Zuan said, "I don't know what happened after that."
emperor:"???"
Zuan hurriedly explained, "When I saw how powerful that octopus monster was, I knew I couldn't fight it head-on, so I quickly covered the Crown Prince and Crown Princess's escape. Who knew that the octopus monster would chase after us? I fought desperately, but I was still knocked unconscious by its tentacles. When I woke up, only the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were left, and the octopus monster had disappeared."
The emperor fell silent. There were many discrepancies between what Bi Linglong had said and what he had said earlier, but they were generally consistent.
If they tell the same story at every turn, he will suspect that they are colluding.
Previously, Bi Linglong mentioned that after Zu An was knocked unconscious, the octopus monster's countless tentacles surged towards the two of them. In her despair, she suddenly saw Zhao Ruizhi's body emitting golden light, and then she was knocked unconscious by a powerful shockwave. She didn't know what happened next. When she woke up, she saw that the Crown Prince was covered in injuries, and the octopus monster had disappeared without a trace.
"It seems my divided soul perished together with that octopus monster." The emperor pondered for a moment and felt that this was the most reasonable explanation. He also knew that the divided soul's way of thinking was the same as his own. Given his temperament, if Zu'an were still awake when the truth was about to be revealed, he would never have spared his life.
On the contrary, if it were Bi Linglong, she could be knocked unconscious beforehand to spare her life. After all, she was very satisfied with this beautiful and capable daughter-in-law in many ways, and the family forces behind her were also very complicated. Replacing her with another crown princess would be quite troublesome.
But what kind of octopus monster could make my divided soul perish together with it?
Zhao Hao found it unbelievable, and then asked for more details, including how they triggered that formation.
Zu'an answered each question, but he did not directly reveal the truth of the whole matter. Instead, he let the emperor deduce Xu Fu's identity and relationship with the ancient dynasty from various pieces of information.
That's just how people are. You're subconsciously wary of what others say, but you tend to believe the answers you deduce yourself.
As expected, based on various pieces of information, the emperor deduced that the octopus monster was an ancient powerful being who had created such an evil formation in order to achieve immortality.
"No wonder he could make me perish together with him. It's a pity that the secret realm was destroyed, otherwise I could have gone to the scene to see how he planned to achieve immortality." The emperor pondered for a long time and then asked for many more details.
Seeing that his main concern was the Yin-Yang Five Elements Formation, Zu An immediately understood his thoughts. However, he didn't hide anything. First of all, it was difficult to find a suitable body with the five elements, let alone a body with pure Yin or pure Yang.
Moreover, the formations are so complex that many of the techniques have been lost to time, making it impossible for even the emperor to recreate them.
Just then, Eunuch Wen's voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, the things have been brought."
"Come in," the emperor said calmly.
Soon, Eunuch Wen walked in with small, quick steps, carrying a jade pendant. Throughout the entire process, he kept his eyes straight ahead and didn't even glance at Zu An on the stretcher beside him.
Zu An frowned slightly; he felt that the jade pendant looked somewhat familiar.
The emperor accepted the jade pendant and asked, "How is the Crown Prince?"
Eunuch Wen replied, "He suffered some injuries, and the people from the Imperial Hospital have already treated him. However, he seems to have been greatly frightened, and he will probably need time to recover."
Zu An's heart skipped a beat. He finally remembered why the jade pendant looked familiar. It was the Crown Prince's personal jade pendant. Why would the Emperor take it?
At this moment, the emperor spoke up: "Let him rest well first, don't disturb him."
"Yes!" Seeing that the other party had no further instructions, Eunuch Wen left the room and considerately closed the door behind him.
The emperor played with the jade pendant in his hand and suddenly said, "I specially placed this jade pendant on the crown prince. I originally thought that if something happened to him, it could record who hurt him. I thought I would never need to use it, but I didn't expect to have to use it today."
Upon hearing this, Zu An felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He was doomed. He had never considered this point. If this jade pendant recorded what happened at the time, he wouldn't have enough lives to survive.
He reacted quickly and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty is truly farsighted, and we admire you greatly."
While speaking, I tried my best to control my body's reactions, and even my heartbeat didn't show any major abnormalities.
Throughout the entire process, he dared not use his vital energy, otherwise the emperor would surely have noticed. He could only rely on his strong mentality to calm himself down.
It's all thanks to his many experiences that his nerves have become incredibly tough and resilient; otherwise, anyone else would have been noticed by the suspicious emperor long ago.
The emperor scrutinized him for a moment, then slowly said, "So I'll ask you one last time: was there anything untrue in what you just said?"
Zu An hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, I am terrified and dare not deceive you."
What a joke! Confessing means leniency but imprisonment for life; resisting means severe punishment and going home for the New Year. How can you confess at a time like this?
The emperor nodded slightly, his gaze returning to the jade pendant in his hand, as if he were hesitating about something.
At this moment, a bead of sweat began to appear on Zu'an's temple. The emperor immediately noticed and looked up: "Are you nervous?"
Zu An replied, "I'm in a lot of pain all over. The imperial physician just gave me some medicine, and now my stomach is a bit uncomfortable. I'm worried about making a scene in front of the emperor."
The emperor frowned, but being familiar with the various methods used in the palace, he immediately realized that it was most likely that his subordinates had deliberately given him some potent drugs in order to get him to come and answer questions.
"Then you may leave now." The emperor waved his hand, noticing that he was still on the stretcher, and then called in two eunuchs.
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