Chapter 131 The Popular Undercover

There were flashes of lightning and thunder in the sky, and heavy rain poured down, drowning out all other sounds.

Zhao Ji, Di Renjie and others were discussing matters in the second hall of the county government office, but an uninvited guest came outside the second hall.

Dressed in a black cloak, he used the thunder and heavy rain as cover and quietly crept to the window of the second hall, intending to eavesdrop on the conversation of people inside.

The sounds of thunder and rain intertwined into a noisy mess. Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang in the room did not notice his movements, and the man in the black cloak could not hear any sounds in the room.

After a brief attempt, the man in black shook his head helplessly, decided to give up eavesdropping, and left quietly.

At the same time, on the dirt road of Enji Village, rain water flowed through the streets and alleys, and horses' hooves splashed a lot of mud and water.

The headless general appeared again riding on a tall horse to carry out his killing mission.

Two old heads and two left arms were hanging on his horse, and he was now heading towards the home of another target.

The door of that house has been marked.

The headless general found his target. He dismounted with the phoenix-wing gilded halberd in his hand and walked step by step to the low wall and the wooden door.

The owner seemed to have anticipated that someone would come to cause trouble for him tonight, so the wooden door was locked tightly and a wooden stick was placed behind the door for support.

Despite this, the headless general only needed to strike the wooden door lightly without much effort, and the door shattered.

The headless general strode into the yard, pushed open the door of the main room, and entered the bedroom, but did not find Uncle Pang Jiu who was supposed to be at home.

He was confused for a moment, turned around and entered the room on the other side, but still found nothing.

The headless general searched the yard but could not find any trace of Uncle Pang Jiu. In desperation, the murderous weapon had to give up the mission and rode away.

At this moment, Uncle Pang Jiu was hiding in the cellar, curled up in a ball, shivering.

The old man had been afraid of ghosts all his life. After telling Di Renjie the secret of Jiangjiazhuang, he firmly believed in the ghost's revenge and hid in the cellar early, which actually saved his life.

The headless general went all the way back to the Xilin General Temple and put his head and arms into the tree hole from last time.

He Yun, who was supposed to return to the capital, was also in the General Temple, waiting for the result of the Headless General's mission.

After some gestures, He Yun understood what the Headless General meant.

He asked in surprise, "Why, someone is not at home?"

The headless general was wearing armor and had no head, so he couldn't nod, so he had to make another gesture to express his affirmation.

He Yun waved his hand and said, "Okay, I understand. You should go back to the cave in Mangshan. Don't move without my order. I will come back to find you."

The headless general gestured again, as if to agree, and rode his horse into the depths of Mangshan.

After a while, another figure wearing a straw raincoat approached the Xilin General Temple in the rain and met He Yun.

"Sir He, why did you choose to meet here again? This General Temple is not clean." The man complained.

Upon hearing this, He Yun immediately thought of the head and arms he had seen a few days ago, and felt nauseous.

"Precisely because this place is not clean, no one dares to come here, so this is a good place to meet." He Yunqiang said calmly.

The man nodded, acknowledging He Yun's statement, and then asked, "How is it, have those old guys been eliminated?"

He Yun shook his head and asked, "Only one was eliminated. I was just about to ask you, why was there one person not at home, so my people had to make a wasted trip? Didn't you make a mistake?"

The man had an expression of disbelief on his face: "That's impossible. I personally took people to send them home. How could I have made a mistake?"

He Yun pondered for a moment and said, "He must have hidden himself. Tomorrow, there might be another chance. This time you must confirm the location of the remaining survivor. Don't fail again!"

The man thought for a moment and came up with a plan: "Tomorrow, if the villagers find someone dead, they will definitely report it to the police. The government will definitely find and protect the remaining one. You can send the headless general to launch a sneak attack at night. This way, there will be no mistakes."

He Yun thought about it and thought the suggestion was feasible: "This plan is feasible, let's do as you say!"
-
Inside the Shangyang Palace, Princess Taiping was still chatting with Wu Zetian about meaningless things.

Although it was already late at night, Wu Zetian was frightened by the nightmares of past few days and did not dare to fall asleep at all. She had to endure the pain like this.

"When will this life end? I'm really afraid that if I fall asleep, the evil spirit will make me never wake up again." Wu Zetian couldn't help but complain. Princess Taiping held her mother's hand tightly and comforted her softly: "Mother, you are the emperor, you have the protection of the gods, and you will be able to turn danger into safety."

Wu Zetian sighed and shook her head: "May the gods protect you..."

As he was speaking, a eunuch hurried in to report, "Your Majesty, Imperial Preceptor Wang Zhiyuan wants to see you."

Princess Taiping was delighted: "Mother, the Imperial Master must have thought of a way to get rid of the ghost."

A gleam of light flashed in Wu Zetian's eyes, as if she had found hope: "Quick, please invite the imperial teacher in."

Wang Zhiyuan walked in quickly and kowtowed respectfully: "Greetings, Your Majesty."

Wu Zetian's hands trembled with excitement: "Master, have you found a way to get rid of the evil spirit?"

Wang Zhiyuan bowed to Wu Zetian again and said, "Your Majesty is wise and wise. I have indeed found a way to exorcise ghosts."

Wu Zetian nodded continuously and said impatiently, "Please stand up, Imperial Master. Please stand up and tell me how to exorcise the ghost. If you need anything, I will ask them to find it."

Wang Zhiyuan stood up slowly and said calmly, "These few days, I went back to the mountain to consult my teacher Xuguzi. After much thought and searching through the classics, we came up with a set of magic tools to exorcise ghosts, which can prevent evil ghosts from entering the palace."

"Oh? What magic weapon is it?" Wu Zetian asked.

Wang Zhiyuan pointed outside the palace and said, "Your Majesty, the magic weapon is outside the palace right now."

Wu Zetian immediately ordered Chunxiang beside her: "Quick, bring the magic weapon here."

Chunxiang immediately left the hall and directed several eunuchs to come in carrying a heavy iron rod. The iron rod was so long that it could not be placed vertically and could only be placed horizontally.

Wu Zetian saw that it was just an ordinary long iron stick and frowned slightly: "This... is this the magic weapon you mentioned?"

Wang Zhiyuan smiled and nodded. He bent down to pick up the copper wire wrapped around the iron rod and began to explain: "Your Majesty, Luoyang is in the month of thunder and lightning, and it is a time when the power of heaven is mighty."

"This set of magical instruments of mine uses this iron rod with magical powers, and with the help of the power of heavenly thunder, transmits this power to the magnet on the door of the temple through the divine thread. Once an evil ghost breaks in, it will be bombarded by thunder and lightning and dissipate instantly. In this way, the peace in the temple can be guaranteed."

Wu Zetian and Princess Taiping looked at each other and asked doubtfully, "Will this work?"

Wang Zhiyuan bowed slightly and said, "This is a method that my teacher and I have painstakingly studied after learning from the methods of many ancient Taoist masters. You will know once you try it."

Princess Taiping advised, "Your Majesty, there is no other way now. Let the Imperial Master give it a try."

Wu Zetian nodded: "Okay, then let's install it according to the Imperial Master's instructions."

Wang Zhiyuan took out a brass hood from his arms, which was engraved with many strange Taoist symbols.

He handed the hood to the eunuch, and then said: "Your Majesty, this is a soothing hood made by my teacher Xuguzi himself. On it is a talisman for exorcising ghosts from a Taoist master. Before I came here, my teacher asked you to wear this on your head before you go to sleep, and it will keep you away from nightmares."

Wu Zetian took the hood from the eunuch and examined it carefully. Seeing that it was well made and the runes were clear, she had some confidence in it: "Is this calming hood really so effective?"

Wang Zhiyuan continued to deceive, "Although this thing is inconspicuous, it can absorb the energy between heaven and earth. It is indeed the supreme method of my Taoist school."

Wu Zeyao nodded: "Let's try it tonight, I hope it works."

Wang Zhiyuan quickly commanded the guards to complete the installation work and then retreated.

Wu Zetian put on the hood and prepared to go to bed to test the effectiveness of the magic weapon, but was stopped by Princess Taiping.

She took the bowl of medicine from Chunxiang, stirred it with a spoon, and gave it to Wu Zetian: "Mother, you should drink this bowl of medicine before going to sleep."

Wu Zetian looked at the medicine in Princess Taiping's hand, and although she felt a little reluctant, she said, "This tranquilizing soup is useless. What's the point of drinking it?"

Princess Taiping comforted her softly, as if coaxing a child: "Mother, this is a new prescription that I asked the imperial physician to prepare for you. It can nourish your body and calm your mind and help you sleep. You need to use the imperial master's magic weapon and the imperial physician's medicine. Mother has lost weight these days, so it's time to nourish her."

After hearing Princess Taiping's caring words, Wu Zetian finally nodded, took the bowl of medicine, and drank it all.

When Princess Taiping saw Wu Zetian take the calming soup, she felt relieved and personally helped Wu Zetian to sleep.

This is a genuine calming soup, with some sleeping pills added. After drinking this soup, it was hard for Wu Zetian not to have a good sleep.

(End of this chapter)