Half an hour later, on the mountain road of Qinglong Temple.

  Jing Wan'er and Pei Shiwei rode their horses back to Chang'an, "I don't know how the master is doing now."

  Whether she said it was nothing to worry about or something to worry about, Jing Wanyu's eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

  Pei Shuaiwei didn't say a word and urged his horse forward, the previous decision to divide the troops into two routes was now being regretted by Jing Yuannu.

  Pei said that one person returning to Chang'an was uncertain, but under the surveillance this morning, they didn't even have time to make more plans. The "imperial edict" was fake, and this move was simply hurting a thousand enemies while suffering eight hundred losses themselves; now they were carrying the crime of forging an imperial edict.

  Jing Wan'er now has her heart set on flying back to Chang'an immediately.

  ——

  In the Zichen Hall, Zhongzong's face was getting increasingly unpleasant. He interrupted Pei Tan: "I don't want to hear you say anything more."

  Who would want to hear such things?

  "Has Huyen Lien gone mad? He wants to kill you?" Obviously, Trung Cong couldn't

  Believe it, the dwelling you hold in your own hands will betray you.

  Pei Tan suddenly stretched out his hand and slowly untied his belt, then took off his outer garment.

  Zhong Zong's eyes widened in surprise.

  Pei Tan's wound on his chest had not been properly treated, and previously his clothes were stained with blood. In order to avoid losing face in front of the emperor, he simply changed into a new set of clothes before entering the palace, and there was no time for anything else.

  "I risk my life to come and see you, I am willing for Your Majesty to dispose of me."

  Zhong Zong took a step back, "Are you saying that if I were to kill you now, it would be exactly what those people want? Pei Tan, your audacity is impressive."

  No emperor dared to admit that he was being manipulated as a puppet, now in the heart of Zhong Zong there is a raging fire.

  Pei Tan silently put on his clothes, without saying a word.

  Zhong Zong began pacing back and forth in the hall, "You'd better tell me honestly, who dares to play tricks behind my back?"

  "Who dares to destroy the trust of Your Majesty in the Grand Justice Temple and kill me, the Minister of the Grand Justice Temple? This is a matter of state governance, I dare not comment arbitrarily."

  Zhong Zong's face turned red and white in turns: "You!" He couldn't help but hold his forehead.

  But there are some things that Zhong Zong is powerless to do. Although he has the heart to rectify the government, this time the Qinglong Temple incident still gave him a severe blow.

  Zhong Zong pointed at the trunk and said, "And this one, what explanation can you give me for this?"

  Pei Tan looked at the box and said after a while, "Even if Your Majesty dislikes Wang Ye, blaming him for the death of De Fei would be too cruel to him."

  Zhong Zong's face sank: "He is as bold as his father, daring to lay hands on the empresses, even if they are former ones, which is not something he can touch."

  One was a former imperial concubine, and one was a lonely prince. In Zhong Zong's words, he also mentioned the Marquess of Xun.

  Pei Tan said slowly: "I know that in those years, Prince Teng was extravagant and excessive, and he once hurt one of Your Majesty's close friends."

  Jungjong stared at Bae Dae-soo: "Bae Dae-soo, you never know when to shut up."

  "In Your Majesty's heart, as the son of King Teng, it is only natural that he would not let Wang Ye off scot-free, and would definitely make him pay for his father's debts."

  Zhong Zong's face turned even darker: "You know this and yet you still dare to plead for him and Empress De?"

  Bae Talmun did not say it outright, but this attitude displeased Jungjong.

  "Your Majesty," Pei Tan said slowly, "since De Fei has already escaped from Hui Gen's clutches once, why would she choose to jump into the well again?"

  Zhong Zong's face was cold, in his view, how Empress De died had nothing to do with him, an empress who betrayed the king deserved to die.

  Pei Tan paused for a moment, "And De Fei finally jumped into the well and killed herself... all just to protect Wang Ye."

  Even if Huirou didn't kill Wang De Fei and let her escape this time, as long as De Fei is clever enough, she would know that her death is destined and won't be changed just because she escaped once.

  Since I already know I'm doomed, why drag Li Xiu down with me?

  If it were handled according to the previous treatment of Zhongzong, De's body would have been completely destroyed, and there wouldn't even be a place for burial.

  In this case, Pei Tan understood Li Xiuyi's feelings and would rather do the deed of escorting De Fei's coffin back to Chang'an for burial.

  Zhong Zong sneered: "Even if you secretly bring De Fei back to Chang'an, with her status as De Fei, she is not worthy of being buried in the imperial mausoleum."

  Pei Tan knew that Li Xiuyi's true intention was probably not to bury the Empress De in any imperial mausoleum, but to let her have a piece of land to rest.

  "In those years, the Empress Dowager had Your Majesty and your family move to Junzhou. Your Majesty recalls that over a decade was like walking on thin ice. Now, isn't the Prince's current mood the same as yours back then?" Pei Tan slowly raised his head and said this to Zhong Zong.

  Now that he has ascended to the throne, who in the court or the countryside dares to mention Zhongzong's past failures? But when Empress Wu was in power, those who survived until today all knew what kind of terror everyone was under back then.

  Zhong Zong himself would never forget.

  Zhong Zong remained silent and expressionless, without a hint of anger or any other emotion.

  "Your Majesty, can you spare the Prince for the sake of saving the imperial family's face, considering that Consort Ning is willing to die voluntarily?"

  Between being killed and seeking death actively, it is a person who has reached the point of utter despair, yet still clings to life like an ant, and must decide how resolute he wants to be in his pursuit of death.

  "Get up," Zhong Zong said coldly.

  Pei Tan had been kneeling on this cold ground for more than an hour, ordinary people would have collapsed long ago, and he was still a heavily injured person.

  Zhong Zong's face didn't look much better, he looked at Pei Tan and said: "You left Chang'an for six days without permission, leaving me a big mess, making the reputation of Datang Huoguo Temple notorious. Pei Tan, even if I don't kill you, shouldn't there be a reason?"

  No matter whether the abbot Xuanlian has committed treason or not, based on what Pei Tan has done, Emperor Zhongzong cannot avoid punishing him in order to justify himself to all the civil and military officials.

  Pei Tan slowly stood up: "I have let Yuanyu and Pei Xian stay in Qinglong Temple. If Yuanyu and Pei Xian cannot bring back Xu Lian, it means that something unexpected has happened in Qinglong Temple. If so, Your Majesty should issue a direct edict to reveal the true culprit of this case."

  Zhong Zong looked at him: "Are you going to force me to completely abandon Qinglong Temple?"

  Proclaiming to the world, the abbots of the temples in the Great Tang Empire are all murderers. Is this the loss of faith of the people of the Great Tang towards their king?

  "No, Your Majesty should take this opportunity to issue an edict and establish a new abbot to manage the Qinglong Temple. By doing so, the Qinglong Temple will truly become a sword in Your Majesty's hand."

  Zhong Zong's eyes moved slightly, and he suddenly looked at Pei Tan with some profundity.

  The people of the Pei family are all so elegant and refined, otherwise what Pei Tan said about these power struggles, if he were to manipulate power, I don't know who would be more clever between him and Wei Xuanzhen.

  Now that Xuanlian has definitely betrayed Zhongzong, the Qinglong Temple is leaderless. Zhongzong wants to subdue the Qinglong Temple, and this is the best opportunity.

  It depends on Zhong Zong's consideration, whether he wants to save face or maintain power?

  Zhong Zong said: "Pei Tan, I sometimes wonder whether it was right or wrong for me to use you at the beginning."

  Pei Tan was speechless. After a while, he simply knocked his head on the ground and said: "I only know that as long as I am a minister, I must do my best to share your worries for Your Majesty."

  A good day as a minister, a lifetime as a king. Zhong Zong lost his mind for a moment, every day when he went to the grand hall for court, there were countless officials' shadows, whose mouth was not reciting this sentence? But among them, how many can be like Pei Tan, who completely put it into practice.

  "I'm tired." Zhong Zong turned around.

  "Your Majesty, I request to withdraw."

  Zhong Zong stared at the box for a long time before saying, "Take this away. Since it was brought in by your Da Li Temple, let your temple handle it. I don't want to see it again."

  "Your Majesty," Pei said in a low voice, "I will obey your orders."

  Just as Pei Tan turned around and walked to the gate of the hall, he heard Zhong Zong say: "I will let Royal Doctor Wang go to the Great Temple to treat you later."

  Pei Tan's body stiffened for a moment, wanting to turn around and look at Zhong Zong, but he only saw Zhong Zong waving his hand and entering the palace behind the curtain.

  Pei Tan thought back to Zhong Zong, who was the grandson of Taizong and had witnessed the prosperous Tang Dynasty in its heyday. He had also lived under the heavy pressure of Empress Wu.

  One of the darkest decades in the history of the Tang Dynasty.

  ——

  Jing Wan'er and Pei Shi Wei rushed back to the Dali Temple in a hurry, but as soon as they entered the city gate, they were shocked by the heavily guarded city gate guards.

  Especially after they revealed their true identities as Dalit monks, the expressions on the faces of the city guards were so shocked that they almost shouted to take them down on the spot.

  Pei Shuaiwei subconsciously gripped the hilt of his sword. Having just barely escaped with their lives, were they going to run into trouble as soon as they entered the city?

  "Take them down." The commander's face sank, and it was truly a case of "breaking the iron shoe without finding a place to hide", they had delivered themselves to his doorstep. In his view, since corpses were found in Pei Tan's carriage, the Dalisi Temple was doomed this time, and these two people from the Dalisi Temple who had just returned from outside the city would definitely be arrested.

  Jing Wan's heart turned cold.

  Just then, a horse galloped into the city, and the rider quickly dismounted: "Are you two Miss Jing and Officer Pei? The prince ordered me to come and fetch you."

  Your Highness?

  The guard's face also changed color at these words.

  The newcomer smiled slightly, with an air of neither arrogance nor humility: "His Highness has said that any matter will be handled by the Wang Manor. These two gentlemen have something to attend to and will temporarily stay at the Wang Manor."

  The guards at the city gate looked at each other in dismay.

  But the other party was the prince, and Li Xiuzhi had already said that everything would be borne by the Chang Le Wangfu, so the guards hesitated for a long time before finally letting Jin Wan'er and Pei Shouzhen pass with a gloomy face.

  As soon as she entered the city gate, that kind of tension seemed to follow her like a shadow in Jing Wanyan's heart.

  And those who led the way in the palace also turned their heads and took them away. At this point, it was impossible not to follow.

  Li Xiuyi was the posthumous son of the King of Cheng, but unfortunately, the fiefdom of the King of Cheng was in Chengzhou, which is far from Chang'an. After Li Xiuyi chose to live in Chang'an, he never built his own palace. He lived in a courtyard purchased in Dongjiao all along.

  The man leading the way dismounted at the gate, and there were no swarms of servants in the courtyard. Li Xiuzhi was actually standing at the gate waiting for them.

  "Come in." Li Xiuzhi looked at them.

  Jing Wan'er stepped forward, "Your Highness, where is the master?" Pei Tan was escorting Li Xiuzhi back to Chang'an together, so Li Xiuzhi naturally knew about Pei Tan's matters.

  Li Xiuzhi turned around, "Don't worry, I've already sent a trusted person to the Dali Temple. As soon as Pei Sizong returns, he will be notified that you are here."

  Is Pei Tan back? Jing Yu'er caught the information and her heart skipped a beat, so Pei Tan is not in the Dali Temple at all now?

  What does it mean for Li Xiujie to bring them together after all?