Liu Donghuai returned to the Imperial Study to explain the situation. Emperor Mingde listened and said calmly, "I'll give her one year. Tu Lang will accompany her. After a year, she will return to the palace and marry!"
Lingxi liked to ask Tang, he knew this, but he understood Wen Tang best. Besides Lingyao, his heart could not accommodate anyone else.
Even if she found him, it would be of no use, it would only make her completely give up.
As Liu Donghuai left, he encountered a group of people on the palace road.
It was several guards escorting a strange young man in black.
The youth was no more than twenty. His face was stern, and his eyes were bottomless, exuding an ancient chill. Why was he considered strange?
Because a golden lotus was carved on his forehead. No, it wasn't carved, it seemed to have grown from his flesh. Occasionally, golden light would flow through it. He wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
The youth glanced at Liu Donghuai. He felt an immense, mountain-like heaviness pressing upon him.
Who was this person?
How strange.
His eyes and face were terrifyingly cold, yet the golden lotus on his forehead was dazzling and fervent, giving a sense of illuminating all beings.
It was a bit incongruous.
The guards were very respectful to him, guiding him and explaining something as they headed towards the Imperial Study.
Then, they saw the commander of the guards, Lei Hua, hurrying to meet them.
Liu Donghuai withdrew his gaze and saw Princess Lingxi squatting by the palace wall, waiting for him, hugging her knees, curled up, lost in thought, like a lost child.
Alas, she was a princess, why was she so fixated on someone who didn't love her?
At this moment, in the Imperial Study, Emperor Mingde was listening to the guards' report, his gaze fixed on the young man in black.
He was originally a fool from a local village. He came down from Mount Changyun, and suddenly a golden lotus appeared on his forehead. His eyes became sharp and bright, and he was no longer foolish, but he couldn't speak.
After he came down, the golden light that had surrounded Mount Changyun also disappeared?
The golden lotus, the red lotus, did he have any connection with his imperial sister?
Emperor Mingde beckoned Lei Hua, "Go and invite Master Kongji to the palace."
Master Kongji, who had been traveling for many years, had returned to the capital two days ago. It was rumored that he was an enlightened monk, and they wanted to see if he could discern anything.
"Divine Maiden, where is she?"
The youth suddenly spoke, his voice like ice, his tone stiff, as if he had just learned to speak.
Emperor Mingde was surprised, "He can speak?"
The guards exchanged glances. The person who had been silent all the way to the Emperor actually spoke. Was it that they were not worthy?
The youth stared coldly at Emperor Mingde, as if awaiting his answer.
On the way, he had heard most of the languages of this world. They were very simple, and he could speak after a little practice.
This mortal body was better developed than others, which was why he was willing to speak to him.
"What is your relationship with the Divine Maiden?"
Emperor Mingde felt his scalp tingle under the youth's gaze. Those eyes were like a vortex, like an unfathomable ancient well, making him feel apprehensive.
'Ge' referred to a type of house in this world.
'Ge xia', under the house?
What was the relationship between someone under the house and the Divine Maiden?
The youth's expression grew colder, and the golden lotus on his forehead emitted a dazzling golden light. A powerful pressure emanated from him.
Emperor Mingde and the guards turned pale with pain.
This feeling, this feeling... was so similar to the energy emitted by the divine altar in the past!
He and his imperial sister...
Emperor Mingde looked at the youth before him in shock, and gasped with difficulty, "The Divine Maiden is out sightseeing and is not in the palace at the moment. Can you sense where she is?"
The youth restrained his annoyance and continued to stare at Emperor Mingde.
If he could sense her, why would he have come all this way? Didn't they say the Divine Maiden was in the palace?
It was too strange. A'yin had spiritual energy, he should be able to sense it.
Since she was not here, he had no reason to stay. He turned and strode out of the Imperial Study.
"Your Majesty..." the guards looked at Emperor Mingde.
Emperor Mingde clutched his chest, which felt tight, "Follow him!"
The youth walked onto the palace road and looked around. The layered pavilions and the stone lions lined up on the sides. Compared to what he had seen along the way, this place was still the most spacious.
Did A'yin live here before?
It was just too quiet. She, who was so timid, should not like such a desolate environment.
He had been deceived by these people and had come all this way for nothing, which made him very unhappy.
The golden lotus between the youth's brows flashed, and he opened his right hand. A golden flame erupted from his palm. Under the terrified gaze of Emperor Mingde and the guards behind him, he swung it towards the stone lions on both sides.
"Rumble—"
The sky shook and the earth trembled, and smoke and dust flew everywhere.
The stone lions, which had stretched for nearly three miles to Xuanhe Gate, all shattered into powder.
"Protect the Emperor!" Rows of guards rushed towards them, and the palace was thrown into chaos.
The youth's figure had already disappeared into the mist.
Emperor Mingde's face was ashen, and he was so shaken that he couldn't speak. He was even more convinced that this person had a very deep connection with Lingyao, but his power was even greater, so great that any power before him was like dust and ashes.
With a wave of his hand, it vanished.
Master Kongji arrived in a hurry amidst the swirling dust and smoke.
"Your Majesty, this person carries the Golden Lotus of Merit, which is a great fortune bestowed upon the Jing Kingdom!"
Emperor Mingde looked at the excited Kongji. As far as he knew, Kongji was already the foremost monk of the Jing Kingdom during his grandfather's reign and held immense prestige. When his father ascended the throne, he was already over seventy years old when he left the capital to travel.
Nearly twenty years had passed since then, making him over ninety.
The monk before him looked at most fifty or sixty years old, with kind eyebrows and benevolent eyes, white eyebrows and a ruddy face, and bright eyes and large ears.
He was indeed an enlightened monk, with the countenance of the Buddha.
"However," Kongji continued, "there seems to be a miasma of impurity surrounding him, and the light of the Golden Lotus is not entirely pure."
"Then what should be done?"
Was this the reason he destroyed the stone lions?
"It can only be refined slowly."
One night and one day, staying up and guarding.
Lingyao finally began to eat. No matter how unwilling she was, she could not resist the protests of her stomach, which was screaming as if it would tear her apart.
Otherwise, she would have hallucinations again.
"I want to go to Dongfeng Restaurant to eat my spoils."
After eating a few steamed buns, she smacked her pale and tasteless lips and said this to Xiao Shan, who was following her closely.
"Go!"
As long as she became lively again, he would buy the restaurant if necessary and let her eat there every day.
"Then carry me, I have no strength." Lingyao spread her arms.
He had been very good these past two days, washing her and even kissing her.
It was just that his beard was a bit prickly.
"Carry!"
Xiao Shan scooped her up with his long arms, and Lingyao sat in his embrace, her arms wrapped around his neck, feeling perfectly secure.
He weighed her, estimating in his heart, "About 38 jin. After we finish eating, I'll weigh you again to see how much you eat in one meal."
"You didn't even weigh me, I don't believe you."
"Don't disbelieve me. Before, when I hunted, the estimated weight and the actual weight were off by at most two liang. This is all trained. Your weight is about the same as a two-month-old wild boar."
Lingyao bared her teeth and tugged his ear, "How dare you compare me to a wild boar, you big black bear!"