Chapter 835: Discovered
A look of mockery flashed through the crown prince’s eyes. “You only realized that now? Isn’t it a bit too late?”
With that acknowledgement, forget about Lu Xiao, even Zu An was incredibly shocked as he remained in hiding. Even though he’d had similar suspicions, he still found it a bit hard to believe until everything became clear.
Zu An had actually always felt that something was strange. The emperor had arranged for him to protect their party from the dark. Putting aside whether he even stood a chance against King Qi Manor’s people, even if he did, why would the emperor trust him so much?
When he had entered the dungeon and seen King Qi’s various schemes, he’d felt both admiration for King Qi and contempt for the emperor. He’d felt that the reason why the emperor couldn’t win against King Qi all these years was because his level of scheming was far inferior. But he was now the one who truly looked like a clown!
Even so, why was the crown prince the emperor? Zu An really couldn’t associate that stupid fatty with this powerful and dignified crown prince.
Lu Xiao was also confused. He cried out, “Impossible… Impossible! How can you be the emperor?!”
The crown prince looked at him with a sneer, seemingly having no intention of explaining.
Lu Xiao suddenly realized something. “I know what’s going on! You used a possession technique! You had Mi Lianying look for the method of immortality. He failed several times, but then later on, he brought back a possession technique. He was even punished for that, but you actually ended up secretly practicing that possession technique!”
Possession? Zu An shivered. He was too familiar with this process. Old Mi had wanted to take over his body too. Judging from what Lu Xiao was saying, the reason why Old Mi had known this possession technique was because he had searched for it in the emperor’s name!
Lu Xiao continued, “Back then, the crown prince wasn’t stupid. But after experiencing a great illness, he suddenly became slow-witted. Everyone in the capital thought it was because of King Qi, and they were baffled by his actions, but we know it wasn’t because of King Qi. Now if I connect the dots, it’s clear that you used the possession technique on the crown prince back then and ended up wounding his soul! That was why he became slower than an ordinary person.”
A look of praise appeared in the crown prince’s eyes. “You’re quite sharp. No wonder you were able to become Zhao Jing’s first guardian. Unfortunately, you realized this too late and joined the wrong camp.”
Lu Xiao laughed bitterly. “Being able to receive your majesty’s praise has made this humble Lu’s life worth living anyway. But there is something I don’t understand. Since you’ve already possessed him, why can your majesty and the crown prince both coexist?”
The crown prince’s expression eased a bit when he heard Lu Xiao’s praise. His mood was clearly quite good. “This emperor can help clear up your confusion, but you need to reply to some key questions about King Qi first.”
Lu Xiao hesitated, but he still nodded in the end and said, “Please ask, your majesty.”
He already realized that King Qi was doomed to be finished after learning that the crown prince was the emperor. Whether or not he spoke wouldn’t change that reality, so he might as well die knowing the truth.
“Did the libationer take part in this secret dungeon’s affairs?” The crown prince’s gaze became incredibly penetrating. He had originally trusted the libationer, but King Qi had brought in so many people. There was no way the academy was completely uninvolved here.
Lu Xiao shook his head. “If the libationer had been willing to work with King Qi, why would King Qi even need to use all of these schemes?
“Three years ago, when the academy dungeon was opened, the one in charge of the dungeon entrance was Sir Eleven, Yin Shi.” Even though he didn’t speak in too much detail, it was already enough.
“Yin Shi!” The crown prince was speechless, clearly already having decided on that person’s death penalty.
Zu An sighed inwardly. He had actually been quite worried when he first heard that the academy might be related to this matter. Jiang Luofu, Qi Yaoguang, and the others were all teachers from the rear mountain. Furthermore, the Jiang clan was part of King Qi’s faction, so he was worried that it might have been Jiang Luofu who was responsible. If that had been the case, then even he had no idea how he would have saved her.
Even if it weren’t Jiang Luofu, but rather the seniors Wang Shuyang or Hei Baizi, he would also be troubled. These individuals had treated him well. Thankfully, it was that annoying debater Yin Shi.
Zu An knew that his thoughts just then weren’t all that good, but what could he do in such a situation?
“Apart from sending you all in, does Zhao Jing have any other schemes this time?” the crown prince asked…
Lu Xiao shook his head. “There are no more. With our strength, we thought it would already be more than enough to wipe out the crown prince’s party. We actually had some criticism of this plan at first, thinking that any random guardian would’ve been enough for this mission, but the king insisted on this plan. Later on, only when we encountered that Zu An did I feel admiration for King Qi’s foresight. But even with all of his planning, he still never expected to fall into your majesty’s trap in the end.”
Zu An’s face was ashen. The emperor had always been in their party, yet he had just watched as the people protecting him sacrificed themselves one after another, never making a single move. Even though it hadn’t been explained clearly, he could understand the emperor’s schemes quite well.
The first point was that the emperor absolutely couldn’t reveal the fact that the crown prince’s body was possessed, and the second was that King Qi had always had an honorable reputation, someone held in high esteem all throughout the court. The emperor had to have ironclad proof to accuse him. Now, he had slaughtered these young masters and publicly schemed against the crown prince and princess. Once news of this got out, all of King Qi’s prestige and reputation would be completely destroyed. Once that happened, no one would help him.
This really was the plan of a mastermind!
Those young masters who had heroically sacrificed themselves before death had no idea that the target of their protection had actually wished for them to die as miserably as possible. Just how ironic was that?
The crown prince asked Lu Xiao a few more questions, and Lu Xiao answered them all one by one. Then, he asked timidly, “Your highness, I’ve already told you everything you wanted to know. Can you help me ease my confusion now?”
The crown prince sneered when he saw Lu Xiao’s expectant and fearful expression. “You don’t need to worry; why would this emperor do something like going back on my promises?”
Zu An laughed inwardly when he heard these words. Hah! Who knows how many people you’ve fooled with those words?
The crown prince slowly said, “Back then, this emperor had Mi Lianying lead a group in search of a method for immortality. After decades of searching, he finally found a possession technique. At first, I wasn’t too happy, but Mi Lianying was never able to find the method for immortality. My time was coming as well, so I had no choice but to look into this possession technique.
“Possession goes against the natural course of this world, and the chances of success are low. There are only two ways to increase the chances of success. One is to cultivate the same cultivation technique, and the other is to be related by blood. That’s why Ruizhi was the best candidate.” The crown prince had a reminiscent expression on his face. “But Zhao Jing has always been watching carefully, so I had to keep him in check. I couldn’t carry out the possession too early, yet I didn’t dare put it off as a final hope. After all, if it failed, everything would be over. I thought of a perfect solution for that, which was to first send in a bit of my soul into Ruizhi’s body.
“People have three immortal souls and seven mortal forms. The seven mortal forms represent happiness, anger, grief, fear, love, hatred, and desire. The three immortal souls are the heaven, earth, and fate souls.
“The results of the experiment went well. One portion of my soul successfully entered Ruizhi’s body, replacing his fate soul. However, there’s no way I can constantly control his body, so I remain in hiding most of the time. The fate soul is in charge of thought and intelligence. The reason why he normally looks so slow is because that part was damaged.
“I knew there would be some great scheme during the crown prince’s exam, yet I couldn’t figure out what it was. That was why I granted Linglong some energy and had her use it as protection at a crucial time. That way, once she used it, this portion of my soul would smoothly awaken. Once that happened, no matter what kind of schemes Zhao Jing had, I could easily deal with it.”
Zu An was completely stupefied when he heard the explanation. This was a crafty old fox after all! What he had bestowed Bi Linglong wasn’t some protection method, but rather an ‘alarm’ that would wake him up! Bi Linglong had been kept completely in the dark the entire time.
Lu Xiao sighed in praise. “Thank you, your majesty, for clearing up my confusion.”
The crown prince stood with his hands behind his back, a satisfied smile on his face. “There’s no need for you to thank me. It’s just that I was never able to share my great plan with anyone all this time, which was quite the tragedy. Having someone listen to it is a sort of joy as well.”
Lu Xiao’s expression changed. He knew that he was already dead for sure now. Just as he was about to say something to see if he could change his fate, the other party raised his finger. A bloody hole instantly appeared between his brows, and he lost his life.
After killing Lu Xiao, the crown prince arrived at Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun’s side. “Hm? They’re actually not dead yet.” He raised his hand after speaking, clearly about to silence them forever.
Zu An’s heart couldn’t help but pound as he watched. Right at that moment, the crown prince turned around to look in his direction, saying, “Show yourself.”