He glanced at the ginseng soup beside him: "I was clearly not frightened, but my body is getting weaker day by day. I'm afraid it's because of this ginseng soup."
Princess Yuanji forced a smile and said, "His Majesty may be a little paranoid because of the bizarre things that have happened to him recently."
Zu An smiled and said, "I met Yuan Ji when I was on a day trip to the underworld."
Princess Yuanji's expression changed upon hearing this: "That's all in the past, why does Your Majesty need to bring it up again?"
Zu An sneered: "Yuanji has harmed me time and time again, and I hate him very much. After seeing his ghost, I deliberately used the matter between you and me to provoke him. As a result, when he heard Jiancheng advising him, Yuanji, with his irritable nature, actually stopped being angry after hearing those words. Obviously, he thought Jiancheng made sense."
Princess Yuanji asked curiously, "I wonder what they were talking about?"
“He deliberately provoked you. You forgot about your younger siblings…” Zu’an repeated word by word, “Although I didn’t hear what was said afterward because the ghost messengers took them away, I can guess what it was based on all this information.”
Zu An's eyes suddenly sharpened: "The real Princess Yuanji should have died long ago. They must have seen her ghost in the underworld, which is why they said that. Who exactly are you?"
Princess Yuanji suddenly laughed, her laughter exceptionally charming: "It's rather far-fetched for Your Majesty to suspect I have problems based on these matters."
“Of course, it’s not just that,” Zu An said calmly. “In the Netherworld, Judge Cui clearly added twenty years to my lifespan, but I am now in the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan era. Historically, I would have died in the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era. Where did the missing ten years go?”
“Since the judge has been granted an extra lifespan, it will naturally not be reduced, unless some accident occurs that causes me to die prematurely. Considering that I was inexplicably frightened by a ghost and became terminally ill, I am quite certain that there is someone around me who can take my life at any time. After thinking it over, you are the most likely person among the people around me.”
Princess Yuanji's expression changed several times, and her eyes turned cold: "How do you know you will die in the twenty-third year of Zhenguan? Who told you that?"
"Answer my question first." Zu An said calmly. Emperor Taizong of Tang was a very famous emperor in Chinese history, and he was also a very prominent figure on the Internet in his previous life. As a keyboard warrior, he had a lot of arguments with people on some history forums and clearly remembered that Emperor Taizong reigned for twenty-three years.
So when it was confirmed that Judge Cui had given him an extra twenty years of lifespan, he immediately realized that something was wrong.
Princess Yuanji suddenly smiled, her figure blurred and changed, and then another beautiful face appeared.
Noticing the two small horns on her head, Zuan was taken aback: "A dragon girl?"
Princess Yuanji laughed and said, "Your Majesty is indeed very knowledgeable. I am indeed a dragon princess, the daughter of the Dragon King of Dongting. I was married to the second son of the Dragon King of Jinghe River, but I was abused and humiliated. Fortunately, I was rescued and freed from my suffering."
Zuan never expected that she had such an identity. He vaguely remembered that in the previous level, as the Jinghe Dragon King, when he investigated the Dragon Palace, there seemed to be several纨绔 (spoiled brat) sons, each more useless than the last, and the second daughter-in-law had been missing for many years.
The behavior of those spoiled brats was truly unseemly, and Zu'an, preoccupied with finding a way to break the deadlock, didn't take the matter to heart.
To everyone's surprise, the missing daughter-in-law had actually taken the place of Princess Yuanji and infiltrated the palace.
"So, the execution of the Jinghe Dragon King was actually orchestrated by you behind the scenes?" Zu An's expression was strange. After all, he had just become the Jinghe Dragon King in the previous level, and his mindset hadn't quite adjusted yet.
Wait a minute, they've been sharing a bed these past few days, doesn't that mean they're in a compromising situation...?
"He deserves it!" the Dragon Girl said coldly. "Back then, he relied on his status as the head of the Eight Rivers to bully and blackmail our Dongting Prefecture. Otherwise, why would I have married that bastard son of his? After I married him, I was abused and he did nothing about it. Later, I found out by chance that my father had offended him in my early years, so he deliberately had the people of the Water Palace humiliate me like that!"
Zuan nodded: "That's right, the Jinghe Dragon King did indeed have a way to bring about his own demise."
He recalled that when the original Jinghe Dragon King learned of Yuan Shoucheng's affairs, his first reaction was to draw his sword and kill him. Later, in order to win a bet, he even dared to openly comply but secretly defy the imperial edict, clearly showing that he was used to being lawless.
Hearing his approval, the Dragon Girl's face softened with a smile.
"But why did you want to harm me?" Zu An's face immediately darkened.
The Dragon Girl shook her head slightly: "It's not that I want to harm you, it's just that you are a key part of the plan. I've been serving you diligently these past few days, so you haven't lost out..."
Zuan pressed, "What plan?"
A flicker of fear crossed the Dragon Girl's face, then she snorted, "You still haven't told me how you know which year you'll die. Who told you?"
Zu An's heart skipped a beat: "Of course it was said by the Bodhisattva."
"This is impossible, she even told me..." At this moment, the Dragon Girl's expression suddenly changed drastically, and she cried out in panic, "No, I didn't say anything, spare me!"
With a piercing scream, her entire body burst into flames, and in the blink of an eye, she was reduced to ashes.
Seeing this scene, Zu An felt a pang of fear. After all, she was the woman who served him day and night. Although he knew she had ill intentions, he couldn't help but feel saddened to see her die so tragically.
A bright light suddenly appeared on the horizon, and then the hairs on his body stood on end, as if he were in mortal danger.
Just then, everything around them shattered, and everything in front of them vanished.
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