Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 575 Siblings

There is a pavilion in the backyard of Princess Zhaoning's Mansion in Luojing.

The octagonal roof is paved with blue tiles and is slightly rolled up.

Eight beautifully carved wooden pillars support the cornice, and the paintings are lifelike.

Princess Zhaoning Xiao Wanjun sat in the center of the pavilion, holding a thin book and reading attentively. A wisp of breeze blew by, fluttering a few strands of black hair on her temples, revealing her heroic and charming eyes.

She wore a dark blue embroidered long dress, which outlined her plump and graceful figure; a string of emerald beads hung from her neck, highlighting her fair and delicate skin.

Ever since Emperor Tianxing personally took over the government affairs of the Da Qi Dynasty, Princess Zhaoning suddenly became more relaxed. She finally had the time and energy to read some books on spiritual practice.

What she was reading at this moment was a copy of "Seven Styles of Burning Heaven".

Although Princess Zhaoning is a mortal, she has a far better understanding of spiritual practice books than ordinary people. She knows the characteristics and effects of many techniques and moves by heart.

Only this one, "Seven Styles of Burning Heaven", she had watched many times but could not understand the mystery of it.

At the same time, her younger brother, the fourth prince Xiao Shangzhen, was lying in the grass not far away with a few servants, staring at two crickets biting each other in a wooden basin.

They held their breath, not daring to blink, for fear of missing any wonderful moment, and clapped their hands from time to time.

Sometimes, Princess Zhaoning envies her younger brother.

It was clear that the Da Qi Dynasty had lost half of its kingdom and was at a critical moment that threatened its survival, but he could still play here without any worries, completely untroubled by the war and the national crisis.

Although Princess Zhaoning was temporarily relieved of the heavy government affairs, whenever she heard that Da Qi's territory was gradually falling and more and more monks chose to defect to Gu Xu, she would still frown and feel irritable.

As time passed by, a cricket in the wooden basin gradually showed a tired look. Its movements became slower and weaker, as if even the green armor on its body had lost its former luster. The other cricket took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. Its sharp tentacles and powerful hind limbs launched fatal bites and heavy blows to it again and again, never giving its opponent a chance to breathe.

Gradually, the tired cricket could no longer fight back, and its body began to twist and tremble, until it finally exhausted all its strength and fell weakly to the bottom of the tub, without any movement.

Xiao Shangzhen and the servants beside him suddenly jumped up from the ground and let out deafening cheers, cheering for the cricket that won the victory. Their eyes shone with excitement, as if they were witnessing an epic battle.

"Xiao Shangzhen!"

At this moment, Princess Zhaoning frowned slightly and called her brother in a cold tone.

The fourth prince Xiao Shangzhen was about to run around with a wooden basin in his arms, but he was startled when he heard the sound, and his footsteps suddenly stopped.

"elder sister……"

He turned around and raised his head, showing a look of surprise.

Because Princess Zhaoning had no talent for cultivation, she had pinned her ambition to win the Tai'a Sword on her half-brother. She had disciplined him in an extremely strict way since he was young and always urged him to practice. , urging him to practice martial arts.

Xiao Shangzhen, on the other hand, has a lazy and playful personality and has never obeyed her sister's harsh requirements.

At the Laoshan ruins, his cultivation was abolished due to taking the "Life-eating Pill". To others, it might be a disaster like the sky falling and the earth falling, but for Xiao Shangyuan, it was a kind of relief. Finally, his sister stopped strictly disciplining him and no longer forced him to do the boring practice. He can fight crickets, play tops, fly kites, and play Cuju with his servants...

Xiao Shangzhen hadn't seen such a stern look on her sister's face for a long time.

Princess Zhaoning wanted to scold him out of habit.

But when the words came to her lips, she sighed softly and softened her attitude: "Daqi is already on the verge of collapse, do you know?"

Hearing her sister's worries, Xiao Shangzhen did not show too much fear, but said perfunctorily: "I know."

"If my father fails to stop Gu Xu, you will become Gu Xu's prisoner from the fourth prince of Da Qi." Princess Zhaoning frowned even more tightly, "But you don't care about the war situation at all. I have a leisurely time fighting crickets here.”

"I'm just a loser with no cultivation," Xiao Shangzhen said calmly. "In the worst case, I'll surrender to Gu Xu. Maybe he can make me a 'second guest and three concubines', and I will be a happy idle prince."

"Two Guests and Three Kes" is a political etiquette system of the Dahuang court. Whenever a new dynasty is established, in order to show its benevolence and generosity and inherit the orthodoxy of the previous dynasty, it often treats the surviving members of the previous dynasty's royal family and gives them princely titles and fiefs.

For example, after Emperor Taizu of Da Qi unified the world, he named the two mortal brothers of the last emperor of Da Chu Dynasty "King An Ding" and "King Nankang".

Princess Zhaoning took a deep breath.

She had long expected that Xiao Shangzhen didn't care about the survival of the Qi Dynasty - perhaps in this kid's mind, who would decide the country was far less important than who would win between the two crickets.

But when she heard his words, she still stared at him for a long time, speechless for a long time.

"Perhaps Gu Xu is not as 'forgiving' as you thought," Princess Zhaoning said slowly after a long silence, "His temper is much more violent than it seems."

"Ah?" Xiao Shangzhen raised his eyebrows slightly, a little surprised, "When I first went to Laoshan, 'Suzaku' had always been very friendly to me. In addition to breaking my winning streak in 'The Realm of Discourse', he It doesn’t seem like he’s done anything harmful—”

"——He imprisoned your eldest brother in the palace and tortured him every day." Princess Zhaoning interrupted him and mentioned the gossip she had recently heard from the palace fortune tellers. "It is said that you can hear it even from a long distance away." To your eldest brother’s cry for mercy in Cuiwei Palace.”

"Really?" Xiao Shangzhen felt incredulous, "Why did he abuse my brother? Could it be that he wanted to extract some important information from his brother?"

"Not only that," Princess Zhaoning continued, "After Chen Yanping of the Chen family in Xiangyang broke away from the family, he took his sister Chen Suhui to join him, but Gu Xu didn't appreciate it and threw Chen Yanping to Hedong to join a group of dirty people. The refugees worked in the mines together, and took this opportunity to take Chen Suhua as their own.

"He also brought down many famous sects in the northwest region, chopped off the heads of the sect leaders and elders, hung them on the city wall for public display, and looted the treasury of those sects.

"You and I may not end well if we fall into his hands."

Hearing this, Xiao Shangzhen was stunned for a moment. The wooden basin in his hand fell to the ground inadvertently, and the winner cricket inside had long disappeared.

Although he and Gu Xu were both in the "Shenji Camp Reserve" before, they didn't spend much time together.

In his mind, the image of Gu Xu gradually changed from the gentle, humble and polite genius monk in the past to a debauched and sadistic tyrant.

(End of this chapter)