"What's wrong? You're shaking."
Demon Lord Luan Hua reached out his hand to her, but she dodged it by turning to the side.
"No...it's nothing."
She bit her tongue hard.
What happened?
She clutched her heart.
Finally, after a while, my heartbeat returned to normal.
She touched her forehead and found it covered in cold sweat.
She forced a pale smile at Demon Lord Luan Hua, "I need to continue searching for the mechanism."
Demon Lord Luan Hua stared at her without blinking for a long time before finally uttering a "good".
Li Mingke felt the gaze fixed on him, as if it were a thorn in his back.
Persistence pays off, and Li Mingke finally discovered an unusually protruding piece in an inconspicuous little corner.
She was about to press the button when she hesitated.
"Demon Lord..."
She turned around and called to him.
"What's wrong?"
"I have discovered a mechanism, but its specific purpose is unknown. If anything unusual happens in a moment, I beg the Demon Lord to save my life."
She spoke sincerely.
"good."
Having received the Demon Lord's promise, Li Mingke took a deep breath, prepared himself mentally, and suddenly pressed down!
Sure enough, the stone wall moved!
"That's great!" Li Mingke was overjoyed.
The stone walls flashed by, leaving afterimages, and in the blink of an eye, a new path was cleared.
“Let’s go, Lord Demon Lord.” She turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling.
Demon Lord Luan Hua was momentarily distracted.
The new space was filled with books, except for one in the middle placed on a high platform.
"Wow—" Li Mingke couldn't help but exclaim.
Since this instinct is placed here, it must have its own unique advantages!
Li Mingke wiped his hands with a silk handkerchief and solemnly picked up the book with both hands.
"The Autobiography of the First Emperor of Daye".
Li Mingke read the words on the cover.
Could it be a biography?
She quickly flipped through the book, her brows gradually furrowing.
"What's wrong with this book? Does it mention where Suihou Zhu is?" the Demon Lord asked, standing behind her.
"This entire book is the autobiography of the First Emperor! It describes how he was exceptionally intelligent from a young age, how he led troops into battle, how he was a master strategist, and how he used his bravery and martial prowess to charm beautiful women and have children for him!"
How could the First Emperor be so narcissistic? He actually dared to say that he had never been defeated! It's clearly written in the history books, okay? He was beaten so badly that he was utterly humiliated several times!
There's also the claim that Empress Longyin cried and begged him to marry her. Empress Longyin ran away after only three years as empress, without even taking her child. It's hard not to say there's something wrong with you, the emperor!
Li Mingke's lips twitched.
Seeing her like this, the Demon Lord took the book from her hand.
Sure enough, he fell silent after watching for a while.
"Well, not to mention the whole book, more than half of it is probably nonsense. The First Emperor must have lost his mind. But there are a few sentences that do have some value."
He placed his finger on the book, and Li Mingke looked in the direction he was pointing.
"My wife, Longyin, has only ever given me one gift in her life, which I treasure dearly and wear close to my body. Because of this, I am always unstoppable and invincible in every battle I go to war."
“I named it—Suihou Pearl.”
"Sui Houzhu!" Li Mingke shouted, "Has he written anything else yet?!"
The Demon Lord slowly recited, "After I die, place this item on Fengchan Mountain to protect Daye."
Turn the page again, and you'll see a map.
Li Mingke immediately moved closer to the Demon Lord, "This map is so complicated. This little blue dot must be the Suihou Pearl, right? It's in the very center. So where are we now?"
"Wait a minute!" She moved even closer. "This pattern is exactly the same as the one we were just standing on!"
Her fingers traced the outline delicately.
"It turned out to be a slender dragon hidden in the clouds."
“We are now southwest of Suihouzhu.” She gestured with her palm, then pulled a gold chain from her waist. “Luckily, I brought a compass.”
I never expected to use it here.
“Following the compass, we can find the Suihou Pearl!” Li Mingke finally showed his first genuine smile in a long time.
Demon Lord Luan Hua looked at her excited little face, her long eyelashes like raven feathers, casting shadows.
"Is that fourth prince... worth risking your life for?"
Li Mingke's lips, which had just been curled up, immediately fell into a downward curve. "Demon Lord, what do you mean?"
"You two don't have any connection, do you? You're not his subordinate either. No one in the Immortal Sect was willing to step forward, so they threw you out. And you just sit there doing all this without complaint?"
"..."
“I…I am the disciple of Immortal Venerable Jinyun, and the grandson of King Wu. I have this responsibility…”
But you didn't.
"I have!"
Her voice echoed through the stone wall as the two faced each other in silence.
"Just because I'm here, does Jinyun have to come too? Besides, you haven't learned anything at the Immortal Sect, have you? Is it necessary for you to risk your life for the Immortal Sect like this? So what if you're the grandson of the King of Wu? You're not even surnamed Wu. Why didn't the King of Wu's mansion send its own people?"
Demon Lord Luan Hua's words left her speechless.
"You're so stupid."
Li Mingke lowered his head.
"I...my parents sent me here, they wouldn't want to harm me..."
"Heh, is that so?" The Demon Lord looked down at her.
"Besides your parents, many people in the Li family don't approve of you becoming the young master, right? Your sister is better than you in every way and has learned the family's secret techniques. You must have heard the opposition, right?"
"you!"
The Demon Lord's words stung her deeply.
Yes, she knows all too well.
It seems that someone told her mother to abandon her after she was born, saying that she would bring disaster to the family, but her parents withstood the pressure and kept her.
As she grew up, the contrast with her younger sister made her seem even more useless, but her mother insisted on making her the young mistress according to the tradition of primogeniture. Fortunately, her younger sister was also on her side.
"My parents are the best people in the world to me; they would never hurt me!"
She held back her tears and looked directly at the Demon Lord.
Her parents' support and love are her greatest source of confidence.
Demon Lord Luan Hua looked at the person in front of her with moist but stubborn eyes, who seemed ready to jump up and bite her throat at any moment, and let out a silent sneer.
"Whatever."
Why does he care so much? Whether someone lives or dies, what does it have to do with him?
Li Mingke stood alone for a while, wiped his eyes, placed the compass in his palm, and walked past the Demon Lord with his head down.
She really disliked him.
Following the instructions in the book, she successfully opened an inconspicuous hidden door.
She slipped through without looking back.
But when she turned to the next page, Sui Houzhu's appearance made her eyes widen.
This...this is impossible!
The book depicts a round bead, which, probably due to the use of special dye, still emits a faint bluish glow in the dim light, even after many years.
She almost instinctively reached for her neck.
The Suihou Pearl bears a striking resemblance to the disguise pearl around her neck!
Her hands trembled, and the book she wasn't holding fell to the ground.
The Demon Lord looked at Li Mingke, who was frozen in place, and bent down to pick up the book from the ground.
There was nothing unusual.
He looked at Li Mingke with a puzzled expression.
Li Mingke suppressed the turmoil in his heart and silently tightened his collar.
She bit her lower lip.
Therefore, even if the Marquis of Sui's Pearl is not found, if one uses their own pearl...
But she immediately suppressed the thought.
no!
If she takes off this bead, she will immediately reveal her identity as a daughter! Her mother said that it must not be taken off under any circumstances!
So why are the two beads so similar?
My mother once said that she had specially obtained this bead from elsewhere. But who did she ask for it from, and where did she get it from?
Is it related to Empress Longyin?
She couldn't help but overthink.
"This book... are you still going to read it?" Demon Lord Luan Hua called to her from behind.
"look!"
Of course she wants to see it!
Just who exactly is this Empress Longyin?
She took the book from the Demon Lord and read the contents related to the Dragon Empress.
Empress Longyin was a woman who fought alongside the First Emperor to establish the empire, but her exact origins are not explained. It is only said that one day, the First Emperor saw a beautiful woman named Longyin Xixi combing her hair by the river. He fell in love at first sight, and the two became husband and wife.
Later, he became the founding emperor, and Longyin Xixi became the legendary Empress Longyin.
However, Long Yin Xi Xi only served as empress for three years.
In the second year after becoming empress, Longyin Xixi became pregnant and gave birth to a son ten months later. A month later, Empress Longyin left the palace.
There is no record of what exactly happened between the emperor and empress, but from then on, the First Emperor's health was clearly not as good as before, and the position of empress was vacant. He did not marry anyone else, but instead carefully taught his only crown prince.
But before his death, the First Emperor murmured the name of another person besides Long Yinxi.
She was the Crown Prince's twin sister, another child of the First Emperor and Longyin Xixi, who only appeared once in historical records but was then erased—Longyin Zhenzhen.
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