64th Power Shift in the Imperial Court

  The crowd looked up and saw that it was Wu Song, and they hastily bowed their hands in greeting: "Master!" Zhou Tong coldly snorted and said: "Wu the Second, you are also a man of my household, you come and say something, how should this matter be settled?"

  Wu Song said, "Zhou Shi, on your way here, have you seen the Tian Shi Sect's national grand master? This dragon vein has only twenty years of fortune left. Twenty years later, this piece of dragon bone will inevitably be torn apart by the other four dragon veins. Dao Ming and Dao Zhen, two seniors, saw this point and left the dragon vein to go to Hangzhou. There, the Tian Shi Sect will build a new location for the dragon vein. Even if you destroy this dragon vein, there is another one, and the Song Dynasty will not be destroyed!"

  Zhou Tong remained silent, and Wu Song continued: "The great Song dynasty values literature over martial arts, supports the Confucian and Taoist schools, and abolishes the military school. Therefore, the military school has a grudge against the Zhao Song family, but not against this nation. If you now shatter this dragon bone, the great Song will lose its fortune, hundreds of thousands of monks in the capital will inevitably leave, Liao, Xia, Tubo, and Dali will take advantage of the opportunity to attack the Song state, and in the future, the land will be scorched and white bones will fill the fields. Is this what Master Zhou wishes?"

  Zhou Tong fell silent again, the treasured sword on his head gradually shrinking, and he said in a stern voice: "What you say is reasonable, but in the future when the dynasty changes, this country and nation will still be scorched earth and bleached bones everywhere!"

  "Wu Song said: 'The problem is, who made this land a graveyard, and the people unable to live. Zhou Shi, if you are willing to bear the infamy of a thousand years, I will not stop you.'"

  Zhou Tong remained silent, the precious sword making a soft "ching" sound as it slid into its scabbard. He said, "You've won. In terms of being human, you've surpassed me long ago; I'm no longer worthy of being your teacher. I've lived for nearly a hundred years, constantly striving to destroy the Song Dynasty, but unexpectedly, I'm not even a match for this demon... who sees through everything."

  Wu Song stood at the top of the mountain, smiling slightly: "Master Zhou, you're overpraising me. I'm just standing higher than you and seeing further than you. Those who want to cultivate can cultivate here, those who want to dig spiritual herbs can go dig them, and those who want to forge magical instruments can do so freely. Disperse!"

  The crowd of Taoists cheered and dispersed, each busy with their own affairs. Gao Lian bathed the Iron Corpse in dragon energy and purple energy to refine the Copper Corpse, possibly giving birth to a Corpse King. Yang Jiaolong took out the White Bone Flag, and dozens of skulls voraciously devoured the dense heavenly and earthly primordial energy. Others followed suit, taking out their own magical instruments to temper their treasures with the mighty power of the dragon vein, turning the Dragon Vein Cave Heaven into a dark and gloomy place. As for the martial generals like Lu Da, Lin Chong, and Lü Junyi, they took advantage of the opportunity to cultivate the "Universal Treasure Illuminating Sutra".

  Wu Song called out to Shi Qian, saying: "Go and tell them that at the third watch, when the heaven and earth are in turmoil, they must not practice their skills." Shi Qian responded with a loud "yes" and jumped down from the small hill. Zhou Tong walked up the mountain, Wu Song hastily offered him a seat, but the old man was not polite, sitting down with a thud, saying: "Can you really protect this land and keep it peaceful as you said?"

  "Wu Song said solemnly: 'I have done my best.'"

  Zhou Tong was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, "You were not human in your past life, I don't believe you."

  "Does Old Man Zhou know if he was human in his past life?"

  Zhou Dang was taken aback, and suddenly burst out laughing: "Well said! Well said!" He strode away with his sword, without looking back, saying: "I observed the celestial phenomena last night and discovered that a star of great generals has appeared in the vicinity of Tangyin. Let us part ways here, I have left the Tianbao Jing for you in the study, when you have time, go take it, it will greatly benefit your cultivation."

  "Second Brother, if you truly fulfill what you said today, I will send General Star to assist you. If you can't do it, I'll come and kill you myself!"

  Wu Song immediately ordered Shi Qian to follow Zhou Tong back to the Tianji Pavilion, to retrieve the Du Tianbao's manual of cultivation methods. Shi Qian returned by the original route and after a while, he arrived with a group of evil sect cultivators carrying the manuals.

  Wu Song counted the number of people with Yang Zhi, adding those who had already arrived, there were sixty-nine in total. Yang Zhi said: "Three fell to their deaths when jumping down the stone steps."

  Gong Shu Yanran supported the door and walked out, saying: "The Tianji Pavilion cannot be left unguarded. Why not divide into two groups, with a limit of seven days? One group guards the Tianji Pavilion, and one group comes here to practice. After seven days, switch again. The physical quality of the Taoist priests is relatively weak, and it's hard to avoid falling to death when entering and exiting. I have a wooden kite here, which can be used to send them."

  Wu Song nodded and said, "Yanran's idea is thorough, let's do it this way." Yang Zhi immediately divided these people into two groups. Wu Song called over the Taoist priests and said, "Mobilize the hidden forces across the country, closely monitor Shandong, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces. Also, officials in the imperial court must be kept under surveillance."

  Many Taoist priests received the order and returned to the Tianji Pavilion, immediately mobilizing the hidden forces scattered throughout the country. The network consisted of executioners, prostitutes, accountants, demons, weightlifters, matchmakers, robbers, thieves, eunuchs, and others, forming a vast web of relationships. Every move anyone made would fall under the watchful eyes of those with ulterior motives, even the sound of a widow's door bolt at midnight was recorded in the files.

  All kinds of information gathered in the Tianji Pavilion like snowflakes, and then sorted out useful information for filing. The most important information is sent to the Longmai Cave Heaven every seven days, please let Wu Song review it.

  Song Jiang, Fang La, Tian Hu, Wang Qing and others' every move, all escaped Wu Song's eyes and ears. As for the emperor and officials in the capital, how many times they went to brothels, where they spent the night, what they ate for lunch, everything was recorded.

  This is a truly powerful and influential official who has the ears and eyes of the emperor, and can know everything that happens from the imperial court to the common people without even leaving his house!

  Wu Song hid in the thatched hut and didn't show his face, but directly issued orders, which could affect the dynamics of the whole world. Not only did Emperor Zhao Ji listen to him, but even his arch-nemesis Cai Jing became much more honest!

  The Hidden Gate possesses such immense power that even Wu Song is shocked, now he can be said to have a thorough understanding of the entire world, and even old demons like Zhang Tian Shi and Chen Yun wouldn't dare say they know more than him!

  "Wu Yong and Gong Sunsheng persuaded Song Jiang to rob the birthday gifts sent by Liang Zhongshu to Cai Jing, while Bai Shou and Bai Sheng were caught in a gambling den. Song Jiang and others had been forced onto Mount Liang, where they set fire to and killed the White Tiger General Wang Lun, occupying the waters of Mount Liang."

  Wu Song sat in the thatched hut, carefully browsing through the documents, softly reading them to Gong Sunyan, and asked in puzzlement: "Sunyan, what do you think is the meaning of this Gong Sunsheng? He's a Taoist priest with magical powers, he doesn't lack money or fame, I can give him power, status, wealth, but he insists on becoming a rebel, what's the reason for this?"

  Gong Sun Yanran had not fully recovered and still coughed these days, saying: "I guess Gong Sun Sheng didn't intentionally embarrass you, but it was his master Luo Zhenren's order. As for why Luo Zhenren wanted to do this, there is too little information to analyze."

  Wu Song tapped his fingers on the case files and nodded, "The Luo Zhenren of Jiugong Mountain and Erxian Mountain may have already informed Cheng Yaojin and Han Mo about this, which is why he sent Gong Sunsheng down the mountain to lead the way and let Chai Ge and other demons wreak havoc. This Luo Zhenren is indeed formidable, as even our hidden doors cannot detect his every move."

  Gong Shu Yan took the volume from his hand and said: "I'll take a look, you go practice your Qi."

  Wu Song took the documents back from her hands and smiled: "You take good care of yourself, these things don't need you to worry about. The other day when Shi Xiang's wife came with Cui San Niang, she was a considerate woman, I'll let her come over to keep you company."

  Gong Sun's heart was sweet and she responded with a "yes". Wu Song left the thatched cottage, called over Zhang Qing and his wife, Three Niangzi, and whispered to her: "Three Niangzi, take good care of her. If you make her unhappy, I'll chop your husband Zhu Biao into human sausages."

  Pan Jinlian was almost as tall as Wu Song, a natural beauty like a peony flower, slender and elegant. She had been at the Tianji Pavilion for only a few days when she won everyone's admiration. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said: "Second Master, rest assured, I loved telling jokes back in my hometown. My grandmother even died laughing from one of my jokes... it was very peaceful..."

  Wu Song said with a stern face, "If Yan Ran's smile can kill people, I'll chop Zhu Biao into human sticks to make dried sausage." Hua San Niang stuck out her tongue, while Zhu Biao stood aside rolling his eyes and shouted, "Why do you always want to chop me..."

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  Two updates are done, seeking recommendation votes, tomorrow will enter the main storyline, Liangshan officially begins~~~