I, the one in the heavens, am here to protect my bottom line in all realms.

Chapter 358: Crisis or Opportunity?
In addition, there are still toxins in his body that have not been eliminated, so he needs to rest and take medicine to regulate his body.

As the imperial physicians were discussing the prescription, the emperor arrived. Upon seeing that it was Consort Zhang lying there, his heart skipped a beat.

Having been together for two or three years, he had developed some feelings for her. Moreover, given her special status in his life, he understood perfectly well what he was thinking when he saw her like this. He felt both heartache and anger.

When the emperor took over the matter, he ordered his secret guards to investigate. The truth quickly came to light: Zhang Chengyuan had shielded Consort Shu from disaster, while the one who poisoned her was Consort Liang, one of the four consorts. However, Consort Liang was the emperor's cousin and childhood sweetheart, so he only punished her by confining her to her quarters for six months.

Although Zhang Chengyuan was not promoted again because of the emperor's guilt, he still received benefits, such as being granted the title "Cheng" and several boxes of jewels and medicinal herbs.

The emperor left immediately after dealing with the matter. The empress had the unconscious Zhang Chengyuan sent back home, and everyone else dispersed. Only Consort Shu glanced at Zhang Chengyuan before leaving, and upon returning home, she hurriedly sent him tonics, medicinal herbs, jewelry, and money to express her gratitude.

After being sent back, Zhang Chengyuan and the others left and she immediately opened her eyes and leaned against the bed. Zhang Yijiang also secretly came and sat by her mother's bed, while Jiang Siyou stood guard beside her.

At this moment, the windows and doors were wide open, and the family of three were talking softly, creating a pleasant atmosphere.

"Jiang Bao, take a look and see what you like, pick it yourself."

Zhang Yijiang happily agreed and went to choose one.

Jiang Siyou then spoke: "Given the current situation, should we take advantage of the emperor's remorse and elevate his rank again?"

Zhang Chengyuan's gaze followed her daughter's figure tenderly as she answered his question, "No rush, it's not good to attract too much attention."

After a pause, she asked again, "What's the situation with the male lead?"

According to Ba Zai, he is secretly trying to win over intellectuals.

Zhang Chengyuan pondered for a moment and said, "We should also lie low for a while. After all, we've lost half our lives, so we should be weak and unable to have children. Only in this way can we appear harmless in this palace."

As she spoke, her smiling eyes looked at Jiang Siyou with tender affection.

Jiang Siyou met her gaze, her smile equally tender...

That night, the emperor arrived.

He excused himself from the formalities and sat down by the bedside. He tenderly stroked Zhang Chengyuan, whose eyes were closed but whose face was pale, brows were furrowed and who looked uneasy. His guilt deepened.

This time, they lost their child, but he couldn't give her justice. Although he felt a little guilty, he wasn't too heartbroken.

He has many children, but what worries him is her health; he doesn't know how many more years she has left to live.

For the past two years, he has gotten used to coming here every month to get a good night's sleep and feel refreshed the next day. If her days are numbered, he will have to go back to the old ways, feeling tired and irritable day after day. He doesn't know when he will have such a useful tool again.

The emperor lamented his miserable fate, but felt little sorrow. He swiftly withdrew his hand, got up, and left. He was somewhat annoyed that he wouldn't be able to get a good night's sleep. Consort Liang was truly being unreasonable; he should give her the cold shoulder.

The moment the emperor stepped out of the palace gates, Zhang Chengyuan opened his eyes, his gaze clear and bright.

In fact, she noticed the emperor when he appeared nearby, because according to custom, the emperor was supposed to stay here tonight. However, she had just had a miscarriage, so she could ignore him and just pretend to be unconscious.

Sure enough, they left. Zhang Chengyuan didn't get up, just stared at the ceiling with his eyes open, suddenly unable to fall asleep.

His mind was very active, and he couldn't help but think of his daughter Zhang Yijiang. Given the karma associated with her, after completing the mission in this world, she would need to experience at least one more world before she could sever her karmic ties with the Azure Chaos Realm.

Perhaps they should spend another part of their daughter's life with her, and then the whole family can return together.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, since she was still worried about her daughter.

However, in this world, we also need to prepare some trump cards for our daughter, in case something unexpected happens again. Her father also needs to prepare some.

Having thought this through, she threw off the covers, got up, and began to prepare.

Since androids and robots are restricted from use, she can only resort to some mystical methods.

There are still some mystical things in this world, and they are not restricted. Among them, paper dolls, puppets, and talismans are good choices.

The little paper figure is the simplest, with no restrictions on the type of paper. She picked up the scissors and started cutting with the rice paper she found.

There are 30 sheets per stack, and 6 stacks in total.

Zhang Chengyuan put down the scissors, brushed off the scraps of paper on his body, rolled up his sleeves, ground ink, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and drew talismans on each of the small paper figures. Soon, all 180 small paper figures came to life.

However, that's not enough. Tomorrow, she will take some of her daughter's blood to put eyes on these paper figures, so that they can think and move like living things.

As for Jiang Siyou, I'll have him get some cinnabar talisman paper tomorrow, and then I'll draw talismans for him and my daughter.

With that thought in mind, she went back to lie down and quickly fell asleep.

When she woke up the next day, she told Jiang Siyou about the matter. When her daughter arrived, she took the blood from her fingertip, put eyes on the paper doll, taught her some simple incantations, and then told her to take 180 paper dolls back and try it herself.

She had all the jewelry and jade from her storeroom brought out, and she selected them one by one, choosing the ones suitable to be made into ritual implements. She had the rest sent back, and she also instructed Xiao Xu to take her token to the Imperial Household Department to retrieve some wooden blocks and carving knives.

She had breakfast while waiting, and then they returned.

Zhang Chengyuan had Jiang Siyou stand guard outside the door while she drew talismans alone inside the room. She also reserved half of the yellow paper and cinnabar, since she still needed to put on a show. All expenditures in the palace were recorded, and she had to make sure that things were used openly to avoid leaving any potential trouble, such as witchcraft.

She put away the talisman, sat down, dipped a brush in cinnabar, and copied the Rebirth Sutra without even having lunch.

In the afternoon, she noticed a group of people rushing in, and the emperor even kicked open her door.

She looked up in surprise, her face blank. The next second, as if she had just realized what was happening, she immediately got up, walked out of the desk, and hurriedly bowed and greeted the emperor: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, Your Majesty Consort Liang."

Seeing that the Emperor and Empress did not fly into a rage, Consort Liang spoke up herself, sternly rebuking, "You audacious Consort, kneel down! How dare you practice witchcraft in the palace!"

Zhang Chengyuan's lips curled slightly, but the next second she looked up in shock, opening her mouth to explain. However, remembering the rules she had learned, she immediately knelt down, crawled a few steps, and looked up at the Emperor with sincere eyes, explaining, "Your Majesty and Your Majesty, please understand that I have not practiced any witchcraft. I only wanted to copy some scriptures for the deceased for my son because of my grief, to pray for his safety and happiness in his next life."

She was already sobbing uncontrollably as she spoke, her already pale face turned even whiter, and she looked even more broken. She tried to suppress her dizziness, but couldn't help but fall down and lie prostrate on the ground, taking deep breaths.