The three old men walked to the corner of the hall and sat down cross-legged on the futon.
Li Mu followed the queen and walked into the main hall.
This palace is bigger than Li Mu imagined.
After walking in, the first thing that catches the eye is a high platform in the innermost part of the hall.
On the high platform, there were tablets placed one after another. Li Mu glanced at them and saw that the names written on those tablets were the names of the emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At the top of the list is Taizu Taizu of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who was also the founding emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The one at the bottom is the late emperor. The former prince was deprived of power by the Zhou family because he had not officially inherited the throne, so he is not qualified to be among them.
Under the high platform are two rows of small tripods.
Li Mu counted and found that there were thirty-six tripods in total, which was exactly the same number as the number of counties in the Zhou Dynasty.
A trace of golden light was pulled out from the small cauldron and converged into a large cauldron in the center of the hall.
The golden dragon was swimming in the cauldron. Although fear flashed in its golden pupils when it looked at the Queen, when it looked at Li Mu, its eyes were full of greed.
Li Mu looked at the golden dragon and couldn't help but have some other thoughts in his heart.
After advancing to the fifth level, his practice became very slow, so slow that he could hardly feel the progress.
If he could swallow this golden dragon, he would be promoted to the sixth realm immediately, which would be worth at least twenty years of practice.
Feeling Li Mu's gaze, the greed in Jin Long's eyes immediately disappeared without a trace, and with a swish, he got into the cauldron and never showed his head again.
Li Mu looked at the small tripods and asked the Queen: "Your Majesty, these tripods should correspond to the national temples in the thirty-sixth county, right?"
Zhou Wu nodded lightly.
Li Mu looked at these small tripods and found that the golden light on the small tripods was strong or weak, bright or dark.
The strongest one among them is so dazzling that it cannot be looked directly at.
The light is the weakest, only a thin sliver? The dim one seems to be about to go out.
The small cauldron that shines the brightest is connected to Zhongjun, where the Divine Capital is located. In the past year, the Divine Capital has undergone many changes, and the people of Zhongjun have united like never before.
The farther the county is from the divine capital, the dimmer the light of the small tripod it is connected to. Only a few counties are slightly brighter.
This shows that there is still a long way to go before we can completely condense the imperial energy.
The golden dragon in the cauldron quickly flew out again, and after circling a few times above the Queen's head, it flew back into the cauldron.
Li Mu noticed that all the telepathy in the Queen's body was sucked away by it.
As a king who is deeply loved by the people, the telepathy power condensed in the queen is no less than that of Li Mu.
Seeing this made Li Mu feel a little angry? The telepathy in the Queen was something that Li Mu and she had worked hard to gather together, but they just made a wedding dress for someone else in vain...
He felt unfair for the queen.
After visiting the ancestral temple, Li Mu didn't stay here longer? He followed the queen out again.
Not long after the two of them walked out, in the corner of the ancestral temple, three old men were sitting cross-legged on a futon with their eyes closed to meditate, and then they slowly opened their eyes.
An old man snorted coldly: "Is this the same princess as before? She has changed. She would not be so disrespectful to us before."
Another old man said: "She was set up by the Zhou family? She inherited the imperial aura and almost died. Sitting in this position, she is full of complaints. How can her temper remain unchanged?"
The last old man said leisurely: "These are not important. In the past six months, the speed of the Imperial Qi condensation has been significantly accelerated. I am afraid that within twenty years, they will be mature again. They need to be urged to practice hard. If they can advance to the sixth realm
, when the time comes, I will be fully confident in refining the Emperor Qi..."
…
Changle Palace.
Li Mu, Wanwan, Xiaobai, and the Queen gathered together to eat hot pot.
After visiting the ancestral temple with the queen, Li Mu gained a lot of knowledge.
It turns out that this is how the imperial energy related to the inheritance of the Great Zhou Dynasty comes from.
It’s no wonder that when the people of the thirty-six counties sent tens of thousands of people’s blood letters, both the old and new parties chose to give in.
If the imperial court completely loses the support of the people, the national temples in each county will not be able to absorb telekinesis, and naturally there will be no way to transport it to the ancestral temples, which will delay the concentration of imperial energy.
The three old men in the ancestral temple are members of the Xiao royal family. They have a very high status and are even higher than the late emperor.
Each of the three of them has the strength at the peak of the sixth realm.
From this point of view, the strength of the old party is still far stronger than that of the new party.
What the Zhou family relies on is just their blood relationship with the Queen.
Li Mu thought of a question and asked: "Why don't your Majesty absorb that imperial energy yourself? Will this allow you to advance to the eighth realm?"
Zhou Wu blew on the tofu and said, "No."
Li Mu thought for a while and then said: "But His Majesty is so young, he can be the emperor for another hundred years, and there is no need to pass on the throne..."
Zhou Wu said lightly: "Because I don't like it."
Li Mu sighed, he was just aggrieved for her. She was not the emperor, but she shouldered the responsibility of an emperor.
From beginning to end, when the Zhou family was planning, they never asked if what they gave her was what she wanted.
At this time, Zhou Wu looked at him again and said, "Unless you are willing to approve a hundred years of discounts for me..."
Li Mu picked up a piece of tofu and put it into his mouth. Regardless of burning his mouth, he said decisively: "Since your Majesty doesn't like it, it doesn't matter if the emperor doesn't do it. Then he can pass it on to whoever he wants. If your Majesty is willing, you can share it with him."
Since I am my neighbor, we have opened two plots of land in front of the yard, one for growing vegetables and one for flowers..."
Xiaobai nodded repeatedly and said: "Okay, okay, I also want to be neighbors with Sister Zhou..."
Zhou Wu touched her head and said, "Why don't you go back tonight? There are many vacant rooms in Changle Palace. You can sleep here."
Xiaobai looked at Li Mu, no matter how big or small she was, she had to seek Li Mu's opinion.
After seeing the scene in the ancestral temple, Li Mu felt even more sorry for the queen. He nodded and said, "Then you can sleep here."
The Queen looked at Li Mu and said, "You don't have to go back."
Li Mu was stunned for a moment and asked: "Your Majesty, isn't this not good?"
Zhou Wu said: "Anyway, you have to go to the palace tomorrow morning, so just stay here. It's not the first time..."
There is some truth in what she said. Changle Palace is only a hundred steps away from Zhongshu Province, which is much closer than home. You can sleep a little longer.
But throughout the ages, how could any minister stay overnight in the palace?
The queen didn't seem to think it was a big deal. She looked at Wanwan and said, "And this little girl, please stay in the palace together."
Wanwan looked hesitant and said: "Yes, but the lady said that the young master should go home every night, so he can't stay up all night..."
Xiaobai said: "But we are also with our benefactor. We live in Sister Zhou's house, and we are not vixens..."
Wanwan was still a little hesitant, so the Queen continued: "You can also eat breakfast in the palace tomorrow morning. There are dozens of kinds of pastries in the imperial kitchen. You can try them all..."
Wanwan grabbed Xiaobai's hand and said, "I think you are right. Even if the lady knows, she won't blame us..."
Xiaobai and Wanwan both agreed, so Li Mu's opinion was not important.
This is not two to one, but three to one.
Anyway, Liu Hanyan and Li Qing are not here, Xiaobai and Wanwan are with him, and no one is waiting at home. It doesn't make any difference whether they go back or not.
Tonight, Li Mu was still sleeping in the back hall. When he was practicing with his eyes closed in the room, he could hear the girl's giggle coming from the front hall.
Li Mu probably spent more time in Changle Palace than he did at home, so he knew very well that this palace was deserted and lonely most of the time.
Even when he was around, he and the Queen were busy with their own affairs.
Li Mu was reviewing the memorial, and the Queen was either reading a book or relaxing. The hall was as quiet as ever. After Wanwan and Xiaobai arrived, it became lively than before.
Li Mu did not practice until very late and was ready to rest.
He just drew a holy talisman not long ago, and his exhausted mind has not yet fully recovered, and he still needs a period of rest.
Not long after Li Mu lay down, he seemed to sense something and sat up from the bed again.
He got out of bed, walked to the door, opened the door, and saw Wanwan and Xiaobai, wrapped in quilts, standing on the left and right at the door.
Li Mu asked in confusion: "What are you doing standing here?"
Wanwan wrapped herself tightly in the quilt and whispered: "We can't sleep."
Xiaobai then said: "Can we sleep with our benefactor?"
One of them had a pitiful expression on his little face, and the other looked at Li Mu with big watery eyes. Li Mu opened the door and said helplessly: "Come in."
Two figures immediately ran into Li Mu's room, placed their quilts on the chairs, and both got into Li Mu's bed.
Fortunately, the bed in Changle Palace is very large, so even if it sleeps three people, it won't feel crowded.
Li Mu had reason to suspect that it was the former emperor who made the bed so big in order to make it easier for him to sleep with his concubine.
Wanwan and Xiaobai couldn't sleep, maybe it was because of this.
In fact, when people sleep, they only need a small quiet room and a small bed.
The bedroom is too spacious and the bed is too big, making it difficult to sleep well.
Perhaps this is the reason why the Queen stayed up most of the night and always met Li Mu in her dreams.
It would be so lonely to sleep alone in such a big Changle Palace. Li Mu felt a little unbearable just thinking about it, but the Queen had been like this for four years.
Looking at Wanwan and Xiaobai lying on the bed with only their two heads exposed, Li Mu suddenly didn't know how to sleep.
Xiaobai will definitely be disappointed if he sleeps next to Wanwan. Wanwan will be disappointed if he sleeps next to Xiaobai. Sleeping between the two of them, with the girl's soft body on both sides, he has never experienced such a battle.
, I can’t fall asleep even if I sleep hard...
Li Mu covered them with quilts and said, "You go to bed first, I'll go out for a while."
He put on his clothes and prepared to go to the yard to enjoy the breeze. When he walked outside, he saw a figure sitting on the ridge of the front hall.
From Li Mu's perspective, a full moon rose from behind her, and she sat there quietly, like a fairy in the moon, beautiful, but also looking extremely lonely.
He was not the only one who had no intention of sleeping during the long night.
Li Mu thought for a while and flew up.
Standing on the roof of Changle Palace, Li Mucai discovered that the entire Changle Palace seemed to be at the highest point of the palace. Standing here and looking down, he had a panoramic view of the entire palace.
He walked to the Queen and said softly: "Your Majesty, aren't you still asleep?"
Zhou Wu looked forward and said calmly: "Aren't you asleep too?"
Li Mudao: "I will go to sleep now..."
"sit down."
Zhou Wu spoke again, with a tone that could not be refused: "Speak to me for a while..."
Li Mu sat down next to him and asked, "Is there anything on your mind, Your Majesty?"
If you don't sleep in the middle of the night, you must have something on your mind. The Queen has a delicate mind, and the more delicate a person is, the more likely they are to be troubled by their worries.
Zhou Wu looked at the moon in the sky and asked: "Who do you think I should pass the throne to, the Xiao family or the Zhou family?"
Li Mu shook his head and said, "I dare not speak nonsense."
Zhou Wu said: "Just tell me, there are no ministers here."
A courtier should not answer this question, but after her words, there were no monarchs or ministers on the roof of Changle Palace at this moment, only Zhou Wu and Li Mu.
There is a sentence that Li Mu has been holding in his heart for a long time.
As a friend, he had the need to speak his mind to her.
"Then I said..."
"Say it."
Li Mu turned to look at the Queen and asked in confusion: "To the Xiao family, His Majesty is an outsider. To the Zhou family, the current His Majesty is also an outsider. Instead of passing the throne to an outsider, why don't we give birth to one ourselves?"
After he finished speaking, and seeing the astonished expression on the Queen's face, Li Mu realized that there were some loopholes in his words. When he said "we", he meant that they were his own people, not that he and the Queen had a child.
In order to prevent the Queen from misunderstanding, Li Mu quickly explained: "Your Majesty, please don't misunderstand me. What I mean is that I gave birth to mine and you gave birth to yours..."
