Chapter 689: Bloodshed in Wanxiang Tower, Shocking Daming Palace
After many years, Li Daoxuan met the legendary empress again.
Unlike the bullied Wu Ruyi when they first met, she is now the most powerful woman in the Tang Empire, the almighty queen.
The Wu brothers who bullied her in the past all died on the way to exile, and their descendants all worshipped her like a god and tried their best to please her.
However, just like before, Wu Zetian, who had become the empress of heaven, put on a lot of pretense when she met him.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wu Zetian bowed and saluted deeply to the figure in white.
"Wu Ruyi has seen the Immortal Venerable. This bow is to thank you for giving me the elixir that year. If it weren't for you, my mother might not have survived that summer."
"In fact, sometimes, Ruyi also wonders, if I had chosen to practice with you back then, would everything be different now?"
When these words were spoken, others were shocked.
Did the Queen of Heaven have seen the Imperial Master when she was young? Was she also given an elixir by the Imperial Master?
Even the national teacher is willing to accept the Queen as his disciple?
Even Shangguan Wan'er, who had been following Wu Zetian for many years, widened her eyes. She never expected that the Queen Mother had such a secret.
She was very envious and wondered why such an opportunity didn't fall upon her.
If it were her, she would definitely choose to practice with the national teacher. Prince Chen is an example. Not only does he hold a high position and great powers, he is also as beautiful as a fairy at the age of seventy. He is truly enviable.
"It's a pity that you and I will never be master and apprentice."
Li Daoxuan sighed softly, and the image of the stubborn and intelligent girl from that year appeared in front of him. For a moment, it was difficult to associate her with the queen in front of him who had white hair and wrinkles and looked majestic.
Upon hearing this, Wu Zetian bowed again.
"This time, I am not bowing to the Immortal Lord of the past, but to the Imperial Master of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Daoxuan asked curiously, "What's the difference?"
Wu Zetian stared at Li Daoxuan. Although she had no spiritual power, she was extremely majestic. As a woman, there was an indescribable imperial aura in her every move.
"Li Daoxuan, the Imperial Master of the Tang Dynasty, helped the previous emperor to eliminate evil spirits and usher in a prosperous era. He made unprecedented contributions. He has come out of hiding several times and saved the country from collapse. He has done a great favor to the country!"
"I am your majesty's queen, the empress of the Tang Dynasty. Now that I have met the Imperial Master, I should pay my respects to him."
"The former worships the Immortal Lord as a personal favor, while the latter worships the National Master as a favor to the family and the country."
Her words were frank and grand. She was able to remain neither humble nor arrogant in front of Li Daoxuan, fully displaying the demeanor of a queen.
There was a hint of amusement in Li Daoxuan's eyes.
Wu Zetian is worthy of being Wu Zetian. She seems to be worshipping herself and giving her enough face, but in fact she has ulterior motives.
First of all, he talked about the kindness shown in the past, which was touching.
Then she pointed out her identity, that she was the queen of Li Zhi and the empress of the Tang Dynasty. Although Li Daoxuan was the imperial teacher and had done a great favor to Li Tang, he still had to show her some respect and not take things to the extreme.
Unfortunately, Li Daoxuan didn't buy it.
"Wu Ruyi, let me ask you, do you still remember what you promised me that year?"
"Remember, you are not allowed to enter the Tang Palace in this life."
"Since you remember, why do you break your promise?"
There was a ripple in Wu Zetian's voice, as if she saw the scene before she entered the palace. Her eyes fixed and she said firmly, "Because I have no choice."
Li Daoxuan was a little surprised.
"Your Excellency may not know that after I returned to the human world, I was still bullied by the Wu brothers, but at least I managed to survive until the winter of the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, when they wanted to marry me off."
Although Wu Zetian was a legitimate daughter, she could not inherit Wu Shihuo's title and wealth. After her father's death, her fate was controlled by her clansmen.
She has been well-read in history books since childhood, and is intelligent and knowledgeable. How could she be willing to marry a mediocre person?
It would be better to kill her.
So that winter, she made a decision on her own - to enter the palace!
Since I have to get married anyway, I might as well marry a great hero and fight for a future in the harem of the Tang Dynasty.
"Immortal Lord, I was completely hopeless at that time, and suddenly I remembered what you said, that I will never be allowed to enter the Tang Palace in this lifetime."
"At that time, I understood that Tang Palace, and only Tang Palace, was my only way out!"
Her voice suddenly became high-pitched, and her eyes shone with a compelling look.
To this day, she still believes that it was the best decision she ever made in her life.
Li Daoxuan looked at her with a half-smile and said, "So you entered the Tang Palace under my guidance?"
"Ruyi doesn't dare. Ruyi just tells the truth and doesn't dare to hide anything."
Li Daoxuan took a sip of wine and sighed, "Yuan Tiangang once saw Taibai appear in the daytime and calculated that the female leader, King Wu, would rule the world. To be honest, you are that King Wu."
Hearing this, Wu Zetian's eyes became brighter, like stars in the sky.
As expected, I am destined to rule the Tang Dynasty, and even... become the emperor!
"Originally I didn't intend to get involved in these matters. Whether you enter the Tang Palace or not has nothing to do with me, but..."
Li Daoxuan looked at her and sneered.
"The cruel officials under your command do not distinguish between right and wrong and commit numerous crimes. The sons of the Wu family you appointed killed people north of the Yellow River and caused rivers of blood to flow. The bodies of the people even filled up the local valleys. How do you explain all this?"
Wu Zetian's face turned slightly pale, but she remained calm and said, "As I said before, Ruyi has no choice."
"I am a woman. If a woman wants to hold power and be above all men, she must resort to extraordinary means."
"I know that cruel officials are notorious, and I also know that the Wu family's children are not worthy of their positions and their talents are unfit for use, but I must use them, because only by using them can I survive and get what I want!"
Her voice was sonorous and powerful. Although she was already 67 years old, she still had a lot of energy, which shocked many people.
Facing Li Daoxuan, Wu Zetian knew that concealing and perfunctory responses were useless, so she chose to be frank and express her true feelings.
"Those who have achieved great things since ancient times have all stepped on piles of bones and mountains of blood and corpses. Which of those men who became emperors can be much cleaner than me, Wu Ruyi?"
She raised her head with a hint of pride in her eyes, her golden phoenix robe fluttering in the night wind, like a disdainful phoenix.
"For thousands of years, countless men have sat on the emperor's throne. I want to sit on it as a woman!"
"The Qin Emperor can sit on it, the Wu Emperor can sit on it, the Taizong Emperor can sit on it, why can't I, Wu Ruyi, sit on it?"
Her words were passionate, confident, and inspiring, and they were so contagious that they made the hearts of the soldiers and the bad guys tremble.
At this moment, she no longer concealed her ambition that had been buried for many years. She wanted to be the emperor, and she was willing to risk everything for it!
In fact, if it weren't for a thorn like Changle, she would have ascended the throne and become the first empress in the world long ago.
Hearing her words, Li Daoxuan nodded slightly.
No matter what, Wu Zetian was able to become the only female emperor in history, which shows that she had the courage. She was the reincarnation of the true spirit of the Queen Mother of the West, and she had her own extraordinary qualities.
"My Immortal, if you don't give up, and if you wish to rule the Tang Dynasty with you like Taizong did in the past, I can even worship you as my imperial teacher and treat you respectfully as a student!"
She even extended an olive branch to Li Daoxuan.
As long as Li Daoxuan is willing to help her, then all problems will not be a problem.
Li Daoxuan took a sip of wine and said calmly: "I can't be the imperial teacher, and you can't be the emperor either."
Wu Zetian shuddered and asked, "Why? Is it possible that even the Immortal Venerable is obsessed with the prejudice between men and women?"
Li Daoxuan shook his head and said, "I just don't like making friends with someone who does whatever it takes."
No matter what your difficulties are, the bodies of those people north of the Yellow River who were slaughtered like pigs and dogs are lying there quietly, dyeing the Yellow River red.
The bodies of those good officials who had real talents and knowledge and loved the people like their own children were lying quietly in the dungeons of cruel officials.
If it weren't for Li Daoxuan, perhaps Di Renjie in this world would have died in Pengze County.
Wu Zetian wanted to say something, but then a figure rushed out. It was Zhang Zongchang. He stood on the edge of the tower, looked at Wu Zetian and cursed: "Evil Queen, do you still remember my face?"
In the moonlight, his face was full of pits and blood, and he looked like a ghost.
"In order to turn me into the Imperial Master so that you could trick Prince Chen into poisoning him and realize your fantasy of becoming the Empress, you had Shangguan Wan'er cut off the flesh and blood of countless men and put them on my face."
After a pause, he pointed at his bloody face, his eyes becoming more and more crazy.
"Three thousand nine hundred and forty-seven knives!"
"Including tonight, Shangguan Wan'er has cut my face a total of 3,947 times. It's been six years, and I've counted every single one!"
The people below immediately gasped and felt a chill.
More than three thousand knives, how painful would that be?
You know, that was Zhang Zongchang, also known as Zhang Liulang, who was always famous for his handsome appearance.
Someone once exaggerated that Zongchang was beautiful, like a lotus. Others retorted that it was not that Liulang was like a lotus, but that the lotus was like Liulang.
How could Zhang Zongchang look like a lotus at all now? It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a fierce ghost.
"You think you can threaten me by poisoning me and controlling my family?"
There was a flash of resentment in Zhang Zongchang's eyes. At the beginning, he even liked Wu Zetian a little. Although she was a little older and had some odor, she could bring him tremendous power. The majesty of the queen also fascinated him and he wanted to bow down at her feet.
But as the cold blade cut his face again and again, after 3,947 heart-wrenching tortures, he fell completely into madness.
Fuck the Queen, fuck the family.
Zhang Zongchang's only purpose in living is revenge!
"Hahahaha, Demon Queen, do you really think that everyone will be willing to work for you?"
"Today, I, Zhang Zongchang, will tell everyone in the world about the dirty things you did!"
Wu Zetian's expression changed.
Zhang Zongchang laughed wildly and said, "People down there, do you know why the emperor never dies even though he's been seriously ill for many years?"
"Quick, where are the Yulin soldiers? Shoot this guy to death and don't let him slander Your Majesty!"
Wu Zetian's voice suddenly became a little sharp, and she pointed at Zhang Zongchang and shouted loudly.
But no one dared to move, and everyone around was as silent as a mouse.
Just because of the figure in white drinking quietly on the top of the tower.
The Bad Guys and Zhelong were even more direct. They all showed their magical weapons. If the Yulin Army dared to make any unusual movement, they would be killed instantly.
Zhang Zongchang was brought up there by the Imperial Master, and the fact that he could stand there and speak at this moment was tacitly approved by the Imperial Master.
The old man hasn't said anything yet, so how could he allow the demon queen to interrupt?
If it was Li Zhi who was here, with the power of the legitimate emperor of Li Tang, they would be much more wary of him. What would a mere Wu family be?
Zhang Zongchang continued to shout loudly: "That's because the emperor in the Purple Palace is a fake, and his face is also pieced together from countless dead bodies!"
"The real Son of Heaven has long been dead, and his body is buried under the foundation of this Wanxiang Palace!"
Boom!
These words were like thunderbolt, shocking everyone and making it hard for them to believe their ears.
Only Li Daoxuan continued to drink quietly, seemingly not surprised.
"The Wanxiang Palace was built to suppress the dragon energy of the Tang Dynasty. The emperor's body is buried underneath so that the demon queen's golden phoenix can continue to devour the dragon energy and grow stronger. The energy will then feed back to her, eventually helping her to ascend the throne and usurp the Tang Dynasty and establish her own kingdom!"
In an instant, Wu Zetian's face turned pale, she clenched her fists, and her nails pierced into the flesh.
In a trance, she seemed to have returned to the first year of Hongdao, the day when the 55-year-old Li Zhi died of a stroke in the Zhenguan Hall of Ziwei Palace.
Contrary to some rumors, Wu Zetian did not poison him, she had done her best to take care of him.
But just like Emperor Taizong back then, the emperor’s life span is determined by heaven, not by man.
She did not announce the news, but chose to block it.
Because King Chen is still here!
The main reason she was able to challenge Prince Chen and control the government was because of Li Zhi's support. If Li Zhi died, Prince Chen would definitely let her return power to the new emperor, and she, the queen, would soon become an outdated empress dowager.
But she also knew that she could hide it for a while, but not forever.
Moreover, she and Li Zhi had been married for decades, so it would be absolutely false to say that they had no feelings for each other. She could not bear to watch her husband's body rot and stink.
Until one person showed up uninvited.
The Taoist Ming Chongyan.
He held the Book of Man in his hand and presented a copy.
Using the method of painted skin in "The Book of Man", she created another puppet emperor. At the same time, she secretly buried Li Zhi's body in the palace, built a high tower to suppress it, and created a golden phoenix on top to devour Li Tang's dragon energy, which would help Wu Zetian ascend the throne in the future.
She felt angry at first, but the words "ascend the throne to become emperor" echoed in her mind like a spell.
In the end she chose to agree, for the same reason.
She had no choice.
Although she has enjoyed great glory as a queen over the years , she has also made too many enemies. Once she falls, those enemies in the open and in the dark will rush out eagerly to eat her flesh and drink her blood.
So even though she attached great importance to the Wanxiang Temple, she seldom came here herself.
Because she felt ashamed to see Li Zhi who was buried under the tower.
"Demon Queen, you think you are in control of everything, but have you ever thought that even you are just a pawn in the hands of others?"
Zhang Zongchang laughed loudly, like a madman, and his voice sounded very happy.
He has waited for this moment for too long.
Next, he did something that countless people did not expect.
He held a dagger and stabbed it into his chest, cutting open his flesh and blood, and pulling out the throbbing bright red heart.
"This is the last one, Demon Queen. Your doom has come!"
"Hahaha, I'll wait for you in hell!"
As he said this, he leaped off the tower, his body fell to the ground and was broken into pieces, even his beating heart was broken into two halves, blood splattered everywhere.
