Chapter 198: Langjiang Alien Race, Secret Technique of Gu Beast
Today, Cheng Xunzhi is still buried in the files of the Dali Temple.
Since the case began, Cheng Xunzhi has not returned home once. Now he is frowning and his mind is in a mess.
The deed to Prince Qi's mansion was stamped with a fake private seal, as Xiao Qingxu's own seal was missing a corner, making the imprint mismatched. According to Xiao Qingxu himself and Li, the chief steward of Prince Qi's mansion, Prince Qi's private seal had been lost the previous month and could not be found no matter how hard they searched. As for why it later appeared in the Eastern Palace, they had no idea.
The private seal had a chipped corner when Xiao Qingxu was eleven years old. Because it was carved by the deceased eldest master of the Xu family, Xiao Qingxu never asked someone to make a new one.
Cheng Xunzhi held the pen in his hand and subconsciously bit the tip of the pen. He had asked the old lady of the Xu family about this matter, and her statement was consistent with what Prince Qi had said.
The title deed to the Eastern Palace was also fake because the time points did not match, being half a year short. However, the imprint of the private seal was real - Mingshu himself confessed that it was Prince Qi who asked him to steal the prince's private seal in order to frame someone else.
Both sides were lying, so where did the real beneficiaries of the seized land go? The accounts submitted by merchants and landlords did not show any problems in the short term, but where did the silver ultimately go? Those people also kept saying that it was done by King Qi, and they knew nothing.
Everything the two commoners said was true, but most of them were illiterate and did not understand the details of the land deeds. Furthermore, they were under the oppression of merchants and landlords, so they had no way of distinguishing the differences between the deeds found in Prince Qi's Mansion and the Eastern Palace. They only knew that Mingshu had used Xiao Qingxu's "private seal" to colluded with merchants and landlords to seize their land.
After being oppressed by the local tyrants for five years, they were squeezed to the point where they could not survive. When they complained to the local officials, it was fruitless, so they went to Beijing to beat the drum to report the incident.
Prince Qi and the Crown Prince were also... Cheng Xunzhi held his forehead. He didn't know what these two powerful figures were up to. Some things were obvious, just bickering between them. Was his Dali Temple the place where they were going to mess around?!
However, the two girls last night did give him some clues...
Cheng Xunzhi's eyes darkened as he looked at the information in his hand and the doctor's diagnosis. Peiyun and Xiaoli claimed to be spies planted by the Crown Prince in the Princess's residence. They had been abducted by the Crown Prince as children, poisoned, and separated from their families for years. Only when the Crown Prince was in danger did they dare to risk their lives and denounce him.
The "old frost concubine" among them is a poison unique to Langjiang, and Cheng Xunzhi doesn't even dare to think about it deeply. Xiaoli doesn't know much, but the clues provided by Peiyun bring hope to Cheng Xunzhi.
According to Peiyun, the masters behind those merchants and landlords are actually the prince, and the accounts that actually record the land tax collection in those sixteen places must not be the accounts submitted now.
However, they are used to using some tricks to hide in three places. Although Peiyun provided clues, Cheng Xunzhi's people are still...
"Sir!" A guard came in to report.
When Cheng Xunzhi saw his anxious look, he wondered if something had happened again.
The guard said, "Sir, the emperor requests you to enter the palace immediately!"
Cheng Xunzhi's heart sank suddenly.
Imperial Palace, Luwangtai.
Ever since the white lotus in the pond began to bloom, Emperor Chengming had loved to stay on this platform and watch them repeatedly. Sometimes he would even put aside some memorials that needed to be processed and stay here for the entire day.
Cheng Xunzhi, wearing official uniform, hurried to Luwangtai to meet the emperor.
"I pay my respects to His Majesty, may His Majesty be well and at peace."
Emperor Chengming turned his back to him and replied calmly, "Lord Cheng, please stand up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Cheng Xunzhi calmed himself down, cold sweat still pouring down the back of his head.
The poison that the person who sued the prince was poisoned with is a poison unique to Langjiang. If it cannot be clearly determined, he would not dare to convict the prince even if he had ten times the courage.
Now the emperor suddenly summoned him into the palace. Did the emperor know something?
Cheng Xunzhi glanced at Yuan Ji beside him, but Yuan Ji lowered his head and didn't even glance at him.
Cheng Xunzhi: “…” We are all subjects, can’t you give me some hints?
Emperor Chengming looked back and asked, "Why don't you come over, Mr. Cheng?"
Cheng Xunzhi stepped forward and stood behind Emperor Chengming's left hand.
"Lord Cheng, what do you think of the lotus blossom?"
Cheng Xunzhi looked down and saw several palace maids groping around in the pond, as if they were looking for something.
Cheng Xunzhi pondered for a moment and said, "Bai Lian is noble and pure, which is very good. But these people..."
Emperor Chengming uttered an "oh" and said indifferently, "If there are bugs, they must be removed."
Cheng Xunzhi: “…?”
Is Your Majesty hinting at something?
Cheng Xunzhi didn't dare to respond for a moment. Emperor Chengming stood with his hands behind his back and glanced at him sideways.
"How's it going?"
Sure enough, that's what I asked.
Cheng Xunzhi bowed his head slightly and said respectfully, "We're still investigating, and we've got some clues."
Emperor Chengming moved his hands behind his back, "Convict him immediately and depose the Crown Prince."
Cheng Xunzhi was stunned for a moment, his heart trembling, and he didn't react for a while: "?"
At this moment, a secret guard suddenly appeared, holding a stack of accounts in his hand and handed them to Cheng Xunzhi.
Cheng Xunzhi took a look and was shocked.
Could this be?!
Emperor Chengming still didn't turn around, and Cheng Xunzhi couldn't see the coldness on his face.
"Investigate this thoroughly for me. Anyone who refuses to tell the truth will be severely tortured."
Cheng Xunzhi seemed to understand something in an instant. With a serious expression, he bowed and said, "Yes. I will obey the emperor's order."
After Cheng Xunzhi left with the accounts, Eunuch Kang came forward.
"Your Majesty, Ning Gui..."
Emperor Chengming looked up, and his eyes reflected the silhouette of a yellow bird circling high in the sky. "Bow."
Eunuch Kang was stunned, and then asked someone to bring the bow and arrow.
It didn't take long for Emperor Chengming to grasp the bow and arrow. He pulled the bowstring to its full length, aimed at the target, and quickly released his hand—and Emperor Chengming shot the yellow bird through with one arrow.
As he watched the bird falling, a strong wind suddenly blew up, causing Emperor Chengming's clothes to flutter, and he could no longer suppress the anger in his heart.
The rage was laced with murderous intent. Eunuch Kang and the surrounding palace servants, not knowing why he had suddenly become furious, all knelt in fear. Yuan Ji and the secret guards also knelt and kowtowed.
"Do you like being a yellow bird so much?"
As soon as Emperor Chengming opened his mouth, he exuded a sinister and vicious aura that seemed to burst out from the depths of the underworld.
Fierce anger swirled in his eyes, and disappointment and rage intertwined in his heart. Early this morning, Yuan Ji and the secret guards entered the palace to report on the situation and skills of the women in black last night.
They didn't know who those women in black were, but how could he, Emperor Chengming, not know?
Like the living dead, they knew no pain, blindly pursuing their target. This was clearly the secret technique of a foreign race within Langjiang! When King Langjiang was still in power, that foreign race relied on that secret technique to prosper. It wasn't until the empress ascended the throne that they vanished, ultimately becoming a name that could not be spoken of.
The secret method of the Gu beast was too insidious. Just to raise a female Gu, the blood and flesh of nearly a thousand people had to be sacrificed. The baby Gu needed to be nurtured by a woman. As long as a woman ate the eggs of the mother Gu, thirty baby Gu would crawl out of her stomach, and eventually her body would fester and she would die.
I don’t know if it was a punishment from God, or because the aliens liked to use their own people to raise Gu. Since ancient times, their numbers have been pitifully small, and later they disappeared. I’m afraid they were hunted down and killed by the empress.
How did Emperor Chengming know this? Back then, the late emperor personally led an expedition to Langjiang, and the King of Langjiang used this insidious tactic: he would bite people even after his limbs were chopped off, and he could still brandish his weapons even after his head was cut off.
If it weren't for the alien race's secret technique of using poisonous beasts, Dayu would never have lost the war, and Xiao Tong would not have been sent to Langjiang as a hostage!
In that war, nearly 200,000 soldiers of Dayu died!!!
As for the black-clad women tearing up the bodies of their fallen companions and taking all the body parts away...it must have been Xiao Tong's order. If the bodies had been left where they were, there was no guarantee that some extraordinary person in Dayu would discover the secret of the Gu Beast technique.
"Since you want to die for her..."
The muscles on Emperor Chengming's face twitched and he suddenly sneered.
"Then I will grant you your wish."
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