The Empress's No.1 Lackey

"Taia Sword? Did that little monk say, Mr. Zhao summoned the Grand Ancestor's personal sword from the Imperial Palace? How could that be possible?"

The court officials, none of whom were seated, had all risen, the shock evident on their faces.

"I've figured it out!"

In the midst of the panic, Yuann Li, wearing a dark green robe, suddenly spoke up, blinking his eyes and addressing the crowd:

"It must be arranged by Your Majesty.

Gentlemen, you should know that when Master Zhao took his position, he claimed to be the Tributor of the Imperial Family, and indeed, in the past, it was tradition for members of the Imperial Family to challenge and defeat Buddhist Taoists."

With that single sentence from Yuann Li, the intelligentsia present quickly put two and two together, piecing out a logical truth.

They all suddenly realized:

"Mr. Yuan is right, it must be arranged by Your Majesty. Only that can explain the Divine Sword flying here."

Some even looked to Mr. Hai for confirmation:

"Eunuch, is it true?"

Eunuch Hai remained silent, equally baffled in his heart. At that moment, he began to doubt and wonder if Your Majesty had secretly arranged something.

He himself was unaware.

And his silence, to those around him, seemed like an affirmation.

"The arrangement by the Empress?"

Xu Junling finally regained his composure, his complexion changing.

He immediately recalled the moment he had played chess with the Empress in her chamber, subtly probing her.

"Remember at that time, I asked about the Empress' stance, and she only said outsiders are strong, but not as strong as oneself... Hiss, that's it! She must have been planning this all along, that's why she said such things...

"She doesn't care which side between the Buddhist Tao and the other wins because, in the end, Zhao Douan was to represent the Royal Family in battle...

"This also explains why those from the Zhao family suddenly disappeared after that day, not showing up again... Clearly, it was the Empress arranging everything in preparation for today...

"Even that Chai Keqiao, when I wondered why Zhao Douan dared to muster troops to suppress disturbance, it must also have been the Empress' intention.

The purpose was to prevent those from Martial Emperor City from causing trouble today and disrupting the court's plans... even Zhao Douan's intentional avoidance of combat at the teahouse that day was to avoid revealing his strategies too soon..."

Everything matched!

Xu Junling came to a sudden realization.

At that moment, this Commandery Princess who prided herself on her cunning, felt only deep fear.

She developed a profound wariness for her sister, the Empress, who was unremarkable in appearance but plotted with far-reaching and profound schemes!

And this Zhao Douan... his performance was flawless...

Could it be, he really had that kind of relationship with the Empress?

Xu Junling realized that her previous judgement of Zhao Douan had been too hasty.

On the other side, the women of the Zhao family also gathered a rough idea from the discussions of the noblewomen around them.

"The Grand Ancestor Emperor's personal sword? My older brother indeed has a trump card, I said he wouldn't fight an unprepared battle, that little bald monk is going to suffer!" Zhao Pan said gleefully.

Jinhua still couldn't completely relax, clinging to the railing, leaning forward with a worried expression, silently praying for her stepson:

"Amitabha Buddha..."

The beautiful woman began her prayer, then suddenly realized something was amiss. This matter seemed unsuitable for praying to Buddha.

She hesitated, then smoothly switched the object of her prayers:

"Infinite Heavenly Venerate..."

Jinhua held the simple faith of the Great Yu People

— Anyways, it doesn't cost anything, might as well believe in all of them, use whichever works best.

...

Shortly thereafter.

Accompanied by a "rumbling" sound, the inverted glass-dome-shaped cover rose again, isolating the inside from the outside.

On the platform.

As the surroundings quieted down, Zhao Douan, holding the Divine Sword, silently felt his inner strength expand tremendously, admiring it.

The Taia Sword, indeed worthy of partnering with the "Martial God's" path, had immediately multiplied his inner strength several times over upon being wielded.

Like applying a powerful buff, it brutally evened out the gap between the early and perfected stages of the Divine Chapter Realm.

"It seems, you are very cautious," Zhao Douan said with a smile, looking towards the distant monk.

Tianhai's lips curled with a cold smile:

"Do you really think that with just a weapon, you can compete with me? The Taia Sword is indeed formidable, but with only the Divine Chapter Realm, how much can you utilize?"

Zhao Douan retorted: "Enough to deal with you."

For a moment, their gazes collided, sparking invisible fire.

"I hope you can still talk tough later. I'll teach you what true power is," Tianhai said expressionlessly.

Even with full confidence, facing a legendary Divine Weapon, he remained extremely cautious.

At that moment, the wind seemed to slow down.

Under the watchful eyes of all, Tianhai raised his hand, his fingers spread wide and he grabbed the brass tip of the Six Paths Stick standing before him.

Then, revealing his ghastly white teeth, he brushed his palm along the weapon.

And where his palm brushed past, the dark lacquer of the Six Paths Stick seemed to peel off, revealing golden Sanskrit scripts one by one.

With each piece that fell off, the aura of the young monk surged higher.

As dense runes appeared on the Six Paths Stick, the young monk's aura reached its peak.

Suddenly, without warning, he bent his knees and his body shot up like a cannonball.

In the blink of an eye, he crossed a distance of several yards, holding the metal long stick, sweeping it towards Zhao Douan's head!

"Whoosh——"

Amidst the sound of breaking wind, the brass stick created afterimages, but in the next second, it was blocked by Zhao Douan, who held the sword with both hands and counter-blocked.

"Clang!!"

The Six Paths Stick and the Taia Sword collided, emitting a dull bell-like sound; Zhao Douan didn't chop down but used the flat of the blade to block.

The moment they collided, both sides immediately felt the robust force of the other's aura.

Both of them simultaneously felt numbness in their palms, having been struck solidly by the rebound.

"Such powerful internal strength (mana)…"

This thought arose in both their minds, and they tacitly abandoned the route of competing purely in aura.

Zhao Douan's eyes flickered, showing the outstanding results of many days of training with the Empress, manifesting vividly at this moment.

Without any hesitation, his long sword moved along the body of the stick, targeting to chop at the young monk's fingers, sparks flying from the friction.

Yet, Tianhai neither let go nor wrestled.

With a slight twist of his wrist, the Six Paths Stick crazily extended, lengthening several times in the blink of an eye, and pushed the young monk back several yards.

There was that strange thing again... Zhao Douan had previously observed and gained some initial understanding of this monk's Magic Artifact.

As his chop missed, he didn't hesitate, his body smoothly falling backward, skimming close to the ground, neatly avoiding the violently sweeping Six Paths Stick.

"Whoosh!"

The brass long stick, engraved with Sanskrit, nearly brushed past Zhao Douan's nose, the wind it raised tousling a few strands of hair on his forehead.

"Thump!"

Zhao Douan lightly pressed his left hand on the ground, slightly indenting the stone floor with his fingers, using the force to defy gravity and stand up, sliding backward.

In his pupils, however, he saw the young monk who had initially retreated now charging again. The Six Paths Stick roared towards him, targeting his face.

It was deliberately extending the Magic Artifact long stick about double its length to strike with the advantage of range.

The roaring shadows of the stick seemed to cover the sky, as if numerous long sticks were attacking from all directions.

"A bit longer gives a bit more strength. The Taia Sword, though unrivaled in sharpness and able to cut through gold and jade, with my cultivation level I can't yet cut through the Six Paths Stick. Tianhai deliberately avoided the radius of the sword edge, greatly reducing the power of the Taia Sword..."

Zhao Douan, in a split second, various tactics flashed through his mind, but he dismissed them one by one.

He suddenly closed his eyes, and the overwhelmingly powerful Taia Sword was casually carried on his back.

After advancing to the Divine Chapter Realm, his enhanced senses were reflexively activated at this moment.

Relying solely on the sound of airflow, he outlined the high-speed vibrating, impressively intimidating hexagonal prism long stick in his mind.

"Ah, Mr. Zhao is about to be hit!"

In the stands, an official watched with fearful apprehension.

Xue Shence simply let out a light "eh," surprised:

"What kind of Magic Door is this?"

At that moment, atop the platform, Zhao Douan's body suddenly became light and stretched like an autumn leaf, becoming virtually weightless.

Despite the forceful crash of the Six Paths Stick, the splitting air currents forced him, just narrowly, off the trajectory of the stick's strike.

Despite Tianhai handling the long stick as if it were proliferating blooms, Zhao Douan, merely shouldering his long sword, drifted like a damp and tattered ginkgo leaf, swaying like a weak willow bending in the breeze.

Facing the multitude of stick shadows, he remained untouched.

The python-robed old eunuch narrowed his eyes which suddenly brightened; his mouth twitched slightly as he took a soft breath:

"This kid... when did he learn this..."

Clearly, this was the nameless Leaf Body Skill that Chai Keqiao used that day on the long street when he faced the combined assassination attempt of two military powerhouses.

Zhao Douan had watched it just once, but now he had almost mastered it completely.