Published at 5th of July 2024 8:12 am

Chapter 2190: Why Did My Hair Turn Green? Pt. 1

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Wei Zheng said seriously, “Yuan Shoucheng is the uncle of the court’s Imperial Observer Yuan Tiangang. He does indeed possess true abilities.”

Zu An thought to himself, So Yuan Shoucheng was actually Yuan Tiangang’s uncle! It seemed he needed to find a chance to ask Yuan Tiangang some questions. That was quite the extraordinary talent, after all.

When he saw Wei Zheng off, Zu An immediately wrote up a decree summoning Yuan Tiangang. However,, he learned that Yuan Tiangang had gone out into the country to observe the stars, so he wasn’t here at present. He felt a bit of regret. He thought about seeking out Yuan Shoucheng, but it was already getting late and that wouldn’t be too appropriate, so he could only turn in for rest.

When it was the second night watch period, he heard a sob outside the palace gates. Many palace maids were surprised. Even Concubine Yuan Ji was shaking a bit. “Your majesty, is there... Is there a ghost outside?”

“Cease such nonsense at once and rest. How could there be ghosts in this world?” Zu An remained surprisingly calm and continued to sleep.

He naturally knew what was going on, so he waited for the Jing River Dragon King to arrive in his dreams. Sure enough, when he was sleeping, he suddenly felt a cold wind stir and the temperature immediately dropped. He felt as if he was inside a frozen cellar. He opened his eyes and saw that the once splendorous and majestic palace had become incredibly gloomy. There were blue-green lights everywhere, and there was also a gray fog.

The temperature had dropped visibly, making it hard to recognize the figure a few meters away. It was pitch-black in the distance, and a ghostly wail filled the air from time to time. “Return my life to me! Return it!”

Zu An thought to himself that any normal person, even if it really was an incredible emperor like Li Shimin, would still end up wetting their pants. Even so, he was someone who really had gone through the underworld, so how could he be scared by something like this?

He was thinking about something else instead. Since the other side could appear here, that proved one of his suspicions.

Just then, the Jing River Dragon King’s headless corpse slowly appeared from the distance. In its hand, it carried a bloody head, forming a horrifying sight. The bloody head screamed, “Emperor Tang! Return my life to me! Return it! You promised to save me, so why did your official kill me instead? Come out, come out! The two of us will be judged by the king of hell!”

Zu An had already seen scenes far more frightening than this, so he naturally wouldn’t let it get to him. He replied seriously, “For the sake of saving you, I had Wei Zheng enter the palace and played chess with him the entire time so that he wouldn’t have any chances to kill you. When I saw that he fell asleep out of fatigue, I thought that the matter was settled, but how could I have known that he would send out his primordial spirit to kill you? I’ve already done all I could.”

“All you could?” The Jing River Dragon King cursed maliciously, “Wei Zheng is your official, so how could you not know what he is capable of? You could have simply given an order forbidding him from killing me; would he have dared to go against your orders? I am now nothing more than a vengeful soul. You want to appease me just by saying that you did everything you could?”

Zu An frowned. “How could a Dragon King like you be so unreasonable? The one you resent should be the one with a blood debt, or if you took... Ahem. You should understand why you offended the heavenly law better than anyone, and you should also know who killed you. You didn’t seek out revenge against those people and went after me instead, the only one who tried to help you. Is there something wrong with your head?”

The Jing River Dragon King was stunned. It was as if his sorest spot had been hit. But when he thought about how he couldn't offend any of the other people, he could only curse, “Those people still had proper reasons to harm me, and only a hypocrite like you agreed to save me, and yet you just sat there and watched your subordinate harm me! You are the most despicable, so I want you to pay with your life!” Then, he pounced at Zu An with a ferocious expression.

Zu An reacted quickly, but his cultivation was already sealed. Right now, he was no different from an ordinary person, so he couldn't move at all. The Dragon King immediately got his hands on him. While the two were tugging and pulling, the bloody head opened its mouth to bite Zu An.

Zu An’s face darkened. He began to activate the formation that he had previously prepared. Even though his cultivation was sealed, his memories remained. That was why he had made sure to arrange some formations near the palace. Even though he lacked some high quality ki stones to bring out their full potential, they were likely enough to ensure his own safety.

Just then, a streak of golden light suddenly appeared from the horizon. Fragrant clouds swirled around from the south and colorful mist drifted through the air. A female immortal appeared, a willow branch swaying gently in her hand. The Jing River Dragon King was immediately frightened and let Zu An go and ran off to the northwest, wailing with grief.

When he saw the female immortal, Zu An was really alarmed, but he didn’t show it on the surface at all. He quickly expressed his gratitude. “Thank you for saving me. May I ask what this female immortal’s great name is? I will definitely repay you generously.”

The female immortal revealed a slight smile. “I have received the buddha’s decree to go to the eastern lands and seek out the one with the scriptures; thus, I reside in an earth temple within Eternal Peace City. I heard the wailing of ghosts in the night and came to drive away the evil dragon, thus saving the emperor.”

Zu An wanted to ask her more questions, but multicolored light erupted around her, and just like that, she was already gone. It seemed she didn’t wish to converse with him any more. He chased after her, but suddenly, the ground beneath him gave out and he woke up with a start.

“Did your majesty have a nightmare?” Concubine Yuan Ji asked; she was kneeling in front of him and helping him wipe away the cold sweat on his face.

Zu An suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. All of his clothes were soaked in sweat, and he felt really weak. He noticed that the eunuchs and maids were kneeling and shaking in fear. He couldn't help but become curious, asking, “What are you all doing?”

Concubine Yuan Ji replied, “Your majesty was dreaming and shouting loudly that there was a ghost. We couldn't wake you up no matter what we did, so that was why all of us were frightened.”

Zu An was stunned. He was clearly not scared at all in that dream! Could it be that Li Shimin’s body was too weak, or was this just the original storyline? He gestured for everyone to leave for the time being. At the same time, he sent a decree to the court, informing them that there wouldn’t be a morning court session today. The first reason was that he really was too weak and wasn’t suitable for holding a court session in his current state. The second reason was that he needed time to sort out his thoughts.

It wasn’t hard to guess who that female immortal was. It was naturally the Western Paradise’s bodhisattva.

Zu An had actually already formed some guesses during the first phase. Yuan Shoucheng was just a trifling mortal, so how could he possibly know the mysteries of heaven? There had to be a divine being behind him. When he thought about it, the only ones with the strength and motive were the western paradise's Buddhists. But he hadn’t expected the one who carrived to actually be someone of such high status!

This was the first time he had met a legendary divine being. The pressure and power she gave off made him shiver a bit even now. Forget about the fact that his body currently didn’t have a sliver of cultivation, even if he had all of his cultivation, it wouldn’t be hard for her to instantly kill him at all.

The feeling was almost similar to the being Qiu Honglei had summoned with Dance Offering to the Universe. Unfortunately, his cultivation realm was too lacking compared to them and he couldn’t be certain just who was stronger between the two. He just vaguely felt that the pressure emanated by that entity was a bit greater...

...

In the following days, Zu An thought that his condition would improve if he rested for a bit, but his health worsened more and more. He had to remain bedridden for a long time. Many physicians were helpless even when they examined him. He was quite speechless. The bodies of ordinary people really were weak! He clearly hadn't been frightened by that Jing River Dragon King, so why was his condition getting worse and worse! Could it be because of the ghostly energy’s contamination?

He wanted to personally pay the earth temple bodhisattva a visit, but he couldn't even get out of bed. He could only send someone else to invite her, as she would no doubt be able to exorcise whatever was inside of him with her skills.

However, the one who went came back without any results. They didn’t meet the bodhisattva and only came back with the ambiguous message, ‘a destiny yet to arrive cannot be forced’.

Zu An thought to himself, Then when would there be a suitable opportunity?

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