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

Chapter 404 Life is but a fleeting dream, how many autumns have passed in a lifetime?
Beijing.

Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, candles burned continuously, and the strong smell of medicine and incense lingered. Eight hundred embroidered-robed guards stood watch outside the hall. They had received an imperial decree yesterday that anyone outside the hall was only allowed to enter but not leave.

Even basic necessities like eating, drinking, and relieving oneself are handled by dedicated personnel.

Inside the palace, Zhu Huai'an, the founding emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty, leaned on the dragon bed and dictated his last edict.

"My time is drawing near, and this is the will of Heaven that cannot be defied. My ministers, heed my decree."

Zhu Huai'an's gaze swept over the crowd, and all the officials lowered their heads.

Although the old dragon is old, its majesty remains.

"Crown Prince Zhu Chengsi is benevolent, filial, intelligent, and capable of succeeding to the throne. You all must wholeheartedly assist him and safeguard the Great Yan dynasty!"

Before the crowd, the crown prince, who was nearing forty, knelt down and, though tears streamed down his face, choked out, "Your subject obeys the decree!"

Zhu Huai'an's eyes showed a look of satisfaction. When it came to such important matters as the fate of the nation, his eldest son still knew how to prioritize.

The matter of succession was of utmost importance. After speaking privately with his ministers, Zhu Huai'an turned to Grand Secretary Wu Zhiyuan and said, "Draft an edict and convey my decree. Effective immediately, the Crown Prince shall succeed to the throne, upholding ancestral rules and practicing benevolent governance; the military power of the nine border regions shall be jointly held by Wang Liang, Yin Ping, and Shang Shaoyang; furthermore, anyone who disobeys the orders of the Crown Prince or fails to obey the new emperor shall be executed immediately!"

Zhu Huai'an coughed for a while, then continued to proclaim the imperial edict.

Whether it's within or outside the court, or any matter large or small.

Finally, Zhu Huai'an dismissed everyone else, leaving only Crown Prince Zhu Chengsi by his side.

"Li'er, do you know why your father gave you this nickname?"

Zhu Chengsi replied, "Because my mother loved cats and kept two raccoon dogs, she named me that."

Zhu Huai'an shook his head and said, "It's not that your mother likes cats, but that your father issued an imperial decree in the past, instructing the palace servants to treat the cats in the palace well. Your mother loved cats because of the cats in the palace, and that's why she started hiring and raising cats."

Do you know why your father issued this decree back then?

"My son, I don't know."

Zhu Huai'an patted the bed, gesturing for the other person to come closer, and asked again, "Do you still remember that I wanted to hire a tutor for you back then, to be the Grand Tutor of our dynasty?"

"Your subject remembers that at that time, Father condescended to personally invite that person, but returned empty-handed several times."

Zhu Huai'an sighed and continued, "Yes, the thing I regret most in my life, besides not being able to save your grandfather, is that I couldn't invite Brother Xu to be your teacher."

“Such as Prince Dingyuan Wang Liang, Grand Secretary Wu Zhiyuan, and Gu Shaoyang, all of whom have received his guidance. Even my empire and the state of Da Yan have largely relied on him.”

“Li’er, the reason I gave you this nickname is because that man kept a raccoon dog by his side. I often think that since your mother can love the house and its crows, can Brother Xu love you in the same way?”

"Hel me up."

Zhu Huai'an coughed a few more times, then sat up and reached into his pocket to take out a pre-written letter, saying:
"This is the last thing I can do for you. If there is an emergency or something extremely difficult, you can take this letter with you to Linjiang County in Tianjin and find Xu Qing, the coroner at the Jingxia Street mortuary, and ask him for help."

"If that really comes to the point, my son, you must treat them with the utmost respect and not show them the slightest negligence. Remember this!"

Zhu Chengsi took the letter, but he didn't seem to value it too much. Instead, he frowned and said, "Father and Mr. Xu have known each other since they were young, and decades have passed. Mr. Xu must be quite old by now."

Zhu Huai'an immediately came to his senses and said, "Thanks for reminding me, otherwise I might have messed up something important!"

"Li'er, you only need to remember that Mr. Xu is no ordinary person. You must not look at him with the eyes of a common person. No matter if he grows old or disappears in the future, if you encounter anything that threatens the foundation of my Zhu family, just go to Tianjin. As long as the black cloud cat is still in the coroner's shop, he will definitely still be there."

Zhu Chengsi felt a chill run down his spine. He might consider the truth or falsehood of other people's words, but his father's words were certainly not unfounded.

In a short time, he had already made up his mind that he would never use this letter unless it concerned the survival of the world!

If, as the Emperor says, Mr. Xu of Tianjin possesses divine abilities and is not limited by the lifespan of mortals, then why doesn't he keep this letter and pass it on to the Zhu family descendants, just like the Emperor did?

As for the present, Zhu Chengsi has his own conviction to govern the Great Yan Empire well for his father!

At midnight that day, Zhu Huai'an, barely breathing, still mustered his strength, his eyes half-closed, just to hold on to his last breath.

Midway through, a royal physician approached carrying a jade box, on which lay ginseng slices as thin as cicada wings on a brocade handkerchief.

The imperial physician took a piece and placed it under the emperor's tongue.

After a short while, the old emperor made a muffled sound, as if saliva was flowing in, and his chest rose and fell.

However, Zhu Tianzi remained expressionless and speechless.

The imperial physician was sweating profusely and kept wiping his face with his sleeve.

The broad-shouldered, kind-faced Zen Master Sanjue gestured for the imperial physician to leave. He then took out a palm-sized bronze incense burner, lit a stick of calming incense by rubbing it between his fingers.

The smoke curled endlessly as Zen Master Sanjue brought the incense burner close to Zhu Tianzi's nose. The next moment, Zhu Huai'an's nostrils twitched, and his eyes gradually brightened.

Chen Liuer looked at Zhu Tianzi's radiant appearance, but shook his head.

Emperor Zhu probably won't make it through the night!

A stick of incense, meant to help one concentrate, had burned halfway through, and was burning between midnight and the hour of Chou (1-3 AM).

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the Hall of Mental Cultivation, causing the candles inside to flicker. As if sensing this, Zhu Huai'an, lying on his bed, immediately mustered his strength, dismissed his attendants, and waited quietly for the person to arrive.

Before long, a strange fragrance wafted from in front of the dragon bed, like incense or some kind of flower. Zhu Huai'an glanced to the side and saw a familiar figure standing in front of the bed.

"I thought you weren't coming."

Xu Qing looked at the person in front of him, who was as thin as paper and incredibly thin, and for a moment he couldn't connect him with the spirited Zhu Tianzi of yesteryear.

Even the person who fished with him by the river last time did not look so emaciated.

"As my old friend was about to leave, he wanted to see me one last time. How could I not come?"

Zhu Huai'an wanted to burst into laughter, but he couldn't catch his breath. He forced a smile and said, "You came too early. If you had come later, I might have been able to hold on for a few more days."

Xu Qing pursed her lips and said, "You're still complaining? Even if I really did arrive late, I have my own ways to make you speak again."

"."

Zhu Huai'an's heart stirred slightly, and he was about to ask a question when Xu Qing interrupted him directly:

"Don't forget how the previous dynasty perished. That elusive method of immortality may have existed in the past, but in this world, it is extremely difficult to achieve."

"Besides, you are a noble ruler, destined for a life of high honors and noble destiny. You have long been destined for the Nine Pure Realms. You are just waiting for the day when the world is clear and the true immortal descends to earth. You will then ascend to the Penglai Palace. Why then should you be greedy for life and fight for your destiny, which will only destroy your heart and mind and squander your own fortune?"

Xu Qing became acquainted with immortals and gods such as the Demon Exorcist True Lord and the Dharma Protector Marshal, and through this exposure, he learned a great deal about the secrets of the Three Realms and Six Paths.

One of the secrets concerns fate and destiny.

All the emperors of the mortal world throughout history are manifestations of the ultimate destiny. As long as those emperors can adhere to their original intentions and not do anything immoral or unethical, nine out of ten of them will be able to get a position in the underworld or the upper realm after death. At the very least, they can become city gods or local deities to protect the living beings in their area.

Of course, those who were licentious and immoral, who harmed loyal and virtuous people like Longping and Jingxing, would certainly have no merit to repay after their deaths.

A splash of color suddenly appeared on Zhu Huai'an's pale face.

His father, Prince Changting, died at the hands of Emperor Longping. Now, he, like that tyrannical and incompetent ruler, has even developed the desire to live. How could this not fill him with shame and indignation?
"What are you saying, Brother Xu? I, Zhu Huai'an, have never been afraid of death. I just want to speak from the bottom of my heart with you."

Zhu Huai'an spent most of his life as an emperor, but he didn't learn much else. However, he mastered the art of being stubborn to the extreme.

“None of those ministers and officials will speak to me honestly. Even Zhiyuan and Wencai are not as open and talkative with me as they used to be.”

Zhu Huai'an sighed softly and said, "Now that I think about it, only Brother Xu can speak freely with me."

Xu Qing asked curiously, "Why wouldn't Zhiyuan and Wencai be honest with you? What exactly did you ask them?"

"I asked them if I had governed the country well, but these two just spouted grandiloquent words, as if I were truly the greatest emperor of all time, who had never done a single wrong thing."

"."

Xu Qing shook his head and said, "There is a difference between ruler and subject. If they really don't treat you as the emperor, you'll be unhappy again."

"In my opinion, you're just sick. You're an emperor at your age, and you're still thinking about the friendship you had when you were naked in a brothel back then?"

"If you really want to experience the uninhibitedness between friends, then I have to mention how you pretended to be crazy and ate those five grains back then at the Prince's mansion."

"Let's chat like old brothers, but don't bring up old grievances!" Seeing that Xu Qing was deliberately bringing up the sore spot, the terminally ill Zhu Huai'an stood up abruptly, afraid that the other party would say something 'outrageous' again!

"What are you saying? I never said you couldn't bring up my past mistakes."

Zhu Huai'an racked his brains and actually came up with something.

"If that's how you put it, I remember when Wencai, Zhiyuan, and I spent the night in a brothel, we were tireless, but Brother Xu remained unmoved. No wonder he managed to outlast the young lady of the Prince of Dingyuan." Zhu Huai'an also spoke without restraint: "The young lady of the Prince of Dingyuan is gentle and dignified, and her appearance is impeccable. I wanted to choose a good husband for her more than once, but I was always politely refused."

"If Wang Liang hadn't told me the truth, I wouldn't have known you were so chaste. Are all those who want to become immortals eunuchs?"

"."

Now it was finally Xu Qing's turn to lose his temper. Let's have a proper chat, how can you curse at people!

“A cultivator’s innate talent, destiny, and fate are all indispensable. The Wang family girl has no chance to cultivate in this life, so how can she be my Daoist partner?”

Xu Qingyan said, "If I ignore it, she will at most hold a grudge for one lifetime. But if I grant her wish, when she grows old, gets sick, or dies, won't I be unable to let go of it for ten or a hundred lifetimes?"

"So you adopted a cat that will never grow old?"

"."

Xu Qing did not hide from Zhu Huai'an the fact that he promoted the new grain in the Great Yan Dynasty and added incense to the Cat Fairy Hall, but can these two things be the same?

"Do you have anything important to say or not? If not, I'm leaving!"

Seeing Xu Qing's change of attitude, Zhu Huai'an quickly said, "Why are you in such a hurry? I'm not in a hurry at all. I was even thinking of having you preside over my funeral."

"Ok?"

Xu Qing instantly perked up and immediately made a decision: "Why didn't you say so sooner! I'm an expert in funeral arrangements! What kind of coffin do you want? How many concubines do you want? I'll arrange it all for you."

Zhu Huai'an looked at Xu Qing, who had taken out paper and pen and whose eyes were shining, and remained silent for a long time.

"The funeral rites for an emperor must have at least 128 pallbearers. My Tianjin pallbearer shop has 18 branches, and I can easily arrange 256 pallbearers for you! Most other people's funeral offerings are paper cranes, paper horses, and paper maids and servants. You are the emperor, so it can't be the same."

"Why don't we build a palace with three palaces and six courtyards, and then imitate the first emperor and build some terracotta warriors for you to burn? Even if we go to the underworld, we can't lose face, right?"

"."

Zhu Huai'an initially didn't want to pay attention to Xu Qing, but after the other party listed dozens of funeral plans, he found himself getting involved and choosing his own style of funeral arrangements.

After eliminating dozens of options that did not conform to the rites and laws of the Great Yan Dynasty, such as the Pharaoh style, the Western Region style, and the Tibetan style, Zhu Huai'an finally settled on the local paper-mache emperor funeral package, which was the least wasteful of resources and did not lose the royal dignity.

Even for the burial items, such as gold, silver, and jade artifacts, Zhu Huai'an chose to have Xu Qing use methods like turning stones into gold and paper effigies to replace them.

"The Great Yan Dynasty is in dire need of funds. I cannot squander the national treasury's money for my own funeral; this is not the way of a wise ruler!"

In the past, royal funerals were jointly handled by the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Clan Court. Unless the emperor personally oversaw the funeral, no one dared to approach the emperor with their family genealogy and ask how he wished to handle their own funeral arrangements.

Xu Qing can be considered the first of his kind.

Zhu Huai'an mustered his strength and immediately summoned the imperial envoy to the palace. He then drafted a new decree, stipulating that the funeral should be kept simple and that the Imperial Clan Court and the Ministry of Rites should take the lead in managing all funeral matters under the full authority of the Xu family's pallbearer's office.

Having done all this, Zhu Huai'an seemed to have lost all his strength. With his last bit of energy, he asked the same question again: "Brother Xu, what do you think of my governance of this land?"

Xu Qing nodded: "It's better than that."

"."

Zhu Huai'an suddenly turned his head and said, "Brother Xu, do you mean that I am inferior to those below me?"

Xu Qing remained noncommittal.

"Then tell me, can my Great Yan Dynasty continue indefinitely?"

"New dynasties always replace old ones; there are no dynasties in this world that last for a thousand years."

"Really not?"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Perhaps in the future."

"Then why can't I have it?"

"Because you're about to die!"

"."

Zhu Huai'an was visibly taken aback upon hearing this.

He turned his head, looked at the ceiling, and mumbled something under his breath.

Xu Qing leaned closer to listen, and heard his old friend say, "I named my son Li Nu (狸奴) to carry on my family line. I owe Brother Xu a great debt, which I can never repay in this life. If there is an opportunity..."

Xu Qing moved even closer, but the old man on the bed had already fallen silent.

Royal funerals are extraordinary, especially those of the founding emperor.

After Emperor Zhu passed away, the nine gates of the capital were sealed off, and the bell in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony tolled eighty-one times.

All officials wore mourning clothes. Members of the imperial family, officials, and all the women of the inner palace removed their crowns, tassels, and pearl ornaments, let their hair down, changed into plain clothes, and knelt and wept together outside the palace gates.

Xu Qing, who was in charge of all funeral arrangements, was methodically arranging the coffin and ordered the officials of the Court of State Ceremonial to invite all the princes, nobles, and high-ranking officials to witness the proceedings.

The Imperial Clan Court and the Court of State Ceremonial did not recognize Xu Qing, but he was more experienced than them in handling the imperial funeral than they were, as if he had handled the emperor's funeral before.

What they didn't know was that although Xu Qing had never attended the emperor's funeral, he had attended the funerals of officials from the Ministry of Rites of both the previous and current dynasties, and had also attended the funerals of the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department.

It can be said that among all living people today, no one knows more about royal funeral rites than him!

The funeral was held in July, and the whole city was dressed in white mourning clothes.

Xu Qing personally escorted Zhu Huai'an's coffin into the imperial mausoleum of the Great Yan Dynasty.

He lost an old friend, but the Book of Salvation added a new page.

A ruler of his generation, how glorious he was, yet in terms of rank, he was only a "superior" person.

Xu Qing gained five parts of imperial purple aura and some 'skills' for governing the country, but these were of no value to him.

When the new emperor privately paid his respects to him, Xu Qing casually tossed five portions of the Emperor's Purple Qi to him as a greeting gift to the junior. As for how the Purple Qi would end up, that would depend entirely on the fate of the Zhu family's descendants.

Outside the capital, Xu Qing rode his mourning horse and turned to look at the magnificent city walls.

Then they turned their horses around and headed straight for the East China Sea!

　I'd like to recommend a book I'm currently reading.

　　Book title: After the Player's Rebirth

　　Synopsis: After being reborn, I, who had committed countless evil deeds, decided to turn over a new leaf.

　　Within three days, he will pay off his father's gambling debts, join the number one sect in the world, and find his nemesis from his past life.

　　I want to get revenge on her.

　　To achieve my goal, I became her fellow disciple, helping her kill her enemies and save her parents.

　　Her feelings for me grew stronger every day, but I always resisted her advances and refused any of her kindness.

　　Trusted elders, childhood playmates, long-lost sisters, aloof and lonely temple keeper, a princess living deep in the palace... I will take away everyone who is close to her.

　　When she loses everything, she will only be able to rely on me.

　　I would then send her an invitation:
　　"Welcome to my and your sister's wedding."

　　I want to see her expression of impotent rage.

　　I regret.

　　I repent for my actions.

　　But enemies can never be lovers. Can you let me go?
　　"No."

　　[Multiple Heroines] [Rebirth Stories]

　　[Player Panel]

(End of this chapter)