" Nüwa?"
Chen Qing held the maid and examined her for a long time, then frowned deeply after confirming that she wasn't carrying a penis. "That shouldn't be the case."
Ugh. What's the point of covering her up, you brat? It's still nothing even if you cover her up!
Chen Qing impatiently pried the crying child's hands apart, looked at her carefully, and after confirming that she was Nüwa, casually tossed her to Chen Ying, who was standing to the side.
Chen Ying hurriedly took the child, and couldn't help but roll her eyes at Chen Qing. How could this guy be so rough with a child? Didn't he see how loudly the child was crying?
Sure enough, after the child left Chen Qing's arms, the crying subsided considerably, and the child stared intently at Chen Qing with wide eyes.
Chen Qing ignored the child and fell into deep thought.
"What are you thinking about?" Wang Ye asked from the side, "Is it surprising that the child is a girl?"
Chen Qing frowned. "You don't know, the Emperor left this bloodline with me, hoping to produce another descendant of the Golden Crow's pure blood. For this, he didn't hesitate to give me this fox as a nominal concubine, even keeping it from the Crown Prince. If he knew it was a Nüwa, he would probably give it up immediately."
"What's wrong?" Wang Ye asked with amusement. "Are you disappointed that you didn't get the chance to help the emperor?"
"I'm not really interested in that," Chen Qing shook her head. "I'm just afraid that if the Crown Prince finds out about this, he'll hold a grudge against me. After all, if it were a boy, His Majesty would protect me, but this is a girl. If His Highness the Crown Prince causes me trouble, I doubt His Majesty will care."
"Do you still need His Majesty to interfere?" Wang Ye asked with a half-smile. If the private armies in Liuzhou City continue to develop like this, they might even become independent warlords.
"Of course," Chen Qing said seriously, "Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger; I'm being very careful."
Wang Ye curled his lip, too lazy to engage in banter with this guy, and said indifferently, "You don't need to worry too much. Although most bloodline families are headed by men, the purity of the bloodline is still the most important. In history, there have been many large families where women occasionally took the lead. The eldest princess back then, who was Fei Jun's mother, if it weren't for His Majesty's sudden appearance, with her pure Golden Crow Bloodline, she would most likely be the current head of the Xiao Household."
"Therefore," Wang Ye glanced at the child Chen Ying was holding, "Even if it's a Nüwa, as long as her bloodline is pure, she still has a chance to seize the throne."
"I see." Chen Qing's face immediately lit up with a smile. She took the child from Chen Ying and, ignoring the baby's loud cries, kept patting her bottom, saying, "Hmm, good girl, good girl!"
Chen Ying: "."
Wang Ye: "Can you tell if it's a human or a demon?"
Chen Qing pursed his lips. "How can you tell when someone is so young? If the King of Qin had been identified as a demon when he was a child, he would have been burned at the stake long ago, okay?"
For some reason, the little girl, who had been crying loudly just moments before, immediately stopped crying as soon as she heard the words "burn to death."
"That's true." Wang Ye nodded. "You need to be careful."
Chen Qing held the child casually, but a strange look appeared in her eyes when she looked at the child.
The Mirror Demon revealed that the child possessed the bloodlines of both the Thousand-Faced Fox and the Golden Crow, making him a true demon. As for his future fortune, it was as unclear as that of the King of Qin before him, with only a vague indication that he possessed the qualities of an emperor.
Just like the King of Qin.
Could he also be a time traveler?
Chen Qing frowned. If there hadn't been so many people, he probably would have already prepared to use the secret code.
"How is the fox?" Chen Qing asked Chen Ying.
"She looks alright," Chen Ying said softly. "The girl who delivered the baby is unconscious now, and I couldn't get any specific details out of her. I also don't know if the so-called Golden Crow Poison she mentioned has been cured."
"Pull them both inside the barrier," Chen Qing said directly. Both Ziyue and A Li, who had lost the Golden Crow Poison, were extremely troublesome.
Wait, A Li?
The name flashed through his mind, causing Chen Qing to frown again. This name always made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
Just as they were pondering, a flash of green light appeared. Everyone looked over and saw it was Murong Yunji, who had just been sent back to Liuzhou City to assess the situation.
"Back so soon?" Chen Qing was taken aback. Even if this guy Divine Wind Technique, wasn't he being a bit too efficient?
Moreover, he had called her back to warn her about the escaped sorcerers causing trouble in Liuzhou. She's back so quickly—has it already begun?
A sinister smile flashed across Chen Qing's lips. Luckily, he was prepared. Once he caught them all, he would skin those scoundrels alive!
"Something's happened!" Murong Yunji said gravely.
"Where in Liuzhou is it? What's the extent of the damage?" Chen Qing asked hurriedly.
Murong Yunji glanced at Chen Qing, then shook her head. "It's not outside Liuzhou, it's outside the barrier of Great Azure Mountain."
"Oh?" Chen Qing chuckled. Did those guys really intend to force their way through the barrier?
That's wonderful! It would take some effort to do this in Liuzhou City, but inside the Azure Dragon Barrier, well...
" Chen Ying, let them in!" Chen Qing sneered.
"Yes," Chen Ying agreed, but was stopped by Murong Yunji just as she was about to sense the barrier. "Those people... are dead!"
"Huh?" Everyone was stunned.
Wang Ye couldn't help but stand up. "What's going on?"
He could sense that if Ziyue was such an unstable being, then the emperor must have had a stable team of sorcerers around Ziyue. How could she have died so suddenly?
"Same as the Lao'er." Murong Yunji said with a gloomy expression.
Upon hearing this, Chen Qing didn't delay any longer. After placing the child in Chen Ying's hands, he immediately activated his Mountain God -level Body Flicker Technique and arrived at the foot of the mountain. He quickly saw the scene Murong Yunji had described.
There were six people in total, their bodies shriveled up inside the large black robes, their deaths gruesome, exactly like Shen Lao'er's— they were completely black, as if all the moisture had been drained from them!
Soon, the other figures arrived. Chen Ying, holding the child, kept a distance, while Wang Ye was the least reserved, almost walking up to examine her face.
"Poison?"
Chen Qing frowned and looked at Wang Ye: "Be careful, some poisons can kill you just because you're not made of flesh and blood."
After all, they haven't even found Shen Lao'er's spirit yet, and Chen Qing even suspects that this poison might be effective against spirits as well.
But if it exists, that would be a bit scary!
"That Ziyue wasn't lying," Murong Yunji said coldly. "They weren't the ones who killed Shen Lao'er."
"But who else could it be?"
Chen Qing was completely baffled. If it wasn't His Majesty's man, could it be the Mr. Five Poisons that A Li had mentioned?
But Mr. Five Poisons had neither the opportunity nor the motive.
After all, according to A Li, the Mr. Five Poisons had initially pledged allegiance to the Xiao Household, so why would he attack someone sent by the emperor?
Or perhaps...
Chen Qing suddenly thought of a possibility.
" Wang Ye."
Wang Ye moved closer. "You're willing to call me by my name again now, it can't be anything good."
"You came here this time not only to fulfill His Majesty's secret order to you, but also to gather intelligence on Nanming Prefecture and Nanyang City, right?"
"Yes," Wang Ye nodded. "I've already been to Nanming Prefecture. Things are basically stable there now, but they can only hold Nanming City and can't go to the surrounding countryside to provide relief like you have. They'll probably request more reinforcements. I'll help you build something here, but there will definitely be reinforcements coming in, so you need to be prepared."
Could you cover it up for me?
Chen Qing immediately beamed and patted Wang Ye on the shoulder. "You're a true brother!"
"You believe me?"
"Of course I believe you!" Chen Qing said confidently. "What kind of relationship do we have? We've been through thick and thin together, and your master even wrote to me asking me to take care of you."
"Aren't you afraid of biting off more than you can chew, yet you're still taking care of me?" Wang Ye sneered, then added, "What were you trying to say when you mentioned Nanming Prefecture and Nanyang City?"
"You haven't been to Nanyang City yet, have you?"
"Yes"
"Did the Ministry of War from the Shen Family come this time, outside of Jiangnan?"
"They're here." Wang Ye said, puzzled. Why had this guy suddenly set his sights on the Shen Family again?
Chen Qing nodded, then turned to Murong Yunji beside her. "Sister-in-law Shen Family, you've been married into the Shen Family for many years, you should know the people in the Shen Family very well, right?"
Murong Yunji frowned upon hearing this. "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know everything," Chen Qing said solemnly. "I want to know the personalities and techniques of the heads of the Shen Family family!"
Murong Yunji remained silent for a while, then finally said, "I only know the general outline."
Tell me about it.
As Murong Yunji explained all twelve of the techniques, Chen Qing's eyes grew brighter and brighter; he now roughly guessed some of the clues.
" Old Wang "
"Don't use random nicknames." Wang Ye frowned. "Get to the point."
"Go back first and tell the Ministry of War that his second brother is dead. Then give him my theory and ask him for a family heirloom. With that he can use it to investigate the Nanyang Shen Family and see if what I said exists. If it does, come to Liuzhou immediately to meet me!"
"What guess? What could possibly make Sixth Master Shen give me his family's token?" Wang Ye asked, his curiosity piqued by the other man's serious expression.
"Come closer to my ear."
--
Outside the blockade of Jiangnan, a group of high-ranking officials anxiously awaited news. Another message from the wooden bird had arrived from Nanming Prefecture, mostly containing good news. For example, Xu Ming and his reinforcements had successfully arrived in Nanming Prefecture. According to Xu Ming, as long as the timing was right and they entered the fog from the entrance closest to Nanming Prefecture, they could reach the Nanming Prefecture within half a day.
They urgently need Wang Ye to come out and confirm this news in person!
But then came bad news: the letter stated that Wang Ye had not returned to the outside of the blockade to report as originally planned, but had instead gone to Liuzhou City!
This caused the generals to frown deeply.
"What is this guy doing going to Liuzhou City at this time?"
"I told you he was unreliable!" one of the stout generals grumbled. "Demons and monsters are all unreliable!"
"Shut up!" Duke of Qin glared at the other party. "Don't talk nonsense. Vice Minister Wang is not a demon. Duke of Song vouched for him. If any of you dare to gossip again, I'll throw you into that river of living corpses!"
The lieutenants immediately shrank back, clearly indicating that the Duke of Qin's power was still considerable.
"The letter said that Wang Ye went to Liuzhou on a mission for His Majesty, and he possessed a gold medal bestowed by His Majesty, which is why Xu Ming did not stop him!"
"At this time, His Majesty still has extra tasks for him?" The others were taken aback, their expressions suddenly becoming somewhat strange.
Among them, the one with the strangest expression was the Crown Prince, who sat silently next to the Duke of Qin.
Liuzhou
This reminded him of the secret note from before.
A member of the royal bloodline is about to be born.
Father's gold medal?
Could it be true?
Thinking of this, the crown prince's face grew even more grim.
"Report!"
Just as everyone was discussing this, a fast ship rapidly approached from afar, and a soldier at the front shouted, " Vice Minister Wang is back!"
Everyone stood up immediately, including the Crown Prince.
He felt he needed to find out from Wang Ye whether his dear father truly had other intentions.