Chapter Fifty-One Entering the Palace

  Despite Zhou Xing's strong opposition, Su Dong still bought the set of flaying knives without hesitation. The price was not expensive, 800 taels of silver, which was nothing to Su Dong, who now had a family wealth of 3 million taels of silver.

  Not all antiques can be used as ritual instruments, apart from containing a large amount of spiritual energy, they must also have extremely special characteristics, after all, the Qimen transmission belongs to the sword-walking bias route in the ancient Xuanxue, emphasizing the use of objects to their fullest potential.

  The nourishing formation of life must be nourished to transparency, and the killing formation must be killed with relish! Even if there are thousands of troops and horses, they must be killed on the spot in the formation!

  In this way, some extremely precious treasures are needed as ritual tools in order to bring out the strongest aspects of the formation.

  This set of flaying knives has killed countless people and drunk their blood. As a cruel tool for torturing enemies, those who died under these knives were extremely fearful and resentful. The aura of this flaying knife is simply cruel to the extreme. It's not suitable for use on one's own kind, but it's perfect for killing and taking lives.

  Su Dong put away the set of flaying knives, satisfied, and stuck them to his chest, letting the knives absorb his aura as much as possible. This was called "recognizing their master". Only when the magical tools recognized Su Dong could they listen to his commands.

  Twelve knives to peel the skin, seven sons of jade in the stone, Su Dong currently has two sets of good ritual instruments. The Qimen school mainly uses Fengshui formation methods, and the more ritual instruments used for formation, the better.

  Assuming Su Dong opened all eight Dragon Armor gates, he could cast the ultimate 32-gate formation. In that case, just one formation would require 32 artifacts, so it can be said that Su Dong currently has too few artifacts.

  Su Dong and Zhou Xing returned to the inn, and from a distance, they saw a team of people outside the inn, carrying yellow leaf flags. It was actually the Imperial Guard of the Dye Family, and Fan Zhanggui, the owner of Xuanling Valley, was among them, rubbing his hands non-stop with an anxious expression.

  From a distance, Fan Zhanggui saw Su Dong and hurried over, excitedly saying: "Brother Su Dong, you're back! I sent your Linggu to the palace yesterday and it's already taken effect today! The Second Prince has a great appetite, he ate two whole bowls of rice! Come with me to the palace quickly!"

  Su Dong was taken aback and said lightly, "What does the royal family's business have to do with me? I'm just a gardener in Qingling Valley. If the Second Prince likes to eat it, then let him eat more."

  "His Majesty the Emperor wants to meet you in person and thank you for bringing the Lingguo." said Fan Zhanggui nervously.

  "Just send some silver or rare treasures to the inn and it would be fine, why make things so complicated." Su Dong frowned.

  Su Dong said that, Zhou Xing and Fan Zhang were both shocked, feeling very surprised. Ordinary people would have been grateful for the imperial summons, and might even have shed tears of gratitude.

  But Su Dong was different, he didn't seem to buy into the imperial family's account, looking at him like that, the imperial family invited him to the palace, but he was still very unwilling.

  This conversation was naturally also heard by the imperial guards, and apart from their surprise, their gaze towards Su Dong also became somewhat unfriendly.

  Su Dong sighed and said: "Since it's the imperial family's good intentions, then go on a trip, after all, one has to be humble under the eaves..."

  Su Dong and Fan Zhang were surrounded by a group of imperial guards, riding horses towards the direction of the palace. Taking advantage of others' inattention, Su Dong lowered his voice and asked: "Fan Zhang, when we meet your emperor, do we not need to kneel?"

  Fan Zhanggui was taken aback and shook his head, saying: "Why kneel? I've never heard of such a rule."

  Since he didn't have to perform the ritual of kneeling and kowtowing, Su Dong felt a lot more at ease in his heart. He was also unwilling to go see that old emperor, and this was one of the reasons.

  ……

  The Grand Leaf Palace was very large, and Su Dong got off his horse and walked with Fan Zhanggui for a long time before arriving at the Emperor's backyard. Since Su Dong was not a subject of the Grand Leaf Kingdom, this meeting was not formal, so it took place in the backyard.

  Su Dong followed the two teenage maids to a pavilion by the pond, where they saw that the Emperor of Da Ye was not old at all, only in his thirties, plump and fair-skinned, with the Empress sitting beside him, equally plump and fair-skinned, both eating chilled fruit.

  Su Dong walked over calmly and greeted the Emperor and Empress, then stood quietly to one side.

  Don't look at Su Dong's young age and ordinary clothes, when facing the two most powerful people in Daye Country, he didn't show any inferiority, speaking and making gestures with ease, and there was a refined air about him.

  Su Dong had already heard from Fan Zhanggui that the Emperor of Daye Country was named Ye Miao, and the Empress's surname was Fan. They were distant relatives of Fan Zhanggui, otherwise the imperial family's Linggu business would not have fallen to him.

  Emperor Ye Huang and Empress Fan curiously sized up Su Dong, while Su Dong let them look and instead observed the feng shui layout of the imperial palace, which was also his usual habit whenever he went anywhere.

  "Are you Su Dong?" The emperor asked with a hint of doubt.

  "That's right."

  "Are you a spiritual farmer?"

  "Yes."

  "Are those spiritual valleys and medicines grown by you?"

  "Not bad."

  The emperor scratched his head in frustration, speaking to himself for half a day, before Su Dong finally responded with just five words, which made the emperor somewhat unaccustomed, as usually others would say a lot and he would lightly nod his head, but now it was completely reversed.

  Empress Fan gave him a glance, and only then did Emperor Ye Huang come to his senses, saying: "Honored guest, please take a seat. I was in a hurry just now and was remiss in my manners. Thanks to those spiritual gourds and medicines of yours, the young prince's condition seems to have improved somewhat."

  Su Dong sat down with a big smile and said: "It's good that the second prince can relax a bit, those spiritual valleys and medicines are also being used to their fullest potential."

  Empress Fan smiled and said: "You have made great contributions to the imperial family, this time I came just to reward you heavily, what do you think we should reward you with?"

  Su Dong was taken aback, thinking about what to ask for in his heart. Currently, he needed a spiritual armor the most, but he didn't know if he could get a decent one from this old emperor.

  Just as Su Dong was lost in thought, an old woman from the palace suddenly came running over from a distance, shouting and crying out: "Your Majesty, something's gone terribly wrong! The Second Prince has fallen ill again!"

  The emperor and empress hastily got up, trembling with fear, and asked: "What's going on? Weren't things fine this morning?"

  The old woman in the palace said, "Yes, Your Highness had a big appetite today and ordered a bowl of lean meat porridge cooked with lingguo from the rear kitchen. Who knew that after eating just two mouthfuls, he vomited nonstop, alarming several gentlemen!"

  Lingguo's congee?

  Su Dong's eyes widened instantly, and he had just entered the palace when the second prince suffered from vomiting and diarrhea after eating Linggu's lean porridge. To say that this was a coincidence, Su Dong absolutely refused to believe it!

  Whoosh!

  The queen and emperor's gazes all turned towards Su Dong, with a hint of puzzlement and resentment.

  Su Dong stood up and said: "If it's convenient, I'd like to take a look at the Second Emperor's place."

  ……

  A group of people rushed to the Second Prince's bedroom in a hurry. Su Dong walked at the end and carefully observed with his eyes along the way.

  The Great Leaf Country has stood tall in the north for a long time. The feng shui of the imperial palace is naturally flawless, otherwise the royal bloodline would not have been able to continue until now.

  The closer I get to the Second Prince's bedroom, the more I can feel the power of astrology, as if someone has used a very powerful astrological technique here.

  The courtyard where the second prince resides has more than a dozen rooms, and at this moment, it is surrounded by fully armed warriors, with an air of being on high alert as if facing a formidable enemy.

  Su Dong understood that the royal family wasn't foolish either. As soon as the Second Prince's condition took a turn for the better, it suddenly plummeted, clearly indicating that someone had secretly interfered! As for himself, he was also one of the suspected objects.

  Entering the bedroom, I saw that several minister-like men were already waiting there. The Second Prince was being supported by a palace maid and was vomiting non-stop in front of the bed, making very unpleasant sounds, as if he was going to vomit out his internal organs.

  "Has it been checked? How could Xiao An be like this!?" The emperor asked loudly.

  Those officials hastily bowed their heads, one of them whispering: "It's not poisoning, that bowl of porridge has already been checked."

  In an instant, more than a dozen eyes all fell on Su Dong's body.

  Su Dong slightly narrowed his eyes and said calmly: "If there's no poisoning, then you're suspecting that there's a problem with the Lingguo I provided?"

  "It's not that simple, this matter requires careful investigation before a conclusion can be drawn. After all, your Honor's Linggu is very rare, and the Second Prince has never had it before." An old man with a goatee said thoughtfully.

  Su Dong quietly appeared in front of the Second Prince, took a look at the young man's face, and saw that this little guy was only eleven or twelve years old, with a pale complexion that was frighteningly white.

  This proximity to the second prince was not close, Su Dong immediately felt a terrible chill!