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Chapter 290 Night Talk
In the darkness of night, the flickering candlelight cast shimmering light on Tao Le'an's face.

half an hour.

He calmly finished his drink and said.

"What would you like to ask, Taoist Master?"

His words were quite ordinary, without any surprise or astonishment.

Zhou You simply smiled.

"Actually, it's nothing. It's just that we've been working together for so long, and it's not good to keep things from each other all the time. We should be honest with each other. I just want to ask you something."

"What exactly is your Evil Suppression Division trying to do this time?"

Unlike the previous Buddhist mission, the Zhenxie Division only had one clear mission: to protect Zhengde. As for being involved in the Maitreya Buddha's descent, that was just something they were forced to do later.

But this time, the entire Zhenxie Division, like the script itself, seems to be shrouded in mystery, with only two key points.

First, why would the Erqi, who were merely inspecting on behalf of the emperor and never involved in Jianghu disputes, be inexplicably surrounded and killed? Second, why did the Zhenxie Division mobilize so many cavalry across an entire continent? What exactly was their intention?
Tao Le'an could only manage a wry smile upon hearing this.

"How should I explain this to you? Oh, right, Taoist priest, you should remember the prince I told you about before, right?"

"The one who wields immense power in the court and calls himself the Hidden King?"

“That’s right. Although I don’t know exactly what he did to offend you, Daoist Master, that made you want to cause him trouble, he’s not just someone who wields immense power. By the way, have you ever heard how the first two emperors of this dynasty died?”

Why bring this up?
Zhou You frowned and pondered for a long time before finally finding some clues from the rumors and gossip along the way.

"I remember the previous one died from drowning, and the one before that died from consuming an elixir of immortality?"

"Those are just things that are passed down among the common people. First of all, the one who took the elixir of immortality, he didn't actually die, but it was almost the same as being dead. This person was locked in the deepest part of the palace. He had gone completely mad. He didn't know hunger or thirst or filth. He rolled around in excrement and urine every day. He was even worse than a beggar on the roadside."

"As for the one who fell into the water, his fate was even worse. He was living a good life in the palace, but one night he suddenly disappeared. The palace guards searched inside and out but couldn't find him. Eventually, someone found his body in a ditch outside the capital—a body with all four limbs cut off, tortured beyond recognition, yet still wearing a dragon robe."

Zhou You paused in his actions of picking up food and drinking wine.

"Hey Lao Tao, this is supposed to be the legendary emperor, right? How did it turn into this?"

Looking at Zhou You's face, Tao Le'an picked up another piece of meat with his chopsticks. Although his expression suggested that the food didn't taste very good, he still chewed it carefully and swallowed it.

"Daoist Master, please stop pretending to be ignorant. The reason why the two former emperors ended up like this is very simple—they wanted to deal with this hidden prince who was not an emperor but was more powerful than one."

"Now, this emperor knows that his grandfather and father died tragically, but he has to swallow his anger due to the emperor's tyranny. He has long wanted to deal with this prince, so he has finally found an opportunity to let our Daoist cavalry deal with this big problem while his power has been shrinking over the years."

Zhou You immediately burst out laughing.

"Then you royal lackeys stepped in to deal with this prince, and then conveniently got yourselves wiped out?"

Tao Le'an shook his head again. "Although our Zhenxie Division has cooperated with the royal family in every dynasty, we rarely get involved in court disputes, even the nominally imperial messengers are the same - unless that person is extremely useful to us - the reason why we came to Songzhou this time under the imperial edict is actually for another reason."

"what reason?"

However, Tao Le'an did not answer, but instead poured Zhou You a cup as well.

"Master, do you know what a person will do when they know they are going to die?"

Zhou You had a general idea of ​​what he wanted to say next, but he just pursed his lips and spoke without interrupting.

Tao Le'an then continued speaking.

"To be honest, Master, I've seen plenty of people like this. There are those who are superstitious and go to temples to kowtow every day until their heads bleed, hoping that the gods and Buddhas will save their lives; there are those who are extremely wealthy and would rather give up their entire fortune in the hope that some kind of longevity formula can allow them to live a few more days; as for those in power, needless to say, they have supported countless charlatans over the years."

"Ordinary people are like this, but what would the Hidden King, who lived for more than two hundred years, held immense power in the court, and killed emperors like chickens, do?"

Tao Le'an's handsome face scrunched up in a frown.

"The Zhenxie Division dared not gamble on this, truly dared not gamble, fearing that for his sake alone, the entire Han land would be turned into a wasteland. So we could only do our utmost, mobilizing all available manpower, at least to see if we could find out his situation—but who would have thought that his hidden strength far exceeded everyone's imagination? After several sieges, the division's main force was all killed, and most of the remaining ones were also unable to fight, and were forced to withdraw from Songzhou. Now, the only one left to deal with in this place is me, the leader without any troops."

Zhou You remained silent for a long time.

That makes sense—but the question now is, is this guy still hiding something?
He raised his head, gazed into those honest eyes for a moment, and finally shook his head.

"Then let me ask you, what are your plans for the future?"

Seeing this, Tao Le'an secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He was also afraid that this rare helper would quit, so he said it directly.

"It's very simple. I mentioned to you before, Daoist Master, that the Prince is about to hold a birthday banquet, right?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Actually, this birthday banquet itself is nothing special, but according to the feng shui master's divination, the Hidden King's lifespan will be coming to an end after this birthday celebration. But he is not the kind of person who would put all his eggs in one basket, so he will definitely do his best to gather all kinds of extraordinary people to help him prolong his life, and this is the best time to infiltrate."

Tao Le'an took a deep breath and then spoke quickly.

"But here's the problem: to participate in this birthday banquet, you need an invitation. Normally, this wouldn't be difficult for our Zhenxie Division, but unfortunately, the Hidden King has already listed us all as uninvited guests, so we have to find another way."

“I learned from the correspondence between Changsheng Temple that there was a Celestial Master in this city who had such an invitation—or at least I knew where the invitation came from. That’s why I brought you here, Daoist. I didn’t tell you before because it was inconvenient to say, not because I intended to deceive you. Please forgive me, Daoist.”

Zhou You maintained his usual smile until the other person began to feel uneasy, then he drank the wine in his cup and laughed.

"That's easy, but what are your plans to do after that to find that Heavenly Master?"

(End of this chapter)