Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

Zhou Feng recalled the movements he had practiced before, and instead of stepping forward and kneeling down like Liang Jinshou, he stood in front of Zhao Heng.

With the left hand lightly wrapped around the right fist, raised high above the head, the person bows deeply, bending at the waist like a full moon, and lightly touching their knuckles with their forehead, performing a standard Taoist kowtow.

"Zhou Feng, the envoy from Penglai, pays his respects to the Emperor."

His voice was calm and composed, neither arrogant nor humble.

When Zhou Feng decided to enter the palace to meet Zhao Heng, he had already begun learning Taoist etiquette.

The emperors of the Song Dynasty were all extremely devoted to Taoism, with Emperor Huizong even calling himself the Taoist Emperor.

Therefore, even a Taoist priest of very high status in this era only needed to stand and bow when meeting the emperor.

As a modern person, Zhou Feng naturally had no desire to kneel and bow to ancient emperors; a Taoist priest was the best identity for him.

The guards were about to step forward and reprimand him for his rudeness, but Zhao Heng stopped them with a raised hand, a hint of admiration in his eyes instead.

"Are these three the immortal envoys from Penglai that Liang Jinshou mentioned?"

"I do indeed come from Penglai, and they are travelers who came with me."

Zhao Heng squinted as he glanced at Tie Jianguo and his companion, then fixed his gaze on the brocade box that Tie Jianguo was holding, a look of anticipation on his face.

"What is this?"

Although he was the emperor, he also understood some of the ways of the common people.

While anything that Liang Jinshou could send to the palace as a stepping stone must be priceless, something personally escorted by Zhou Feng and his group must be even more precious.

Zhou Feng smiled slightly, turned around and opened the brocade box that Tie Jianguo was holding, taking out a pair of uniquely shaped glasses.

The frame is made of gold metal, and the temples shimmer with a faint blue light.

"Your Majesty, this is a celestial artifact personally crafted by my master, named the Heavenly Eye. Only those destined by Heaven can wear it and see the secrets of Heaven."

Zhao Heng was taken aback upon hearing this. He gently took the glasses from Zhou Feng and touched the metal material on them.

Although this item is made of unusual materials and is crafted with great care, calling it a celestial artifact would be an exaggeration.

"Master Zhou, what is the function of this Heavenly Eye?"

Zhao Heng looked the glasses up and down, left and right, but couldn't find anything wrong with them.

"Your Majesty, please wait a moment. This Heavenly Eye possesses its own spiritual power and can only be used with Your Majesty's divine mandate. Please put it on first and you will then know its meaning."

Following Zhou Feng's instructions, Zhao Heng put the AR glasses on his nose and looked around, but found nothing unusual.

"Your Majesty might as well step out of the palace gates and look around."

As the group emerged from the side hall, Zhao Heng saw that the palaces were still the same, but now they were adorned with a dazzling array of colors.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Those vibrant colors are the auspicious energy of our Great Song Dynasty, stretching endlessly as you see!"

Hearing Zhou Feng's words, Zhao Heng smiled.

What emperor wouldn't want to hear praise like "auspicious omens throughout the court"?

But his smile lasted less than two seconds before his expression changed drastically. He pointed northwest, his arm trembling slightly, and asked, "Master Zhou... Master Zhou, why is there a dark, malevolent aura in the northwest?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty," Zhou Feng sighed softly, his expression turning solemn as he lowered his voice, "This divine eye can not only observe dragon energy and reveal auspicious omens, but it can also identify demons and evil spirits. If Your Majesty sees black evil energy, then there must be a great ominous creature lurking there, which must be eliminated."

Zhao Heng's face turned pale instantly. He believed in these things the most, and even the layout of the palace was carefully designed by a group of Taoist priests.

If there is indeed malevolent energy present, then it is a matter of life and death!

"Everyone, follow me! I want to see where this ominous creature is!"

Zhao Heng gritted his teeth and took the lead in walking towards the direction of the black mist shown in his glasses.

A group of guards, along with Zhou Feng and two others, followed him northward until they entered the Imperial Garden.

Next to the Longevity Peak in the garden, there is a huge artificial mountain made of Taihu stone.

At this moment, through the AR glasses perched on Zhao Heng's nose, thick black smoke was billowing from the artificial mountain, which was extremely frightening.

But after he took off his glasses, everything returned to normal, without any abnormality.

"Master Zhou, why is this artificial hill like this?"

Meeting Zhao Heng's somewhat puzzled gaze, Zhou Feng sighed: "Your Majesty, perhaps this stone absorbed too much of the resentment of the people during its transport, and has become a demonic stone."

"Then I will get rid of it. Issue an order: have the Imperial Guards smash that rock!"

Zhao Heng gritted his teeth as he stared at the Taihu stone rockery in front of him. Under the sunlight, its original strange shape appeared somewhat ferocious.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't! Ordinary iron can shatter stone, but it cannot harm demonic energy. Only heavenly thunder can purify evil energy, but heavenly thunder is divine punishment from the heavens. My magical power is too weak to summon the gods of thunder. I must borrow Your Majesty's divine favor to set up an altar and offer sacrifices to heaven, requesting the thunder gods to exorcise the evil!"

"Borrowing my...my fortune?"

Zhao Heng suddenly hesitated.

He's the emperor, not a real Taoist priest. If he sets up an altar himself and there's no response, wouldn't that be embarrassing?

Furthermore, this matter of borrowing luck is no small matter. What if too much luck is consumed and it has an impact on him?

"Your Majesty, rest assured! This method will not deplete Your Majesty's luck. Rather, Your Majesty must issue an imperial order to the gods of thunder, affix the imperial seal, burn it as a sacrifice to Heaven and Earth, and then the gods of thunder will descend to earth to remove the evil."

"I am willing to stake my life on this, and with the fate of the government, I will surely witness divine retribution with my own eyes."

Zhao Heng turned to look at Zhou Feng. After a few seconds of eye contact, seeing no sign of guilt or hesitation from Zhou Feng, he gritted his teeth and asked, "What if I invite the Empress, the Prime Minister, and the nobles of the royal family?"

"Then Your Majesty will be able to invite all the ministers and imperial relatives to witness the miracle, to see Your Majesty's good fortune and boundless blessings!"

"good!"

Zhao Heng let out a long sigh of relief: "Liang Jinshou, issue an edict summoning Qi Mu and Xiao Qinyan to the palace for an audience with the Emperor. No, summon all officials of the second rank and above! Call Ke Zheng in too, let him witness firsthand how I command the gods!"

"yes!"

Liang Jinshou ran out to call for help, while Zhou Feng continued to direct the palace servants to make adjustments according to the requirements for setting up the altar that he had previously reviewed.

Zhao Heng also changed into an elaborate Taoist robe, wore a lotus crown, and held the jade seal in his hand. He looked at Zhou Feng, who was busy in front of him, with a somewhat nervous expression.

Before long, the Imperial Garden was surrounded by the most powerful group of people in the entire Song Dynasty.

These usually important figures were now forced to stand aside, staring blankly at what the emperor was writing on the imperial edict.

"Your Majesty, what is the Emperor doing...?"

Although Qi Mu usually disliked the empress, he still had to behave himself and bow in front of the ministers.

"I am unaware of this matter either. It was decided by His Majesty. You all can observe from this."

The Empress didn't even glance at Qi Mu.

That old scoundrel has been urging the Emperor to depose the Empress; the fact that the Empress even gave him a single reply is already a show of respect.

"My lords, please calm down!"

Zhao Heng finally finished writing the imperial edict, then pointed at Zhou Feng: "This is Daoist Zhou, the Immortal Envoy of Penglai. Tonight, Daoist Zhou will set up an altar here, and I will command the gods of the Thunder Department to summon heavenly thunder to destroy that demonic stone!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present sighed deeply, and some even stared intently at Zhou Feng, who was still fiddling with the altar, with murderous eyes.

In the past, officials worshipped Taoism, and these people treated it as a hobby. However, they never expected that today they would be bewitched by evil Taoists and attempt to command the gods!

Zhou Feng ignored the stares from the side and listened to Lin Yin's report through his earphones.

Several drones carrying miniature missiles have arrived directly above the palace, and the missiles have been positioned to strike the artificial hill.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Zhou Feng brandished the peach wood sword a couple of times in a showy manner, chanting, "Heaven is round and earth is square, laws are in nine chapters, I beseech the Human Emperor, and all ghosts will hide."

After finishing his incantation, Zhou Feng suddenly stepped back, took the imperial edict from Zhao Heng's hand, and with a wave of his hand, a ghostly blue flame appeared from his clenched palm, igniting the edict: "Your Majesty, please issue an edict, commanding the Thunder God to deliver punishment!"

Zhao Heng took a deep breath, strode forward, raised the imperial seal high, and shouted into the void: "I am Zhao Heng, Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. By the mandate of Heaven, I command the righteous god of the Thunder Department to quickly manifest and destroy the demonic stone!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yin on the other end pressed the launch button simultaneously.

"Buzz—"

With a faint crackling sound of electricity, several blinding flashes of light appeared out of thin air, tens of meters above the ground.

"Boom boom boom—"

Several deafening claps of thunder then resounded throughout the entire imperial city, echoing through the palaces.

All the ministers present stared wide-eyed as the flames suddenly burst into dazzling light, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, as if a rift had been torn open in the void.

Several lines streaked across the night sky, precisely hitting the artificial Taihu stone mountain.

Several stress points analyzed by the computer were instantly destroyed.

And so, before everyone's eyes, the huge artificial mountain seemed to be pressed down by an invisible giant hand, emitting a dull cracking sound, and collapsed with a crash, smashing to the ground and stirring up clouds of dust and rubble.

As the smoke and dust cleared, moonlight shone once more on the ruins, and the entire Imperial Garden was deathly silent.

The ministers looked at each other, speechless.

The general in command trembled violently; what if that divine lightning had struck a person instead of a rock…

Even those heavily armored Ironclad Pagoda soldiers would be torn to shreds in an instant!

"A miracle! A divine intervention!"

"Heavenly thunder has appeared, protecting our Great Song Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

A group of people couldn't help but worship.

Zhao Heng stared blankly at the pile of rubble, then at the now silent sky, before finally snapping out of his daze.

When he looked at Zhou Feng again, he no longer had the scrutiny and doubt he had shown before, but rather a hint of fanaticism and admiration.

"Master Zhou... Master Zhou..."

Zhao Heng's voice trembled slightly: "Just now, were those truly the gods of the Thunder Department descending to earth?"

"If Your Majesty does not believe me, you may try it again with the All-Seeing Eye."

Zhou Feng took the AR glasses out of the box again, pretended to make a hand seal, and then lightly pressed the button on the temple before handing them to Zhao Heng.

The latter shakily put his glasses back on, and immediately broke into a smile.

Although it was nighttime, the Imperial Garden was filled with auspicious, seven-colored energy, and the black demon had long since disappeared.

"Good, good! Heavenly punishment descends, the evil aura is broken!"

Carefully placing the AR glasses back into the box, Zhao Heng rushed to Zhou Feng, grabbed his arm, and his excited voice trembled.

"The Taoist priest is indeed a celestial messenger! I saw it with my own eyes, I gave the order myself, and the heavenly lightning truly descended—this is a miracle!"

He then turned to the group of kneeling ministers and roared triumphantly, "Raise your heads! Look! This is the destiny of my Great Song Dynasty! This is the guardian angel I have invited!"

The ministers raised their heads shakily, looked at the pile of ruins, and then at Zhou Feng.

Today, Tokyo has likely gained another formidable figure!

"By imperial decree, Daoist Zhou Feng is hereby appointed as a court attendant of the Chonghe Hall, granted a golden belt, and given command of the Shenxiao Yuqing Prefecture! From this day forward, Daoist Zhou will be my guardian deity, ranking one rank above any other official, as if I were personally present. Anyone who dares to disrespect him is disrespecting me!"

Following the Taoist etiquette, Zhou Feng bowed deeply to Zhao Heng, but a subtle smile appeared on his lips.

This first step has finally been accomplished.

From this day forward, he will no longer be an unidentified outsider in the Great Song Dynasty, but a person of great influence in the eyes of the emperor, capable of communicating with the Heavenly Thunder Department.

In the future, whether it's bribing officials or moving around in Tokyo, having this identity will make things incredibly convenient.

"Eh? Where is Minister Xiao Qinyan?"

Having just displayed his extraordinary skills, Zhao Heng felt inexplicably awkward, only to realize that one of the ministers was missing.

Putting aside everything else, providing emotional support to Zhao Heng was absolutely the top priority for Minister Xiao.

So when Zhao Heng made such a big splash today, and Xiao Qinyan still didn't come forward to flatter him, he realized something was wrong.

"Your Majesty, something has happened at the Xiao residence. Last night, Minister Xiao was kidnapped by thieves and there has been no news of him since."

Liang Jinshou's expression was rather unpleasant.

Going out of the palace to invite the imperial relatives and ministers was originally a good task, but who would have thought that such a big problem would occur with Minister Xiao?

When the emperor is in the most excitement, he has no choice but to pour cold water on him. It would be strange if he didn't say something.

However, for a high-ranking official like Xiao Qinyan to be kidnapped from his own residence was a major case, and Zhao Heng couldn't ignore it. He could only wave his hand and summon Lei Jing: "The matter of Minister Xiao's kidnapping will be handled by your Imperial City Guard. You must find Xiao Qinyan. Let... let Gu Qianfan go!"

Although Gu Qianfan's identity is a mystery to many, Zhao Heng is clearly not among them.

Let him investigate Xiao Qinyan's whereabouts. As a son, he will certainly do his best to investigate.

"This... Your Majesty, Gu Qianfan has also been missing for a long time, and his whereabouts are still unknown."

Lei Jing wore the same expression as Liang Jinshou, and his tone was also very awkward.

???

Zhao Heng tilted his head and looked at Lei Jing intently, making the latter feel uneasy even while kneeling there.

"My envoy and the commander of the Imperial City Guard are both missing, yet you have no leads whatsoever? So next time, will it be me, the one in the Imperial City, who gets kidnapped?"

Although the tone was very calm, it made Lei Jing tremble. He hurriedly kowtowed to the ground: "Your Majesty, I dare not! Please forgive me, Your Majesty. Please give me some time, and I will surely find out the truth!"