Chapter 185: Encountering a Clear Day Chapter 162: The Princess's Retaliation

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Torches held high cast a flowing crimson glow upon the three characters "Lianqing Guan" hanging high above the Taoist temple's main gate, perfectly overlapping with the three blood characters Shunzhen had written.

A great wind rose, shaking the copper bells on the high pavilion, summoning the Great Witch God from seclusion.

He Pingchun, who had just led the Embroidered Uniform Guards to surround Lianqing Guan, looked at the witchcraft-attired young woman who had suddenly appeared; before he could open his mouth to question her, he heard her say: "I came sensing a resonance; Commander He, I must go in."

He Pingchun felt a slight surprise.

They had rushed over the moment they obtained Hu Sheng's testimony, the news not yet having time to spread, yet Jiang Tai Zhu had already arrived... it truly seemed like a resonance-born arrival.

After brief consideration, He Pingchun let her pass.

Jiang Tai Zhu had first encountered an assassination by dead warriors in Nanshan, then exposed Chi Yang's true face; the Emperor had explicitly stated that the Tai Puzhe held the authority to interrogate Chi Yang. Although there was still no ironclad proof linking Lianqing Guan to Chi Yang...

Because his wife had once been saved by the Great Witch God, He Pingchun held considerable favorable regard for this young Tai Puzhe. This favor was not enough to make him bend the law for personal reasons, but in such an ambiguous situation, if he could show leniency, he would absolutely not make things difficult.

Just letting the Tai Puzhe enter would be fine, but that black-robed youth who didn't look very sharp was following along too...

He Pingchun was about to speak to stop him, when he heard Jiang Tai Zhu say without turning his head as he walked: "He is my household servant, of great use!"

"Of great use!" The black-robed young man followed and loudly repeated those three words, as if holding some identity token, and passed through unimpeded as a matter of course.

He Pingchun arranged matters for his subordinates and was about to follow inside, but in the blink of an eye, that master-servant pair had vanished without a trace.

Figures inside the temple were chaotic; besides the Imperial Guards and Embroidered Uniform Guards, there were also many startled female Daoists and official wives praying here. Shaowei strode through, asking only a single sentence of a Forbidden Army Commander's subordinate — "Where is the Sixth Prince?" — and then headed straight for her destination.

She thought: Liu Qi arriving a step earlier would surely know more of the situation, and would surely be at the most critical spot.

Liu Qi brought men to the Jing Yuan where Yi Ming Gongzhu resided.

Upon entering the temple, he learned that Yi Ming Gongzhu had been in seclusion practicing Bi Gu since yesterday morning, praying for Great Qian.

Yi Ming Gongzhu often practiced Bi Gu cultivation; during this period, to ensure "self-observation in great stillness," she never allowed anyone to approach her courtyard.

This was the second day of her Bi Gu; great stillness had turned into great chaos. Even the precious flowers and plants watered just yesterday in the courtyard could not find peace; flower branches and shadows trembled and fluttered.

Bursting into the chamber, they saw no sign of the person in seclusion. A Forbidden Army Commander following at Liu Qi's side spoke up in time: "Sixth Highness, there is still an An Shi here!"

Just a short while ago, this Forbidden Army Commander had led men to search this place.

The search scope for the dead warrior assassins covered everything. Liu Qi could not be everywhere personally, but these Imperial Guards were not careless either; among them were no few of Du Shulin's trusted aides, who deeply understood the importance of searching out the "sole true culprit."

That day when they searched to Lianqing Guan, they earned a massive cold face from Yi Ming Gongzhu; the female Daoists at the princess's side berated them for disturbing the purity of this place.

Even so, they still steeled themselves and produced the Royal Decree, not even letting off the Jing Yuan where Yi Ming Gongzhu was staying.

As for the existence of the An Shi, it was discovered by the accompanying craftsmen — the Sixth Prince had reminded everyone that, taking the matter of the secret chamber hidden beside the Immortal Master's Mansion as a lesson, wherever they went, they must guard against hidden chambers and mechanisms. To prevent them from failing to find the way, and with the Emperor's permission, he had summoned many mechanism craftsmen who repaired Changling to accompany the search.

With the An Shi exposed, Yi Ming Gongzhu's face grew colder still, and their scalps grew harder still; there was absolutely no possibility of turning a blind eye.

After a round of negotiation, the princess reluctantly agreed to let them search, but only allowed a few people to enter; the female Daoists at her side coldly reminded: 【Just look with your eyes, that's all; afterwards you all must each watch your own tongues.】

The An Shi door opened, and one could clearly understand what those female Daoists' words referred to.

Just like last time, the group entered the An Shi holding torches, and saw the room filled with brilliant light; box after box opened, treasure crowns and emerald jade met the eye in succession, and there were also skirts, brocades, and silks shining brilliantly, colored lacquer and jade vessels of extraordinary beauty.

The Imperial Guards who left that day did not watch their tongues; they reported layer by layer to Du Shulin, and then it reached the Emperor's ears; the Emperor was not surprised.

Deng Hu, following inside at this moment, looked at the scene before him and could not help but hear Hu Sheng's testimony echoing in his ears.

In his early years, before Hu Sheng had started a family, because he could calculate some accounts, he wandered into the household of a military official as a retainer, and afterwards followed that military official's eldest son — this eldest son was Yi Ming Gongzhu's consort.

Hu Sheng had no great learning, and no reputation abroad; among the crowd of retainers he was utterly unremarkable, but one day the princess summoned him to inquire about matters.

In the consort's mansion there was absolutely no matter the princess could not inquire about; having the fortune to be summoned by the princess was naturally a rare opportunity, yet Hu Sheng felt trepidation due to his sparse talent — but what the princess valued was not talent —

In a muddled, confused way, for no clear reason, half-pushing half-yielding, he was actually violently seized and cleverly taken.

After several times, through the ambiguous phrase 【You and I are clearly the most suited】, he vaguely groped his own positioning.

He was now in his prime, approximately some place that at a glance bore a slight resemblance to some person.

Hu Sheng did not feel humiliated, only felt great fortune had arrived; why would he refuse power's favor, what did it matter being the princess's plaything? If he could please her, the benefits within were limitless.

At that time he fantasized that one day he might be recommended for office by the princess, but he still underestimated this woman's audacity.

She smothered her consort to death, only because the consort's drunken vomiting disgusted her to the extreme, completely triggering her dissatisfaction — and he was the one keeping watch and forced to keep the secret.

He thought he had climbed onto the phoenix bed; who knew he had mistakenly boarded a mad thief's ship; wanting to dress and go ashore was no longer possible.

The widowed princess openly asked the Emperor to bestow marriage between her and Yan Mian, and even threatened with her life, yet was still rejected by her beloved; she claimed to have severed worldly thoughts and built a temple to cultivate, but in truth her worldly heart was hard to sever.

With the consort dead, this household scattered, and he this retainer thus left and plunged into the sea of humanity.

He had no foundation; his family all died in war chaos; afterwards he married into the Peng family, but the wife's family was only modestly wealthy. The reason he could use the wife's family's meager capital to become a mining merchant was secretly due to Yi Ming Gongzhu's support.

From that time on, it was only support and utilization; the princess disliked his fading looks and his temperament growing ever more servile and weak.

Vassal Kings of different surnames rebelled in succession; the Emperor's control over all places was far from enough; Yi Ming Gongzhu then used his hand to secretly develop many businesses.

Afterwards, his businesses did not grow further; first, he feared a tall tree attracts wind and would invite deep investigation; second, he himself grew increasingly fearful of the princess's control and pathology, and dared not ask her for more.

He had a wife, and had children; he only wanted to pass days in peace.

But the princess used the mines to raise assassins, only saying it was for self-protection, not allowing him to inquire further about the rest... until the Nanshan assassination failed, she actually wanted to assassinate the imperial prince and the Great Witch God — has she gone mad? How is this different from rebellion!

This woman is simply mad beyond the world; with the matter blown up to this extent, and a live witness caught, given her ruthlessness, eight or nine out of ten she will silence him... must flee, flee immediately!

He immediately packed his bundle, but then suddenly thought: the mine dead warriors she dispatched this time, though suffering heavy casualties, she most likely still has forces he doesn't know about; if he flees out, he will inevitably suffer her pursuit and killing.

Thinking back and forth, Hu Sheng decided to fabricate the appearance of having left home, create this blind, and temporarily hide in his home to observe the wind.

He hid in the underground cellar, day and night beseeching ghosts and gods, hoping this limelight would pass, and that between him and that mad woman there might again be some room to maneuver, or that this matter might directly bypass this small figure and let her be exposed and executed — that would be best of all!

But the fluke thought ultimately shattered; everything seemed to have long since written the price clearly.

Because he dared not face this reality, Hu Sheng fainted, woke, and fainted again; after several rounds of tossing, he once convulsed and lost his voice; barely steadying his mind, he confessed to everything he was asked, only seeking to preserve his wife and children's lives.

Besides the confession, Hu Sheng also had some near-certain guesses; he also knew that Red Yang had harmed children and that the Court was investigating his accomplices, and he firmly believed that Yi Ming Gongzhu was Red Yang's accomplice—

Those children were most likely killed for her; to preserve her beauty, she had secretly gathered all sorts of strange objects over the years, and the surviving girl was probably testing medicines for her, while that "evil art seeking to overthrow Great Qian" might not be empty words.

Hu Sheng finally murmured: 【She is just a madwoman.】

【She is unwilling to be merely a Nuguan living on plain tea and simple food.】

What is seen before our eyes now is enough to prove that she is indeed unwilling.

All who followed inside were drawn to the objects in the room, only Liu Qi turned back.

That shadow appeared faster than he expected; it should not be that he received his message, but that there was some other discovery.

His Imperial Guards would not make things difficult for her; she stepped inside, met his gaze in the firelight, and walked toward him; after a brief exchange, they scanned the dark room, and their gazes locked onto the same thing without prior agreement.

At the end of this dark room, leaning against the wall, a coffin was placed.

Many wealthy families prepare such afterlife items in advance, and the powerful are no exception; this coffin was made of golden-thread nanmu, the finest of precious woods, its value no less than any item in this room.

The coffin lid was not fully closed, and there was a not-narrow gap at the head of the coffin; Shaowei seemed to sense something, quickly walked over, held the coffin edge and peered inside, suddenly seeing a face with a bluish-black complexion and vermilion-red lips.

Without any fear, only anger rising from the bottom of his heart, Liu Qi was a step faster than her and ordered someone to move the coffin lid.

The full appearance of the coffin was revealed before people; the deceased wore woven-gold new tiger shoes, a flowing hem skirt, a jade and gold crown, and thick soft silk was spread beneath her body.

He Pingchun had brought people to arrive; he was versed in criminal interrogation and examining corpses, quickly inspected the body, and gave his conclusion: "She died yesterday, by taking poison to commit suicide."

There were no external injuries, nor signs of struggle, as if she strove to die with dignity, even the posture of lying down was not distorted, and in her hand she tightly grasped something...

This thing was gripped so tightly by her that it could not possibly have been stuffed into her hand after death; He Pingchun used some effort to take it out, only to see it was a wooden doll, with the Eight Characters of Birth carved on its back.

He Pingchun merely glanced at it, then held it with both hands toward Liu Qi, lowering his voice: "Your Highness, the Sixth Prince..."

Liu Qi received it, looked at it for a moment, then returned it to He Pingchun, only saying: "It still needs to be presented to the Imperial streamer."

He Pingchun immediately understood whom this doll, which this princess wanted to hold even in death, was cursing; his scalp went numb for a moment, he dared not look further, directly wrapped and hid the doll, and with clasped hands saluted Liu Qi: "He Pingchun will go and return."

He Pingchun left enough manpower, bringing only a few confidants into the palace.

Shaowei had also understood the use of that doll; she looked at the stiff fingers of that princess in the coffin, which had been pried open and deformed.

Knowing her crimes were about to be exposed, unwilling to accept the miserable confinement, interrogation, and torture, she ended her life in the way she wanted, only using this doll to express some revenge in her heart; Shaowei did not know why she resented the Emperor, nor was she in the mood to investigate, but only thought unwillingly and indignantly: She died with dignity, what about Jiang Fu?

The Brocade Guard and Deng Hu and others had already searched the dark room thoroughly, with no other discoveries, but this Lianqing Guan was very large; Liu Qi's voice sounded beside her body: "I will accompany you to look, until we find it."

Shaowei extinguished useless emotions and left this tomb of others.

The Nuguan in the temple were placed under guard and were being interrogated at the scene.

An older Nuguan said that the year Red Yang Immortal Master was just invited to the Capital, he had also come to Lianqing Guan to preach Immortal Arts; she had once accidentally seen Red Yang and the Princess talking alone, at the time she only thought they were discussing Immortal Arts, but now thinking about it, she did not know what they said.

Another said that, like most famous Taoist Temples in the Capital, Lianqing Guan previously always invited the Immortal Master's handwritten talismans; perhaps the Princess was using this to transmit something with Red Yang.

Red Yang had such dealings with many Taoist Temples; these ordinary matters that were never paid attention to before, at the moment this truth was exposed, were instead dug up and became more suspicious evidence.

These seemingly plausible reverse deductions are not enough to influence Shaowei's judgment, and if relying solely on Hu Sheng's confession, it can only prove that Yi Ming Gongzhu is connected to the dead assassin, but cannot directly identify Yi Ming Gongzhu as Red Yang's accomplice; however, there are also the three characters "Lianqing Guan" written last by Shunzhen—

With all these, Shaowei had no more doubts in her heart.

Running through the vast Lianqing Guan, listening to the sound of copper bells in the wind, a voice echoed in Shaowei's mind: It is here; this place should be that secret nest Red Yang spoke of—【If without my guidance, you would probably find it hard to find her before she dies】!

There must, there must be other secret dark rooms not yet discovered!

?? See you everyone tomorrow.