Exploring the Late Emperor's Tomb

Xu Qi'an brought Hengyuan back to the Xu Residence, instructed the servants to clean the guest rooms, and took the master to stay there.

Hengyuan's ability to stay at the Xu Residence is undoubtedly a huge guarantee for Xu Qi'an and Xu Residence family. There is the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect, the Little Blackie from the Southern Frontier, and a monk who possesses a relic.

The Xu Residence's security was actually incredibly strong, far exceeding that of most princely and noble residences.

Hengyuan clasped his hands together and said, "Excuse me."

After saying this, he followed the servants to the outer courtyard.

Although he was a monk, he was still a man and it was inconvenient for him to live in the inner courtyard, where there were too many women.

Led by a servant, Hengyuan entered a secluded room on the edge of the room.

He didn't feel slighted at all; on the contrary, he was pleased with Xu Qi'an's thoughtfulness. Hengyuan needed a quiet enough room for him to recite scriptures during his morning and evening prayers.

After a quick cleaning of the room, Hengyuan clasped his hands together and thanked the servant.

After the servants left, he was about to close the door and sit down to meditate when he suddenly saw a small head peeking out from the doorway. The small head had big, dark eyes that looked at him with a kind of innocent curiosity.

Hengyuan smiled and said gently, "Young benefactor."

He recognized the girl; she was Xu Qi'an's younger sister. Hengyuan had also visited the Xu Residence several times.

"Are you going to stay at my house too?" Xu Lingyin asked.

"Sorry to bother you." Hengyuan said apologetically.

Xu Lingyin stepped over the threshold, took out a piece of nearly broken pastry from her pocket, looked up at it, and offered it to her with both hands. "Here, have some."

What a sensible and kind child! Hengyuan smiled with gratitude, took the pastry, and popped it into his mouth, finding the taste a little strange.

Xu Lingyin ran out happily, and soon she came back in, clutching a wilted orchid with soil clinging to its roots.

Hengyuan looked at the girl with some confusion, thinking to himself, "After delivering the pastries, do I have to deliver the flowers too? Master Xu's younger sister is just too enthusiastic and sensible."

Xu Lingyin frowned, looking troubled.

"I was playing outside and knocked over my mother's favorite flowers. I'm going to get a beating again. Uncle, please just say you knocked them over. You're a guest, my mother won't hit you."

Hengyuan said helplessly, "A monk doesn't lie."

Xu Lingyin looked up at him, puzzled but seemingly impressed. "What do you mean?"

Hengyuan explained gently, "It just means 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 shoe for three days, not wanting to eat them."

Hengyuan was stunned, speechless.

Back in the study, Huaiqing and Li Miaozhen were indeed still waiting. The two striking beauties, each with their own unique charm, sat quietly. The atmosphere was neither tense nor relaxed.

Upon seeing Xu Qi'an cross the threshold, Huaiqing reacted even more strongly than Li Miaozhen, quickly rising to her feet and hurrying to greet him with her skirts fluttering.

She abruptly stopped in front of Xu Qi'an, her eyes, as clear as autumn water, fixed on him. Several times she seemed about to speak but then stopped, trying her best to keep her voice steady.

"Who is it?"

"It wasn't him." Xu Qi'an shook his head, paused for a few seconds, and added in a low voice, "It was him."

Two answers, two "he", each corresponding to one of the two portraits.

Huaiqing's face suddenly froze, her beautiful face turning deathly pale, the color draining away bit by bit. She seemed unable to accept this fact; a huge wave of dizziness washed over her, and she swayed, about to collapse.

Xu Qi'an put his arm around her waist and sighed, "Your Highness, please accept my condolences."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Huaiqing pushed him a few times, then leaned weakly against his shoulder, her delicate shoulders trembling.

Xu Qi'an wanted to hold the beauty in his arms tightly, but considering that she was not from Lin'an, he simply embraced her gently, offering his strong chest and broad shoulders to the eldest princess.

Li Miaozhen, an unsuspecting bystander, was stunned, thinking to herself, "What... what do you want to do? What do you want to do in front of me?"

This didn't last long. After a brief cry, Huaiqing quickly suppressed her emotions, left Xu Qi'an's embrace, and whispered, "I lost my composure."

Li Miaozhen seized the opportunity to ask, "What exactly happened?"

Xu Qi'an glanced at Huai Qing, and seeing that she didn't object, he explained to the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect, "The one under the Dragon Vein is not the leader of the Earthly Sect, but the late Emperor."

The late emperor?!

Li Miaozhen's face froze instantly. She slowly opened her mouth wide, her beautiful eyes widening. Xu Qi'an's words echoed repeatedly in her mind. After a long time, she heard herself murmur, "..."

"How is that possible!"

"It's hard for me to believe that the late emperor was truly obsessed with immortality, but perhaps that's the truth," Xu Qi'an sighed again.

The late emperor's health was actually not good. Although he faked his death, the diagnosis of Warlock Bureau of Astronomy was correct: the late emperor was addicted to women and had ruined his health.

This is also clearly recorded in historical books; the few words "Joan of Arc was fond of women" say it all.

One knows one's own body best, which is why the late emperor yearned for Daoist cultivation and immortality. However, due to the rule that those blessed with good fortune could not achieve immortality, he could only suppress this yearning in his heart.

Until the leader of the Earth Sect arrived in the capital, something must have happened that was unknown to outsiders, which changed the late emperor's understanding and made him see the possibility of immortality.

It took Li Miaozhen a long time to process this news, and she repeatedly refuted it:

"Impossible. The late emperor wasn't a disciple of Daoist School, nor was he even a martial artist. And the being you saw in the underground dragon vein was so powerful it made you tremble."

Huaiqing's eyes were slightly red, and he took a deep breath:

"There is no causal relationship between the two. The late emperor was an ordinary person, but that does not mean he lacked talent. Among the members of the royal family, any prince who was qualified to compete for the throne would take concubines early on to ensure the continuation of the royal family. This is because having offspring is one of the important criteria for competing for the position of crown prince."

"Furthermore, if a prince becomes obsessed with Martial Dao, it will provoke the emperor and other officials. If one is preoccupied with Martial Dao, how can one have the energy to handle state affairs? My father's twenty years of dedication to cultivation, which drew widespread criticism from the court and the public, is the best example of this."

This means that if you want to become an emperor, you have to give up your spiritual practice, since there are limits to human potential.

The late emperor chose the throne, but that doesn't mean he lacked talent.

For the past twenty years, he has been like a termite, sucking the marrow from the bones of the Great Feng Dynasty and exploiting the people. Even a pig, fed with so many resources, would have become a Marshal Tianpeng.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, the late emperor's talent was not weak.

Li Miaozhen was speechless for a moment. Suddenly, she gasped in horror, "Where is the body of the Prince of Zhenbei?!"

Xu Qi'an and Huai Qing exchanged a glance, puzzled as to why she was so agitated. "What's wrong?"

The body of the Prince of Zhenbei was torn to pieces, beyond any doubt. In the Chuzhou case, no one cared how the body of a prince was disposed of.

The Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect slowly stood up, her gaze sweeping over the two with extreme terror, and said:

"One Qi transforms into Three Pure Ones, one being three people, and three people becoming one. As long as the three avatars are not completely killed, they will not die. What dies is only the accumulated Qi and Blood over the years, and only one-third of their Primordial Spirit."

Xu Qi'an and Huai Qing's expressions changed drastically.

Sangbo, the rebuilt Yongzhen Shanhe Temple.

Wearing a black brocade robe embroidered with gold threads, Yuan Jing stood with his hands behind his back in front of the statue of the founding emperor, squinting as he stared at it.

He was over fifty, but his ruddy complexion, jet-black hair, and upright posture made him look no more than forty.

"Great Ancestor, you established the Great Feng Dynasty, gathered the fortune of the Central Plains, and advanced to the first rank. At your peak, even the Witch God Sect could only grit their teeth and admit defeat."

"Emperor Wuzong, you overthrew the corrupt direct line, gained the approval of Confucian School, ascended the throne, and were promoted to the first rank. After that, Confucian School flourished, and even Buddhist School could only retreat to the Western Regions."

"In the six hundred years since the Great Feng Dynasty, apart from the two of you, there has been no other first-rank martial artist. No matter how powerful you were in life, how much you dominated the world, a hundred years later, you will ultimately be nothing but a handful of dust." Emperor Yuanjing's gaze was calm, his tone resolute:

"And I will become the first immortal emperor of the Great Feng. It will be soon, very soon."

Within the territory of the capital city, in the Fulong Mountains.

From the air, the Fulong Mountains resemble a giant dragon lying on the ground in slumber. This mountain is blessed with natural beauty and gathers the power of the earth's veins, making it the most Higher Vehicle feng shui location in the capital city.

About three hundred years ago, the emperor of that generation built his mausoleum here. In the three hundred years that followed, six emperors were buried in the Fulong Mountains. Therefore, the imperial mausoleums here are also known as the "Feng Liu Mausoleum".

The late emperor was also buried here.

The four-person group secretly infiltrated the imperial mausoleum, using the Bureau of Astronomy and Confucian School Law Technique to bypass the "defenses" of the crude warriors, pass through the buildings surrounding the mausoleum, enter the mountains, and stop outside the tomb of the late emperor.

They came here for the final verification.

For a monarch to fake his death is not so simple; the entire court, the imperial physicians, and the Bureau of Astronomy would conduct a thorough verification. Since the late emperor was put into a coffin at that time, he was indeed dead at least then.

To find out what exactly happened, we'll have to go down into the tomb and investigate.

Outside the tomb, Xu Qi'an tore off a page of Confucian School Law Technique and said to the three beauties, "Hold me."

Zhong Li obediently hugged him from behind, while Huai Qing and Li Miaozhen glanced at him sideways and placed their hands on his shoulders.

"Is Senior Sister Zhong still the most obedient? Huaiqing and Miaozhen are too strong-willed," Xu Qi'an muttered to himself, without pausing, using his qi to ignite the paper and recite:

"We are not outside the mausoleum, but inside its gates."

The paper burned to ashes, and a faint, clear light enveloped the four people before they disappeared.

Zhong Li summoned a Law Artifact made of a luminous pearl, which emitted a clear and bright light, illuminating the dark interior of the tomb.

Li Miaozhen glanced back and realized that the four of them had only passed through the tomb gate and hadn't gone deep into the tomb. She couldn't help but frown and say, "Why didn't you just say it was inside the main tomb?"

Is it too wasteful to use Confucian School Law Technique to only enter through one door?

Although they couldn't open the gate openly, nor could they waste time digging a tunnel, Xu Qi'an could simply teleport directly to the main tomb.

Xu Qi'an said resentfully, "You don't care about me at all."

Li Miaozhen: "???"

She quickly realized that Confucian School Law Technique would have a backlash effect, and simply passing through Daoist School would minimize the Law Technique.

If you are teleported directly to the main tomb, passing through various traps and obstacles along the way, the difficulties encountered will be returned to the caster as a backlash.

Zhong Li led the charge, saying, "The late emperor's mausoleum has a total of twelve major mechanisms, seventy-two minor mechanisms, and nine formations. Everyone, stay behind me and don't wander off."

She introduced them as if they were her own treasures.

The Imperial Mausoleum was planned and supervised by the Bureau of Astronomy, and Zhong Li, as the disciple of the Director of the Observatory, was qualified to view the construction drawings of the late emperor's mausoleum.

"Wouldn't it be more dangerous for us to go with her?"

Li Miaozhen questioned in a low voice.

Xu Qi'an waved his hand. "It's alright, just follow her, nothing will happen."

He put the jade pendant given to him by the supervisor into the fragment of the Book of Earth. Now, Xu Qi'an, with the full buff of the Chosen One of the Planes, is able to offset the misfortune brought by the prophet.

After a series of close calls, the four of them, led by Zhong Li, successfully avoided traps and broke through formations, finally arriving at the main tomb.

The main tomb's entrance consisted of two tall, tightly closed stone doors. Xu Qi'an stopped, his lips twitching slightly.

"What's wrong?" Li Miaozhen turned to look at him.

"Nothing much, it's just that I seem to have developed Ancient Tomb Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Xu Qi'an relieved his inner emotions by making sarcastic remarks. "The late emperor's original body can't possibly return to the Ancient Tomb, can it?"

I hope I don't have the bad luck of always having a corpse rise from the coffin when it's opened.

He took a deep breath, pressed his palms against the stone door, his muscles bulged, and pushed the stone door open with force.

The martial artist's instinct for crisis didn't give any warning! Xu Qi'an breathed a sigh of relief and took the lead into the main tomb.

Zhong Li held a luminous pearl in her palm, its clear and bright light illuminating the main tomb and the burial objects such as pillars, clay figurines, and utensils.

Xu Qi'an looked toward the center of the main tomb, where a huge coffin made of sandalwood and edged with white jade stood on a base of black jade.

He placed his palms on the coffin, waited a moment, and, confirming that his powerful intuition had no warning, Xu Qi'an breathed a sigh of relief and slowly pushed the coffin open.

Inside the coffin was a normal-sized sandalwood coffin.

As Zhong Li approached, the scene inside the coffin came into Xu Qi'an's view: a skeleton lay inside the coffin, which was lined with yellow silk.

Li Miaozhen walked to the coffin, examined the skeleton, and recalled the information she had collected about the late emperor before setting off. She said, "Similar height."

He glanced at the pubic bone again and said, "Man."

The presence of skeletal remains inside the coffin indicates that the late emperor truly entered the coffin, rather than faking his death? Li Miaozhen frowned.

The scene before them was not quite what they had expected. In their speculation, the late emperor had first faked his death and been buried, and then secretly lifted the coffin and rose up.

Give me the luminous pearl.

Huaiqing reached out and took the lighting Law Artifact from Zhong Li's palm. Unfazed by the stench of poison emanating from the coffin, she bent down slightly, carefully examining the late emperor's remains. After a long while, a look of realization dawned on her face:

He is not the late emperor.

Xu Qi'an stroked his chin. "What's your basis?"

According to the collected information, the late emperor was a person with all four limbs intact and no skeletal defects. This skeleton is also intact.

In this world lacking advanced equipment and unable to detect DNA, identifying someone with just a glance seems almost impossible to Xu Qi'an.

Huaiqing, holding the luminous pearl, explained with a complex expression:

"His limbs are longer than average. He was a eunuch; eunuchs are castrated at a young age. As an adult, his body is different from that of a normal man. He is taller, but his limbs are slightly deformed, longer than those of a normal man."

Upon closer inspection, Xu Qi'an discovered that the arm bone of this skeleton was indeed unusually long.

What's the principle behind this? Wow, no wonder she's the top female scholar in the Great Feng Dynasty. Although I also have a lot of knowledge about autopsies, there were no eunuchs in my time.

Xu Qi'an said in a low voice, "So, there's nothing left to doubt now."

A monarch possesses auspicious energy and cannot be possessed by an outsider unless the possessor is also an emperor. In other words, the being beneath the dragon vein cannot be a sect leader disguised as the former emperor.

Now that it has been proven that the late emperor's remains are fake, it is now a certainty that the late emperor was the mastermind behind it all.

Huaiqing didn't answer, but said somewhat forlornly, "Let's go."

Xu Qi'an sighed. Yuan Jing was no longer the same Yuan Jing. Perhaps an accident had already happened during the autumn hunt in Nanyuan, or perhaps he had been replaced when he suddenly began cultivating the Dao twenty years ago.

They don't yet know the specific operating methods, but the conclusion is clear.

Outside Yandu.

Pitholes appeared in the ground, emitting wisps of smoke. Soldiers' corpses lay strewn across the ground, their blood seeping into the dark soil.

Nangong Qianrou bent down, grabbed a handful of scalding soil, and dark red blood seeped from between her fingers.

His armor was no longer gleaming, his face was no longer fair and delicate, and his body was covered with knife wounds and sword scars.

Wei Yuan's words before leaving flashed through my mind. "If you don't want to retreat within three days, then the final deadline is six days. On the sixth day, you must leave no matter what."

Today is the sixth day.

PS: Requesting monthly votes. Fun fact: After castration, eunuchs would become stronger and taller, and their lifespan would be longer. Their skeletal development would show slight deformities, the most obvious feature being unusually long arms.

Therefore, if you want to live to be a hundred, you might as well consider permanent surgery!!