NOVEL NEXT Chapter 432
Chapter 432: The Empress Dowager’s Invitation, Shall We Go to My Palace?
Suddenly, the entire Book Pavilion seemed to light up with millions of lanterns.
The brilliance radiating from the bamboo slips shimmered like colorful fireflies perched atop them.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded.
After years of reading, who had seen such a way of “reading” before?
Li Si, even more shocked, had his eyes wide open.
If only he had such skills back at the Little Sage Courtyard, he wouldn’t have ended up getting punished for forgetting his lines!
“Is this even possible?”
The Empress Dowager gasped, her eyes round as saucers.
Seeing the simultaneous glow on hundreds of bamboo scrolls, she quickly understood what was happening.
Li Mo was using his perception to “see” all the contents of these slips in his mind!
He had only heard of one hand covering the sky, but this was the first time witnessing one gaze covering the sky instead!
“Next.”
While everyone was in shock, Li Mo suddenly spoke up.
The light from the bamboo slips dimmed along with his words.
Clearly, in just that short while, he had finished reading the hundreds of slips on the ground.
“Quick, bring the next batch.”
Li Si promptly ordered his subordinates to collect the bamboo slips and lay out new ones.
Li Mo quickly resumed his technique, finishing the next set of hundreds in no time.
“Next!”
After he was done, his expression turned a bit gloomy.
Among all these texts, not a single clue was what he was looking for.
“Again!”
Another batch of bamboo slips was swapped in. The more he read, the more somber his face became.
“Next!”
“Next!”
“Keep going!”
“National Advisor, there are no more,”
Li Si cautiously reminded him as he glanced at the empty bookshelves beside him.
“No more?”
Li Mo abruptly opened his eyes, staring at the mountain of bamboo slips he had just read through without saying a word.
The atmosphere in the Book Pavilion became particularly heavy with his expression.
Anyone could tell that the National Advisor was not in a good mood.
Nobody dared to speak up at this moment, not even the Empress Dowager who sat meticulously straight in her seat, fearing Li Mo might direct his frustration at her.
Li Mo wasn’t unreasonable.
Nor was he a bully.
He was simply feeling frustrated for not finding any useful clues after sifting through so many texts.
He wouldn’t blame the officials for this; they were innocent in all this.
But the officials certainly didn’t think so.
In their eyes, the National Advisor was always a towering figure.
Though he didn’t concern himself with court affairs, he still cast a shadow that left them gasping for breath.
In this oppressive atmosphere, no one dared to speak freely.
“Why don’t we… just call it a day and look elsewhere?”
Finally, a gentle voice broke through.
Who was bold enough to speak at this moment?
Everyone curiously lifted their heads, only to find it was Uya, the woman who had come with the National Advisor and the Empress Dowager.
At first, they thought she was merely the Empress Dowager’s personal guard, but now, hearing her soothe Li Mo, they sensed her status was not so simple after all.
Anyone who dared to comfort the National Advisor definitely had a complex relationship with him!
Seeing Li Mo’s downcast mood for not finding any clues, Uya felt a pang of sympathy.
She had witnessed everything he had done for her.
You could say he had gone all out for her.
“Let’s look again, let’s look again. You sit down for a bit.”
Li Mo waved his hand and plopped down on the steps.
He needed to find a way to change fate, to uncover clues to amend the records in the Book of Humanity.
It wasn’t just for Uya’s sake.
If he could alter the contents in the Book of Humanity at will, then what he sought would truly come to fruition.
The Empress Dowager knew Li Mo’s character quite well—stubborn to a fault.
Unless he chose to give up, nothing anyone said or how they persuaded would be of any use.
“Uya, come here, come here.”
She waved her hand, calling Uya to sit beside her.
Right now, it was not about persuading him but rather keeping him company.
“National Advisor, you’ve read them all.”
Li Si pointed to the pile of bamboo slips stacked next to them.
In less than an hour, Li Mo had gone through all those thousands of slips.
Such speed was nothing short of astonishing.
“Bring over the ones we haven’t listed as well.”
Li Mo gestured toward another shelf with his eyes.
He worried these people might overlook something while sorting, so it was better for him to check everything personally.
This glance took him from noon to the moon rising high.
As time unknowingly slipped by, the sky darkened.
In the Xi’an Palace, the lights were now dazzling.
The Empress Dowager, rubbing her sore back from sitting all afternoon, walked out of the Book Pavilion with Li Mo.
She continued to comfort Uya, “It’s alright, you don’t worry. If we can’t find it here, we’ll check with the Confucians, then the Daoists. There will surely be a way.”
“It’s fine, fate is in the heavens, life and death are beyond our control,”
Uya said, glancing at Li Mo’s not-so-pleasant expression, her tone untroubled.
She certainly didn’t want to die.
But she said that simply to ease Li Mo’s pressure.
“Guess we’ll just retreat and look elsewhere.”
Li Mo thought to himself with a bitter smile.
What he was trying to do now was to help Uya change her fate.
Here, they had collected grand tomes from seven royal families, and he had pinned his greatest hopes on the palace.
“Oh, it’s so late already.”
Zhao Ji suddenly exclaimed upon seeing the pitch-black night outside.
Then she turned to Li Mo with a meaningful look, “Why don’t we… go to my palace?”
Fish (the sound of something splashing)