Astral Apostle

530 Complaint; Losing Favor (1)

Zhou Jing headed north and returned to the capital. Other than being intercepted midway, the rest of the time was smooth sailing without any waves.

Imperial Palace, Imperial Study.

Zhou Jing followed the eunuch into the room and greeted the Emperor, who was writing calligraphy.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“Perfected One, you’re finally back. You look much worse for wear.”

The Emperor hurriedly put down his pen and sized him up, his tone amiable.

Seeing that Perfected Master Windwalker was unscathed and still had all four limbs, he could not help but heave a sigh of relief. However, he realized that the other party’s face seemed to have thinned a little, and his face was an unhealthy pale.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I was able to avert the danger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t accomplish anything alone.”

Zhou Jing deliberately sighed.

The Emperor comforted him, “Perfected One, you don’t have to undervalue yourself. I’ve already heard about the spells and divine powers you used at the front line. It’s all because Lu Longchuan didn’t lead the troops well.”

Zhou Jing shook his head, “If not for the fact that I was secretly harmed and was poisoned, making it difficult for me to use my divine powers, I wouldn’t have let Chen Feng act so arrogantly and defeat Commander Lu.”

The Emperor’s eyes flashed, not surprised.

He had already received a report from a secret agent and learned some inside information about the defeat, including the fact that someone had poisoned Perfected Master Windwalker. However, most of this news was obtained from the defeated soldiers, so it was not easy to confirm if it was true or not and if it was exaggerated.

The first thing he did was to summon Zhou Jing to the palace. Apart from showing that he valued him, he also wanted to ask for first-hand information from those who had experienced the war.

The Emperor knew what was going on, but he still put on a surprised expression and asked, “Who harmed the Perfected One? What’s the inside story?”

“Someone bribed the soldiers of the Imperial Stronghold to poison my food…”

Zhou Jing explained the process, clearly showing his attitude. He was here to complain.

Although he wanted to create an otherworldly image, if he was repeatedly targeted yet did not have any temperament, he would seem as though he was above such petty matters. In the Imperial court, he would be deemed as weak and easily bullied.

He had long decided that when he returned this time, he would definitely complain and express his dissatisfaction. He would let the officials know that he was not a “true expert” who was foolish and did not know how to use the Emperor’s favor.

“Have you completely cured the poison?” The Emperor’s tone was concerned.

“I suppressed it with my magic power and supplemented it with the detoxification pill before I finally got rid of the poison. However, this poison is violent. Although I’ve recovered, it’s like I’ve just recovered from a serious illness. My body is still a little weak, and I still need some time to nourish it.”

After the Emperor expressed his concern, he said solemnly,

“I won’t tolerate this matter. I’ll definitely find out who poisoned you, and give you justice.”

However, Zhou Jing interrupted at this point,

“I have some clues about the person behind the scenes. On the way back, I was intercepted by a group of masked people. After subduing the assassins, I asked them if they were all retainers raised by the Jade Cauldron Sect among the people. I don’t know if someone is framing them or if it’s true, so I might as well bring these assassins back to the capital as witnesses.”

He was not playing games at all. He did not beat around the bush and directly showed his cards.

The Emperor was stunned and frowned, “Is this true?”

“This Daoist never lies.”

Bam!

The Emperor slammed the table angrily, knocking down the pen holder.

“What a group of rebel ministers. How dare they act so wantonly! Don’t worry, Immortal. I’ll give the order to throw these assassins into the prison and send them to the Court of Judicial Review for interrogation. We’ll definitely find out the truth.”

He could tell that Zhou Jing was going to denounce him, so he put on such an attitude to comfort him. However, he was indeed angry in his heart.

Back then, when Ning Zhongjun supported and sent Perfected Master Windwalker to the front line, the Emperor knew that the Jade Cauldron Sect was targeting him.

However, the Emperor was usually happy to see the open and hidden struggles between his subjects. Otherwise, how could he sit on the high platform as a referee?

The thoughts of the Jade Cauldron Sect at that time could not be hidden from his eyes. It was just that he had obtained the guarantee of Zhou Jing’s survival. After thinking about it, he allowed this matter. Later on, he let Perfected Master Windwalker be promoted in the Imperial Astronomer Bureau as a warning to the Jade Cauldron Sect.

However, the Emperor did not expect the Jade Cauldron Sect to disregard the warning and dare to go out of line. Not only did they kill him, but they even used methods like poisoning, assassination, and even sending their own people to kill him. This really angered him.

For this bit of selfish gain, they disregarded the overall situation of suppressing the bandits to kill Daoist Yufeng, indirectly causing this expedition to fail.

“It seemed that I had indulged the Jade Cauldron Sect too much all these years…”

This thought flashed through the Emperor’s mind.

At this moment, Zhou Jing’s face darkened as he deliberately said, “This Daoist is also asking himself if he has any enemies in the court. I don’t know if he just wants to get rid of me or if he has ulterior motives.”

He did not say it too clearly, but the hidden meaning was obvious — the mastermind wanted to kill him. Perhaps the mastermind wanted to stop him from nourishing His Majesty’s body and prolonging his life. He had ill intentions.

The Emperor naturally understood, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Of course, he understood that Zhou Jing was making a fuss out of it, but these words still hit his sensitive point. He could not help but be suspicious.

After complaining fiercely, Zhou Jing did not continue to be unrelenting. Instead, he chatted about the other details of the battle.

Zhou Jing paused and shook his head,

“Ning Zhongjun said that Chen Feng is an evil flood dragon in human form, but this statement is really ridiculous. From what I see, this Chen Feng has a mortal body, but he’s talented. In the path of martial arts, he has reached the realm of the Number One, even when compared to the ancient times. Only then does he have the martial strength of ten thousand men.”