Chapter 616: Empress: This time, I will take action
Chapter 616: Empress: This time, I will take action
"Card slot?"
On the steps outside Taiqing Palace, Xu Zhenguan was stunned for a moment, turned his head and stared at him with confusion in his eyes.
There happened to be a car driving in the distance, and the headlights shone on the empress's face for a moment, like lightning illuminating the night.
Seeing her confused look, Zhao Duan already got the answer.
The empress didn't know what a card slot was, so naturally she had never opened it.
"Boom, boom..." His heart began to beat faster. Zhao Duan pursed his lips and stared at the machine in his hand.
On the side of the phone, the traces of the card slot are clearly visible.
If there are clues in this phone, where are they hidden?
He turned on the phone screen again and glanced at the signal icon in the upper right corner - full.
This means that this is a machine with a SIM card...
Are there any clues left in the phone card? Unlocking the phone card is not the only way to read it.
Perhaps due to the influence of his fixed mindset, he had never thought in this direction.
"Wait for me here!"
Zhao Duan stood up suddenly, said something, and ran towards the 24-hour convenience store outside the alley.
Xu Zhenguan was stunned and sat on the steps with his knees hugged, waiting.
After a while, Zhao Duan ran back again, with a metal...pin in his hand!
Then, Zhao Duan sat on the steps, and with the help of the light from the street lamp, he poked the card pin into the deep card slot of the empress's mobile phone.
Make a little effort!
The card slot popped out silently, and then, under the empress's curious gaze, Zhao Duan carefully took out the phone card from the phone.
Swallowed.
Zhao Duan did the same thing again, pushed open the card slot of his own mobile phone, threw in a secondary card, and replaced it with the empress's card.
After reinstalling it, the operator's network access information will pop up on the screen.
Zhao Duan was delighted and quickly opened the phone book, and then... his pupils contracted slightly.
There was only a single phone number stored in Zhenbao's card.
There really is a clue!
Zhao Duan's breathing tightened, he glanced at the empress, and dialed the number with his finger.
"Drip-drip-drip-"
In the alley, the sound of the phone was clearly heard by the king and his ministers, and after a moment, the call was connected.
A woman's voice came from the microphone: "Hello?"
Xu Zhenguan suddenly grabbed Zhao Duan's wrist and excitedly mouthed:
"The temple priest, it's that temple priest!"
The voice on the other end of the phone was actually the female priest from Taiqing Palace!
Zhao Duan suppressed his excitement and said in a deep voice: "Hello, I am..."
"Clap."
The phone was hung up.
The king and his ministers were both bewildered.
Just when Zhao Duan was about to call back, a text message popped up on his phone. He clicked it and found that the content of the message was a residential address.
At the end, there was a sentence: "The key is under the carpet at the door."
"This……"
Zhao Duan's eyes lit up:
"Our guess is correct. The female temple priest is the guide in the Human World. This address is the clue she gave us."
Xu Zhenguan also stood up excitedly: "Then what are you waiting for?"
After such a long exploration, they finally made some progress. Why would they be willing to waste more time?
Zhao Duan immediately hailed a taxi and ran out of the alley with the empress to wait.
While waiting for the bus, Zhao Duan continued to fiddle with his phone, but he was not calling the female temple priest again.
Instead, he started logging into WeChat and TikTok... He called himself, got his phone number, and then used the verification code to log in without any problems...
"So, you knew there was this thing in your phone?" Xu Zhenguan turned his head to watch him operate it.
"Well, almost every one of them has it." Zhao Duan answered subconsciously.
Xu Zhenguan said quietly, "Then what is the password you made me look for for so long?"
Zhao Duan: “…”
After several attempts, he confirmed that this SIM card was a new one and had not been registered with any major apps. He gave up trying, turned around, and said seriously, "Let's change the subject, okay?"
Empress: "..."
……
The SMS address is located in Binjiang Community.
Not long after, the two got off the online-hailing car and saw an old residential building in front of them.
Therefore, the two of them easily entered the community through the small door that was left open at night.
It took some effort to find the corresponding apartment building.
"cough!"
Zhao Duan woke up the sensor light and led the empress up the stairs.
In the old corridor, water and heating pipes are exposed, and the dirty walls are filled with lock-opening advertisements.
There was a bad smell in the air.
The two of them climbed to the sixth floor in one breath. Zhao Duan bent down and lifted the outdoor carpet under the security door. Sure enough, he found a key in a pit on the ground.
"It's hidden so obviously, aren't you afraid that it might be picked up..." Zhao Duan complained.
Without stopping his hands, he unscrewed the old-fashioned security door covered with advertisements with a "click", and the room was plunged into darkness.
He felt his way to the entrance light and turned it on.
The soft light spread out, illuminating this old building of about 50 square meters.
At a glance, the pattern is clear.
The two looked at each other and carefully opened the doors one by one.
The bathroom, kitchen, side bedroom... are all very clean, and it looks like no one has lived here for a long time.
When they opened the bedroom door and turned on the light, they were both stunned.
In the master bedroom, items were also neatly arranged, as if they had been carefully cleaned before the owner left.
But on the wall of the bedroom, there were dark, dog-scratching words written with a brush.
That is the writing of the Yu State!
"This is the handwriting of Emperor Taizu!" Xu Zhenguan exclaimed excitedly, "This is the handwriting of Emperor Taizu!"
Ah... Such ugly handwriting is from Old Xu? Zhao Duan opened his mouth, but thought of the stickman-style painting on the mural and fell silent.
The pink and white walls were almost covered with dense calligraphy.
When the two of them saw the content of the text clearly, their hearts were shaken again.
"This is the general outline of the royal practice..."
"This is...ah, is this the secret technique you mentioned, the one Xu Jianwen used to restrain the Martial God's heirs outside the royal family with his bloodline?"
Xu Zhenguan pointed at a spell on the wall and said in astonishment.
Zhao Duan glanced at him and said solemnly, "It's possible."
He looked away and caught a glimpse of a square topographic map on the wall. Because the painting style was abstract, he carefully identified it and said in surprise: "Is this a topographic map of the palace? No, it's a secret passage. This is a map of the secret passage of the palace..."
He quickly recognized that there was a secret passage extending out from the location of the Yuanzu Temple.
It was the secret passage that he had found to sneak into the palace.
Under the Yuanzu Temple, the two small words "Longpo" were written in bold and emphasis next to it.
"Old Xu... Bah, Emperor Taizu actually marked the location where the dragon soul is hidden here?"
Zhao Duan was really surprised.
The shocked empress ignored his disrespectful words and murmured:
“All royal secrets are recorded here. They should be top secrets that only the emperor can know. No... they know more than what emperors of all previous dynasties knew. Otherwise, after six hundred years, the dragon soul would have been taken away by the previous emperor.” Emperor Taizu actually hid all these in this old house in "The World" back then.
Only by meeting the stringent conditions can one come here and receive the complete royal inheritance.
"Ah. This is..." Xu Zhenguan walked to the wall and touched the table. He lowered his head and was surprised to find a book on the table.
She opened it... She was shocked: "This is Taizu's practice notes!"
It should be noted that the royal family had never heard that Emperor Taizu had left any notes on spiritual practice.
The empress picked it up with trembling hands, opened it and read, her beautiful eyes shining with wonder. This notebook recorded too many keys to the practice of the "Heavenly" realm.
After only flipping through a few pages, she felt as if she had suddenly been enlightened.
Priceless treasure.
This is truly a priceless treasure.
Xu Zhenguan continued to flip through the pages, and suddenly his fingers paused. His eyes lit up slightly when he saw the words on the paper.
At this moment, Zhao Duan was attracted by a mental method on the other wall:
"Dragon Control Technique..."
His eyes gleamed with brilliance. This turned out to be a spell that taught how to control the dragon soul and use it for one's own benefit.
Well, Yulong is a serious Yu...
The huge surprise almost knocked the king and his minister unconscious. Putting aside other things, the value of these few secret techniques alone is inestimable.
As long as time goes by, the empress's cultivation will improve rapidly.
And Zhao Duan has a better chance to control the dragon soul and truly unleash the power of this half "god" that Lao Xu has accumulated through his lifelong cultivation.
There was no hesitation.
The two held their breath and began to recite frantically.
I’m afraid these words will disappear soon.
There was silence in the room for a while. When he finished reciting, Xu Zhenguan just breathed a sigh of relief, then he felt his body flickering and knew that his stay this time was up.
"Let's talk outside," she said.
……
After a while.
The fourth floor of the Imperial Palace Restaurant.
Next to the stone wall, the empress suddenly opened her eyes and saw Zhao Duan also floating out from the mural.
The two looked at each other, and both saw the heat and shock in each other's hearts.
"What you saw tonight must be kept secret." This was Xu Zhenguan's first sentence.
Zhao Duan nodded, indicating that he would keep his mouth shut, and then said the second sentence: "Our chances of winning have increased."
Yes.
The inheritance left by Old Xu will definitely greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the two. With this new influencing factor, many subsequent plans can be changed.
The two of them were overwhelmed with emotion and could hardly contain their excitement.
"Maybe, after a short rest, we can go in again and look for more clues." Xu Zhenguan was eager to try.
The calm and graceful female emperor had not been as excited as a young girl for a long time.
Zhao Duan nodded:
"Yes. But I don't think there is much hope. The female temple priest is obviously avoiding us and is only willing to give us these. Perhaps, we have to wait until we meet some more conditions before we can get the subsequent clues and secrets."
This is a logical assumption.
Xu Zhenguan calmed down from his excited state and accepted his judgment. The empress paced back and forth in the room, muttering:
“I never thought that this mural, which has been passed down for six hundred years, still contains so many secrets that the royal family has never discovered.”
Having said this, she looked at Zhao Duan with gentle eyes.
It seems that these secrets were only revealed after the arrival of Zhao Duan, the "man in the painting".
He was like a key that opened a lock that had been sealed for six hundred years.
The empress took a deep breath, temporarily suppressed her exploration of the secrets from six hundred years ago, and said:
"I will spend some time studying Taizu's notes. If I can make some progress, my combat power will be greatly improved. Then, I may have a chance of winning against Xuan Yin."
Zhao Duan said: "I also have a hunch that it will take some time to control the dragon soul. So, I have an idea."
"explain."
"Perhaps, we can take a bigger step."
There was a gleam in Zhao Duan's eyes:
"I was at the front line and learned that Prince Jing had gone to Binhaidao before. It is suspected that he went to meet Qingshan Wuxiankui and to form an alliance with Prince Chen. His purpose for going there at this time is also very obvious. He wants to take advantage of the fact that spring has not yet arrived and it is difficult to start a large-scale war in winter. Take advantage of this gap to leave for a short time."
Xu Zhenguan stared at him: "So?"
Zhao Duan pursed his lips:
"So, I was thinking a few days ago, should we just not wait for the spring for Prince Jing to return? Instead, we should just abandon Huaishui and Jiancheng, change our route and attack Binhai, and kill Prince Jing on Binhai Road!"
Kill Prince Jing!
This is a crazy idea, but it is not surprising when it comes from Zhao Duan, who once assassinated Xu Jingtang.
Xu Zhenguan's expression became serious and he reminded:
"Binhaidao is under the control of Prince Chen, and its situation is very different from that of Xu Jingtang."
Zhao Duan nodded: "I know. Similarly, the old thief Xu Wen also knows.
That was why he had the courage to leave his old nest and head to Binhai Road, because he was certain that the imperial court had no advantage in Binhai, and it could even be said that it was at a disadvantage.
On the one hand, he had the natural ally of Chen Wang, who was also plotting rebellion, in Binhai. On the other hand, he had the support of Qingshan...
Binhaidao, because of the Qingshan heritage, has always been a holy place for martial arts, where countless martial artists gather. Qingshan's thousand-year-old disciples have already infiltrated the martial arts world...
Therefore, Xu Wen certainly didn't think I would dare to go over and kill him, but I wanted to do the opposite."
Xu Zhenguan frowned, still worried:
"Since you know the dangers of Binhai Road, how can you have the confidence to kill him? Just relying on Princess Lu Yan'er?"
"Of course she's not the only one." Zhao Duan said calmly:
"Your Majesty, how is the energy storage of the 'Tianyuan Cannon' built by Gongshu Tianyuan now?"
"You want to use it?" Xu Zhenguan thought for a moment and said:
"I have placed it in Houhu before, but the time is still a little short, so it is not ready yet. Well, the cannon may be stored during transportation, but even if there is enough time, this cannon alone is not enough."
Zhao Duan said seriously:
"Originally, I also felt that it was not enough, but now that I have the method to control the dragon soul, it is different. The formula states that once I control it, I can briefly exert the strength of the Heavenly Man Realm."
Dragon Soul + Tianyuan Cannon + Princess Lu Yaner.
This combination definitely has a high chance of destroying Prince Jing, even if he has a trump card.
As for King Chen… King Chen had very few experts under his command, and the most powerful were his sailors, so he “closed the country to the outside world” before and did not participate in the struggle for hegemony.
In the battle between high-level fighters, it is difficult to get on the table at all.
And with the blessing of Dragon Soul, even if some Qingshan masters are killed, it will not affect the overall situation.
Xu Zhenguan stared at him: "But the premise of all this is that Wu Xiankui will not take action himself."
Wuxiankui.
That martial artist who has no moral principles.
If Wu Xiankui shamelessly tears up the agreement between heaven and man again and chooses to take action, it will be a dead end.
Can this heavenly agreement really restrain Wu Xiankui?
Zhao Duan was silent for a moment, then said:
"I can try to find Zhang Tianshi. He won't let Wu Xiankui tear up the heaven-man agreement."
Xu Zhenguan shook his head:
"Although Zhang Tianshi is strong, I cannot see through his thoughts. You cannot rely on him blindly for such a big thing. Moreover, even if he is willing to go with you, will Xuanyin take action?"
Zhao Duan was silent.
"However, it is indeed worth a try to kill Xu Wen."
"So," Xu Zhenguan said shockingly, "This time, I will take action."
(End of this chapter)