Xu Qi 'an brought Hengy Yuan back to Xu Manor and ordered the servants to clean up the guest room before bringing the Master there to stay.
For Xu Qi 'an and his family, Hengy Yuan being able to stay in Xu Manor was undoubtedly a great guarantee. There was the Saintess of the Heavenly Sect, Little Black-Skinned of the Southern Border, and a monk with a Sarira.
The security of Xu Manor was actually frighteningly strong, far stronger than most of the mansions of the nobles.
Hengy Yuan put his palms together and said, "Sorry to disturb you."
Saying so, he followed the servants to the outer courtyard.
Although he was a monk, he was a man after all, so it was not convenient for him to stay in the inner courtyard, where there were too many women.
Under the guidance of the servants, Hengy Yuan entered a secluded room at the edge.
He did not feel that this was a slight, but was instead gratified by Xu Qi 'an's thoughtfulness. Hengy Yuan needed a quiet enough room for him to read scriptures in the morning and in the evening.
After a simple cleaning of the room, Hengy Yuan put his palms together and thanked the servants.
After the servants left, he was about to close the door and meditate when he suddenly saw a little head poking out from the door. Her black eyes looked at him innocently with some curiosity.
Hengy Yuan smiled and said warmly, "Little Benefactor."
He recognized this girl. She was Xu Qi 'an's younger sister, and Hengy Yuan had also come to Xu Manor several times.
"Do you also want to stay in my house?" Xu Lingyin asked.
"Sorry to disturb you." Hengy Yuan looked apologetic.
Xu Lingyin stepped over the threshold and took out a half-broken pastry from her pocket. She looked up and offered it with both hands, "For you."
What a sensible and kind child … Hengy Yuan revealed a touched smile and took the pastry. He stuffed it into his mouth, feeling that the taste was a little strange.
Xu Lingyin ran out happily. Not long after, she came back with a wilted orchid with mud at its roots.
Hengy Yuan looked at the girl in confusion, thinking that she still wanted to give flowers after the pastry. Your excellency Xu's younger sister was too warm and sensible.
Xu Lingyin frowned and said in distress,
"I was playing outside and knocked over mother's beloved flower. I'm going to be beaten again. Uncle, can you just say that you knocked it over? You're a guest, my mother won't beat you. "
Hengy Yuan said helplessly, "A monk doesn't lie."
Xu Lingyin looked up in confusion, "What you mean?"
Heng Yuan explained gently, "You can't lie."
Xu Lingyin was on the verge of tears and said, "Then give me back the pastries. I hid them in my shoes for three days and couldn't bear to eat them …"
Heng Yuan was dumbstruck.
…
Back in the study, Huaiqing and Li Miaozhen were still waiting. The two beauties were sitting quietly. The atmosphere was not heavy, but it was not relaxed either.
Seeing Xu Qi'an step over the threshold, Huaiqing's reaction was even bigger than Li Miaozhen's. She quickly stood up, her dress fluttering in the wind as she hurried to welcome him.
She stopped abruptly in front of Xu Qi'an and stared at him with her limpid eyes. There were a few times when she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself. She tried her best to keep her voice calm.
"Who … who is it?"
"It's not him." Xu Qi'an shook his head and paused for a few seconds before adding in a low voice, "It's him."
Two answers, two 'him', corresponding to the two portraits.
Huaiqing's expression suddenly froze. Her elegant face couldn't help but turn pale as the color of blood slowly receded. It was as if she couldn't accept this reality. An enormous wave of dizziness assaulted her, and her body swayed as if she was about to collapse.
Xu Qi'an put his arms around her waist and sighed, "Your Highness, I'm sorry for your loss …"
"I'm fine, I'm fine …" Huaiqing pushed him a few times and leaned on his shoulder softly. Her shoulders were trembling.
Xu Qi'an wanted to hold the beauty in his arms tightly, but considering that she was not Lin 'an, he just held her gently and lent his solid chest and broad shoulders to her.
Li Miaozhen, who didn't know the truth, was stunned. She thought, "What do you want to do … What do you want to do in front of me?"
This process didn't last long. After a little cry, Huaiqing quickly suppressed her inner emotions and left Xu Qi'an's arms. She whispered, "I lost my composure."
Li Miaozhen took the opportunity to ask, "What's going on?"
Xu Qi'an glanced at Huaiqing. Seeing that she didn't object, he explained to Tenzō Shōnin, "The one under the Dragon Vein is not the Taoist Master of the Earth Sect, but the former Emperor."
The former Emperor?!
Li Miaozhen's face instantly became dull. She slowly opened her mouth and widened her beautiful eyes. Xu Qi'an's words echoed repeatedly in her mind. After a long time, she heard herself murmur,
"How is it possible!"
"It's hard for me to believe that the former Emperor is the one who is really obsessed with longevity, but maybe this is the truth." Xu Qi'an sighed again.
The former Emperor's physical condition was actually not good. Although he was faking his death, the diagnosis of the warlock of the Celestial Commissioner would not be wrong. That was, the former Emperor was addicted to women and hollowed out his body.
This was also clearly recorded in the history books. The words "Joan of Arc was addicted to women" explained everything.
He knew his own body best. That was why the former Emperor had such a desire to cultivate and live forever. However, because of the rule that those who were blessed with luck could not live forever, he could only suppress this desire in his heart.
That was until the Taoist Master of the Earth Sect came to the capital. After that, some secret that outsiders did not know about must have happened, which changed the former Emperor's understanding of himself and showed him the possibility of immortality.
Li Miaozhen took a long time to digest the news. She retorted,
She retorted, "That's impossible. The former Emperor was not a disciple of the Taoist Sect, and he was not even a Warrior. The existence you saw in the Dragon Vein was so powerful that it made you tremble."
Huaiqing's eyes were slightly red. She took a deep breath and said, "That's impossible.
The former Emperor was an ordinary person, but it doesn't mean that he was not talented. Among the members of the Imperial Family, all the princes who were qualified to compete for the throne would marry concubines early in order to have children for the Imperial Family. That was because having children was one of the important criteria for competing for the position of Crown Prince.
"In fact, if the princes were obsessed with martial arts, they would arouse the ire of the Emperor and the nobles. If they were obsessed with martial arts, they would not have the energy to deal with government affairs. Father … He was obsessed with cultivation for 20 years, and the court was full of criticism. He was the best example. "
This meant that if one wanted to be the Emperor, he had to give up on cultivation. After all, people had their limits.
The former Emperor had chosen the throne, but it did not mean that he was not talented.
For the past 20 years, he had been like a worm, lying on the fate of Daibun and sucking the blood of the people. Even a pig would become a Canopy Marshal after being fed with so many resources.
Moreover, based on the current situation, the former Emperor's talent was not weak.
Li Miaozhen was speechless. She seemed to have thought of something and was shocked. She cried out, "Where is the body of the King of Zhenbei?!"
Xu Qi'an and Huaiqing looked at each other, wondering why she was so agitated. "What's wrong?"
The body of the King of Zhenbei had been torn into pieces. No one cared about what to do with the body of a prince in the Chu Zhou City case.
Tenzō Shōnin slowly rose to her feet and glanced at the two with a frightened look.
"The Three Pure Ones in One Spirit. As long as they didn't completely kill the three avatars, they would not die. What died was only the energy they had accumulated over the years and a third of their Primordial Spirit. "
Xu Qi'an and Huaiqing were startled.
…
In Sampo, at the Mountain River Temple that had been rebuilt.
Yuan Jing was wearing a black robe embroidered with golden threads. He stood in front of the statue of the Founding Emperor and narrowed his eyes.
He was in his fifties, but his face was ruddy, his hair was black, and his posture was straight. He looked like he was in his forties at most.
"Great Ancestor, you built the Daibun Dynasty, gathered the fortune of the Central Plains, and advanced to the first rank. At the peak of your power, even the Witchcraft Sect had to admit defeat.
"Wu Zong, you overthrew the corrupt Emperor and gained the recognition of the Confucian School. You became the Emperor and advanced to the first rank. After that, the Confucian School rose, and even the Buddhist School had to retreat to the Western Region.
"In the six hundred years since the founding of Daibun, there has been no first rank Warrior other than the two of you. However, no matter how powerful you were when you were alive, a hundred years later, you will be nothing but a pile of dirt. "The Yuanjing Emperor's eyes were calm and his voice was firm.
"And I will become the first immortal Emperor of Daibun. Soon, very soon …"
…
The Dragon Mountains in Jing City.
From a bird's eye view, the Dragon Mountains looked like a sleeping dragon. The mountain was beautiful and the power of the earth was condensed. It was the best place in the Jing City.
About three hundred years ago, the Emperor of that generation built his tomb here. In the following three hundred years, six Emperors were buried in the Dragon Mountains. Therefore, the tomb was also known as the "Six Tombs of Worship".
The former Emperor was also buried here.
The group of four sneaked into the Imperial Tombs and used the Celestial Commissioner and Confucian spells to avoid the "line of defense" of the Coarse Warrior. They passed through the buildings outside the Imperial Tombs and entered the mountain, stopping outside the Tomb of the former Emperor.
They had come to make a final verification.
As the Emperor of a country, faking his death was not easy. All the civil and military officials, the imperial doctors, and the Celestial Commissioner would do the verification. Since the former Emperor was sent into the coffin, he was at least dead at the time.
As for what had happened, they had to go into the tomb to find out.
Outside the tomb, Xu Qi 'an tore out a page of Confucian spells and said to the three beauties, "Hug me."
Zhong Li obediently hugged him from behind. Huaiqing and Li Miaozhen glanced at him and pressed their hands on his shoulders.
Is Senior Zhong still the most obedient? Huaiqing and Miaozhen have too strong personalities … Xu Qi 'an muttered in his heart, but his mouth did not stop. He used his Qi to burn the paper and chanted,
"We are not outside the tomb, but inside the tomb's main gate."
The paper burned to nothing. The weak Light wrapped around the four people and they disappeared.
Zhong Li took out an artifact made from a Night Pearl and let it emit a clear and bright light, illuminating the pitch-black interior of the tomb.
Li Miaozhen looked back and discovered that the four of them had only passed through the main gate of the tomb and had not gone deep into the tomb. She could not help but frown and say, "Why didn't you just say that we were in the main tomb?"
Wasn't it a bit too wasteful to use Confucian spells to only pass through a single gate?
Although they could not open the gate openly, nor could they waste time to dig a thief's hole, Xu Qi 'an could just directly teleport to the main tomb.
Xu Qi 'an said with hidden bitterness, "You don't love me at all."
Li Miaozhen, "???"
She quickly realized that Confucian spells had to suffer a backlash. If they only passed through a single gate, the backlash would be very light.
If they were teleported directly to the main tomb, they would have to pass through all sorts of mechanisms. The difficulty of the journey would be returned to the caster through a backlash.
Zhong Li led the charge and said, "The tomb of Emperor Xian has a total of twelve major mechanisms, seventy-two minor mechanisms, and nine formations … Everyone follow behind me and don't wander off."
She introduced them as if she was familiar with them.
The Imperial Mausoleum was designed and supervised by the Celestial Commissioner, while Zhong Li was the Supervisor's disciple. She had the qualifications to inspect the blueprints of Emperor Xian's tomb.
"We'll be in even more danger if we follow her …"
Li Miaozhen questioned in a low voice.
Xu Qi 'an waved his hand. "It's fine, just follow her. There won't be any accidents."
He stored the jade pendant gifted by the Supervisor into the Earth Tome fragment. The current Xu Qi 'an was fully activated with the Dimension Child buff, which was enough to counteract the bad luck brought by the Prophet.
Under Zhong Li's lead, they smoothly avoided the mechanisms and deciphered the formations before finally arriving at the main tomb.
The main tomb's two tall stone gates were tightly shut. Xu Qi 'an stopped, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
"What's wrong?" Li Miaozhen turned around to look at him.
Nothing, it's just that I feel like I'm suffering from Tomb Stress Disorder … Xu Qi 'an complained in order to ease his emotions. The main body of Emperor Xian couldn't have returned to the tomb, could it?
I hope I don't have the bad luck aura that causes a corpse to appear whenever I open the coffin …
He took a deep breath and pressed his palms against the stone gate. His muscles bulged as he pushed the gate open.
A martial artist's sense of danger had no warning! Xu Qi 'an heaved a sigh of relief and was the first to enter the main tomb.
Zhong Li held a Night-Luminescent Pearl in her palm. Its clear light illuminated the main tomb, the pillars, the clay figurines, the utensils, and other funerary objects.
Xu Qi 'an looked at the center of the main tomb. A huge coffin made of sandalwood with white jade as the foundation was made of pitch-black jade.
He placed his palms on the coffin and waited for a moment. After confirming that his strong intuition had no warning, Xu Qi 'an heaved a sigh of relief and slowly pushed the coffin open.
Inside the coffin was a normal-sized sandalwood coffin.
Opening the coffin, as Zhong Li approached, Xu Qi 'an saw the scene inside the coffin. Inside the coffin covered with yellow silk lay a skeleton.
Li Miaozhen walked to the side of the coffin and examined the skeleton. The information she collected about Emperor Xian appeared in her mind. "Similar height."
Then, she looked at the pubic bone. "Man."
There was a skeleton in the coffin. Did it mean that Emperor Xian really entered the coffin and not faked his death? Li Miaozhen frowned.
The scene in front of them was not what they had expected. According to their speculation, Emperor Xian first faked his death and then quietly opened the coffin.
"Give me the Night-Luminescent Pearl."
Huaiqing reached out and took the illuminating instrument from Zhong Li's palm. She did not avoid the poisonous smell in the coffin. She bent down slightly and carefully examined Emperor Xian's skeleton. After a long time, she showed a look of realization.
"He is not Emperor Xian."
Xu Qi 'an touched his chin. "What is your basis?"
According to the collected information, Emperor Xian was a man with all four limbs. There were no defects in his bones. This skeleton was also intact.
In this world that lacked advanced equipment and could not test DNA, it was almost impossible for Xu Qi 'an to identify the identity of a person with just a glance.
Holding the Night-Luminescent Pearl, Huaiqing explained with a complicated expression.
"His hands and feet are longer than ordinary people. He was a eunuch … Eunuchs are purified when they are young. When they become adults, their bodies will be different from ordinary men. They will be taller, but the proportions of their hands and feet will be slightly deformed and longer than ordinary men."
Xu Qi 'an took a closer look and found that the skeleton's arm bones were indeed longer.
What was the principle behind this? "Well, she is indeed the top female scholar in Daibun … Although I have a lot of autopsy knowledge, there were no eunuchs in my era …"
Xu Qi 'an said in a low voice, "So, there is nothing to doubt now."
The emperor of a country was blessed with luck and could not be possessed by an outsider, unless the person who possessed him was also an emperor. In other words, the existence under the Dragon Vein could not be the Dao Master of the Earth Sect who wore the clothes of Emperor Xian.
Now that the skeleton of Emperor Xian was proved to be fake, it was certain that Emperor Xian was the mastermind behind this.
Huaiqing did not answer. Instead, she said in a lonely tone, "Let's go."
Xu Qi 'an sighed. Yuan Jing was no longer Yuan Jing. Perhaps something had happened to him during the Autumn Hunt in the Southern Courtyard, or perhaps he had changed when he suddenly started cultivating twenty years ago.
They did not know the exact method of operation, but the conclusion was right in front of them.
…
Outside Yan Capital.
The ground was filled with holes and smoke. Soldiers' corpses were strewn all over the ground, and blood seeped into the dark soil.
Nangong Qianrou bent down and grabbed a handful of hot soil. Dark red blood seeped out from between his fingers.
His armor was no longer bright, and his face was no longer fair and delicate. His body was covered with sword wounds.
Wei Yuan's words before he left flashed through his mind: If you do not want to retreat in three days, the deadline is six days. On the sixth day, you must leave no matter what.
Today was the sixth day.
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