Chapter 1496

"The King will not believe that the old tree died naturally." He He Lingchuan asked Fan Shuang, "I didn't expect the King to care so much about a pear tree."

Fan Shuang whispered: "There was one time more than ten years ago, when the pear tree's flower volume became sparse and many yellow leaves grew. The King was furious, sitting in Yuquan Palace all day, and even beheaded the Yuquan Supervisor at the time. Since then, everyone has known how much the King values it."

"How did it recover later?"

"It is said that the King dreamed at night that a little person in white was sitting on the old pear tree, telling him that he was very tired of staying in Yuquan Palace, unable to bear the burden, and wanted to move to another place. The King recognized that it was the pear flower spirit, so he comforted it with kind words and buried a lot of mysterious crystals for it, and later the old pear tree recovered."

This pear flower tree really had a spirit. He He Lingchuan stroked his chin: "Is the King's love for the old tree because they share the same lifespan?"

"It is said that the previous King was guided by a high-ranking person, insisting that the pear tree must be planted in Yuquan Palace on the day my King was born."

He He Lingchuan nodded.

When people get old, they tend to believe in fate. King Yao believed that this tree could block disasters for him; once the pear tree's fragrance faded, he was naturally terrified! But whether this was a coincidence or man-made, it was an unexpected joy for He He Lingchuan's future plans.

The more irrational King Yao is, the easier it is for him to make impulsive decisions.

After Fan Shuang got out of the carriage, He He Lingchuan took out the Soul-Stealing Mirror to check the cracks on the mirror surface.

Although the mirror spirit was talkative, if it hadn't warned him today, He He Lingchuan figured he wouldn't have been able to dodge the destructive power shot down by the golden little monster.

That divine ability was also mixed with a bit of divine power; I'll ask Aunt Zhu about it later.

The mirror hummed: "Ouch, it hurts to death."

He He Lingchuan couldn't even be bothered to speak; you are a shield, isn't your natural fate to be beaten?

He took the paste from his bosom and carefully applied it to the cracks on the mirror surface.

This was a spiritual medicine jointly developed by Lingguang and Songyang Mansion; the raw material was, of course, Imperial Flow, which could not only quickly heal the mirror's wounds but also provide it with good nourishment.

He put away the box and asked: "How long do you estimate it will take to heal?"

"At least ten days!" Black-hearted master, in such a hurry to make it work! Forget it, for the sake of the Imperial Flow's great nourishment, it wouldn't hold a grudge.

"That divine ability of your kind is a bit tricky; you were actually able to absorb it? You've made progress."

"It's not just the Ghost City that has made progress!" The mirror said gloomily, "You haven't even seen my power in the medieval period!"

"By the way, between those two dead ghosts, He Yang and Xue Zongwu, which one do you think was harder to fight?"

"In terms of martial arts, they were evenly matched." Xue Zongwu was a high-achieving disciple brought up by Qi Yunsheng, and He Yang was a student of Qingyang; their cultivation bases were both extraordinary, with no obvious weaknesses.

"But in terms of actual combat, He Yang was far inferior to Xue Zongwu. A person who has experienced round after round of life-and-death tempering on the battlefield has a resilience, tenacity, and responsiveness that ordinary people can hardly imagine. If there were a crack in purgatory, he could crawl out even with both legs broken." He He Lingchuan said lightly, "How can one possess a true battle-hardened body by practicing martial arts in the palace or competing in the sect?"

"Xue Zongwu's abundant vital energy shows that this person's level of governing the army was very high. Therefore, he had to die." He He Lingchuan removing Xue Zongwu was both to intensify the conflict between King Yao and Qingyang and to clear obstacles for his future Flash Gold plan.

It was dark, the temperature dropped, and the cold air in Yuquan Palace became more and more overflowing. The ochre ground was covered with a layer of ice, half a finger thick.

King Yao was still sitting under the tree, exhaling a puff of white steam with every breath.

The old palace servant tried to persuade him to leave several times but was scolded by him instead.

Others hid even further away, fearing they would touch the old King of Yao's bad luck.

King Yao naturally had treasures to ward off the cold, but after sitting under the tree for a long time, once his anger gradually faded, he began to feel some soreness in his muscles and bones—he had already been sitting for several hours during the previous birthday ceremony.

Just as he stood up to move his hands and feet, Zhao Song rushed in from outside, holding a booklet high above his head:

"The confession has been recorded!"

King Yao stood under the tree and flipped through it page by page.

This booklet was the visitor record for Yuquan Palace over the past month.

Not just anyone could enter Yuquan Palace; besides the maintenance staff of Yuquan Palace itself, every visitor had to be led by a palace servant, so the fastest way to check was to first let the palace servants carefully recall the situation at the time.

Over the past month, sixty-seven palace servants, three concubines, and nineteen visitors had entered Yuquan Palace.

The palace servants and concubines had to be investigated separately, so King Yao first looked at the visitor records.

You Rongzhi, Bai Tan... these were frequent visitors to the Imperial Study and would pass through Yuquan Palace every month, so there was nothing to say about them.

Then there were several foreign envoys.

King Yao summoned them, and these foreign envoys would mostly pass through Yuquan Palace.

Soon, King Yao saw He Xiao's name.

That's right, he had just met with He Xiao not long ago and decided on the development plan for Youhu Villa.

Regarding He Xiao's entry into the palace this time, the leading palace servant described it as follows:

Passing through Yuquan Palace, he admired the pear tree, and it happened to be Yuquan Flying Snow, so He Xiao and Fan Shuang picked up a few fallen flowers.

He Xiao did not touch the pear tree at all throughout the process, and the closest he got to the trunk was two zhang (over six meters).

When he came out of the Imperial Study and passed through Yuquan Palace again, He Xiao did not stop and left directly.

These actions looked perfectly normal.

Besides, King Yao couldn't think of any reason for this person to harm the pear tree.

So he quickly flipped past these few pages and continued to check other confessions.

After another two quarters of an hour, he finished reading all the materials and closed the booklet with a 'snap'.

Among the nineteen visitors, two had touched the pear wood, so they needed further investigation.

There was another one who, although he hadn't touched it, was more suspicious than anyone else:

Regent Qingyang!

She had once said that the old pear tree didn't like staying by the cold spring.

How did the original words go? King Yao slapped his palm: remembered! "It doesn't like that cold spring, and it seems it won't last much longer."

Why did Qingyang know it "wouldn't last much longer"? At the time, King Yao thought she was cursing him; now, looking back, it was clearly a warning! Over the past month, Regent Qingyang had come to the Imperial Study to find King Yao at least seven times, almost every time passing through Yuquan Palace.

She had more opportunities than other visitors to observe the big tree and find an opportunity to take action.

With her methods, even if she didn't directly contact the pear tree, she had ways to harm it, right?

The old pear tree grew there perfectly fine and hadn't offended anyone; what force would want to get rid of it? And it happened to be chosen on the day of his birthday ceremony! King Yao thought and thought, and could only think of Qingyang.

He Xiao had just killed He Yang, and Qingyang, in her rage, was bent on revenge, so she specifically ruined his old pear tree, a life for a life?