Chapter 134: Punished by God
On the altar, the five-colored flags fluttered in the wind and the bronze tripod was filled with smoke, creating an eerie feeling even though it was broad daylight.
The Emperor of Southern Qi sat far away. Besides Zhang Wenhua, there was also Jing Huai, who was forced to come by him and had no idea what was going on, as a witness. Behind him was a row of imperial guards and eunuchs of all sizes serving him.
Taoist Xuanzhen was wearing robes, walking on the magic steps, chanting in a low voice, and constantly ringing the Sanqing Bell. Tang Ying, who was ordered to protect him, even suspected that he had seen through the secrets of heaven, which was why he had such a heavy expression of concern for the country and the people.
Last night, Fu Chen proposed to disguise himself as a secret guard of the Imperial Cavalry Division to protect her in the palace, but she refused strongly: "Master Fu, your current identity is not to be seen in the light. If you don't protect me, I might have to find a way to cover up for you. Don't show off your pigtails in the palace, okay?"
Fu Chen looked extremely worried: "I don't know what that demon is thinking. He insisted that you go to protect the law. Isn't it obvious that he is coming for you?"
Tang Ying patted the wooden box that Zhang Qing brought back: "Don't worry, I have a secret weapon."
Taoist Xuanzhen was flying around the field like a giant moth, changing several magic weapons before finally switching to the peach wood sword that he used to kill demons and monsters.
Tang Ying whispered to Bao Yi: "I heard that when Taoist masters perform rituals, flames can spit out of their mouths. Immortal Xuanzhen is an expert in this field. Have you ever seen it?" The rumors about them were so magical, but she had never had the chance to see them.
Baoyi rolled his eyes: "Forgive my short-sightedness."
If Tang Ying hadn't dragged her over, she wouldn't have come to join in the fun.
Baoyi has never taken playing tricks on people. In order to show respect to Taoist Xuanzhen, many people in the palace call him "immortal". Even the Emperor of Southern Qi praised the name as appropriate when he heard it by chance. However, there have always been ghosts and monsters in the Forbidden Cavalry Division. She called Xuanzhen an immortal in front of him, but behind his back she was just short of labeling him a "demon".
Tang Ying chuckled: "I'll let you learn more about this in a while."
Baoyi: "Thank you, but that's not necessary."
Having said that, the two of them stared at every move of Taoist Xuanzhen in the field. After seeing him perform for a while with the peach wood sword, they suddenly saw him take a sip of wine and spit it towards the flame in the bronze tripod. A fire snake instantly ignited, as if he was breathing real fire, which was quite a magical power.
Tang Ying touched her purse with regret: "What a pity, I didn't bring any money with me, otherwise I could have given you a few copper coins."
Baoyi almost laughed out loud, but held it back - being impolite in front of the emperor was a capital offense, especially in a ritual that even the emperor attached great importance to.
"Master, you are so mean." She complained in a low voice.
Zhang Wenhua stepped forward and whispered to the Southern Qi Emperor: "Your Majesty, just wait and see. We will soon find the evildoer."
The eyes of the Southern Qi Emperor were fanatical. The anxiety that had been burning in his heart day and night was hopefully relieved, and his mood also improved a lot: "The real person has great magical powers!" He will definitely reward him handsomely later.
Jing Huai looked confused, with a big question mark on his head.
The next moment, Taoist Xuanzhen looked like a madman, pointing his sword at Tang Ying and spitting out another mouthful of wine. The fire snake rushed across the bronze tripod and seemed to be rushing towards Tang Ying. Almost at the same time, Tang Ying secretly ejected a tiny ball, which also passed through the burning flames on the bronze tripod and hit Taoist Xuanzhen's robe.
The robe was very large, and the force of the ball was negligible. He was fully focused on doing something bad, and was sweating profusely during the ritual. He did not notice that the ball had already caused a spark when it hit the robe. He opened his mouth to shout, "Yinren——" The second half of the sentence was choked back by the flames that ignited from the corner of his robe.
As a result, all the people around the altar watched in amazement as Taoist Xuanzhen's robes began to burn at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Emperor of Southern Qi: “…”
Zhang Wenhua: “…”
Jing Huai: “…”
Tang Ying shouted loudly and took the lead in kneeling down: "Xuan Zhen Immortal is omnipotent, the heavens show miracles, and the heavens bless the prosperity of Southern Qi!"
Bao Yi knelt down with a hard time explaining, lowering his head and asking, "Master, are you serious?"
The rest of the Imperial Cavalry Division saw their superior kneeling down in submission, and seemed to be shocked by Taoist Xuanzhen's magical powers . Even though they didn't believe it in their hearts, they also knelt down and shouted in unison: "God bless Southern Qi and make it prosperous!"
He was thinking all sorts of things, and he wanted to drag Tang Ying over and interrogate her: Sir, are you serious? !
Taoist Xuanzhen stood in the middle of the room, watching the flames burn from the bottom up. There was no firewood under his feet, but the flames were incredibly bright. He could faintly smell the scent of pine, which was the incense that He Yonggen, the eunuch who was in charge of his robes, had burned for him this morning.
In front of the Southern Qi Emperor, he had to act like a master, and he couldn't just roll on the ground to put out the fire. But the people in the Forbidden Cavalry Division regarded this as a miracle and knelt down one after another. He also heard Tang Ying shouting: "Xuan Zhen Immortal is going to step on the fire lotus and become an immortal. The Three Pure Ones are above, and the disciples respectfully send the immortal off!"
I was so angry that I almost vomited three liters of blood.
——Damn, I’m on fire, not ascending to heaven!
His reaction was quick. When the fire broke out, he tried to use the peach wood sword to pretend that he had performed a miracle unintentionally while performing a ritual. Then he put out the fire on his body without leaving a trace. However, the fire was very strange. It jumped up and ignited spontaneously in the wind. Soon he felt the burning blisters on his body. His hair and beard made a sizzling sound and he smelled a burnt smell of hair. He panicked and didn't care about pretending to be an immortal. He shouted in panic, "Help!" and rolled over on the ground.
Tang Ying looked up stupidly and shouted in panic: "It's...on fire? It's not a miracle?"
God your mother!
Taoist Xuanzhen rolled on the ground and shouted for help. He hated Tang Ying so much. Everything this girl said sounded reasonable to him, but they were all meant to undermine him!
The Southern Qi Emperor originally thought it was a miracle, but when he saw Taoist Xuanzhen rolling around and shouting for help, he was a little confused at first, but soon came to his senses: "Hurry up and put out the fire!"
Tang Ying rushed over first, lifted the cloth covering the bill and slapped it on Taoist Xuanzhen, while with his other hand he secretly sprinkled a handful of rosin powder. The fire on Taoist Xuanzhen's body did not subside but increased instead, and suddenly jumped up a bit, which looked very strange.
Taoist Xuanzhen was burned into a fireball. His eyebrows, beard and hair were all burned. Blisters formed on his flesh. He rolled over in pain and cried for help. He did not look like a master at all. However, the fire was extremely strange. A group of people from the Forbidden Cavalry Division rushed to put out the fire, but the fire became more and more intense. There was clearly not even a piece of firewood left, but it could not be put out.
He was like a burning human torch. The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh and hair. The Emperor of Southern Qi couldn't help but stand up, looking panicked: "...What's going on?" His trust in Taoist Xuanzhen was involuntarily greatly reduced.
By the time they fetched water from the nearest water storage area and put out the fire on Xuan Zhen's body, his face had been burned beyond recognition and he was dying.
Tang Ying asked the Southern Qi Emperor: "Your Majesty, do you want to ask the imperial physician to check on Immortal Xuan Zhen's burns?"
The Emperor of Southern Qi waved his hands irritably: "Why don't you go and invite me? You are not allowed to call me an immortal anymore." He secretly wondered if Xuan Zhen had been punished by heaven.
Since someone carried Xuan Zhen downstairs to heal his wounds, Zhang Wenhua's pride when he came here was completely frightened away by the fire. He wished he could shrink into a quail so that the Emperor of Southern Qi could not see him.
The Emperor of Southern Qi came with high hopes but left disappointed. He returned to Qingliang Palace with Jing Huai, Zhang Wenhua, and the guardian Tang Ying. His heart was burning with anger, and he had moved into Qingliang Palace before the summer arrived.
Not long after, a young eunuch came to report: "Xuan Zhen Immortal has fallen unconscious and his body is severely burned. The Dean said that he may not wake up for a while."
Emperor of Southern Qi: "Go away! Don't call me immortal anymore!"
The young eunuch was so frightened that he trembled and crawled out.
The temperature in the Qingliang Palace was not high to begin with, and with the Southern Qi Emperor's gloomy expression and dark clouds hanging over the sky, the air was so oppressive that it was almost suffocating.
The Emperor of Southern Qi walked around like a trapped beast, still unable to understand why Taoist Xuanzhen would spontaneously combust during a peaceful ritual.
He had been unwell recently, and his paranoia had intensified. Apart from the Crown Prince, whom he still loved and trusted, he was suspicious of the rest of the ministers. It was not easy for a Taoist priest named Xuanzhen to appear, and he trusted him completely. Unexpectedly, a ritual destroyed his trust in him.
"Zhang Qing, what's going on?"
How would Zhang Wenhua know what was going on?
Taoist Xuanzhen had promised him that he would punish Tang Ying, but the plan was to identify Tang Ying as a villain and let her accompany the Emperor of Southern Qi who was about to enter the mausoleum. But something went wrong in the ceremony, and he was also very confused, okay?
"Your Majesty, this... this..."
The Southern Qi Emperor then began to look for the cause: "You were the one who recommended Taoist Xuan Zhen, didn't you know that?"
Zhang Wenhua had a lot of grievances to express, hesitating and not daring to say more, sweat soaking through his heavy clothes. He just wanted to quickly get the Southern Qi Emperor to leave the palace and think of a solution.
"Where is Prime Minister Jing?" Seeing that he could not get anything out of Zhang Wenhua, the Emperor of Southern Qi turned around and asked about Jing Huai.
Although Jing Huai likes to smooth things over, he can also be interpreted as mature and experienced.
However, even if the Prime Minister wanted to smooth things over today, he didn't know where to start.
"Your Majesty, I don't know what's going on either." He is still confused and doesn't understand what's going on.
Taoist Xuanzhen performed a ritual to find a suitable Yin person for him. This matter was too secretive to be publicized, and the Emperor of Southern Qi could not discuss it with court officials in a high-profile manner. He could only ask a limited number of people who knew the truth - including Tang Ying and Jing Xiang, who only had a vague understanding of the matter.
The former were brought in to protect the Dharma, and the latter were brought in to be witnesses, neither of them was clear about the real purpose of this ritual.
"Tang Qing, tell me what's going on?"
Tang Ying knelt obediently, but spoke boldly: "Your Majesty, I am young and have never heard of anyone spontaneously combusting. But--" As soon as she changed the subject, Zhang Wenhua's heart trembled. He stared at her intently and listened to her slowly saying: "It is said that Taoist Xuanzhen has great magical powers. It is rumored that he is good at controlling fire during rituals. There are also folk artists who can control fire."
With just one sentence, Taoist Xuanzhen was pulled down from the altar, and downgraded from an "immortal" who was respected and fawned upon by everyone to a "folk juggler". Zhang Wenhua was so angry that she almost jumped up. If Taoist Xuanzhen was here, he might have torn her to pieces on the spot.
The Southern Qi Emperor seemed to be thinking about something: "Tang Qing, please continue."
"I dare to make unwarranted assumptions. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
"I forgive you, please speak."
Tang Ying spoke again, with hesitation and caution, and said carefully: "I felt strange when I was putting out the fire. The corners of clothes usually don't catch fire so quickly. Besides, everyone was far away from Taoist Xuanzhen at that time. He knew how to control the fire, and there was no lamp oil on his robes - no, even if there was lamp oil, it wouldn't burn so quickly. When I was putting out the fire, the fire jumped higher. At that time, I thought... I thought..."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Could it be...could it be a punishment from heaven?"
Tang Ying dropped the bomb and kowtowed to the ground, saying in panic: "I am talking nonsense, Your Majesty, please forgive me!"
The Emperor of Southern Qi has been obsessed with this for a long time. Moreover, Tang Ying's words coincided with his guess, and he was also shocked - could it be that Xuan Zhen was really punished by God?
Otherwise, how do we explain spontaneous combustion?
Zhang Wenhua was in a state of confusion, with countless thoughts running through his mind, but he didn't know how to explain so that the Emperor would believe in Xuan Zhen again.
"What do you think, Zhang Qing?"
Whatever you fear will come true, and he was named by the Emperor of Southern Qi again.
"Your humble servant...your humble servant..." He didn't dare to take the charge of "divine punishment" on behalf of Xuan Zhen. As long as he wore this hat, the Emperor of Southern Qi would definitely send people from the Forbidden Cavalry Division to find out what Xuan Zhen had done to anger God and receive punishment. By then, the situation would be even more out of control.
Tang Ying came to his rescue: "Your Majesty, maybe Lord Zhang doesn't know."
Zhang Wenhua turned around in shock - is the girl named Tang so kind?
But he soon found out that the girl named Tang...she really wasn't that kind.
Because she said in front of His Majesty, "Mr. Zhang's nephew took the gold and stone medicine of Taoist Xuanzhen. I heard that his whole body was hot and excited, his face was red and his steps were light. Last time, he had an argument with my cousin in the restaurant. He rushed over to hit him, but he twitched a few times and never woke up again. Mr. Xiaojing carefully examined the case and heard that Mr. Zhang swallowed a large amount of gold and stone medicine that day... In other words, Mr. Zhang's nephew lost his life because he took the gold and stone medicine of Taoist Xuanzhen."
You have got the wrong direction and mistook your enemy. Please don't hold me back!
