The Qinghong Banquet was held in the main hall of the palace. An hour before the banquet, all the civil and military officials had already arrived and were preparing to enter the imperial city to wait. For the royal family and officials, this grand event held once every twelve years is somewhat more massive and important than the banquets held in the palace during the Chinese New Year.
Only this time, the atmosphere in the palace was slightly solemn, and there was obviously something strange. Cautious officials did not dare to look around and just walked their own way silently; bolder officials quietly inquired around, and the information they received was often unclear.
There were killings everywhere in the palace. Xiao Wuyin revealed all the names of those who had been inserted by Yinghuo. The Yelong Palace guards were dispatched in full force, but anyone who resisted was executed on the spot. Then someone would sweep and wash the floor, and the surrounding area would be restored to its original state in the blink of an eye.
Within an hour, the whole thing was over.
When the officials entered the hall, all they saw was a magnificent scene.
The main hall of the imperial city is extremely spacious and divided into two levels of steps. The first wide step under the dragon chair is the banquet seat for the Immortal Sect. Further down is the main hall. Although the princes and ministers do not eat Qinghong meat, they will also have their fine wine and delicacies.
First, the royal family and officials took their seats, and then it was time for the Shushan sect's team to go to the palace.
This time, due to a sudden change, Chu Liang was temporarily transferred away, and he didn't know much about the ceremony process of the Qinghong Banquet. The person in charge of the matter guessed that there might be difficulties, but did not expect that the difficulties would come from another person.
"All the immortal masters from Shushan, you can come with me." Rolex arrived in person and greeted everyone to enter.
Then I saw two groups of people standing up in the hall.
The group on the left is the Emperor's Daughter Feng, leading Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai.
The team on the right is Wang Xuanling, with Xu Ziyang and Ling Ao.
"This..." Rolex didn't dare to say that there was an extra emperor phoenix, so he had to say: "Is there an extra person in our team?"
"Not much." Emperor Feng waved her hand and said, "We in Shushan will be divided into two teams this time."
"We are the Shushan first team." Wang Xuanling said first.
Emperor Feng turned around and glared at him, saying, "Then we are the Shushan Zero Team!"
"Huh!" Lao Wang waved his sleeves angrily.
"Huh!" Emperor Feng turned around angrily.
Before Rolex, the two people had been arguing about this issue for a long time. If it hadn't been for it in the palace, they might have solved it. The four juniors behind him could only tremble and dare not speak.
"This..." Rolex wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and said with a smile: "This is the first time I heard that this thing is divided into zero and one... Please wait a moment, I will report to Your Majesty first."
After that, the old eunuch hurried back to the main hall and reported the situation to the emperor first.
It stands to reason that he ranks second among the Four Strong Men, and is the emperor's personal steward. His power in managing affairs in the harem alone exceeds that of Yao Dengxian. There is no need to ask the emperor for instructions on such matters. What's more, the emperor had just experienced his wife's betrayal... Both of them must be in a bad mood.
But to handle it as normal, he just waved his hand and let it go. The immortal sects had already been asked to report the number of people attending the banquet. How could there be any reason to win the first prize and add more people to the meal?
But he didn't dare to mess with this cheater, so he hurried back to report it.
"Hiss..." The emperor frowned when he heard this situation, "My second aunt... forget it, let her go."
"Your Majesty, that would change the ancestral rules." Lao Santai reminded.
"She is closer to the ancestors than me. We need to find her!" The emperor said impatiently: "I already have a headache, so don't bother me with this kind of thing again. Ah yes, since there is one more person, then this year Let’s kill one more Qinghong during the Qinghong Banquet.”
"Your Majesty, it takes five people to eat one Qinghong. If there is one more person, do we have to kill one more?" Lao Santai asked in surprise.
"Five people? Maybe it can be eaten elsewhere." The emperor smiled, "I was not very young sixty years ago, but I clearly remember that everyone was not full at that meal..."
He shook his head: "That's all, my second aunt has made a great contribution today. If she hadn't discovered the corpse in advance, the Qinghong Banquet would definitely not have been held. Her apprentice has worked hard and accomplished a lot, so it doesn't matter if she eats one more Qinghong." "
"But this..." Lao Santai was confused: "If today we make an exception and kill one more Qinghong, the next Immortal Sect Conference..."
"Who knows if you don't tell me?" The emperor frowned and said, "Anyway, Qinghong will show his face first, and he will present it after dividing the dishes later. The Qinghong in the palace is well raised this year, so it doesn't matter if there is more meat."
"Yes, I understand, slave." Lao Santai also said: "The Qinghong has been raised well this year, and it doesn't matter if it has two more feet and two more wings."
He was about to retreat, but before he could turn around, the emperor suddenly raised his hand again and said, "By the way, the wine for this Qinghong Banquet will be replaced by something that won't get drunk easily."
…
After a while, there was a long drum sound coming from the square outside the hall. In the center of the grand procession, two teams of people walked with great vigor and high spirits.
It is the "two" teams in Shushan.
A group of six people walked to the main entrance of the hall and were stopped.
Emperor Feng asked: "Isn't the banquet open? Why are you not allowed in?"
"Before the Qinghong Banquet, we must kill the four evil spirits." Jiang Yuebai reminded in a low voice.
"Kill the Four Evils?" Chu Liang also wondered: "What is that?"
"You weren't here when the palace servants explained it just now. This is the ceremony before the Qinghong Banquet." Ling Ao said: "The four immortal disciples who won the first prize had to kill the four evil spirits of 'demon, demon, ghost, and monster' before taking the table. , in order to demonstrate the martial virtues of the human race."
Wang Xuanling looked at the emperor's daughter Feng, "Your apprentice was not here during the explanation, wasn't you?"
The emperor's daughter Feng raised her chest, raised her head, and said loudly: "I forgot!"
Chu Liangxin said that you don't have to be so proud, and then turned back to Jiang Yuebai and whispered to ask about it before he understood it in detail.
It turns out that this process comes from the coming-of-age ceremony of the royal Xia family. When the Xia family was one of the three major aristocratic families, martial virtue was very abundant.
They will arrange a fight for the family disciple when he reaches adulthood, and the target is usually a demon evil spirit selected to do evil near and far. If the young man succeeds in killing the evil spirit, he will usher in a grand victory feast after his triumph.
Of course, those who fail can also get the honor of being buried in their ancestors' graves.
After the Xia family successfully competed for the throne and the Yu Dynasty settled the tripod, this ceremony was also included in the process of the Qinghong Banquet.
It means that the young heroes who win the championship in the Immortal Sect must not only defeat their own race, but also kill evil spirits and protect the human race.
Of course, the evil spirit chosen at this time will not be some powerful demon, asking you to fight to the death. Most of them are those who have recently been arrested for committing crimes and are not that strong. They are selected and sent over by the Supervisory Office.
All he had to do was go through the formalities and slay the evil spirits into the palace, and then he could accept the cheers from the civil and military officials on both sides of the hall and be filled with glory.
While he was talking, the prison cart containing the four evil spirits had already arrived.
In the first prison car was a wild boar spirit with a broken fang, wearing armor, with scarlet eyes and a smell of bloodlust.
"The wild boar spirit destroyed villages and killed people on the border of the Western Region. He should be punished according to his crime."
The little eunuch next to him held a scroll and introduced it loudly.
In the second prison car was a dark-skinned demon ape that looked almost human, but it had completely lost its mind. Even in the prison car, it was still tearing at the seals around it crazily.
"The demon ape is a monster refined by the demon sect cultivators. It exists only for killing. The demon cultivators placed this object in Changling City in the northern region with the intention of massacring the people. Thanks to the timely arrival of the cultivators from the Supervisory Palace, the disaster was eliminated. .”
In the third prison car, there was a nearly transparent fetus, tall and similar in shape to a child, with a pair of protruding terrifying eyeballs and a sharp mouth and fangs.
"The mandrill is an extremely rare ghost. It is cunning and cruel. It killed people in the Western Regions and wandered around for more than seventy days before being captured by the prison government."
In the fourth prison car, there is a monster with pure black fur and a shape like a cheetah. The difference is that this monster has four wings and three tails, which is menacing.
"Three-tailed flying leopard, this monster originally lived in the sea. After coming ashore in the Eastern Region, it disturbed more than ten cities and was eventually captured."
After reading out the Four Evils, the little eunuch said loudly: "Please ask the four Immortal Sect disciples to kill the Four Evils one by one!"
The first prison car was slowly pushed forward. The wild boar spirit seemed to sense that his death was approaching and began to hit the prison car crazily, making a bang bang sound.
Jiang Yuebai looked at Chu Liang with her bright eyes. The first person to kill evil and enter the palace must be the number one scholar in the Immortal Sect.
Unexpectedly, Chu Liang gently shook her hand and said, "This is the first one. It's your turn."
"Huh?" Jiang Yuebai wondered for a moment.
Then Chu Liang smiled and said: "You are the chief of Shushan and represent the face of Shushan. My Laoshizi Immortal Sect champion was not all given to me by you. I have enjoyed enough honors that day. Without your leadership, It is definitely a delusion for the Immortal Sect to win the first prize. Today, when Zhan Xie enters the palace, no matter what, you should be the first to leave."
Jiang Yuebai also smiled slightly, "Okay."
After saying that, he stepped forward and the seal on the prison car was lifted at the same time. The wild boar spirit flew out, showing its fierce look, and roared, "Ouch——"
But it only let out half of its roar before it was cut in half by a bright sword light.
Jiang Yue's white clothes were not stained by dust, and she floated into the palace.
The royal children and civil and military officials in the palace cheered and applauded. At the same time, they were also a little surprised that this year's number one scholar from the Immortal Sect was not the first to enter the palace, which was rare.
Looking at the situation just now, Chu Liang is not only a genius, but also knows how to be humble, which is really rare.
Jiang Yuebai walked through the long road of the main hall, climbed to the upper level and took a seat, and it was time for the second person.
But before that, Chu Liang had already looked at Xu Ziyang, "Senior Brother Xu, you will be the second person to enter the palace."
"How is this possible?" Xu Ziyang said immediately: "It is understandable that the chief should leave first, but among the remaining people, you have made the greatest contribution this time. Without you, there would be no Immortal Sect to win the championship..."
"Senior Brother Xu!" Chu Liang grabbed Xu Ziyang's arm and said sincerely: "You are older than me and have taught me a lot. I, Yinjian Peak, have no senior brother, so I have always regarded you as my biological senior brother. You have always been The person I respect the most! If it were not for you in this Xianmen Conference, there would be no Xianmen winning the championship. Each of us is very important! This is such an important occasion, I will let you go no matter what. In front of me!"
Seeing how excited and sincere his words were, Xu Ziyang was quite moved, and immediately patted Chu Liang's arm, and then strode forward.
The demonic ape was released from the prison car, and Xu Ziyang killed it with one swift sword, sneer——
This time when he entered the palace again, he aroused even more surprises.
Did Chu Liang not only give in to Jiang Yuebai, but also to Xu Ziyang? This cannot be said to be humility, it is simply noble and honorable.
When Chu Liang turned around again, Ling Ao said, "I..."
After saying only one word, Chu Liang nodded, "Then you stay behind me."
(End of chapter)
