Facing each other

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Yan'an looked towards her bedroom reluctantly and then left.

After the cross departed, two eunuchs stepped forward to lead the way. Taking the opportunity to relieve himself, Imperial Physician Zhang switched places with a similarly built eunuch standing nearby. Only after being led through several alternating identities by pre-arranged personnel did Cha Suxun finally approach the hall where her coffin lay.

Because Axun was too tall and straight, and unlike them, he could not shrink his bones, so he could only hunch his back and lower his body as much as possible to appear shorter, pretending to be a eunuch and waiting outside the inner hall.

Every six hours, the head of the guard would personally lead a relief shift, ensuring the night watchmen were fully refreshed and checking for any anomalies. They were waiting for this opening. They only had one chance; failure was a sure thing.

At midnight, the head official arrived with his men to relieve the guards, followed by two monks, one tall and one short, chanting sutras from the State Temple. However, before entering the palace, the news brought back by Weisheng's spies had not mentioned that there would be two more monks chanting sutras tonight.

As the head monk passed by, Cha Suxun looked up to see if there were any signs of unenlightened status on the two monks. Raising her eyes slightly, Cha Suxun's gaze met the head monk's. She surveyed him for a long moment, her gaze tinged with suspicion.

The constant glances she sent him made it difficult for Cha Suxun to observe the two monks from the National Temple, making it impossible to fully determine whether they were friends or foes. Without anyone beside him, Cha Suxun felt somewhat isolated and helpless, and could only wait.

The imperial physician diagnosed Yuanli with a homemade poison, called Bishuitian, a slow-acting but deadly poison. Fortunately, the poison she had taken contained an antidote to Bishuitian. While effective, the antidote must be taken within seven days, or she will experience a state of cadaveric coma and ultimately suffocate in a sealed coffin.

Therefore, he must take her out of the palace tonight, even if he has to use magic power as a last resort.

Soon after the two monks from the national temple entered, the rhythmic sound of wooden fish was heard from the inner hall, accompanied by the mantra of rebirth, echoing in the silent palace.

Until the morning mist was thick and the east was about to dawn, Cha Suxun knelt outside the hall until his knees ached, but there was still no sound from the inner hall.

Before Yuanli was escorted out, the steward arrived to announce the emperor's new decree. "His Majesty has decreed that the auspicious time for the Imperial Concubine to leave for the Imperial Mausoleum be postponed by two hours. Everyone is to remain on guard for an additional two hours."

Hearing this, Cha Suxun felt uneasy. He had originally planned to take advantage of the shift change to leave the palace, and then switch identities with Imperial Doctor Zhang, who was scheduled for a follow-up consultation today. If the shift change happened two hours after he came of age, it would not match.

Cha Suxun used his telepathic voice to call out to Ah Li, but received no response. This made Cha Suxun panic, but he didn't dare to act rashly, fearing that she would be angry when she returned.

After waiting for nearly two hours, Cha Suxun tried to call A'li through telepathy again, but this time he finally got a brief response from A'li with a "hmm", and he felt relieved.

During the shift change, Cha Suxun could only let things take their own course and be replaced while contacting Weisheng's men for a reunion. But just as he had calmed down and stood up, Qi Heng's sudden arrival disrupted everything.

"Among you, there is a high possibility that someone has sneaked in and stolen the treasures from the Emperor's Palace. Stay here and search and interrogate everyone!"

The people from the Dali Temple divided everyone into several groups and searched them in turns without any explanation. Cha Suxun stood in the most inconspicuous corner. It happened that he and two other eunuchs were the only ones left, so they had to be searched along with the equally redundant monks from the National Temple.

Fortunately, these monks came from the state temple after all, and they still had to maintain some dignity, so they were specially invited into the side hall during the search.

The rest of the people in the room undressed quickly, but Ah Xun was the only one who was slow to act. Although he had changed his appearance when he arrived, it was only his face; he hadn't altered his figure or skin beneath the clothes. This body was intended to seduce Yuanli, and his chest and abdominal muscles were particularly well-defined, which were immediately exposed once he took them off.

Qi Heng soon realized that he was deliberately delaying, and walked towards him and said, "Hurry up."

Seeing that he was following her closely and all his attention was on her, Cha Suxun had no choice but to secretly use his magic power to change his body shape before he could take off all his clothes.

Qi Heng stared intently at his "vital vein," exclaiming in amazement, "Has Weisheng's skills reached such a remarkable level? Even this can be concealed so convincingly." He then inquired, "Did you hide it, or did you really just cut it off with one blow, Axun?"

Cha Suxun just pretended that he didn't know what Qi Heng was asking him, and didn't react or answer.

"Stop pretending. You know what I'm talking about. These are all my people. You still don't know her well enough. When it comes to saving money, her calculations are louder than firecrackers. The highest-level Unsainted One's asking price is comparable to the annual income of a city. The amount is too high. Ah Li can't bear to part with it, and she doesn't have that much money right now. Relying on a mid-level Unsainted One is too risky. It's better to rely on me."

Seeing that he still didn't react, Qi Heng continued, "I'm the Minister of the Dali Temple. No one in the entire Western Xinjiang can investigate cases better than me, and the same goes for committing crimes. It's safest for me to do this cat-for-prince thing. You have two choices now. Either continue to play it safe and rely on Wei Sheng. I won't expose you, let alone stop you. After all, she'll be furious if you waste her money. Or choose to trust me. Just let me see her again and say a few words, and I'll let you go."

"Since Lord Qi has such extraordinary abilities, why don't you check for yourself which one is she?" The smile on Cha Suxun's face was extremely provocative.

"I don't need to check. You've already been exposed. As long as you still want to take her away, even if you have Weisheng's help, it will be clear who she is."

The two of them were at a stalemate, and Chu Xiao reminded them, "If you don't change your clothes, it will arouse suspicion. Now is not the time to talk about this. Let's talk about it outside."

Seeing that neither of them was willing to give in first, and at the critical moment, they were still busy being jealous and trying to show off, Chu Xiao angrily scolded: "Look, look, what are you looking at! You two will look at each other like a turtle looking at a mung bean, you will see each other clearly. What heinous crime did Miss Chi commit in her previous life that she met two stubborn bulls like you in this life! Are you going to leave or not? If not, I will take Miss Chi away first! Don't even think about being a hero to save the beauty! Then hide in the toilet and cry!"

Hearing this, the two men's hostile eyes instantly shifted to Chu Xiao. But Chu Xiao didn't care. He picked up the clothes of the monks from the National Temple and stuffed them into A Xun's arms, exchanging their clothes.

"Get started!"

The monk got the order and took out a bunch of weapons from somewhere. He stretched out his hands to test A Xun, and when he saw that he did not resist, he quickly took action.

After a while, Cha Suxun was once again played by Weisheng's people as a monk exactly like him, and the monk immediately made up himself to look like Cha Suxun when he entered the hall. The speed of his on-site makeup was faster than that of the ready-made skin of Weishengdai that Alituo Wangyue found.

After finishing the preparations, Chu Xiao asked, "Do you know the Rebirth Mantra?" Glancing at him, Chu Xiao said with some disdain, "Forget it, just follow their words and try to imitate them. Don't let your true colors slip."

After everyone had recovered and were about to leave the hall, Cha Suxun said from behind him, "You're the one who doesn't understand her well enough. Ah Li is rich and willing to spend money, at least on me. But she wants to spend her money on someone... and something that's more important to her."

"She is still young and easily seduced by beauty, but after the beauty is gone, she will eventually have to go home."

Hearing this, Ah Xun chuckled, "Master Qi, you wouldn't be so narcissistic as to think that her future home will be with you, right? No one can predict who will end up with her. After all... no matter what, she dotes on me more."

Ah Xun twisted his Buddhist beads and gave him a look of extreme contempt and ridicule, then regained his composure and stood back in the crowd with the other monks.

Behind him, Qi Heng was furious after hearing this. He tried hard to suppress his anger, looked at Chu Xiao with a forced smile, and said through gritted teeth: "Chu Xiao! Shoot him into a hedgehog!"

"As long as the master gives the order, I will do it tonight."

Thinking of Ah Li looking at his joyful expression, Qi Heng felt a pang of sadness in his heart, and then he changed the subject: "What did you just say? Hiss~ A turtle looking at mung beans, right? Who is the turtle?"

"I, I'm Turtle. Green Bean, Turtle, they're all me." Chu Xiao casually tilted his head, pretending to be serious, and pointed at a subordinate somewhere, saying, "Over there! What are you doing! Move quickly, quickly!"

Chu Xiao didn't dare intervene in this silent battle. He pretended to command his subordinates and then slinked off to the side. Glancing at his clenched fist, Chu Xiao shook his head helplessly. He had only met Ah Xun two days ago, but that encounter had left a deep impression on him. Ah Xun's appearance was truly outstanding. No wonder the palace rumored that the Imperial Concubine favored Ah Xun the most among her three concubines.

It would not be surprising if his master lost.

After the search was completed, his subordinates came to report that the task was accomplished, and then Qi Heng took the people from the Dali Temple to search other palaces.

Soon, the Imperial Noble Consort's coffin was carried out of the palace and headed for the Imperial Consort's mausoleum. Eighteen monks from the Imperial Temple followed, chanting sutras and praying for her along the way before returning.

In Jintai Temple.

A Xun finally reunited with Yuanli, changed out of his monk's robes and disguised himself as a pilgrim to blend into the crowd.

Because the mask applied on Weisheng's face contained a slight poison, long-term use could easily ruin his appearance. Also, mainly because it was too expensive to buy out a whole face, Yuanli stopped using it. She had no choice but to put some red spots on her face and wear a white gauze hat to cover her face.

"Have you decided? Where to go?"

"No. Axun, how long has it been since you were a human? The world has changed so much, don't you want to see it all? You've never been a human before, and you only heard about it from people in the underworld, so you didn't want to be a human. But now that you've become a human, you're reluctant to die. It's a pity that I'm short-lived, but I think your lifespan in this life will be longer than mine. You can take your time and see. I don't know when the next time will be."

"To me, it's all the same. But if you are here with me, even the wilderness is sweet."

Qi Heng's voice suddenly came from behind, calling out: "Ali..."