magnificent palace

Cuishan is named because the trees on the mountain are lush and green all year round.

Arriving at the south side, they immediately saw the conspicuous big tree. They walked around the tree but did not see the cave where the old beggar said the body was hidden.

Xiao Ze squatted down and took another closer look. Suddenly, he found a very subtle circular mark somewhere, about a meter in diameter. After removing all the surface cover, a formation diagram appeared.

"Senior Brother, here!" Su Qingjun rushed over after hearing the voice.

"This formation is more like a way to seal resentment." Su Qingjun said after looking at it carefully.

"Then it seems this is the place the old beggar was talking about."

There was a lot of resentment here, and the consequences of opening it rashly were unpredictable, so the two of them covered up the formation again. After the murderer was caught, they would go find the people from the Big Buddha Temple to save these resentful souls.

Since so many corpses were placed here, the place where the crime was committed should be not far from here.

The two searched around carefully, trying to find any clues left by those people.

Nothing was found.

Xiao Ze felt uncomfortable bending over and lowering his head for a long time. He stood up and stretched, and was about to continue when he suddenly saw a big tree with dense branches and leaves above his head.

Looking up and walking around the tree trunk, Xiao Ze had a bold idea in his mind.

"Brother, does this look like a teleportation array?"

Su Qingjun heard the sound and came over to look at the branches above his head.

The branches are intertwined and the leaves are mixed. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary tree, but if you look closely, it seems that the tree has been carefully trimmed.

"It does look like a teleportation array." Su Qingjun confirmed.

"Then please wait a moment, Senior Brother. I think I've seen this teleportation array somewhere before. I think it should be possible to break it."

"Okay." Su Qingjun stepped aside and watched Xiao Ze expand the formation onto the ground bit by bit.

"I understand." After adding the final touch to the formation diagram on the ground, Xiao Ze also found a way to crack and activate the formation.

"Brother, should we go to where it was teleported now?"

Su Qingjun thought for a moment and said, "I can go."

"Why? This is my mission. Besides, wouldn't it be more dangerous for you to go alone, brother?"

"You also know the danger. I am already in the Nascent Soul stage now. If I encounter danger, it will be easier for me to extricate myself." Su Qingjun said.

"I still think it's inappropriate." Xiao Ze disagreed: "If we go together, at least we can look after each other. Besides, I will be very careful after we go in." Xiao Ze argued.

Su Qingjun wanted to refuse, but Xiao Ze made the final decision: "It's decided."

Su Qingjun moved her lips but said nothing more. She just took out her Qiankun bag, rummaged through it, and took out a jade pendant and hung it on Xiao Ze's waist.

"Hmm? What is this?" Xiao Ze touched it curiously. It was icy and didn't look like a very common thing.

"It's to hide the aura." Su Qingjun explained.

"Thank you, senior brother." Every time Su Qingjun found something good, he didn't know how to hide it and just stuffed it all to himself.

I've lived for so many years, but this is the first time I've seen such a fool.

Without thinking any more, Xiao Ze destroyed the traces of the formation on the ground, pulled Su Qingjun to stand under the tree canopy, and activated the formation.

A flash of white light appeared before their eyes, and they arrived in an unfamiliar place.

What's before my eyes is a huge, palace?!

Where is this place and why is there a palace?

Moreover, judging from its scale, it looks like the residence of a royal family member.

So which royal person came to Taiping City specifically to kidnap all the beggars in the city?

The teleportation array should have sent them to the main gate. There were eight large characters on the pillars at the gate. On the left was "Teaching and Educating People" and on the right was "Becoming Talented and Establishing a Career". There was no horizontal plaque.

Look at these words, this is a school? Who would invest so much money to build a school that looks like a palace?

Xiao Ze and the other person looked around and found that it was empty. There were no other buildings and the ground was bare. It felt like the only thing here was this palace.

After confirming that there were no ambushes or suspicious people around, the two men became alert and carefully walked into the palace with the door open.

As soon as I walked in, I saw the second door. On the wall next to the door was a big word "Ren", and on the right side of the door was a simple explanation of the word "Ren".

Beyond the second door is the third door with the word "Wisdom" written on it.

There is also a door on each of the left and right walls behind the third door. I walked in and took a look. The left side looked like an exquisitely built garden, and the right side was a place for practicing riding, archery, etc., with complete facilities.

Continuing forward, I came across the last door with the word "Li" written on it.

When you walk in, you will see a rather majestic building. There is a small door on each side, leading to the garden and the practice ground respectively.

From a distance, they could see people gathering in the building in front of them, but they all had their backs to the door, so Xiao Ze and the others couldn't tell who they were.

Just as he was about to go closer to take a look, Xiao Ze was suddenly grabbed by Su Qingjun and hid in the garden through the small door on the left.

Not long after, light footsteps were heard, about thirty or forty meters away from the two people's current position. Xiao Ze secretly sighed at the strength of the Nascent Soul stage in his heart. He was afraid that Su Qingjun had already noticed the two people when they just entered the gate.

When the footsteps got closer, the two of them didn't even dare to breathe.

There were two people coming. One of them had a low level of cultivation, at most he was only at the Qi Refining stage. But the other one either hid his aura or had a higher level of cultivation than Xiao Ze, so he could not be detected.

Xiao Ze turned his head to look at Su Qingjun on his left, only to see that the man was concentrating on looking at the door. If that man really discovered the two of them, he would be able to counterattack immediately.

Judging from Su Qingjun's performance, it seems that the man's cultivation is really unfathomable. It is better not to act rashly.

Only after the two men approached the hall did Xiao Ze breathe a sigh of relief.

He patted Su Qingjun's waist gently, but he didn't expect that person to react so strongly. He turned around and grabbed Xiao Ze's hand.

Xiao Ze was startled by his reaction, and then immediately realized that this person must be ticklish.

He pointed to the small door leading from the garden to an area in front, and Su Qingjun immediately understood what he meant.

After careful consideration, they felt that they would not be discovered, so they carefully came to the left side of the palace.

There are many rooms here. Looking through the open window, I can see that the rooms are full of beds and bedding. They should be where the abducted people live.

The two estimated the distance and walked to the small door of the "dormitory area" closest to the palace, so that they could clearly see what was happening in a corner inside.

The two people who just came should be the controllers here. The one with lower cultivation level sat on the luxurious chair on the platform, and the other stood on his right.

There were crowds of people kneeling at the bottom of the stairs.

No, after seeing the profile of some people clearly, Xiao Ze suddenly realized that these people were not adults at all, but more like children who were only thirteen or fourteen years old at most.

I heard from an old beggar before that there were only adult bodies in the pit, so it seems that all the abducted children should be here.

I don’t know what the people above are saying, but the children below are all very scared.

Xiao Ze could even clearly see that the child closest to him was shaking all over, but he just bit his lips to prevent himself from making any sound.

After a while, the lecture ended, and then a person came down, passing by each child, occasionally hitting them with his hands or feet.

Xiao Ze and Su Qingjun were both stunned.

This person was no one else but Chen Zheng, the head of the Chen family whom both of them had met!

It was Chen Zheng who kidnapped these beggars, but what was he going to do by kidnapping them?

It looks like a school has been built for these children and teachers have been hired to teach them.

But if he really meant well, why did he beat and scold these children, and how do you explain those people in the corpse pit who died with their eyes open?

Xiao Ze just felt that his mind was in a mess.

When he turned around, Su Qingjun frowned slightly, and the murderous aura around him was about to be revealed.

Su Qingjun should be able to hear clearly what happened in the hall, but he could only hear vague voices.

After an unknown amount of time, Xiao Ze felt his feet and legs were numb from standing, and then Chen Zheng and the mysterious man left.

After noticing that the two had already left through the teleportation array, Su Qingjun said, "They've left."

Xiao Ze took a deep breath and said, "Finally, I'm leaving. I'm so tired from standing."

Seeing Su Qingjun's still solemn expression, he asked, "Brother, did you hear what Chen Zheng said in the hall?"

Su Qingjun nodded. "Chen is controlling these children's minds, making them regard him as a kind of faith. He started out teaching them like a loving elder, but then he suddenly went crazy and started criticizing their recent behavior, calling them lowly and stupid, and even beating them."

"Is Chen Zheng mentally ill?" Xiao Ze said seriously, "Supporting these beggar children to go to school should be a good thing, but why does he seem to be seeking revenge? These children shouldn't have committed any crime against him, right?"

It seems that the real reason can only be asked from Chen Zheng himself.

Chen Zheng should not have noticed any trace of the two men. They just need to wait for them to go out and then return to Chen Mansion to capture Chen Zheng.

But the mysterious man next to Chen Zheng is indeed a bit tricky.

But the most urgent task is to rescue these children and send them to a safe place to prevent Chen Zheng from sending anyone to harm them again.

After Chen Zheng left, the children lined up and walked neatly to the area on the right side of the hall. Two adults entered the "dormitory area" on the left.

Su Qingjun and Xiao Ze looked at each other, and when the two turned their backs and walked towards the dormitory, they attacked together, knocked the two men unconscious, and then tied them up with ropes specially used to tie up monks.

Xiao Ze also cast a silencing spell and a stilling spell on them to ensure they would be foolproof.

Seeing that there were no one in the hall, the two of them walked through the hall and came to where the children were.

The children lined up in an orderly manner, holding bowls and chopsticks, waiting for the people in front of them to serve them food.

It turns out that this place is a "canteen".

Su Qingjun originally planned to go forward and knock out the only two adults present, but was stopped by Xiao Ze.

"Let's wait until they finish their meal." Xiao Ze said in a whisper.

The two looked at the children in the yard. There was not a fat one among them. Those who got the food devoured it greedily, while those who had not yet gotten their turn stared at the food, looking extremely hungry.

After all the children finished their meal, the two people who were supposed to pick them up and take them back to the dormitory had not arrived yet.

Of course not. Those two are probably still unconscious now.

The two people who were serving the rice were getting a little impatient, so they walked to the small door and looked out, but were knocked unconscious by Xiao Ze and Su Qingjun with a knife each.

After the same treatment, the two were thrown somewhere randomly.

All the children in the yard opened their eyes wide in fear, but still kept their mouths tightly shut, not daring to make a sound.