Star Trace Gate

Dongfuzhong.

Ai Fei followed Ren Ye's thoughts and frowned slightly, saying, "If we follow your speculation, then this eldest princess... isn't it possible that she was transformed into a Dharma body by her biological mother, Imperial Concubine Jing?"

"Yes." Ren nodded heavily and echoed excitedly: "If this secret method of returning the three elements to one must be assisted by the movement of qi, then when Big Fatty Dragon was seriously ill, it just so happened that Concubine Jing was pregnant. So, do you think that Concubine Jing wanted to seize Big Fatty Dragon's luck first, and then use the secret method to refine her pregnant daughter as a Taoist body?"

"In this way, the several necessary conditions for refining a Dharma body that you mentioned can all be met. First, the eldest princess is the offspring of Concubine Jing, so they are naturally related by blood. Second, they are of the same gender, so there is no possibility of one breath transforming into three old ladies, or three old men. Third, she is pregnant, and she is a fourth-rank supernatural being, so it is entirely possible to wipe out the baby's intelligence before the fetus is formed, and split the soul to occupy the unborn flesh fetus."

The beloved concubine listened to Ren Ye's words and frowned, "Well said, but I have a question."

"What questions?"

"When Concubine Jing and Emperor Wanwu get married, the child they give birth to will naturally be of royal blood." The concubine said with rigorous thinking, "That is to say, when the eldest princess is born, she will also have royal luck. Then why did Concubine Jing go to the trouble of seizing the luck of the fat dragon?"

Ren Ye slowly stood up, walked around the room with his hands behind his back, and suddenly shook his head and said, "Maybe... because it's not enough."

"That's right." Fenglin immediately agreed, "Although the princess was born with the love of heaven and earth and was born into the royal family, she was born with good fortune. But firstly, she is a woman and does not have the qualifications to compete for the crown prince. Secondly, the good fortune of a newborn is naturally weak. My young master's guess of "not enough" should be correct."

The beloved concubine blinked her eyes frantically and said softly, "This story is a little too tragic."

"Yes."

Ren Ye walked in the cave with a serious expression, and narrated softly: "In order to make further progress in refining the method of returning the three elements to one, Concubine Jing needed luck. So she chose to enter the palace and often stayed by the side of Emperor Wanwu, trying to steal his luck, but she didn't expect that Emperor Wanwu was cautious by nature. In the past twelve years, Concubine Jing didn't get any chance. Or maybe she found that she couldn't seize the luck of a king. In desperation, she relied on her close personal relationship with the queen and prepared to attack the fat dragon. She first had sex with Emperor Wanwu and became pregnant with the eldest princess. She secretly wiped out the intelligence of the fetus, and then secretly used secret methods to seize the luck of the fat dragon bit by bit, and used it to secretly nourish the fetus of the Taoist body."

"But she didn't expect that when she was about to succeed, Emperor Wanwu would see through her clues and expose her completely." Ren Ye narrated clearly: "So, Big Fatty Dragon's luck was taken away, and he almost died tragically, and he was in a coma for more than a year, and Concubine Jing was also imprisoned in the late stage of her pregnancy, and she was not allowed to be visited or leave the palace. Even the queen knew about this, so she broke up with her, and her best friend became a ghost friend."

At this point, he suddenly turned his head and said, "If that's the case, then the current eldest princess Jun An... is most likely Imperial Concubine Jing!"

"Oh shit. This Imperial Concubine Jing is such a ruthless person. Just for some crappy martial arts technique, she killed her own daughter while she was still in the womb?" Ren Ye sighed with a chill down his spine.

Fenglin frowned in thought, and his beloved concubine's pretty face was dull, as if she was lost in some conjecture.

"Oh, that's not right. That's not right."

Ren Ye suddenly scratched his head: "Many of the details mentioned above can be perfectly arranged in this story. But there is one thing that I can't figure out."

Fenglin looked at him: "You mean, the situation of the eldest princess?"

"Yes." Ren also looked up at him and said quickly: "If Imperial Concubine Jing is the current eldest princess, does Emperor Wanwu know about it? He has already discovered the Imperial Concubine's conspiracy, so how can he not see that this woman killed her own daughter? If that's the case, how could Princess Jun'an live to this day and still be so favored? She must have been killed by Emperor Wanwu a long time ago... If someone treats my unborn daughter like this, I will chop her into pieces and stir-fry her with chili peppers."

"That's right." The beloved concubine replied, "The captain of the Xiaowei said earlier that among all the princes and princesses, Emperor Wanwu loves Big Fat Dragon and the eldest princess Jun'an the most."

"Well, that's not a logical ending to this story."

Ren Ye frowned and said, "However, there is another possibility."

"What's possible?" asked the beloved concubine.

Ren also raised his finger and spoke very quickly: "The conspiracy of Concubine Jing to use her daughter to refine the Dao body did not succeed. The old emperor discovered it early, so he rescued the second prince and Princess Jun'an in time. Moreover, it was precisely because they suffered such abuse in their childhood that he doted on these two children so much and tried to make up for it with his father's love. After the incident was exposed, Concubine Jing might have used some method to escape from the palace. So...!"

"So, there is no body in her tomb, only an empty coffin." The concubine's eyes lit up and she said excitedly: "So, there are undercurrents in this border area; so, some people in the court are ready to make a move? So... she is the one who secretly conspired with Guan Feng and Han Chan to plot against the people in the southern border in an attempt to steal the fortune of the Lich Kingdom?!"

"That's right. This explains why there was no body in the tomb even though it was Emperor Wanwu who arranged the funeral for her." Ren Ye immediately replied, "Because she didn't die at all!"

After the words were spoken, the cave fell completely silent, and the three of them were all thinking.

After a long time, Fenglin slowly said, "At present, this speculation is indeed the most reasonable. But there are still many details that need to be confirmed, such as how did this Imperial Concubine Jing escape from the palace? And why has Emperor Wanwu been tracking her down for so many years and has not found her whereabouts?"

"Well, these details do need to be confirmed." Ren Ye thought again and again: "But later, we also have to be on guard against the royal family. We should be more careful and not tell them everything."

"That's right." The beloved concubine held her forehead and shook her head: "The relationship between their family is too messy... It's like a big ethical drama."

"Now we have a direction for investigation, which is Concubine Jing. As long as we keep a close eye on her, we will definitely gain something." Ren also looked back at the two murals: "We will record the details of this cave one by one in the notebook, and then scrape it off to cut off other people's clues."

"it is good."

"Take all other personal belongings with you. You may need them later." Ren Ye reminded again.

"Ah."

"...!"

After a brief chat, the three of them started to act on their own.

After about a quarter of an hour, the cave was completely ransacked as if it had been robbed, with not even some broken jars and other daily necessities left.

After everything was done, Fenglin personally erased the murals before leaving with Ren Ye and his beloved concubine.

……

After leaving the cave, everyone gathered in front of Concubine Jing’s tomb.

In order to avoid losing clues, Ren also went down to the tomb to investigate personally. He drew the situation around the coffin, as well as the scenes and details inside the main tomb chamber into simple images, and supplemented them with text descriptions.

After finishing all these things, it was already time for the cock to crow.

Ren Ye looked at Ada, He Laosi and others who were captured, and said quietly: "Let's go to Anfeng Township. The official in charge, please send a message to Lord Yin and the Second Prince to tell them that we have set off and are ready to meet up with them."

"Yes!" the official nodded.

After the discussion, the group set off on horseback and headed for Anfeng Township.

On the way, Ren Ye, who was riding on a horse, winked at Ding Jun.

"Snapped!"

Ding Jun slapped He Laosi on the face and asked with a squinting look, "What are you looking at?"

"This... young man, my eyes are blindfolded, how can I see?" He Laosi replied aggrievedly.

"Snapped!"

Ding Jun slapped him again: "You are so stubborn."

“……!” He Laosi was speechless.

"I'll give you two choices. First, you answer whatever I ask. Second, I'll kill you and search your soul immediately." Ding Jun said with bared teeth.

He Laosi was a tough guy. When he heard this, he responded on the spot: "Master, just ask whatever you want to ask."

"Who sent you to this Concubine Jing's tomb?"

"Monk Peng?"

"Why did he ask you to search here?" Ren also interjected.

He Laosi hesitated for a moment, then immediately responded, "To be honest, I don't know. It's just that Master Peng has been investigating Concubine Jing's past and various secrets recently. When he went to Hezhou Prefecture before, he also inquired about similar news... But we are all his subordinates, so we dare not ask too much."

"What did he say before you came?" Ren Ye frowned.

"He told us to dig up the imperial concubine's tomb and see if there are any books, secret techniques or other burial objects in the coffin." He Lao Si paused and said, "He also told us to check the surroundings after searching the tomb to see if there are any secret rooms or secret passages."

Ren was silent: "What is the personality of this Master Peng like?"

"Master Peng... Master Peng is not greedy for money, nor is he lustful, but he is a bit of a martial arts fanatic and is too obsessed with practicing Taoism." He Lao Si said truthfully: "He likes to collect some strange and bizarre martial arts books...!"

"Ah."

Ren also sneered: "Oh, this is also a psychopath who wants to kill his own child! Are you here for the Three Elements Return to One method?"

……

At dawn, Anfeng Township.

According to the description in the reply letter, Ren also met Big Fat Dragon and others in a wild place.

"Brother, has Monk Peng been caught?" Ren Ye asked.

The fat dragon cursed with a tired look on his face: "Damn it, the old guy was too slippery. He got away. However, we did catch some other people...!"

……

On the way back to Lingnan, two people were walking quickly.

On the left, Monk Peng said kindly in a low voice: "He Laosi, Ada, who went to Concubine Jing's tomb, must have been arrested as well...!"

"Master, He Laosi and Ada went to Concubine Jing's tomb to handle our private affairs. If Guanfeng asks about them...!" A middle-aged man next to him asked tentatively.

"Of course I'm telling the truth." Monk Peng replied without any doubt.

"understood."

The middle-aged man nodded.

After the voice fell, the two of them walked forward another three miles and entered a dense forest.

The sun is shining brightly in the sky, and the dense forest is full of birdsong and flowers.

Soon, Monk Peng walked out of the forest alone, heading north and disappeared.