14 Past Events (Part 3)

◎It really was him. And it was actually her!◎

Qi Feng was momentarily stunned. They found it just like that? It was truly an effortless find.

"What you mean, senior brother, is that the beauty that the passerby was talking about just now is Ran Qinghe."

"Why are you so certain, senior brother?"

Lou Tinglan wanted to say that Ran Qinghe had feelings for him, so she must have seen through the fact that the imperial advisor was an imposter, which is why she stepped in to help and beat up the imperial advisor.

But he found it difficult to speak to Qi Feng, so he only vaguely said, "It's not certain yet, why don't we go into the palace and investigate?"

Qi Feng pondered and said, "Senior brother, you have never been to the mortal realm before, so you probably don't know that the imperial city is heavily guarded by imperial guards, and that high-level techniques like the Concealment Technique consume a great deal of spiritual energy."

The spiritual energy in the mortal realm is scarce, only enough to support cultivators to use low-level spells like ordinary cleansing techniques. There is no source of spiritual energy in the lower realms, and once the spiritual energy in the dantian is exhausted, it becomes impossible to use high-level spells.

Lou Tinglan nodded. They still needed to investigate the matter of the Mirror of Past Lives during their descent to the mortal realm. If they exhausted their spiritual energy in the early stages, the subsequent tasks would likely be fraught with difficulties.

*

"Your Majesty, should I go to the small kitchen and have someone make some more jujube paste pastries?"

Ran Qinghe took the last bite of the pastry, patted the crumbs off her fingertips, and declined, saying, "No need." She just didn't want to waste it.

"Will Your Majesty still go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation today to accompany His Majesty in reviewing memorials?"

"No need."

Ran Qinghe refused again, because what she was looking for was not in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Her purpose in coming to the mortal realm was, firstly, to evade the pursuit of the Discipline Hall. She had anticipated that the old man of the Discipline Hall wouldn't let her off so easily, so while on the immortal ship, she secretly drew a puppet talisman to replace herself under the guise of resting with her eyes closed, and placed a sound transmission talisman on Lou Tinglan's chest to monitor his movements. Sure enough, the old man started talking about sin points and merit points. Seeing that things were going badly, she immediately fled to the mortal realm.

In the mortal realm, cultivators would be restricted in their actions, and she refused to believe that Lou Tinglan would still be able to find her under such circumstances.

Secondly, the Mirror of Past Lives, which she had been searching for, was finally found. The Mirror of Past Lives was once a supreme treasure of Qingxiao. Cultivators could use the Mirror of Past Lives to travel back in time and recreate past events from an observer's perspective, thereby seeking the truth of the past.

When she was in Qingxiao, she originally planned to steal the Mirror of Past Lives when she left. To this end, she went to great lengths to forge a fake Mirror of Past Lives.

Unexpectedly, when she tried to steal the secret again, the Mirror of Past Lives had already been taken away. Helpless, she could only casually destroy a spiritual vein and leave.

But even the best horses can stumble. She destroyed the spiritual vein and then ran into Lou Zhen, one of the seven elders of the Discipline Hall, and ended up in the Tower of Heaven Prison.

Fortunately, when she first found the Mirror of Past Lives, she placed an inconspicuous location spell on it, and now the spell shows that the Mirror of Past Lives is in the imperial city of the mortal realm.

I originally thought that getting into the imperial city would take some effort.

Unexpectedly, on the very day she descended to the mortal realm, she encountered the emperor at the Yuexian Restaurant and was taken back to the palace by him.

When Ran Qinghe attained enlightenment, it was still the previous dynasty. In fact, only five years had passed, and the mortal realm had already changed dynasties. The current emperor, Shen Zihuai, whose personal name was Jingming, had already ascended the throne at the young age of twenty.

Although he only reigned for a short year, the literati and scholars in the tavern all praised him as a rare benevolent ruler who reduced corvée labor, reformed taxes, purified the officialdom, and quelled rebellions.

Ran Qinghe shook her head, thinking to herself, "That's not the case."

Because, the moment Emperor Jingming Shen Zihuai saw her, he was captivated by her appearance.

When she descended to the mortal realm, she missed the taste of fine wine and unconsciously came to this restaurant and ordered a pot of "Beauty's Intoxication" to drink by herself.

Unexpectedly, even in the capital city, right under the emperor's nose, some纨绔子弟 (sons of wealthy families) came forward to flirt with her. She always accepted people who offered themselves up, so there was no reason for her to refuse.

She lashed out with her long whip, swung it around the man, and flung it toward the door, only to have it hit a young nobleman who had just stepped inside.

His guards drew their swords and chopped down the纨绔 (wan ku, a spoiled young man), but he stepped over the纨绔's fingers, waved his paper fan, and walked to her table.

He smiled slightly and asked, "May I ask your name, young lady?"

She took a sip of the Beauty's Wine, "Ran Qinghe."

His smile dimmed slightly, but quickly returned to normal. Then, in abrupt yet polite manner, he asked her if she would like to come to the palace with him.

This person was none other than Emperor Jingming, Shen Zihuai, who had been on the throne for only a year.

Just when she was about to fall asleep, someone offered her a pillow. Ran Qinghe was pondering how to sneak into the imperial city to find the Mirror of Past Lives when someone delivered themselves to her door. Regardless of the person's intentions, she smiled and agreed.

Even more so, the very next day, disregarding the objections of his ministers, Shen Zihuai hastily bestowed upon her the title of imperial concubine. She scoffed, saying that he was nothing more than an ordinary person easily seduced by beauty, despite his supposed benevolence.

Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, she had taken the opportunity of grinding ink to release her spiritual sense and search the entire place, but there was no trace of the Mirror of Past Lives.

Just as she was about to abandon her identity as Consort Rong and leave the palace to search, she suddenly bumped into the Imperial Advisor on the way back to the palace.

A glimpse from afar revealed her familiarity, and upon closer inspection, her thin, slightly pursed lips, a red mole between her brows, and a cool, indifferent demeanor were virtually identical to Lou Tinglan's.

She immediately realized that perhaps the Discipline Hall had secretly placed some kind of binding spell on her, which was why "Lou Tinglan" was following her like a persistent ghost.

She jumped off the palanquin and struck first, but to her surprise, "Lou Tinglan" acted as if he didn't recognize her at all, and took the blow from her whip. The palace servants beside her were terrified and knelt down to apologize. From them, she learned that this person was not Lou Tinglan, but the current Grand Preceptor of the Great Ming Dynasty.

The Mirror of Past Lives couldn't be activated without spiritual power, and coincidentally, she sensed spiritual energy fluctuations on the Imperial Preceptor. This meant that the Imperial Preceptor wasn't a pretentious fraudster who only knew how to draw talismans, but was indeed a cultivator from the realm.

Therefore, she once again cast her suspicious gaze upon the Imperial Preceptor, wondering if the Mirror of Past Lives might be in his hands.

She pondered for a long time, then took the handkerchief offered by the maid Mingluan. While washing her hands, she casually asked, "I heard that His Majesty holds discussions with the Imperial Preceptor in the Hall of Mental Cultivation every day at 5 PM."

Mingluan replied, "It's just past Shenshi (3-5 PM), and there's still half an hour before the Imperial Preceptor and His Majesty's meeting. If Your Highness wishes to go, this servant will now help you with your hair and makeup."

Ran Qinghe pretended to yawn with tears in her eyes: "No need, you can go now. I'm going to sleep. I'm a light sleeper. Give the order that no one is allowed to come in and disturb me."

Mingluan withdrew, carrying the copper basin and towel.

Ran Qinghe, who had just said she was going to sleep, suddenly changed her tired expression, changed out of her elaborate palace dress, used a magic trick to change her appearance, and then jumped down from the carved wooden window to avoid the palace servants.

The Imperial Preceptor's residence is located in Yanwu Lane in the east of the city. If she times her departure from the palace well, she should be able to arrive at the residence when the Imperial Preceptor leaves for the Hall of Mental Cultivation. In this way, she will have ample time to find the Mirror of Past Lives.

She couldn't believe that a cultivator with spiritual power would have no connection whatsoever with this Mirror of Past Lives.

Using advanced concealment techniques requires a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, and by the time she arrived at the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion, most of her spiritual energy in her dantian had been depleted. This is precisely why most cultivators are unwilling to descend to the mortal realm; spiritual energy is limited in the mortal world, and if it weren't for mission restrictions, cultivators from the upper realm would never come to this mortal world to invite trouble.

The Imperial Preceptor's residence was much smaller than other officials' residences. There was only one pavilion and rockery in the garden, and the rest of the scenery consisted of a large area of ​​monotonous sky-blue delphiniums planted in the courtyard.

It was already late autumn, yet the larkspur was still blooming as if it were early spring.

Ran Qinghe flipped over the white wall of the mansion and walked in, only to find that the petals of each larkspur were supported by spiritual energy, maintaining a lush appearance. The Imperial Preceptor really had a lot of leisure to spend so much spiritual energy to cultivate a bunch of useless wildflowers.

She was casting a spell to absorb the spiritual energy from the petals and fill her empty dantian with spiritual energy, but in an instant, she abandoned the idea. Oh well, the flower was beautiful. If she absorbed the spiritual energy, not only would she destroy the flower, but she would also confirm that someone had broken into the courtyard.

At that moment, on the other side of the Imperial Preceptor's residence, Qi Feng and Lou Tinglan also climbed over the wall together.

Qi Feng said, "When I was investigating in the lower realm, I noticed that the Imperial Preceptor would enter the palace every day at 5 PM. I mistakenly thought it was my senior brother and overlooked this strange behavior. Now it seems there must be something fishy about it."

Lou Tinglan also said, "If we confront the Grand Preceptor directly, we will surely alert him. We do not know the extent of the Grand Preceptor's cultivation, so it would be better to start by attacking from his side."

"In any case, let's explore this Imperial Preceptor's residence first; we might be able to find traces of the Mirror of Past Lives."

The two turned over and came in, where a large patch of larkspur came into view.

It's no wonder the two of them were suspicious. Although larkspur wasn't a rare flower, the kind that grew in the mortal realm was just a common pale blue flower. But the pale blue petals on the Imperial Preceptor's property were almost transparent, and they were exactly the same as the larkspur growing in the valley at the border between the Discipline Hall and the Azure Cloud Sect.

Is the Imperial Preceptor either Qingxiao or a disciple of the Discipline Hall?

The two exchanged glances, temporarily suppressing their doubts, and stealthily made their way to the room where the Grand Preceptor was staying.

Meanwhile, Ran Qinghe's investigation yielded no results. There was not a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation from the Mirror of Past Lives in the entire Imperial Preceptor's Mansion. It was truly strange, as the location spell she cast clearly told her that the Mirror of Past Lives was located in this imperial city.

But with the emperor and the imperial advisor, the two biggest suspects, eliminated, are we going to have to investigate everyone else one by one?

As she pondered, her released spiritual sense suddenly detected a fluctuation.

Someone's here!

She cast a concealment spell and hid behind the bed curtains. At the same time, the inner room door was pushed open, and two men, one in black and one in white, entered. In the dim moonlight, there was an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, like the Black and White Impermanence. Ran Qinghe quietly observed the movements of the two impermanences.

Although "White Impermanence" was of a higher realm than her, he did not release his spiritual sense, and judging from his unstable aura, he must be injured. "Black Impermanence," on the other hand, released his spiritual sense, but his realm was still below hers, so he could not break her concealment technique.

"Bai Wuchang Lou Tinglan" said, "Everything in the inner room is normal, with no trace of spiritual energy. The Imperial Preceptor should not have used any forbidden techniques here."

"Black Impermanence Qi Feng" said, "I have also investigated, and there is no trace of the spiritual power of the Mirror of Past Life."

The Mirror of Past Lives? Ran Qinghe keenly caught this key word; these two had also come for the Mirror of Past Lives.

Undeterred, Qi Feng searched around and said, "Is it possible that the Imperial Preceptor cast some kind of spell on the Mirror of Past Lives to hide its traces?"

As he searched around, just as he approached the bed curtains, a long whip silently hooked around his neck from the shadows. In the blink of an eye, he was tightly bound and immobilized by a spell.

A breeze from outside the window lifted one side of the curtain, revealing her profile in the moonlight, while the other half remained hidden in the shadows: "What are you looking for?"

Lou Tinglan had already drawn his sword, Tranquilizing Heart, pointing it at her forehead, and said coldly, "Let him go. Your cultivation level is below mine, and I am unwilling to harm him."

But what annoyed Ran Qinghe the most was that someone said she was weaker than others. She tightened her grip and increased the force by three points, threatening, "Release them? Of course, but tell me, what are you looking for?"

She had a gut feeling that the two of them must know something else about the Mirror of Forgotten Past.

Even though he was being tightly strangled, Qi Feng still had the mind to tease, "Miss, take it easy, my neck is very fragile."

Lou Tinglan presented a disciple's token and replied, "We are disciples of the Discipline Hall, acting on orders. As for the contents, we cannot disclose them."

Ran Qinghe narrowed her eyes. This tone seemed somewhat familiar to her. The disciples of the Discipline Hall were always stubborn, so she probably couldn't get any useful information out of them.

She immediately flung the hostage, who was held in the whip, away, the tip of the whip tentatively striking Lou Tinglan's chest, and then leaped out of the wooden window.

As she was leaving, she caught a glimpse of Lou Tinglan clutching his chest and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Ran Qinghe climbed over the courtyard wall again, and sure enough, it was him.

Lou Tinglan wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. It was her!