Chapter 321: Secular Emotions

　　Shen Lian had stayed at River Deity Temple for one month long. During this time, Chen Jianmei had already left and gone back to the Temple of Killings.

　　The reason why he went to the River Deity Temple was because, firstly, he wanted to have the aid of divine region’s power to guard Ruoxi and secondly, he went there to pay back somebody.

　　At this moment, in River Deity Temple, Ruoxi already entered the Empress’ divine region and absorbing the river basin’s spiritual force non-stop. She operated Dream Heart Sutra that the old Daoist had passed to her to transform the part of Fairy Tianmeng’s into the butterfly dream.

　　Therefore, the Synchronized Heart Mantra of Taisu which was part of the divine thoughts that Fairy Tianmeng had sown, penetrated deeply into Ruoxi’s self-divine aura. But also because of the Dream Heart Sutra’s difficulty to differentiate between self and butterfly, it became a mixture of real and sham.

　　Just that if Ruoxi would want to Powang in the future, but it would be more difficult. But after all, it was worth celebrating.

　　Ruoxi entered into a state of spiritual calmness and did not mention a word about cultivation.

　　At this moment, the Empress was standing by the Qingshui River with Shen Lian. Her increasingly majesty was not distinct from the river. Moreover, if they were to enter the Empress divine region, even Shen Lian had to be at a disadvantage.

　　Nobody could neglect the power of sentient beings’ prayer within the thirty-thousand-miles perimeter.

　　The Empress waved her wide flocket, then there came an imperial seal on her hand. Above it, there was a clear golden Qi of clouds surrounding the seal, just like a cloud-dragon which had well-defined claws and fangs.

　　She spoke in an indifferent tone, “All these years we’ve been carrying out ceremonial cultivation for this person’s imperial seal that made it grew in spirituality. From then, it’s used to guard Dawei’s fortune of the nation. It could protect the country for at least a thousand years. This time I’d need to trouble you to bring it back to return to Xun Er, to make up for what I owe him.”

　　Shen Lian stared at the river water. Time passed like a river which flowed unconsciously, and it left no room for regret at all.

　　He sighed softly and said, “Zhao Xun wasn’t supposed to have the emperor’s destiny. This time I help him to change his destiny, I’m not sure if it’s considered a good or a bad thing to him.” To borrow the imperial seal, Shen Lian had to owe Zhao Xun a favor.

　　At that time, his Shushu calculation was already remarkable, he could already predict what was going to happen. However, because of this, he changed the Emperor’s destiny, and thus now it would be difficult to predict if it would be prosperity or disaster.

　　He could read and even change the destinies of secular mortals.

　　There was nothing to be afraid at this moment. He was not afraid of the destiny nor punishment from ancestors.

　　After all, going against God’s will for immortality was the biggest defiance towards the destiny. For cultivators, the way to achieve immortality was not to base it on their destinies but their own effort to fight for it.

　　If you chose to believe in your destiny, that would mean you denied the hardships in the past.

　　Of course, there must be a way things operated in the world. Destiny was only one biggest possibility in the future.

　　When this possibility was being read like a book, it could definitely be changed. But of course, it depended on the power of the change, whether it would be able to control whether the destiny was on the fixed path.

　　Shen Lian definitely had the power to control the secular kingdom’s rise and fall.

　　The Empress scoffed, “Hopefully when he’s been through this, he would understand the meaning behind continuous self-improvement, or else he isn’t qualified to be my son.”

　　Shen Lian smiled. After all, the Empress still had feelings, she still never broke away from the secular relationships.

　　He took over the imperial seal and said, “I’ll go first.”

　　Dawei, the Capital City, inside the imperial palace.

　　The present Majesty, Zhao Xun was in Qinzheng Hall. Ever since he succeeded to the throne, he was conscientious. He eliminated all the contemptuous and lenient courtiers since the Empress’ dynasty.

　　Nevertheless, even if he was generous, he could not stop the fight that was getting more and more heated up in the dynasty.

　　The root cause of this problem was his sister, Princess Yingyang and the Crown Prince, Zhao Xiang who were incompatible with water and fire.

　　Princess Yingyang took over the entire political assets that the Empress had left behind. Besides, she was also born with good leadership skills and thus there were many courtiers who were her followers.

　　Since Zhao Xun was born, he was already used to the hideous royal fights which trampled family love.

　　Thus, he could not bear to eliminate Princess Yingyang.

　　Moreover, he also felt that there were checks and balances between Princess Yingyang and the Crown Prince. For him, this was a better situation.

　　Moreover, it was difficult to be Crown Prince. The Crown Prince, Zhao Xiang was too strong. If the power given to him was too much, Zhao Xun would feel uneasy, but if the power given to him was too little, it would make his son feel wronged.

　　If there was Princess Yingyang to check and balance the Crown Prince, he would feel more relieved and he would not have to impose too many restrictions on the Crown Prince.

　　All these years, he had been acting as a peacemaker for both parties. Because the two of them did not dare to offend him, hence it was definitely arbitrary and he also felt more relaxed.

　　As for the fact that the Crown Prince suddenly launched an attack, he was not aware of it in advance.

　　The moment when the Crown Prince invaded the Imperial City, Zhao Xun already understood that his sister, Princess Yingyang should already fall into the hands of the Crown Prince. Or else if there was Princess Yingyang, the Crown Prince would not dare to defy the universal will to lead the army to invade the Imperial City.

　　This was certainly his good son, so brilliant and so decisive.

　　Zhao Xun had even thought of abdicating but he was not satisfied. He did not hope that Zhao Xiang would force him to the demise of the crown. Because if Zhao Xiang could force him to abdicate, in the future his grandchildren would also do the same to Zhao Xiang.

　　How much tragedy would the suspicion between father and son cause?

　　He held the jade that he had been wearing, and called for Shen Lian in a low voice.

　　The jade gave out slight heat. He was unsure if Shen Lian could make it in time to be there but that was the only thing he could bet on.

　　Moreover, the Crown Prince still did not realize one thing which was the imperial jade seal was taken away by Shen Lian and had not been returned yet. When Zhao Xiang discovered about this, it could still be able to delay him for a while.

　　After all, even though there was an artificial imperial seal, it only imitated the imperial seal’s carved words. In the enthronement ceremony, it was definitely impossible to get by with the artificial imperial seal.

　　The imperial army outside of Qinzheng Hall could not stand for long. A moment later, the Crown Prince entered the Qinzheng Hall, holding a precious sword.

　　Zhao Xun stared at his Crown Prince while smiling, “Is Xiang Er here to take my life?”

　　Zhao Xiang’s stunning eyebrows slightly jerked, then he spoke respectfully, “I’m here to get rid of the ‘evil’ courtiers around you. Princess Yingyang had been planning for a revolution and so I’ve executed a majority of the rebels. I was afraid that it might have bothered Your Majesty, so I quickly send over some escorts.”

　　Zhao Xun sighed, “Since when have you become so subtle?”

　　Zhao Xiang said, “I don’t dare.”

　　“This country will be handed to you sooner or later, why are you so nervous about it?” Zhao Xun’s eyes were cold while staring at his Crown Prince.

　　The Crown Prince was not afraid at all and he did not avoid the Emperor’s stare, and he said, “Your Majesty has been working so hard for the country. I can’t bear looking at Your Majesty being so stressful, I’d like to share your burdens. Please don’t worry Your Majesty, you can relax and enjoy your remaining years.”

　　Zhao Xun sighed, “You’ve already planned everything. However, this country only belongs to you if I give it to you. If I don’t give it to you, you can’t think of owning it, do you understand?”

　　Zhao Xiang said in a loud voice, “I don’t understand.”

　　He abruptly stared at his father. The gaze was just like the Empress in those days, but it was merely just similar.

　　Somebody said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, you should just say you understand this.”

　　Suddenly there was a long rhythmic weapon landing sound.

　　A delicate youngster with feathered clothing and star crown stepped into Qinzheng Hall when the weapons landed the ground. There were thousands of imperial army outside and suddenly none could move at all.

　　Zhao Xiang said, “You’re really here in time, mister.”

　　The youngster laughed, “It’s not that I’m in time, I’m already here long ago.”