173. Chapter 173 The Right Direction of the Demon! Lou Youzhi's Frustration
173. Chapter 173 The right direction for the inner demon! Lou Youzhi’s frustration!
Author: My heart is still the same
Chapter 173 The right direction for the inner demon! Lou Youzhi’s frustration!
"you……"
Li Xiangxue's body and tone began to tremble, "Are you...Uncle Xu?"
"It's me."
Xu Chong nodded.
After receiving the confirmation, it was clear that Li Xiangxue had experienced too much and was still blinded for the first time.
"It's great that you are still alive, hahaha, you are still alive..."
Li Xiangxue cried and laughed, speaking incoherently.
"Yes, I'm still alive."
Xu Chong nodded again, "I am the only one left alive."
"only……"
Li Xiangxue murmured, and the intense surprise slowly subsided.
Yes, only Uncle Xu is still alive.
Faces and scenes flashed quickly in Li Xiangxue's mind.
Parents, Uncle Zhao’s family, folks from Canglong...
After a long time, Li Xiangxue wiped his eyes and said seriously: "Dad, they definitely don't want to see you become like this."
The Xu Chong in front of him had changed a lot compared to what he remembered.
The slightly gray sideburns, the slightly wrinkled face, and the slightly droopy eyelids all prove that this is an elderly man.
"Why do they want to see you become like this?"
Xu Chong shook his head.
At the beginning, he took on the form of three bodies.
The white robe went to the imperial prison, the colorful robe went to Zhan Shifu, and the black robe came to the Spring and Autumn Tombs.
At that time, the three bodies were all of the same age.
Later, the Spring and Autumn Tombs experienced about thirty-four years under the different intensities of the star-shifting rules.
At this time, he was already close to sixty.
And why not Li Xiangxue?
If he followed his original trajectory, Li Xiangxue would have been only six or seven years old at this time, still studying with his master... maybe he would have become a little boy.
"Uncle Xu, do you think Lou Youzhi is not my enemy?"
As expected of someone who crawled out of the Shura Field, Li Xiangxue quickly controlled his emotions and asked.
"It's a long story..."
Xu Chong walked to the side and sat down, and spoke in detail.
From the mother-in-law's blood-light inspection to sealing off the city and killing her, to planning to kill Fu Yuanlong and Wei Wuxie, to joining the Blood Guards, getting to know Jiang Zhihong, to taking office to accompany the capital Qin Tianjian, watching the master die in front of him, and finally to
Locust plague in Yongzhou.
Throughout the whole process, Xu Chong was paying close attention to Li Xiangxue's condition.
When he said that Lou Youzhi's trip to Yongzhou was really for disaster relief, not massacre, the black fog in Li Xiangxue's head weakened rapidly.
However, about half the extent of the reduction, the trend suddenly stopped.
The remaining black mist suddenly became chaotic.
If it weren't for the green net restraint, it would have rushed to the whole body at this time.
"It's not Lou Youzhi..."
Li Xiangxue murmured, his eyes sometimes angry and sometimes confused, "Then who killed the people in Yongzhou? Who wants to kill the people in Yongzhou?"
Xu Chong sighed secretly.
really.
Inner demons cannot be eliminated out of thin air.
Although he was still alive, Zhao Liu, Li Mu, and many others died in natural disasters.
If this revenge is not avenged, Li Xiangxue's inner demons cannot be eradicated.
Xu Chong no longer hesitated and continued: "The occurrence of natural disasters can be predicted..."
The inference about the natural disaster was slowly revealed.
When the words "Emperor Yongtai" appeared and took over the main responsibility, Li Xiangxue's inner demon stabilized and began to grow again.
"From chief assistant to emperor?"
Li Xiangxue found it extremely absurd.
He still clearly remembered the things he learned when he was studying in the county school.
Are all those who love Daqing the people of Daqing?
All the people of Daqing should be punished if they have meritorious deeds and if they have made mistakes?
All the people of Daqing should complain when there is injustice and fight when there is injustice?
To be honest, before this, even though Li Xiangxue regarded Lou Youzhi as his lifelong enemy, he still yearned for the world mentioned in Taizu Dagaoli and still had a good impression of the Daqing court.
He felt that officials like Lou Youzhi must be in the minority.
With Taizu Dagao here, more officials should be like Jiang Zhihong.
No matter the people in Canglong County or the other refugees gathered in Fenggu County, they were just unlucky and happened to meet such an executioner.
But now...
The murderer was actually the emperor of Daqing?
How ridiculous.
Just as Li Xiangxue showed sarcasm, he suddenly remembered another sentence Xu Chong said.
'What if your enemy is not only Lou Youzhi, but on the contrary, it is the master you think you owe something to?'
That's not right, Emperor Yongtai, with Master?
Is there any relationship between the two?
Li Xiangxue looked at Xu Chong questioningly.
"The name Lin Kuang you heard was the previous Taoist master of Taiping Dao, more than 20 years ago..."
Xu Chong continued to talk.
He knew that the truth might make Li Xiangxue's inner demons grow stronger than before.
But he only has this choice.
Continuing to conceal it, Li Xiang learned to become Emperor Yongtai's sword and stabbed Lou Youzhi.
Just acquitting Lou Youzhi will not only fail to eliminate Li Xiangxue's inner demons, but will also make Li Xiangxue's mind confused.
And just talking about Emperor Yongtai and not mentioning Ji Qingzhi, there is no reason to stop Li Xiangxue from going back to find Ji Qingzhi.
Once Li Xiangxue is allowed to meet Ji Qingzhi again, he will most likely be exposed on the spot and then executed on the spot by Ji Qingzhi.
After much calculation, Li Xiangxue's inner demons still cannot be eliminated.
Since it cannot be eliminated, then simply let the inner demon return to the right direction.
"So, your master, Ji Qingzhi, the master of Taiping Dao, is actually Emperor Yongtai, the one who used natural disasters to harm all people."
Xu Chong slowly spat out his last words: "He wants to use you to kill Lou Youzhi who is blocking him."
At this time, Li Xiangxue's expression had completely frozen on his face.
In Yangshen's field of vision, the black mist entrenched in Li Xiangxue's Zifu was growing crazily.
From thin to rich, then to shrinking and condensation.
In the blink of an eye, the black mist condensed into a complete human form the size of a soybean - Li Xiangxue, dressed in black, with complete facial features and violent eyes.
And it continues to grow and get bigger.
"This inner demon..."
Xu Chong thought of the inner demons he encountered when he first entered Zifu.
The inner demon at that time had the exact same face as him, wore a black gown, and looked like a black-robed Yang God.
However, the style of the black robe is completely different, and the inner demon Xu Chong is completely uncontrollable.
In addition, the most crucial point is that Xu Chong, the inner demon, has always been very calm.
From the beginning to the end, Li Xiangxue's inner demon never showed the slightest hint of violence.
Comparing the two together, it is obvious that Li Xiangxue is more in line with the appearance of the inner demon.
"Sure enough, it's not just inner demons..."
Xu Chong's heart sank slightly, "I'm afraid it's just as I thought, the original intention is involved."
At this time, Li Xiangxue's inner demons had stopped growing and had stabilized to the size of a pigeon egg.
That layer of green net was like chains, wrapped around the inner demon's body.
Looking at Li Xiangxue himself, his eyes were clear. There was only anger and hatred after learning the truth, but there was no strong murderous intention that could not be concealed at all.
This made Xu Chong feel relieved and at the same time he became more wary of the green network.
"Your inner demon has become stronger, but it is still bound by that unknown force."
Xu Chong looked solemn, "I suspect this is the magical power of the Taoist demon."
"In other words, he can control me anytime and anywhere?"
Li Xiangxue's eyes flashed and he didn't know what he was thinking of.
Xu Chong didn't pay attention to this and said to himself: "It's not impossible...Originally, I have a way to try to release you from the control, but I don't dare to try."
"If it doesn't succeed, then that's fine."
"In case of success, not to mention whether Ji Qingzhi will notice it, I can't judge whether the inner demons that have escaped from the shackles will instantly devour your mind."
After saying that, Xu Chong paused and his expression became serious: "So, don't participate in anything anymore. When the time comes, I will arrange for you to hide."
"Hidden?"
Li Xiangxue frowned.
"I know what you're thinking."
Xu Chong shook his head, "But the power of Emperor Yongtai is beyond any of our imaginations, and he is definitely not that easy to deal with."
"No matter how much you hate him, you must never act recklessly."
"Also, although I don't know what Emperor Yongtai's ultimate goal is, I have complete assurance that I can prevent the Yongzhou locust plague from happening again."
"The Fang family, because the Spring and Autumn Tomb is about to collapse, plans to use you to deal with Emperor Yongtai and seize the Herb Garden. For the time being, you need to be submissive and cooperate with their plan on the surface to ensure your own safety in the Spring and Autumn Tomb."
"Just leave the rest to me."
Xu Chong put his arm on Li Xiangxue's shoulder, his expression extremely stern, "Listen to me."
"..."
Li Xiangxue hesitated for a while, then finally showed a slight smile and nodded: "Okay."
"Besides, please don't enter Chunqiu Hall again."
Xu Chong said, walking out of the tomb, "Old Li's family still depends on you to shine the lintel and pass on the incense."
Li Xiangxue watched Xu Chong's back disappear, his eyes inexplicable.
Shining on the lintel and passing on the incense?
Indeed, this is a deep-rooted obsession of every ordinary person.
But the problem is, neither my father nor my mother have ever told me this.
What they repeatedly told me was another thing.
…
…
Beijing.
Lou Youzhi, as usual, went straight back to his house after the break and went down to the underground palace from the secret passage in the study.
As soon as he entered the central hall of the underground palace, his steps suddenly stopped and his attention fell on the table in the hall.
There, I don’t know when an extra letter appeared.
"Someone has been here!"
Lou Youzhi confirmed this instantly.
Since the construction of the underground palace, he has not let down his guard for a day or a moment for more than 20 years.
The entire building and the entire underground palace were all decorated in extremely subtle ways, enough for him to know immediately whether anyone had been in the backyard or approached the study.
However, during the entire process from returning to the building, to the back garden, to the study, to the underground palace to the main hall, he did not detect any abnormal signs.
"You didn't touch my arrangement, but you put a letter into the underground palace... Is it Dou Tianyuan?"
"No, it's not Dou Tianyuan. He doesn't know about the existence of this underground palace."
"And other people who know this place won't do this..."
Lou Youzhi squinted his eyes and saw no movement. The letter flew over automatically and floated in front of his eyes.
Then, countless tiny thunders emerged from the body, blocking everything.
After doing this, Lou Youzhi slowly unfolded the letter.
!!!
With just one glance, Lou Youzhi's pupils shrank to the extreme.
‘Using the bloodline of the Lord of Dongtian as a guide, sacrificing ten times the human race can delay the decline of Dongtian.’
This is the only sentence on the letterhead.
But just such a sentence was something that Lou Youzhi couldn't find after searching through all the ancient books he had access to.
"The same bloodline of the Lord of Cave Heaven?"
Lou Youzhi narrowed his eyes.
The next moment, the letter suddenly spontaneously ignited and turned into ashes in an instant. The ashes were blown away by the breeze and blew in all directions.
After a while.
Lou Youzhi appeared in a secret room connected to the underground palace.
There was only an old man with white hair and white hair, dressed in simple clothes, and about a dozen crammed bookshelves.
The old man was none other than Gu Chengren, who resigned directly in front of hundreds of officials.
Seeing Lou Youzhi coming in, Gu Chengren shook his head in disappointment: "I have studied the ancient books you found twice, but there are still no clues to the decline of the cave."
"Maybe we are looking in the wrong direction."
As Lou Youzhi said, he walked to a bookshelf and raised his hand to take down a book.
Gu Chengren came over to take a look curiously, and said with some confusion: "Isn't this a transcript of the records of the Ministry of Household Affairs? It's full of numbers, so I didn't read much... Are there any clues in it?"
It turned out that under Lou Youzhi's arrangement, the records related to natural disasters in the three government offices, the Ministry of Husbandry, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Qin Tian Jian, were indeed destroyed by the eunuchs and eunuchs.
However, before it was destroyed, the manuscript was left behind.
It was these manuscripts that helped Lou Youzhi retain Gu Chengren, who was preparing to return home.
"Yongtai seven years..."
Lou Youzhi turned over a page, and after a moment his eyes flashed: "That's true!"
"Speak more clearly."
Gu Chengren frowned, a little unhappy.
"Someone left me a letter in the middle hall, which contained ways to delay the decline of the cave."
Lou Youzhi rubbed his temples.
"What?!"
Gu Chengren exclaimed.
"Mr. Gu, please look at this."
Lou Youzhi put the booklet on the table and pointed at one of the columns.
"At the end of the seventh year of Yongtai, there were more than six million people in Binzhou..."
Gu Chengren read it out, still puzzled, "Is there any problem?"
Binzhou is the smallest province in the entire Daqing area. In addition, it is close to the sea, and most of its land is not suitable for crop growth. Therefore, it has always had the smallest population among the thirty provinces.
"Look here again."
Lou Youzhi turned over a page and said, "At the end of the eighth year of Yongtai, there were more than 1.8 million people in Binzhou."
"The sea boil in the eighth year of Yongtai killed 4.2 million people in Binzhou..."
Gu Chengren sighed, "I know this, but didn't you say that the natural disaster in Binzhou has nothing to do with His Majesty?"
"It doesn't matter, but the problem is that the Binzhou sea boil really killed so many people!"
Lou Youzhi explained, "Using the same bloodline of the Lord of the Cave Heaven as a guide, sacrificing ten times the human race can delay the decline of the Cave Heaven... This is the content of the letter."
!!!
Gu Chengren was horrified.
It was exactly the same as Lou Youzhi's reaction before.
The same bloodline of the Lord of Cave Heaven...
If you put it on Your Majesty, you are the blood descendant of the people left by Taizu!
What your Majesty wants to kill is not the refugees, but the blood descendants of Taizu?!
"Isn't it possible?"
Gu Chengren looked ugly.
"I thought it was impossible before, so I calculated it based on the drought in Bingzhou."
Lou Youzhi sighed quietly, "Eight million people died in the drought in Bingzhou. Calculating half of them, that's 400,000 blood descendants."
"It took eighteen years from the drought in Bingzhou to the boiling sea in Binzhou."
"If you calculate it this way, four hundred thousand blood descendants, plus four million people, can delay the decline of Dongtian for more than eighteen years."
"About 20,000 blood descendants can delay the attack for less than a year."
"And the Binzhou sea boil killed 4.2 million people, and the blood descendants were about 210,000... It took eleven years from the Binzhou sea boil to the Yongzhou locust plague."
"The same 20,000 blood descendants have been delayed for less than a year."
"The number of blood descendants here is just a rough estimate. It is definitely not accurate enough. Plus there is the possibility of early delay..."
Lou Youzhi took a deep breath, "It should be that using 20,000 Taizu's blood descendants for sacrifice and 200,000 clan sacrifices can delay the decline of Dongtian for one year."
"..."
Gu Chengren's heart was up and down, and after a long while he gritted his teeth and said, "Two natural disasters alone cannot prove anything... I will continue to investigate."
With that said, he turned around and took down a thick stack of books from the bookshelf.
In this way, the two began to calculate the number of deaths from natural disasters over the years.
An hour later.
Gu Chengren closed the book and looked at the paper pages filled with small characters that were used for statistics. "This doesn't match up. We have almost counted the 10,000 blood descendants, which has been postponed for two years..."
indeed.
As the two extrapolate further back in time, the rule of "delaying the death of 20,000 blood descendants for one year" becomes less and less applicable.
Lou Youzhi did not respond to Gu Chengren, but closed his eyes and thought hard.
After a while, a flash of lightning flashed through my mind.
"No! It's not that we can't match it!"
Lou Youzhi opened his eyes suddenly, "It's just that we overlooked a key point!"
"Key point?"
Gu Chengren was stunned.
"Didn't Mr. Gu realize that the proportion of using blood descendants to delay death is gradually increasing..."
Lou Youzhi said slowly, "If it doesn't correspond at all, then why does the ratio gradually increase instead of suddenly increasing and then decreasing?"
"This...is indeed a problem!"
Gu Chengren thought for a moment and his expression became solemn, "What did you think of?"
"Our calculation is based on the fact that if we don't kill anyone, the cave will collapse immediately."
Lou Youzhi's eyes flashed, "But what if this cave itself still has enough life left?"
"you mean……"
Gu Chengren's expression was ugly, "As early as many years ago, even when Dongtian's decline was not urgent at all, I, the emperor of Daqing, had already begun to extend Dongtian's life?"
"That's right!"
Lou Youzhi pointed to the page of manuscript paper and said, "Let's start from Leizhou."
"In the 20th year of Zhengfeng, the Leizhou Heavenly Fire killed seven million people, including about 350,000 blood descendants."
"According to the conclusions we deduced before, it can delay the decline of Dongtian for more than seventeen years."
"But the next natural disaster will be a full sixty years after the 20th year of Zhengfeng!"
"That is to say, in these sixty years, forty-three years are the lifespan that Dongtian still has!"
"Let's look further down..."
As Lou Youzhi recalculated, after a while, the two came to a surprising conclusion.
Using 20,000 blood descendants as a guide and sacrificing 200,000 clansmen can indeed prolong the decline of Dongtian by one year.
Previously, I was just misled by Dongtian's inherent lifespan, but now I have eliminated Dongtian's inherent lifespan, and everything has given way.
However, this conclusion was somewhat unacceptable to both of them for a while.
"Hehehe..."
Gu Chengren laughed nervously, "That is to say, as early as the 20th year of Zhengfeng, when Dongtian's lifespan was still several hundred years away, Emperor Zhengfeng had already started to commit murder...delay? No! This is clearly feeding!"
"To be precise, we calculated it to be two hundred and seventy years."
In comparison, Lou Youzhi was much calmer and deeper, "Besides, this is no longer important, it has completely lost its lifespan..."
By the time of Emperor Wenchang, all natural disasters that occurred were very consistent with the law of "twenty thousand for one year".
In other words, Dongtian has reached the critical point of decline.
If no one is killed in the next natural disaster, this cave will completely collapse.
"Yeah, it's not important anymore."
Gu Chengren let out a long sigh and looked at the last unused booklet, "The important thing is the future."
That booklet is also a copy of the household records.
The reason why it was not used just now is because what is recorded in it is the locust plague in Yongzhou, and it cannot be used in the calculation just now.
"Yongzhou..."
Lou Youzhi looked disappointed because he remembered how many people there were in Yongzhou.
The situation in Yongzhou is somewhat different.
Even among the thirty provinces, Yongzhou's population is not even ranked in the middle, but it is still dead.
No, it's more than that.
In addition to the people of Yongzhou, there were even hundreds of thousands of disaster relief teams involved.
Even if he only counts 18 million, there are nearly 900,000 blood descendants of Taizu.
Calculated, it can delay the decline of Dongtian for 45 years.
In forty-five years, I am afraid that I will have died of old age long ago, right?
When the time comes, who else will remember this?
Thinking of this, Lou Youzhi suddenly felt something.
Did he really hide his actions from Emperor Yongtai?
Du Qianchuan, Yan Fang, Gu Chengren...
Did Emperor Yongtai really have no knowledge of these people or things that turned against him, died because of him, or helped him?
Or is it that Emperor Yongtai knew but didn't care?
Lou Youzhi looked dazed, suddenly feeling helpless and frustrated.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Gu Chengren glanced at Lou Youzhi strangely, "I feel like you suddenly lost your energy."
"……nothing."
Lou Youzhi shook his head, reached out and stuffed the last booklet into his arms.
Gu Chengren was baffled by this action.
"Mr. Gu, thank you for your help these days."
Lou Youzhi stood up and bowed solemnly to Gu Chengren, "In a few days, I will arrange for you to return home and take care of yourself."
"you……"
Gu Chengren reacted quickly and frowned deeply: "The population of Yongzhou... I won't survive that time?"
"As expected of Mr. Gu."
Lou Youzhi shook his head and laughed at himself: "I probably won't survive either."
"..."
Gu Chengren's face stiffened, and the depression he had felt for many days suddenly became chaotic, unable to dissipate, and had nowhere to put it.
After a long time, Gu Chengren said quietly, "In that case, let Shi Zheng take over for you."
"Shi Zheng is Jiang Zhihong's favorite student."
Lou Youzhi wanted to refuse.
"That's why he dared to risk great injustice and provide food to Zhihong."
Gu Chengren looked solemn, "Because of this, as long as you tell him the real cause of death later, he will definitely be furious about it."
"...But that is the heir to his legacy."
Lou Youzhi still hesitated.
"hehe."
Gu Chengren smiled casually and said, "Heir to the throne, will Zhihong care about this?"
"If I don't tell you, will you care about this?"
"After so many years, the building is empty except for servants."
"Have you ever thought about leaving a legacy and a legacy?"
Gu Chengren shook his head, "I am Zhihong's teacher. I have watched with my own eyes that you and him went from being close friends to breaking up, and then to clearly not being in contact with each other, but in the end they were moving in the same direction... You are not only classmates and fellow villagers, but also
We are colleagues, I think you should understand him better than me."
Comrade?
This word is so good.
Lou Youzhi suddenly laughed.
The powerlessness and frustration just now were all gone.