Volume 5: The Gathering of Storms Chapter 268: Xuanmen Tianzun (Part 2)
"Many years ago, we were building a network of relationships with the Xuanmen, recruiting some officials in important positions and princes from various places," Li Ren said, "either by threatening them with evidence of their crimes or by using their hatred for Queen Lin to lure them into joining.
"I guess you have already guessed who these people are ," Li Ren said, "For example, the Minister of Works Ying Rang, the Minister of Personnel Yan Hai, the General of the Imperial Guard Chai Zheng, the Duke of Liang Xue Guihua, as well as the Transport Commissioner, the Supervisory Commissioner, the Prison Warden, etc., they are actually all our people!"
"What's the matter?" Xu Zun asked, "Isn't there any Shui Ling Cheng Cao Ding?"
"Yes," Li Ren replied, "This person has no desires or requests, and has no flaws. I can only send to his left and right to use him."
"Ah? Xue Guihua..." Cai Kun was deeply surprised, "Duke Liang is also one of yours?"
"Why not?" Li Ren said bitterly, "As the uncle of the late emperor, you have to look after Empress Lin 's eyes at every turn, groveling and bowing. Where is your dignity?"
"But...but..." Cai Kun asked excitedly, "Since he is your man, you...even kill your own people!?"
"So what?" Li Ren asked, "How many of your own people have been killed by the inner guards? Don't you know?"
"You!" Cai Kun asked angrily, "Tell me, besides those who were assassinated, who else is yours?"
Seeing that Cai Kun was angry, Xu Zun quickly gave him a look.
At times like this, you must never let the other party lead you astray, otherwise it will be difficult to get the truth out of them.
"Who else?" Li Ren smiled mysteriously, "Haven't you already captured Bi Sheng? I don't need to say more, you must know that there is definitely more than one Bi Sheng in the Holy City.
"The Three Judicial Departments, the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Five Prisons, the Divine Investigation Department, the Prince's Palace... hehe... you guys should check it out carefully !"
"Okay, we will investigate thoroughly." Xu Zun quickly took over the conversation and continued to ask, "Now that you have arranged these arrangements, the next step is to implement the heavenly tribulation?
"The first step is a large-scale assassination. Do you want to use the assassination to cause chaos in the Holy City?"
"That's right," Li Ren was brought back to his rhythm by Xu Zun. He immediately put away his smile and said angrily, "It's a pity that I... still underestimated the strength of Queen Lin. I thought that I would assassinate those who opposed her, so that I could arouse the indignation of the ministers and cause civil strife in the Holy City.
“For this reason, I deliberately caused the assassin who was trying to kill Xu Yusheng, the Minister of War, to fail, in order to arouse their mutual suspicion.
"We will wait until the Holy City is in chaos, then we will launch the Heavenly Tribulation. This way we can be sure of victory. But I didn't expect... Alas..." Li Ren sighed, his face showing depression, "Empress Lin actually brought out the emperor to block the bullets and shock the world. This move is really beyond my expectation!"
"So..." Xu Zun continued, "You changed the plan temporarily and asked the prison warden to create an explosion at Taiping Gate to attract the imperial guards into the city?"
"That's right," Li Ren said, "Only when there are more people can the magic medicine be most effective."
"That magical medicine..." Cai Kun asked, "How did you transport it into the Holy City?"
After asking, Cai Kun realized that he had asked a nonsense question. Since the Transport Envoy and the Yulin Guards were all from Xuanmen, then transporting a few boxes of medicine would not be a difficult task at all.
"The magic medicine was already in place several months ago," Li Ren said, stroking his graying beard, "and I placed it in various imperial army camps in preparation for the uprising.
"Actually..." he said sadly, "If this magical medicine wasn't so difficult to make, I would have wanted to bring it to the palace, or give it to ordinary people! The effect would naturally be better that way, but unfortunately...
“The raw materials for this medicine are too scarce. Even though we have been preparing for so many years, we have only made this much.
"Moreover, the drug's properties are extremely unstable," Li Ren added. "Sometimes it can kill people, and sometimes it can lose its effect."
"That's equivalent to..." Xu Zun asked again, "The Heavenly Tribulation has two lines. One is to use poison to create chaos; the other is to use the underground passage to sneak into Wanfu Palace and assassinate?"
"Yes," Li Ren said, "It's a pity that Qi Xiang'er disappoints me so much!
“I had agreed with her that if she saw Queen Lin and could confirm her identity, she should be killed immediately to eliminate the trouble forever.
"But in the end... she didn't do what I said... she... actually wanted to bring Queen Lin out..."
"Qi Xiang'er wanted revenge," Xu Zunyan said, "but your grand plan is to restore the Li family to the throne. The difference in concepts led to your failure!
"I just can't figure it out..." Xu Zun asked deliberately in a nonchalant manner, "How could you possibly know that there is a secret room in the main hall of Wanfu Palace?"
Hearing this, Li Ren paused for a moment, then stared at Xu Zun and smiled: "Haha... Shouldn't I be the one who knows about the secret room?"
This sentence does not mean that he did not say it. At least it shows that Li Ren did know that the Queen Mother would hide in that secret room.
"So..." Xu Zun immediately asked, "The emperor is supporting you behind all this?"
"Haha, you are really a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger," Li Ren glared at Xu Zun and said, "How dare you say such a thing!?"
"Xu Zun..." Cai Kun was so frightened that he quickly signaled to Xu Zun not to speak nonsense.
In fact, Xu Zun had a plan in mind. He had known for a long time that this matter had absolutely nothing to do with the emperor, because if the emperor was involved, there would be no need for them to make it so complicated.
All they had to do was find a way to poison the Queen Mother, or secretly send an assassin into the palace.
"Lord Lushan," Cai Kun said to Li Ren, "It's all over! You have failed utterly. Come back to the Inner Guard Palace with us!"
"Hmph!" Li Ren snorted coldly and did not move.
"Lushan Lord," Xu Zun signaled Cai Kun to wait for a moment, and then asked, "Why didn't I see Lu Jinlong and his men in this Tianjie operation? Where are they?"
“Maybe…” Li Ren smiled mysteriously, “After I die, Lu Jinlong will be the Heavenly Lord? Hahahaha…hahahahaha…”
After saying this, Li Ren laughed loudly towards the sky, a laughter that made people feel very uncomfortable.
"Stop laughing," Xu Zun said coldly, "Do you really think we will be fooled by you? You are not Xuanmen Tianzun at all!!!"
ah!?
When these words were spoken, everyone in the room was shocked.
Li Ren's laughter also stopped abruptly.
"At best, you are just the person in charge of the Heavenly Tribulation Plan. Perhaps, you can also be called the Taoist Master of Shengdu," Xu Zun said, "Your mission is just to support the Xuanmen rebels and ensure that they successfully complete their mission. You are definitely not the Taoist Master of Xuanmen!"
"You..." Li Ren's face flushed and he glared, "What right do you have to say that?"
"There were loopholes in your words just now," Xu Zun said, "You paused several times when using the words I and we.
"You originally wanted to say 'we', but then you thought that you would mislead us and make us think you were the Heavenly Lord of Xuanmen, so you changed it to 'I'!"
"You..." Li Ren was stunned, staring at Xu Zun in disbelief, "Just based on... just based on these two words?"
"You're exposed, right?" Xu Zun pointed at Li Ren and said, "Your reaction now proves that I guessed right! You are indeed not Xuanmen Tianzun..."
…
