This guess is very likely.

Among the more than ten tribes in southern Xinjiang, only the Wu Miao and Xue Miao are of the same origin and use poisonous insects and poisonous weeds as means to fight the enemy.

If anyone could sneak into the Snow Seedlings, it must be related to the Black Seedlings.

The elder who spoke first raised a question: "Isn't it just Elder Rong's guess that the Seventh Prince of Zhou harmed the clan leader?"

Elder Rong was startled: "Elder Bai, what do you mean?"

Elder Bai said in a deep voice: "Since it was the clan leader who sent Ashan to kill Prince Zhou Qi, why did the clan leader and Ashan die in this fire? Could it be that Prince Zhou Qi guessed yesterday that the clan leader wanted to harm him and chose to strike first?"

"That's not possible." Elder Rong said.

"So, Elder Rong, do you know why the clan leader wants to get rid of Prince Zhou Qi?"

Elder Rong was stumped by the question.

He only gained the patriarch's trust in recent years, so he is not clear about some things.

Elder Bai saw this and smiled secretly.

He knew the reason why the clan leader wanted to kill Prince Zhou Qi.

When he first learned about the Wu Miao tribe's prophecy, the tribe leader had mentioned it to him and strongly advocated the resolution of the seventh prince of Zhou, but he opposed it.

He thought that the hexagram was nothing but nonsense, and that the Xue Miao was already at a disadvantage against the Wu Miao, and it would be even worse if they became enemies with the Great Zhou.

Who knows whether the hexagram is true or just a bait deliberately released by Wu Miao.

The patriarch is radical, while he prefers stability. As a result, the two people with different ideas gradually drift apart.

Until now, the patriarch had taken action without telling him a word.

"So, the idea that the clan leader sent Ashan to assassinate the seventh prince of Zhou last night is just Elder Rong's one-sided statement."

Elder Rong was furious: "Elder Bai, do you doubt me?"

Elder Bai smiled and said, "That's not what I meant. I just don't want to easily stir up hatred between my tribe and the Great Zhou. After all, the tribe leader just passed away, and it would be unwise for us to fight against both the Wu Miao and the Great Zhou."

"Elder Bai, are you afraid of the Great Zhou? Are you not going to avenge the clan leader?"

Elder Bai's expression turned cold. "If it was really the Seventh Prince of Zhou who murdered the clan leader, we can't just let it go. I'm just saying we can't jump to conclusions. Take Ah Shan for example. According to Elder Rong, he went to assassinate the Seventh Prince of Zhou. How do you explain finding his body in the burning house?"

"Elder Bai, what do you say we should do?" asked the patriarch's son.

Elder Bai was a little more pleased in his heart, but his expression remained calm: "Of course we have to find out the truth first. On the one hand, we have to check the whereabouts of the seventh prince of Zhou, and on the other hand, we have to go to Wu Miao to find out the truth."

"Go to Wu Miao?" Everyone was surprised.

It sounded like Elder Bai disagreed with Elder Rong's statement, so why did he change his tune?

Elder Bai said sadly: "The tribe leader has no external injuries. One possibility is that he died of an accidental fire. Another possibility is that he was controlled by someone and could not escape. If it is the latter, the murderer must have the help of Wu Miao, or even Wu Miao people, to be able to sneak into the tribe leader's study safely and suppress the tribe leader's breeding of crickets so that the tribe leader loses the power to resist!"

Elder Bai finished speaking. Everyone was silent for a long time. One of the elders said, "But we have no evidence. The clan leader had no external injuries. The Great Elder Wu Miao can say that the clan leader died in an accidental fire."

Elder Bai sneered, "We insist that the tribe leader was murdered, and Wu Miao must make a statement. Don't worry, I will go to Wu Miao in person to seek justice for the tribe leader."

Everyone bowed and said, "Then I'll leave it to Elder Bai."

After the clan leader, Elder Bai is the most powerful, so naturally no one wants to offend him at this time.

Seeing everyone like this, Elder Bai looked sad but was quite satisfied in his heart.

The real thing is to take advantage of the death of the clan leader to win over the clan members and become the new clan leader. As for the rest, we will talk about it later.

Elder Rong had to suppress his discontent upon seeing this, and secretly promised to have a good talk with the young master later and not let Elder Bai be so proud.

Afterwards, Elder Bai went to settle accounts with the Wu Miao in order to gain benefits. Some Xue Miao people began to investigate the whereabouts of Prince Zhou Qi. In addition, the power struggle within the Xue Miao became more and more intense. There is no need to elaborate on these.

The carriage heading north left all this chaos far behind and was getting closer and closer to the capital.

What was even faster than Jiang Si was that a secret letter landed on the dragon table in front of Emperor Jingming.

Looking at the signature of the Jinlinwei spy on the letter, Emperor Jingming could hardly wait to open it.

At the beginning of the year, Honglu Temple Minister and others were sent as envoys to Wumiao, among whom were mixed Jinlin Guard spies. Later, when Honglu Temple Minister and others returned, several Jinlin Guards stayed in the south as ordinary people.

Emperor Jingming was extremely wary of the mysterious Wu Miao and naturally wanted to grasp some of the movements there.

After reading the letter, Emperor Jingming leaned back in his chair and remained silent for a long time.

Pan Hai silently poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Emperor Jingming, knowing the interest but not saying anything.

After a while, Emperor Jingming ordered Pan Hai: "Please ask the Queen to come over."

As soon as Pan Hai took the order and left, Emperor Jingming changed his mind and stood up and said, "Forget it, let's go to Kunning Palace."

It was morning, the dragon in the house was burning brightly, and the queen was concentrating on trimming a pot of flowers by the window with silver scissors.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor is here."

The queen put down the silver scissors and hurried over to greet him: "Why did the emperor come at this time?"

Emperor Jingming walked in and sat down casually, with an expression that made it impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

Upon seeing this, the empress asked no more questions, waved her hand to signal the palace maid to leave, and personally poured a cup of tea for Emperor Jingming.

Emperor Jingming took it and stroked the fine porcelain teacup for a moment before saying, "There's a letter from the spy in the south who's keeping an eye on Wu Miao."

The queen's relaxed expression faded and she became serious: "What's going on over there?"

Emperor Jingming nodded and said, "Not long ago, it was rumored in southern Xinjiang that the Wu Miao Saint was no longer alive, but she appeared at the New Fire Festival..."

The Queen raised her eyebrows in surprise: "So, the Holy Maiden Wu Miao has not shown up for several years because she is really practicing in seclusion?"

"I don't know whether he is in seclusion or not, but there is one thing that is very strange."

"What is it?"

Emperor Jingming paused for a moment before saying, "The letter said that it was difficult for outsiders to sneak into the Wu Miao tribe during the New Fire Festival. They hid in high places and looked through a telescope, and discovered that the Wu Miao Saint... looked very similar to the Seventh Elder's wife..."

The queen was truly shocked: "How could such a bizarre thing happen?"

Emperor Jingming had a complicated look on his face. He pondered for a long time before saying, "Seventh brother's wife claims to be born with supernatural powers, but she looks similar to the Holy Maiden of Wu Miao... By the way, Queen, you said before that Seventh brother's wife was chanting sutras and praying for Seventh brother, and she stayed indoors?"

The queen's heart skipped a beat, but she nodded silently.

"So, the seventh wife hasn't been out for quite some time, right?"

"yes."

Emperor Jingming tapped the table lightly with his fingers, obviously hesitant.

The queen had some suspicions in her mind, but she said nothing.

After a long while, Emperor Jingming made a decision: "Let's send someone to the Prince of Yan's mansion to take a look."