Chapter 1549

Tao Hongying took the tea Shuang'er kindly handed her and drank it all in one gulp.

This good attitude made Gu Hanyuan very satisfied.

And Tao Hongying's look at Gu Hanyuan was truly different now.

One must know that undercover agents are the most prone to feeling empty in their hearts.

Without a spiritual pillar, it is very easy to confuse one's identity.

Not to mention Tao Hongying, who had lost contact with the Ming Guo and was alone as an undercover agent in the Qing Guo imperial palace.

Previously, Tao Hongying's spiritual pillar was the late Empress Zhou.

But Empress Zhou had passed away many years ago, and such a spiritual pillar was inevitably somewhat unrealistic.

Even in the dead of night, Tao Hongying couldn't help but feel lost.

Gu Hanyuan's aggressive intervention, on the contrary, gave her a sense of reality.

If she were deliberately asked at this moment whether she would choose to be loyal to Zhu Meichuo or Gu Hanyuan, she would likely be very hesitant.

Fortunately, Gu Hanyuan wasn't bored enough to ask such questions.

Instead, he asked about the secrets Tao Hongying had learned in the imperial palace.

Tao Hongying had been an undercover agent in the imperial palace since Li Zicheng broke through Yanjing City.

Neither Li Zicheng nor the secrets of the Qing Guo imperial family had escaped her eyes.

Gu Hanyuan did indeed obtain quite a bit of interesting intelligence.

There was information about Huang Taiji, about Xiaozhuang and Dorgon, and about the Shunzhi Emperor.

These were either dead or struggling to survive, so he just listened to them as stories.

What was more interesting was the information about Li Zicheng and the Prince Bao.

It gave Gu Hanyuan quite a few unexpected gains.

The most important was naturally the secret of the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra*.

Tao Hongying was one of the few people who knew the real secret of the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra*.

She had even witnessed Huang Taiji moving the dragon vein of the Qing Guo.

Tao Hongying collected the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra*, but the treasure was secondary; the more important purpose was to sever the dragon vein of the Qing Guo.

Although she hadn't obtained any of the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra*, she had investigated their whereabouts very clearly.

The whereabouts of the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* were similar to those in *The Deer and the Cauldron*, but there were some slight changes.

The *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* were originally kept by the banner leaders of the Eight Banners of Manchuria.

Now, times had changed.

Among them, the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* of the Plain Yellow Banner was owned by the ruler of the country and was now in the hands of the Shunzhi Emperor, who had become a monk at Qingliang Temple.

The *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* of the Bordered Red Banner and the Bordered Blue Banner were both in the hands of the Prince Bao.

The leader of the Plain Blue Banner, Jiakun, died in battle while attacking Yunnan and Guizhou, and the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* fell into the hands of Wu Sangui, who took care of his funeral arrangements.

The leader of the Plain White Banner was Suksaha, who was killed by Ao Bai, and Ao Bai himself was the leader of the Bordered Yellow Banner.

Therefore, Ao Bai's mansion contained the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* of the Bordered Yellow Banner and the Plain White Banner.

The leader of the Plain Red Banner was Prince Kang.

The leader of the Bordered White Banner was convicted of a crime, and the sutra of the Bordered White Banner was confiscated into the palace, and Shunzhi bestowed it upon Consort Dong'e.

The fake Empress Dowager Mao Dongzhu killed Consort Dong'e but couldn't find the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* of the Bordered White Banner from her.

However, it was finally stolen from the Imperial Study by Wei Xiaobao and handed over to Mao Dongzhu.

At this moment, it was in Gu Hanyuan's own hands.

Except for the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* in the hands of Prince Bao and Wu Sangui, which required Gu Hanyuan to take them personally.

The others could be handed over to Wei Xiaobao and Mao Dongzhu to help him obtain them.

Because Wei Xiaobao hadn't met Tao Hongying by chance, he didn't know the secret of the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* yet, so there was no possibility of him betraying Gu Hanyuan for the time being.

But even if he did betray him, he had the "Three-Corpse Brain-God Pill" in his body.

Gu Hanyuan didn't believe Wei Xiaobao would value the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra* more than his own life.

As for bringing a fake sutra to fool Gu Hanyuan, that was even less possible.

Gu Hanyuan already knew that the treasure map was hidden in the lining of the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra*, so even if Wei Xiaobao faked it, he could see through it at a glance.

Although Wei Xiaobao was a useful chess piece, Gu Hanyuan was always on guard against him.

Compared to Yuan Chengzhi, whose protagonist luck was almost completely lost, Wei Xiaobao's uncertainty was higher.

Gu Hanyuan's eyes flickered with a deep light.

He still had to make Wei Xiaobao suffer a bit.

Gu Hanyuan was determined to obtain the *Forty-Two Chapters Sutra*, not only for the treasure within but also to sever the dragon vein of the Qing Guo and lift the suppression of the dragon vein on him.

Tao Hongying, whose mindset had changed, suddenly said solemnly:

"Young Master, that Su Quan is a member of the Dragon Sect; you must be careful."

Gu Hanyuan was somewhat surprised.

Letting Su Quan call Tao Hongying was something he had intended to do from the beginning.

Su Quan must have said or done something to Tao Hongying.

Tao Hongying had betrayed Su Quan so easily.

Gu Hanyuan asked with flickering eyes:

"Oh? How do you know?"

Tao Hongying said with an unpleasant expression:

"She gave me the 'Leopard Fetus Tendon-Changing Pill,' which is a poison exclusive to the Dragon Sect."

Gu Hanyuan was even more surprised hearing this.

Originally, he thought Su Quan hadn't been able to restrict Tao Hongying.

He even suspected whether he had overestimated Su Quan's methods...

He didn't expect Su Quan to be able to give the "Leopard Fetus Tendon-Changing Pill" to Tao Hongying, who had high vigilance and not-weak martial arts; no wonder it took so much time.

However, precisely because of this, Tao Hongying's betrayal at this moment was even more surprising.

Gu Hanyuan asked with an unreadable expression:

"Since you took the 'Leopard Fetus Tendon-Changing Pill' and still betrayed Su Quan, aren't you afraid of dying from an explosion if you don't get the antidote?"

Tao Hongying's face turned pale hearing this, but she still shook her head and said:

"I am just a forgotten palace maid of the previous dynasty; my death is not worth regretting."

She suddenly looked at Gu Hanyuan, her face regained some color, and her earlobes flushed red as she said:

"But I even less wish for you, Young Master, to be harmed by the ulterior-motived Su Quan one day."

Gu Hanyuan was somewhat stunned hearing this.

He never expected Tao Hongying, who wasn't young anymore, to be so pure?

This bit of serving process had such a great impact on her.

It seems the pressure caused by her many years of undercover life was even greater than he imagined, and she was in urgent need of a new spiritual pillar.

However, regardless of the reason,