Yan Xiu's visit to the second prince had never been a secret.
As Eastern Yu's succeeding ruler, he had openly climbed the mountain to attend the gathering. Informants from every faction along the way had reported his every move, and all three rulers knew the details.
Yet no one had expected Yan Xiu to return from that trip with blood-red eyes and a drastically altered temperament, commit an atrocity beneath even a beast, and finally end up reduced to ashes, without so much as a bone remaining.
And the source of it all pointed to the second prince atop the mountain, Jiang Heng.
Qi Ye knelt before the pile of ashes. Seeing his young mistress, Yan Ling, still shaken and pale, he forced down his grief and fury and recounted in a low voice every strange incident on their descent: how Jiang Heng had returned after leaving, how he had dismissed everyone, whispered privately with an arm around the young master's shoulders, and how, before parting, he had meaningfully patted the young master's shoulder twice...
When he finished, he bowed heavily to Yan Ling, his voice hoarse. "The young master was murdered and died horribly. My lady, please... uphold justice for him and avenge this blood debt!"
Everyone present had considerable experience. Linking cause and effect, they all discerned the clues, and their expressions grew grave.
Wei Qiang and the Western Lord, Baili Ce, exchanged a glance and blurted out almost in unison:
"Six Desires Heart-Bewildering Seal!"
This seal was a notorious secret technique of Hongfang's Evil Path. It shared its origins with Yan Xiu's [Lovesickness Gu]; both were vicious methods that used desire to bewitch and control the human heart.
Silently and imperceptibly, it could magnify the darkest, most shameful trace of evil desire buried in a person's heart