Although the Youzhou Zhao clan is known as the "Three Great Qi Dynasty Valves" together with the Xiangyang Chen clan and the Jinling Shen clan, its origin is not the same as the other two.

The ancestors of the Chen family, the Shen family, and the exterminated Lu family were either heroes who helped Emperor Taizu establish the country, or had made great contributions in the war against foreign enemies, and were therefore awarded the title of "Guogong", and obtained a fief and Danshu iron coupons that had been passed down from generation to generation.

The history of the Zhao clan in Youzhou is much longer, dating back thousands of years.

At that time, the Zhao family established themselves as kings in the north and established the "Great Yan Kingdom".

The Great Chu Dynasty in the Central Plains had waged war against them more than once, wanting to incorporate this "Great Yan Kingdom" into its territory, but it had failed to succeed.

Until more than 400 years ago, Emperor Taizu of Great Qi, who was born as a beggar, suddenly rose in the troubled times.

He held the "Tai'a Sword", led the army to destroy the Great Chu Dynasty, defeated all the princes, and then ascended the throne as the emperor in Luojing City, which shocked the whole world.

Next, he waved his horsewhip and pointed at the Great Yan Kingdom.

After all, for a male lord like him, who aspires to dominate the world, how can he allow others to snore on the side of the couch?

And the king of Yan in the north was also afraid of his might.

In order to avoid a war, King Yan chose to give up the title of king and surrender to Emperor Taizu of Great Qi.

In addition, the Yan people also gave up their original belief in the "God of Fire", and since then, like the Central Plains people, they have believed in "Taishang Haotian" and "Ziwei Emperor" - it is said that this is a condition that Emperor Taizu resolutely refused to give in.

Emperor Taizu canonized the surrendered King of Yan as the "Duke of Yan", and allowed him to retain his private army and autonomy over the Youzhou region to a certain extent, and even allowed him to appoint some local officials in Youzhou on his own; When the imperial court formulated policies related to Youzhou, it would also refer to the opinions of Yan Guogong.

None of the other Maisons had such power.

In addition, Zhao Changying, the Duke of Yan Guo, has the strength of a saint.

It is an exaggeration to say that Youzhou can be regarded as a "country within a country" within the territory of the Great Qi Dynasty.

When she was a child, when Zhao Yan heard the story of her ancestors from the mouths of her elders, she had fantasized more than once that if the King of Yan had not surrendered to Emperor Taizu of Great Qi, wouldn't she be a princess now?

Of course, although she doesn't have the title of a princess now, her status and treatment in the family are actually not much different from that of a real princess.

…………

At this moment, Zhao Yan looked at her father who was disheveled and collapsed in the gazebo, smelling the strong smell of wine in the air, and her mood was extremely complicated.

Over the years, she has been staying in the border army, witnessing the Great Qi court cutting meat like a soft knife, cutting the Zhao family's private army little by little, and also heard those proverbs such as "the northeast has the spirit of heaven" and "fire is the main thing when the sun rises".

She didn't think her father was rebellious.

She only felt that this should be a means for the imperial court to weaken the power of the gate lords, just like the recent investigation of tax evasion and tax evasion in the Shen family industry in Jinling.

But in such a situation, Zhao Changying, the Duke of Yan Guo, was indifferent to this, behaved extremely decadently, and didn't even bother to stop the rumors, allowing them to spread everywhere.

"Yan'er, there is something I forgot to tell you before," I only heard Zhao Changying hiccup, and then said, "When there was an accident in Qingzhou Mansion last month, I went over there to fight with Yishan Snow Girl, and I lost both sides - she returned to the ice cave and entered a deep sleep, and some of my meridians were also frozen by her spells, making it difficult to run the True Yuan normally.

"So after you come to the capital, you should try to be as steady as possible. If you offend someone you can't afford to mess with, I won't be able to support you like I used to. ”

Zhao Yan clasped her hands in front of her chest, squinted her eyes and said, "Yishan Snow Girl...... A dignified saint, he can't even defeat such a little-known ghost? ”

"The ghost is not necessarily the stronger the strength, the greater the fame," Zhao Changying smiled and responded, "For example, that Empty Xuansan person, before he held the ceremony of promoting the ghost king, no one knew about his existence. ”

Zhao Yan did not speak immediately.

She had learned about the disaster in Qingzhou Mansion from the imperial court newspaper and the discussions of others. The meticulous plan of the Kongxuansan people, as well as the means to erase their own cause and effect, made her shudder.

However, in this incident, what impressed her the most was the name "Gu Xu".

She really couldn't understand what kind of method a monk who had just been promoted to the third realm used to escape from the mortal situation laid down by a "fierce god" level ghost.

Before she sent a maid to challenge Gu Xu in the Lantern Festival Ring Competition, she was also driven by this curiosity to a certain extent.

"I heard that the young man named Gu Xu has been in the limelight in Luojing City recently——"

"—I suggest you don't provoke this person just yet."

Before Zhao Yan could finish speaking, Zhao Changying interrupted her.

He was still lazily lying in his chair, but the dazed drunkenness in his eyes disappeared in an instant, and the tone of his voice suddenly became serious.

"Why?" Zhao Yanmo's eyebrows frowned, "Is he very powerful?" ”

She had never seen her father treat a young man with such an attitude.

In the past, even if she wanted to carry a spear to the prince to fight alone, Zhao Changying would only say lightly: "Start lightly, don't kill or cripple." ”

Zhao Changying cleared his throat and said, "I once saw this Gu Xu on the stargazing platform of Luo Sishou. When he appeared, Luo Sishou not only stood up to greet him, but also politely poured him tea with his own hands...... Even I don't have this kind of treatment! ”

"Could it be that he has a deep background?" Zhao Yan guessed.

Her tone sounded unconvinced.

After all, as we all know, the head of the Exorcism Division has always been a person who is upright, arrogant, and self-conscious, whether it is other saints or relatives of the emperor, he will not get up to greet them, let alone pour them tea in person.

Only the emperor's decree can make him move his ass a little.

But in this world, what background can be deeper than the royal family and the saints?

"Who knows?" Zhao Changying said slowly, while conjuring a new wine jug out of thin air, and poured wine into his mouth again, his eyes becoming blurred again.

Crimson wine flowed from the corners of his lips, wetting his beard and dripping onto the placket of his clothes, filling the pavilion with an even stronger aroma.

Zhao Yan snorted coldly, then turned around and left the pavilion.

…………

Zhao Yan's room was the most spacious and luxurious in the entire mansion, and it looked even more magnificent than Yan Guogong's house.

In the room, there is a bed of carved string silk shelves, hung with a green gauze curtain, next to it is a coral welcome door cabinet, a carved fine wooden chaise longue, and a few pear wood engraved chairs.

The walls are hung with calligraphy and paintings of celebrities, the table is lined with bronze stoves, flowing golden cranes, and the floor is covered with wool carpets from the northwest frontier.

The maids had already prepared the "five-spice soup" in the bathtub and served her to bathe.

It is recorded in ancient books: "The five-spice soup method uses one pound of orchid incense, one pound of wattle flowers, one pound of tonka incense, one pound of green wood incense, and one pound of white sandalwood." Where the five things are cut, boil one and two buckets of water and five buckets, and take a bath by themselves. This soup repels evil and removes bad luck. ”（1）

The "five-spice soup" is made from five different spices, and bathing with it can have the effect of dispelling yin qi and dispelling evil spirits.

Zhao Yan lay in the bathtub and closed her eyes to recuperate, the hot water moistened her white and smooth skin.

The temperature of the water in the tub is already close to boiling.

If it were an ordinary person, I am afraid that he would have been seriously burned.

However, Zhao Yan, as the "body of the flame spirit", also holds the Zhao family's unique "holy fire totem", but she is safe and sound inside, and even feels extremely comfortable.

Her personal maid Qiu Yan stood aside and told her about what had happened in the capital recently.

Qiu Yan's parents died when she was a child, and she was taken in by Zhao Yan's mother in the house, and won the trust of Mrs. Qu.

After Mrs. Qu died, she has been by Zhao Yan's side.

For Zhao Yan, Qiu Yan is not only a servant, but also a close sister.

"Qiu Yan, have there been any new movements among the geniuses of Luojing City recently?"

"Chu Fengge of the Exorcism Division broke through the Fifth Realm not long ago."

"He's pretty fast at breaking through the realm. If I'm not mistaken, he should have also used the method of 'slashing seven feelings', right? ”

"That's right. He cut off his own desires. ”

"Cut off the 'desire'...... He's such a ruthless man! I wonder what he was forced to do to break through in such a way. ”

"Miss, didn't you also use the 'Seven Feelings' method of breaking the realm?"

"I'm different from him, what I cut off is 'fear'," Zhao Yan opened her eyes and chuckled, "Fear is superfluous to me, it will only affect my determination and hinder my actions, so it is beneficial and harmless to cut it off."

"But the desire is different.

"How can people live in the world without worldly desires, and how can they not have obsessions that they can't let go?

"If Chu Fengge does this, he will definitely encounter a lot of trouble in his cultivation in the future."

Qiu Yan was silent for a moment, and then said softly: "Actually, miss, you should know that Grandpa Guo sent you to the army before, in fact, he hoped that you would sharpen your Dao heart through the killing qi in the army, and then break through the realm.

"Perhaps, you only need to stay in the army for another year or two, and you can naturally break through the fifth realm, without using the quick method of 'slashing the seven feelings'."

"It's too late," Zhao Yan said as she used her slender fingers to flick the surface of the water, causing it to ripple layer by layer, "Time is a thing, and it never waits for anyone."

"Besides, a coward like Zhao Changying, no matter what he does, he will only choose the safest method, and he will always only know how to protect himself.

"I'm twenty years old now. There is no need to follow his instructions in everything. ”

Hearing Zhao Yan count down her father, Qiu Yan closed her mouth tightly and stopped talking.

After a while, Zhao Yan said lightly: "By the way, Qiu Yan, I remember that you saw that young genius named 'Gu Xu' on the day of the Lantern Festival." What kind of person do you think he is? ”

As she spoke, the question of "what is Gu Xu's background" lingered in her mind.

Qiu Yan hesitated for a moment and replied, "He is very strong, has an amazing understanding, and can write poetry." While in the ring, he wrote a poem on the spot with a 'thrilling pen' to create a new spell. ”

"What word? Let's hear it. ”

Qiu Yan followed the instructions and memorized "Qingyu Case: Yuan Xi" from beginning to end.

"This person is indeed talented," Zhao Yan commented, "He is worthy of being the owner of the 'Jinghong Pen'." Compared with him, the works of Luo Jing's literati and writers are simply pretentious and moaning without disease. ”

"Miss, would you like to get acquainted with him?" Qiu Yan tentatively speculated about his master's thoughts, "He just moved to Goldfish Lane in Yanqing Fang at the end of last month. If you need it, I can go to him and hand him a prayer post. ”

"No need," Zhao Yan immediately shook her head, "None of the men in this world are good things, so there is no need to have too much contact with them." Think of him as a grinding stone, and that's enough. ”

Half an hour later, Zhao Yan wrapped herself in a bath towel and came out of the bathtub. Crystal droplets of water slowly rolled down the slender legs, and the snow-white bare feet stepped on the crimson carpet, and the tips of the feet were covered with a faint mist.

"Qiu Yan, get me a light dress," she instructed lightly, "this afternoon, I want to go to the place where my mother was killed to take another look." ”

"Yes, miss."

"In addition, you send someone to tell Miss Liuli of the teaching workshop that I will go to her tonight and ask her to play a song "Pheasant Flying".

"No problem."

…………

That morning, Gu Xu locked himself in his room and devoted himself to cultivation.

In the magma river of the "Longevity Cult", he absorbed too much energy, and it took a while to digest it slowly.

In addition, after improving the "Red Flame True Technique", the true element in his body has also undergone a qualitative change, becoming more condensed and pure, and also has a longer lasting burning damage.

As a result, he also needs to re-evaluate and adapt to the lethality of each of his spells.

In the afternoon, the little scholar in the gray cloth shirt walked out of the mural, came to Gu Xu, and handed a note to him.

This note is from Shen Qiu.

Shen Qiu said that the pill workshop in Luojing City had begun to take shape, and he wanted to ask Gu Xu to go to the workshop to see it in person.

"Brother Shen, this work efficiency is quite high!" Gu Xu said secretly in his heart.

Since discussing with Shen Qiu at the end of last month to establish the "Capital Branch Workshop", Gu Xu has not asked about this matter again, and has left matters such as raising funds, recruiting monks, and purchasing materials to Shen Qiu.

And Shen Qiu really lived up to his trust, and never let him worry about it.

Because of this, Gu Xu often thinks: What happened to a person like Shen Qiu, who has a talent for cultivation and a business mind, that made him leave the Jinling Shen clan without hesitation, come to his own mansion, and become his own guest?

PS: Ask for a double monthly pass!!

…………

Exegesis:

(1) "Five-spice soup" is from the "Three Emperors Sutra".

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