Chapter 657 Confrontation, the Truth
The man in black paused and stared at her for a moment.
He slowly raised his hand to lift his hood, tore off his black robe and threw it aside. Under the black robe was a bright yellow dragon robe.
He raised his hand and took off the mask on his face, revealing Xiao Tianhong's gloomy face.
"...When did you find out?" Xiao Tianhong wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and spoke in a deep voice.
Yun Qingqing looked at him indifferently:
"Your method of shielding the secrets of heaven is indeed quite clever. Although I have long suspected that the person behind this is hiding in the palace, I have never been able to confirm that it is you."
"Fortunately, I have some connections in the underworld, and I finally found some clues."
When Xiao Tianhong heard her mention the underworld, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, but he narrowed his eyes again after hearing the last sentence:
"clue?"
Yun Qingqing uttered three words coldly:
"Miao Yuanshu."
Xiao Tianhong was slightly stunned, with a hint of interest in his eyes:
"Oh? His soul wouldn't enter the underworld after his death. How did you find out?"
"Indeed, his soul disappeared after his death. At that time, I always thought that it was Cang Ming who ordered him to act." Yun Qingqing said, "In the battle at the Xilan border, I confiscated Cang Ming's Yin-summoning Banner, but still couldn't find Miao Yuanshu's soul inside it. So I thought his soul had been consumed in the battle."
"However, on New Year's Eve, I rescued a large number of souls that had been abducted to the blood sacrifice pool in the Northern Cang territory. After sending these souls back to the underworld, it took some time to register them, but I unexpectedly discovered that the remnant soul of Miao Yuanshu was among them."
"That remnant soul has lost its self-awareness, but as long as there is a trace of soul in the underworld, it can trace its life. Guess what I saw in it?"
Yun Qingqing's eyes became colder and colder:
"Before the battle at the Xilan border, Miao Yuanshu received a secret order to obey Cang Ming's orders. This is the truth behind his assassination of Xiao Changheng during the chaos of war, and that secret order came from you!"
"At that time, Xiao Changheng had only disappeared, but the news of the Regent's martyrdom had spread to the Imperial Capital first. Xiao Changheng's subsequent investigations into this matter yielded no results. That's because the news didn't come from his military camp, but from you!"
Xiao Tianhong was silent for a moment, then chuckled softly:
"Heh... I see. I only gave Miao Yuanshu a secret order that one time, but I never expected it to be the only flaw."
"The only one?" Yun Qingqing sneered, "Then you are a little too confident!"
Xiao Tianhong frowned and looked at her coldly without saying a word.
Yun Qingqing clenched the sword in her hand:
"Everything leaves traces. The more things you do in secret, the more clues you will leave behind. If I hadn't suspected you long ago, I wouldn't have been able to track down Miao Yuanshu's remaining soul."
Xiao Tianhong stared at her quietly, waiting for her next words.
Yun Qingqing spoke slowly:
"More than a decade ago, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery suddenly died when she was only a few years old. Her spirit remained in the Marquis' mansion until I discovered it and took it away for respite."
"I also discovered that she was destined to be rich and long-lived, but someone had their life changed, leading to her premature death. However, I have never been able to find out who that person was..."
"It wasn't until Xiao Zirui's death that the hidden secrets within him were revealed. I was finally able to confirm that the fate of the eldest daughter of the Ye family that was replaced was in his body!"
The emperor's pupils shrank slightly, and he whispered in disbelief:
"You can even deduce something like this..."
Yun Qingqing ignored his shock and would never reveal the matter of the spiritual pupil to him. She just continued in a cold voice:
"The Queen doesn't have that ability, and someone has cast a spell on her that conceals her secrets, but completely abandoned her after her rebellion was exposed. The Queen is just a tool."
"More than a decade ago, when Xiao Zirui was destined to die young, it was the critical period for you to ascend the throne. The Chen family, backed by the Empress, who was then the Crown Princess, was your greatest support. Therefore, her eldest son must not be harmed!"
"So, you thought of stealing someone else's life and giving it to Xiao Zirui!"
Xiao Tianhong's eyes were a little distant, as if he was reminiscing:
"Oh, that's right. I hadn't even ascended the throne at that time, but I couldn't afford to make even the slightest mistake..."
He paused and came back to his senses, looking at Yun Qingqing with an increasingly cold gaze:
"Yun Qingqing, you're truly annoying. You've ruined my plans time and time again. My biggest miscalculation was that when Chang Heng first said he wanted to marry you, I didn't take action first and get rid of you directly!"
"Sabotage your plan?" Yun Qingqing sneered. "Your Majesty, are you saying that you took advantage of my absence from the capital to stage a scene where you lost your soul, causing Xiao Changheng to rush off to risk his life in search of the Nine-Colored Illusionary Ganoderma?"
"Or did you mean to deliberately spread the news of the Queen's sudden death and try to make Commander Yan disappear so that I could shift my suspicion to him?"
"Or maybe on the same day you were assassinated by Lan Rui, but you managed to distract Xiao Changheng, causing him to take the knife and get injured. He even thought you were unintentional and was trying to protect you?"
Every time she said this, Xiao Tianhong's face became even gloomier.
Yun Qingqing gripped the hilt of the sword tightly and closed her eyes.
With Xiao Changheng's skills and strength, he not only failed to dodge, but he couldn't even summon the black jade armor. When asked the reason, he was vague. She knew at that time that it must be related to the emperor.
She slowly opened her eyes and said coldly:
"Once it's confirmed that you're the one behind this, a lot of things will make sense."
"A few years ago, Xiao Changheng was trapped in a siege after his military secrets were leaked on the battlefield. He was seriously injured and disabled. It was also your doing."
"But his great luck far exceeds yours. This alone is not enough, and you cannot suppress him openly, otherwise you will be punished by the law of nature."
"So, you pretended to be weak and infirm, trusting and relying on him, creating the appearance that he controlled the court with one hand and had absolute control over everything. In reality, you were stirring up hostility from the Queen and the Crown Prince's faction towards him, attempting to kill someone with a borrowed knife."
Xiao Tianhong snorted coldly:
"You're right! As long as Daliang has him, the country's destiny will be as solid as a rock. I can't wait to kill him!"
"It's a pity that I didn't discover it early enough, giving him the opportunity to leave the Imperial Capital and find a master. However, it happened that a Xuanmen Sect member saved him from the assassin. I couldn't find any trace of him for several years, and by the time he returned, he had already become a powerful figure."
Perhaps the emperor had been pretending for too long over the years, and when he said he wanted to kill Xiao Changheng, there was no murderous intent in him, as if he was still the sickly, mediocre, but loving emperor brother.
Until he sighed softly, his gaze fell on Yun Qingqing again, and a gloomy coldness gathered in his eyes again.
He pulled a jade talisman from his bosom, squinting his eyes at it for a moment before exerting force on his hand. With a soft clang, the talisman shattered into several pieces, which he dropped to the ground. A beam of spiritual light flew out from the shattered talisman, heading straight for Yun Qingqing and immersing itself between her eyebrows.
Xiao Tianhong narrowed his eyes:
"So, you used Xiao Changheng as an excuse to send me this amulet, but your real purpose was to monitor me..."
"You were able to deceive me and hide your spiritual consciousness inside. That's quite a trick."
"but……"
He slowly took two steps back, placed his hand on the huge black stone statue of a strange bird, and suddenly laughed softly.
"Yun Qingqing, even if you know everything, what can you do?"
"Just now, in order to break the Lucky Array, you resorted to such tactics that you killed one thousand enemies and lost eight hundred of your own. You were betting that I had no backup plan, weren't you?"
As Xiao Tianhong spoke, he had already smeared the blood on his hands on the stone statue.
The stone statue suddenly burst out with a powerful pressure, which made Yun Qingqing's eardrums buzz and her heart tighten suddenly.
A dark mist emerged from the stone statue, winding up Xiao Tianhong's arm and into his body.
A strong wind suddenly blew up from all sides. The emperor, dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, looked ferocious and laughed loudly towards the sky:
"Unfortunately, you miscalculated this time!"
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