Origin Player.

Chapter 723 Poetry Recitation and Drunken Talk
At the Emperor Qianlong's banquet.

The hall was not well-lit, so rows of candles were lit on both sides. Behind the main seat was a huge black stone wall with gold patterns. When Emperor Qian accompanied Jiang He out from behind the stone wall, the ministers in the hall stood up and bowed at the same time.

"Long live the Emperor!"

"sit."

Emperor Qian gently raised his hand and waved it. The old eunuch in the python robe who had served him for many years immediately understood. This immortal-level cultivator quickly fled from the main hall, found an extremely precious jade throne, and placed it next to the throne.

Jiang He calmly sat down; her long hair had already turned black.

All the civil and military officials in the hall were shocked.

To be able to sit alongside Emperor Qian, one must either have attained enlightenment and ascended to heaven, or have a very deep connection with a powerful being who has achieved the Dao. Unfortunately, Emperor Qian made no attempt to explain.

The singing and dancing continued, accompanied by the fragrant aroma.

Three hundred silver-armored imperial guards stood watch around the main hall, all of whom were at the Nascent Soul stage and were commanded by a Grand Commander at the Immortal stage. Together with the Ascension Array, they were exceptionally powerful.

Among the seats, Minister Ning discreetly observed the young man seated on the jade throne. Seeing Qian Tuzi return, he couldn't help but ask:
"Imperial Preceptor, who is this gentleman?"

Qian Tuzi shook his head, a hint of pity hidden in his eyes as he looked at Minister Ning, and replied, "I don't know either."

In fact, due to its geographical environment and the threat of the demon race, Nanzhao Daqian did not have close communication with the outside world. Most of the officials in the court were focused on their own situation and did not pay much attention to Zhongzhou, which was far away.

Daozi has reached an agreement with His Majesty to kill Fuze's son, Qianmang. As the family that raised the imperial prince, the Daqian Ning clan will likely also face retribution.

"Your Majesty, the special envoy from Xuanjian City has arrived in the capital." The Grand Chancellor of the Great Qian stepped forward; he was a cultivator at the Ascension Realm but did not hold a rank.

Emperor Qian nodded and looked toward one side of the palace.

He knew that the prime minister's daughter had developed feelings for his illegitimate son, Qian Mang.

The phrase "arrived in the capital" actually meant "arrived in the palace."

The woman from Xuanjian City who was in charge of handling the alliance was a young woman with a bow and arrows. Qian Mang, who was the recruiter of the Grand Academy, was in charge of receiving her. The two chatted happily and were almost drunk.

Jiang He picked up the dark green liquor on the table and drank it all in one gulp; the taste was extremely refreshing.

"Are you ready to make your move?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Qian shrugged and said, "Daozi, please calm down. Children of good fortune have great luck on their bodies. Without a position, even their minds will be affected. Moreover, the blessings bestowed by Heaven and Earth must come with a mission. Trying to accelerate their growth will only create conflict."

Emperor Qian was clearly familiar with the Child of Blessing. There were more than one similar being recorded in the history of the Nine Provinces. However, since the blessings of Heaven and Earth came first, the positions of the fruition would not favor these “kindred spirits” in a certain sense. Therefore, there was no Child of Blessing who had attained enlightenment.

The real challenge for those who want to plot against the Children of Fortune lies in how to discover them.

"Take it easy?" Jiang He scoffed.

Emperor Qian was startled and said, "Please forgive me, Daozi. I actually had the thought of abandoning you and making arrangements on my own. I was even unhappy if you took action."

"Unhappy" is actually a euphemism for murderous intent.

While the will of Heaven and Earth cannot change the resolve of those who have attained the Dao, it can still exert influence to some extent.

From then on, Emperor Qian no longer dared to underestimate Qian Mang, and his eyes became quite wary.

Jiang He beckoned, and a middle-aged eunuch in a blue dragon robe stepped forward. Within the Great Qian Dynasty, he was a powerful Immortal Realm expert who inspired fear in everyone. He had single-handedly suppressed the martial world and killed more than a handful of people in the Upper Five Realms.

The middle-aged eunuch had no idea that Jiang He would actually grab his head with his bare hands.

At this moment, the [Continuation of the Head] position is activated, and the [Salvation of Souls] Daoist technique is launched. The power to guide and awaken reincarnated souls has been reversed and transformed into an extremely sinister and terrifying soul-searching technique.

Jiang He closed her eyes.

It's like watching a movie with excellent picture quality.

Some trivial matters were cut up by the power of fate, and Jiang He easily found valuable information, and even the profound skills practiced by the middle-aged eunuch, although of course, they were not ranked in the Holy Martial Arts Grand Ceremony.

After a moment, Jiang He opened her eyes and said calmly, "I've heard that Qian Mang's poetry is quite remarkable."

The middle-aged eunuch retreated in horror, but Emperor Qian didn't seem to care. He turned around and said loudly, "Ning Mang."

The once noisy hall immediately fell silent.

Qian Mang swayed as he rose and entered the hall, his voice slurred with drunkenness, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Qian Mang was only a young man, but he was already a fifth-rank recruitment officer. As he walked into the hall, the prime minister's daughter, the women of Xuanjian City, the princess of the royal family and others couldn't help but turn their gazes toward him.

Emperor Qian said, "I heard that your poetic fame spread far and wide the other day. On this fine night, why not compose a poem?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment. The Ning clan of the Great Qian Dynasty had always been close to the imperial family, but no one expected that the Qian Emperor would take the initiative to set up a stage for this upstart to make a name for himself.

Qian Mang regained his senses and quickly said, "I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty's favor. I am young and inexperienced, how could I dare to make a fool of myself in front of you gentlemen?"

Emperor Qian smiled and said lightly, "Then I'll just say I misspoke."

Pfft!
Despite his reluctance, Qian Ning had no choice but to immediately kowtow and say, "I would rather die than seek fame and fortune."

Emperor Qian did not answer. Jiang He remained uninvolved. The matter was settled. Someone would naturally step forward under the urging of fate.

"You are indeed seeking fame and fortune!"

Among the seats, an old scholar stepped aside and said indifferently: "A traveler often feels sorrow in autumn, a hundred years of illness makes him stand alone on the stage, hardships and sorrows have turned his temples white, and in his decline he has stopped drinking wine. Such a masterpiece is indeed the most magnificent."

"But you are neither old and destitute, nor do you suffer from unfulfilled talent or the sorrow of a life full of hardships. How did you come to such a lofty state of mind, Lord Ning, who rose through the ranks and became famous at a young age?"

"Back then at Huayue Tower, you were nothing but trying to attract attention!" The hall was immediately filled with discussion. There was always a reason for expressing feelings and sentiments. If it were just about the finesse of words, that would be fine, but this poem "Ascending the Heights" was just too powerful.

"A good article is born of nature, and a skillful hand may occasionally bring it to fruition."

"It's normal that the old gentleman can't understand, after all, I do have some talent in poetry."

Qian Mang secretly thanked the mother he had never met, who was also a "time traveler" but had never publicly recited poetry.

The old scholar flew into a rage, "What kind of genius are you, managing to copy a couple of poems by chance!"

The atmosphere inside the main hall was extremely tense, drawing everyone's attention.

Jiang He said calmly, "I thought you were dead."

Emperor Qian was somewhat embarrassed. Ever since Daozi gave him his advice, he had realized that fate was about to interfere, but the scene where all the civil and military officials acted as if the emperor did not exist still made him quite awkward.

"Hahaha." Qian Mang laughed loudly while drinking, his steps unsteady.

"Pen! Paper! Ink!"

Some young eunuchs brought him writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and he skillfully took notes.

Qian Mang, drunk, recited: "Have you not seen the Yellow River's waters come from the sky, rushing to the sea never to return..."

"...Everyone has their own unique talents, and even if I spend all my money, it will come back again."

"Master Cen, Master Danqiu, let's drink! Don't stop drinking..."

"...In the past, Prince Chen held a banquet at Ping Le, where he drank ten thousand cups of wine and indulged in merriment."

"Those who have abandoned me, the days of yesterday cannot be retained..."

As he drank pot after pot of wine, Qian Mang recited poems with unrestrained ease, astonishing everyone present. The prime minister's daughter and others were filled with admiration, and he composed hundreds of excellent poems on the spot.

The old scholar's expression shifted between light and dark. With such skill, writing essays and poems was probably just child's play; his talent was simply astonishing.

At the head of the table, Emperor Qian cupped his hands and said, "Please, Daozi, make your move."

Since the summit council decided to have Daozi take the lead in dealing with Fukuzawa's son, there must be corresponding measures in place.

Jiang He nodded, and with a casual wave of his hand, the power of destiny of heaven and earth within the hall dissipated completely in the "God's End - Fallen Heaven".

The crowd's eyes cleared, and they began to discuss amongst themselves.

"Who are these Master Cen, Danqiu Sheng, and Prince Chen?"

"Where exactly are the scenic spots of Huanggang, the Yellow River, and Chibi?"

"The use of allusions must first be universally recognized; these allusions are ones we have never heard of before."

"The genre, style, rhythm, and details are all wrong. At least several great poets have their own habits of using words in terms of tone and rhyme. I'm afraid Lord Ning hasn't studied them and doesn't understand these conventions."

"Shut up!" the old scholar roared.

"You have deceived the emperor and are still unaware of your crime."

The atmosphere became strange, and Qian Mang suddenly sobered up.

Not far away, the top scholar of this year's imperial examination sighed and said, "Lord Ning, please tell the officials the truth. In terms of tone and rhyme, once you've used some, you can't use others. There are actually different schools of thought. All the scholars in the world ultimately come from the court. To put it simply, if you write a frontier poem, you can't be assigned to a misty, watery village."

"Your poems pay attention to this point, but you don't."

A series of gazes were cast upon them.

The unspoken rules within the industry made everyone realize that Qianmang was actually an outsider.

The top scholar of this year's imperial examination shook his head. He could even roughly estimate which poets of these poems lived in the same era, under different political circumstances, and belonged to different factions in the court. The implied meanings in the poems were ultimately meant for people to see, and the tonal patterns and word choices were the exclusive codebooks of each party, used to convey attitudes and messages between superiors and subordinates, insiders and outsiders.

Of course, among these poets, there were indeed some who were just layabouts, not in the court, acting on their own whims, but they wouldn't act recklessly. Even if they sacrificed some parallelism, they would intentionally avoid it.

The atmosphere inside the main hall grew increasingly heavy.

Jiang He silently drank his wine. Fortunately, he had never made a name for himself in the ancient martial arts or the world of Zhulu before, otherwise he would have been embarrassed. According to the top scholar of this year's imperial examination, the tonal patterns of poetry are actually a secret language. Compared with modern official language, they are relatively more elegant and safer.

Emperor Qian's expression was not good.

This means that someone once used reciting poetry to privately discuss and reconcile accounts in front of him.

Qian Mang fell silent, his drunkenness completely gone.

"I……"

The top scholar of this year's imperial examination, unwilling to see the other party remain obstinate, said: "It was a very prosperous era, but also very dangerous. The emperor's ascension to the throne was illegitimate, and there were several upheavals. Moreover, when the dynasty was declining, there should have been a beautiful imperial concubine. Many people said she was beautiful, but the poet who loved to eat lychees reminded me that it was actually just a momentary hobby of the emperor, but the emperor did not want people to know."

Qian Mang was startled and felt a chill run through his body.
He gritted his teeth and said, "These poems are all from my dream journey to the celestial realm."

The top scholar of this year's imperial examination remained silent.

The old scholar was no longer angry.

Many young scholars who admired Qian Mang showed expressions of disappointment and even disgust.

(End of this chapter)