Chapter 314: Life for Life
Yang Hezhi could no longer speak because the black shadow moved in front of him. First it was Yang Ling'er's face, and then in an instant it turned into a skeleton, moving closer to him little by little.
He could feel the bone-chilling coldness even though he was so close, seeping into his flesh and almost freezing his heart, making him unable to breathe.
He heard the sound of his teeth chattering, "How could it be..."
The Venerable said that with the formation set up, no evil spirits could enter, so how could Ling'er appear?
Realizing he had nearly let something slip, he forced himself to remain calm and corrected himself, "Using sorcery and witchcraft to force a confession...is also not recognized by the law."
Wei Qingyan must have broken his formation again, but the Venerable only taught him these two formations. Looking at the skull that was almost face to face with him, he retreated repeatedly, not knowing how to respond, with panic in his eyes.
Although he knew that evil spirits existed in the world, this was the first time he had actually seen one. It turned out... it was so creepy.
He was able to sense when the previous formation was broken, but he was completely unaware when this formation was broken.
He underestimated the enemy. The Crown Princess of Wei was more powerful and cunning than he had imagined.
Although he had expected that Yang Hezhi would throw dirty water on him, after hearing these words, Wei Qingyan was still disgusted by his shamelessness.
The purpose of releasing Yang Ling'er was to see if Yang Hezhi had any other abilities besides setting up formations.
Now it seems that there is no such person, so the life-saving formation in the cave using the girl's corpse was not set up by him.
The life-for-life formation, exchanging life for life, ten years for one day, to support the living dead to remain in the world.
This is an extremely ancient formation, and it is impossible for people who are not familiar with the mysterious arts to perform it.
If we assume that the girls have an average of thirty years left to live, the remaining thirty years of life for the forty-nine girls add up to one thousand four hundred and seventy years.
In other words, the lives of the forty-nine young girls in the cave could only allow the living dead to survive in the world for one hundred and forty-seven days, which was less than half a year.
As long as the living dead being worshipped is still in the world, such formations must continue one after another without interruption.
It requires countless forty-nine lives.
She didn't know which formation in the cave this was, or the tenth, or even the dozensth.
But such a cruel and evil formation that cost so many lives and remained undiscovered is definitely not something that an ordinary person could do.
They had just arrived in Fengzhao, and when the situation was unclear, Wei Qingyan would not easily let anyone in Fengzhao know that she had seen through the formation, including Xiao Zhian and Lin Lanting.
In order to avoid fatal disaster, if anything happens to either her or Shi Yu, it is very likely to cause a dispute between the two countries.
The red threads wrapped around the coffins were like conduits, transporting the girls' destinies out from between their brows in an endless stream.
When they found the cave that day, the red lines on the coffins had turned dark red, indicating that the lives of those girls had long been lost.
That formation has been used up and is now a useless formation.
But what puzzled her was that since the formation had lost its effect, why didn't the person who set up the formation remove it in time, so that they were discovered?
Are they fearless, or do they not know whether they can withdraw?
Now, the person who killed the girl is right in front of him, but he is not the one who set up the formation. For some reason, Wei Qingyan suddenly thought of the Venerable mentioned by Princess Ling and Shi Dehou.
Shi Dehou instigated the assassin to snatch the soul that Posha wanted to nurture. Could it be that he was the living dead being nurtured by the life-resisting formation?
If so, who is the Venerable? And who are the Living Dead?
Did they rescue Dehou also for this living dead?
So what about Wang Zhi and Shen Hongxing’s detention of Lai Fengzhao’s soul? Is it also related to this?
Looking at the man whose face had turned pale after being frightened by Yang Ling'er, Wei Qingyan asked tentatively, "Why, didn't your Venerable tell you what resentment is?"
Wei Qingyan slowly walked towards Yang Hezhi, "Your sister was unwilling to die, and she was obsessed with revenge, so she harbored resentment. If there were no formation to resist, with her hatred for you, the Yang family would have been overthrown long ago."
Yang Hezhi's pupils suddenly shrank. Wei Qingyan actually knew the Venerable!
He was arrogant and thought that the Venerable was unparalleled in the world. He had learned some things from the Venerable and had been doing well in Wutong County for many years, so he did not take Wei Qingyan seriously.
"You destroyed my formation and allowed evil spirits to harm people. You are aiding and abetting evil." He struggled in his death.
Wei Qingyan laughed, "You're wrong. She's not evil. She's your own sister who was killed by you. Karma is the cycle of karma, and I'm here to uphold justice."
The shock in Yang Hezhi's eyes just now confirmed that he was indeed the Venerable's man, and it also confirmed once again that Yang Hezhi had no ability to deal with resentment except for that formation.
The fact that he was so confident before showed that in his eyes, the Venerable was an extremely powerful person, both in terms of ability and power.
Wei Qingyan was glad that he did not tell anyone about the life-saving formation, but chose to be roundabout and hide his shortcomings.
If everything revolves around this living dead, then the water behind it will not be shallow.
She glanced at Xiao Zhian who had just arrived, and walked to Shi Yu's side.
Xiao Zhian understood what his sister-in-law meant and said sternly, "Yang Hezhi is reckless and takes human life lightly. Take him away and let this prince give him a thorough trial."
"You want to force me to confess. I will file a complaint with the emperor and plead my case to the empress. You are abusing your power to oppress others." Yang Hezhi shouted.
Xiao Zhian was furious. "Wang Peng and Madam Yin have already confessed. Why are you pretending? You even want to use my mother's flag. My mother is fair, not foolish."
Madam Yin was the noble lady who said she did not recognize the person in the portrait.
"Impossible." Yang Hezhi shook his head.
There is no way Wang Peng and the others would recruit him.
He holds their unspeakable secrets, the dark and twisted side deep in their hearts. Once they are revealed, they will no longer have the face to live.
He would stink even after his death. How dare they betray him with such evidence in his hands?
But he forgot that if he fell into the hands of Xiao Zhian and others, and Wang Peng and others did not confess, it would not be them who died, but the entire family would be implicated.
This is true power.
Xiao Zhian said angrily, “You poisoned the city’s water source, making the people think they had smallpox.
Anyone who contracts smallpox must report it to the court. You are spreading rumors to mislead the people. Smallpox is incurable. Once the court knows about it, they will confine you and isolate you, leaving you to fend for yourself. They may even destroy the city to prevent the disease from spreading to more people.
At a time when people were in panic, you ordered someone to pretend to be a Taoist priest and claimed that you had a way to save all the people in Wutong.
However, smallpox was a punishment from heaven, and the disaster could only be quelled by sacrificing the lives of forty-nine young girls to God.
You pretended to be the first to offer your own sister for the sake of the people in the city. This is a sorcery and is not permitted by Fengzhao law. The Taoist priest also warned the people not to say a word to outsiders, otherwise the punishment from heaven would come again.
Some people did not believe it and discussed it in private. The next day, his body was covered with pus-filled boils again, and several families died within a few days.
You designed a plan to collude with officials and wealthy people in the city, luring them to your house to do those disgusting things, thereby getting hold of their leverage and helping you control the entire Wutong County.
Any outsiders who tried to escape were secretly executed by you.
After this, the people of Wutong were terrified, and no one dared to speak of those things again. This is why they pretended not to know the girls. Because they were not only afraid of heavenly punishment, but also of being accomplices in offering the girls, and even more afraid of your revenge."
"What smallpox? When did Wutong County get smallpox?" County Magistrate Yang exclaimed in horror.
Lin Lanting looked at him coldly, "When you accompanied your second wife to travel to the south of the Yangtze River."
He had received news from the imperial city and knew who had promoted Yang Junshou to Wutong County. Thinking of that person, Lin Lanting's eyebrows twitched uncontrollably.
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