destiny eternal calamity

Chapter 190 Treating the symptoms but not the root cause

"I severed the connection points of some runes in this foundation and then reconnected them with mirage."

"Mirage is also an excellent material for inscribing runes. Although I injected a very small amount and its carrying capacity is limited, a short-term inspection will definitely not reveal any problems."

As Xie Youshan spoke, she swam back to Li Wei's sleeve.

Once Li Wei had finished his business, he left.

The Spirit Bridge Guardian, who was bewitched by Xie Youshan's illusion, never realized that he had been trapped in an illusion.

Li Wei returned to his residence and sat down at the table to think carefully.

Tonight's discovery has proven the authenticity of the words of the original author.

This Youchao clan human emperor is most likely Yan Tianqi, and he does indeed have a lot of problems.

It seems that he was indeed brainwashed after being captured by those men in black four hundred years ago.

However, it remains unclear who those men in black are or whether they are henchmen of the immortal realm.

Furthermore, how exactly did he force Qi Hongjun to abdicate?

Qi Hongjun is not like Ji Youguang, who maintains his position through prestige; he is a true veteran supreme cultivator.

How did Yan Tianqi, an outsider who was not from the Xuanyuan clan, manage to gain the support of ministers who were mostly from the Xuanyuan clan?

Li Wei thought of Qin Yuan, the inspector of Kunlun.

He might know something about the abdication.

However, although Qin Yuan is credible, he may already be under surveillance by the human royal court.

He needs to be careful if he wants to see Qin Yuan.

The next morning, Li Wei once again used his invisibility technique to sneak into the Kunlun embassy. Xie Youshan indeed sensed that there were spies lurking around.

It was none other than a Void Realm cultivator.

Li Wei, of course, did not want to alert the enemy, so he had Xie Youshan use her authority as cover to transmit a message to Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan, as expected of an old monster, remained expressionless despite receiving the telepathic message.

The Kunlun envoy, who had transformed into a thin old man, paced back and forth in the embassy corridor, then recited, "The snow-capped mountains are cold for eternity."

This was one of the secret codes that Li Wei set for the position of Kunlun Inspector a thousand years ago, in order to prevent anyone from impersonating a Kunlun person.

Upon hearing this, Li Wei immediately transmitted his voice, "Alone Illuminating Mount Emei."

Seeing Qin Yuan nod slightly, Li Wei knew that he had confirmed his identity.

They then arranged a meeting time and place via telepathy.

At dawn, Li Wei entered a teahouse in the western part of the city and, sure enough, saw Qin Yuan drinking tea inside.

He specifically chose this teahouse because the storyteller he hired was very popular, and the tables were always full.

He pretended to be a passerby, and because there were no empty tables, he had no choice but to sit opposite Qin Yuan.

"May I ask for a seat?"

"It's alright," Qin Yuan replied briefly.

Everything looks natural.

But in reality, the two were already chatting with each other via telepathy.

At their level of cultivation, transmitting sound naturally doesn't require moving their lips; they only need to open their mouths slightly.

If you want to hide it, no one can see anything unless they use their divine sense to check.

Those who were monitoring Qin Yuan naturally dared not use their divine sense to investigate him.

"May I ask who you are?" Qin Yuan asked curiously.

He had never seen this person before in Kunlun.

"I am Wei Li, the adopted son of the Palace Master. My current alias in Pingyang City is Wei Haogu."

Li Wei naturally wouldn't hide his name from the Kunlun demons. He wore a mask in Kunlun before only to prevent the human students from knowing that he, the young master of Kunlun, had returned, which would arouse the imperial court's vigilance.

After all, he had intervened in the internal affairs of the human race a thousand years ago and even established the position of Kunlun Inspector.

Even Ji Youguang knew that he had killed Ji Yuanhong, but he chose to pretend not to know at the time. However, Ji Youguang would definitely record this in the royal archives.

If the imperial court knew he had returned to Kunlun, they would definitely be extremely nervous.

"So it's Your Highness, the Young Master!"

Even under surveillance, Qin Yuan couldn't help but take a look at Li Wei.

He had heard of the young master's deeds.

Simply spreading the method of foundation building to humankind is a monumental act that has altered the world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall structure or pattern of the world).

Although this young master of Wei claimed to be the one who transmitted the Dharma on behalf of the Queen Mother of the West, he is still worthy of being recorded in history as the one who transmitted the Dharma.

Human history books do indeed record Wei Li's deeds.

Qin Yuan never expected that this legendary figure would look so ordinary.

But he soon remembered that the young master was said to never show his true face, so this appearance must be the young master's disguise.

According to the Queen Mother of the West's official explanation, Li Wei's disappearance was because he returned to the celestial realm on business.

A thousand years in the mortal realm is less than three years in the immortal realm, so Qin Yuan was not surprised that this young master still looked like a young man after a thousand years.

"Tell me, how did the Youchao clan's human emperor ascend to the throne? I see you spoke highly of him in your secret letter?"

"Your Highness, I came to Pingyang as an inspector about three years ago. At that time, Emperor Youchao, also known as Yantianqi, was still the minister in charge of real estate, but he already had a high prestige in the imperial court."

"He handles affairs very well, has good relationships with other ministers, and most importantly, the people support him."

"According to my investigation, since he came to power, those powerful people who owned many houses have sold their properties at low prices under his persuasion."

"He also took the lead in fundraising to buy houses for the poor, so the people of Pingyang City never went homeless again, and he gained a lot of public support for this."

"That led to the abdication last year. At the time, I didn't even find it strange, because in my opinion, Yan Tianqi was indeed worthy of the throne."

After listening, Li Wei thought for a moment and then understood the situation.

It turns out that Yan Tianqi's rise to power was mainly due to overt strategies, though covert strategies probably played a smaller role as well.

Isn't his approach just the same kind of vote-stunt politics that Western countries used in the past?

Moreover, he didn't just talk the talk; he actually did real things for the people.

Of course, he did all this mainly for show.

This kind of superficial solution can only control the situation in the capital. Outside the capital, the powerful and wealthy still have the final say.

When Li Wei first arrived, didn't he just witness a spoiled brat harassing a respectable woman in the street?

Although it was just a show, where would these simple and honest ancient people have ever seen such a fighting style?

Yan Tianqi naturally gained the popular support for abdication through this.

However, Emperor Qi could not possibly relinquish the throne so easily; there must be some shady dealings involved.

Li Wei then had a detailed conversation with Qin Yuan about the personalities, cultivation, and political leanings of the ministers in the imperial court.

The conclusion was that about one-third of them had completely sided with Yan Tianqi. After all, Yan Tianqi was just an outsider, so it was already quite terrifying that he could get such a high level of support.

Even Qin Yuan, if he hadn't received a message from Kunlun, wouldn't have discovered anything suspicious.

They even thought the new emperor loved his people like his own children and was a diligent and wise ruler.

Afterwards, Li Wei left the teahouse first, and the person monitoring Qin Yuan did not follow.

After all, in the other party's view, Qin Yuan did not do anything unusual from beginning to end.

If they suspect Li Wei for this, then they would have to investigate everyone Qin Yuan interacts with for more than 15 minutes every day, which would be impossible to keep track of.