The First Tyrant

  Chang'an had three imperial palaces: Changle Palace, Weiyang Palace and Jianzhang Palace.

  Three of the imperial palaces had been repeatedly ravaged by great fires and, due to years of neglect, were already in a state of disrepair. Liu Xuan and the various officials of the court fled to Chang'an, where they managed to clean up a few halls of the Weiyang Palace, partly for the emperor's residence and also to have a formal place for policy discussions.

  Jinhua Hall is one of the palaces in Weiyang Palace, and it is currently one of the only two palaces in Weiyang Palace that have been sorted out. The other is Xuanshi, which is a resting place for emperors.

  The empress and the concubines should have had their own residences, but in these extraordinary times, many pressing matters were left unattended. These things could only be done gradually. Fortunately, Liu Xuan had only taken Cai Yan as his consort, and hadn't even established a formal empress, so it was fine for Cai Yan to live with him, which actually saved some trouble.

  Jinhua Hall was almost simultaneously cleaned up with Xuan Shi, because all the officials in the court thought that even if the emperor was declining, this place for discussing politics could not be handled casually. This symbolized the dignity of a dynasty, after all, if the central government of a dynasty was a dilapidated palace, a group of civil and military ministers with the sky as their roof and weeds as their seats, even if they had great ambitions, they would probably feel unmotivated when they saw such a scene.

  Liu Xuan this time made Lv Bu surround the Golden Flower Hall with his elite Tiger Guard, mainly to prevent the ministers from obstructing his own reform plan. As it stands now, this reform will definitely be implemented, and at most, he would just have to kill a few stupid fools.

  Of course, this kill will probably make his reputation thoroughly stink, but Liu Xuan doesn't care about these things. Anyway, he knows that there are many people in the world who are not from noble families, and some of them have even entered the imperial court to fill vacancies. Besides, at this time, the area controlled by the imperial court is not large, and with a set of teams, it can be handled.

  When you have become powerful, will those people still care about those things? Of course, they will naturally come to beg for your use of them.

  After handing over some trivial matters to Lü Bu, Liu Xuan glanced at the sky and saw that it was still early. He sat down for a short while to meditate and cultivate his energy, then called up three or five attendants and set out on an excursion.

  Recently, I've been feeling a lingering dragon energy, like a cat's paw that won't stop scratching. It's uncomfortable if I don't find it. Now that I have some free time, I'll take another look around, and hopefully, I can find it.

  In just these few days, he had already searched through nearly half of Weiyang Palace, yet still couldn't find the location of that dragon energy.

  "Isn't it in Weiyang Palace?"

  Chang'an City has three imperial palaces, Weiyang Palace was built after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, and Changle Palace was a palace built by the Former Qin, which was rebuilt later.

  Among the three imperial palaces, Jianzhang Palace was the last to be built. However, Liu Xuan thought for a moment and felt that Jianzhang Palace had no connection with the dragon energy of the founding country. Changle Palace seemed more plausible, so he called Zhang Rang over: "Are you familiar with Changle Palace?"

  Zhang Rang had been following Liu Xuan's side, although the power was not as good as before, but he didn't have to worry about food and clothing, and there were still people serving him. As he grew older, some thoughts faded away, and he just wanted to spend his remaining years in peace and stability. He naturally answered Liu Xuan's questions, but he didn't expect this young emperor to ask about the Chang Le Palace.

  "This... your humble servant is not very familiar."

  Liu Xuan knew it was pointless to ask, but Zhang Rang was the oldest among them, and if he didn't ask him, there would be no one else to ask: "Forget it, come with me for a stroll, just take a look around."

  As the Son of Heaven, he wanted to take a look at his own palace, and there was nothing much to say. Zhang Rang summoned some guards to follow him, and then prepared the carriage to set off.

  Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace are quite far apart, one is located in the southeast of Chang'an and the other is in the southwest. If you walk back and forth between them, that's all you'll have time for.

  If some emperors who liked to show off wanted to go out, they would definitely not be able to return at night. Fortunately, Liu Xuan didn't care about those things and just called for someone to bring his horse, directly leading the guards to rush towards Changle Palace.

  After walking for a while, Liu Xuan arrived in front of the Changle Palace and saw a magnificent high wall. Standing in front of the wall, he could hardly see the end, which showed how vast the Changle Palace was. If he wanted to see the whole view at once, he would have to climb to a higher place.

  As soon as he entered the Chang Le Palace, Liu Xuan suddenly felt that the dragon energy's aura had become much more pronounced. This discovery made him secretly delighted, knowing that he hadn't come to the wrong place after all, and that the source of the dragon energy was indeed within the Chang Le Palace.

  Chang Le Palace is a palace of two dynasties. If you can get the dragon energy of Qin and Han dynasties, Liu Xuan's cultivation will definitely increase by a large margin. Even if it cannot break through the current boundary, at least it can make the current cultivation speed faster. Otherwise, guarding a dragon egg doesn't know when to hatch.

  With a sense of anticipation in his heart, Liu Xuan's footsteps naturally became much lighter. The guards beside him were still struggling to keep up, and Zhang Yan, who was already old and frail, was barely managing to follow. He couldn't help but wonder why Liu Xuan was so happy, while also secretly taking note of the young emperor's behavior today, thinking that he seemed to prefer Chang Le Palace over Weiyang Palace.

  Especially when Liu Xuan turned a big circle and finally stopped in front of the wine pool, Zhang Rang was even more certain of his inference.

  The wine pool in this palace was built by the tyrant Qin Shi Huang of the pre-Qin period, but after its completion, there was no opportunity to have fun here, and it was a bargain for the emperors of the Han Dynasty.

  Liu Xuan stood by the wine pool, staring at the murky water in a daze. Zhang Rang quietly approached him: "Your Majesty, if you want to have fun here, it's better to come back after repairing the wine pool for a while. Although this place is slightly damaged, it's not difficult to repair, but the wine in the pool needs some time to fill up."

  Liu Xuan only came to his senses at this time, and when he glanced at the old eunuch's flattering expression, he felt speechless.

  "I am not here to have fun."

  Although Zhang Rang said so, he thought that the emperor was still young and shy, so he didn't dare to admit it. He nodded and retreated, but in his heart, he wondered if he should first repair the facilities of Chang Le Palace, or at least renovate the palaces in Weiyang Palace where the emperor would enjoy himself.

  Moreover, the emperor is still young, but only having Empress Cai as his consort doesn't seem quite right; wouldn't it be better to find some young and beautiful women to enter the palace and serve the emperor?

  The mind keeps turning, thinking basically about how to make the emperor comfortable. After all, only if the emperor is comfortable can he be comfortable. If Liu Xuan knew, I don't know what kind of expression he would make.

  At the moment he is focusing on the dragon energy emanating from the murky pool water, although it's not very obvious, but Liu Xuan has already determined that the source of the dragon energy is in the pool water.

  He glanced at the guards on either side, waved his hand to dismiss everyone, leaving only Zhang Rang by his side. This was somewhat puzzling to the old eunuch, who didn't know what the emperor was up to this time.

  After the Hu Ben guards had all withdrawn and were no longer in sight, Liu Xuan finally spoke up and said, "Zhang, since you have decided to follow me now, I will also put your mind at ease."

  This remark made Zhang Rang even more bewildered. However, he did not know that Liu Xuan was going to reveal a very clever move, which would also make Zhang Rang feel at ease in doing things.

  Only to see Liu Xuan raise his right hand, with the palm facing the murky pool water in a virtual grasping motion, as if grabbing something. This action is nothing, but following Liu Xuan's soft drink: "Come!"

  Zhang Rang noticed that in Liu Xuan's palm, there seemed to be a faint golden mist swirling around, changing around his palm, and finally transformed into a dragon head shape.

  Zhang Rang was shocked by this strange phenomenon and was at a loss for what to do, unable to utter the words he had originally wanted to ask. He stared blankly with his eyes wide open, watching everything that was happening in front of him.

  Only the dragon's head appeared, and it immediately opened its huge mouth. A strong suction force was emitted from the dragon's mouth, and Zhang Rang felt a kind of illusion as if his own soul was being sucked in.

  Zhang Rang had been in the palace for a long time and had also heard that there were capable people who understood some mysterious and strange techniques. Not to mention others, but Shi Dao Ren was favored by Empress He, it is said that he was an extraordinary person who understood the mysteries. However, having heard this, Zhang Rang still did not believe in these things. Even when the Yellow Turbans rebelled, countless reports claimed that there were people in the Yellow Turban army who understood witchcraft, but he only regarded them as excuses.

  It wasn't until today that he realized those words weren't entirely false, at least the events unfolding before his eyes had overturned his previous understanding.

  What made him even more puzzled was how the Emperor understood the Xuanmen techniques?

  It was at this strange moment that he suddenly saw the water in the pool churning, and Zhang Rang only then understood that Liu Xuan's action was aimed at something in the water. Curious about what it could be that would make the emperor so concerned, he couldn't help but look into the wine pool.

  Almost at the same time, a large cluster of black objects flew out of the water and rushed towards Liu Xuan. However, just as they were about to reach Liu Xuan's face, they slowed down and finally hovered in front of his palm, suspended in mid-air.

  Zhang Rang was already kneeling on the ground, staring blankly at Liu Xuan and that big black thing, calming down after a while before opening his mouth to ask: "Your Majesty, what is this..."

  Liu Xuan also furrowed his brow, staring at the strange mass in front of him. He felt that there was a hint of dragon energy emanating from within, which meant that this thing's original appearance was absolutely not like this.

  But if we forcibly remove this lump of things from the outside, I don't know if it will hurt the things inside.

  Just after a moment of contemplation, Liu Xuan made up his mind and directly reached out to grab that black mass. With a burst of strength, the mud was shaken off continuously, finally falling back into the pool.

  As the mud and dirt were all gone, Liu Xuan only felt a dazzling red glow in front of his eyes, and a long sword with a blade made of unknown material, its entire body crimson red, was held in his hand.

  "This is...?" Zhang Rang took a look at the long sword's appearance, as well as its entirely crimson color with hints of red light flashing through it. The long sword immediately made him think of a sword recorded in the book: "Chi Xiao Sword?"

  Liu Xuanzheng was feeling the surging dragon energy emanating from the sword, guessing its origin. Unexpectedly, Zhang Rang recognized it at a glance, and after a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly realized: "It's actually the Red Sky Sword used by Liu Bang, no wonder there's some founding dragon energy attached to the sword. But how did it end up here?"

  I'm exhausted... Today I'll pay back one chapter, still owe one more chapter, will continue tomorrow.