Chapter 196: Guarding the Spirit

The moment that voice sounded.

Yin Ruihua's movements froze.

He was like a frog frozen in an ice layer, unable to move a single bit. In this air that seemed to have stopped, he heard his own arteries pounding in his temples like hammers.

His heart was beating against his ribs.

His mind was a blank.

The footsteps behind him slowly circled around. A figure gradually appeared from the edge of his vision, slowly walked to his front, and blocked the entrance.

It was exactly that mummy lying in the Xiaoling tomb.

The mummy's eyelids were already withered, and only a pair of eyeballs moved slowly in their sockets, looking at Yin Ruihua.

He was unrecognizable, but Yin Ruihua still recognized those cold eyes.

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Ji Tianrui stood up, leaning against the wall, coughed violently a few times, and spat out a mouthful of dirty blood, mixed with the corpses of several insects.

The blow the mummy had dealt her just now was heavy. If not for her physique being different from ordinary people and having her injuries healed by him, she would have died on the spot.

This was that person's personality.

Ji Tianrui woke him up, and he would reward her, even if he didn't know Ji Tianrui at all; when she didn't kneel to pay respects while thanking him for the reward, he would kill her, even if he had just consumed true energy to save her a moment ago.

The sage is not benevolent, treating the common people as straw dogs.

This was the second Emperor of the Great Ming, whose name and reign title had been erased from official history.

The Jianwen Emperor, Zhu Yunwen.

Ji Tianrui tapped a few points on her body, took a deep breath, closed her eyes to regulate her breath for a moment, and after barely recovering some true energy, she walked quickly out of the tomb.

She walked straight to the ruins of the main hall, found Yang Lizhang's weak breathing, and dug him out from the ruins.

"Senior Yang, can you still live?"

Ji Tianrui said.

"Yes, give me some insects to use."

Yang Lizhang said.

"Good."

Ji Tianrui cut her own wrist and dripped blood into Yang Lizhang's mouth.

"You must remember, my witchcraft conflicts with Shaolin secret techniques and can only temporarily mend your body. Within three days, you will surely die."

"Hmph!"

Yang Lizhang swallowed the fresh blood, a flush of red suddenly appearing on his face, and then he propped himself up with his hands, slowly stood up, and patted the dust off his body.

"I never intended to leave Shuntian alive anyway."

"Three days should be enough for your scheme to be completed."

Ji Tianrui nodded with a smile.

"Enough."

"That's good."

Yang Lizhang turned his head to look at the entrance of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, his gaze condensing.

"That is the Jianwen Emperor?"

"Yes."

Ji Tianrui nodded.

"The records about him in history books have all been deleted, leaving only some folk legends, and there isn't even a reliable account of how he died back then."

"My Yang family knew he was still alive, but how did you know he was in this Xiaoling Mausoleum?"

Yang Lizhang asked.

"Do you remember two years ago, a group of female Heaven-Man experts disguised themselves as palace maids to sneak into the palace and assassinate the Emperor?"

Ji Tianrui chuckled softly.

"The Renyin Palace Mutiny?"

Yang Lizhang's expression became solemn.

"Your handiwork?"

Ji Tianrui waved her hand with a smile.

"Can't say that, just helped a hand, considered a casual move to test the Emperor."

"The Emperor has been hunting down Heaven-Man experts in the Jianghu for many years, his methods far more ruthless than the previous dynasty, and even Heaven-Man experts from Wudang and Shaolin have not been spared; naturally, there will be friends and relatives who hate him to the bone and take risks."

"I gave them the art of disguise and insects that can store Heaven-Man realms, allowing them to evade the palace's investigation and sneak into the palace to assassinate the Emperor. A Heaven-Man expert who luckily escaped the palace returned the favor and told me some news."

Yang Lizhang pondered for a long while.

"What about that Heaven-Man expert who escaped the palace?"

"Dead."

Ji Tianrui spread her hands.

"You killed him?"

"Of course."

"Heh... truly Ji Tianrui's spawn, poisonous enough."

Yang Lizhang let out a cold snort.

"What she told you is not just about the Jianwen Emperor, right?"

"You guess?"

Ji Tianrui's face again wore that elusive smile, both happy and sighing.

Yang Lizhang had long been accustomed to her mysterious style, knowing that with her style, she would only reveal information when she needed him to know. And her words were half-true and half-false; even if she told him, he wouldn't dare believe it.

So he let it go and turned his gaze back to Yin Ruihua and the Jianwen Emperor.

He only took one look and immediately let out a long sigh.

"It really is him."

Following his gaze.

At the entrance of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, Yin Ruihua had been standing in place for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Although there was nothing unusual on the outside, if someone looked from the front, they could see his eyes had already lost focus, his pupils suddenly dilated and then suddenly contracted, his head covered in cold sweat, his fingers trembling, and his breathing becoming increasingly heavy.

It seemed as if he had fallen into a nightmare.

And Yin Ruihua was already terrified to the extreme.

At the same time the Jianwen Emperor appeared behind him, the dense forest, mausoleum, and walls in front of him all disappeared.

Replacing them was his most feared memory—

"Taking the world to serve one person! Jianwen doesn't care about uncles, brothers, friends, or old acquaintances at all! For the sake of his achievements, all Heaven-Man experts will become sacrifices! Brother Yin, you are no exception!"

A middle-aged man grabbed his hand.

"Man is the knife and the chopping block, you and I are the fish and the meat. Why not fight to the death! If I can win the world, I will definitely not treat Brother Yin unfairly!"

The scene shifted to a palace.

"Yin, beloved minister, what do you intend to do?"

Jianwen sat on the dragon throne, looking at him coldly.

He looked at the Heaven-Man generals behind him, gathered his courage, and said loudly.

"The people of the world have not been straight with Your Majesty for a long time! We are the old subordinates of the founding Emperor, and we cannot bear to see this country buried, so we have come to ask Your Majesty to abdicate!"

The surroundings suddenly darkened.

When the surroundings gradually brightened, Yin Ruihua looked around.

Inside the great hall, it was already a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The generals who had conquered the world with the founding Emperor were no longer in human form.

He looked down at his own body and let out a hoarse hiss.

Between his chest and abdomen, there was no more flesh. Only a white, bone-chilling spine stood empty under his chest.

He fell backward and was caught by a pair of large hands.

"Brother Yin! It's done! Look!"

The person behind him stretched out a hand, pointing at the high platform.

He looked up.

The Jianwen Emperor was leaning on the dragon throne, a sharp sword stuck in his chest. He was looking at him coldly.

"No... he's not dead yet..."

He mumbled.

"No matter! He no longer has the strength to rise again!"

That person said.

"For the sake of my big brother, I will not kill him."

"The long life he wants, I will give! But I will make him forever unable to seek life or death! I want him to forever, forever guard the spirit for my brothers! Forever guard the world of my Zhu family!"

Those large hands pressed on Yin Ruihua's chest.

"Brother Yin, I have Heaven-Man experts here who practice healing techniques; they will definitely heal you."

"After I die, it will be up to you to guard him!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 197 =====