Chapter 473: The Treasure of the Bewitching Immortal

Chapter 473: The Treasure of the Bewitching Immortal

Chapter 473: The Treasure of the Bewitching Immortal (Double Monthly Ticket Request)

Houses were scattered across the sea of ​​flowers, giving the fleeing king and his minister the illusion that they had entered a paradise.

Soon, some farmers who were working in the flower fields or villagers who were busy in the courtyards all looked over with curiosity.

Zhao Duan drove the car and stopped outside a courtyard at the entrance of the village. He got out of the car and heard dogs barking and a child calling for his mother from inside the courtyard.

After a while, the gate opened and a woman in her thirties looked outside curiously.

Behind her, there was a little girl of about six or seven years old, with her hair in a bun like a child. She hid behind the woman's legs, turned her head and looked at her curiously with her big eyes.

"Who are you looking for?" the woman asked doubtfully.

Zhao Duan said politely:
"Excuse me, my wife and I are from Linfeng. We went south for some reason and are now returning.

Because things have been unsettled these days, I didn’t dare take the official road, so I took the road from this village and wanted to stay overnight in the village. I wonder if it’s convenient.”

As he spoke, he took out a string of copper coins from his sleeve, indicating that he would not get it for free.

The woman was stunned for a moment, and saw that a young woman really got out of the carriage. Moreover, judging from the words and deeds of the king and his minister, it was obvious that they were not from ordinary families and were well-educated, and definitely not bad people.

The vigilance in her eyes faded, and she eagerly opened the door to welcome the guest:
"Since you're staying here, please come in if you don't mind."

Tsk... people of this era are still simple and honest... unlike in my previous life, things like staying overnight were almost extinct... Zhao Duan smiled.

Xu Zhenguan also smiled and thanked him. When he came over, he glared at him quietly and said resentfully:

"You are becoming more and more proficient at this kind of rhetoric."

Zhao Duan smiled. It was not that he wanted to take advantage. The main reason was that the most suitable combination for the two of them was to pretend to be a couple when they were out and about.

Linfengdao is close to the capital and has a similar accent, so it is not easy to be suspected.

The emperor and his ministers entered the extremely clean farmyard and sat down in the yard. The woman who called herself "Liu Wang" poured scented tea to welcome the guests.

During the conversation, Zhao Duan learned that the head of this family was surnamed Liu, and the little girl had a nice name called "Lily".

"You two have chosen the right path. The Huai River area is now plagued by bandits. I heard that Prince Jing in the southeast and Prince Mu in the southwest have led their troops into the Huai River... The imperial court has to deal with both sides, and I heard that they may not be able to hold out for too long... There are reports that they are conscripting men on the official road."

Liu Wangshi felt a little reserved in front of the king and his ministers, who were dressed in ordinary clothes but had extraordinary temperaments. However, she felt a good impression of them for no reason and shared the local situation with them.

Did the troops from Prince Mu’s Palace also march into the Huai River?
Zhao Duan and the empress looked at each other, and their hearts sank.

This was an extremely bad signal, meaning that King Mu had also swallowed up Yunfu Road in a very short time.

But the difference from Jiancheng is that in Yunfu, there is the entire southwestern border army of the imperial court, led by Zhao Shixiong!

In other words, the fact that Prince Mu went north meant that Zhao Shixiong's troops did not contain him at all... Combined with the fact that Zhao Shixiong did not return to Beijing on New Year's Eve last year, it is almost certain that:

"The Southwestern Frontier Army has rebelled!"

Zhao Duan looked at the empress who seemed a little dazed, and suddenly reached out, covered her hand and squeezed it.

Xu Zhenguan forced a smile and obediently did not struggle.

Taking advantage of the time when the Liu family mother and daughter left, Zhao Duan whispered:

"Look at it in a positive way. Two tigers fighting each other is far better than one tiger swallowing up everything. Prince Jing and Prince Mu both want to fight for the throne. Both sides' troops have to pass through the Huai River and enter Linfeng before they can reach the capital.

This means that the two sides will check and balance each other, slowing down each other's pace, which may buy more reaction time for the court."

Xu Zhenguan nodded worriedly:

"I know."

The two of them addressed each other as king and minister in private, but once in front of outsiders, they would avoid using certain words of address.

At this time, the mother and son of the Liu family who had gone out came back and brought in a man dressed as an honest farmer. He was the head of the household, Liu Qi.

When Liu Qi learned that there were guests staying overnight, he enthusiastically asked his wife to kill chickens and geese and prepare a farm banquet to entertain them. He tried hard to think of topics to talk to the two of them.

The gentle Liu Wangshi and the innocent "Sayuri" interrupted whenever possible.

This idyllic village and its simple and friendly people diluted the gloom in the hearts of the emperor and his ministers.

"Ah, I can tell at a glance that the young master and the young lady must be from a wealthy family. Now they are suffering from a war. It would be dangerous to travel outside at this time." During the meal, Liu Qi drank some yellow wine and couldn't help but sigh.

Liu Wangshi also nodded and said worriedly:
"If you two have relatives in Huaishui, you can go there and hide for a while."

The king and his ministers smiled bitterly and responded perfunctorily. The Liu family also knew their limits and did not say much.

……

Farmers eat dinner early, and the sun is setting after dinner. Liu Wangshi goes to clean the side rooms, and Xu Zhenguan goes over to help.

Zhao Duan walked out of the yard and became familiar with the entire village. The little yellow-haired girl whose nickname was "Lily" became familiar with him during the meal time and smiled as she served as his "guide".

I am introducing the village a little awkwardly. Baihua Village is neither big nor small, and has dozens of households.

Zhao Duan listened with a smile, and after making sure that there were no spies from the local big families in the village, he looked towards the mountain behind the village.

At this time, the light of the setting sun just happened to peek out from between the two mountain peaks. Zhao Duan suddenly narrowed his eyes and stopped.

"Sayuri, are there people living on the hill behind the village?"

He asked suddenly.

The innocent little girl tilted her head 45 degrees, looked in the direction of his sight, said "Oh", and said:
"No, there is only a dilapidated temple on the back hill."

The farm girl with a slightly chubby face and tanned skin suddenly showed a frightened expression and whispered:

"The adults in the village said that there were ghosts in the temple and that anyone who went in would come out confused, so they wouldn't let me go."

ghost?
Zhao Duan curled the corner of his mouth and looked towards the temple in the back mountain, his gaze becoming more solemn.

He was very sure that he had never been to this area, but for some reason, he always felt that the scenery before him was familiar.

"It's as if... I've seen it before..."

"What is it? I must have seen it before? Where? I have never been here before..."

"think carefully……"

Zhao Duan stared at the corner of the temple building on the lush green hill behind him under the setting sun. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind.

He remembered!
“Master Guhuo! I have seen this temple in the memory of Demon Guhuo!”

At the beginning, when the demon was bewitched to come to the capital to kill people, Zhao Duan used the vast amount of memories from his previous life to counterattack the demon's magic and "read" some of the demon's remaining memories.

This includes a scene where he colluded with Zhuang Xiaocheng;
Another thing is that before he came to Beijing, he entered a dilapidated temple, opened a secret room, and took away some magical instruments.

At this moment, in his eyes, the dilapidated temple on the mountain behind Baihua Village perfectly overlapped with the vague scene in his memory.

"Is it just a simple resemblance? Or... is the secret treasure trove of the bewitching master hidden here?"

Thinking of the haunted legend told by Sayuri, Zhao Duan held his breath and immediately returned to the Liu family.

"Are you sure?" In the side room, Xu Zhenguan also showed a look of surprise after hearing what he said.

"I'm not sure yet, so I'm going to go take a look." Zhao Duan said seriously:
"Your Majesty, your injuries have not healed yet and you need medicine to treat your injuries. I am also stuck at a bottleneck. If this is really the treasure house of that demon, the things in it will definitely help us!"

Xu Zhenguan's eyes also lit up, but he immediately said worriedly:

"But if the demon is hiding there to recuperate, it would be too dangerous for you to go there rashly. Let's go together."

"No, Your Majesty, please stay outside. I was able to kill him in his prime back then, and I am not afraid of him now."

Zhao Duan pressed down Zhen Bao who wanted to go with him. If it was another sorcerer, Zhao Duan would not have the confidence, but if it was a real person who was bewitched... Haha, it can only be said that the human tonic was delivered to the door again.

"But……"

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten? At the critical moment, I can still ask Pei Niannu to descend." Zhao Duan reminded seriously.

The empress nodded reluctantly:

"If you don't come back soon, I'll go and help you. Oh, and bring the Tai'a sword with you."

Zhao Duan did not refuse and said self-deprecatingly:
"Perhaps I am mistaken. How could it be such a coincidence? We were running away and just happened to run into this?"

Xu Zhenguan pondered for a moment, then suddenly shook his head and said:
"No, maybe it's not luck, but destiny. I chose that day to perform the Fengshan ceremony because it was the day when my destiny star was the brightest and my fortune was the best this year. Unfortunately, someone used the 'Death of the Gods' to forcibly change my fortune, and it was tampered with to the lowest point of my fortune...

But this kind of tampering is not without cost. In addition to the backlash that the caster will suffer, my "fortune" that was covered up will gradually recover... and I am the Son of Heaven, my fortune is equal to the fortune of the country, which is much stronger than that of ordinary people."

Zhao Duan was stunned:

"Your Majesty, are you saying that our encounter with this temple was not necessarily a coincidence, but rather the result of our luck that was reversed by the God of Death that day, which has accumulated and exploded now?"

"It's possible, so we were able to escape successfully. However, the influence of luck is limited after all. Everything depends on human effort, and good luck and bad luck often go hand in hand." Xu Zhenguan hesitated and said:
"Always be careful."

The word "luck" is too metaphysical.

But Zhao Duan, who had personally experienced the seven-day curse, did not dare to underestimate it.

After the two of them agreed, they waited silently for dark.

When the sun set, Zhao Duan quietly climbed out the window and left, floating like smoke and like a ghost, heading towards the back mountain.

……

The temple on the back mountain was not close to Baihua Village, but with Zhao Duan's current cultivation level, he tried his best to hurry on the road. Soon he walked along the dilapidated mountain road and arrived outside the abandoned temple.

A full moon hangs high in the sky, emitting a cool and mirror-like light.

Zhao Duan looked up and saw that the archway outside the temple had been broken. There was no name on it, only the word "three" was vaguely left.

"If this is really the location of the treasure house, the so-called 'ghost' is probably just some kind of sleight of hand that Gu Qi Zhenren has placed here to prevent mortals from entering."

Zhao Duan thought for a moment, reached into his bosom, and took out a stack of talisman paper from the scroll space. This was also what he applied for from the government office before going south.

"Let me find it... The spell to see through the formation is... the Sky Eye Talisman, this is it."

He took out a piece of talisman paper from a stack, channeled his Qi into it to ignite it, and then wiped the burning talisman paper across his forehead.

Suddenly, his eyes in the darkness emitted a bright blue light, just like when, in the Emperor's Tower, the Empress opened his third eye for him to observe the gods of heaven and earth.

"My guess is indeed correct!"

Under the watchful eyes of heaven, Zhao Duan quickly discovered that this dilapidated temple was indeed set up with a maze, but there was no killing formation.

"Yes, if someone were killed, it would easily attract the attention of the authorities. The maze is enough."

Zhao Duan leaped to the southeast corner of the ruined temple and cracked a stone pillar with one palm, revealing a silver bowl buried inside.

When the silver bowl was put away, the formation was immediately broken and lost its effectiveness.

Following his memory, Zhao Duan entered the temple and stopped behind a Buddhist shrine. He tried to feel around and turn the "mechanism" hidden behind the shrine.

“Zazaza—”

One side of the wall suddenly cracked, and with the sound of friction between gear hinges, a secret passage opened up!

"You found it right!"

Zhao Duan's eyes lit up, and he took out another "illuminating talisman" and stuck it on his head. The cinnabar on the talisman glowed like a flashlight, tearing through the darkness and illuminating the way ahead.

Holding the Taia sword in his hand, he walked up the stairs into the secret room.

nobody!
There was only one secret room that was exactly the same as the one in his memory.
As he entered, the beads inlaid on the walls of the secret room lit up one after another. On the rows of wooden shelves, the most conspicuous thing was a pile of gold, silver and jade artifacts, as well as books.

There were piles of objects of various shapes and sizes on the ground, which looked extraordinary.

In the open box on the ground were bottles of elixirs, and on the wall hung armor and weapons that were obviously extraordinary.

However, after careful comparison, I found that the items in the secret room were nearly half less than I remembered!
Especially the pills in the boxes and the things that looked like talismans on the shelves, which were reduced the most!
"It seems that Guhuo Zhenren is indeed not dead. After I killed him, I was afraid that this guy was seriously injured and resurrected again, and then came here to take away a lot of things. Damn it, they are obviously all mine..."

Zhao Duan smacked his lips, but when he thought that it might be more beneficial to fatten up the demon before killing it, he was no longer angry.

"There are many things I don't know, but Zhenbao is knowledgeable and will definitely know them."

Zhao Duan was not polite at all. Like a mouse entering a treasure mountain, he picked up all the precious things and stuffed them into the scroll space, especially the elixirs, which he completely emptied!
The movements were so swift that they swept away everything in a flash.

After a while, the treasure house was completely cleared, leaving only a few things that were of little value and took up space.

"You are such a good person. It took us too much effort to escape. Thank you for the airdrop." Zhao Duan was a little moved.

He had volunteered to give away his soul power in the past, and now he was offering him his treasure trove. If someone said that the old Taoist was actually a spy sent by the imperial court, he would believe it.

"Justice!"

Zhao Duan was still unsatisfied, so he explored the secret room again and suddenly found a hidden door inside.

"Squeak-"

Pushing open the secret door, the view suddenly opened up and in front of me was a small courtyard blocked by walls on all sides!

"What's this……"

The yard was very small, with only a square pond in the middle, from which bubbling warm spring water emerged. In one corner of the pond, a small black and white tree, intertwined with each other, took root.

The leaves of the tree are like jade, with a fiery red color flowing through them.

Zhao Duan was stunned, and suddenly recalled the jade leaf that the demon had taken from the treasury that was strong enough to withstand the attack of gods.

"According to Pei Niannu, it is Kunshan jade... So, is this tree also some kind of natural treasure?"

……

Baihua Village, inside the Liu family’s small house.

Xu Zhenguan sat in the side room, pacing back and forth anxiously. The candlestick on the table flickered with orange flames, reflecting her shadow on the wall.

The empress could not hide her worry on her face. Suddenly, she turned her head to look at the backyard. As the window was opened, Zhao Duan jumped in.

"How is it?"

Xu Zhenguan looked him up and down first, then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he was not injured, and then asked.

Zhao Duan pulled off the black cloth covering his face, walked to the table, picked up the teapot and drank a bellyful of water. Then, with a gleam in his eyes, he placed the silver scroll on the table:
"Returning with a full load..."

He quickly recounted his experience of obtaining the treasure, leaving Xu Zhenguan stunned. He looked at the various elixirs, magical instruments, and rare objects piled on the table with a look of delight and surprise.

"What a pity... the tree is rooted in the spring water and it's hard to get it out." Zhao Duan's face was full of regret again, and he talked about the black and white trees.

After hearing this, the empress's eyes suddenly lit up: "Black and white trees?"

"Your Majesty knows this thing?" Zhao Duan was curious.

Xu Zhenguan's eyes truly revealed a rare joy along the way. She looked deeply at the confused Zhao Duan and said:

"Your chance to advance to the worldly realm has come!"

(End of this chapter)