Chapter 61: Peony

  Time flies like water, and even if Liu Xuan has thousands of mysterious methods, he can't stop it.

  Besides, he didn't even think of stopping it. These days have been getting more and more peaceful, but he feels bored and can't wait for the days to pass quickly so that something will happen.

  However, the Chang'an matter has been put on the right track. Those things can't be done in a short time. At this moment, Liu Xuan finally felt that when he played games, he could achieve his goals with just a click of his finger and a little effort, but when converted to actual time, how much suffering it would bring.

  "At first, when I was in the Xiuzhen Empire, I could still cultivate in seclusion and play with strange and unusual magical artifacts to pass the time. Now, however, I can only compete with these two iron blocks in front of me, it's really frustrating."

  Because the Chi Xiao sword was severely damaged and basically couldn't be used, Liu Xuan simply and neatly absorbed the dragon energy into his body, so that he could break through this embarrassing period as soon as possible.

  Although the Chi Xuan sword lost its dragon energy, it doesn't mean it became a useless piece of scrap iron. Because this long sword was made with some unknown materials during its casting process, making the blade reddish-brown and emitting an intimidating chill, Liu Xuan thought of fusing the Chi Xuan sword into his own long knife.

  After these days, he finally completed this work. After fusion, the exterior was still in the shape of Liu Xuan's refined Tang knife, but the blade turned crimson and emitted a chilling glow that seemed extraordinary at first glance.

  For this reason, Liu Xuan simply renamed his long knife to Chi Xiao, only because it was a knife and not a sword, so the word for sword was simply omitted.

  Also, it is unknown whether the Chi Xiang sword has undergone 400 years of quenching with the dragon energy, and itself has also produced some variations. After Liu Xuan merged the Chi Xiang sword with the long knife to form a new Chi Xiang, a thread of dragon energy was once again produced - this dragon energy is different from the one in Liu Xuan's body, with a heavier killing intent. Liu Xuan suspects that it might be part of the murderous energy infused into the founding dragon energy when Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty. If so, the power of Chi Xiang may become even stronger, which would be an unexpected surprise.

  With a casual swing of his arm, Liu Xuan didn't even use any strength, let alone the limited dragon energy stored within the Red Cloud. However, he could sense that after the Red Cloud was swung, even if it wasn't cut by the blade, anything within a certain range would still be injured - because the blade was sharp and Liu Xuan's arm strength was formidable, so when he swung his arm, the wind pressure generated had the effect of a vacuum blade.

  Unfortunately, the distance was not long, at most just a few centimeters away. Although it could have an unexpected effect, the actual lethality was not worth expecting - if there were ten centimeters or more, Liu Xuan would be secretly delighted.

  "There's no need to be too entangled, when I give birth to a golden dragon in my body, I can use the true vacuum blade, at that time, it's not difficult to say ten centimeters, one or two meters..."

  The Vacuum Blade should be the most urgent skill he can master at present. If his cultivation is sufficient, when he uses the Vacuum Blade, even in a crowd of thousands of soldiers and horses, he can come and go as he pleases, killing as many as he wants, and coming back to life as many times as he wants.

  Take the red tassel back, looked at Diao Chan standing beside him with a puzzled expression, this little girl seemed to be unable to understand how the long knife suddenly appeared and disappeared without a trace, was the Emperor playing magic tricks?

  Liu Xuan looked at her expression and found it interesting. He was doing this in front of Diao Chan, naturally wanting to teach her some basic cultivation methods, laying the foundation, as for the method of cultivating the Phoenix's power... it's not urgent for now, let's wait until this girl is fully grown before saying anything.

  "Is it interesting?"

  Although Diao Chan seemed a bit precocious, she was still young and retained some of her childish innocence. Having spent more time with Liu Xuan recently, she had also become more familiar with him. Upon hearing his words, she nodded slightly, her big eyes sparkling, making her look even more adorable.

  "Do you want to learn?"

  Diao Chan blinked her big eyes and looked at Liu Xuan for a while before asking softly, "Can... I?"

  According to her identity, she was just a small palace maid in the palace, with low status and position. She was only considered a relatively powerful palace maid because she served the empress and emperor closely - but still just a palace maid.

  Cai Yan had already made up her mind that in a couple of years, this little fox spirit would be formally appointed as the emperor's concubine, so she didn't treat her like an ordinary palace maid, but rather like her own sister. When speaking to her, she was also more casual, and with Liu Xuan being increasingly affectionate lately, there was no longer any taboo in addressing her that way.

  "What's wrong with it? If I say it's okay, then it's okay."

  Originally, Diao Chan saw that the method was so wonderful, and it must be some untransmitted secret. Who would have thought that the emperor would teach it just by saying it? After Liu Xuan taught her, she was even more surprised to learn that what the emperor wanted to teach her was actually the legendary immortal's technique - she didn't know that what she was going to learn was just some superficial skin and hair in Liu Xuan's eyes, which were essentially nothing.

  "Hmm, now that you've memorized these rhymes, cultivate your Qi sensation as instructed."

  At this point, Diao Chan can't even get in the door, so Liu Xuan has to start teaching her from scratch. Originally, if Liu Xuan could use his powers, he would be able to help Diao Chan out easily, but now he's in no shape to do that, and she's on her own.

  However, Liu Xuan was also a person who once stood at the peak, and there were many means in his hands. Even if he couldn't use his own cultivation, there were other methods.

  "Except for this oral formula, remember another prescription. From now on, use this medicinal liquid to bathe every day when you take a bath, and your cultivation will be twice as effective." After thinking about it, I suddenly remembered that Diao Chan seemed to serve Cai Yan's bath every day before taking her own bath, which was a bit troublesome: "I'll talk to Wenji later, let the two of them soak in the medicinal bath together, and it won't be so much trouble..."

  "This...". Diao Chan felt uneasy as soon as she heard it. After all, Cai Yan was the current empress, what status did she have to bathe together with the empress? "How can you share a bath with Her Majesty?"

  This was originally an inappropriate emphasis, but as soon as the word came out, it seemed that he thought of something and his face turned slightly red. On the contrary, Liu Xuan also realized it, and his expression changed - originally he didn't have any other thoughts, just with Diao Chan's posture, he really wanted to join in too.

  Actually, Diao Chan's face suddenly turned red, and she was also secretly guessing: "The emperor deliberately said so, could it be that he actually wants..."

  She had long known that she couldn't escape this day, and in her heart, she basically accepted this fact. She even thought it was not bad to be favored by the emperor, at least this emperor was young and handsome, with a tall and strong physique, such a heroic figure, is exactly the ideal husband in every girl's heart.

  Is it... too improper... for me to be with the Empress?

  She glanced up at the emperor, seeing him staring into the distance as if looking for something. She was puzzled and followed his gaze, but saw nothing except clouds. However, a few blooming peonies in the distance caught her attention, and since the emperor wasn't paying attention, she took another look.

  But unexpectedly, Liu Xuan just glanced at the sky and shifted his attention, then looked back at Diao Chan, coincidentally seeing her staring intently at the peony flowers. Suddenly remembering something, he walked to the pile of peonies in front of him and asked Diao Chan: "Which one do you like best?"

  Diaochan looked at Liu Xuan in surprise and didn't understand what he meant, but after a glance, she finally pointed to a pink peony.

  Which one is in full bloom, and the flowers are not at all wilted. Looking closely, there are even a few dew drops on it, and when the sunlight shines on it, against the pink petals, the viewer becomes dizzy with delight.

  Liu Xuan also thought it was extremely beautiful after taking a look, so he casually plucked it and said to Diao Chan: "I'll give it to you!"

  "Ah!"

  The flowers in the palace can't be picked at will, I'm afraid only the emperor can do so. But when they are in full bloom, if you pick them, they will probably wither and die within half a day.

  Diao Chan thought it was a pity, but the flower had been plucked by the Emperor himself, so she couldn't say anything and could only stare blankly at the peony in a daze.

  Liu Xuan naturally saw what she was thinking, and casually took out another jade token. He grasped the peony flower in his hand, then pinched the jade token, and suddenly heard a "pa" sound. The jade token turned into powder with sparkling lights, and then rushed into the peony flower.

  Diao Chan couldn't help but forget to lament the loss of that beautiful flower, and instead was very curious about Liu Xuan's actions, while also guessing what the emperor had crushed earlier and what it was used for.

  But Liu Xuan didn't explain, he just inserted the peony into Diao Chan's hair and said: "This flower will never wither." Then he began to admire his own work - Diao Chan with a pink peony on her head: "Not considering clothes, still missing a pair of hammers."

  In fact, the jade symbol he just crushed is not as simple as making flowers never wither. The jade symbol is actually a special magical treasure that can transform an item specified by the user into a defensive magical treasure.

  In other words, the peony eyes have already become a defensive treasure, even if Diao Chan doesn't know how to use it, it will automatically protect its master when she encounters danger. And as for never withering - have you ever seen a treasure wither? That's just an additional benefit.

  The principle is simple, it's just to carve the defensive spell array needed in advance on a jade piece, and then make the jade piece into a magical artifact that can merge with other objects, so as to achieve this effect.

  It was only with Liu Xuan's cultivation at the time of making this jade piece that it could only be merged with some ordinary objects, and its defensive power could only be considered general - but under current circumstances, it was already sufficient.

  Of course, Liu Xuan would not be partial to either side, and he had also prepared some good things for Cai Yan. What was giving him a headache were those warlords, as he really didn't have anything worth showing off.

  For the sake of the hammer