My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

As for whether or not people will die during this process, or how many people will die, they don't care.

Those who enjoy rights must pay the corresponding price; no one who has reached this position is unaware of this.

Zhang Piqiang asked, "Should we send someone over to Consort Han's side...?"

Upon hearing this, Empress Lü retorted, "Send someone? Would sending someone over be of any use?"

Zhang Piqiang remained silent. A fortune teller is not scary; what is scary is a divine fortune teller.

Before they came to the Imperial Academy, they had already foreseen their fortunes and misfortunes and made preparations in advance.

Before you could even use your targeted methods, the other side had already sensed it and taken countermeasures.

But if you don't target them, you'll be playing right into their hands.

This is difficult.

Let her go.

Empress Lü seemed unconcerned about Consort Han, but instead specifically brought up Wei Qing: "Have you informed them about the Xiuxin Pavilion matter?"

Zhang Piqiang said, "After returning to the Emperor, I informed Lü Kuang, and he will have someone leak the news to Wei Qing. However..."

"speak!"

"Should we give the person from the Cultivation Pavilion a heads-up beforehand?"

There is one thing Empress Lü did not lie to Lü Kuang about: there really was a ghost living in the Xiuxin Pavilion.

However, the time this ghost entered was rather unusual; it happened to be after the group of Xiongnu barbarians who had entered the Cultivation Pavilion were killed.

Empress Lü replied, "It's alright. If Wei Qing really dies at her hands, then it's just bad luck."

After saying this, Empress Lü waved her hand, and Zhang Piqiang tactfully left.

After the palace was empty, Empress Lü looked up at the roof and sighed: Could it be him?

If it were him, then after four hundred years, even the most severe injury should have been almost fully healed, right?

Whenever she thought of this, this woman who ruled the Han Dynasty for four hundred years would feel a deep sense of fear.

At the Imperial Academy, Wei Qing was oblivious to everything else, focusing solely on eating and sleeping.

The law enforcement team investigated and investigated, but ultimately could not find any grounds to convict Wei Qing.

Three idiots ran into the Martial Arts Department and accepted the challenge from the students. They deserved to be brutally beaten.

Anyone would know that if someone goes to the other department to provoke them, the competition will definitely be about the other department's projects.

Otherwise, if students from the textile department came to you and had your department compete in embroidery, I don't believe anyone could actually do a few moves.

Therefore, Wei Qing was treated to good food and drink for three days before being released.

Before being released, Wei Qing also learned about the Xiuxin Pavilion from the people sent by Fan Tian.

Xiuxin Pavilion?

Haunted?

A student who once killed Xiongnu barbarians?

And is it related to what I'm looking for?

This is practically an open statement: the man is being held captive in the Xiuxin Pavilion.

Why would the Imperial Academy be so kind as to specifically tell me this?

Or perhaps they were unaware of these things and simply wanted to use someone else to do their dirty work, hoping to die at the hands of that ghost?

No, even if these people don't know, how could Prime Minister Xiao not know?

Did Prime Minister Xiao tacitly approve of it? Or was he planning to dig a hole for himself?

Or perhaps there are other reasons?

Wei Qing looked at the worn-out sword and pondered for a while, countless guesses popping into his mind. Finally, he shook his head and laughed, "This is really interesting. If there really is a ghost in the Cultivation Pavilion, I really want to see what kind of ghost it is that can occupy the Cultivation Pavilion for three hundred years under Prime Minister Xiao's nose."

Chapter Eleven: The River of Time, Body Beyond Body

After Wei Qing was released, he did not rush to visit Xiuxin Pavilion.

Although Wei Qing felt that even if he ran to Xiuxin Pavilion without any preparation, the possibility of him dying was not high.

but!

On the other hand, it won't kill you to be more prepared.

Before going to Xiuxin Pavilion, why not first visit Marquis Xiahou Ying of Ruyin and ask for his advice?

If Xiuxin Pavilion really has any secrets, it probably can't be kept from this Marquis of Ruyin, right?

With this in mind, Wei Qing first found Cao Ying to retrieve the Flying Cloud Steed, and then left the Imperial Academy directly, heading to the Marquis of Ruyin's residence to pay his respects to Xiahou Ying.

When Xiahou Ying learned that Wei Qing had come to visit, he invited him in.

After listening to Wei Qing finish explaining the whole story, he pondered for a few seconds before explaining to Wei Qing, "You guessed right. He is indeed in the Cultivation Pavilion, but not inside the pavilion; he is underground."

Since you were able to successfully use the "backwater battle" tactic, it's enough to demonstrate your talent, and therefore you deserve to know some things.

Since you already know some of the rumors about Xiuxin Pavilion, let me briefly tell you about my own experiences with Xiuxin Pavilion and Han Xin.

As for whether or not to go to the Cultivation Pavilion, that's entirely up to you.

Upon learning from Xiahou Ying that Han Xin was indeed imprisoned below the Xiuxin Pavilion, Wei Qing's spirits immediately lifted: "Nephew, I'm all ears!"

Wei Qing is now becoming more and more adept at cultivating relationships. Everyone in Chang'an knows that Wei Qing is the nephew of Prime Minister Cao and the nephew of Marquis of Ruyin. It's unclear whether, in the future, he will also become the nephew of Prime Minister Xiao, or even eventually the nephew of the Holy Empress.

Xiahou Ying recalled for a moment, and then recounted some of the secrets of Xiuxin Pavilion and Han Xin over the past few hundred years.

When Emperor Liu Bang first launched his campaigns against rebellious subjects, Empress Lü and Chancellor Xiao joined forces to suppress Han Xin, who had achieved great merit and threatened the emperor's power. This is where the story began.

Empress Lü originally wanted to kill Han Xin once and for all, but Han Xin had prepared a backup plan in advance.

Did Cao Shen ever talk to you about the body outside the body?

Wei Qing shook his head and said, "No."

"Then you should know that after suppressing mountains and rivers and embracing the sun and moon, the next step is to forge a body of the sun, moon and stars, right? Forging a body of the sun, moon and stars is the prerequisite for having an external body."

The soul outside the body needs to be retrieved from the river of time. If I explain it too deeply, you won't understand. Simply put, different possibilities in reality will produce different results.

For example, if I kill you now, or if you kill me now, these are two different possibilities, and the world will produce two different results. They are like two different tributaries in the river of time.

In the long river of time, you can see countless possibilities related to yourself.

The specific process of retrieving an external body involves first forging a body of the sun, moon, and stars, and then retrieving another self from the river of time and merging them into an external body.

As you might have guessed, if the two selves are separated for a long time, they are prone to splitting up during the growth process, and even reversing the primary and secondary roles.

Therefore, except when taking action, the main body and the external body will not be separated.

However, Han Xin hid his physical body in the small world at that time.

If Han Xin's physical body is killed rashly, the body outside the body will suffer retaliation.

For this reason, after Empress Lü and Xiao He had been relying on each other, they decided to temporarily suppress Han Xin.

Later, when His Majesty returned from suppressing the rebellion, he learned of this incident and imprisoned Han Xin in a certain place in Chang'an, where he built the Xiuxin Pavilion and entrusted it to Zhang Liang, the Marquis of Liu, to guard.

This is the origin of the Cultivation Pavilion, and also the reason why Han Xin wasn't killed.

After listening to Xiahou Ying's explanation, Wei Qing was stunned for a few seconds...

At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind: Could my Twin Eagles be an external body?

Others may not know, but he himself knows very well that what he saw in his dream was exactly what Xiahou Ying described as the river of time.

But... but when did I forge a body of the sun, moon, and stars?

If I were that strong, I would have crushed those leaders and factions of the Imperial Academy long ago. Why would I need to be schemed against by them?

Seeing Wei Qing lost in thought, Xiahou Ying seemed to guess what he was thinking: "Don't guess anymore. I've seen your 'Eagle Soaring Together' technique; it's not an 'External Body.' An external body isn't as simple as you think. Forging a body of the sun, moon, and stars might be relatively easy, but trying to enter the river of time and retrieve another version of yourself is countless times more difficult than you imagine."

Let me tell you, even though I am virtually invincible and have few rivals, I have never been able to forge an external body.

But that doesn't mean the body of the sun, moon, and stars is useless. On the contrary, with this body, when my main body is destroyed, my soul can immediately take over this secondary body, so you could say I have two lives.

In fact, the true initial use of the body of the sun, moon, and stars, as I just said, is as a second life.

Only those who are eternally invincible can control an external body, but Han Xin's talent is simply too terrifying. Even before reaching eternal invincibility, he was able to tear through the river of time and forcibly obtain an external body. As for your current strength, what could you possibly use to tear through the river of time?

The more Xiahou Ying spoke, the more beads of sweat appeared on Wei Qing's forehead.

Holy crap, why do I feel like I'm the chosen one the more you talk?

The river of time?

Could the thing I dreamed about be something that exists within the river of time?

Really? Really? Really?

Wei Qing was a little scared.

Xiahou Ying didn't elaborate on this issue. He continued, "As you know, the Cultivation Pavilion actually suppresses Han Xin's main body, while Han Xin's external body is not in the human realm."

Later, when Marquis Liu Zhang Liang traveled the world, the Han Dynasty bestowed the Xiuxin Pavilion upon the Imperial Academy. In fact, Empress Lü wanted to use the Imperial Academy to test Han Xin's situation.

Those who entered the Cultivation Pavilion back then were not just students, but the true elites of the Imperial Academy.

The Imperial Academy three hundred years ago was different from what it is now. Back then, geniuses were truly geniuses... they were definitely not weak...

Xiahou Ying always felt a little awkward talking about those so-called geniuses in front of Wei Qing.

Let alone two hundred years ago, even if you put Wei Qing back four hundred years ago during the Chu-Han Contention, there wouldn't be many people who could surpass him in terms of talent.

"In short, they tested Han Xin and were thrown out. After Xiao He learned of this, he closed the Xiuxin Pavilion. The so-called haunting was just a pretext at that time."

When Xiahou Ying finished speaking, Wei Qing understood that the rulers of the Han Dynasty three hundred years ago and the Han Dynasty four hundred years ago were not the same person.

Previously, the Xiuxin Pavilion was guarded by Zhang Liang, who was one of the emperor's men.

Later, the Han Dynasty sent people in to investigate, and they discovered that those people were actually Empress Lü's people.

As for why Empress Lü relied on students from the Imperial Academy to investigate instead of sending people herself... she probably feared they might not return.