Chapter 447: A Dragon Heir is Born on a Rainy Night, Ringing the Bell to Summon the Ghosts and Gods
Hearing Li Daoxuan's words, everyone present was shocked.
Li Shimin's eyes suddenly lit up, revealing infinite hope, and even his voice trembled a little.
“Good…good…fast!”
Little Changle silently pulled at the corner of her master's clothes. She found that most of her master's Taoist robe was wet by the wind and rain. The master, who was always calm and composed and seemed omnipotent, now looked a little tired.
Li Daoxuan pressed his palm on Empress Changsun's forehead. The Five-Devils Military Talisman on his palm glowed with a faint light, sending the Empress' soul back into her body.
After being nourished by the Five-Devils Military Talisman, Empress Changsun's soul had become much more stable, but there was still some irreparable damage.
The souls of mortals who have never practiced cultivation are extremely fragile. After going back and forth, exposed to the wind, rain, and thunder, they are likely to be left with a root of illness.
Li Daoxuan suddenly remembered that in history, Empress Zhangsun died young, dying of illness in her thirties. It was very regrettable. Could it be that this was the root cause of the disease left behind at this time?
"Cure diseases and prolong life, travel through the five mountains, the eight seas know about it, and the devil will bow his head. Guard my pavilion, eliminate evil and dispel filth, and keep the spirit of Taoism forever. Hurry and obey the command!"
Li Daoxuan drew a talisman in the air and sent out a longevity talisman with flowing golden light, which entered Empress Changsun's body and helped her recover better.
Under the gaze of everyone, Empress Changsun's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes. There was a hint of confusion in her pupils at first, and then she gradually regained clarity.
"Your Majesty, have you found Changle?"
"I seem to hear Changle's voice..."
As soon as she woke up, the first thing she asked about was not her own safety, but her missing daughter.
Little Changle rushed over and hugged her, choking with sobs, "Mother, Changle is back, Master saved me."
Empress Changsun breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Changle was safe and sound.
"Your Majesty, I seem to have had a very absurd dream."
She dreamed that she was swallowed by a strange bird, and then her consciousness became hazy, but she seemed to hear the voice of Master Li and countless thunders vaguely. Every time the thunder sounded, she would be frightened and her heart would ache.
At the time, she was secretly surprised that although she did not like thunder, she was not afraid of it to this extent.
Li Shimin held her hand and said softly, "That was not a dream. Your soul was taken away by a demon, and it was Taichong who rescued you!"
Empress Changsun looked at Li Daoxuan, her gentle eyes showing deep gratitude. She was about to say something when Li Daoxuan spoke first.
"Your Majesty, Changle, let's go out first. The queen is fine now, but she is about to give birth. We should let the midwife come in and help immediately. If we delay any further, it may not be good for the child."
Li Daoxuan sighed in his heart. After this incident, not only would the queen be left with a chronic illness, but even the future Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi would probably be physically weak and his vitality damaged.
However, Li Zhi in history was indeed in poor health and eventually died of wind disease.
…
Li Shimin was reluctant to leave Empress Changsun's bedside and left Lizheng Hall after a long while. He stood under the eaves, looking for Li Daoxuan.
Suddenly, his eyes flickered.
I saw a figure standing in the wind and rain in the courtyard, with white clothes fluttering, a clear mind and a slender figure, like an orchid and a jade tree , attracting the moonlight from the sky, which flowed into the acupuncture points of the body like nectar. The hazy light blocked the falling rain, forming a vacuum zone.
"Father, this is Master practicing the Huangting Ancient Scripture, taking the moon's fragrance as medicine to restore his magic power."
Although little Changle had just started practicing, she was extremely intelligent, had a solid grasp of theoretical knowledge, and already had some vision.
Li Shimin pondered for a moment, then walked to Li Daoxuan alone with an umbrella, and waved his hand to ask others to stay away.
He did not disturb Li Daoxuan's practice, but just waited quietly.
A moment later, Li Daoxuan slowly opened his eyes. The moonlight dissipated, and most of the magic power in his body was finally restored, and he regained his spirit.
The previous battle with the Black Mountain Demon was not as easy as it seemed.
The heavy rain that filled Chang'an came very strangely. Li Daoxuan took the opportunity to borrow the power of wind and thunder, greatly increasing the power of his own thunder magic, and summoned eighteen sixty-nine heavenly thunders in succession.
You must know that this six-nine heavenly thunder can hurt the Yang Shen realm. Back then, Master Zhang Qianyang used this thunder to strike the Xu Du Ghost King in Yinshan Mountain, making him scream. In the battle of Yang Shen realm, it can be regarded as a superior method.
Li Daoxuan is only a half-step Yang God now. If it weren't for the right time and place, and the power of wind and thunder, he would not be able to threaten the Black Mountain Old Monster, a demon in the late Yang God stage.
He seemed calm and composed at the time, but in fact he had tried his best, otherwise his clothes would not have been wet by the wind and rain, and he really had no time to care about anything else.
In addition, he also wanted to thank Xu Qingxuan for helping him by drawing his sword. If the Black Mountain Old Demon had not been afraid of this sword fairy who dared to risk his life, he would not have been able to save the queen's soul even if he had the help of the right time and place.
The Black Mountain Old Demon is indeed worthy of his reputation!
"Taichong, what kind of monster is that strange bird that abducted the queen's soul? Is it also from the Moruo Cult?"
When Li Shimin saw that Li Daoxuan had finished his training, he began to ask.
As the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he couldn't even protect his wife and daughter. This humiliation made him murderous and he hated the Moro religion to the extreme.
Li Daoxuan nodded and said, "Yes, all of this was planned by Moro. That strange bird is the master of the Wrongful Death City, the Black Mountain Demon!"
Li Shimin narrowed his eyes slightly, and his gaze was like a knife.
"Wrongful Death City, the Moro Cult... Wait for Tian Gang and Chun Feng to come out of retreat and set up the Zhou Tian Xing Dou formation. I will wipe out all these poisonous snakes hiding in the territory of my Great Tang Dynasty one by one!"
But at the same time he was secretly shocked and said, "Taichong, is your current strength enough to defeat the Black Mountain Demon?"
The fact that Taichong was able to successfully rescue the Queen's soul means that the Black Mountain Old Demon suffered a loss.
Li Daoxuan shook his head and said, "Not yet. This time, it's all thanks to the help of Xu Qingxuan and Xu Jianxian, and also the heavy rain."
“This rain…”
Li Shimin stared at the rain that had been falling for two hours, but there was no sign of decline. Instead, it was getting heavier.
There was a drought some time ago, and now there is heavy rain. The city of Chang'an is a little too restless.
"Your Majesty, this heavy rain was man-made. There is a huge conspiracy behind it."
Li Daoxuan closed his eyes and recalled everything that had happened during this period from beginning to end: the drought in Chang'an, Li Yuanji's resurrection, the eyes in the sky above Chang'an, the Fengshan ceremony, the water corpse ghost, Changle's disappearance, the "cross" given by the ghost cabinet, the strange heavy rain...
These things are like pearls, strung together by a thread and leading to an unknown situation.
Li Shimin frowned and said, "Recently, provincial governors in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins have reported that the water levels in their local rivers have been dropping, and they have asked the Bad People to investigate. Could this be related to this incident?"
After a pause, he sighed and said, "One wave has not yet subsided, another wave rises. I am afraid that rumors will spread again in this world, saying that I killed my brother and imprisoned my father, which aroused the wrath of the gods and sent down disasters one after another."
Li Daoxuan suddenly opened his eyes and a flash of lightning flashed through his mind.
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Li Shimin's words just now made him suddenly think of a possibility. If that possibility is true, then many things that are difficult to understand will become logical.
He looked at the heavy rain in front of him, his eyes solemn, and said: "Your Majesty, I have a request, I hope you can agree to it."
Li Shimin was stunned, and then immediately said: "Taichong saved Changle and the Queen. I have said before that no matter what you want, I can agree to it. It's okay to say it."
Li Daoxuan looked at him and said word by word: "I want to meet... the emperor."
Boom!
A flash of lightning illuminated Li Shimin's somewhat stunned eyes.
And at this moment, the cry of a baby was heard in Lizheng Hall.
…
Hongyi Palace.
On the night of heavy rain, the place became even more deserted. The retired emperor Li Yuan went to bed early, or rather... got drunk.
The once ambitious founding emperor is now gray-haired and imprisoned in the cold and damp Hongyi Palace, indulging in wine and sex every day, living a life of drunkenness and dreams.
It is hard to imagine that within a few years, he gave birth to more than thirty children.
You have to know that Li Yuan was already in his sixties at that time, and his vigorous energy was amazing, as if he had experienced the second spring of his life.
Li Yuan was extremely drunk tonight. There were empty wine jars all over the floor and the room was filled with a strong smell of alcohol.
He snored so loudly that he didn't even notice the arrival of others.
Li Shimin brought Li Daoxuan into the room, and looking at the mess on the floor, his expression looked a little unhappy.
Li Yuan was his father after all.
He was secretly relieved by the other party's extravagance, debauchery and drunkenness, but at the same time he felt a little upset, because his father was once a wise and powerful emperor.
Although the two broke up and became political enemies, the father-son relationship they had for more than 20 years was not fake.
"Taichong, why did you come to see the emperor?"
Li Shimin was puzzled and asked, "Do you suspect that the emperor was involved in the conspiracy of the Moro religion?"
Li Daoxuan walked forward and stared quietly at Li Yuan, who was lying drunk on the bed, with a deep gaze.
“It may not be impossible.”
Li Daoxuan stretched out his fingers and gestured up and down, forming a "cross".
"Your Majesty, I once asked Guichu why the dragon energy did not attack Yan'er in the palace, hoping to use this to infer the secret of how Moro avoided the dragon energy. As soon as Guichu wrote a cross, it was shattered by the sound of thunder and wind."
After a pause, he said coldly: "Maybe that's not the number ten, but the beginning of the character Li."
One horizontal and one vertical, aren’t those the first two strokes of the character “Li”?
Li Shimin's eyes flashed, and he immediately remembered Li Yuanji's matter. The dragon energy could not harm the direct bloodline of the Li Tang royal family. Now that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were both dead, and the crown prince Li Chengqian and Wei Wang Li Tai were very young, the only one left was...
"Your Majesty, in terms of the purity of bloodline, who in the world can compare to the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the retired emperor in front of you?"
Li Daoxuan's words shocked Li Shimin. Yes, in terms of the purity of royal blood, even he, the emperor, could not compare to the emperor emeritus.
"Taichong, but the emperor has been living in Hongyi Palace, guarded day and night, and has never gone out. He is drunk more often than sober in a day. How could he have the opportunity to participate in the Moro Cult's plan?"
Li Shimin raised his own doubts, which was also the biggest loophole in Li Daoxuan's speculation.
After ascending the throne, Li Shimin never relaxed his surveillance on his father, because he knew that Li Yuan still enjoyed considerable prestige in the court and among the people.
Therefore, everyone in the Hongyi Palace was his people. Except for the old eunuch who had followed Li Yuan for decades, even many of Li Yuan's concubines were Li Shimin's eyes.
After Li Yuanji was discovered pretending to be a palace maid, Li Shimin rushed to Hongyi Palace that night. He wanted to see the reaction of the retired emperor and even played a game of chess with him as a test.
As a result, he did not notice anything unusual about the emperor.
Li Daoxuan seemed to have an answer to Li Shimin's question in his mind, but he did not answer immediately. Instead, he waited quietly until footsteps were heard outside.
Wang Bo came with a group of bad guys and placed a statue in the temple.
"Your Majesty, the Imperial Master just sent a message to us to go look for this statue, and now I have obtained it."
Li Shimin looked at the statue with a hint of surprise in his eyes. He had never seen such a statue before.
It was a statue of a child about one foot tall, with a red bellyband, pigtails, and dark blue eyes without a trace of white, just like the deepest night.
He held a small jade seal in his left hand and a pair of black scissors in his right hand. His arms were covered with mysterious patterns, and he had an aura that was both good and evil.
"Your Majesty, this is the statue of the Nightmare Child. He was originally the son of the Lu family in Shanghe Village. By chance, he became a ghost baby with the ability to enter dreams. After being subdued by this poor Taoist, he was conferred the title of Nightmare Child by the Green-robed Lady and obtained the status of the Nightmare Child in the underworld."
"After becoming the Nightmare Child, it performed its duties diligently, specifically causing those who often did evil things to have nightmares. Over the years, it also gained a group of believers, and gradually people began to worship its statue."
Li Daoxuan explained to Li Shimin that he asked Wang Bo to borrow the statue of the nightmare child from the homes of the common people in Chang'an.
Then he took out a small copper bell from the Three Realms Gourd.
This is the Soul-Capture Bell, which was once a magic weapon used by Zhang Jiuxiao and his son to control the Nightmare Boy. Later, Li Daoxuan restored the Nightmare Boy's freedom and made connections so that he could be conferred the status of a god.
In order to thank Li Daoxuan for his kindness, Yan Tong specially gave this bell to Li Daoxuan, and said that no matter when and where, as long as Li Daoxuan rang the soul-capturing bell, he would come to help.
Li Daoxuan originally thought that he would never use this soul-catching bell, but unexpectedly, it could help him a lot .
"Your Majesty, you have too much dragon energy. Please leave the room first. I will cast a spell to summon the nightmare boy, and then go to the emperor's dream to find out what is going on."
Li Shimin's eyes flashed, and a chill suddenly surged in his heart.
In a dream!
Could it be that the emperor seemed to be living a life of drunkenness and dreams, but in fact he was just using the name of drunkenness to plot in his dreams?
This statement is ridiculous, but Li Shimin, who had experienced nightmares, knew better than anyone that people's dreams can be manipulated by magic and can even affect reality to a certain extent!
If the emperor really planned in his dream...
Li Shimin's heart sank. This could explain why the retired emperor drank every day and kept clamoring for better wine. It was not because he was debauched and decadent, but because it was used to numb him and... escape from the Taiji Palace!
Li Shimin left the room, looking a little dazed.
Li Daoxuan finally shook the soul-catching bell in his hand. The crisp sound of the bell echoed in the hall, with an inexplicable gloom. This was a very special sound wave that could attract dead souls and evil spirits.
After a moment, the candlelight in the room suddenly flickered, and the eyes of the statue moved slightly, beginning to become spiritual.
Immediately afterwards, a child's laughter rang in Li Daoxuan's ears.
