At this time, next to the waterfall pool.

Xuecan took out a small gadget that looked like a compass and twirled it with his fingers.

After a few breaths, the water flow upstream of the waterfall seemed to be affected by someone somewhere upstream.

The water flow suddenly became violent and accelerated.

The waterfall became even more spectacular, completely covering the entrance to the imperial tomb.

Xuecan looked at the waterfall, nodded, took out a bronze token and threw it to the silent team of black-armored imperial guards.

Among the black-armored imperial guards, a general who looked like a leader in the front row took the bronze token, which seemed to have a crescent moon engraved on it.

He looked at it for a few seconds, then bowed.

"Go downstream and don't dirty the pool."

Xuecan gave an order, took out a veil to cover her face, and then left with the other veiled string girls.

Before leaving, they faced the direction of the Moon-Sacrificing Mountain, bowed their heads and performed the devout Crescent Moon Ceremony, murmuring:

"The moon is split into two, and I leave and return."

At this moment, one of the trembling craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum knelt down and begged for mercy:

"Fairy... Fairy! Please spare me. I left my wife and children behind and traveled thousands of miles to build the imperial mausoleum for the late emperor for three years. During that time, I got up early and worked late, and never slacked off... Please spare us!"

"The fairies are so generous..."

"Me too, me too, spare my life, spare my life..."

Xuecan left with the string girls without even looking back.

They didn't even look at the craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum.

It's as if they don't exist.

Behind him, the craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum, who were vaguely aware of their fate, wailed...

Some people wanted to run, but before they took a few steps, they were retreated by the cold sword flashes of the black-armored imperial guards.

On the field, a lot of chaos was suppressed.

The black-armored general was tall, wearing a heavier and stronger black armor than any other soldier. The black armor covered his face, making his facial expression invisible. At this moment, he was facing the direction where Xuecan and the others had left, as if waiting for the women to go far away.

After a moment, the black-armored general turned his head slightly, without looking behind him, and walked indifferently in a certain direction.

Twenty black-armored imperial guards moved in unison, suppressing the group of crying imperial mausoleum craftsmen and following the footsteps of the former.

That direction is the downstream of the waterfall river...

"Hey Zhao Rong, what are you looking at? Let's go up the mountain to look at the moon. What's the point of looking at a group of men? Ha, are you so bored that you want to save people?"

The sword spirit urged from a tree trunk somewhere. At this point, it was amused and shook its head.

However, the young Confucian scholar did not reply.

Gui's words gradually stopped. If he could reveal his face, it would probably become stern at this moment.

"No way..."

Zhao Rong lowered his head and patted his dusty sleeves, chuckled and thanked him, "Good idea. I'm bored right now, so I'll listen to you."

The words fell.

The two leaves above floated down gently.

There was no one on the tree trunk...

In the woods, a serious voice said:

"Zhao Rong, every mortal has his own destiny..."

Another voice interrupted gently, "I am also a mortal."

…

At this time, in the lush forest beside the waterfall, the soldiers and torches that were once every ten steps had disappeared.

It's as if what happened not long ago never happened.

However, deep in the forest, a strange group of people were walking downstream along the river and heading deeper into the forest.

Occasionally, some wailing and crying sounds could be heard faintly from between the leaves.

The black-armored general and twenty black-armored imperial guards, along with nearly a hundred craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum who were involved in core secrets, stopped in an open space deep in the distance.

The open space was covered with withered yellow fallen leaves, knee-deep.

It seemed like no one had been here for a long, long time.

The black-armored general stopped and turned around.

Twenty black-armored imperial guards surrounded the imperial mausoleum craftsmen and drew their swords in unison.

The cold light is shining everywhere.

It was reflected on the dark faces in the middle, which were filled with despair and grayness.

The black-armored general supported the greatsword at his waist with one hand and raised the other hand to shoulder height.

The field was quiet for three breaths.

The weeping craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum stared with wide eyes at the general's hand that was about to be put down.

At this moment.

The heavy face-covering helmet on the black-armored general's neck suddenly turned in a certain direction.

Soon, the sound of footsteps stepping on leaves rang out in the silent forest.

The imperial guards and the craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum looked in that direction with different expressions.

A young scholar, with his sleeves rolled up, strolled from the dark woods into the bright moonlight.

"General, what token do you have? It looks familiar to me. Can I take a look at it?"

The young scholar smiled.

In the deep open space, more than a hundred eyes fell on others.

There was shock and surprise in his eyes, as well as hope burning in the grayness...

The black-armored general remained silent, staring at Zhao Rong for a while, then suddenly said in a sullen tone:

"Mr. Zhao...?"

Zhao Rong's smile was harmless, and his eyes swept over the black-armored general's motionless feet as if nothing had happened.

His hands in his sleeves moved quickly, grabbing a small bag containing whale song amber, but he put it back after a moment and took out a silver token instead.

Zhao Rong looked around and walked to a place where the moonlight was very bright.

He rolled up his sleeve with one hand and with the other hand revealed the crescent-shaped silver medal, facing the moonlight and showing it to everyone.

Zhao Rong said curiously, "Well, I wonder if there is one that shines as bright as mine?"

The atmosphere on the field fell silent.

In the moonlight, the silver medal engraved with the waxing moon shone brightly.

Many of the imperial mausoleum craftsmen who had some hope in their eyes were stunned for a moment, and then looked at the young Confucian scholar with expressions of either confusion or disappointment.

However, the next second, there was a series of bangs.

The black-armored general and more than twenty elite imperial guards knelt on the ground.

A group of craftsmen from the Imperial Mausoleum, both old and young, looked around in shock...

The kneeling imperial guardsmen all knelt down and bowed their heads respectfully.

In Dali, seeing the crescent moon and silver medal is like seeing the Queen Mother.

"Well, it seems that this one is not as bright as mine."

The young scholar muttered something, lowered his head and hung this very useful silver medal around his waist.

Then he put his hands behind his back and walked forward slowly, as if deliberately, passing by the kneeling soldiers and imperial mausoleum craftsmen, and finally came in front of the black-armored general.

"Look carefully at the token first, don't kneel in the wrong place."

Zhao Rong spoke softly.

The black-armored general raised his head slightly, as if to take another careful look at the token, then lowered his head again the next second and said sullenly, "I dare not."

Zhao Rong nodded, "Okay. Well, the Queen has ordered that these craftsmen be handed over to me... Well, there are some things that require their help during the Fengshan ceremony, so they cannot be killed for the time being."

At this point, he rolled up his clothes, squatted down, and reached the same height as the kneeling black-armored general. He stared at his mask and said seriously:

"Once we're done, I'll have to trouble the general to handle it again."

It turned out that the death seemed to have changed from immediate death to chronic death, and the imperial mausoleum craftsmen behind him all looked sad.

The black-armored general knelt motionlessly on the ground, lowered his head, and nodded slightly.

Zhao Rong smiled and shook his head, "Just listen to me first."

Reached out and patted his shoulder:

"The Fengshan ceremony is a very confidential matter and cannot be disclosed to the public. So, General, you have to keep it a secret for me these few days. Also, keep your subordinates’ mouths shut. After the Fengshan ceremony is successful, come to me immediately and help me get rid of them. Do you understand?"

The black-armored general loosened his grip on the hilt of the sword, seemed to be relieved, and nodded vigorously.

Raise your hands and clasp your hands in greeting.

But at this time, Zhao Rong smiled:

"No, you know too much."

In a flash, the young scholar and the black-armored general both attacked suddenly.

The latter was about to raise his hand to salute, but one hand suddenly reached forward and grabbed Zhao Rong's wrist, and the other hand quickly rose up, intending to strike his neck from the side.

However, the young scholar made a move that went against common sense. He leaned back 90 degrees to avoid the opponent's neck attack, while bending his knees and kicking upwards.

In an instant, the black-armored general missed his attack and before he could react or change his moves, he was kicked in the head by a knee and flew backwards.

The imperial guards around who reacted faster wanted to step forward to help.

However, those two warriors were too fast.

In the blink of an eye.

The young Confucian scholar on the ground disappeared again and appeared beside the black-armored general who had lost his balance in the air.

The latter was shocked and stunned, and tried to draw his sword skillfully.

However, in an instant, the young scholar pressed back his sword-drawing hand with one hand, and with the other hand, he lightly struck the black-armored general on the neck.

The black-armored general closed his eyes and fainted.

The young scholar smiled and raised his foot, using the instep to catch his body, allowing him to land steadily. He nodded at the same time, "Wow, a martial artist in the late Fuyao realm? The chassis is quite solid, but... I can beat ten of them."

The tone was half joking, half serious.

At this time, the loyal imperial guards around had already rushed over.

Zhao Rong clapped his hands, shook his head and turned away...

After more than twenty strong winds, there were twenty more dizzy figures of imperial guards on the ground.

The young scholar standing in the middle shook his sleeves, turned his head to look at the black-armored general on the ground, and chuckled:

"This crescent silver medal can't even suppress a mere lieutenant like you...Are you not afraid of my prestige and power? Are you going to report the truth to the Queen Mother? Haha..."

He paused, nodded, and sighed, "In fact, you did a pretty good job. Any leader of the imperial guards of Dali has this kind of sharpness... Dali is indeed a prosperous country... But next time when you are pretending to be nice, you'd better not act too fake. You met me today. If you meet other smart people, you won't be so lucky..."

The field was silent, with only the young scholar talking to himself.

The next second, Zhao Rong suddenly turned his head and said to the craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum:

"Hey, don't just stand there, come and help tie them up. If they wake up in the middle of the fight, it will cost you your lives again."

"Also, don't be so quick to kowtow. You'll have to go against your professional principles and tell this Saint Mother...how to enter the imperial mausoleum? There are some unfortunate women who need to be saved. We can't favor boys over girls, right?"

The young scholar couldn't help but mutter.

…

An hour later.

Upstream of the waterfall where the imperial mausoleum is located, Zhao Rong, who was revered as the Holy Mother by a sword spirit and who was determined not to favor boys over girls, returned to the wilderness camp alone and calmly.

He raised his eyes and glanced at the sky which was faintly glowing.

After a busy night, the sky is about to brighten...

But what Zhao Rong wanted to do was only half completed.

Just now, after Zhao Rong rescued the craftsmen of the imperial mausoleum, he wanted to deal with the matters of the concubines of Dali who were buried in the imperial mausoleum.

However, an old craftsman who was in charge of the construction of the imperial mausoleum told Zhao Rong that when the imperial mausoleum was being built, many restrictions were built to prevent tomb robbers, and even the monks on the mountain in the Tianzhi realm found it difficult to break in.

Zhao Rong asked if there was a back door, and the old craftsman nodded and said that there was indeed a back door, but in order to enter the imperial mausoleum smoothly, in addition to knowing how to open the mechanism, one also had to enter during two specific time periods.

These two time periods are also during the day and early morning respectively, and the specific time for entering the mausoleum has passed.

If you know the art of mechanical engineering but enter the mausoleum outside these two time periods, mercury and other poisons will overflow...

This is the second line of defense for the imperial mausoleum, to prevent professional tomb robbers who are familiar with mechanical devices.

Zhao Rong nodded, and he understood why Xuecan and the others did this in the early morning.

Afterwards, he helped the imperial mausoleum craftsmen settle down by the river, left some food and rations, and instructed them two things:

The first was to ask them to write down the mechanisms and time periods for entering the mausoleum, as well as a general map of the mausoleum, so that Zhao Rong could come and get them during the day, and then the imperial mausoleum craftsmen could leave first.

If you want to stay alive, leave Dali as soon as possible.

Zhao Rong could only save them temporarily.

The second was to let them take care of the tied-up imperial guards first.

After Zhao Rong finishes the Fengshan Ceremony and returns to the academy, he will let them go back.

Anyway, by that time, Dugu could no longer control Zhao Rong, and the two of them were far apart from each other, so they could just offend each other.

Now that it's the eve of the Fengshan ceremony, just don't cause any trouble.

After arranging these things, Zhao Rong returned alone...

At this moment, on the way back to the tent, the young Confucian scholar smiled.

Although he did not go to Jiyue Mountain, he did a lot of things tonight.

Zhao Rong walked leisurely, his clothes wet with morning dew.

Halfway through, not far upstream from the waterfall where the imperial tomb was located, he couldn't help but stop for a moment and look at a building that seemed to be newly built in a bamboo forest by the river.

There are about ten houses in the bamboo forest.

At this moment, as the sun was about to rise, candles were already lit in several bamboo houses.

Zhao Rong stopped and looked around for a while, then spotted Zhang Huizhi and his wife and children.

The little, dull child was doing morning reading under the supervision of Zhang Huizhi.

Zhao Rong burst out laughing.

"Brother Huizhi is a wonderful man. It is hard to find fault with him in his family and his career. This time he voluntarily gave up his position as an imperial censor and came to guard the imperial mausoleum for three years... When he returns to the court and to the little emperor in three years... I wonder if he will help the emperor like Wen Ruo did."

Gui, who had been quiet the whole time, said, "Why do I feel... it's a little fake."

The young scholar nodded, then shook his head, "I only look at his actions, and don't care about the rest. If he can keep pretending, he is also a gentleman."

He smiled generously and strode away.

"After the Fengshan ceremony is completed, I will come to find Brother Huizhi and Fu Yibai..."