Chapter 34

The wick of the lamp was like a bean, and the faint yellow flame illuminated the spacious secret chamber. What was called a secret chamber was actually a small room built inside a rockery in the middle of the garden. The fierce northern wind howled around, and the whistling could be heard clearly in the room. However, the surrounding walls were tightly sealed with no gaps, and there was only a small opening at the top for ventilation.

The two men sat facing each other at a table in the secret chamber, discussing.

"Big Brother, don't worry. I'm not asking you to kill him directly, but there are other things we can do!" One of them, who was extremely ugly, said to the other.

"Then what exactly do you want? Father cannot be touched! I don't know how much you hate the Second Brother, but some things cannot be done; that's the bottom line. A person, especially one who wants to achieve great things, can be shameless and devise countless plots, but they must have their own bottom line. Those who cannot hold their bottom line cannot hold the empire!" The other man was dressed in a yellow robe, embroidered with a four-clawed dragon, which roared to the sky with a majestic appearance, as if about to soar into the heavens and transform into a true dragon. He was none other than the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, Li Jiancheng, who was now opposing his third brother's plan. He never expected Li Yuanji to be so deranged as to think of harming Li Yuan, let alone the fact that Li Yuan was the greatest power in Chang'an. Just by their identities, Li Jiancheng would never allow it.

Patricide was the worst and most unforgivable act. Even if it didn't involve taking a life, Li Jiancheng could not tolerate it. He had previously thought that his third brother's twisted personality was due to his ugly appearance and the suppression by the Second Brother. Now he realized that Li Yuanji had completely lost his mind, and could only be described as deranged.

"Why be so angry, Big Brother? If you get sick, the Second Brother will be delighted, and our dear father may not appreciate your concern! I'm sure you've received his secret edict, ha ha... He forbids us from starting a conflict now, but once the empire is pacified, will the Second Brother leave us any room to live? What a wonderful father!" Li Yuanji laughed like an owl, which sounded particularly eerie in the cold secret chamber.

"But we can't harm Father! He is our father!" Li Jiancheng still disagreed. His enemy was Li Er, always. From the moment that young man began to stand out, Li Jiancheng knew his younger brother was not an ordinary person, but he never expected that he would become his greatest threat over the years.

As for Li Yuan, he respected him from the bottom of his heart, both as a son and as a minister. Li Yuan had treated Li Jiancheng very well. When the Tang Dynasty was first established, many people suggested that the second son, Li Shimin, should be the Crown Prince, but Li Yuan overruled the objections and made him the Crown Prince. Li Jiancheng still remembered the king who roared in the court, his father.

In the end, the two men parted on bad terms, and Li Yuanji left angrily. As he walked out of their secret meeting place, a sinister smile appeared on his lips: Ha ha, no matter who does it, the result will be the same! I have no desire for that position, because I know that even if I sit on it, I won't stay there long. But I will not allow Li Er to sit on it, even if I fall into the abyss, I will make sure that guy is dead.

The winter in Chang'an was long, from late autumn to early spring, covered by snow. People hurried through the streets, and in this largest city in the world, the daily pressures of life left them no time to stop and enjoy leisure. Every day's food, clothing, and expenses required their utmost effort.

A carriage drove out of the city, heading for Leye Plain outside the city. The flying flags on the carriage revealed the owner's identity. The large 'Qin' character, along with the two large halberds as the background, indicated that the owner was a military general. If there was only this flag, people would think it was a general surnamed Qin. But with the dragon on another flag, the owner could only be the Qin King, Li Er.

That's right, this was Li Er's carriage, pulled by two fine horses, driving along the street and out of Chang'an. In the afternoon, there weren't many people leaving the city, and the carriage didn't slow down until it reached the Mingde Gate.

Passing through the city gate, the outside world appeared before Li Kuan's eyes as he lifted the curtain. This was his second time leaving Chang'an; the first time was for an autumn outing with a little girl. This time, he was with Li Er, and they were going to see the Black Stone Mountain.

In the short half-hour before, Li Er had already gone to the palace to obtain an imperial edict from Li Yuan, making the Black Stone Mountain Li Kuan's property.

Though Li Kuan didn't know how Li Er convinced Li Yuan, he imagined the cost was not small. After all, all the coal in Chang'an came from there, and the profits were enormous. Previously, it was under the direct control of the Ministry of Revenue, with all the income going to the imperial treasury. Now it was to become the private property of a prince, and the details of the transaction were not for outsiders to know.

The Black Stone Mountain was not far from Chang'an, less than twenty miles away. There were a few villages around, mostly farming households who barely made ends meet. When they saw the carriage approaching, they all moved out of the way. These nobles were not to be provoked. The last time, a very ugly nobleman had his eye on a pretty girl from Lin Village. Because the old couple refused, they were almost beaten to death. Now, in the suburbs of Chang'an, families with beautiful daughters hid their daughters, fearing such incidents.

Li Er and Li Kuan didn't know about these things. When they saw the people moving away, they didn't stop to ask. After all, they had other things to do. The carriage passed by, the hooves of the horses tapping on the frozen ground, making a crisp sound like a melody.

They arrived at the Black Stone Mountain. The two men got out of the carriage, and Li Er looked at the hill that was more like a mound than a mountain, feeling somewhat puzzled: "Kuan, does your sect really need so much coal? There are over a million pounds of coal here, covering more than a hundred acres. Does your sect have a master with the power to move mountains and seas?" Li Er still had doubts about Li Kuan's claims, even though Li Kuan had shown various signs, but they were still within the realm of human capability. He had seen sleight of hand and ventriloquism, and knew that such skills existed, though he wasn't sure of their authenticity.

The only thing he couldn't understand was the secret method that made the coal unburnable. Coal, though not widely used now, had caused several mysterious deaths in the past. People died in their sleep, and the common factor was that they had used coal stoves in their rooms. This made the people of Chang'an afraid, and now they only used coal in open spaces and during the day. They believed that there were unclean spirits attached to the coal, and the sun during the day kept them away.

"Father, it's not that complicated. I can handle it myself!" As soon as Li Kuan reached the foot of the Black Stone Mountain, he heard a system notification.

"Beep, a large amount of low-level energy carriers found. All are on the surface, not hidden underground, and meet the absorption conditions. Absorb now?" The cold voice of the system made Li Kuan's blood boil.

"I didn't expect that an open-pit coal mine could be absorbed directly, this is amazing! I was planning to trick my adoptive father into helping me mine it!" Li Kuan thought, a look of joy appearing on his face. If Li Er hadn't been asking him questions, he would have jumped up in excitement.

"Can Father see it?" Li Er asked, knowing that many secret schools were wary of revealing their methods to outsiders.

"Why not!" Li Kuan knew his own capabilities, and there was no scientist involved, so he was generous in letting Li Er watch. After all, only Li Kuan could see the system progress bar.

"Then, Father will watch Kuan perform the ritual!" Li Er watched with interest, testing the scientists again to see how their methods compared to those of the military strategists. Li Er knew the current generation of military strategists, who were skilled in warfare, but not particularly mysterious. The Daoists, on the other hand, were more mysterious, but only a few could hide their true abilities from Li Er. The rest were just charlatans.

"Start absorbing!" Li Kuan shouted in his mind, forming a hand seal with his hands. This was a hand seal from the Tibetan Tantric tradition, inspired by the cool hand seals from the anime "Naruto." In the future, Li Kuan had become interested in hand seals and researched them online, finding the most famous ones to be the Tantric Great Seal and the Nine-Word True Seal. However, the Nine-Word True Seal was commonly used by Daoists and military strategists, and Li Er would recognize it, so Li Kuan chose the Tantric Great Seal.

Li Kuan sat cross-legged, this time with a cushion. He formed the Dhyana Mudra, then the Wisdom Fist Mudra, and finally the Dharmachakra Mudra. Li Er watched intently, sensing some deeper meaning in the hand seals, with a hint of Buddhism. However, he didn't think too much about it, as he had little affection for Buddhism, despite being saved by the Shaolin monks. He assumed that Li Kuan's sect had taken some elements from Buddhist teachings. The hand seals Li Kuan used were from the future, different from those used in the Tang Dynasty.

Though there were virtuous monks in Buddhism, there were more who only sought alms from the people. During the turmoil, these monks seized a lot of land, and the bronze used to cast Buddha statues had melted a significant portion of the nation's copper. Li Er had even considered suppressing Buddhism, but he didn't act due to the connection with Shaolin.

Li Er watched intently, while Li Kuan was inwardly shouting: "I'm going to get rich this time, hahaha... I'm not a sickly wretch anymore!"