Shi Feiyang felt somewhat intimidated by a top-tier master like Bai Mei Monk, just as he feared Yan Yingmu and did not dare to retrieve the treasure from Mao Gong Altar on his own. People painstakingly spent dozens or hundreds of years refining nuclear-weapon-level Magical Treasures, and this monk could unleash small nuclear-weapon-level damage with a casual gesture.

He stayed hidden in the clouds above, silently deducing to find out what the old monk was doing in the capital.

After simulating the scenario in his mind, he figured out through the Gua Xiang that Bai Mei Monk had come to deliver his major disciple, Zhu Youmu, who was reincarnating.

Zhu Youmu's Technique Divine Power was also top-notch; he could perform small nuclear-weapon-level Spells, too. With the protection of Bai Mei Monk, no one in this world was able to kill him. The reason he needed to reincarnate was that he had been too ruthless in his past life and accumulated many debts of sin. This time, he was proactively repaying those debts, cutting off his own life and having his master deliver his Primordial Spirit to the Human World to be reborn.

Normally, for someone in his situation, it would be better to be reborn into a poor family in a remote area with as little involvement with the mortal world as possible. Unfortunately, Zhu Youmu was too arrogant in his previous life; he owed others, and there were few who owed him. Only the brother of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, the King of Lu, had some past karma with him, so Bai Mei Monk sent him here to be reborn.

Because Zhu Youmu had accrued too much negative karma, if he had come by himself, it was certain that enemies would cast Spells to sabotage him. The old monk had no choice but to personally make the journey, and he was now on his way to the King of Lu's residence. The King of Lu's daughter-in-law was pregnant, and the child to be born belonged to the "Yu" generation, which would make him a cousin of the future Emperors Tianqi and Chong Zhen.

As Bai Mei Zen Master walked, he suddenly sensed something, looked up, and saw a young man dressed in green standing in the clouds. There were countless Sword Immortals in the world, and even more who could stand on the clouds like crucian carp crossing a river. The old monk normally wouldn't have cared, but he found the young man odd.

At this point, Bai Mei Monk hadn't yet gone to Ningbi Cliff to worship Buddha Light and meditate in front of the wall for fifty years; his Cultivation was not yet perfected. He could only tell that Shi Feiyang was very different from ordinary Sword Immortals but couldn't discern his true identity. Common people fear consequences; Bodhisattvas fear causes. Old Monk didn't want to create new karma, adding complications, so after locking eyes with Shi Feiyang, he simply smiled faintly, nodded slightly, and continued on his way to the royal residence.

Shi Feiyang saw that he did not come to "exorcise demons" and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He suddenly felt a bit like the White Lady encountering Fa Hai in the past...

He calmed his heart and observed the Forbidden City below. There was nothing like the purple aura or dragon spirit of the dynasty to be seen, which was precisely why it seemed so dim compared to the radiance of the old monk's head.

The Imperial City of the Ming Dynasty was very different from the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty that would be seen in later times. Shi Feiyang patiently identified and searched, quickly locating the Emperor.

The Emperor Wanli at this time was in his thirties, slightly corpulent, and walked with a limp that required assistance. He was currently reclining on a couch, being served by eunuchs as he reviewed memorials, sighing as he read, with a troubled expression on his face.

Shi Feiyang watched for a while, got a general grasp of the situation, and decided he couldn't just go down and meet people like this. Seeing that there was no one in Qianqing Palace at the moment, he used an Invisibility Technique and flew down.

Entering Qianqing Palace, he took an East Sea Big Pearl the size of a fist and injected a strand of Moon Essence Cold Essence into it. He then took some paper used by the Emperor. He didn't take a brush because he didn't know how to use one. He used a Spell to absorb the ink and formed a writing tip in front of his index finger, using it like a pen. He wrote that he was an East Sea Qi Cultivator who had remotely seen the Emperor suffering from leg illness. He possessed an elixir that could cure all manner of diseases and could heal the Emperor's leg. He set a meeting time for the coming afternoon at the hour of Wei and, as a gesture for their first meeting, presented an East Sea Treasure Pearl as a gift, hoping it would be accepted with a smile.

When he came to the signature at the end, he hesitated. After taking a human form, he didn't want to use the name Shi Feiyang anymore. He had thought about changing it to "Shi Longfei", but that would clash with the notorious Demon Path character from the Wutai Sect known as Long Fei, the Seven-Armed Yaksha. When people had asked for his name previously, he only mentioned his surname, Long, and hadn't decided on a specific first name, to the extent that even his newly acquired disciples didn't know the full name of their respected master.

After pondering for a moment, he finally brushed down three characters on the paper: Long Aoyu.

He had initially wanted to write Long Aotian, but he felt that the universe was larger than the heavens, so he picked the greatest among them to write.

After finishing, Shi Feiyang laughed to himself, casually dispelled the Spell, and returned the leftover ink back to the inkstone. He then turned and left Qianqing Palace, silently departing.

The Imperial Palace was always bustling with activity, and the Qianqing Palace, where the Emperor conducted his daily living and official affairs, was rarely empty. Soon, a junior eunuch entered and discovered the Treasure Bead on the desk.

The Treasure Bead, which had absorbed the Moon Essence Cold Essence, could emit a full moon-like radiance. Although it was daytime, it scattered a silvery frost throughout the room, making one feel cool all over during the scorching summer.

The junior eunuch was both startled and frightened, and hurriedly went to find the senior eunuch.

When something was secretly placed inside the Qianqing Palace, the eunuchs' first reaction was to quickly destroy and discard the object, pretending nothing had happened, to avoid punishment—for this was a grave crime. But this bead was too mystical, and the note underneath it claimed it was from a Qi Cultivator of the East Sea, so they didn't dare to hide it and could only report the truth.

Emperor Wanli was already in a foul mood, and when he heard that someone of unknown identity had entered the Qianqing Palace, he was startled and even more enraged. He ordered the guards who had come to protect him to immediately seal off the entire Forbidden City, close the doors and lock them, and search for the thief.

However, when he saw the Treasure Bead, his mindset changed. Such a bead that emitted cold light during the daytime was indeed unlike anything from this Human World. Looking at the note again, he was skeptical: Could it really be from an Immortal?

The Emperors of the Ming Dynasty had always had faith in Taoists. His grandfather, Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houcong, had even built a grand Daoist altar behind the palace and spent years there practicing Immortal Cultivation and Alchemy. Although his father and he didn't personally engage in alchemy, they still greatly admired the tales of Immortals.

Accordingly, he had guards lie in ambush in the Qianqing Palace, readied with strong bows and crossbows. He also had armored soldiers secretly protect him and sent people to invite the most famous Taoist Priest Zhang from outside the palace to guard the place.

Then, at the third quarter of the wei hour, Shi Feiyang once again arrived above the Qianqing Palace. He had already seen the ambush below. He then took out the Nine Heavens Yuan Yang Ruler, waved it once, releasing Hongmeng Purple Qi to cover the skies above the Qianqing Palace. Thereafter, he manifested a Golden Flower out of thin air, revealed himself on the flower, and descended slowly.

This move left the Emperor's guards and Taoist Priest Zhang dumbfounded. Many eunuchs' legs went weak, and they knelt down to kowtow, exclaiming, "An Immortal! A living Immortal!"

The weapons in the guards' hands clattered to the ground as they too knelt down, not daring to confront with arms.

Emperor Wanli was both shocked and overjoyed, struggling free from the eunuchs. Enduring the pain, he limped a few steps forward, "True Master Long, are you really an Immortal from the East Sea? I have heard that overseas lies Penglai Immortal Mountain, with Immortals dwelling atop. Does True Master Long come from Penglai Fairy Island?"

For an Emperor, this was already somewhat undignified, but he was too excited. His grandfather had toiled in refining medicines and offered poems to the heavens for a lifetime. Not only had he not achieved Immortality himself, but he had also not even seen the shadow of an Immortal. And now, one had suddenly appeared before him. Had he not had some composure, he might have been babbling incoherently at this point.

Meanwhile, outside the Forbidden City on the streets of the Wangfu, Bai Mei Monk was astonished to see the Purple Qi Golden Flower above the Forbidden City, "This is the most authentic Hongmeng Purple Qi, Pure Yang Golden Flower of the Mysterious Sect. How could it appear here? Could it be that a high-level Daoist seeks to intervene in the dynasty's rise and fall?"

Guang Chengzi's Nine Heavens Yuan Yang Ruler had infinite marvelous uses. Shi Feiyang, enveloped by the Hongmeng Purple Qi and Golden Flower Auspicious Light, appeared clearly to those nearby, like Emperor Wanli and his entourage. However, Bai Mei Monk, who was farther away, did not see the person within, nor did he connect it to the strange youth he had seen in the clouds earlier.

Since the time of the Three Emperors, Daoism has been deeply entangled with the human dynasties. Laozi's Tao Te Ching discusses at length how to govern a country.

Bai Mei Monk deeply disapproved. He shook his head and continued walking with his alms bowl, "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows; like dew or like lightning, and thus we shall perceive them. In all the heavenly realms and myriads of worlds, there is birth, existence, destruction, and emptiness. The rise and fall of dynasties emerge and fade like an ephemeral blossom. What is there to cling to? Clinging creates suffering, suffering breeds fear, and one should foster a mind of detachment. The mind should abide nowhere, and abiding nowhere, there is no fear, free from upside-down dream-like illusions..."

Mumbling to himself, he strode away.

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