Star Trace Gate

The 80,000 soldiers of the Qianli Green Camp were stationed at the foot of Qingliang Mountain.

The army set up camps from the middle of the mountain to the official road thirty miles away, densely packed like stars. After nightfall, the light from the lanterns illuminated half of the city like daylight.

In order to avoid disturbing the people, the Dragon Head ordered the heads of the various mountains to personally stay in the mountains. If anyone dared to tease the women in the city or steal, they would be executed on the spot. The head of the mountain would also be punished by being castrated on the spot with a knife as a warning.

This made Fatty Wu and other big guys feel very nervous. They did not attend the evening meeting and just patrolled the camp for fear of causing any trouble.

……

After the army was arranged, Ren Ye, together with Huang Wei and others, personally led all the big men of Qianli Green Camp, more than 160 black-clad keepers, and the 50 high-level magical masters brought by Li Yan into the Prince Huai's Palace.

That night, a buffet was set up here for nearly a thousand people. The scene was unprecedentedly prosperous, somewhat reminiscent of the glorious scene when the old King Huai was about to go to war.

After the banquet, everyone took a break, waiting for the third prince to come and convey the specific strategic deployment for attacking Shangyu.

Ren Ye took advantage of this opportunity and immediately went to Li Yan's room.

"Good brother, no more unnecessary words. You have to keep your word, and I will welcome you with my clamps." After he entered the room, he clasped his fists respectfully and said, "Come on, show off your powerful body to your heart's content...!"

Li Yan waved his hands speechlessly: "You don't know how many times you've been welcomed by the clamp today. It's very dirty and worn out. Stay away from me."

"Why are you swearing?" Ren was also a little unhappy.

"Stop talking nonsense." Li Yan waved his hand and went straight to the point. "Half of these fifty people can be taken for free. I will arrange for them later. As for the remaining half, do as I said before. If they can take Shangyu County, they may want to do some business here, but they will definitely abide by the rules."

"I will never go back on my word." Ren agreed immediately, "Let Brother Huang talk to them later."

"Yeah." Li Yan responded, "Also, Monk Peng is convinced and wants to talk to you."

"This guy should be Guan Feng and Han Chan's diehard lackey. He must have a strong will. How did you get him to confess?" Ren Ye asked curiously.

"Oh, businessmen have their own clever ideas." Li Yan said softly, "Come with me and take a look and you will know."

"Okay, let's go." Ren nodded.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yan raised his hand and summoned the Hunyuan Golden Bowl.

"Om."

A blinding light shone in the room, and Li Yan said softly: "Don't resist..."

"Ah."

Ren also relaxed his mind and nodded slightly.

"Shua...!"

A golden light shone down, and the two of them disappeared in an instant.

……

Not long after, in an empty area shrouded in white fog, Ren opened his eyes slightly and turned his head to look around.

He saw that this place was like the outside of the Heavenly Palace, with only a faint fairy mist, but no other scenery: "The interior of this Hunyuan Golden Bowl looks so empty."

“The Hunyuan Golden Bowl can turn stone into gold and refine everything. However, I still know too little about it. I need to reach the sixth level before I can gradually explore its many magical abilities.” After Li Yan explained softly, he raised his hand and waved.

"Crash!"

The white mist in front of me slowly dissipated, and the blurry scene gradually became clear.

About forty steps ahead, a person who was not sure whether he was a man or a woman was sitting cross-legged. His entire body was covered with crawling venomous snakes, and he just sat there, howling in pain from time to time.

There are at least hundreds of poisonous snakes, big and small, including pythons, green snakes, etc., with many kinds.

The dense group of snakes were wriggling on the man's body like maggots, trying to drill into his ears, eyes, nostrils and other holes in the human body. They were all sticking out red tongues and leaking sticky liquid.

Viewed from a distance, this scene is so numbing that it can cause physical discomfort.

After Ren Ye was stunned for a few seconds, he asked tentatively: "Monk Peng?"

"Yeah, didn't you see that he was missing an arm?" Li Yan nodded.

"What the hell is this interrogation method?!" Ren Ye asked.

Li Yan glanced at him and said calmly, "Snakes are naturally lustful and like damp places. Anyone can be a silver, so why can't a monk be a silver?"

"...!"

When Ren Ye heard this, his hair stood on end and he couldn't help but shiver three times.

When he looked forward again, he couldn't help swallowing, and actually felt a little sympathy for Monk Peng.

"Monk Peng, the person you want to see is here." Li Yan stood there, so godly, his voice full of empty majesty: "Your performance will directly determine whether you will be given an extra spouse tonight."

As soon as he finished speaking, he emitted a magical wave that caused the dense group of snakes to retreat like a tide.

The big monk's true appearance gradually emerged. His body was covered with smelly liquid. He sat cross-legged on the ground with a very painful expression, and only slightly opened his eyes.

There were at least hundreds of snakes on his body, but Li Yan did not use his magical aura to drive them away.

Ren Ye looked at him coldly: "My time is very tight, you only have one chance."

"Uh……!"

Monk Peng's face turned pale, his brows were furrowed, and he actually made an unbearable sound of dry stool from his mouth.

He lifted his right buttock slightly and reached back with one hand.

"puff!"

The sound of Teacher Yu unplugging the phone was heard. He grabbed a bloody snake and threw it several meters away viciously.

"...!"

Ren Ye frowned and didn't say much.

"If you save me... I will tell you the answer." The big monk spoke in a hoarse voice, enduring the severe pain.

"You have no room for bargaining." Ren also shook his head.

"If I can neither live nor die, then why should I betray other people?" Although Monk Peng was suffering from torture, his thoughts were still very clear as he replied.

As he spoke, his hand reached under his buttocks again.

Ren Ye looked at the old bastard and said softly, "Don't even think about getting out of this predicament. Even if I know nothing, I will make you return to dust for the sake of the innocent people who were killed in Sunset Town."

"At this point, I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of a life worse than death." The big monk replied with trembling lips: "Forget it, forget it, I will say one thing first to show my sincerity."

Ren didn't respond either.

The monk thought for a moment and said, "Emperor Wanwu sent you to investigate the rebels in the court, so you followed him to Zhangzhou and went to the tomb of Concubine Jing. But... hehe, do you think that Emperor Wanwu is definitely a good person?"

Ren also frowned, but still didn't respond.

"I have also been entrusted by someone to investigate the case of Concubine Jing, and I want to confirm one thing." The big monk stared at Ren Ye with bloodshot eyes, and said word by word: "I found out that before the Queen died, she had attempted to assassinate Emperor Wanwu."

"Assassination?!" Ren also raised his eyebrows.

"She's crazy, that's why she tried to assassinate Emperor Wanwu." The big monk sneered, "Haha, this is mysterious, isn't it?"

"Stop talking nonsense, just speak up."

"Not long after the second prince woke up, the queen went crazy and was locked up in the palace by Emperor Wanwu to recuperate." The monk's eyes suddenly showed a playful look: "I found out that on the day the queen died, Emperor Wanwu went to her palace. But unexpectedly, the queen suddenly took a sword and tried to assassinate him. While chasing and hacking, she shouted...'You dog emperor, you killed my child, you killed my child!'"

"The shouting frightened several maids in the Queen's palace, and then they all disappeared."

"Haha, is this mysterious?!"

As he spoke, the big monk suddenly shook his body, and with a "puff" he pulled out a small snake from behind and threw it far away.

Then, he reached behind him again...

Not far away, Ren Ye stood there as if struck by lightning, his fists clenched, his whole body trembling.

You killed my child?!

Kill my child...

The monk's words kept echoing in his mind, and the many clues he had found earlier were also frantically converging and arranging themselves...

Why did the Queen want to assassinate Emperor Wu before she died? Why did she say such a thing? According to Lord Rat's description, the Queen and Emperor Wanwu should have had a very good relationship.

Even though Concubine Jing was so favored back then, her status in the harem was only second to her, and there was absolutely no possibility of replacing her. This fully proves that Emperor Wanwu had feelings for the queen.

If nothing serious happened, why would a husband and wife turn swords against each other?

Wait, wait...let's sort out the sequence of events.

Concubine Jing attempted to seize the fortune of Southern Xinjiang, and was pregnant with Princess Jun'an first - then, the Second Prince fell seriously ill and fell into a coma - then Emperor Wanwu noticed something and imprisoned Concubine Jing - then the Second Prince woke up, Concubine Jing died - and finally the Queen died.

Ren Ye stood there in a trance, and suddenly murmured, "During her imprisonment, Imperial Concubine Jing must have been interrogated by Emperor Wanwu... This is certain! In other words, it is possible that he also obtained the secret method of the Three Elements Returning to One from Imperial Concubine Jing..."

Thinking of this, Ren got goose bumps all over his body. Thinking back to his last guess, he always felt that the ending of that "story" was unreasonable.

He initially speculated that Concubine Jing was not dead, and that Princess Jun'an might have been the Taoist body she cultivated by killing her offspring.

But in this speculation, there is no way to explain. If Princess Jun'an is the Taoist body of Concubine Jing, then how could Emperor Wanwu not know that there is something wrong with his daughter and still be so good to her?

Is this reasonable?

unreasonable!

Therefore, Ren also gave a rather far-fetched explanation in his mind at that time, that is, Concubine Jing did not succeed in erasing Jun An's soul, nor did she successfully refine a Taoist body. After the incident, she escaped from the palace through special means, and secretly conspired with Han Chan and Guan Feng to plan the destiny of Southern Xinjiang.

Therefore, there was no corpse of Concubine Jing in her tomb. And the later actions of Han Chan and Guan Feng to slay the dragon and seize the fortune also indirectly confirmed this speculation.

But now... although Monk Peng only gave a clue of one sentence, it was enough to completely overturn this conjecture.

Ren Ye stood there, looking at the sky and said, "Noble Concubine Jing stole the fortune, causing the twelve-year-old Fat Dragon to almost die. Emperor Wanwu discovered this, so he imprisoned Noble Concubine Jing and tortured her severely, and even ordered the elders of the clan to use the secret method of asking the spirit... But unexpectedly, he 'accidentally' learned the secret of the Three Elements Returning to One."

"When the three elements merge into one, one can enter the divine forbidden zone, which is the stage of half-step godhood, an existence that transcends all living beings."

"If an emperor wants to live forever, if he wants to rule for thousands of years, can he really resist this temptation?"

"The big fat dragon is dying. He may be saved or not... But he is a man, carrying the fate of a prince, and is the direct descendant of Emperor Wanwu. This is a perfect Taoist shell that is forced in front of us, full of temptation, full of infinite possibilities."

"My beloved concubine said that only a newly formed baby is the most ideal choice for a Taoist body, but she didn't say that a 12-year-old child would definitely not be able to do it."

"Noble Concubine Jing probably didn't escape. She died on the night or day when she revealed the secret method of the Three Elements Returning to One."

“The Third Prince said that you don’t understand the situation in Southern Xinjiang… I don’t want to argue, and I can’t argue either.

"Why did he insist that he had no chance? Did he know something?"

"The queen said, you killed my child, so I will kill you."

"There are rebels in the court, and Emperor Wanwu wants an outsider to investigate and act as a knife. Is this to cover up something?"

"Who could be the rebels? Are they the people who are unwilling to accept their fate?"

"In the secret realm of Bu Lao Mountain, the shrewdness, demeanor, and temperament displayed by the fat dragon are not like those of a young man..."

"In the battle at Sunset Town, he made perfect plans and revealed the method of using the Human Emperor Seal in one sentence. This should be something that only the direct descendants of the Sorcerer God can master."

"Why is a prince who has not yet become the crown prince called Prince Ren? This is equivalent to hinting at the next crown prince candidate."

"...!"

Countless clues gathered together, and Ren stared blankly at the void, muttering subconsciously: "The fat dragon died at the age of twelve... Now the person I see, who is my brother... is the Wanwu Emperor?!"