The abducted imperial consorts had long since been frightened out of their wits. They could not even spare a thought for straightening their clothes or hair, hurriedly lining up and looking pitifully at Chen Qing.
Clearly, they feared that this young scholar would mistake them for someone else and cause His Majesty to burn them alive!
Chen Qing stepped forward slowly. Mr. Bai frowned deeply, looking at him in some puzzlement.
He had not joined that side from the outset. He owed the Thousand-Faced Fox a great karmic debt, and only after being approached in secret, along with certain other factors, had he switched sides at the last minute.
He had little information at his disposal, but this young fellow named Chen Qing was the one he had heard about most lately.
This boy had been unaffected by A Li's illusions, forcing her to change her plans at the last minute. He had saved Wang Ye in Liuzhou and seen through Painted Skin Mister, and now, with A Li on the verge of success, he had forcibly stopped the final step, like a nemesis sent by heaven!
But even so, he was very curious. How would this young fellow find A Li?
The Thousand-Faced Fox could do more than manipulate memories. She could use human skins to assume a thousand faces, with not the slightest discrepancy in bone structure or mannerisms, indistinguishable even to the closest family. That was where the name Thousand-Faced Fox came from.
Strange though this boy was, he was still a mortal. Even the emperor, who now possessed the purest Golden Crow Bloodline, could not find A Li. What made this boy capable of finding her?
Was he relying on Mr. Mirror?
He had heard about Mr. Mirror as well, but Mr. Mirror had been placed under a spell restriction and could not help him...
Chen Qing looked at the consorts and took a deep breath. This time, it was a physical deep breath: quite plainly, he stood before a consort and tried hard to smell something.
Just like that, one, then two. Each time he stopped before a consort, less than half a meter away, Chen Qing carefully drew in a breath and sniffed. It had to be said that his actions looked rather sleazy.
Both Mr. Bai and the emperor looked slightly odd. If the situation had not been so grave, wouldn't this boy's behavior have amounted to molesting the imperial consorts?
Finally, while sniffing the fourth consort, Chen Qing stopped and carefully sniffed a second time before a consort dressed in blue.
The emperor's eyes flashed, and he stared fixedly at the blue-robed consort.
Noble Consort Feng, one of the four noble consorts, the eldest daughter of the Minister of Revenue and the youngest of the four. Four months ago, she had been diagnosed as pregnant, but the grand court sorcerer had personally taken her pulse and confirmed that the child was a girl!
That had also made her the least valued among the noble consorts now.
The emperor was puzzled. Had the enemy chosen this one? If the aim was to make him hesitate to strike, wouldn't impersonating a consort carrying a boy have been better?
While he puzzled over it, Chen Qing had already come to a stop. He stared at her for a quarter of an hour before finally bowing. "Long time no see, Sister-in-law Cui!"
Hearing this, the other consorts scattered as though fleeing snakes and scorpions. The noble consort dressed in blue, meanwhile, shed her feigned panic and scrutinized the young fellow who had recognized him with an intensely curious gaze.
"Where is the crown prince?" The emperor clenched his fists, struggling to control the flames behind him and keep his anger from swallowing him whole.
Facing that flaming monster, which seemed capable of melting space itself, the woman did not so much as lift her eyelids. She continued looking curiously at Chen Qing.
"How did you find me?"
A Li was, in fact, no stranger to Chen Qing. She had been married to Cui Yan for two years, and especially during the past half year or more of preparing for the examinations in the capital, this boy had come to their place to cadge meals almost every day.
She had never seen that this man... possessed such ability!
"The Thousand-Faced Fox carries a fox fragrance. Especially after eating hearts and livers, that fragrance becomes extremely strong. To avoid exposing this weakness, whenever the Thousand-Faced Fox eats hearts and livers, she bathes in special herbs, leaving a medicinal fragrance on her..."
The woman froze, looking at Chen Qing with incomprehension in her eyes. Such an intimate secret had been buried deep by generations of the Thousand-Faced Fox. How did she know?
Why did he... know everything?
Chen Qing's eyes were complicated too. Of course he knew. After designing the Thousand-Faced Fox back then, he had practically scratched his head bald trying to come up with a weakness, day and night, before finally deciding to work through certain habits.
"You... who exactly are you?"
The Thousand-Faced Fox could not help drawing closer, reaching a hand toward Chen Qing. "Why do you know about reincar-"
But before that hand could reach him, a fierce golden gleam flashed past, and the fox demon's arm instantly flew into the sky amid pink blood!
A Li's gaze went blank. As her arm was severed, her features changed rapidly. The next moment, a face of indescribable, breathtaking beauty appeared, instantly making even the air sweet and fragrant.
Even standing at the pinnacle of bloodline powerhouses, even filled with the rage of losing his beloved, the emperor froze for a second at that instant!
In that single second, the colors around them suddenly dimmed. A horse's neigh came from behind, followed immediately by a great saber wreathed in black flames.
"Just in time!!" The emperor's dazed expression vanished instantly. With a savage laugh, he seized barehanded the black-flamed saber whose blade radiance stretched nearly ten meters!
The collision lasted only an instant before the golden flames swallowed the black ones. The great saber melted outright, as though it had touched the surface of the sun!
The burly man in black armor who came flying in on a Ghost Horse grunted. Without hesitation, he used his left hand to sever his right arm, which was about to melt in an instant, then leaped past that terrifying being wrapped in golden flames and scooped up the fox demon, who had likewise lost an arm. With a neigh from the Ghost Horse, the Yin-Yang Road opened once more!
"Liu Yu!!"
The emperor roared. The next instant, waves of white light rose, and countless intricate runes surrounded the great hall. Then, with a force that warped space, they forcibly propped open the Yin-Yang Road just as it was about to close!
"Your Majesty, go!!" A white-clad figure flashed past. Liu Yu charged into the distorted Yin-Yang Road first, and without hesitation, the emperor flew in after him, trailing dazzling flames!
As the two vanished into the distortion, the brilliant effects of the various spells and the dazzling golden flames disappeared as well, leaving Chen Qing standing there in a daze.
Since Liu Yu had not come in, he had known the man certainly was not idling. So he had been waiting for the ghost general who controlled the Ghost Horse to make a move to rescue her.
He recognized that ghost general by his appearance too: Mountain Ghost, one of the four great ghost generals. Like Ghost Child, he could control Ghost Horses and travel between yin and yang...
He did understand the pair's calculations. Only this way would they have a chance to rescue the crown prince.
Although the crown prince had been robbed of his primal yang, he had, after all, successfully inherited the bloodline. Recovery through recuperation was not impossible, and he was clearly a more dependable prospect than those unborn children.
But...
Chen Qing swallowed and blankly looked at Mr. Origami, who was also looking at him a short distance away. Chen Qing felt like he had been screwed by a dog!
You... could at least have left something behind to protect me...
Mr. Bai also stared blankly at Chen Qing. The two remained in this strange silence, looking at each other for nearly half a quarter of an hour...
At last, the other man moved first.
Watching the white-faced strange man approach step by step, Chen Qing broke out in a cold sweat and kept backing away.
The five great demon artisans were technical types of monsters. They were not strong fighters, but that did not mean they had no fighting ability. Dealing with a mortal like him, who had never even killed a chicken, would still be very easy.
"S-sir..." Chen Qing could not help giving in. "I was only acting under orders..."
Mr. Bai did not stop. Instead, step by step, he forced Chen Qing into a corner, studying him closely without blinking, as though examining some rare curiosity.
"Sir... you... what are you doing?"
"You know about reincarnation?"
Chen Qing: "..."
He had known the man would want to ask about this!
Certain special demons and ghosts in this world were undying and indestructible. The Thousand-Faced Fox and the five great demon artisans were all among them. Their origins were unique: they were spiritual beings of heaven and earth formed from the desires of all living beings in the mortal world.
Even if they died, they would be born anew decades or centuries later. As long as those desires remained in the world, they were eternal.
The Thousand-Faced Fox represented mortal lust and had passed through many generations. That was why Mr. Origami was willing to help her, because in essence, the previous Thousand-Faced Fox and the current one were the same existence.
Because of their unique nature, demons and ghosts like them took extreme care to hide the secret of their reincarnation. They shared a tacit understanding and never revealed it to outsiders. Especially after humans began keeping written records, they became even more careful, doing everything they could to stay out of human records and destroy any records concerning themselves.
"I am quite certain..." Mr. Origami gazed at Chen Qing darkly. "Beings like us would never expose our greatest secret. It has always been so throughout the long ages. Yet this secret still leaked!"
Chen Qing shrank into the corner, inwardly cursing every one of Liu Yu's ancestors. The man looked so wise, yet couldn't he have taken him into account when making his plans? Was he really so insignificant?
This fellow most likely wanted to silence him. After all, to them, reincarnation was the secret they least wanted exposed!
Yet what the man said next took him completely by surprise!
"You, and the King of Qin. I am actually very curious... how... did you find out?"
Chen Qing: "..."
The King of Qin??