Fortunately, she retreated in time, slipping out of the imperial city before the human dragon energy could react.
Then, Guanyin and Muzha continued to disguise themselves as Taoist priests and wandered aimlessly through Chang'an City, waiting for further developments in the matter.
The next day, everything was calm.
Undeterred, Guanyin and her companion continued their stroll.
On the third day, Guanyin brought Muzha to the north gate of the inner city. They sat at a roadside stall, eating breakfast and drinking tea. In their ears, they could hear the voices of everyone in Chang'an City, except for the imperial city shrouded in the aura of human dragons.
Don't ask Guanyin where she got her money; the answer is that the Bodhisattva is never short of money.
At this moment, the north gate opened wide, signaling the end of the court session, and a group of ministers emerged from the imperial city in twos and threes.
The local people were already used to it, since court assemblies were held every few days. They would just occasionally look at the ministers with envious eyes.
Just then, the bearded old Taoist priest, who was actually Guanyin in disguise, twitched his ears and overheard what the officials who had left the court were saying.
Not only her, but Muzha could hear it clearly as well.
The two Taoist priests, one old and one young, exchanged a glance and both saw the excitement in each other's eyes.
The fish has finally taken the bait!
Guanyin was overjoyed and could no longer sit still. She took out several coins from her sleeve, placed them on the table, and then called Muzha to leave the place.
She needs to carefully consider what to do next.
………………
The Imperial City.
Xiao Ning and Wang Mang sat on the roof of the Golden Palace, enjoying barbecue and spiritual tea. The experience was indescribably wonderful.
"Master Xiao, why don't we just take action and capture that old woman Guanyin directly? Why bother with this scheme?"
The two men stared intently at the teahouse outside the north gate of the imperial city. To be precise, it was the two Taoist priests inside the teahouse. Wang Mang wiped his mouth and asked, puzzled.
"What do you know? To catch a thief, you need to catch him red-handed; to catch an adulterer, you need to catch them in bed!"
Xiao Ning rolled her eyes at him, annoyed, and explained, "The Buddhist sect is powerful and not so easy to mess with! If we act recklessly and forcibly kidnap Guanyin, we might not gain any righteousness or popular support! If Mount Ling turns around and accuses us of being demons, then we'll be in trouble!"
Forcibly kidnapping someone requires no skill whatsoever, and Xiao Ning disdains such tactics; nothing beats the efficiency of entrapment!
After looking up, Xiao Ning turned his head and stared intently at Wang Mang, asking suspiciously, "Wait a minute, old Wang, are you up to something? You should know such a simple thing!"
A thought struck him, and he asked, "You're not going to back out, are you? You came up with the idea, and if you change your mind at the last minute, that's not how you play the game!"
Wang Mang shook his head and sighed, saying, "I have no ulterior motives. It's just that going against Buddhism makes me a little nervous, a little excited, and a little uneasy!"
After all, the Buddha was someone Wang Mang had heard of in his previous life. Sun Wukong was quite arrogant, yet he was suppressed with a single palm strike.
The larger and more established a business is, the more cautious it becomes.
If it were when the country was on the verge of collapse and the family was destroyed, Wang Mang would not have had so many concerns.
Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose.
Things are different now; he has a large group of people following him around!
Hearing him say that, Xiao Ning finally realized what he meant and quickly encouraged him, "Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. There's nothing to be afraid of. Don't be a coward, just do it!"
"I will not back down, but I am afraid that something unexpected will happen and cause trouble!" Wang Mang sighed, full of entanglement.
"Alright, enough nonsense. Get ready. Guanyin will definitely enter the imperial city again tonight. When that happens, we'll trap her like a turtle in a jar, tie her up, and then settle accounts with Buddha!"
Xiao Ning, however, couldn't care less about all that. This wasn't a child's game; you couldn't just quit whenever you wanted!
…………
As time passed, the sun, the supreme star, slowly moved westward and eventually sank below the horizon, plunging the world into darkness.
The night was deep, and dark clouds obscured the moonlight. At the second quarter of midnight, the entire city of Chang'an was plunged into darkness, with only scattered lights shining through the grand mansions.
"call!"
A chilling night wind swept by.
A bright yellow light rose from the east of the inner city, disappeared into the darkness, and quickly vanished. The light seemed to have traversed space and arrived at the edge of the imperial city.
In a place invisible to the naked eye of mortals, there is a huge light shield, like an inverted giant bowl reaching to the heavens, which covers the entire imperial city.
The beam of light lingered around the light barrier, as if waiting for something.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and it was the third quarter of the midnight hour, the time of day when yin energy is at its heaviest and yang energy is at its weakest.
But then the light on the bowl-shaped light shield flickered slightly, as if it was running out of energy, or perhaps it was changing shifts.
In short, the stray ray of light seized the opportunity to slip inside and enter the imperial city.
It hovered in the air for a while, as if searching for direction, then aimed at a palace and flew straight over it.
Hanlu Hall was the emperor's temporary sleeping quarters.
Because of other arrangements, Wang Jiande did not go to the concubines' quarters to sleep today, but instead slept in the temporary palace where he only occasionally stayed.
At this moment, Wang Jiande was already fast asleep, completely unaware of any precautions. But that makes sense; with the founding emperor and the imperial tutor around, what did he have to worry about?
The light shone through the window curtains and into the Hanlu Hall, gradually approaching the sleeping Wang Jiande within.