Deep Palace Pet Peach Blossom Flawless

Chapter 629: Wandering Soul Leaving the Body

The battle of Dasheng Grassland led by Emperor Shenwu was finally coming to an end. He gave instructions on many post-war matters and then went to the big peach tree with the prince alone.

The prince walked through many winding paths and asked, "How did my mother find this place? Why did she have to turn so many corners?"

This is where my father and mother first met.

When Emperor Shenwu saw the tall, intact peach tree again, the heavy stone in his chest finally fell. Now the war was over. The big peach tree in his dream was burned by a fire. Emperor Shenwu vomited blood and became seriously ill. But in reality, he finally saved the small peach garden he and Lan Qingwu had.

Emperor Shenwu wrote back to Lan Qingwu, "I have won a great victory and will be back soon! For so many years, I have missed my wife like crazy! My heart is like an arrow, and I must return to her as soon as possible!"

Three days later, Emperor Shenwu received a reply from Lan Qingwu, which read: "My husband Heng wrote to me personally. After the war, there will be many matters that need to be handled by you personally. I am doing well, and everything is well in the palace. You can return home slowly!"

In the Fengqi Palace bedroom of the Dasheng Palace, Lan Qingwu was busy all day. The most difficult problem was that there was still no news about the eldest princess. The Empress Dowager Li's face was getting uglier and uglier, and she even looked at Lan Qingwu with suspicion.

Lan Qingwu was very tired and slept soundly at night, but she was burdened with many things, so even when she was asleep her brows were slightly furrowed and she looked uneasy.

Lan Qingwu seemed to be in a dream, but it didn't seem like she was dreaming. She felt herself sitting up lightly, and before she could be surprised, she was floating in the air. She looked at herself in shock, then at herself sleeping peacefully on the bed.

"What's going on? My soul is intact, how could it be separated from my body? Could it be... because Master Ku Ku's soul-stabilizing Buddhist beads are not with me?"

Lan Qingwu was just wondering when she felt a suction force and was suddenly taken to another place.

Lan Qingwu opened his eyes tremblingly and found that this seemed to be a tent. The soldiers here came and went, but they seemed to be unable to see him.

Lan Qingwu found herself still floating in mid-air. She looked around, her eyes fixed, "Brother Heng!"

Lan Qingwu floated towards the man sitting at the top. The man lowered his head slightly and was gently stroking the peach blossom butterfly coral bracelet in his hand with his fingers.

At this time, someone lifted the curtain and came in. It was Qian Hui. He was not yet a general at that time, but only a major general of the fourth rank. After Qian Hui saluted, he raised his head. Lan Qingwu was surprised for a moment when he saw his face. This was exactly what Qian Hui looked like when he was young.

Lan Qingwu couldn't help but wonder what time she had arrived. She turned her head to look at Emperor Shenwu, but saw that Emperor Shenwu, who was sitting upright, was at the age of young and frivolous. He had put away the coral bracelet and looked at Qian Hui with a pair of phoenix eyes indifferently.

Qian Hui asked for instructions: "Your Highness the Seventh Prince, everything has been arranged. Our army is ready to set out at any time - to wipe out Jin Ting!"

Lan Qingwu's eyes blurred, and an overwhelming mass of blood and fire suddenly came into her sight. In front of her was Yun Heng, who was then the seventh prince. Yun Heng stood in a sea of ​​blood and corpses with a long sword in his hand. Occasionally, some grassland people who escaped to his side were beheaded by Yun Heng. He looked at the almost one-sided massacre in front of him with an expressionless face, his phoenix eyes cold and calm.

Yun Heng was filled with ruthlessness, brutality, and destructiveness. He ordered the burning of the Golden Court, the slaughter of all adult men from the seven grassland tribes, the killing of every elite soldier and general, and even the extermination of all members of the royal family. A grassland general screamed and charged at Yun Heng. He raised his long sword and, in just five or six strokes, knocked the enemy general to the ground. Lan Qingwu quickly closed his eyes as Yun Heng severed the general's head. Blood splattered onto the green grass.

Lan Qingwu wanted to retreat, but then he realized that he couldn't get too far away from Yun Heng. There was no way to retreat, let alone leave Yun Heng's vicinity.

The cries and pleas of women and children wailing not far away filled Lan Qingwu's ears. She even saw Dasheng soldiers dragging women into the tent. There was no need to guess what they were going to do. Lan Qingwu couldn't help but tremble slightly. She floated towards Yun Heng: "Tell them to stop! Brother Heng, can you hear me?"

Yun Heng was completely unaware. He bent down to pick up the coral bracelet that had fallen to the ground during the fight, but found that the bracelet was covered in blood. At that moment, Yun Heng's face became extremely terrifying. He hurriedly wiped the coral bracelet with his sleeve. If Ruo Ruo knew about this, she would definitely be disgusted!

At this time, several generals came over and someone suggested looting. Neither the property nor the women should be wasted, so as to reward the soldiers.

Qian Hui hesitated to speak. Coming from a humble background, he naturally understood what this meant to ordinary people. He whispered, "If you act this way, how is it any different from those barbarians on the grasslands?"

Qi Zhinan didn't care, and there was a subtle contempt in his eyes as he looked at Qian Hui.

Yun Heng quietly wiped the blood from his coral bracelet. He saw the grass soaked in blood, a beautiful flower broken by the trampling, as if it would wither and die in the next moment. Yun Heng closed his eyes, and his mind flashed back to Lan Qingwu, talking to the flowers and plants, finding nests for birds, singing from the branches of a peach tree, dancing for him... She cherished flowers so much, and she wouldn't want any of them, anywhere, to end up like this!

Yun Heng opened his eyes, placed Shanshan's bracelet in his arms, and then issued an order: "Restrain the troops, do not plunder women, and pardon all civilian children under the age of seven!"

Yun Heng picked up the flower that had broken off the branch. He felt that the flower was both pitiful and cute, just like his own weakness.

Unfortunately, he hadn't taken a few steps when a woman from the grassland rushed out and committed suicide with a dagger not far from him. A Dasheng general ran over with a ferocious look on his face: "How dare you disobey me! And dare to commit suicide? You deserve to die!"

Lan Qingwu watched as another grassland woman sadly picked up the dead woman and kept calling the dead woman's name in grassland dialect.

The general was in a state of excitement. He reached out and grabbed the crying grassland girl and dragged her into the tent. The grassland girl struggled desperately.

Lan Qingwu looked at the thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl from the grassland, and looked at Yun Heng in bewilderment. Yun Heng's face darkened. He stepped forward, knocked the general's weapon aside, and kicked him: "You dare to disobey military orders? Return to the barracks and receive fifty military sticks!"

Yun Heng did not stop any longer and strode towards his warhorse. Behind him was a blazing fire that set the Golden Court of the Grassland on fire!

Lan Qingwu seemed to understand his current situation a little bit. He wanted to follow Yun Heng and go through all the five years they had been apart.

Lan Qingwu's eyes turned again, Yun Heng turned into the prince, and she was already in the Dasheng Palace.

Lan Qingwu looked around. This was the unfamiliar bedroom in the main hall of Qianzheng Palace. Crown Prince Zhou Xuheng was kneeling before the bed, listening to his father's final instructions. "Heng'er, I heard that you are very cold towards the women in your backyard. You have no preferences, no favoritism, and are impartial. This is a quality that an emperor must possess! As the saying goes, only when an emperor is not trapped by love can he gallop across the world and control the court! Heng'er, if you have that person in your heart, then she is going against the will of heaven!"

"I have only one request of you—you must not give your heart to any woman! If a woman gains your heart, she will have the weapon to hurt you! You will be at her mercy, covered in wounds and unable to fight back!"

Then Lan Qingwu heard words that shocked him. "Today, I will teach you the most important rule of the imperial court from the Imperial Secrets. You must repeat it to your successor in the future: As an emperor, the court is the tool for governing the world, and the harem is the tool for ensuring the continuation of the royal family and the enduring rule. No matter how brilliant your skills and achievements, if you cannot find a qualified successor at the end of your life, the royal family will fight among themselves, which will inevitably lead to endless disputes in the court, and the people of the world will suffer greatly!"

"Since the third generation of the direct lineage of the Human Emperor, a strict rule has been in place for all the emperors of Dasheng: The dragon gives birth to nine sons, and each one is different! One of the nine sons must bear the powerful bloodline of the Human Emperor! This has allowed the Dasheng Dynasty to continue for a thousand years! I have appointed you as the heir, and it is time to inform you of this law that specifically governs the emperor!"

"In fact, our ancestors also established another rule: if one does not want to follow the first rule, which states that if there are three thousand concubines and nine sons are born, then the strongest one must be chosen as the crown prince, then the only legitimate wife must have at least three legitimate princes, and all of them must reach adulthood. The most famous ancestor even built a new palace specifically for the daughter of the Xue family—the Fengqi Palace! It is different from the conventional Fengju Palace, the queen's palace! And these two rules cannot coexist!"

"But Heng'er, the second law has almost been abolished, and Fengqi Palace has long been abandoned! This is almost a dead end. I want you to take the first path and abide by the first imperial law!"

Crown Prince Zhou Xuheng looked at his father in astonishment. He naturally understood that neither of these laws was easy. Nine sons were born, and some had miscarriages or even premature deaths due to various reasons. Within the harem, concubines competed for favor. Choosing the best among the nine adult sons required them to first be born and reach adulthood. And once they reached adulthood, another brutal battle for the throne would ensue!

The second rule was even more difficult. An emperor's harem had only one empress, and countless people would stare at her with bloodshot eyes, ignoring endless disputes and conspiracies! And their children, not to mention the harems of previous dynasties, were always willing to take risks and risk everything! Just thinking about the dangers and bloodshed involved was enough to send thorns spiking all over one's body!

Crown Prince Zhou Xuheng naturally understood the crisis. Lan Qingwu did not wait for him, and he had already married the Crown Princess. Crown Prince Zhou Xuheng immediately agreed to his father's request that he abide by the first imperial law.

Lan Qingwu listened and watched in a daze. She had never known these things, and Emperor Shenwu would never mention these things to her. So she thought that Emperor Shenwu had agreed to her request and only asked him to stay with her. However, her request had invisibly made the two imperial laws that Emperor Shenwu had to abide by go unfulfilled!

Before Lan Qingwu could recover, she was taken to another place. By then, Crown Prince Zhou Xuheng had ascended the throne, gradually becoming the familiar Shenwu Emperor. She watched the young emperor manage the government, working tirelessly, and also saw him possess three harems and six courtyards...

Until he was summoned to the palace by an imperial decree, and experienced that life-or-death crisis again. However, this time, Lan Qingwu looked at himself in the ice jade coffin in the underground palace and did not wake up. The young emperor was despaired again and again, and finally had to leave and return to the palace. His lonely back was deeply imprinted in Lan Qingwu's heart.

Lan Qingwu looked at herself in the ice jade coffin in panic and bewilderment. She didn't understand why she didn't wake up. She was clearly awake, her hands supporting the ice jade coffin, but she passed through it: "Wake up, Lan Qingwu, your body in that world is no longer alive. Are you going to give up your life here too?"

No one responded to her, and Lan Qingwu was extremely panicked. "No! That's not right! My children haven't been born yet, how could this happen?"

Lan Qingwu wanted to possess herself in the ice coffin, but failed. The next moment, she followed Emperor Shenwu back to the palace.

The repeated persuasions of Empress Dowager Li and Concubine Jiang did not make Emperor Shenwu completely let go of Lan Qingwu. For several months in a row, Emperor Shenwu did not set foot in the harem. Every month, Emperor Shenwu would take five or six days to go to the underground palace of Miaoling Palace to accompany Lan Qingwu. He accompanied Lan Qingwu alone and drove Ruhan and Ruping and the others out.

But Emperor Shenwu said nothing and did nothing, and most of the time he just silently accompanied Lan Qingwu.

Emperor Shenwu almost gave up the entire harem. Concubine Zhang was framed and lost the royal heir (the future fifth prince). When Concubine Jiang went to meet Emperor Shenwu, he had no reaction.

Empress Dowager Li fell seriously ill soon after. Due to pressure from the previous dynasty and the harem, Emperor Shenwu finally summoned concubines to sleep with him. Unfortunately, the woman was eager to gain favor and actually imitated Lan Qingwu's makeup. Emperor Shenwu became furious when he saw her and ordered his men to beat the woman to death.

No one in the entire Qianzheng Palace dared to plead for mercy. Emperor Shenwu said coldly, "Treason is an unforgivable crime!"

The woman's miserable screams spread throughout the entire harem, and even Concubine Jiang, who was in charge of the harem, trembled with fear for a long time.

During the day, the Shenwu Emperor frantically reviewed memorials. When there was nothing else to do, he would sit alone on his high dragon throne, watching the sun's rays sink, one by one, until night fell. Naturally, the Shenwu Emperor gradually became cruel and tyrannical, ultimately becoming a ruthless, aloof, and aloof emperor, standing at the top of the world.

It seems that the love experienced in youth was like a flash in the pan, fleeting.

At night, Emperor Shenwu faced those frightened concubines. When he was impatient, he would quickly favor them and then let the palace servants send them away, as if to give an explanation to Empress Dowager Li. When he was impatient, he would sleep alone, holding the peach blossom butterfly coral bracelet tightly in his hand, and let those concubines kneel in the side hall bedroom to guard the empty room alone.

Gradually, Emperor Shenwu became fed up with all this. He looked at the colorless world and soon he was too lazy to even pretend to be perfunctory. The concubines in the harem were once again forgotten by him. This time even Empress Dowager Li was helpless. The ruthless treatment of the rebellious abandoned king Zhou Qihuai by Emperor Shenwu made the relationship between mother and son fall to the freezing point. Empress Dowager Li even disregarded Emperor Shenwu's face and insisted on moving to the temporary palace to live.

The boring life day after day made Emperor Shenwu become tyrannical and unjust. From time to time, palace maids and eunuchs were punished in Qianzheng Hall. Li Xiang's wrinkles became deeper and deeper, and his brows became tighter and tighter.

Only the brief time back in the underground palace could calm the Emperor down. From time to time, he would speak to Lan Qingwu in the ice jade coffin, telling her that his eyes were having problems again, and what he did every day. Sometimes, the Emperor couldn't help himself and gently kissed Lan Qingwu's forehead, cheeks, and lips...

Until the grassland tribes invaded the border again, Emperor Shenwu seemed to turn on a switch. He ignored the advice of civil and military officials, led the army in person, and vowed to defeat the grassland army again.