135: Chapter 135 Oh no! We've been exposed!

If the Taixuan Sect was truly going to force the palace coup, they were very likely to directly run into the coup forces or the imperial defense line along this way, and no matter which side they ran into, it would be difficult to escape.

More importantly, if the Taixuan Sect successfully forced the palace coup and The Tenth Emperor was deposed, the ritual for The King in Yellow to descend upon Jiuzhou might be delayed or even cancelled, and the chain reaction would propagate along the timeline to hundreds of years later, meaning Emperor Zhou Weixi might never ascend to the throne, and the yellow sign in his arms as well as the brand freshly branded on his neck would not exist either.

But wouldn't the three of them interfere with the progression of the timeline?

Wouldn't it be bad if the three of them went and instead caused the emperor to be taken down?

What if only by not going would the three of them avoid affecting history?

Xie Feng belonged to Emperor Zhou Weixi's era, the Third Princess was still waiting for him in the Northern Wastes, and the expedition team's mission was not yet completed; he could not be blocked halfway by a palace coup event recorded in later historical materials as dying in silence.

Thinking about these problems, Xie Feng only felt a splitting headache, and eventually instinct replaced thinking.

Yog-Sothoth said to do what it wanted to do, so that venerable Elder, The All-in-One, could not be wrong.

Xie Feng decided to go over and watch the excitement.

Brain Matter and Tu Ziguan indicated that this person was purely making an excuse.

"Brain Matter, change the route."

Xie Feng gave his head a shake.

"Do not take the Yuzhou official road. Help me search the memory of that city-guard Cultivator to find out which secret path the Chisha Sect takes to send tributes to the Taixuan Sect. We will walk along the secret path and give them some trouble along the way."

Tu Ziguan had already pulled the skateboard out from the bundle.

Brain Matter smacked its lips and began rummaging through the memories.

Xie Feng swung the bundle onto his back and muttered in an extremely low voice:

"After rolling dice in the tabletop RPG group for so many years, this is the first time personally stepping down to run a live-action historical timeline."

"This is the real purpose, right?"

Tu Ziguan glanced over speechlessly.

After a month of lurking, the time gradually came to... November.

The mountain gate of the Taixuan Sect was built in a continuous stretch of low mountains in central Yuzhou.

The main Peak was not high, but it was extremely steep and perilous. Above the waist of the mountain, it was shrouded year-round in a layer of grayish mist, which was the residual wave of spiritual power evaporated by the mountain-guarding grand formation operating year-round.

At this moment, the plaza in front of the mountain gate was packed with people. The dark cyan regular attire of the Taixuan Sect Disciples was mixed with the multicolored robes of various affiliated Sects, numbering at least several hundred people.

The crowd lined up layer by layer from the edge of the plaza toward the direction of the council hall. Their cultivation levels ranged from the third stage to the sixth stage, and their spiritual fluctuations were mixed together, suppressed in the valley by the mountain-guarding grand formation so that they could not disperse. It felt heavy and gloomy, like dark clouds accumulated at the edge of the sky before a thunderstorm.

The three of Xie Feng mixed into the Chisha Sect's procession and stood in an extremely inconspicuous corner at the edge of the plaza.

Tu Ziguan folded up the Spiritual Qi skateboard and stuffed it into the bundle, leaned closer to Xie Feng's side, and lowered his voice to say that this scene was even larger than the Martial Arts Arena of the Qingyun Sect.

Xie Feng did not reply, his spiritual perception having already spread out, piercing through the crowd and probing toward the council hall.

These Disciples on the plaza were just making up numbers; the ones truly in charge were inside the council hall.

Fearing exposure, Lu Mingyuan stopped Xie Feng, secretly took out a bizarre eavesdropping device, and stuffed it to Tu Ziguan and Xie Feng.

The Taixuan Sect's council hall was extremely vast and deep. Right in the center stood an extremely long red sandalwood long table, upon which a map of Yuzhou was spread out. Several Elders wearing deep cyan Elder robes stood surrounding the table.

At the head was the Taixuan Sect Leader, possessing a cultivation of the seventh stage, with a plump face, deep-set eye sockets, and a gentle yet sinister voice.

Seated on both sides of the long table were representatives from five or six major Sects in Yuzhou, all with cultivation levels above the sixth stage.

Standing at the end of the long table were the spokespersons of several affiliated Sects. The Sect Leader of the Chisha Sect shrank back to the very end position, having no qualification to sit, and could only stand with hands hanging down.

"Everyone is clear about the contents of the new policies."

The Sect Leader's finger slowly swept across the map of Yuzhou, stopping at the location of the imperial capital. "Airship manufacturing is reclaimed by the imperial family, local officials are directly evaluated and appointed by the imperial court, and postal routes and commercial roads completely bypass Sect jurisdiction. How is this a reform? This is drawing the firewood from the bottom of the cauldron."

If this momentum continues, it will not be long before the Foundation we accumulated in Yuzhou over hundreds of years is pulled up by the roots.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping across both sides of the long table.

"Since ancient times, the way for the imperial family and Sects to coexist has been for each to guard its own boundaries. The imperial court manages the commoners, Cultivators manage Cultivators, and local matters are decided by the local side. Emperors of past dynasties all understood this logic, yet only this generation does not understand? That just shows there are treacherous ministers by Your Majesty's side."

On the left side of the long table, an old man with white hair and beard slowly spoke, saying that the Disciples of various Sects in Yuzhou had already assembled, and the vassal Sects of other prefectures were also closing in toward the direction of the imperial capital, totaling nearly a thousand people, with no fewer than fifteen above the sixth stage, which was more than enough to deal with the imperial family's existing Imperial Guards.

As long as the Taixuan Sect gave the order, the procession would set off immediately.

On the right side, another Sect representative wearing a dark red robe picked up the conversation, saying that things over at the imperial capital had already been taken care of, and several city-guard lieutenants had accepted Spirit Stones and would open the city gates on the night of the uprising.

The commander of the Imperial Guards had also been bribed and would not lead troops out of the palace.

"The imperial palace back in those days really was completely rotten."

Tu Ziguan stuck out his tongue.

"There's no help for it. It's estimated that Cultivators monopolized the cultivation methods, and the imperial palace at most only has some Loose Cultivators."

After listening, the Sect Leader felt out a very thin roll of silk from his sleeve, unfolded it, and spread it in the center of the long table.

The silk was densely filled with policy clauses, and the wording for every single one had already been drafted.

A middle-aged man who was extremely tall and thin, wearing a gray robe, stepped out from the other end of the long table and bowed to the Sect Leader.

This person came from another Sect affiliated with the Taixuan Sect, with a cultivation at the Peak of the sixth stage and a voice like a booming bell.

Under the Sect Leader's signal, he opened his mouth, his voice echoing back and forth beneath the dome of the council hall.

"We have drafted the new policies to be implemented immediately after the new monarch ascends the throne: Article 1, abolish the imperial court's direct evaluation and appointment of local officials, and return the right to select local officials to the Sect Alliance of various prefectures; Article 2, transfer the right of airship manufacturing from the imperial family's Ministry of Works to be jointly managed by the Sect Alliance of various prefectures, with the pricing power and sales channels of airships decided independently by the Alliance; Article 3, dismantle the newly established direct postal routes and commercial roads of the imperial court in various prefectures..."

Fifteen policy clauses, every single one precisely and inversely cutting into the core clauses of the imperial family's new policies.

The drafter was obviously not a reckless man who only knew how to shout slogans. Once this set of plans landed, Jiuzhou would regress back to a state where Sects completely controlled the localities and the imperial court's decrees did not leave the imperial capital.

Standing at the edge of the plaza, Xie Feng listened to all fifteen articles and had to admit that this group's drafting level was not low, but unfortunately they had miscalculated one variable—The King in Yellow.

It was a pity he did not know whether the imperial family side actually had such a card.

"Sect Leader." The white-haired and bearded old man on the left side of the long table suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a hint of extremely subtle doubt. "During today's discussion, this old man always felt something was amiss. Everyone present here is an old acquaintance rooted in Yuzhou, but walking all the way from the plaza just now, it seems a few faces were not very familiar. Over at the Chisha Sect... since when did there turn out to be a few young Disciples?"

The meticulousness of Cultivators' Cultivation Techniques in this era might not be as good as later generations of Cultivators, but their application of spiritual power was much stronger.

Because the spiritual power from three hundred years ago still had some subtle differences from the spiritual power from three hundred years after, it was precisely this tiny difference that allowed this person to sense the somewhat off spiritual power on the three of Xie Feng—that was a complex spiritual power aura mixed from both before and after three hundred years.