Same night.
Zhao Yan, who was far away in Jicheng, the capital of Dayan, also had a nightmare.
She dreamed that she was riding a horse and sent Gu Xu to Jingu, and watched him board a merchant ship and sail toward the distance.
However, the merchant ship had just traveled less than a mile when it suddenly caught fire.
Raging fire jumped up from the merchant ship, reflecting the sea red, like a sea of fire in hell.
And the ship quickly burned, became limp, and blackened until it turned into ashes.
Only then did she realize that it was actually a boat made of paper!
She stood on the shore with a dazed expression, reaching out to rub her wet eyes. Sadness sprouted in her heart and grew vigorously like bamboo shoots in the spring rain.
After a while, she finally came to her senses.
"There's obviously no one I know on this boat," she thought, "but why am I so sad?"
…………
When she woke up in the morning, the red bloodshot eyes in Zhao Yan's eyes were clearly visible.
She was in a depressed mood, too lazy to dress up, so she put on some casual clothes, left the palace, mounted the horse "Big Red", and headed to the Fire Temple accompanied by several guards.
Since becoming the monarch of Dayan, she has gone to the Fire Temple to pray every morning.
Seeing her behavior, the citizens of Dayan sighed that the king was indeed the reincarnation of a saint, and her pious attitude towards the gods was far beyond ordinary people.
But only Zhao Yan herself knew that the reason why she went to the Fire Temple every day was just because she wanted to see a certain bastard and pray that he would be safe and sound while searching for the fragments of the magic weapon, and that he would not lose his life easily.
But today, when she walked under the statue of the God of Fire, her mind suddenly went blank.
Today's idols seem to have become very strange.
Its face is as unclear as ever, but for some reason, it lacks some of the familiarity of the past.
Zhao Yan took a deep breath, turned and left the Fire Temple under the surprised gazes of the guards.
At this moment, she felt empty in her heart, as if something important was missing. She thought about it, but she still couldn't figure it out.
When she walked out of the gate of the Fire Temple, a soldier hurried to her and reported to her: "Your Majesty, there is an alchemist from Hedong requesting to see you. He said that as the leader of the Luoshui Assembly, your Majesty, His extraordinary style impressed him. He hopes that you can give him a chance to serve you."
It turns out that I was the leader of the "Luoshui Conference"?
Zhao Yandai frowned slightly, and after thinking for a while, she found that this was indeed the case in her memory.
She remembered that at the end of the Luoshui Conference, she and a Feng Shui master named "Bai Chen" competed for "Silver Wine".
With a short time difference, she was the first to grab the "Silver Liquor" and was transported to the royal treasury. But "Bai Chen" actually built a space channel and followed her into the inner treasury.
At that time, she discovered that Bai Chen was not actually a real human monk, but the "Ghost Attendant" of the Ghost King of Mangshan.
However, because the Mangshan Ghost King had reached an agreement with her father in advance, it did not attack her. Instead, after obtaining the "Jingshan Bi", the Great Chu State Seal it wanted, it went straight to the imperial city.
Zhao Yan successfully awakened her bloodline with the help of fragments of "Flint" in the royal family's inner treasury, and obtained the dazzling and powerful fire phoenix wings...
The whole thing seemed to make sense.
But subconsciously, Zhao Yan always felt that something important was missing in this process.
This feeling made her very awkward and uncomfortable.
"Let him wait for me in the main hall!" Zhao Yandan ordered after a moment of silence.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" the soldier bowed.
…………
This morning, Shangguan Jin rarely had any free time. While the sun was shining brightly and the wind was gentle, I wandered around the streets of Luojing, thinking about using my new salary to buy myself some new rouge, perfume, and jewelry.
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Nowadays, the streets and alleys are plastered with portraits of the bandit and the "King of Swordsmen" Li Batian.
Every time he saw the bearded and ferocious man in the portrait, Shangguan Jin couldn't help but sigh. This Li Ba was so talented that he actually forced the court to spend a lot of effort to arrest him. Recently, even saints and strong men were dispatched. .
As she walked, she unknowingly entered an alley that was quiet in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
This alley is called "Goldfish Alley". It is not far from Luohe River. It is surrounded by green trees and the air is fresh and pleasant. Many dignitaries from Luojing City, including Princess Zhaoning, Prince Xin'an, Prince Yiyang, The ministers of the Ministry of Industry and others all live nearby.
A family in Goldfish Lane is moving today.
Shangguan Jin recognized that this was the family of Luojing Prefecture Yin Yang Jiong. The destination they moved to was a house with a black and bright door and a foot-high doorstep - "No. 22, Goldfish Lane".
This mansion felt very familiar to Shangguan Jin.
But she thought about it, but she couldn't remember which acquaintance had lived here.
"Sir Shangguan, long time no see!"
At this time, Yang Jiong, the fat and fat Luojing governor, came forward and greeted Guan Jin enthusiastically with a smile on his face.
Luojing Prefecture Yin is a fourth-rank official, and Exorcist Division Doctor is a fifth-rank official—in terms of official rank alone, Yang Jiong is one rank higher than Shangguan Jin.
However, in the Daqi Dynasty, practitioners had a transcendent status, and Shangguan Jin was still working beside Luo Chuan, the head of the exorcism department. Her words and deeds may very well represent the thoughts of the head of the exorcism department.
Therefore, in front of her, Yang Jiong, a mortal, behaved respectfully and flattered her like a torrential river, without saying anything different.
Shangguan Jin pondered for a moment and raised the doubt in his heart: "Mr. Yang, from whom did you buy this mansion?"
"It was awarded to me by the imperial court," Yang Jiong said proudly after hearing her words. "A few days ago, I uncovered a few of Li Batian's men hiding in Luojing and destroyed their secrets. Stronghold. In order to reward my contribution, the imperial court gave me this house."
"Then... what about before this?" Shangguan Jin frowned and then asked, "Has anyone else lived here before?"
"Before..." Yang Jiong touched his chin and tried hard to search for the answer in his memory, "Oh, I remembered. This place originally belonged to Lou Licheng, the former minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but he was expelled from the imperial court for corruption, perverting the law, and accepting bribes. He was dismissed from office and his house was confiscated."
Shangguan Jin thought for a moment and remembered that a corrupt official named Lou Licheng was indeed convicted by the court not long ago.
But in her mind, the man's face was unclear.
She couldn't even remember that person's age, place of origin, which year he was admitted as a Jinshi, what official positions he had held...
For Shangguan Jin, who is well versed in official affairs, this is undoubtedly something very wrong.
But after a few seconds, her memory suddenly became clear.
She remembered that Lou Licheng was a gray-haired old man from Qinzhou Prefecture. He had passed the examination more than thirty years ago. His wife died young and his son died young. He was dismissed from office by the court for corruption last winter and was exiled to southern Xinjiang. However, due to poor health, , died on the road...
