Chapter 403: Don't Deceive Yourself

"Those children were not sent away, they were sent into the Imperial Palace."

"They were all... all purple and blue like ghosts, not speaking or moving, but they were still breathing."

"He said it was a sin, that harming so many children would definitely be punished, and told me to watch my son well."

"Sure enough, the one his wife gave birth to died of illness before it was a month old, and my son... also drowned in the river before he was big."

"What kind of world is this? What kind of world is this..."

The ice rain, fine as silk threads, kept falling from the sky, "pa-pa" hitting the ground, gathering into continuous water puddles on the dilapidated official road.

The speeding carriage roared past the water puddles, splashing water all over the ground.

Inside the jolting carriage, Xiang Kuangcheng's mind was constantly replaying the words of that Vice Minister Wang's mistress, and he felt a chill run through his entire body.

The things he thought were correct, but two details were wrong.

The first detail was that those children were not sent to others, they were originally sent to the Imperial Palace.

Another thing was that those children sent were not waiting to be made into containers, but had already been filled with the so-called immortal fate from the ruins.

【Not only did the children in the orphanage disappear, but even the three princes in the palace disappeared.】

【The intensity of this new policy is very high, killing a large batch of officials.】

【I feel that since the reign title was suddenly changed, the Qingyun World has been less peaceful year by year.】

【Great Xia was once the most powerful empire in Qingyun, and finally completely became a tool for Xian Sect rule.】

Countless fragmented information instantly surged into his mind, making him tremble uncontrollably.

He must go back now, he cannot let Inspector Mu Jing continue to investigate, otherwise he will definitely be in danger.

Hong-long-long—

Thunder was faint, rain was misty, from dawn until dark.

The entire Shengjing was under the cover of heavy dark clouds, dark and endless, like a piece of black cloth covered on the sky, airtight.

The carriage that had been speeding for a day arrived in Shengjing half an hour early, and then stopped before the water shop in the South City.

Kuang Cheng lifted the carriage curtain and jumped off the carriage directly, ignoring the splashed mud, and headed directly toward Inspector Mu Jing's house.

Inspector Mu Jing lived in Liuye Alley in the South City, the house was larger than his, and Kuang Cheng had always borrowed his house when he had no money to repair the house, so he was not unfamiliar with his address, and arrived before the courtyard door after turning around.

It was just that when he stepped into the house, he felt something wrong.

Because this house was too quiet, even without insect chirps or bird calls, and there was no light in the dark night.

Did he sleep so early?

Kuang Cheng panted, walking into the house with hidden unease, crossing the courtyard toward the front hall.

His subconscious thought was to knock on the door of the main hall to call someone, but before he could walk a few steps, he saw a figure quietly drinking tea at the tea table in the courtyard.

In an instant, Kuang Cheng stopped his footsteps.

"Kuang Cheng, you left the city on duty, and you didn't ask for leave from me before you left."

"He Jianzheng..."

Kuang Cheng paused slightly, his eyes becoming a bit solidified.

Before him, He Jingyuan, with thick hair and beard, was looking at him with eyes like a tiger.

Si Xian Jian was a government office established after Great Xia implemented the new policy, and He Jingyuan was the Jianzheng personally promoted by His Majesty the Emperor.

He was a student of the late emperor, marginalized twenty years ago due to court infighting, and then suppressed for many years by the Chongwang faction that relied on Xian Sect noble families, finally resigned in anger and joined the army, and was transferred back by the current Majesty after serving in the Northern Border for many years; he was a true close minister of the Son of Heaven.

Upon hearing the Vice Minister Wang's mistress say that the child had been sent into the Imperial Palace, Xiang Kuangcheng no longer felt surprised when he saw him.

"You've traveled such a long way, drink a cup of tea first."

Seeming to feel the silence of the atmosphere, He Jingyuan picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for him.

Kuang Cheng's throat moved: "Where is Inspector Mu Jing?"

"Sit down first, sit down and talk slowly."

Kuang Cheng understood that the initiative was not in his hands here, so he sat gently on the stone stool.

Seeing him sit down, He Jingyuan took out a paper bag from his arms and put it on the table: "Are these things left by Vice Minister Wang?"

Kuang Cheng looked at the account book in the paper bag, knowing they had been to his house: "He my lord, this matter has nothing to do with Inspector Mu Jing, it's purely my own curiosity being too heavy, wanting to know what was transported to the Imperial Palace along with the tax offerings back then."

"Then since you have checked it, do you have anything to say?"

"Nothing to say, I'm just a bit surprised that Si Xian Jian and His Majesty are actually in the same group as those thousand-year noble families."

"No, you are wrong." He Jingyuan shook his head, "Those noble families and Xian Sects are the same kind of people, they are greedy and murderous, taking without limit; we are just using each other."

Kuang Cheng thought of Huwa who was looking for his sister every day and laughed lightly: "Blame me for being stupid, I can't understand this kind of mysterious truth."

"You haven't experienced it, so naturally you don't understand, but this story is very long, you have to listen slowly."

"Willing to hear the details."

He Jingyuan raised his eyes to look at him: "Do you know that before Great Xia unified the Nine Provinces, the Xian Sects were all in a hidden state, and there were not so many noble families in the Nine Provinces?"

Kuang Cheng looked at him expressionlessly: "I have read the Qing History, naturally I know these."

"Not bad, at that time, although the human race had just experienced war and countless people were displaced, fortunately, the Nine Provinces were rich in products, and life was not so difficult; but after the Nine Provinces were unified by my Great Xia, the Xian Sects tasted the sweetness of the people's offerings and began to recruit disciples on a large scale, expanding their strength. From that moment on, they were no longer descendants of sages with virtue, but became plunderers of the Qingyun World."

"Before long, they completely occupied the major states they were in, but their ambition was not satisfied, so they could only begin to fight each other, compare with each other, and gave birth to countless noble families, each occupying one side, no longer controlled by Great Xia, and the tax offerings they needed every year became more and more, making my Great Xia increasingly unable to bear, and the people's grievances rose."

"But the problem is that with the Holy Artifact in hand, no one can restrain them at all."

"Successive Xia Emperors have suffered from the Xian Sect for a long time, knowing that only by mastering power beyond the Xian Sect can this distorted system be disintegrated, so they set their sights on the ruins of the ancient times, exploring, searching, and in the blink of an eye, a hundred years of time passed in a hurry, and finally in the generation of the late emperor, we found the method to open the ruins."

"But at that time, the court had been infiltrated by cultivators, and the pro-Xian faction headed by Chongwang occupied real power by relying on the power of Xian Sects and noble families; we couldn't do anything, those who were dismissed were dismissed, those who were persecuted were persecuted, and countless people stayed away from the temple."

"After the late emperor passed away, the current Majesty succeeded to the throne. That year, the barbarian race's attack on the Northern Border wall was more intense than ever, and His Majesty personally went to the Northern Border to boost morale, and once ate and lived with us for a long time. At that time, everyone seemed to have a fire in their hearts, but that fire was just an emotion, and like being cynical, it had no effect at all."

"It's just that what we didn't expect was that things gradually began to improve, because the appetites of Chongwang and Wei Li were getting bigger and bigger, so that the tax offerings on the surface were constantly decreasing, while their pockets were getting fuller and fuller; this naturally angered the Xian Sect, so His Majesty gradually had some real power."

"So we opened the ruins, found the immortal fate in it, and experimented with it repeatedly for many years."

"But this matter is easy to say, but not simple at all to do; the weakness of the imperial family is not a matter of one or two days, and we don't have too many like-minded people to use. Under the gap of too much strength, we can do some small actions, but if we really want to plan the overall situation, we are truly stretched."

"So His Majesty began to lay out in secret, intending to use those noble families who were greedy and hateful, guiding them to Qiling, to the Pill Sect, to the Sages' Holy Land, to complete our plan, and by the way, let them kill each other and suffer both losses."

"We have a true genius favored by heaven among us, who walked this plan perfectly, and finally, the strongest old man passed away, the Xian Sect leaders also no longer had their peak, and most importantly, during the period when the Holy Artifact was shielded by the Heavenly Dao, the Ancestor Temple could no longer hold the severed luck, which would be absorbed by the containers we prepared in advance; before long, the Holy Land would be opened, we would get the luck of the whole clan, completely destroy the Xian Sect, and change this world!"

"His Majesty once said that you and we are on the same path, and the adult with the mandate of heaven also said that you are one of the few innocent people in this world. Kuang Cheng, we have never been in an antagonistic relationship, we should be the group of people who join hands to change the world."

He Jingyuan finished speaking and looked at Kuang Cheng with burning eyes.

He knew Kuang Cheng was a smart person and must be able to hear the meaning in his words.

The courtyard fell into silence for a long time, even the sound of ice rain falling could be heard clearly, rustling and pleasant; just when He Jingyuan was waiting impatiently, Kuang Cheng finally spoke: "So where is Inspector Mu Jing?"

He Jingyuan froze his eyes in an instant: "Could it be that besides these, you have nothing else to say?"

"Kuang's awareness is not enough, I really can't understand such great ambitions, the only thing I want to know now is where Inspector Mu Jing is."

Kuang Cheng raised his head, expressionless, and at the same time, there was no emotion in his tone. ===== CHAPTER 404 =====