"you……"
Li Xiangxue's body and voice began to tremble, "You are, Uncle Xu...Uncle Xu?"
"It's me."
Xu Chong nodded.
After getting the confirmation, even though Li Xiangxue had experienced so much, he was still blinded at the first moment.
"Great, you're still alive, hahahaha, you're still alive..."
Li Xiangxue was crying and laughing at the same time, and his speech was incoherent.
"Yes, I am still alive."
Xu Chong nodded again, "I am the only one alive."
"only……"
Li Xiangxue murmured, the intense surprise slowly fading away.
Yes, only Uncle Xu is still alive.
Faces and scenes flashed quickly through Li Xiangxue's mind.
My parents, Uncle Zhao's family, and the folks in Canglong...
After a long while, Li Xiangxue wiped his eyes and said seriously: "Dad and the others definitely don't want to see you become like this."
The Xu Chong in front of him had changed a lot compared to what he remembered.
The slightly gray temples, the slightly wrinkled face, and the slightly drooping eyelids all prove that he is an elderly man.
"Why would they want to see you become like this?"
Xu Chong shook his head.
At first, he split his body into three bodies.
The white robe went to the imperial prison, the colorful robe was in the Chancellery, and the black robe came to the Spring and Autumn Tomb.
At the time, all three bodies were the same age.
Later, the Chunqiu Tomb experienced about thirty-four years under the rules of the stars changing with different intensities.
At this time, he is almost sixty years old.
And isn’t it the same for Li Xiangxue?
If he had continued along the original trajectory, Li Xiangxue would have been only six or seven years old at this time, still studying with his teacher... maybe he would have become a little student.
"Uncle Xu, you said Lou Youzhi is not my enemy?"
As expected of someone who had crawled out of the Shura Field, Li Xiangxue quickly controlled his emotions and asked.
"It's a long story..."
Xu Chong walked aside and sat down, explaining in detail.
From the Mother and Child Blood Light Mirror sealing off the city and trying to kill people, to planning to kill Fu Yuanlong and Wei Wuxie, to joining the Blood Robe Guard and meeting Jiang Zhihong, to taking up a position in the Imperial Observatory in the secondary capital and watching the Master die in front of him, to the locust plague in Yongzhou.
Throughout the whole process, Xu Chong was paying attention to Li Xiangxue's condition with his Yang Shen.
When he said that Lou Youzhi went to Yongzhou to provide disaster relief and not to massacre, the black fog in Li Xiangxue's head rapidly weakened.
However, the trend suddenly stopped after it was reduced by about half.
The remaining black fog suddenly became chaotic.
If it weren't for the green net, it would have rushed to my whole body by now.
"It's not Lou Youzhi..."
Li Xiangxue murmured, his eyes sometimes angry and sometimes confused, "Who killed the people from Yongzhou? Who wants to kill people from Yongzhou?"
Xu Chong sighed secretly.
really.
The inner demons cannot be eliminated out of thin air.
Although he was still alive, Zhao Liu, Li's mother, and many other people died in the natural disaster.
If this revenge is not taken, Li Xiangxue's inner demons will never be eradicated.
Xu Chong no longer hesitated and continued: "The occurrence of natural disasters can be predicted..."
The inference about the natural disaster was slowly revealed.
When the three words "Emperor Yongtai" appeared and took the main responsibility, Li Xiangxue's inner demons stabilized and began to grow again.
"From Prime Minister to Emperor?"
Li Xiangxue found it extremely absurd.
He still clearly remembered what he learned in the county school.
Are those who are loyal to Daqing all citizens of Daqing?
All the people of Daqing will be rewarded for their merits and punished for their mistakes?
All the people of Daqing should speak out when they feel injustice and fight against it when they feel unfair.
To be honest, before this, even though Li Xiangxue regarded Lou Youzhi as his lifelong enemy, he still yearned for the world described in Taizu's Great Edict and still had a good impression of the Daqing court.
He felt that officials like Lou Youzhi must be a minority.
With Taizu's Great Edict in place, more officials should be like Jiang Zhihong.
Whether it was the people from Canglong County or the other refugees surrounding Fenggu County, they were just unlucky and happened to encounter such an executioner.
But now...
The murderer turned out to be the emperor of Daqing?
How ridiculous.
Li Xiangxue had just shown a sarcastic expression when he suddenly remembered another sentence Xu Chong said.
"What if your enemy is not Lou Youzhi, but instead the master you think you owe."
That’s not right, Emperor Yongtai, and Master?
Is there any relationship between the two?
Li Xiangxue looked at Xu Chong inquiringly.
"The name Lin Kuang that you heard of was the previous leader of the Taiping Dao, more than 20 years ago..."
Xu Chong continued to tell the story.
He knew that the truth might make Li Xiangxue's inner demons swell to a stronger level than before.
But this was the only choice he had.
If he continues to conceal it, Li Xiang will become the knife of Emperor Yongtai and stab Lou Youzhi.
Simply helping Lou Youzhi to absolve himself of his guilt would not only fail to eliminate Li Xiangxue's inner demons, but would on the contrary make Li Xiangxue mentally confused.
If we only talk about Emperor Yongtai and not mention Ji Qingzhi, there is no reason to stop Li Xiangxue from going back to find Ji Qingzhi.
If Li Xiangxue meets Ji Qingzhi again, he will most likely be exposed on the spot and executed by Ji Qingzhi.
No matter how much he thought about it, Li Xiangxue's inner demons could not be eliminated.
Since it cannot be eliminated, just let the inner demon return to the right direction.
"So, your master, Ji Qingzhi, the leader of the Taiping Dao, is actually Emperor Yongtai, the Yongtai Emperor who used natural disasters to harm the people."
Xu Chong slowly uttered the last sentence: "He wants to use you to kill Lou Youzhi who is obstructing him."
At this moment, Li Xiangxue's expression was completely frozen on his face.
And in Yang Shen's vision, the black fog lingering in Li Xiangxue's purple palace was growing madly.
From thin to thick, and then to shrink and condense.
In the blink of an eye, the black fog condensed into a complete human figure the size of a soybean - Li Xiangxue, wearing black clothes, with complete facial features and eyes full of brutality.
And it continues to grow.
“This inner demon…”
Xu Chong recalled the inner demons he encountered when he first entered Zifu.
The inner demon at that time had a face exactly like his, wearing a black gown, and looked like the Black Robe Yang God.
However, the style of the black robe is completely different, and the inner demon Xu Chong is completely out of control.
In addition, the most crucial point is that the inner demon Xu Chong has always been indifferent.
From beginning to end, he never showed any sign of cruelty like the inner demon of Li Xiangxue in front of him.
Comparing the two together, it is obvious that Li Xiangxue's is more in line with the image of an inner demon.
"Sure enough, it's not just the inner demon..."
Xu Chong's heart sank slightly, "I'm afraid it's just as I thought, and the original body's thoughts are involved."
At this time, Li Xiangxue's inner demon had stopped growing and stabilized at the size of a pigeon egg.
The green net was like chains, wrapped around the inner demon's body.
Looking at Li Xiangxue himself, his eyes were clear, with only anger and hatred after knowing the truth, but not the strong murderous intent that could not be concealed at all.
This made Xu Chong feel relieved, but at the same time, he became more wary of the green net.
"Your inner demon has become stronger, but it is still bound by that unknown force."
Xu Chong's face was solemn, "I suspect this is the magical power of the Tao Heart Demon."
"That means he can control me anytime and anywhere?"
Li Xiangxue's eyes flashed, and it was unknown what he was thinking of.
Xu Chong didn't notice this and said to himself: "It's not impossible... Originally, I had a way to try to release you from control, but I didn't dare to try."
"If it doesn't work, that's fine."
"If it succeeds, let alone whether Ji Qingzhi will notice it, I cannot judge whether the inner demon that has been freed will instantly devour your mind."
After saying that, Xu Chong paused and his expression became serious: "So, don't get involved in anything anymore. When the time comes, I will arrange for you to hide."
"Hide?"
Li Xiangxue frowned.
"I know what you're thinking."
Xu Chong shook his head. "But the power of Emperor Yongtai is beyond the imagination of any of us. He is definitely not that easy to deal with."
"No matter how much you hate him, you must never act rashly."
"Also, although I don't know what Emperor Yongtai's ultimate goal is, I am fully confident that I can prevent the locust plague in Yongzhou from happening again."
"The Fang family plans to use you to deal with Emperor Yongtai and seize Baicao Garden because the Spring and Autumn Tomb is about to collapse. For the time being, you need to pretend to be submissive and cooperate with their plan on the surface to ensure your own safety in the Spring and Autumn Tomb."
"Leave the rest to me."
Xu Chong put his hand on Li Xiangxue's shoulder, his expression extremely stern, "Listen to me."
“…”
Li Xiangxue hesitated for a moment, then finally smiled and nodded: "Okay."
"Also, don't go into Chunqiu Hall again."
Xu Chong said as he walked out of the tomb, "The Li family still depends on you to bring honor to the family and pass on the family tradition."
Li Xiangxue watched Xu Chong's disappearing back with a puzzled look in his eyes.
To bring honor to the family and pass on the family tradition?
Indeed, this is a deep-rooted obsession of every ordinary citizen.
But the problem is, neither my father nor my mother has ever told me this.
What they repeatedly reminded me of was another thing .
…
…
Capital city.
As usual, Lou Youzhi went straight back home after work and went down to the underground palace through the secret passage in the study.
As soon as he entered the central hall of the underground palace, his steps suddenly stopped and his attention fell on the table in the hall.
There, a piece of letter appeared there at some point.
“Someone has been here!”
Lou Youzhi confirmed this instantly.
Since the construction of the underground palace began, he has never let his guard down for a single day or a moment in more than 20 years.
The entire mansion and the entire underground palace were decorated with extremely detailed arrangements, which were enough to allow him to know at the first moment whether anyone had come to the backyard or approached the study.
However, from the time he returned to the mansion, to the back garden, to the study, and then to the underground palace and the main hall, he did not notice any signs of abnormality during the entire process.
"He didn't touch my arrangement, but put a letter into the underground palace... Was it Dou Tianyuan?"
"No, it's not Dou Tianyuan. He doesn't know the existence of this underground palace."
"Other people who know this place won't do this..."
Lou Youzhi narrowed his eyes, and without any movement, the letter flew over automatically and floated in front of him.
Then, countless tiny bolts of lightning emerged from the body's surface, blocking everything.
After doing all this, Lou Youzhi controlled the letter to slowly unfold.
!!!
With just one glance, Lou Youzhi's pupils shrank to the extreme.
'Using the bloodline of the Lord of the Cave Heaven as a guide, sacrificing ten times the number of humans can delay the decline of the Cave Heaven.'
That was the only sentence on the letter.
However, it was this sentence that Lou Youzhi could not find even after searching through all the ancient books he could get his hands on.
"The same bloodline as the Lord of the Cave Heaven?"
Lou Youzhi narrowed his eyes.
The next moment, the letter suddenly caught fire and turned into ashes in an instant, and the ashes were blown away by the breeze and flew in all directions.
A moment later.
Lou Youzhi appeared in a secret room connected to the underground palace.
There is only an old man with white hair and beard, dressed simply, and a dozen bookshelves filled to the brim.
The old man was none other than Gu Chengren, who had resigned from his post in front of all the officials .
Seeing Lou Youzhi coming in, Gu Chengren shook his head in disappointment: "I have studied the ancient books you found twice, but still can't find any clues about the decline of the cave."
“Maybe we are looking in the wrong direction.”
As Lou Youzhi spoke, he walked to a bookshelf and took down a book.
Gu Chengren came over curiously to take a look, and asked doubtfully, "Isn't this a copy of the Ministry of Revenue's records? It's full of numbers, so I didn't really look at it... Is there any clue in it?"
It turned out that under Lou Youzhi's arrangement, the records related to natural disasters in the three government offices, namely the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Imperial Observatory, were indeed destroyed by the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department.
However, before it was destroyed, a copy was left behind.
It was these manuscripts that helped Lou Youzhi retain Gu Chengren who was preparing to return home.
"Yongtai seven years..."
Lou Youzhi turned a page, and after a moment his eyes flashed: "It is indeed like this!"
"Please explain yourself more clearly."
Gu Chengren frowned, looking a little unhappy.
"Someone left me a letter in the middle hall, which contained a method to delay the decline of the cave."
Lou Youzhi rubbed his temple.
"What?!"
Gu Chengren exclaimed.
"Mr. Gu, please take a look at this."
Lou Youzhi placed the booklet on the table and pointed to one of the columns.
"At the end of the seventh year of Yongtai, Binzhou had more than six million people..."
Gu Chengren read it out loud, still puzzled, "What's the problem?"
Binzhou is the smallest province in the entire Daqing area. In addition, it is close to the sea and most of its land is not suitable for growing crops. Therefore, it has always had the smallest population among the thirty provinces.
"Look here again."
Lou Youzhi turned the page and said, "At the end of the eighth year of Yongtai, there were more than 1.8 million people in Binzhou."
"The sea boiling in the eighth year of Yongtai killed 4.2 million people in Binzhou..."
Gu Chengren sighed, "I know this, but didn't you say that the natural disaster in Binzhou has nothing to do with His Majesty?"
"It really doesn't matter, but the problem is that Binzhou Haifei did kill so many people!"
Lou Youzhi explained, "Using the bloodline of the Lord of the Cave Heaven as a guide, sacrificing ten times the human race can delay the decline of the Cave Heaven... This is the content of the letter."
!!!
Gu Chengren was shocked.
It was exactly the same reaction as Lou Youzhi had before.
The same bloodline as the Lord of the Cave Heaven...
In your case, you are the common people descended from Taizu!
Your Majesty is not going to kill refugees, but the descendants of Taizu? !
"Impossible?"
Gu Chengren looked unhappy.
"I also thought it was impossible before, so I calculated it based on the drought in Bingzhou."
Lou Youzhi sighed, "Eight million people died in the drought in Bingzhou. If we calculate based on half of that, that would be 400,000 blood descendants."
"From the drought in Bingzhou to the boiling sea in Binzhou, it took eighteen years."
"If we calculate it this way, then 400,000 blood descendants, plus 4 million people, can delay the decline of the cave heaven for more than 18 years."
"About 20,000 blood descendants can delay the disease for less than a year."
"The Binzhou Sea Boil killed 4.2 million people, and the number of their descendants was about 210,000... It took eleven years from the Binzhou Sea Boil to the Yongzhou Locust Plague."
"The same 20,000 blood descendants were delayed for less than a year."
"The number of blood descendants here is just a rough estimate, which is definitely not accurate enough. In addition, there is the possibility of early delay..."
Lou Youzhi took a deep breath and said, "It should be that if we use 20,000 descendants of Taizu as the guide and sacrifice 200,000 people, we can delay the decline of the cave for one year."
“…”
Gu Chengren's heart was in turmoil. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and said, "Two natural disasters alone cannot prove anything... I will continue to investigate."
Having said that, he turned around and took down a thick stack of books from the bookshelf.
In this way, the two began to calculate the number of deaths from natural disasters over the years.
An hour later.
Gu Chengren closed the book and looked at the page that was filled with small characters for statistics. "This doesn't add up. We've almost counted the number of blood descendants to be delayed by two years..."
indeed.
As the two of them extrapolated further into the past, the rule of '20,000 blood descendants delaying their decline by one year' became less and less applicable.
Lou Youzhi did not respond to Gu Chengren, but closed his eyes and thought hard.
After a while, a flash of light flashed through my mind.
"No! It's not that they don't match!"
Lou Youzhi suddenly opened his eyes, "But we overlooked a key point!"
"The key point?"
Gu Chengren was stunned.
"Didn't Mr. Gu realize that the proportion of people using blood descendants to delay death is gradually increasing..."
Lou Youzhi said slowly, "If there is no correspondence at all, then why does the ratio gradually increase instead of fluctuating?"
"This... is indeed a problem!"
Gu Chengren thought for a moment, his expression becoming serious, "What did you think of?"
"Our calculations are based on the assumption that if we don't kill anyone, the cave will collapse immediately."
Lou Youzhi's eyes flickered, "But what if this cave still has enough life left?"
"you mean……"
Gu Chengren's expression was grim. "Many years ago, when the decline of Dongtian was not even urgent, the emperor of Daqing had already begun to extend the life of Dongtian?"
“That’s right!”
Lou Youzhi pointed to the page of manuscript paper and said, "Let's start from Leizhou."
"In the 20th year of Zhengfeng, the Leizhou skyfire killed 7 million people, of which about 350,000 were of the Bloodline."
"According to the conclusion we derived earlier, it can delay the decline of the cave for more than 17 years."
“But the next natural disaster will be a full sixty years away from the twenty years of prosperity!”
"That is to say, in these sixty years, forty-three years are the lifespan that Dongtian still has!"
"Let's look further down..."
After a while, Lou Youzhi recalculated and the two came to a surprising conclusion.
With 20,000 blood descendants as the lead, sacrificing 200,000 human beings can indeed delay the decline of the cave heaven by one year.
Previously, I was misled by the lifespan that the cave heaven already possessed. Now, if we take away the lifespan that the cave heaven already possessed, everything will correspond.
However, this conclusion was difficult for both of them to accept for a while.
“Hehehe…”
Gu Chengren laughed nervously, "That is to say, as early as the 20th year of Zhengfeng, when Dongtian still had hundreds of years of life left, Emperor Zhengfeng had already started committing crimes... Delaying? No! This is clearly feeding!"
"To be precise, we calculated it to be two hundred and seventy years."
In comparison, Lou Youzhi was much calmer and more thoughtful, "Besides, this is no longer important. It has completely lost its lifespan..."
During the reign of Emperor Wenchang, all natural disasters that occurred were consistent with the rule of '20,000 for one year'.
In other words, Dongtian has really reached the critical point of decline.
If no one dies in the next natural disaster, this cave will be completely destroyed.
"Yeah, it doesn't matter anymore."
Gu Chengren sighed, his eyes falling on the last booklet that he hadn't used yet, "The important thing is the future."
That booklet was also a copy of the Ministry of Revenue files.
The reason why it was not used just now is because it records the locust plague in Yongzhou, which is not useful in the calculation just now.
"Yongzhou..."
Lou Youzhi looked disappointed because he only remembered how many people there were in Yongzhou.
The situation in Yongzhou is somewhat different.
Even among the thirty provinces, Yongzhou's population was not even in the middle, but it was extinct after all.
No, more than that.
In addition to the people of Yongzhou, hundreds of thousands of disaster relief teams were also involved.
Even if we only count his 18 million, there are nearly 900,000 descendants of Taizu.
In other words, it can delay the decline of the cave heaven by forty-five years.
In forty-five years, I would have probably died of old age, right?
Who will remember this by then?
Thinking of this, Lou Youzhi suddenly had a feeling.
Did he really keep Emperor Yongtai's actions secret?
Du Qianchuan, Yan Fang, Gu Chengren...
Is it true that Emperor Yongtai was completely unaware of these people or things that turned to him, died because of him, or helped him?
Or does Emperor Yongtai know but doesn't care?
Lou Youzhi looked dazed, and suddenly felt a little powerless and frustrated.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Gu Chengren glanced at Lou Youzhi strangely, "I feel like you suddenly lost your spirit."
"……nothing."
Lou Youzhi shook his head and reached out to put the last booklet into his arms.
This action left Gu Chengren confused.
"Mr. Gu, thank you for your help these days."
Lou Youzhi stood up and bowed solemnly to Gu Chengren, "In a few days, I will arrange for you to return home and spend your remaining years in peace."
"you……"
Gu Chengren reacted quickly, frowning deeply: "The population of Yongzhou... I won't live to see that time?"
"As expected of Mr. Gu."
Lou Youzhi shook his head and laughed at himself: "I probably won't survive this."
“…”
Gu Chengren's face stiffened, and the depression he had been feeling for days suddenly became a mess, unable to dissipate and nowhere to put it.
After a long while, Gu Chengren spoke quietly, "In that case, let Shi Zheng take over from you."
"Shi Zheng is Jiang Zhihong's favorite student."
Lou Youzhi wanted to refuse.
"That's why he dared to risk great disapproval and provide food to Zhihong."
Gu Chengren looked solemn, "That's why, as long as you tell him the real cause of Zhihong's death, he will definitely die for it."
"…But that is his successor."
Lou Youzhi still hesitated.
"hehe."
Gu Chengren smiled indifferently, "Will the successor care about this in the future?"
"Before you tell me, would you care about this?"
"After so many years, the mansion is empty, except for the servants."
"Have you ever thought about leaving behind your legacy?"
Gu Chengren shook his head. "I am Zhihong's teacher. I watched you and him go from close friends to breaking up, and then to not communicating with each other, but moving in the same direction in the end... You are not only classmates and fellow townsmen, but also fellow travelers. I think you should understand him better than I do."
Fellow travelers?
What a great word.
Lou Youzhi suddenly laughed.
The powerlessness and frustration just now were all swept away.