In his previous life, he had been a somewhat well-known game designer. At thirty-one, Tencent had headhunted him for TiMi Studio with a generous salary, where he worked with another very famous designer to develop a new game.
The other designer handled the setting and framework, while he... handled what he did best: monster design!
After Cui Yan died, he had begun to suspect something, because that memory-erasing ability was far too similar to one of the classic monsters he had designed. After all, something as miraculous as transmigration had already happened, so it hardly seemed impossible that his game monsters had transmigrated along with him.
Only when this vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review mentioned Xuanzong and Noble Consort Liu of the previous dynasty did he realize that the monsters had not transmigrated with him. He had transmigrated into the game world he had designed himself!
At the thought, Chen Qing could not help shuddering inside the carriage. If that really was the case, he had been truly lucky to survive safely to adulthood. As their designer, he knew very well just how terrifying those things he had designed were.
And the Thousand-Faced Fox in the case of Xuanzong and Noble Consort Liu ranked among the most dangerous of his creations!
I can't stay any longer. Once I pick up Mother, I'll take the roundabout water route to Youzhou. Even if it delays my taking office, I don't want to go anywhere near the capital now!
Inside the imperial palace, several powerful grand secretaries and founding dukes had gathered in the cramped imperial study after court.
The new dynasty's palace had been hastily built, on a scale far smaller than the previous dynasty's palace in the Heavenly Capital. To finish construction as early as possible, they had cut back wherever they could. Even the imperial study where the emperor worked was scarcely different from a study in an ordinary minister's residence, leaving the dozen or so people inside distinctly crowded.
"What are your views on the matter Wang Ye reported?"
Seated at the head of the study, the sixty-five-year-old founding emperor tapped his fingers against the desk. Spread across it was the memorial Wang Ye had submitted, and the princes, dukes, and senior ministers standing respectfully before him regarded its contents gravely.
Had those things that wreaked havoc upon the mortal world under the previous dynasty returned, only twenty years after the founding?
"Your Majesty, Vice Minister Wang's conjectures all stem from the testimony of that man named Chen Qing. The man later clarified that he had misspoken while drunk. This old minister believes this should simply be a misunderstanding. After all, according to the Record of Strange Tales, that thing could muddle everyone's minds. If nobody remembered that Cui Yan had a wife, why did he alone remember? There was no such exception in the Xuanzong case..."
The elderly emperor glanced at him. Despite his advanced age, his eyes were clear and keen, without the slightest cloudiness one might expect in an old man.
"Better to believe it exists than assume it does not!" the emperor said heavily. "If such a demon truly infiltrates the imperial harem, the consequences will be endless!"
"Your Majesty is right. I failed to consider this thoroughly." The old man who had spoken hurriedly begged forgiveness.
"This subject has something to say..." An exceptionally handsome middle-aged man stepped forward and bowed.
The emperor's expression immediately improved considerably at the sight of him. "What would you like to say, Minister Liu?"
As the emperor addressed that man, everyone else breathed a slight sigh of relief. This middle-aged man was nearly the youngest person in the study, yet he was the one His Majesty relied on most!
Liu Yu, Duke of Song, had been the army's chief strategist, renowned for his brilliant calculations, back when His Majesty was still fighting to conquer the realm. He had performed countless extraordinary deeds. After the dynasty's founding, he had been made Duke of Song and appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Martial Glory, treatment unique even among the founding heroes. With him volunteering to share the pressure, everyone else immediately felt considerably more at ease.
"This humble subject believes Your Majesty is entirely correct. Such a demon could bring endless calamity, and it is better to believe it exists than assume otherwise. However, there is no need to be overly anxious just yet. I believe that thing has not yet infiltrated the palace!"
"Oh?" The emperor raised his eyebrows. "Why do you say that, Minister Liu?"
"Your Majesty, I was quite interested in the Xuanzong incident and studied it carefully, discovering many questionable points. For example, if that demon truly possessed such miraculous powers and could alter other people's memories at will, why did it not simply alter Xuanzong's and the other ministers' memories and take the empress's throne outright? Why would it need the sovereign's favor?"
At these words, everyone present caught on. Indeed, the records said that thing could muddle people's memories without leaving a trace, so miraculously that the minister of rites could acquire a daughter out of thin air. If it was so powerful, why had it not simply made itself empress? If it could directly alter the emperor's and ministers' memories, why go to all that trouble?
"You mean...?" The emperor narrowed his eyes to slits, yet everyone could still clearly see that his pupils had actually turned golden!
Liu Yu's pupils changed as well, becoming a noble, deep purple. As though affected by the change in the emperor's pupils, everyone else in the room revealed unusual eye colors too.
Some were emerald green, some icy blue, and some crimson, but none were the eye colors of normal people!
"This subject believes that demon can affect only the memories of ordinary people!"
"The memories of ordinary people?"
Upon arriving in Liuzhou, the first person Wang Ye visited was not the prefect, but Liuzhou's regional commander, Yuchi Peng.
The towering Yuchi Peng stood nine feet tall, like a bear on its hind legs, utterly out of place among the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in the study. Wang Ye looked more like its owner instead.
Yet the burly man's voice was cultured as he asked politely, "Are you certain, Brother Wang?"
"This is my teacher's conjecture..." Wang Ye said quietly. "The previous dynasty's imperial family possessed the Nine Phoenix Bloodline, and its princes, dukes, and ministers also came from ancient lineages. Only Tao Xinde, the minister of rites, came from humble origins. He was an ordinary person through and through. My teacher suspects that was precisely why the monster chose to become his daughter."
"Oh, if it is Duke of Song's conjecture, it certainly cannot be wrong." The towering Yuchi Peng nodded, then added, "But if that thing cannot alter the memories of people like us, how could it infiltrate the palace? Even when Xuanzong selected consorts back then, surely their backgrounds had to be checked?"
"It must have laid its plans very early!" Wang Ye said quietly. "It infiltrated Minister Tao's household when he was young. If there was nobody like us where Minister Tao lived at the time, it could very well have pulled the wool over everyone's eyes!"
"I see..." Yuchi Peng instantly understood his meaning. People with bloodlines like theirs were very rare. If Minister Tao had served in some remote region when he was young, everyone around him might indeed have been ordinary. Under those circumstances, the monster could naturally have become his daughter, and after Tao Xinde's promotion, she could have followed her father to the capital as a young lady of his household.
"Then... what about those poems?" Yuchi Peng asked again. "How did it deceive everyone in the previous dynasty's Heavenly Capital, full as it was of noble bloodlines?"
"Careful arrangements would suffice!" Wang Ye smiled. "Whenever it attended a poetry gathering, it strictly selected gatherings attended only by ordinary people. Before the gathering ended, it altered everyone's memories and claimed the winning poems as its own, thereby establishing its literary reputation."
"That makes sense, but there is one final question!" Yuchi Peng said solemnly. "If Cui Yan truly had a wife, that means my memories were altered too!"
Wang Ye frowned. The man had served as Liuzhou's regional commander for five years. If Cui Yan had married in Liuzhou during that time, the man before him should not have forgotten.
"That is precisely why I came to you first!" Wang Ye's expression also grew grave. "If your memories were altered too, that means the thing is not completely incapable of altering the memories of those with bloodlines. Perhaps... it simply cannot alter the memories of those with very powerful bloodlines!"
If that was the case... it would be even harder to guard against.
"How much time has His Majesty given you?"
"One month!" Wang Ye sighed. "The crown prince will select a consort in a month. You should know what that means!"
Yuchi Peng drew in a breath. His Majesty was already advanced in years, yet his sons were not very old. The stronger the bloodline, the harder it was to have offspring. With those who had previously died in battle taken into account, the current crown prince was only seventeen, still of an age when he had yet to marry.
And yet, when the imperial family married, they would not intermarry with other bloodline families, in order to ensure the purity of their bloodline. They wanted only daughters from ordinary families.
"By killing Third-Ranked Scholar Cui, that thing has already lost its chance to lay its plans slowly. But it still has ways to slip into the crown prince's consort selection," Wang Ye said quietly. "For example... killing some minister's daughter and replacing her outright. That way... it would only need to alter that family's memories..."
Yuchi Peng nodded as well. "Young ladies rarely appear in public. If it chooses carefully, it may well have a chance to pass off a fish eye as a pearl!"
"That makes it all the more important to find that monster as soon as possible!"
"That will not be easy..." Yuchi Peng shook his head with a wry smile. "If it really is that thing, it is a fish in the ocean. How do we find it?"
"The Huang Household!"
"The Huang Household?" Yuchi Peng paused. "You mean... Old Master Huang?"
"You should know..." Wang Ye said quietly. "The Huang Household are not ordinary people either!"
"That I do know..." Yuchi Peng frowned. "But if that thing can deceive me, it is not impossible that it could deceive the Huang Household too. Besides, we are not even certain yet whether that thing has appeared. Old Master Huang is a great Confucian scholar of our age. You cannot act recklessly without evidence!"
"I know that..." Wang Ye smiled. "So... I sent someone to sound him out first."
"Oh?" Yuchi Peng immediately grew curious. "You have someone who can sound out Old Master Huang? Who?"
"A... very interesting young man."
"Ah..." On West Street in Liuzhou, Chen Qing had already reached Master Huang's front door, his face helpless. He truly did not want to get dragged into this damned mess...
This new book has just sprouted. If any esteemed readers passing by think it is decent, please add it to your favorites to show your support. The author bows in thanks once again.