There is an old tower made of yellow bricks in the southern city, and the body of the tower is completely entwined with green vines. The tower seemed to be about to collapse at any moment. However, the old tower still stands among the small temples – witnessing the vicissitudes of the local landscape – calmly, silently, and without a word.

Every spring, countless geese come back from the south and fly over Chang'an City before the green summer, over Xunyang Lake in the Gushan Governor's Mansion. Then they circled the old tower for several days, intermittently making warblers, when the shadows of the geese seemed to block out the sun, forming a splendid scene.

No one knows why these wild geese, flying high and moored at the water's edge, will appear in the bustling city of Chang'an and be so interested in the old tower, but over time, they have become accustomed to it. In recent years, the scene of countless geese flying in the air has become another beautiful scenery enjoyed by Chang'an citizens, so it is called "Ten Thousand Wild Goose Pagoda".

Now, a monk lives at the top of Wanyan Tower, with a green lamp and a Buddha statue in the niche beside him, and scriptures, pen and ink on the desk. He rarely came down from the pagoda and rarely saw women in the back garden who respected and believed in Buddhism.

The monk called himself Huang Yang and was the younger brother of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Today, he met a guest who was as honored as himself.

Li Qingshan, the lord of the Tang Dynasty, looked at the monk at the table copying Buddhist scriptures and said, "Suzaku woke up last night.

Monk Huang Yang didn't raise his head, and replied calmly: "The holy weapon left by the Sage in his previous life, every move has its true meaning. How can we, ordinary people who are besieged in the mortal world, understand? Why the hell are you bothering yourself?

Li Qingshan asked indifferently, "As long as we stay in this mortal world, how can we not be disturbed by the breath of the mortal world?"

Monk Huangyang slowly glanced up at him, and suddenly said something inconsequential, "Since Your Majesty is still in the palace, why are you here?"

"Rules are not living things, but people are. Your Majesty spends most of his time in the palace, do I have to be locked up in the palace every day? You can hide in Wanyan Pagoda every day to cultivate, but as the sect master of the Southern Sect of Haotian Dao, I do have a lot to do. Moreover, who can kill His Majesty in Chang'an City?

"The Southern School of Haotian Taoism..."Monk Huang Yang repeated softly again, a puzzled smile on his face. He said softly: "The Southern Sect suddenly broke away from the Haotian Taoism in our Tang Empire. I really don't know how you can resist the wrath of the great god priest when you go back to Xishan every year.

Li Qingshan said proudly: "I sat above the temple with my eyes closed, and I didn't see the old faces of those uncles. I pretended to be deaf and dumb, standing on the peach mountain without peaches, and did not listen to the solemn bell in the distance.

"Southern schools have paid the amount of silver they are supposed to pay each year. What more could they want? Convict me of a traitor and kill me? In this case, those old priests in Xishan have to destroy our Tang Empire first.

Monk Huang Yang smiled and didn't say anything.

The southern sect of Haotian Taoism is the product of the balance between the Tang Empire and the Xishan Shrine. It actually represented the greatest victory of the Tang Empire in the secular religious wars. It existed for one day, and the Taoist noble beings of Xishan had one more day of embarrassment. He shouldn't comment too much on these things, because he's been practicing Dharma skills.

"Suzaku woke up last night."

Li Qingshan pulled the topic back to the hottest topic before, looked at Monk Huangyang coldly and said, "Whether you want to or not, I have disturbed many people. As the lord of the Tang Dynasty, it is impossible for me not to be able to answer the questions raised by the imperial court.

Monk Huang Yang stared at the Buddhist scriptures on the table in front of him and the bright red handicrafts written in cinnabar on the paper. After a moment of silence, he asked, "So you're here for answers?"

"A famous sword master in Nancheng was beheaded before Suzaku woke up."

In the narrow tower, Li Qingshan walked around the wooden table, and then walked quickly to the side of the tower. He looked out through the small glass window, beyond the forest and the summer heat, and finally landed on the steaming southern city.

"The dead Juggernaut used to be a document appraiser for the Ministry of War. Few people know that he is a disciple of Xishan, but his swordsmanship comes from Haotian Taoism. This is not the crux of the problem, and I am not here to blame the Tang Empire on behalf of the uncles of Xishan. I'm interested in why the murderer had his coat torn by the Juggernaut before he died, but he didn't bleed.

Hearing these words, Monk Huangyang seemed to fall into deep thought, and then slowly asked, "A master of the peak realm of martial arts?"

Li Qingshan turned around and fixed his sleeves on his back. He continued, looking at the monk quietly, "It is very unlikely that the martial arts masters will intervene, because the martial arts masters in the Southern Jin Kingdom, the Yan Kingdom, and other places are all under the surveillance of the imperial court. Therefore, I suspect that the bewitching monk of Yue Lun Kingdom has sneaked in and played tricks.

"So you're here to find answers." The monk smiled and repeated what he had said earlier.

"There is a legend in the world that you have been to an unknown place, and I know that this is not just a legend, but the truth. Then I will definitely ask you about those bewitching monks in the Yuelun Kingdom.

"I'm from Pingzhou City in the Tang Empire." Monk Huang Yang became serious and continued quietly. "I don't believe that the monks of Yue Lunguo would sneak into Chang'an City and kill people for no reason."

"And how do you explain the murderer's bloodless coat?" Li Qingshan asked, staring into his eyes.

Monk Huang Yang replied softly with gentle eyes, "Suzaku has awakened from anger. It collects the breath of nature as a nameless fire, powerful enough to incinerate everything in the world. Not to mention some thick bloodstains, but maybe the assassins have been reduced to ashes.

The monk was the younger brother of the emperor and was well versed in Buddhism, so it was easy to guess the truth of the matter, as expected.

However, this does not fully explain every problem.

Li Qingshan frowned and asked, "How many people in the world can make the Vermilion Bird wake up and erupt?" Even if you and I try our best, it may just lazily open its eyes and take a brief look. If it was one of those seniors, why did he come to Chang'an City to be a killer? Why did he take this risk to make Suzaku angry, and why was there no warning?

Monk Huang Yang said with a smile: "However, the holy artifacts left by the previous sages always have a special meaning between activity and potential. How can ordinary people like us understand this? If the senior who had been to Chang'an City really broke away from the realm of knowing the heavens and gained the ability of the weather, as well as the concept of randomness, then he couldn't guess the purpose of coming to Chang'an.

Saints, holy vessels, weather, irregularities – these words echo in the small space at the top of the Tower of Ten Thousand Faces. Even the suzerain and Gongfa Buddha of the Tang Dynasty couldn't help but fall into a long silence in the face of these transcendent existences.

"In the thirteenth year of Tianqi... Not very calm.

Sighing softly, Li Qingshan turned to look at the sky outside that was separated by glass windows into several palm-sized pieces. He looked at the clouds and the noisy birds, and then said leisurely, "It's not a big deal, just some disturbing little things." I wondered if I should practice some divination.

"Buddhists cultivate mediation, not life. Monk Huang Yang looked at his back and added calmly, "I have never believed in such a thing as divination. Don't forget how much interference there was when Imperial astronomers finished their observations of the stars that year. It seems to comment that "the night covers the stars; The country will be plunged into turmoil' is really ridiculous today.

Li Qingshan observed the clouds for a moment, and then said indifferently: "The movement of the clouds and stars seems to be random, but it is not. In your life, sometimes you will find that predicting fate is ridiculous. But over time, it turns out in the end that it is not the prediction that is absurd, but the fate itself.

"Master, although you are right, please remember the evaluation that the monk of Xishan gave you when he taught you the Dao. You have to sacrifice your life to gain the ability to observe the sky, he said. The comments of the imperial astronomers on the stars caused numerous riots at the time, and Her Majesty, in order to maintain her innocence, begged you to practice divination, but you refused. Do you really want to shorten your life expectancy today because of inner turmoil and premonitions?

"The mysteries of nature are unpredictable. I want to witness the prosperity of the Tang Empire for a few more years, so that I don't bother to shorten my destined life. Li Qingshan slowly frowned, and looked at the lively stall owners outside the temple and under the tower. "Even at the cost of being seriously ill, I want to see what kind of variables fall on this chessboard," he said.

Monk Huang Yang sighed in his heart and did not try to stop his companion again. He removed the Buddhist scriptures, pen and ink, took out the black and white chess pieces and chessboard from the box, and put them on the writing desk.

Li Qingshan turned around and walked to the table, but with a flick of his sleeve, he grabbed two black and white chess pieces. He threw them on the board haphazardly, instead of making complex and mysterious spell-casting moves.