Saving the World in an Apocalypse-Style Text Game-Chapter 1243 - 555: Emperor Wu’s Imperial Decree, One Kind One Bud One Spring

With the aid of Crown Prince Vermilion, the Imperial Palace was in chaos overnight, many eunuchs and guards became Lin Xun’s assistants, digging three feet into the ground and sparing no corner to search for the artifact that could purify Malice.

However, by the time it was bright, they still had not found it. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

["Junior Brother, do you think it’s possible that Emperor Wu took the artifact with him when he went out to sea?"]

[White Elephant Senior Brother, leading a large group of eunuchs, searched until dawn and found nothing, finally couldn’t help reminding him.]

Lin Xun thought carefully and shook his head; this possibility certainly existed, but it wasn’t significant.

After falling into Extreme Evil, Emperor Wu no longer needed the artifact; for him, possessing an artifact that could purify Malice would be like a vampire holding silverware and garlic and would only cause him to steer clear of it.

Moreover, if the emergence of the Glazed Karma Fire Seed required the artifact, then it definitely would not have been taken by Emperor Wu.

Because the Daoist Ancestor had said that when it was time to truly confront Emperor Wu, they would need to summon the allied powerhouse, ’Purple Void Sovereign Lord of Brahma Energy from West Heaven,’ and to summon this ally, they needed the emergence within the karma fire.

If the artifact had already been taken by Emperor Wu, it would only drop after killing him, and therefore, the Daoist Ancestor would not have arranged for him to quickly improve his cultivation and upgrade the Glazed Karma Fire Seed.

[The White Elephant Demon, along with a crowd of eunuchs, departed and started the search again...]

[You came to Taihe Palace Hall, where Crown Prince Vermilion had assembled a group of officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, bringing over blueprints of the palace from Wen Yuan Pavilion that detailed past renovations, looking for any secret chambers or underground passages secretly constructed by Emperor Wu.]

[If any clue was found in the blueprints, guards would be sent immediately to check.]

[Although the craftsmen discovered many clues that could hide secret chambers, the walls and floors checked by the guards revealed nothing.]

[A young craftsman pulled out a blueprint, suddenly pointed to it emphatically, and said, "Your Majesty, I’ve found something odd about these renovation blueprints for Ningshou Palace."]

[Crown Prince Vermilion’s spirit jolted, and he commanded sternly, "Speak, if you uncover something here, I shall reward you handsomely!"]

[The purpose of Ningshou Palace is somewhat peculiar; it was prepared by Emperor Wu as a retreat for his abdication, and its layout imitates the main axis of the Forbidden City. It’s complete in function, resembling a miniature Imperial Palace.]

[However, Emperor Wu, with the infinite life granted by the Buddha of West Heaven, has an endless lifespan. Unless he tires of being the emperor, he will not dwell in Ningshou Palace.]

[Thus, Ningshou Palace became the dwelling for the dowager empresses of previous reigns. The last empress passed away from illness in Ningshou Palace many years ago, and the current empress is in the prime of her youth, hence Ningshou Palace is currently unoccupied.]

[After the death of each dowager empress, Emperor Wu would send craftsmen to renovate Ningshou Palace, so the renovation blueprints from many years ago did not attract the attention of the craftsmen from the Ministry of Works.]

[The young craftsman had not participated in that renovation, but his father had...]

[Facing the imposing gaze of ’Emperor Wu,’ the young craftsman found the courage from somewhere, and the doubts and conjectures that had accumulated over the years surged to his mind as he declared...]

["Your Majesty, my father took part in the renovation of Ningshou Palace many years ago and passed away shortly after the work was completed.]

[Upon meticulously inspecting the blueprints, I believe there could be three locations in Ningshou Palace that might conceal secret passageways or chambers..."]

[...]

[Dozens of guards, under the command of the Crown Prince, went to Ningshou Palace to investigate and quickly brought back good news.]

[Crown Prince Vermilion immediately left his ministers behind, taking you to check the findings...]

[The interior of Ningshou Palace was a mess; most of the furnishings had been removed by the guards, and even several walls had been knocked down.]

[In front of the bed where the retired emperor once lay, the excavated floor was pitted, revealing a dark underground passage...]

[Your heart leapt with joy, and you immediately entered the passage to inspect it.]

[Crown Prince Vermilion conscientiously ordered the guards to watch the entrance to the passage, forbidding anyone to enter.]

[You did not let the guards check the underground passage first because you knew that if there were traps set by Emperor Wu, mortals would have no way to resist.]

[With the strength of the Eternal-level Divine, you could be described as having skills that embolden one.]

[You followed the long passage and smoothly entered a secret chamber without triggering any traps you had imagined.]

[The chamber was simply furnished, with only a stack of papers filled with handwriting quietly laid out on the table, but there was no sign of anything that resembled the sought-after artifact.]

[You approached the table and perused the papers covered in ink...]

[You discovered ’Emperor Wu’s Imperial Decree’ (props information)]

[...]

[Now, the entire country of Vermilion is stuck in the quagmire of divine conflict, unable to extricate itself; Vermilion’s soldiers and martial generals, even if superior to all other armies in the world, could only retreat step by step.]

[To call it a divine battle is to overstate Vermilion’s soldiers; compared to a true divine battle, the war in Vermilion could only be called ’a battle of the faithful.’]

[Every soldier dispatched from Xinde Country is a descendant of the Buddha and Divine tribe from West Heaven, each possessing divine powers that mortals can’t contend with, already having held on far longer than I ever expected.]

[Perhaps the enemy’s intent isn’t just to conquer Vermilion, but to let the endless Malice and Evil infect Vermilion’s soldiers, turning the whole of Vermilion into a land of Extreme Evil like Xinde.]

[I’m aware that the land of the faithful, Xinde Country—an inheritance of the Buddha’s descendants—has fallen into a land of Extreme Evil, and Western Paradise must have long since become a realm of ghosts and monsters.]