Chapter 74: Turning the Page

There is no shortage of scheming in deep mansions, let alone among those who have walked out of the imperial palace.

Those eunuchs and palace maids are extremely bold; to achieve their goals and please their masters, they will use any filthy and dirty means!

In the back residence of the Prince's manor, Li Zhong, who had secrets in his heart, was inducing the Young Master to consume the "Five Grains Elixir," determined to confirm whether the Young Master had truly developed hysteria.

On the morgue side, Xu Qing was accompanied by corpses, the years quiet and good.

After this round of "sending off," he had accumulated a pile of strange and curious things. Things like the Eighteen Routes of Spring Leg Kung Fu, Bone-Dislocating Hands, Sleeve Arrows, Flying Locust Stones, Bedchamber Arts, Midwifery, Postpartum Care...

It seemed he had sent off quite a few, but in reality, most were low-quality "Human-grade" rewards, and he hadn't encountered anything rare.

Xu Qing didn't mind; after all, even a mosquito's leg is meat.

Besides sending off corpses, he had another pleasure, which was eating the "melons" (gossip) of the Heaven Heart Sect.

The melons hidden on these rebels, if any one of them were thrown out, would be a shocking case!

Xu Qing saw the actions of officials in the Xiang region colluding with bandits, killing the innocent to claim credit, and slaughtering refugees, and he also saw the rebel army rising up thousands of miles away.

Slaughtering refugees to pass them off as rebels and receiving rewards from the imperial court—places that were clearly devastated by the Heaven Heart Sect were actually turned into local benchmarks.

Not only did the Heaven Heart Sect not lose a single person, but the local officials' political achievements also improved by a large margin.

Places like this that could "settle" refugees while keeping their jurisdiction in perfect order were not limited to the Xiang region.

Xu Qing used the corpses of these rebels as eyes to overlook the entire Great Yong Dynasty.

Finally, from the smoke-filled mountains and rivers, he understood one thing—

This Great Yong Dynasty is finished!

Besides the chaos outside, there was also the internal struggle for imperial power that was difficult to quell.

When Xu Qing was sending off the Heaven Heart Sect rebel corpses, he learned that in last night's assassination case, there was also a martial arts grandmaster in a black robe whose identity was unknown.

Martial arts grandmasters—the entire Yong Dynasty couldn't find a few on the surface. The Prince of Changting, Zhu Cheng, counted as one, the Heaven Heart Sect's Holy Master counted as one, and the rest were either elusive or were serving as offerings in the imperial palace.

The grandmaster last night was clearly not on the same side as the Heaven Heart Sect. When the other party helped Bai Luo escape, the Prince of Changting was still accompanying the Crown Prince at the banquet!

Xu Qing thought and thought, and there was only one possibility: the struggle for the throne.

The current Longping Emperor is over eighty years old. As the saying goes, seventy-three and eighty-four, the King of Hell doesn't call, you go yourself.

These two critical points are the most difficult "hurdles" for a person to overcome in their life.

The Longping Emperor is currently riding on this hurdle. As the heir apparent, the Crown Prince only needed to wait for the day the palace bells rang to inherit the throne.

Now that the Crown Prince is gone, this throne cannot be left empty; there must be a candidate from the royal family to fill it...

Xu Qing looked at the grandmaster in the revolving lantern, and the more he looked, the more he felt like someone from the palace.

He just didn't know which imperial prince's manor or which prince's manor he had been invited from.

After eating the rebel melon, Xu Qing's head felt a bit swollen, as if he had eaten too much by patronizing too many corpses at once.

Fortunately, it was time for a break outside, and a group of clerks and officials came to the outside of the moon gate to start enjoying the food sent by the Prince's manor kitchen.

Halfway through, someone whispered privately, saying that the Young Master had developed hysteria and couldn't distinguish the five grains, so he ate that thing!

"What exactly is it? Speak clearly, don't always keep the bone and show the meat, making people crave it..."

Halfway through the sentence, it was like arsenic mixed with rice.

Seeing his colleague put down the rice bowl, the man didn't dare to speak loudly, lowered his voice, and said sneakily: "It's that thing..."

"Hey! How filthy!"

Those who were eating felt that the rice in their hands was no longer fragrant.

"How could the Young Master eat that thing?"

"Who knows? I heard it was someone by the Crown Prince's side who suspected the Young Master was feigning madness and deliberately used this thing to test him."

"Can the Prince tolerate this?"

"Not at all! After the Prince found out, he broke that person's legs. If it weren't for the fact that the other party was the Crown Prince's man, he wouldn't have even left his life!"

As they were talking, they saw a group of people coming to the courtyard gate. The person in the lead was bruised and swollen, leaning on a crutch as he walked into the courtyard.

Xu Qing remained silent, thinking to himself that this matter had nothing to do with him. Even if Young Master Zhu woke up in the future, he shouldn't be able to blame him.

Blame only the fact that there are too many scheming bitches in this vanity fair; he, the zombie, is the most innocent.

Old eunuch Li Zhong leaned on his crutch. When he stepped over the steps, the poker-faced guard beside him reached out to help, but he dodged.

Zhang Jun, who was his godson, was quick-witted and hurriedly stepped forward to support Li Zhong.

"Godfather, walk slowly, watch the steps."

Li Zhong glanced at the people who had been discussing earlier, then looked at the official in charge and said: "I will be moving the Crown Prince's coffin back to the capital in a few days. The details of the Crown Prince's assassination case need to be organized properly by you as soon as possible, so that when I return to the capital, I can present the case file to His Majesty."

When Li Zhong left, he specifically left Zhang Jun behind to assist in supervising the case.

Xu Qing looked at Zhang Jun and found that he was different from before.

Back at Linhe, Zhang Jun was still a simple-minded, clean-faced young man. Seeing him again now, he had already grown a beard, and his words and deeds were much more stable than before.

At this time, Zhang Jun also saw Xu Qing, who was mixed among the coroners. He froze for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgment.

The friendship between the two seemed to be limited to this.

At night, Xu Qing was alone in a room. Through the thin window paper, he could vaguely see the guards patrolling with lanterns and torches outside.

Being in the room, he could not absorb the moonlight and Yin Qi, so he simply sat in meditation and adjusted his breath according to the internal charm method, wanting to see if this charm art would work on him.

When the night passed the third watch, Xu Qing opened his eyes, and a flash of eerie red light flickered and disappeared.

The outside world became quiet. He unfolded his Qi-observing technique and looked around. The five-colored mist around was stable, and there was no sign of any living person.

Xu Qing's mind stirred, and the next moment the Box Garden in the Mountain and River Map appeared in his hand.

Entering the Box Garden alone, Xu Qing found Bai Luo's corpse, and then the *Sutra of Saving People* flipped pages.

Bai Luo's original name was Xu Xiuwen, and his ancestral home was Hejing. He was the son of a wealthy family, but because he was combative by nature, he was often punished and admonished by his father.

Seeing that he would not change despite repeated lessons, Xu's father asked a matchmaker to mediate, thinking that as long as the boy started a family, he would become stable.

On the wedding night, Xu Xiuwen got very drunk. When he entered the bridal chamber and saw the delicate bride, he couldn't bear the lust in his heart and wished he could swallow her alive.

It was also that night that the cruel-natured Xu Xiuwen accidentally strangled his wife in the bridal chamber.

The dowry maid saw the young lady's face turn purple and blue, and she was already dead, so she cried and shouted and wanted to run out.

Seeing this, how could Xu Xiuwen let this matter be exposed? He killed the maid too.

The half-grown boys who were eavesdropping on the "live spring palace" at the door realized something was wrong and wanted to tell their elders.

Who was Xu Xiuwen? He had been dancing with knives and sticks since he was a child, and the old masters in the martial arts hall praised him for his extraordinary roots; he was a natural martial arts embryo.

Once such a person had murderous intent, that was it!

Hearing the movement outside, he didn't say a word. Borrowing that fierce energy, he drew his sword and killed his way out.

Encountering panicked guests on the road, kill.

Running into the bride's brother, his own brother-in-law, kill.

The father-in-law and mother-in-law crying and shouting, kill.

When the wedding banquet filled with red silk and red lanterns turned into a hell of Yama, Xu Xiuwen finally sobered up.

Seeing the happy day turned into a funeral banquet by himself, Xu Xiuwen finally had some touch in his heart.

Except for the guests who escaped, the only living people in the main hall at this time were his two parents, who were trembling as they looked at him.

Xu's father clutched his chest tightly, pointing at Xu Xiuwen with a trembling hand, but could not say a word.

"I hate, I hate how my Xu family gave birth to such a beast as you. I should have strangled you to death back then."

Xu Xiuwen lowered his eyelids. After the two elders finished scolding and crying, he raised his head and revealed an eerie smile.

The fire in the Xu family that night was very big and didn't go out until dawn.

Since then, Xu Xiuwen's portrait had appeared on the wanted posters of every prefecture and road.

However, at this time, Xu Xiuwen had already joined the Heaven Heart Sect and became the most appreciated rising star of the Holy Master.

Xu Qing saw Xu Xiuwen being named Bai Luo by the Heaven Heart Holy Master, and also knew why Bai Luo had been pursued by Zuo Zixiong and Cui Yuanlong for thousands of miles.

It was only because this temperamental, naturally cruel killing star had slaughtered three families in the capital.

And these three families were all exterminated by Bai Luo while they were holding wedding banquets.

Moreover, the modus operandi was exactly the same as when he was in the Xu family.

Before this, Xu Qing had never seen anyone with such a cruel nature.

The scene shifted to Liu Youdao's flying head.

Behind Liu Youdao was a group of walking corpses.

Xu Qing saw himself in Bai Luo's revolving lantern.

Who would have thought that the walking corpse that didn't even dare to move back then had become a hurdle that Bai Luo could never overcome in his life.

Xu Qing continued to look back, roughly about Bai Luo and the Heaven Heart Sect planning to assassinate the Crown Prince.

There was not much useful information in it, but he got a piece of news from it—the hiding place of Qing Luo, one of the Heaven Heart Sect's Five Luo Protectors.

This place was a residence Bai Luo had set up for Qing Luo, right in an alley in Jinmen Prefecture.

After Xu Qing wrote down the address of the residence, Bai Luo's life also came to an end.

Afterward, the *Sutra of Saving People* gave a reward: a Human-grade high-quality "Sinan Sword Art," a human skin mask, and a gourd of wine.

Among them, the Sinan Sword Art, when practiced to perfection, can track the enemy's vital points. Even if the movement is agile, it is useless in front of this sword art.

The human skin mask can change one's appearance, whether man, woman, old, or young, all in a single thought.

The rest is a gourd of "Heart-Eroding Wine," which makes people lose their emotions after drinking a mouthful, turning them into humanoid weapons that only know how to kill.

Fortunately, the influence time of a cup of wine is only one hour, similar to a demonic drug that triggers potential.

Xu Qing opened the wine seal and smelled it. Immediately, he felt a restlessness rise in his heart, and the instinct for bloodthirst was ready to come out.

This thing is too dangerous; if not necessary, it cannot be used easily.

Two days later, Li Zhong and his party escorted the Crown Prince's coffin to the Linhe wharf, intending to follow the waterway and take a government ship back to Luojing.

It was also on this day, not long after Li Zhong left, that the Young Master recovered his sanity.

"It's over! My lifelong reputation has been destroyed in one day!"

Zhu Huai'an had been autistic in the room for a long time, and during this period, he wouldn't open the door no matter who knocked.

At this time, except for Zhu Huai'an himself, no one else in the manor knew he had recovered.

"Should I continue to pretend to be stupid?"

Zhu Huai'an's heart was in a mess, and his mind was full of images of him asking for his wet nurse to hold him and feed him.

After that, it was sucking on stones, treating them as elixirs.

However, these were still within his acceptable range. The only thing he couldn't bear was that the dog slave Li Zhong actually dared to instigate him to eat...

The key was that he actually ate it!

"Ugh—"

The Young Master, who could no longer vomit anything, couldn't help but gag again.

Outside the door, his uncle had already begun to prepare to break in.

"Huai'an, if you don't make a sound, I'm coming in!"

*Creak*, the door opened.

Zhu Huai'an looked dazed, staring at Yin Chengshan, weak and confused: "Uncle, what happened to me? Why can't I remember anything that happened in these three days?"

"Huai'an, what did you call me?"

"You motherfucker, you finally recognize people!"

Yin Chengshan saw his nephew speaking clearly and being able to ask and answer, and was overjoyed. He immediately ordered his subordinates to report the good news to the Prince and his sister.

"Huai'an, have you remembered anything else?"

Zhu Huai'an shook his head and reiterated: "I don't remember anything that happened in these three days at all!"

"Don't try to deceive your uncle. If you really don't remember anything, how would you know you were foolish for three days?"

Zhu Huai'an's eyelids twitched, and he denied it: "I said I don't remember, so I don't remember. Uncle, don't ask me anymore, my headache is acting up again!"

Yin Chengshan was afraid that his nephew would have another bout of hysteria, so he stopped asking.

On the way to pay his respects, Zhu Huai'an suddenly asked: "Uncle, how are my friends doing now?"

"Very well. Your mother specifically asked people to take care of them. They are still in the manor. When your body is better, you can see them at any time."

After saying that, Yin Chengshan couldn't help but ask again: "Huai'an, do you really not remember what happened before you got sick?"

The little fatty's footsteps paused, his eyes somewhat hesitant.

He vaguely remembered getting drunk that day. In a half-awake, half-drunk state, he saw a murderous scholar assassinate several of his guards.

Finally, it was...

Zhu Huai'an really had a headache this time.

That figure looked like Brother Xu, but not quite.

He and the Wu brothers both knew that Xu Qing was just a pale scholar who usually applied rouge and powder and smelled of rouge. How could he become a murderous martial artist overnight?

Zhu Huai'an spoke vaguely and didn't tell the chaotic memories in his mind.

After paying respects to his parents, Zhu Huai'an, carrying his worries, couldn't wait to find the residence where Xu Qing was staying.

"The way of the gentleman is like walking a long distance, one must start from near; it is like climbing a height, one must start from low..."

In the courtyard, Xu Qing had already sensed his aura when Zhu Huai'an walked to the door with a group of guards.

So he acted on impulse and took out the only thing that looked like a book from the Mountain and River Map.

It was a scroll of a hundred beauties, but it didn't affect him holding it and reciting.

Zhu Huai'an stood at the door and waved his hand to stop the servants from coming forward.

Listening to the reading sound coming from inside, he fell into self-doubt again.

Pushing open the courtyard door, Xu Qing's reading stopped abruptly.

"Young Master? What is this?"

Zhu Huai'an felt his scalp tingle. He had come to ask some questions, but instead, he was afraid that the other party would bring up his unbearable experience.

Fortunately, Xu Qing only showed joy and didn't mention the embarrassing things he had done in the past few days at all.

Dismissing the servants and guards, after chatting for a while, Zhu Huai'an finally couldn't hold back.

"Brother Xu, when the Heaven Heart Sect rebels assassinated me that day, was it you who saved me?"

"I am a weak scholar with no strength to truss a chicken, how could I save the Young Master?" Xu Qing shook his head and denied it.

"The one who saved you was an expert who looked like a celestial being. It's a pity that the Young Master was drunk at the time, his mind was unclear, and he was startled by the assassin, which led to the foolish illness."

"Speaking of which, in these three days, the Young Master has done some big things..."

"Wait! Let's not mention the past. I don't know what happened that night, and I don't know what happened in these three days. You don't have to tell me!"

Xu Qing laughed, and the two skipped these topics.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 75 =====