The guardian of the divine capital is hovering in the sky. During the period when the curfew was lifted, Luoyang's prosperity has become a city that never sleeps.
The state banquet will be held in the open-air garden of Weiyang Hall. The Queen of Heaven, together with her ministers and hundreds of officials, will invite foreign envoys from both countries to the banquet to celebrate. All those who can attend this banquet are officials of fifth rank or above. Of course, the ceremonial officers and historians are not present. Within this requirement.
After the Queen of Heaven arrived, the female officials opened the banquet, and the ceremony and music suddenly started in the palace. A group of seductively dressed dancers came out and sang and danced in the banquet.
The moonlight is striking, cold and bright.
The banquet was very casual, with officials gathering together holding wine glasses. An Yan also saw Yu Zongqian and Yu Wenjian, who were on Yu Jingtang's side, chatting and laughing with everyone around them.
·The envoys of the two countries sat in front of the Queen to show their closeness.
Besides them, there was a middle-aged man who An Yan had never seen before. He had a noble appearance and was wearing a white robe that was different from ordinary court clothes, with red embroidery on it.
"This is Shi Qin, the head of Tiangong Academy." The Queen introduced to the envoys.
Mu Yuanqing and Luo Zhihuan immediately stood in awe, cupping their hands and saying, "It turns out that they are descendants of Duke Qian Shenggong, and they have met the head of the courtyard!"
An Yan could tell that the respect shown in the two men's expressions when they mentioned Qian Shenggong was not fake.
He thought of Shi Lengcen, who also came from the same sect as the Shi Qin in front of him. This Shi Qin was in charge of the two mysterious factories of Luoyang and Chang'an, and was a real important figure in the country. Shi Ling founded the wildfire machine factory and controlled the entire Xuantang's monk resources, this Shi clan are not ordinary people.
Luo Zhihuan praised the enviable atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty he saw after entering the city.
However, An Yan always felt that some of these envoys were looking at him intentionally or unintentionally, as well as those from the imperial court. He was an inconspicuous historian, so why could he meet the eyes of the female cultivator.
Is it possible that they discovered their identity as monks? !
At the banquet, all the guests drank wine, danced and sang wildly. Some were so inspired that they recited poems on the spot, while others walked into the middle of the dancing girls with blushing faces. The Queen just smiled at the scene before her and did not stop her.
When the passion was at its peak, several officials in white robes pushed a machine covered by red cloth to the center and drove the dancers away.
The officials couldn't help but started talking when they saw this.
"What is this?"
"It's so strange."
Shi Qin, who was approaching the Queen of Heaven, bowed to the Queen of Heaven, stood up, walked to the edge of the steps, and spoke in a loud voice.
"Comrades!"
Everyone at the banquet became quiet one after another, and the silk music played by the Ministry of Etiquette also became soothing.
"This is a new creation of our Tiangong Institute, called the Shadow Tracer. I would like to present it to the Queen of Heaven during this wonderful feast."
The two white-robed officials pulled off the red cloth, revealing the entire appearance of the instrument.
The whole body is made of metal, with dragon and phoenix carvings on it. The overall shell is boxy, with a long and flat cylinder in the middle, and a round glass at the end.
An Yan couldn't help but be startled when he saw this thing.
Trace back...
He also heard Shi Qin say: "This object can record the image of the present and project it at any time in the future."
That’s true!
An Yan thought.
Shi Qin said: "It's just oral, you may not be able to understand it, but who is willing to give it a try?"
"I'll do it!" After saying this, a man with a swaying figure and a sloppy walk walked out from the crowd. He was obviously drunk.
"Please, Mr. Jie, go to the camera."
This person's name is Xie Linghan, a bachelor of Jixian Palace Academy, who is responsible for compiling, organizing and collating classics.
Xie Linghan staggered to the camera. His appearance made many people around him laugh. He looked around and asked the white-robed official, "What's next?"
The white-robed official also suppressed a smile and said, "You can do whatever you want, Mr. Jie?"
Xie Linghan's eyes wandered, and he turned around in a circle, looking at the queen of heaven in the main position, pondering for a moment and then loudly chanted:
"The Tang Dynasty existed in Zhaozhao, and God provided for all nations.
The ancestors obeyed the orders, and the four sects followed the rules.
Shenxi has no borders, and his sect and I share the same virtue.
His great-grandson Jixu enjoys the power of the gods. "
The entire banquet fell silent, with only the sounds of ritual and music remaining. Everyone was listening to him finish reciting the poem, but after Xie Linghan finished reading the last sentence, he suddenly took a breath, his eyes widened with anger, and he quickly left with his hand covering his mouth. On the same spot, he went to the garden to vomit.
The other officials burst into laughter upon seeing this.
At this time, the white-robed official beside the shadow tracing machine suddenly flipped a switch on the machine. In an instant, countless rays of light were projected from the cylinder of the tracing machine, forming a three-dimensional image in the open space in front. Xie Linghan just now.
"The Tang Dynasty was established in Zhao Zhao, and God provided for all nations..."
An Yan was extremely surprised to see this scene and could not understand the working principle of this instrument at all.
Holographic projection? How did you do it?
The civil and military officials present were also very surprised.
The Queen of Heaven nodded with great satisfaction: "Yes, this thing can be of great use, Master Qin, you have made a great contribution!"
Shi Qin bowed and said: "Thank you, Queen of Heaven, this is not my fault alone."
The Queen smiled calmly and said: "Of course there will be rewards. For those who have made merit, you can go back and write a list and submit it."
"Thank you for your divine grace!"
After Shi Qin sat down, the Queen's eyes moved slightly, she turned to Mu Yuanqing and Luo Zhihuan and asked, "What do you think of this thing?"
Luo Zhihuan said: "This material is beneficial to the country and the people, and the president of the academy will definitely be famous in history!"
But several young monks beside him said privately: "Image stones are not a rare thing in our place, and they are so cumbersome and troublesome. What's the point of showing off?"
But a female voice retorted to him: "Idiot, once this shadow tracing machine is popularized, mortals can use it. The shadow stone must be driven by spiritual energy, so the meaning is of course different."
"To put it bluntly, they are still human beings after all!"
Many ministers were interested in this traceability machine and gathered around to ask questions to the two white-robed officials.
The banquet was almost over, and the queen got up and left the banquet.
Upon seeing this, An Yan was about to leave, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Mu Yuanqing and Luo Zhihuan looking at him with faint smiles.
Sure enough, it was exposed...
An Yan kept a calm expression on his face and left the banquet. Before leaving the palace, he saw Lu Kui who was waiting for him on the road he passed, and then went to the Purple Orchid Palace with him.
When we were in Weiyang Hall, it was still a lively and noisy scene, but when we arrived at Zilan Hall, it suddenly became quiet.
Xuanyi was sitting on the couch with her eyes closed and resting, with a whisk on one side and a translucent gauze covering her face. An Yan took this opportunity to unblinkingly admire her delicate eyebrows and the faint outline under the veil. .
When she opened her eyes, An Yan said, "Why did the real person call me?"
Master Xuanyi looked at her and said, "Yang Shen is indeed dead!"
An Yan thought: "How did the real person know?"
"Someone told me today."
An Yan was a little surprised and thought it could be those monks.
"Does this have anything to do with us?"
"It does matter." Master Xuanyi said coldly.
"Open the Three Realms Pass, let the monks from outside the pass come in, and reshape this world!"
This kind of thing has been explicitly rejected by the Queen of Heaven, but now Master Xuanyi still says it.
An Yan looked at her face and pondered for a long time, then asked, "Master, do you want to... become a god?"
Master Xuanyi said indifferently: "Beyond the Three Realms Pass, there will indeed be spiritual disasters coming to the world. Yin will rise and Yang will decline, and the Yin cultivator will face the disaster of becoming a god. But that is for ordinary monks."
"The great powers such as the Cultivation Clan, the giants of various parties, and the royal family can keep a large number of Yang cultivators in captivity to use as their own antidote. There are so many monks outside the customs, enough for them to survive endless long years. Spiritual disasters are not a problem for them at all. It’s not a catastrophe, they want to enter the pass just for the opportunity to become gods!”
An Yan's thoughts were racing in her mind, and she couldn't help but ask: "Then why do you still want to let them enter? Isn't this tantamount to giving them the chance to become gods?"
Master Xuanyi said again: "Xuantang only accounts for a quarter of the spiritual energy in the world, but to become a god, he needs to monopolize half of the yin and yang energy in the world. Only by opening the Three Realms Gate and allowing outside monks to come in with the yin and yang energy can we It’s the true beginning of the road to becoming a god!”
An Yan still felt unreliable in his heart. If such a thing were to be done, Xuantang would be in chaos.
"Have you never thought about what will happen when the monks from outside the customs come in?"
Master Xuanyi sneered: "Any monk has a life gate. If the life gate is controlled by others, he will be a slave for eternity! We are the masters. If they want to enter, they will naturally have to pay the price!"
"What should I do if the queen doesn't agree?" An Yan asked the last and most critical question.
Master Xuanyi looked at him steadily, his eyes were like a cold pool, cold and quiet.
She said: "You can make her agree!"
"I?"
"What, have you forgotten what you did before?"
An Yan just frowned and said nothing.
"There is a kind of physique in the world called the Hunyuan Body, also known as the Absolute Spirit Body. They are born with a balance of yin and yang in their bodies and cannot be cultivated, but they are invulnerable to all methods!"
"Tang Zu and Qian Shenggong both have this kind of physique, so the Xuantang royal family and the Shi family are naturally unable to practice. Likewise, those things of yours cannot affect the Queen of Heaven."
An Yan pondered: "But the Queen, shouldn't she be of royal blood, right?"
Master Xuanyi pondered for a moment and said, "Today, she is the late emperor's biological sister."
An Yan was shocked.
"Have you heard about the prince?"
An Yan nodded blankly: "I've heard that some... princes were cruel and died of a sudden illness before ascending the throne."
"The former crown prince was the product of incest between the Queen and the late Emperor, so he was perverse and violent by nature. The Queen respected Wu Fenglan, but his real name was Li. There were no more than three people in the court who knew about it."
"Those three people...are they the Three Heroes of Martial Arts?" An Yan asked.
"Yes, Yu Jingtang, Wen Ren Yunjian, Shen Tuying and Tian Hou are playmates since childhood."
An Yan suddenly understood why Yu Jingtang and Shen Tuying were so loyal to the Queen, allowing a woman to sit in power for more than ten years without establishing a crown prince.
The Queen of Heaven is the blood of the Xuantang royal family!
Such secret sounds were too shocking, and the noble and majestic figure of the Queen of Heaven could not help but appear in his mind.
Soon, An Yan calmed down again and asked: "What's the use of talking about this? Since the Queen of Heaven is a supreme spirit, what can I do."
Master Xuanyi looked calm and said: "The body of Jue Ling is not helpless."
