilled, Zhao Xu instantly became despondent.

Li Qingzhao said:
"According to the normal course of history, that would be the case. But now that the immortal has intervened, intending to save the people of China, if you can put the people first, the immortal is very willing to extend your life so that you can realize your ambitions."

The words "prolong life" immediately filled Zhao Ji with joy:
“Brother, do not be discouraged… May I ask the Osmanthus Fairy, how can I prolong your life? If it requires vegetarianism and chanting scriptures, I will begin to eat vegetarian food from today.”

Li Qingzhao shook her head:
“My master believes that both meat and vegetables are gifts from nature and there is no need to abstain from meat. He only cares about whether the people are healthy and well, whether China is prosperous and whether lost territories are recovered.”

These words somewhat revived Zhao Xu's spirits. He might be a little unsure about other things, but he still had a lot to say on the topic of recovering lost territory.

Since assuming personal rule, Zhao Xu has actively expanded the territory, not only recovering counties such as Mizhi that were ceded to Western Xia by the old party, but also successively taking over prefectures and counties such as Hongzhou, Youzhou, Huizhou, Yanzhou, and Lanzhou, extending the Song Dynasty's influence to the northwest frontier, and recovering large tracts of territory such as Miaochuan and Qingtang occupied by the Tubo.

In the southwest, Zhao Xu successively conquered most of Hunan, southwestern Hubei, southeastern Guizhou, southern Sichuan, and western Guangxi, making him the only emperor of the Song Dynasty, besides Zhao Kuangyin, to expand his territory by thousands of miles.

Zhao Xu took a sip of honey water and regained his confidence:

"If I had another ten years, the Western Xia Kingdom would no longer exist. It's hard to say about the Liao Kingdom for now, but we can definitely get back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun that we ceded in the past."

Li Qingzhao glanced at him:
"What if you were given twenty, thirty, or forty years?"

Zhao Xu took a deep breath, somewhat unable to believe his ears... Could the immortals really be so generous with their life-extending abilities?

Li Qingzhao said:
"According to your idea, write a letter to the Immortal Master. I will take it with me when I go to Hunyuan Palace next time. Whether it can extend your life depends on whether you can move the Immortal Master."

Zhao Xu felt his heart pounding. His mind was filled with fantasies about the future, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. Zhao Ji, on the other hand, was relatively calmer.
"How can I pray to the immortal for blessings? Can the Osmanthus Fairy bestow upon me an image of the immortal?"

Li Qingzhao pointed to the Tai Chi diagram on the wall next to her and said:

"This is the statue of my family's ancestor. If you wish to pray for blessings, simply place offerings, burn incense, and pray in front of the Tai Chi diagram."

Zhao Xu calmed himself down, cupped his hands, and asked:

"I wonder what the Immortal Master's opinion is on the New Party."

Li Qingzhao said:
"The Immortal once said that Shang Yang's reforms were successful because he not only deprived the old aristocracy of their interests but also supported new aristocrats. For a policy to be successfully implemented, it needs a continuous stream of new interest groups to provide support so that it can gradually replace the old aristocracy. If new interest groups cannot be generated, the old system will naturally be difficult to abolish."

Although Wang Anshi's reforms had many drawbacks, they were basically aimed at weakening the interests of bureaucrats and landlords. In particular, the Green Sprouts Law and the Baojia system directly eliminated the rights of the gentry class.

Under such circumstances, there was naturally widespread opposition throughout the country. Moreover, the new law contained many unverified, arbitrary decisions, which slowed down its implementation and led to resistance from the entire Song Dynasty.

Zhao Xu stood up and bowed to the sky:

"The Immortal Master is truly a man of great talent. If I could receive his teachings in person, I would die without regret!"

These are all things the immortal master saw online, saying they came from some keyboard warriors… Li Qingzhao muttered to herself, but outwardly maintained the aloof demeanor of a transcendent fairy:

"Immortal Master also really wants to meet you. Maybe one day you'll appear at Hunyuan Palace and taste your cooking." Zhao Xu was so excited that he couldn't help but cough again.

He then inquired about other matters, and after nearly two hours, he took his leave and returned to the palace, accompanied by Emperor Huizong.

As Li Qingzhao stepped out of her quiet room, envisioning herself drinking beer from a mug, several golden-robed Taoist priests from the Xiantian Temple suddenly rushed over, knelt down en masse, and begged for the art of cultivating immortality.

Li Qingzhao didn't understand these things either, so she could only instruct them to do more good deeds for the people, cultivate their character and mind, and accumulate merit. With enough merit, they would naturally have the opportunity to ascend to heaven.

After saying that, she quickly left and went to the tavern, intending to ask for a pot of sweet wine to calm her nerves. However, before she could even take a sip, someone knelt down in front of her and asked to become her apprentice.

The tavern owner seemed to have encountered a celestial being, not only waiving the cost of the drinks but also promising to send several jars of fine aged wine to Li Qingzhao's home.

Ever since Liang Shicheng was struck by lightning, Li Qingzhao's fame in Tokyo has soared. Countless people are eager to become her apprentices and learn her skills. Whether they become immortals or not doesn't matter; as long as they can learn the art of being struck by lightning, that's enough.

In the past, Li Duidui would have slammed her fist on the table and told these people to get lost without hesitation. But now, her every word and action represented Hunyuan Palace. Helpless, she could only take out a few copper coins from her pocket, throw them on the table, pick up her wine pot, and run away... With the burden of being a deity, the arrogant sister suddenly couldn't be arrogant anymore.

Back home, before the girl could even catch her breath, she saw her father, Li Gefei, looking at her with a worried expression.

“Daughter, all my colleagues in the Ministry of Rites want to cultivate immortality with you, and they even plan to bring gifts to our house. I had to persuade them with great difficulty to give up. Relatives from all walks of life are also constantly visiting. Your stepmother is packing her bags, planning to take you to her hometown in Zhangqiu to avoid this situation.”

Li Qingzhao: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

No, it's not that I showed off my lightning strike technique, but instead emboldened them, right?
The girl thought for a moment and said:

“In the Zhenguan world there is a Yiyuan Hall, and in the Kaiyuan world there is a Yiyuan Temple. Instead of frowning, Father, why don’t you write a memorial with me and ask His Majesty to build a Taoist temple for the immortal? As for the name, let’s call it Yiyuan Palace.”

With the Taoist temple, these fervent believers could go to burn incense and pray for blessings, and the money they received from the incense offerings could be used to adopt orphans and help the poor, achieving the best of both worlds.

Li Gefei's eyes lit up. He thought this was indeed a good idea. Taking advantage of the current popularity, he should quickly build a Taoist temple for Immortal Yiyuan to prevent those seeking immortality from lingering at the entrance of his alley.

Li Hang walked over wearing brand-new skateboard shoes. Overhearing his older sister and father's conversation, he couldn't help but ask:
"Why not just rename the Xiantian Temple? Why build a new one?"

Li Qingzhao pinched her silly younger brother's cheek and said:

"If the name is changed, the Taoists of Xiantian Temple will suddenly become disciples of Hunyuan Palace. Do you think the Immortal Master would look down on those ugly and deformed people? As an Immortal Master walking among mortals, I am not here to cause him trouble."

Religious sites such as Taoist temples fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and Li Gefei was an assistant minister in the Ministry of Rites. He immediately went to his study, picked up his pen, and began to write a memorial, intending to present it at the court meeting and obtain His Majesty's approval as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, inside the Hunyuan Palace.

Zhou Yi was carrying bricks when he suddenly received a phone call from the blind man:
"That tattoo artist is back, and it seems he's brought two helpers. Come to the city first thing tomorrow morning, and we'll team up to deal with him."

Zhou Yi took out a copper coin and performed a divination, but the hexagram showed an empty result:
"If I go tomorrow, the divination result shows it's empty. What if I go and find nothing?"

The blind man calmly said:
"I changed his fate. No matter who interprets it, it will be an empty hexagram. If you don't believe me, you can try interpreting it again... Did your grandfather leave you some related ritual implements?"

Just as Zhou Yi was about to talk about the Bagua abacus, he suddenly felt that the blind man's last question was very deliberate, so he took note:
"They left me a few copper coins, saying that the divination was quite accurate, and a compass, but that was about it."

This answer surprised the blind man somewhat:
"Aren't there any magical implements like an abacus?"

No, I've never seen it.

The blind man's voice sounded somewhat dejected:
“Alright then, come to the city first thing tomorrow morning. Call me when you get there, and I'll help you deal with that tattoo artist. He knows a lot of secrets about the association.”

After saying that, the blind man hung up the phone.

Zhou Yi was curious about the old man's motive for suddenly asking about the abacus. After thinking for a while, he went to the Sanqing Hall, took out the Bagua abacus locked in the cabinet, and divined his actions for tomorrow in front of the Sanqing. He found that the hexagram was a little different this time.

And the tattoo artist's divination revealed a hidden trap... Could this guy's high-profile return to Yiyang City be a trap set up by himself?

Zhou Yi originally intended to inform the blind man, but then worried that the old man would discover the existence of the Bagua abacus, so he decided against it.

He was just about to find an excuse to decline the blind man's invitation to hunt together and to observe the situation from the shadows when another possibility suddenly popped into his mind:
"Just because going tomorrow might be a trap doesn't mean going today will be a trap too."

Zhou Yi used his abacus to divine the outcome of his plan for today, and the result indicated great fortune.
"Let's go, let's go to the city to reap the rewards!"

(End of this chapter)