Volume 5: The Gathering of Storms Chapter 267: Xuanmen Tianzun (Part 1)
"Lord Lushan," Cai Kun said, looking at Li Ren on the judge's platform, "you are really good at hiding yourself! No wonder our internal guards have been monitoring you for so long and haven't found anything unusual about you!
"I never thought that you played such a big game in the underground game!"
"Hu..." Li Ren took a long breath and chanted quietly, "The upper Xuan will destroy the dissidents, and all gods will return to their origin. Cut off the nine gates above and destroy the flatterers below. If the Xuan has the Tao, it will be extremely mysterious; if the Xuan has no Tao, it will surely suffer a heavenly calamity!
"I never thought that Empress Lin's fate has not yet ended. My plans over the years have ultimately failed. Sigh... How sad! When will my Li Xuan Dynasty be able to ascend to the throne..."
"So..." Cai Kun asked, "You have been working hard and planning secretly for so many years just to want our emperor to rule the country personally? You..."
"When the hen crows at dawn, when did I, the Great Xuan, need a woman to rule the world?" Li Ren said bitterly, "The root cause of the Three Kings' Rebellion was this woman.
"If she hadn't frequently interfered in government affairs and disrupted the government, why would the three kings rebel?
"And I was almost killed along with my entire family just because I was close to them!" Li Ren said angrily, "That woman repeatedly whispered in my brother's ear, trying to force me to death. Fortunately, my brother and I had a deep brotherly relationship, so I escaped!
"Since then, I have learned a lesson: a tall tree attracts the wind, and if you show off too much, you will be suspected by the Queen Mother.
"So, I could only keep my tail between my legs and live my life cautiously, treading on thin ice.
"I didn't expect that my brother would die so early," Li Ren said. "After he left, how could I live a peaceful life? I asked to resign several times, but was rejected by Empress Lin.
“In the end, I was really forced into no other options, so I had to think of a way to indulge in alchemy to divert her attention and make her completely let down her guard.
"However, although I am terrified, I know clearly that there will be no way out if I don't resist. Our Li family will never be able to regain the power to rule the world.
"If I don't take action now, the world will be handed over to the Lin family. How can we face the ancestors of the Li family?
“So, long before I decided to retire, I had already thought of a plan to seize power. Queen Lin is too powerful and people are suspicious, so I must think of a foolproof plan and work hard to achieve it.
"I found a substitute in advance, and took advantage of my addiction to alchemy to exchange identities with him.
"From then on, he appeared in public for me to attract targets, while I hid underground and secretly established my Xuanmen organization to realize my grand plan."
"Xuanmen..." Xu Zun frowned and asked, "So... you took advantage of Xuanmen?"
"Yes," Li Ren pointed at the tall statue of Xuan Dao, "The remnants of Xuan Sect have always believed that they are the authentic Xuan Dao and have a deep hatred for Da Xuan. So, I decided to use them to create an organization that can fight against Queen Lin!"
"Well, Xu Zun, have you ever thought of this?" Li Ren looked at Xu Zun and said, "What about the slogans of Shangxuan's attack on the aliens and the gods' return to their origin? Those slogans were all made up by me!"
"Ah!?" Cai Kun shuddered and said, "So... So... You are Xuanmen Tianzun!!? How... How could this happen?"
"Cai Kun," Li Ren said with a grim smile, "Your inner guards have a fatal flaw, that is, too much external force and insufficient internal strength. From top to bottom, no one really has a brain!
"I, Xuanmen Tianzun, live in this Lushan Mansion, but you are completely unaware of it. This shows that you are all brainless people."
"You..." Cai Kun's beard was shaking with anger, but Li Ren was right, the internal security guards were indeed negligent in oversight.
"You..." Xu Zun was not thinking about these things, and immediately asked tentatively, "How did you use Qi Xiang'er?"
"Oh?" Li Ren was stunned, surprise in his eyes again, "How...how do you know her name? Oh..." After asking, he thought of something, "It seems that Queen Lin told you herself?
"She actually...even said this? This is not like her style."
" I know all about our past grudges," Xu Zun asked calmly, "Now I want to know, how did you use her?"
"It couldn't be simpler," Li Ren said, "I didn't take advantage of her, but her hatred for Queen Lin.
"The Qi family was implicated in the Three Kings' Rebellion and was exiled to the Yuanzhou Desert. If it weren't for Queen Lin's interference, the Qi family wouldn't have ended up like this.
"So, of course, we must make good use of this deep-rooted hatred!"
oh?
Xu Zun's heart tightened. Why was there a discrepancy between what Li Ren said and what Lin Hou said? He didn't know which one was lying.
"Oh...it turned out to be her..." At this time, Cai Kun remembered who Qi Xianger was.
"You mean... you went to Yuanzhou Desert to rescue Qi Xianger?" Xu Zun asked hurriedly.
"Of course," Li Ren said, "I have a substitute at home, so I can go anywhere.
“Qi Xiang’er is extremely smart, and her ancestors have inherited the art of refining medicine, so from the beginning, we decided to use medicine to achieve our grand plan!
"So, I secretly funded her and let her build a base in Yuanzhou," Li Ren said, "and test the ideal medicine at the same time.
" Later , we began to train assassins and expand our scale..."
"Then...what about Lu Jinlong and Ye Hanchen?" Xu Zun asked again.
"They are just like that," Li Ren said. "They all have a grudge against Queen Lin. I've said before that hatred is the best thing to use."
"So," Xu Zun asked, "besides Lu Jinlong and Ye Hanchen, there are other princes?"
"Haha..." Li Ren laughed, "You and I are both smart people, so just listen to what I say!"
"Okay," Xu Zun asked, "What about Bi Sheng? He was promoted by the Queen Mother. How did you use him? Does he have a grudge against the Queen Mother?"
"Perhaps..." Li Ren asked mysteriously, "Did Queen Lin misjudge the person?"
"There's no rush for this," Cai Kun said on the side, "Bi Sheng has been captured alive. We will interrogate him in person."
"You guys made such a big incident," Xu Zun asked, "just to assassinate the Queen Mother and let the Emperor rule? But... I was there at the time, and Qi Xiang'er didn't mean to kill the Queen Mother!"
"Really?" Li Ren was surprised. "She doesn't want to?"
"Yes," Xu Zun said, "If she wanted to, your tribulation would have been successful long ago! But she just wanted to take the Queen Mother away and let her have a taste of her."
"It's actually... like this..." Li Ren's face showed anger and unwillingness.
In fact, the reason why Xu Zun asked this was that he wanted to take the opportunity to test Li Ren's attitude and see if he knew the situation in the hall at that time.
If he knew, it means there are spies in the hall.
"So..." Xu Zun said, "You misjudged Qi Xiang'er's hatred, which led to the failure of your entire plan."
"Are you really..." Cai Kun had already sensed something was wrong and asked Li Ren again, "Did you set up such a big assassination just to get the Queen Mother to return power to His Majesty?"
"Why?" Li Ren asked back , "Do you think I have a simpler way? The reason why I want to use the Xuanmen rebels and make such a big noise is simply to let everyone know that it was the Xuanmen who assassinated the Queen Mother.
"Only by making such a big noise can my Li family regain control of Daxuan with peace of mind. Otherwise, those Lin family members and the princes and ministers will take the opportunity to cause trouble again!"
"Where's the tunnel?" Xu Zun asked, "The underground trench is several feet deep. You spent so much energy to find the underground passage . Is it worth it?"
"Of course it's worth it," Li Ren said, "If we don't let the Xuanmen rebels know that there is a way out, how can they willingly charge into the palace?"
"Lushan Gong..." Xu Zun pondered for a moment and asked, "Can you tell me your heavenly tribulation plan in detail?
"How about we analyze together where your problem lies?"
