Chapter 2188: Honey Trap?

Since the Celestial Court could send him an imperial decree, he clearly had the authority to directly present a memorial to the Jade Emperor.

At first, he couldn't help but feel that the Celestial Court was terrifyingly powerful, wondering what he would do if he antagonized them. But he had suddenly realized that an organization that terrifying would have no reason to become hostile towards him at all. Wouldn't it be better to cling well onto this great patron?

He could more or less guess the plans of Yuan Shoucheng and even those behind him. Those terrifying beings were definitely not people he could contend against. In that case, he would just let the ones who could beat these guys fight instead.

...

The next morning, Zu An held the Celestial Court's imperial edict and summoned the Wind Uncle, Thunder Duke, Cloud Child, and Lightning Mother. He continued all the way to the ninth firmament above Eternal Peace City. He arranged clouds at the period of chen, sent down thunder at the period of si, called the rain at wu, and stopped at wei. There was a total of three feet, three inches, and forty-eight drops, no different at all from what the imperial edict stated.

Afterward, he stopped the Wind Uncle, Thunder Duke, Cloud Child, and Lightning Mother. Then, he took out the memorial he had written himself and asked these incarnations of the weather to deliver it to the Jade Emperor. They were quite troubled, since such a thing was against the rules. But since they had worked together for quite some time and the Jing River Dragon King was quite friendly this time, bringing them many gifts, they agreed.

When the Thunder Duke, Lightning Mother, and the others disappeared into the horizon, everything in front of Zu An’s eyes suddenly changed. Eternal Peace City was nowhere to be seen, and everything was replaced by a completely closed room. On the other side stood a figure; it was the Jing River Dragon King.

Zu An noticed that he had already returned to his original appearance. It seemed he had already passed this trial.

The Jing River Dragon King looked at him with a complicated expression. After some time, he asked, “Why didn’t you help the Water races vent out your anger on a trifling mortal divination master?”

Zu An replied, “The Dragon King must be a bit confused. How could someone who could see through the mysteries of heaven and even know about the Jade Emperor’s secret decrees ahead of time possibly be a trifling mortal?”

The Jing River Dragon King was stunned. Shortly after, he sighed and said, “That is indeed the case. I served as the Dragon King for far too long and really didn’t treat these people with any importance. When I heard that he was teaching fishermen how to catch my people, I couldn't help but become furious. How could I have known that he had such a mysterious background?”

“This indeed can't be blamed on you. You had a group of bootlickers all around you, so you ended up thinking that you were the most important person around. Then, when they planted some individuals with unfathomable motives, it naturally became hard for you to control your emotions even if you wanted to,” Zu An tried to comfort him. Everyone cared about face, let alone a dragon.

“Are you talking about that Advisor Shad?” The Jing River Dragon King’s expression darkened.

“It isn’t just him; there might have been something wrong with that Yaksha as well. Or perhaps the fishermen someone arranged for the Yaksha to just happen to have overheard,” Zu An explained.

Sure enough, the Jing River Dragon King’s expression improved quite a bit. “These bastards that bite the hand that feeds them actually dared to plot against me like this!”

It wasn’t that I was stupid, but these scoundrels who wanted to harm me after all!

The Jing River Dragon King collected himself and asked curiously, “After finding out that divination master had a powerful background, an ordinary person would just stop at apologizing. Why did you even visit the Tang Emperor through a dream, and go so far as to write a memorial to the Celestial Court?”

There were others who had attempted this trial in the past, and many of them were intelligent. Some of them had known that the fortune-teller had to be someone great, so they hadn’t wanted to foolishly go against the imperial decree and had visited the divination master with gifts in apology instead. Unfortunately, they still couldn't change the fate of destruction.

Zu An explained, “If someone mysterious like this set up such a plot, how could it all be purely over a bet made between both parties? No matter how precious the gift, it still wouldn’t make someone like this change their plans. The reason I brought the gifts was just to placate the other side, so it would be easier to find the true solution.”

The Jing River Dragon King gave him a long look. “I really do feel some admiration toward you. You were actually able to think this far ahead. Not only did you write a memorial to the Celestial Court, you even used the Tang Emperor to deal with that Yuan bastard and the despicable fishermen. If I had been as smart as you were back then, I wouldn’t have had to experience the fate of execution.”

“The Dragon King was in the middle of a plot; the spectator sees more of the game, after all. I was only able to think about these things because I knew there was a problem ahead of time.” Zu An had been on guard the entire time only because he knew that this time fragment definitely contained something extremely dangerous. Furthermore, using his knowledge of Journey to the West’s stories was how he had found the solution. It was actually a bit of a fluke that he had succeeded.

“You really are too humble. For example, you clearly already wrote a memorial to report things through official channels, so why did you still choose to entrust the message to Thunder Duke and Lightning Mother?” the Jing River Dragon King asked with a smile.

“Since that Yuan Shoucheng could know about the contents of the Jade Emperor’s decree ahead of time, that clearly meant he had people on his side in the Celestial Court. I was worried that he would try to seize the letter in advance if I went through the original method, so that’s why I troubled Thunder Duke and Lightning Mother. That way, I would attack one problem from two angles. If something happened to one side, the other would still at least have a way of reaching the heavens. Of course, if Yuan Shoucheng really was so incredible that he could control both the government channels as well as Thunder Duke and Lightning Mother, I could only accept my fate," Zu An explained gravely. In the end, his plan had also been a gamble. If there was a chance, he would have even personally gone up to meet the Jade Emperor himself.

The Jing River Dragon King continued to nod as he listened. He sighed and said, “What a pity, what a pity. If only I had been half as smart as you were in the past, it would’ve been great.”

While speaking, his figure began to scatter. Zu An felt the scene before him distort. When he regained his composure, he saw that he was lying on a large bed.

“Is this the next time fragment?” he muttered in a daze. He had clearly already passed the first phase of the trial. He reflexively looked around, wanting to identify his surroundings.

Suddenly, however, his body froze up. He could feel that he was touching something soft and amazing. When he turned around, he saw that there was an incredible beauty lying down next to him without a single piece of clothing on her. She was nestling against him with her amazing body.

Zu An was stunned.

As if sensing his movements, the beauty gradually woke up and looked at him in confusion. “What’s wrong, your majesty?”

The words ‘your majesty’ were delivered in a lovable and charming voice. Zu An wondered if this trial was a honey trap. Perhaps others had immunity against women, but he could really find himself unable to hold back! fr𝚎𝗲𝐰ebnov𝐞𝐥.𝐜o𝗺

Just then, a memory rushed into his head. He immediately learned the relevant information about this body. It turned out that this time, he was none other than Li Shimin, and the beautiful woman next to him was the wife of his little brother Li Yuanji. During the Xuanwu gate coup, he had killed all of his brothers to seize the throne.

Because the woman was beautiful, Li Shimin had given the order for her to come into the palace so that she would be taken care of. Of course, it was obvious that that was just a pretext. In the palace, she was soon pampered by Li Shimin and became a member of his harem.

The memory of the first time she had been dominated was still fresh in his mind. When he thought about how she was the wife of the younger brother he had always been fighting against, that feeling was especially strong, making the sensation even better.

After getting past those alluring memories, Zu An's expression couldn't help but become strange.

Everyone hates these kinds of people, but they all want to become them too. The ancients were clearly no exception either.

Not even an emperor like Li Shimin could be free from such secular desires.

“Your majesty?” Seeing that Zu An didn’t reply, the woman called out charmingly and made her way into his arms. Her satiny body rubbed back and forth against his in a truly seductive manner.

Zu An thought to himself that this woman was already completely used to her new identity, and was doing her best to gain the emperor’s favor.

“You should sleep first.” Zu An got up and left the bed. He didn’t know what this place was testing. It would be really hard for him to resist her youthful body rubbing back and forth against him. He would really be screwed if he continued to mess around and really fell for a honey trap.

The concubine was already extremely tired to begin with. When she heard that, she voiced her confirmation and quickly entered the land of dreams.

Zu An got up and poured a cup of herbal tea to calm down the passion bubbling within him. His current condition was a bit strange. He discovered that he had lost all of his cultivation and couldn't use any of his abilities. It was as if all of it was being blocked by some natural laws. Still, he didn’t panic. That was likely due to the laws of this time fragment.

Right now, he was no different from an ordinary person. And as an emperor who was constantly being sucked dry by women, he was even on the weaker end. Zu An was already used to the strength of a cultivator, so his current state made him feel extremely weak and powerless.

Ordinary people really are weak after all. Even becoming an emperor like this seems to be rather meaningless.

Zu An lay down on a chair and began to think to himself. Just what was this time fragment testing? Right now, he was more like a completely ordinary person. This didn’t seem to be a world of deities and devils. In theory, it wouldn't be that dangerous, right?

And yet, since it was the second phase, it was unlikely to be easier than the first phase. Furthermore, as the Jing River Dragon King, he had actually met Tang Emperor Li Shimin, yet he was now Li Shimin himself. Was there any connection between these two events?

His thoughts were quick, but his weakened body couldn't handle his usual speed of cognition. Fatigue quickly overtook him and he unknowingly drifted off to sleep. Still, he continued to think about the matter even while fast asleep.

He wandered around the palace to familiarize himself with his environment and unknowingly arrived outside the palace gate. Suddenly, he heard a panicked voice crying out, “Your majesty, save me! Save me!”

He saw a white-clad man kneeling in front of him with an expression of incomparable alarm. When he saw the appearance of the white-clad man, Zu An sighed.

It was as I suspected after all...

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