Chapter 80 The hidden truth
Ajiu stopped crying.
She sat on the desk made of a whole piece of golden nanmu wood, her short legs dangling, a piece of hibiscus cake in her left hand and a string of candied hawthorns in her right hand. Her mouth was bulging with food, like a little hamster that had stockpiled food for the winter.
In front of her was a huge food box filled with a dazzling array of top-quality pastries from the most famous "Baiweizhai" in the capital.
And our honorable Regent Prince, who can silence officials and stop children from crying, is peeling the candy wrapper of a pine nut candy for her with his own hands for the first time. His movements are a little clumsy, but his eyes are focused.
"Bad piece of wood, beat it!" Ajiu gave vague instructions, and pointed with his little hand at the "fragrant wood" that Chu Xuanyi had suppressed in the corner with talisman paper.
Without even raising his eyelids, Xiao Yu said calmly, "Well, I'll roast it and make you some roasted sweet potatoes later."
"Okay!" Ajiu immediately smiled and took another big bite of the lotus cake, as if the piece of wood had turned into a fragrant roasted sweet potato.
When Chu Xuanyi walked in, dragging his legs as if filled with lead, he was met with this harmonious scene of "a loving father and a filial daughter"... ah, pah, a scene of "a prince feeding a little charlatan." There were two dark circles under his eyes, his hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and he exuded a decadent aura of "I'm about to die suddenly."
"Your Highness..." he called out weakly.
Xiao Yu handed the peeled pine nut candy to Ajiu, then raised his sharp eyes and looked at him: "Did you find out?"
"I found out." Chu Xuanyi plopped down on a chair and slammed the already cold tea on the table into his mouth. He choked because he drank too quickly. "Ahem... Your Highness, this matter is much bigger and more complicated than we imagined. All the files currently available in my observatory only record the 'Withered Vine Sect', a cult that emerged within a hundred years. There is very little description of its true roots - the Black Bone Tribe. It's as if... someone deliberately erased this part of history from the history books."
"Erase?" Xiao Yu frowned slightly.
"Yes, erase it!" Chu Xuanyi slammed the teacup onto the table, his expression becoming extremely serious. "This shows that the threat posed by the Wugut Tribe is far beyond our imagination, and may even have touched upon the deepest taboos of the royal family. I need to... go somewhere."
"'Forbidden Pavilion'."
"Forbidden Pavilion?" Xiao Yu's eyes narrowed.
The Forbidden Pavilion of the Observatory was something he had only heard of. Legend had it that it housed all the secrets, forbidden techniques, and prophecies recorded by successive Imperial Masters since the founding of the Great Qi Dynasty, secrets that could not be recorded in official history. The Forbidden Pavilion itself was heavily sealed, impossible to open without the Imperial Master's own blood essence and the seal of inheritance. It was said that in the three hundred years since the founding of the Great Qi Dynasty, the number of times the Forbidden Pavilion had been opened voluntarily could be counted on one hand.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure!"
"The runes on that piece of wood are definitely beyond the grasp of today's cats and dogs. Its source must be hidden in the dusty history. If we don't dig it out, we're like fighting a tiger with our eyes blindfolded, not even knowing what it looks like! Ah Jiu is just a headache this time, what about next time?"
He glanced at Jiu, who was still concentrating on making the cakes, and lowered his voice even more: "We can't wait any longer."
Xiao Yu was silent for a moment, then finally nodded and uttered two words: "Go."
He paused, then added, "Here, I'll guard it."
A simple promise, but as heavy as Mount Tai.
Chu Xuanyi looked at him deeply, said nothing more, turned around and walked away with big strides...
Observatory, top floor.
It was empty and silent, a stark contrast to the rooms downstairs filled with astrolabes and divination tools. In the center, a massive door forged from a single block of ten-thousand-year-old black iron stood. There was no keyhole, only dense, intricate patterns resembling star tracks.
Chu Xuanyi stood before the door, his expression solemn. He bit his fingertip and placed a drop of blood on the Tai Chi pattern in the center of the door. Then, he pulled out a palm-sized Bagua seal carved from an unknown warm jade from his bosom and began to chant an incantation.
"Buzz—"
As he chanted the spell, the patterns on the black iron gate seemed to come alive, and golden lights lit up one after another, finally converging on the drop of blood in the center.
"Boom..."
The gate, so heavy that it seemed to be able to crush the mountains, slowly opened inwards inch by inch.
A scent mixed with old paper, dried herbs and the sediment of time hits you in the face.
Chu Xuanyi took a deep breath and stepped into the forbidden pavilion that had been sealed for nearly a hundred years.
Inside the Forbidden Pavilion, the cobweb-covered and dusty atmosphere was not what one might imagine. Instead, a gigantic night-shining pearl hovered in mid-air, surrounded by bookshelves made of an unknown black wood that would never rot. File boxes made of black iron or jade were neatly arranged on top.
Everything here seems to have been forgotten by time.
Chu Xuanyi didn't hesitate for a moment. He headed straight for the deepest part, where secret files from the founding of the nation were stored. He was looking for clues related to the key words "Lin family," "Black Bone Tribe," and "Seal."
Time passed by minute by minute. Chu Xuanyi read through the book almost without sleep or food.
He saw the records of the founding emperor and the first imperial teacher fighting side by side, the thrilling scene of pacifying the demons from all directions, and also saw the darkness and bloodiness hidden under the prosperous era.
One hour, two hours...
From day to night, and then to dawn.
The sky outside the Forbidden Pavilion was already turning pale.
Just when Chu Xuanyi was about to be driven crazy by the vast sea of files, his fingertips touched a cold black iron box.
There was no label on the box, only an extremely complex seal painted in cinnabar.
He had an idea and used all his strength to untie the talisman.
When the box was opened, it turned out that there was no scroll or book inside, but a piece of golden silk book as thin as a cicada's wing. On it was written a kind of text that he had never seen before, which was like dancing flames, recording a past that was almost forgotten by the world.
When he recognized the first word - "exotic black bones", his pupils suddenly contracted.
He held his breath and read greedily.
The more he looked down, the more the color faded from his face.
I see……
So that's how it is...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com