I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 259 The Altar of Heaven Collapses, the Northern Army Rebels
The fifth year of the Jingzhi reign.

Emperor Jingxing is in poor health, and his body is deteriorating day by day. This is due to the advancing age of the human body and the decline of bodily functions, which cannot be cured by medicine.

The imperial physicians were helpless, but Emperor Jingxing was unconcerned. He had experienced something similar five years ago, and now another five years had passed. He only needed to send a trusted confidant to Yunmeng Mountain to ask Master Baiyun for a longevity elixir, which would solve all the problems.

However, man proposes, God disposes. When the chief eunuch Feng Dehai returned empty-handed from his mission to Yunmeng Mountain, Emperor Jingxing learned that the Ruyi Temple on Yunmeng Mountain had been destroyed by heavenly lightning, and that Master Baiyun and all the disciples of the temple had disappeared without a trace.

Today, Ruyi Temple is in a dilapidated state, with only a statue of Yuan Gong remaining inside.

When Emperor Jingxing heard the bad news, he was immediately alarmed!

Whether my immortal master lives or dies is not important, but if I lose my immortal master's medicine, I really won't live much longer!

The elderly Emperor Jingxing trembled with rage: "There must be a villain who has harmed my immortal master!"

This matter involves people with connections to the spiritual path; those who are not practitioners cannot verify it.

Emperor Jingxing then ordered the Celestial Master's Mansion to consult divination and pursue the suspect. The diviner was Zheng Tianxing, one of the Seven Masters of Xuanji. When Master Zheng received the imperial order, he had just taken out his divination board when a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the palace. From then on, only five of the Seven Masters of Xuanji remained in the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Master Lu, who had always had a youthful face and white hair, now had a few more wrinkles on his face. He told the old emperor not to ask about Yunmeng Mountain anymore, or he might be punished by heaven.

The old emperor didn't believe in superstition. He was the true Son of Heaven, destined to rise to power, and was one with the Heavenly Emperor. He even scrimped and saved to oversee the construction of the Altar of Heaven. How could the Heavenly Emperor possibly have the nerve to strike him, the Son of Heaven, in the Golden Palace in front of all the civil and military officials?

Seeing that Master Lu was unwilling to act, Emperor Jingxing issued an edict the next day during court, summoning the Director of the Imperial Observatory to the Golden Hall to publicly deduce the secrets of heaven.

The Imperial Observatory was in charge of recording celestial phenomena, divination, and natural disasters of the dynasty. When it came to the art of divination and deduction, the Grand Diviner within the Observatory was no less capable than the Taoist priests of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The official in charge of the prison, who was stationed there year-round, was someone even the Celestial Master Lu treated with great respect.

When the Director of the Imperial Observatory arrived in the hall with several diviners, Emperor Jingxing, Zhao Rong, said in a deep voice: "Since you are in charge of celestial affairs and the calendar, you should use divination to find out the rebellious traitors who are shaking up the nation!"

The official name of the Director of the Imperial Observatory was Pei Jing'an, an old man with a withered face and cloudy eyes.

He was dressed in a loose robe, shrinking into his official robe. Upon hearing Emperor Jingxing's order, Pei Jing'an sighed softly.

Pei Jing'an knew perfectly well that the emperor's so-called pursuit of the rebellious thief was a pretense, and that his true intention was to seek the elixir of immortality to prolong his life.

However, he could not disobey the imperial decree, so Pei Jing'an had no choice but to take out a tortoise shell from his sleeve and prepare for divination.

Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed. If one's cultivation and fortune are insufficient, one cannot easily consult divination. Even Lu Tianshi, who is he, would not dare to easily predict the affairs of Yunmeng Mountain. His fortune is not necessarily higher than that of the Celestial Master of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

However, since we are inside the Golden Palace today, and the nation's fortune is protecting us, there shouldn't be too much backlash.

Pei Jing'an used a palm-sized tortoise shell to illustrate the big picture from a small detail, projecting an image of the celestial map onto more than 360 points of light on the tiny shell.

The next moment, no less than a thousand runes appeared on the tortoise shell.

Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li; Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang.
Prisoners, commoners, literati, and high-ranking officials—anyone from the secular world—even chickens, ducks, fish, geese, bears, wolves, tigers, and leopards are depicted.

Pei Jing'an stared in disbelief until the tortoise shell could no longer withstand the accumulated runes and shattered completely, at which point he finally came to his senses.

Upon seeing the tortoise shell shattered, Emperor Jingxing frowned and asked, "My dear minister, have you been able to deduce the result?"

Pei Jing'an, his mouth dry, said, "This traitor is none other than the masses."

"The masses?" Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingxing's face instantly darkened: "Absurd! How dare you speak such prophetic words?"

Pei Jing'an looked at the shattered tortoise shell, which was now covered in crimson bloodstains, but his mind was completely calm at this moment.

Faced with the emperor's anger, Pei Jing'an sighed and said, "The night before last, I observed the celestial phenomena and found that the imperial star was dim, while the northern region was as bright as day. The Book of Celestial Officials states that this is 'the virtuous star appears in the northern corner, a sign that the heavens and the people have received the mandate of heaven.' Now that the Purple Star has lost its brilliance, Your Majesty has neglected the ancestral temples and abandoned the rites and state affairs. Now that the northern star shines brightly in the fields, it is an omen of swallowing the heavens. At this time, Your Majesty can only regain the favor of heaven by embracing benevolence and spreading virtue."

"How dare you! Guards, strip this scoundrel who is spreading heresy of his official robes and throw him into the imperial prison!"

"I can walk by myself, no need for you to trouble yourselves." Upon hearing this, the escorting officers stepped forward, but Pei Jing'an shook his head, took off his court robes, and turned to walk out of the hall.

As Pei Jing'an stepped out of the palace gate, he turned to the imperial guards escorting him and said, "I can leave the palace and go to the imperial prison on my own. If you follow me, you may suffer an undeserved disaster."

The guards looked at each other, but in the end only one of them silently retreated to the back.

"Zhou Li, what are you trying to do? Do you even want to keep your job?"

Ignoring his superior's reprimand, the escort called Zhou Li bowed to the group and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

"What are you looking at? Zhou Li has abandoned his post without authorization. I will bring him to justice when I return from the imperial prison!"

The leader looked very unhappy.

Instead, Pei Jing'an burst into laughter.

About half an hour later, as the men escorted Pei Jing'an out of the palace gate, a bolt of lightning struck without warning, landing right where they were.

At the same time, on the altar very close to the East Palace, another bolt of crimson lightning streaked across the sky. With a deafening roar, the hundred-foot-high altar collapsed in half, and boulders rained down on the East Palace!
Inside the Golden Hall, Emperor Jingxing heard a loud noise and asked in surprise, "What happened outside the hall?"

Amidst the smoke and dust obscuring the sun, palace servants rushed into the hall, saying that the altar for worshipping Heaven had been struck down by lightning, destroying the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.

"How is the Crown Prince safe?" a minister pressed.

Shortly after, another palace servant reported, "His Highness the Crown Prince is not in the palace."

Seeing the strange atmosphere in the court, Feng Dehai, who was serving nearby, hurriedly said, "This is the blessing of Heaven. It is clear that His Highness the Crown Prince is also protected by the heavens. This is truly an auspicious sign."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingxing's expression softened slightly, but the other officials remained silent.

Some ministers loyal to Dayong were already ashen-faced.

The Eastern Palace is the foundation of the nation. Today, the high platform for offering sacrifices to Heaven has been destroyed, which seems to be a revelation from Heaven that the Great Yong dynasty is doomed.

"The thunderbolt shattered the platform, which could not be stopped by human power. This is probably an omen that the imperial fortune of the Great Yong Dynasty is coming to an end, and the descendants will not be able to inherit the imperial legacy!"

As expected, what you fear most came to pass. The day after the collapse of the Eastern Palace, it was exploited by those with ulterior motives, who spread rumors that the country was doomed.

At first, everyone took it as a joke, but less than half a month after the news spread, news came from the outside world that the Zhenbei Army had rebelled and the entire northern region had been completely lost.

In an instant, the entire capital city was filled with a sense of unease and panic.

The government strictly investigated those who spread rumors and claimed that there were only bandits causing trouble in the north, and that there was no rebellion by the Zhenbei Army. (Jinmen Prefecture, Linjiang County)

Xu Qing had heard about what was happening in the capital, but these things didn't affect him much.

Since taking over Monkey Fairy Hall two years ago, Xu Qing has been busy training those inherently unruly monkeys as employees.

When encountering unruly monkeys, Xu Qing would wave the Sacred Ruler. For most monkeys, one stroke of the ruler would immediately clear their eyes.

Monkeys are the primates of the mountains, the most intelligent of all, and they learn things much faster than ordinary immortals. In just two years, the monkeys of Monkey Mountain have developed in all aspects of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics, and even the mountain's appearance has been completely transformed.

As the war raged in the north, more and more places were affected, so Xu Qing distributed rice and grain to the various halls to help the refugees.

The rice and grains for these shrines are protected by the guardian deities.

The monkey spirits are quick and efficient. When other spirit halls don't have enough spirits, these monkey spirits can fill in. In just two years, the incense offerings of Xu Qing's Cat Spirit Hall have once again exceeded one million.

This is the amount remaining after deducting the incense distributed to each hall.

The red-tailed monkey was terrified of poverty. In the two years he followed Xu Qing, he did all sorts of work. Sometimes, when people were attending funerals and the family was short of people, the monkey would wear mourning clothes and follow Xu Qing to carry the coffin and keep vigil.

When a woman in a household is giving birth and urgently needs a midwife to help, the little white snake and the shamanic disciples of Baosheng Temple will find a monkey nearby to help carry the midwife to the woman's house.

The red-tailed monkey was unaware of the relationship between Baosheng Temple and Xu Qing. It only knew that Baosheng Temple was second only to Cat Fairy Hall in terms of incense offerings, and even in the entire Tianjin Prefecture, it was one of the top temples.

The monkey was quick-witted. Seeing that Xu Qing had a good personal relationship with the deity of Baosheng Temple, he had many thoughts in his mind. Who knows, the Goddess Baosheng might be Xu Qing's old flame!
The red-tailed monkey held Xu Qing in awe and dared not act recklessly, but it was not so easy to talk to Baosheng Temple.

Because the monkey often patronized the Baosheng Temple, it thought it could also register its name with the Goddess Baosheng and receive some incense offerings.

The Red-tailed Monkey did this behind Xu Qing's back, but when the other party burned incense and requested an audience with the Goddess of Life, Xu Qing found out everything.

That night, the red-tailed monkey returned to Monkey Mountain. As soon as he entered his cave, he saw Master Xu, who was holding a ruler and had a gloomy face.

The sacred ruler struck the drum three times with resounding force, and the eyes of the great monkey king became clearer than those of a newborn monkey.

Since then, the red-tailed monkeys have never dared to run wild in Baosheng Temple again.

Xu Qing made it clear that the incense distributed to the temple guards was in full and sufficient, even the portion donated to Baosheng Temple was included. If the red-tailed monkey remained greedy and unrepentant, it would eventually fall victim to the word 'greed'.

The red-tailed monkey had never been disciplined, and this time Xu Qing finally seized the opportunity. Now, in the entire Cat Immortal Hall, the only immortals who haven't been struck by the Sacred Ruler are Gu Zixu, Guan Dazhuang, and the cat playing with the sword pills on the counter.

Xuan Yu vaguely sensed an evil aura locking onto it in the shop, but when it turned its head, it only saw an extra person at the shop entrance, with Xu Qing blocking that person's way and preventing them from entering.

"Brother Xu, please let me in!"

"Shang Shaoyang, why are you here instead of in Qianzhou?"

Shang Shaoyang, carrying a familiar-looking armchair, stood outside the shop and said, "A man's ambition lies in all corners of the world. How can a small place like Qianzhou keep me here? It's too hot today, please let me in!"

"That won't do! Two years ago, the county magistrate came to me with his constables and took this armchair back with him. Now you've stolen it again. If the county magistrate finds out, he might think I asked you to steal it."

"Oh! I wondered why. Brother Xu, please rest assured. I just bought a new chair for my brother-in-law, so I naturally took the old one. You don't need to be so cautious."

It was the height of summer when Shang Shaoyang entered the shop, put down the armchair, lay down, closed his eyes, and hummed comfortably.

"Your place is so cool; you have no idea how hot it is outside."

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and said, "Where's your wife? Did you abandon your family business again and sneak away to come here?"

"Am I that kind of person?!" Shang Shaoyang opened his eyes and said, "She recently had a miscarriage and was taken to the Gu family by my mother-in-law to recuperate. She won't let me see her."

“I couldn’t bear to leave her, and I couldn’t take the blame for her, so I came to Tianjin to pay my respects to the Goddess of Life Protection.”

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Baosheng Temple was built with funds from Chen Guangrui, the county magistrate of Linjiang County. In the past two years, many worshippers have donated money for incense, and Baosheng Temple was finally expanded before the Lunar New Year.

Given that Shang Shaoyang and Chen Guangrui are related by marriage, it's not surprising that Shang Shaoyang knew about Baosheng Temple.

Xu Qing didn't take it seriously. The other party wanted to worship the Goddess of Life Protection, what did that have to do with him, Xu?
"The country is in turmoil right now, and there is much war in the north. It would be best if Young Master Shang did not travel around. As for praying for peace at temples, setting up a shrine for the Baosheng Temple at home would be just as good."

Shang Shaoyang laughed and said, "Brother Xu, you are wrong. The more turbulent the times, the more powerful families in various places will travel around. I came to Beijing and Tianjin this time with my elders."

Xu Qing clicked his tongue and said, "It seems the news of the Zhenbei Army's rebellion is true."

Shang Shaoyang asked curiously, "The news of the Zhenbei Army's rebellion only came in the last two days. How do you know if it's true or false, Brother Xu?"

Xu Qing chuckled and said, "If the Zhenbei Army hadn't rebelled, would you and your elders have risked your lives to run to Beijing and Tianjin?"

Shang Shaoyang shook his head helplessly: "You can't put all your eggs in one basket. This is not what I wanted."

The Zhenbei Army was crucial for the Dayong Dynasty in resisting the forces of the northern border warlords, but unfortunately, Emperor Jingxing was incompetent and, even when the situation in the north was critical, he remained unrestrained, indulging in debauchery and pleasure. For one thing, the hundred-zhang-high altar for worshipping Heaven was not only funded by the people's hard-earned money, but also by the money distributed to the Zhenbei Army.

With the imperial court reducing military expenditures and the Ministry of Revenue refusing to pay military salaries on credit, the morale of the Zhenbei Army was bound to be unstable.

When Xu Qing went to Qianzhou to attend Shang Shaoyang's wedding banquet, he noticed many unfamiliar faces from the northern frontier. In addition to these unfamiliar faces, Xu Qing also saw Zhu Huaian's uncle, Yin Chengshan.

The merchants are a family with a thousand-year history, and they have no shortage of money or food.

The fact that the Zhenbei Army dared to surrender to the northern frontier warlords must mean that the other side had provided the Zhenbei Army with sufficient military pay.

Where did this money and grain come from?

Xu Qing, perceptive as ever, had already grasped the situation in the northern frontier.

The only possible reason why Yin Chengshan would go to the merchants' quarters is that Zhu Shizi has established a firm foothold in the northern frontier and already has the intention to conquer the world.

Xu Qing didn't take it too seriously; he was more concerned about the movements on the Yinhe Ancient Road.

In the past two years, besides the unrest in the world, all sorts of strange and eerie creatures in the Yinhe Ancient Road seem to have become restless as well.

(End of this chapter)