Counting on your fingers, the fifth marriage is coming

Chapter 218: Destiny (I)

Above the Shengjing Palace, a huge star array quietly emerged, and countless bright lights intertwined together to form a pattern that looked like the stars and the moon in the night sky falling to the earth.

Xu Shanshan arrived through the void via a teleportation array. The wide sleeves of his robe rolled like clouds, and the red-gold cloud pattern on his forehead exuded the aura of ancient times.

In an instant, the sky changed color, wind and clouds surged, and a brilliant light emanated from Xu Shanshan's palms, as if a scorching sun was born in her hands.

With a high-pitched and sharp scream, the flame transformed into a slender red phoenix with dazzling rays of light, rushing towards Xu Shanshan, holding her firmly in the air to prevent her from falling.

Palace maids and eunuchs knelt on the stone steps, the gilded floor tiles reflected the starry sky, and in a trance it seemed as if gods were walking towards them, trailing the stars.

This time the imperial palace suffered a disaster because the Xuanmen attempted to subvert the country and the destiny. Fortunately, Emperor Yue calmed down their Holy Capital and saved everyone. Now they are sincerely willing to submit and submit to Emperor Yue.

In the Holy Capital, government offices, mansions, officials and common people all saw thousands of feet of black ice rising from the direction of the imperial palace. It even spread to the outer periphery. The frost spread along the bluestone roads. Wherever it passed, the copper bells on the eaves condensed into icicles and the swallow nests under the eaves froze into frost.

Now that the crisis was resolved, they put on their official uniforms and hurried into the palace to thank Emperor Yue with the utmost respect.

Xu Shanshan raised his hand to support them, and the officials felt a gentle force holding them up.

She glanced at the people below the stairs, and finally paused for a moment on a few officials with pale faces.

"I'm sure you all know what happened in the palace. The icy calamity has been lifted, but the evil intentions of some people may not have been completely eliminated."

Before he finished speaking, those officials suddenly knelt down and wailed, with black smoke pouring out of their seven orifices.

All the officials looked over suddenly, their faces changed suddenly several times in surprise.

Only then did they realize that there were so many evil spirits hidden behind this disaster, and they also understood why Emperor Yue had previously killed all the people from Xuanmen without mercy.

"Pass on my order." When Xu Shanshan turned around, the clear cry of a phoenix turned into a stream of light and disappeared into her sleeve.

"From now on, the Hundred Officials Record will be revised. Anyone who colluded with evil ways will be dealt with according to this example."

"Obey the Holy Command!"

-

That grand, miraculous scene disappeared from everyone's sight as Emperor Yue left, but the positivity, encouragement and powerful image she brought prevented the entire palace, both inside and outside, from falling into depression.

Instead, it ushered in a busy and lively atmosphere.

Due to the previous Ice Demon-Killing Formation, the entire palace was frozen in place. Although the ice has melted now, the damage left behind cannot be underestimated.

Palace maids and eunuchs were busy shuttling between palaces, cleaning up ice and water stains on the ground.

Some of the frozen objects shattered due to the sudden change in temperature, and the fragments were scattered all over the ground, needing to be carefully cleaned up.

The flowers, plants and trees in the imperial garden were also destroyed by frost. The gardeners were busy pruning the dead branches and replanting new flowers and plants.

"Hurry up! The ice debris over there hasn't been cleaned up yet!" A newly promoted eunuch chief ordered loudly, with a hint of anxiety in his voice.

"Butler, the floor here has been damaged by ice water and needs to be re-laid!" A young eunuch ran over and reported breathlessly.

The chief eunuch frowned and said, "Quickly notify the Ministry of Works and ask them to send people to repair it! His Majesty has been in a bad mood these days. If he sees the palace in ruins, we will all be in trouble!"

The young eunuch nodded quickly and ran away.

The election of the harem was temporarily suspended because of the major damage and the busyness of the palace.

The once bustling selection hall was now deserted, with only a few palace maids cleaning.

"I heard that His Majesty brought back someone from outside, and it's a man..." A palace maid whispered to her companion, with a hint of gossip in her tone.

"Hush! Keep your voice down!" Another maid quickly covered her mouth and looked around vigilantly, "Don't talk about this kind of thing! It's better for us not to ask about His Majesty's affairs."

"But... His Majesty has issued an edict to suspend the general election and ask all the handsome men to temporarily return to their original places of residence. This is no small matter." The palace maid lowered her voice, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Alright, alright, get to work! If the steward hears us, we'll all be beaten!" another maid urged.

-

After resolving the matters of the previous dynasty, when Xu Shanshan's soul returned to his body, an unbearable pain spread deep inside him, as if being ruthlessly cut and stirred by countless sharp blades.

She knew that this time she had forced a breakthrough and brought back her master An Ran, whose life essence had been damaged by the thunder curse.

He suppressed his discomfort and changed into the holy plain clothes that he had worn when he was the imperial teacher.

In the Qihuang Pavilion, Xu Shanshan fluttered her wide sleeves, and twelve snow-satin screens opened.

The face of the person on the couch was as bright as a crescent moon, and his long raven-feather eyelashes cast a light shadow on his eyelids. If it were not for the soul-locking golden thread wrapped around his neck that was faintly emitting black air, he would have looked like an immortal from the Moon Palace who had temporarily stayed in the mortal world.

She stood outside the mermaid silk tent, staring at Shi Anran who was lying on the bed.

After she brought him out of the cursed island, she brought him back to the Qihuang Pavilion of the temple. Because of the spiritual energy nourishing the holy mountain, his body was still as dry as a dead tree, but his face was lifelike, as if he was just sleeping quietly. Xu Shanshan used the blood on his fingertips to draw the spirit gathering talisman in the void.

Green smoke rose from the gilded Boshan furnace, making the spell flicker.

Then, she lowered her eyes and stared at the talisman that sank into Master Anran's brow.

His body now is extremely special, because he was turned into a mummy in an extremely vicious way. Even if his soul returns, this body will not be able to bear it. His body will gradually collapse and eventually turn into ashes.

The eastern pearl on the Empress Dowager's phoenix crown trembled slightly. She hurried over and was also surprised when she saw Shi Anran.

"Shen'er, is this the fortune teller? How did he become like this?"

Such a powerful person died just like that? Who killed him?

The Empress Dowager could not hide her shock. When her eyes swept across Shi Anran's cold wrist and touched the knotted curse marks under the skin, she suddenly said, "Back then, he used Nine Nether Cold Iron to forge his bones for you, and used the Essence of Fire to forge his soul. I saw him vomiting blood for three days on the observatory with my own eyes. Such friendship."

If we say that the Empress Dowager and Xu Shanshan have a friendship that stretches from youth to old age, then she and Shi Anran are acquaintances who have known each other for decades but not close friends. All their connections revolve around Xu Shanshan.

But it is undeniable that Shi Anran has helped Xu Shanshan a lot over the years, and she has never doubted that he was insincere.

"Friendship?" Xu Shanshan suddenly chuckled, and the bronze Vermillion Bird lamp on the table burst into a three-foot green flame. "Then do you know how many male and female corpses are hidden in the Xuanmen Forbidden Land to give birth to the Great Jing State Master? So many people sacrificed their lives to create a perfect puppet, so they must cherish my life. Otherwise, how can they control the fate of the Jing Kingdom's royal family?"

The Empress Dowager opened her eyes wide, somewhat horrified by the darkness hidden beneath the deep water.

If it weren't for Shen'er's efforts to break free from their control, I'm afraid Jing Kingdom would have ceased to exist long ago and turned into a lawless place used by Xuanmen to nurture and cultivate the insane and depraved people who want to become gods.

They are wrong. The Xuanmen sect is willing to exhaust the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, causing the country to suffer continuous disasters and the people to live in misery, just because they are unwilling to stop there. They want to have an immortal body, live as long as heaven and earth, or even become gods.

To this end, they specially cultivated a "great national teacher" to corrupt the royal family of Jingguo, making the emperor incompetent and causing internal and external troubles in the country.

When the time comes, they, as well as the evil master and others, will join forces with the seven kings to disrupt the world, destroy the destiny of the Kingdom of Jing, sever the dragon veins, and end the royal heirs, and step by step become the masters of this world.

In this process, many innocent people were sacrificed and became "fertilizer", but they don't care or feel guilty.

Yeah, who cares about the thoughts of a chess piece that is destined to be abandoned?
But who says that chess pieces cannot become the players?

She gently lifted the shark silk gauze with her bare hands, and her fingertips brushed across the cinnabar mole on Shi Anran's forehead that was left by the talisman. The bright red color seemed to flow into her meridians like a living thing.

The Empress Dowager followed behind her, and she said sadly: "You two have been together for so many years, and it's hard to tell whether you are grateful or grudge. But didn't you say... He has been helping Xuanmen to deal with you, and the previous reversal of fate was also because of him, who harmed you... Why did you bring his body back?"

"To find an answer."

Asking a dead person for answers is something her god could really do.

"Did someone from Xuanmen kill him?"

Xu Shanshan shook his head: "I searched his soul but to no avail. It was not done by Xuanmen. His death was very strange. Xuanmen just wanted to use his body to deal with me. His soul was taken away by someone, and..."

At this moment, the life-extending lamp on the rhino horn incense table beside the phoenix couch was reflecting the chaotic aura flowing in Xu Shanshan's eyes - that was a sign that his soul was about to dissipate.

"And it won't last much longer."

The Empress Dowager pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment before she said, "Now the Xuanmen Alliance headquarters no longer exists, and the remnants of the Xuanmen have been defeated and fled, so there is no need to worry. If you want to find the truth for him, go ahead. The palace is guarded by Ai and General Qi, so I don't think there will be any trouble for a while."

Xu Shanshan looked at her with gentle eyes. She reached out and gently stroked his gray hair. "I can quickly use the Nine Stars to find out where his soul is. The person who took his soul away must have ulterior motives. In order to prevent any major disaster from brewing, I must deal with it urgently."

"I understand you. Don't worry. This is how I have survived in the past. It wouldn't hurt if these old bones could hold on a little longer." The Grand Empress Dowager held her hand, and the kind old lady smiled with wrinkles all over her face.

"Then thank you for your hard work."

"There's no need for us to be polite to each other. By the way, what about the election if you leave?"

"You have full control over it."

-

There was a sudden change in the sky of Shengjing. Thousands of stars fell from the nine-layered sky, weaving a vast star map.

The starlight magic array of the seven rotating stars stretches across the clouds, and the glazed halo shines like the moon, immersing the entire imperial city in a realm of frost and snow. The glazed animal heads under the eaves of the palace reflect colorful halos, and the iron halberds in the hands of the guards on duty reflect the starlight, as if fragments of the fallen Milky Way.

They couldn't help but look up and sigh.

"Look, the stars are so bright tonight."

"Yes, I haven't seen such a bright and shining starry sky for a long time."

On the observatory, Maomao happily circled around Xu Shanshan, who was wearing a white robe, and said, "Shan, you can see the sky again. Maomao hasn't seen such a beautiful night sky for a long time."

Xu Shanshan's eyes reflected the starry sky map: "The stars are spread out, the world is like a chessboard, fate turns, the stars turn."