Chapter 3 is unlucky

  After a brief astonishment, the old Taoist was the first to come back to his senses. He took a step forward and pulled Wang Taai, who was guarding beside the bed: "When did Your Highness wake up?"

  "Child hour moment!" Wang Taai thought for a moment and said, the old Taoist's fingers were pinched together, and the little Taoist was also muttering to himself.

  "What's wrong with Zhang Tian Shi and Liu Zong Shi?" The Emperor asked hastily upon seeing the two Taoist priests lose their composure.

  "Your Majesty, the timing of the prince's awakening coincides with the appearance of the comet, I'm afraid it's not auspicious!" The old Taoist replied with a bow, his identity was not simple, he was Liu Hunkang, the 25th generation master of the Shangqing sect, who was nearly ninety years old and not only proficient in music but also well-versed in yin-yang arithmetic. He calculated that the prince's yang life had already ended, yet he had returned to his body, his fate had changed, and even he couldn't calculate what would happen in the future.

  "Your Majesty, please!" The young Taoist pointed to the comet the size of a cup mouth in the western sky and said, "This star is ominous, it is the heavens expressing anger, ordering the heavenly general to generate evil energy, wherever its light shines will have disasters, Your Highness's soul has not yet returned, fearing that you have been tainted by the evil energy, it is inauspicious!"

  "Is there a way to break the spell?" The emperor asked hastily, this Taoist priest was young, but he was the 36th generation of Zhengyi Taoism's Tian Shi, best at performing rituals for rain or shine, subduing demons and evil spirits, often invited by the emperor to travel between the capital city and Mount Longhu.

  "This is troublesome!" Zhang Tian Shi and Liu Hun Kang exchanged a glance, both feeling embarrassed.

  "Your Majesty, the palace has an evil spirit, and it's likely to harm the people inside. If you find a quiet place to cultivate your mind and nature, everything will be peaceful inside and out!" Liu Hun Kang glanced at the empress and said with a stiff upper lip. Everyone in the palace knew that the emperor favored Zheng Guifei the most, so if he spoke too much, Guifei might say something bad about him to the emperor, which would put his life and those of his followers in danger. But since the emperor had ordered him to speak, he couldn't stay silent. After finishing speaking, he lightly kicked Zhang Tian Shi with his foot, thinking "good things can't all be yours, you also have to bear some bad things".

  "What Liu Daozhang said is absolutely right. As long as we avoid the capital, a hundred miles away, hiding from the world and letting the prince focus on his cultivation, he can return to the capital to serve Your Majesty and the empress after coming of age!" Zhang Tian Shi was also a clever person, receiving the hint, immediately understood the meaning of his fellow Taoist.

  "Who are you all, anyway? One glance and my fate is sealed!" Zhao Cheng muttered to himself as he assessed his current situation. Based on the furnishings in the room and the attire of the others, he realized that he was now in a palace from some unknown dynasty, inhabiting the body of a 7 or 8-year-old child who appeared to be a prince. The woman standing guard beside him was likely a high-ranking concubine, and the man who entered later was undoubtedly the Emperor. As for those two old men, they were probably highly favored, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to enter the palace so freely.

  "Oh, Xiaor's body has always been poor, it's just a cold, and it won't have anything to do with the evil star in the sky!" The empress heard that the child was connected to the comet, this is no small matter, and she quickly explained.

  "Your Highness, the old Taoist calculated that the prince's soul had just escaped, and I was doing a ritual with the Heavenly Master to retrieve his soul. Who knew that an evil star suddenly descended, and the malevolent spirit took advantage of it to invade the prince's body? I'm afraid the malevolent spirit will do harm here, which is not good for Your Majesty and the princess!" Liu Hun Kang explained incessantly.

  "Then there's no way to break it?" The princess asked with tears in her eyes. "Your Highness is the Dragon Son, and although the evil spirit is powerful, it can't harm your life. As long as you cultivate outside for a few days and use the sacred water of the old Taoist to fill your body with yang energy, you can expel the evil spirit!" Liu Hun Kang said with a smile.

  "Dear wife, don't worry, the immortal has already said so. Chen Er is just cultivating outside for a few days and won't come to any harm!" The emperor gently patted the empress's back and comforted her in a soft voice, with an affectionate expression on his face. "I was worried sick for several days and managed to save the second prince, but you two came in and chattered some nonsense, taking away all my credit. Is this reasonable?" Wang Taizong, who had been standing aside, became superfluous at this moment. Although he was resentful and wanted to defend himself, since the emperor deeply trusted the words of the two old Taoists, he shook his head and gave up.

  "What the...! What kind of evil spirits are those two? They're just superstitions that deceive people's minds!" Zhao Cheng thought to himself, and suddenly his brain short-circuited. Without any ghosts or gods, how did he end up in this young man's body? It was really strange. As soon as Zhao Cheng got angry, this weak body couldn't take it, and he "crashed" again. When he rebooted, it was already the next day.

  After waking up, Zhao Cheng pretended to be confused while using his keen observational skills to understand the situation: he was now in the Song Dynasty 900 years ago. His 'father' was the current emperor, the infamous villainous character - a typical example of indulgence and recklessness, Emperor Huizong of Song, who let the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty capture and kill him in the north; his 'mother' was the emperor's most beloved concubine, Zheng Hongmei, and he himself was their love child - the historically short-lived second prince, Zhao E.

  Two old Taoist priests' words made Zhao Ji deeply believe in this way. After some arrangements, on the 18th day of the first month of the fifth year of Chongning in the Great Song Dynasty, the second prince, Zhao Shi, the King of Yingguo, and the Commander-in-chief of Baode, was ordered to leave the palace due to a strange illness and go to Gongzhou (Xiangyi) to recuperate. This matter did not cause any waves, after all, the king was only six years old, and people were just suspicious about why such a young child would be sent so far away from the capital. Was it that Zheng Guifei had fallen out of favor or was there a change in the palace? The rumors had not yet spread when they were covered up by even bigger events. First, the emperor ordered several small yellow gates to smash the stele of Yuanfu Party people standing in front of the palace gate at night. Immediately after that, Prime Minister Cai Jing was dismissed again and changed the year number to Daguan. At this time, the capital was already turbulent, and everyone was in danger. No one cared about a small king who had been driven out of the palace.

  It's already the first year of Da Guan, and now it's the hottest season of the year. Although there is an ice basin in the house, it can't dispel the heat. Zhao Che had no sleepiness at this time, he turned over, through the slightly undulating gauze window outside, the starry sky, after the nourishment of the past few days, plus Zhao Che's unyielding strong nerves, made him retreat from the gates of hell little by little.

  It's been a long time since I came to this world, and in my previous life, I was already used to being alone. However, there were still trustworthy comrades and brothers. Now every day is spent in luxury, with food and clothing readily available, and everyone shows respect and courtesy towards me, but there isn't a single person who can share their true feelings with me. Living in solitude like this every day is really unbearable.

  "Although the Liang Garden is nice, it's not my own home!" Zhao Yi flipped over and lay on his back, sighing softly as he said this. Fortunately, he was sent here; if he had stayed in the palace for a few more days, who knows what would have happened? Even though he tried hard to adapt here, he still seemed like an outsider, not fitting in with the Gege of this era.

  "Who is secretly following me today?" Everyone has a sixth sense, but the sensitivity of each person is different. Zhao's sixth sense, which has been specially trained, is exceptionally developed. If someone secretly observes him for a slightly longer period, he will be discovered. Today, from the moment he stepped out, he realized that someone was secretly monitoring his every move. He thought about taking action several times but cleverly dodged each time. This wasn't the first time he felt like someone was following him; in the past, he believed it was a bodyguard sent by Huang Jingchen to protect him secretly. However, today's feeling overturned his understanding - he sensed the killing intent surrounding that person, a kind of cold-bloodedness and bloodthirstiness that made people feel uncomfortable.

  "Think I'll die? Not that easy!" A cold smile crept up the corner of his mouth, he had barely managed to revive himself once, how could he let them have their way.

  He can now understand why the survival rate of emperors in previous dynasties was so low, because each of them was a candidate for the "top leader", and anyone could sit on that chair and become the emperor who dominated the world. Especially in the Song Dynasty, where brothers could die and younger brothers could be appointed as successors, it can be said that every living prince had an opportunity, and with one less brother, he would have more chances of winning. The merit of enthronement also attracted countless powerful ministers to come forward one after another, stirring up trouble behind the scenes, regardless of their own lives and families.

  "Who could be the one who has been calculating and scheming against me?" Once Zhao Che thought this through, he felt that everything was shrouded in conspiracy. The incident of falling into the water while playing in the palace wasn't an accident, and his departure from the palace was also orchestrated by someone who wanted to remove him from sight, putting him in a desperate situation. His recovery had made some people uncomfortable.

  "Could it be the Empress?" Zhao Che turned over again, furrowing his brow in thought. Queen Wang had given birth to the Crown Prince Zhao Huan (who would later become Emperor Xizong), and although she held the position of Empress, her foundation was unstable and she was already on shaky ground. His own mother, although currently a Noble Consort, was secretly the de facto head of the Six Palaces and enjoyed the emperor's favor, making him a strong contender for the throne.

  "It's highly possible that it was her!" Zhao Xun made a preliminary judgment. There were still seven or eight brothers behind him, and it was also possible that someone from their side was secretly manipulating things. As the saying goes, 'if I get rid of the giant panda, I'll be the national treasure.' The East Palace is currently empty, if they get rid of all those in front of them, they can take the position for themselves, this is also a possibility that cannot be ruled out.

  The palace is like a big jar of sauce, and those with poor eyesight can't survive for long. Zhao's head hurts as he thinks about it, and he can't make up his mind because he knows too little about the inner workings of the palace. He doesn't even know how many concubines his father has found for him. Finding the real culprit is not an easy task. For now, all he can do is try to survive and get rid of the enemies in front of him. Thinking about this makes his head hurt even more. His body is still weak, and if he were to engage in a direct confrontation, even a normal old lady could strangle him to death. There's no one trustworthy around him, and he doesn't know why he wasn't assigned any guards after leaving the palace. Now there are only a dozen or so strong and healthy servants patrolling and guarding at night, and his own courtyard is guarded by those useless eunuchs who might be able to handle some petty thieves but would probably not even know how they died if a decent assassin came along.

  "Huh? How could this be?" Zhao Che thought, adding a hint of doubt. This was not a place where problems should arise. No matter what, the safety of an imperial prince would not be neglected in the palace. Someone must have done something beforehand. As soon as Zhao Che thought of this, he couldn't help but shiver and realized that he needed to be more careful.