Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 495 - 394: Entering the Palace_1

Chapter 495: Chapter 394: Entering the Palace_1

The early hours of the 7th day of the first month found Li Xuan in the Artifact Refining Pavilion of the Liudao Division, cheering in delight as he watched two rays of silver light emerge from the central ’Hunyuan Wuji Furnace’, flutter around in circles, then landed in front of him.

This was the supreme magical implement that the Liudao Division had crafted for him; after Li Xuan infused one drop of his blood into it and after a day and night of smelting, it was finally complete.

"This thing has a spirit." The master of the Artifact Refining Pavilion stroked his long beard upon seeing this, and said with a beaming smile: "You don’t know how much material we’ve put into this magical implement. As such, although this Xuanwu Heart-protecting Mirror does not have the real intelligence like an immortal artifact, it does possess some initial consciousness."

Li Xuan’s eyes gleamed, and he gently caressed the object in his hands, sharing a spiritual bond.

It was a pair of silver heart-protecting mirrors, exceptionally smooth on the outside with the shine that could serve as a mirror, truly looking like two silver mirrors. Upon closer observation, one would find that below the polished surface, there were scales, as if countless scales were piled on top of each other.

According to the words of the master of the Artifact Refining Pavilion, the main material of this heart-protecting mirror was the moulting shell of the heavenly creature ’Xuanwu’.

The Xuanwu moults its shell every hundred years, so this material is not considered rare, but due to the incredibly strong defensive powers of the Xuanwu shell, the value remains immeasurable.

The ’Xuanwu Heart-protecting Mirror’ set consisted of two parts, which could be embedded into his Liudao Fumo Armor.

This is because the armor on Li Xuan, was also a custom-made artifact from the Liudao Division, so a position had been reserved for these heart-protecting mirrors.

Their primary ability was also defense and could complement with Liudao Fumo Armor, promoting Li Xuan’s defensive power to an exaggerated level.

About half a year ago when Li Xuan commissioned this artifact, he understood clearly that unless he discarded this ’Great Rectitude’, even if he mastered the finest escape techniques, it would all be futile.

It’s certain that his future ’High Thunder Style’ could reach the heights of absolute excellence, but the problem was once his blood heated up, he would be filled with notions of fearing not death but choosing righteousness; what escape could there be then?

So his personal defensive ability and Superconductive Style were his fundamentals right now. Being untouchable and indestructible is the path he wished to take.

It was with this consideration that Li Xuan had commissioned this ’Xuanwu Heart-protecting Mirror’.

However, back then, Li Xuan did not possess the Gold Bell Cover and the Tiebushan heavenly Tao Fruits, cluesless that he would choose the ’meat-shield’ path. He also had no idea he would obtain the ’Dayan Divine Shield’ from Sun Jizong.

Furthermore, owing to the skill of the artifact refiners, the ’Xuanwu Heart-protecting Mirror’ was not only reaching the level of a supreme magical implement in defensive power, but also considered attack and escape to some extent.

The divine beast ’Xuanwu’ commanded powers of ice and water. So this ’Xuanwu Heart-protecting Mirror’ could not only dramatically boost Li Xuan’s Ice Style technique, but also utilize this artifact to perform ice and water escapes.

Li Xuan played with the heart-protecting mirrors, appreciating them, then sincerely bowed to the master of the Artifact Refining Pavilion: "I thank you for your efforts, Master!"

"Why bother? Crafting artifacts is our duty." The master of the Artifact Refining Pavilion laughed and drew his sleeve, then asked, "You have around 130 merits to your name now, don’t you? For this second supreme magical implement, do you plan to commission it or exchange it at the Treasure Tower?"

His eyes held a hint of anticipation: "If commissioning, I have a blueprint for a ’Liuyao Thunder Knife’ artifact that’s perfect for you. This artifact follows the same principles as the Dayan Divine Shield, the better your calculations, the stronger it is."

Li Xuan hesitated slightly, in the end shaking his head: "No commission. There’s a thing in the Treasure Tower that I fancy."

In the Treasure Tower of the Liudao Division, there were only twenty-nine supreme magical implements in storage. Initially, there was nothing suitable for him; but ever since Li Xuan obtained the two immortal artifacts ’Taotie’ and ’Wuqu Pojun’, there was one artifact that became extra suitable for him.

To be precise, it was suitable for these two immortal artifacts.

And to commission a supreme magical implement would take several months, Li Xuan no longer had the patience.

It was probably the changes in the Grand Emperor of Liao’s Tomb, and that stare he received back then, which made Li Xuan sense impending peril. These days, he would feel a constant thumping in his chest, disturbing his calm.

Li Xuan felt it better to get his hands on that supreme magical implement sooner rather than later.

The master of the Artifact Refining Pavilion appeared somewhat disappointed upon hearing this: "What a shame! I was quite interested in tailoring a weapon for you."

The stance of the Artifact Refining Pavilion and that of the upper echelons of the Liudao Division were not entirely the same. Be it Merit Calculation Tower of the Liudao Division or the Diguan Building managing finances and supplies, they naturally hoped to save as much as possible, reducing budget expenditure.

But for these artifact refiners of the Artifact Refining Pavilion, they wished more of the highest-level magical implements were to be refined. This was their best method of honing abilities and exploring the Heavenly Dao.

Li Xuan smiled lightly upon hearing this: "That opportunity will come!"

He believed that he would not be lacking in the speed of earning merit.

※※ ※※

After leaving the Artifact Refining Pavilion, Li Xuan headed for the Treasure Tower.

It just so happened that it was the Hour of Chen, which was when the Treasure Tower opened.

Li Xuan didn’t take much time after going in, he had already obtained what he wanted.

It was a bead pendant with the main body about the size of a thumb, shaped like a crimson furnace. And around it, were carved the Vermilion Bird, Azure Dragon, Xuanwu, and the White Tiger, encircling it.

It’s called the ’Four Images Refining Primordial Furnace’.

This artifact can gather the spiritual power of heaven and earth and store Zhenyuan Mana for use by its master. According to the owner of the Treasure Tower, its Yuan Qi storage capacity is entirely equivalent to the heavenly level.

The ’Four Images Refining Primordial Furnace’ can also invoke the power of the Four Images, each of which can compete with top-grade magical implements in terms of spiritual force.

It can also purify Zhenyuan’s Mana, so that both the quality and quantity of Yuan Qi reach the ’heavenly’ level.

However, even so, this ’Four Images Refining Primordial Furnace’ is still the most useless supreme magical implement in the Treasure Tower.

The person who originally refined this furnace wanted to create a heavenly level external pill but failed, making the ’Four Images Refining Primordial Furnace’ only possess part of the function of a heavenly level external pill.

Its overall ability is even inferior to the external pill in Yue Qianqian’s hand.

But what Li Xuan valued was its ability to purify Yuan Qi.

Because the full power of the two Immortal Artifacts in his hand could only be activated by Zhenyuan’s Mana of the heavenly level.

This artifact might be useless to others, but for Li Xuan, it was a divine treasure. It not only solves his problem of shortage of Zhenyuan but also briefly unleashes the full spiritual force of ’Taotie’ and ’Wuqu Pojun’.

Moreover, it is cheap. Other supreme magical implements require at least one hundred merits to be exchanged, but this ’Four Images Refining Primordial Furnace’ only requires sixty merits.

However, Li Xuan had just begun playing with this item when he heard several bell sounds from the direction of the palace.

When the fifth bell rings, Li Xuan couldn’t help but look up with a bewildered look. He recognized these bell sounds from the bell tower north of the Forbidden City.

The bell and drum tower there usually ring only when the city gate is opened and closed, which is why it is called the morning bell and evening drum.

The problem is, it’s past the hour, and the city gate has already opened at the Hour of Mao, so why is the bell tower suddenly ringing?

The bell continued to ring until the ninth sound, at which point Li Xuan couldn’t help but change his colour, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Li Xuan looked at the palace direction in a bewildered manner, wondering if his own little uncle had an accident?

According to the "Ritual Records of Jin". When the Emperor dies, the bell rings twelve times; when the Crown Prince dies, the bell rings nine times; when a prince dies, the bell rings eight times.

He had already expected this. After all, in his world, another Jingtai Emperor’s single son, Zhu Jianji, died of a sudden illness half a year after becoming the Crown Prince. At that time, Zhu Jianji was still less than six years old.

Li Xuan guessed that someone might target Yu Jianji, but how could it be so fast since Yu Jianji has just officially stationed in the East Palace?

Just at this moment, a figure flew in. It was the deputy Venerable who had returned to Beijing not long ago.

"His Majesty has summoned you to the palace, and he has allowed you to ride a horse in the palace. Hurry to the East Palace."

The deputy Venerable had a worried look on his face: "Just now, the Crown Prince died in the sleeping hall of the East Palace."

Li Xuan’s heart sank instantly, and he felt a chill. Without any hesitation, he flashed out, turned into a thunderbolt, and arrived outside the palace gate. Then he rode his Jade Qilin at a gallop, and in less than half a moment, he arrived in front of Chengtian Gate.

In front of him, the Forbidden Army and Xiuyiwei stationed at the palace gate all made way for him. By the time Li Xuan arrived at the East Palace with a lightning-like speed, Zuo Daoxing, the Dudu Tongzhi of Xiuyiwei, personally led him into the gate.

Since he had been here before, Li Xuan was already familiar with the place. While he was hurrying, he asked, "Why did the Crown Prince die? I heard that there were famous doctors by his side all the time to regulate his body."

"The Imperial Physicians said it was a brain tumor attack, which was the disaster left behind by ’Zhenru’. Zhenru used a secret technique to seal the tumor in the Crown Prince’s brain, so even the well-known doctors from the Imperial Physician’s Institute could not detect it. Once it broke out, it put the Crown Prince in a mortal situation."

Zuo Daoxing’s face was pale, and his hand was on his waist knife, with the veins bulging on his arm: "But His Majesty doesn’t believe it. He especially called you over to have a look. We Xiuyiwei, the inner Jishi Bureau, and the three law Divisions are also here, but now His Majesty trusts you the most."

The two of them hurried like shooting stars, and soon arrived inside the sleeping hall.

At first glance, Li Xuan saw the Jingtai Emperor, who was sitting on one side of the hall like a weather-beatten piece of wood with a deathly pallor. There was also a woman in the attire of a noble lady crying inconsolably next to the bed. That should be Empress Hang, who was the birth mother of Yu Jianji and Yu Hongchang’s brother and sister.

Yu Hongchang was also sitting by the bed, her eyes full of tears, and her face was the epitome of sorrow.

On the left side of this sleeping hall, there were a group of people kneeling down, more than twenty Imperial Physicians, a dozen eunuchs, all trembling, panic-stricken.

As for his father-in-law, Jiang Yunqi, he was standing alone outside the door at this time, staring into the distance, frowning and deep in thought.

"Minister Li?"

Seeing Li Xuan, the Jingtai Emperor’s deathly pale eyes finally showed a glimmer of light: "You go and see, whether Jianji was harmed by treacherous people?"

Li Xuan didn’t say anything. He bowed his head in salute, then walked somberly to the front of the bed.