Chapter 99

Chapter 99

After stepping through the door, Ren Fengjue froze.

There was no sign of the Crown Prince inside, nor of Xia Ximo.

Only a single eunuch was tidying and wiping down the table.

“Young Marquis?”

The young eunuch was clearly puzzled by his return. “Is there something else you need?”

Ren Fengjue asked, “Did the manservant who came with me return here just now?”

The eunuch replied, “In answer to the Young Marquis, I have not seen him.”

But he had clearly seen her heading this way…

How could no one have seen her?

“Then what about His Highness the Crown Prince?”

Ren Fengjue swept his gaze over the entire study, the suspicion in his heart deepening.

The young eunuch, however, could not answer. He only said, “This servant does not know either. Seeing that no one was here, this servant came in to clean.”

After all, as the master of the Eastern Palace, whether the Crown Prince chose to leave or stay was not something he would ever need to report to palace servants.

Ren Fengjue thought back to the moment he had brushed past Xia Ximo earlier. Even then, he had felt something was wrong with her eyes.

Judging by past experience, there was a very good chance that something had possessed her.

“She” had hurried toward Yongqing Study. She must have come for the “Crown Prince.”

At that thought, a trace of urgency rose in Ren Fengjue’s heart.

There was only one entrance and exit in Yongqing Study. Since neither of them was anywhere to be seen, there was only one possibility-the people were still inside this very study!

He asked no more questions, but he had no intention of leaving either. Instead, he began to “sightsee” around the room on his own.

Seeing this, the young eunuch pretended not to notice and continued lowering his head to wipe down the tables and chairs.

Yongqing Study was the Crown Prince’s study. Not only was it located in a quiet, secluded place near Weiyang Palace, but from the study window, one could also look out into the distance at the misty shores of Yanbo Lake within Qianqiu Garden.

The furnishings inside the study still carried the same simple restraint from the days of Prince Duan’s Mansion. There were no famous collections, nor any rare treasures to be seen.

But there was an exceptionally tall and broad bookcase, stacked with scrolls and volumes-at least a hundred or more.

Ren Fengjue had actually noticed this bookcase from the very beginning. It was simply too large and too conspicuous, and behind it stood a thick palace wall, making it impossible not to wonder whether something might be hidden there…

The Eastern Palace had first been built in the previous dynasty and had already passed through the hands of several Crown Princes.

Before the Crown Prince of the present dynasty was invested, this place had stood vacant for a long time.

Earlier, the “old tale from the previous dynasty” that Ren Fengjue had told Crown Prince Zhao Li was not something he had picked up from hearsay.

When he was young, he had entered the palace school together with the imperial princes and the sons of the imperial clan. Though their instructor had been the Grand Tutor of the present dynasty, the man had assisted several generations of sovereigns and was a rare talent of great virtue and ability.

The Grand Tutor was witty and humorous, skilled at composing poems and lyrics. Whenever inspiration struck, he would grab someone to grind ink for him.

Before putting brush to paper, he always had to drink a little wine to stir his spirits. And once his literary thoughts began flowing, there was no stopping his mouth.

As a boy, Ren Fengjue loved listening to stories, so he always volunteered to grind ink for the Grand Tutor.

Then, once the Grand Tutor was pleasantly tipsy, Ren Fengjue would pester him into telling some murky, tangled stories from the past.

Half of what he had told Zhao Li earlier had come from the Grand Tutor’s own mouth. His purpose had been to test “Zhao Li’s” reaction.

Based on the rumors in the capital, Medical Commissioner Jiang’s personal experience, and Steward Wang’s account, he suspected that the current “Crown Prince” was very likely no longer the real Zhao Li.

Instead, there was an excellent chance he was the ghost of the Former Dynasty Crown Prince, who had been trapped and died in a secret chamber.

Now, as he looked at that heavy nanmu bookcase, another secret of the inner palace that his palace school instructor had once mentioned surfaced in Ren Fengjue’s mind.

There was a secret chamber in the Eastern Palace, built privately by the Former Dynasty Crown Prince.

After the palace rebellion, the Crown Prince vanished. The Former Dynasty Emperor suddenly sent men to secretly search the Eastern Palace, and in doing so, they discovered a hidden chamber.

To their shock, there was a woman’s corpse lying inside, one that had been dead for quite some time.

As for the identity of the female corpse, the Grand Tutor had retained some measure of sobriety and chosen to keep it secret. He had only said one thing.

“Such treasonous matters are better left unheard, Young Marquis.”

Thinking of this, Ren Fengjue carefully examined the ornaments on the bookcase once more. Seeing nothing unusual, he closed his eyes and pondered for a moment.
All at once, he thought of the chair the “Crown Prince” had been sitting in during their conversation earlier…

After opening his eyes, he turned back and tried shifting the direction of the chair. At once, the bookcases slid silently apart from both sides, revealing a hidden little door.

The inner attendant who was tidying up looked up and froze in terror, at a complete loss. Ren Fengjue, however, did not hesitate for even a moment before walking through the door.

–

Fu Tower, the secret passage.

Yu Lang was finally able to carry a lantern into the secret chamber and see what was inside.

Yesterday, after the others had come out, every last one of them had worn an odd expression, yet not a single person would say a word.

Vice Minister Yu had been thoroughly depressed, wishing he could pry their mouths open.

Fine, so they had gone into the secret chamber without him.

But they would not even tell him what was in there?

Did he not deserve even the slightest right to know?

Fortunately, the moment Daoist Yan arrived at Fu Tower today, he announced that he needed to make another trip to the secret chamber.

As soon as Yu Lang heard that, he immediately grabbed a lantern and volunteered to lead the way.

This time, without Lord Ren around, no one could possibly stop him!

“May I ask, Daoist Master, what exactly did you find in that secret passage yesterday?” Yu Lang could not help turning back to ask as they walked.

Yan Zhengchu pondered for a moment before answering with two words: “Human remains.”

Because he did not know the exact situation inside the Yin Tomb, and because the bones had been there for decades, he had suggested leaving them alone for the time being to avoid any unforeseen trouble.

Yu Lang had seen far too many human remains lately and was already numb to it. He asked again, “Was there nothing else?”

Yan Zhengchu, however, seemed somewhat distracted and merely gave a faint hum through his nose.

It was precisely because there had been nothing else that it felt so strange.

Otherwise, he would not have made another trip.

Before long, they reached the end of the secret passage.

When Yu Lang saw the stone door carved all over with Talisman inscriptions, he could not help marveling. If nothing else, it had certainly broadened his horizons.

Holding up the lantern, he bent slightly and was just about to examine it more closely when Yan Zhengchu suddenly pushed the stone door open.

A hideous white skeleton toppled out straight toward them, coming into intimate contact with Vice Minister Yu.

“?”

Though Yu Lang was not afraid of bones, how could his scalp not prickle when he was this close to such a thing?

Every hair on his body stood on end at once. He was just about to shove the thing away when he saw a mass of black Qi surge out from the skeleton’s mouth.

“Daoist Master, there’s a ghost!”

Yan Zhengchu reacted swiftly and hurriedly reached out to pull him back.

But the black Qi seemed to have eyes of its own, lunging straight at Yu Lang.

This startled Yan Zhengchu. He immediately struck out with a talisman, finally scattering the black Qi.

Hiding behind him, Yu Lang watched as the bones collapsed to the ground and turned to ash in the blink of an eye. He could not help being shocked.

He stood dazed for quite a while before remembering to ask, “Just now… was that black Qi a ghost?”

“Only a wisp of Baleful Qi.”

As Yan Zhengchu spoke, the expression on his face grew even stranger.

He speculated inwardly that for this Baleful Qi to cling to the bones for so long without dispersing, and to still possess the power to attack, it clearly had not come from any ordinary Vengeful Ghost or Evil Spirit.

He had crossed hands with Manager Bai of Fu Tower before. Although she was formidable, she was clearly not formidable to this extent.

Was it a Vengeful Ghost that had once been sealed inside this Yin Tomb?

Then who had come here and broken the spells?

As Yan Zhengchu was thinking, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the secret passage behind them.

Then they heard someone panting as he reported, “Vice Minister, Tongtian Pavilion… there is a ghost in Tongtian Pavilion!”

At those words, Yan Zhengchu and Yu Lang immediately ran out of the secret passage.

However, by the time they arrived, all they saw was a trail of blood-red footprints on the ground.

From the look of it, that “thing” had just crawled out of the pool…

Yan Zhengchu calculated on his fingers, pieced the sequence together, then suddenly slapped his forehead.

“I miscalculated. This was not the place where the Yin-Yang Fiend was being refined!”