Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 162 - 159: Mad Old Woman, Bizarre Situation

Chapter 162: Chapter 159: Mad Old Woman, Bizarre Situation

Entering the city alone, Wang Yuan changed his appearance to look like an ordinary Scholar with no distinguishing features.

After learning that Emperor Jianming Zhou Wenrui had once been in hiding here and may have had a relationship with Huang Wu, he cautiously decided not to let the little ghost girl appear in public anymore.

It’s very likely that someone in Shanyang City had seen Huang Wu before, and her reckless appearance could have unpredictable consequences.

Telling the Snake Spirit sisters her name didn’t matter much.

After all, the little ghost girl was a noble lady of the Clan, and no one outside her immediate family would have a chance to know her intimate name.

"As for Young Master Xue, by now he should have already received the gift I sent him," he murmured.

Once he had set the pit killing scheme in place, he didn’t bother to pay it any further attention.

A bastard without any official post or protection from the Dragon Energy daring to act so brazenly?

In the eyes of mortals, he might be a great figure, but to a Magician like Wang Yuan, who wielded sly methods, he was nothing more than a mad dog that could be killed at will.

If I don’t take care of him, someone else will sooner or later.

Would those crazed heretics only kill the good and spare the bad?

On the contrary, the fact that he had managed to live safely up until now was what truly surprised Wang Yuan.

"No matter, even if he is lucky and a single blow doesn’t kill him, I’ll just strike again another day.

Everyone has a responsibility to exterminate the state’s enemies!"

Furthermore, whether the pit killing plan succeeded or failed, there was no loss to him.

Even if Prime Minister Xue, whose only son had died, wanted to take revenge and lash out indiscriminately at the innocent, at most he could only go after Water Patrol General Zheng Wan.

It had nothing to do with Wang Yuan, not even a copper coin’s worth.

Yet, thinking about that emperor, who was possibly a relative of his own and had been schemed against to death, Wang Yuan still couldn’t help but sigh internally:

"What’s the big deal with a Xue Donglou? These corrupt officials are inexhaustible.

With so many people dragging their feet, no matter how hard Emperor Jianming tries to dedicate himself to governance, it’s all futile.

No matter how desperately he tries to patch things up, the great ship of the Great Yan Dynasty is doomed to sink sooner or later and be reshuffled."

Has anyone ever seen a grand unified dynasty in history achieve revitalization?

Not once!

Has anyone seen a grand unified dynasty successfully reform?

Again, not once!

Because limited by the nature of an agricultural society, without significant external changes, such as a burst in productivity, a grand unified dynasty’s annual output is almost fixed.

There is no increase, only stock.

So every reform, every attempt, in actuality has never been about making the cake bigger but rather redistributing the cake.

It’s bound to infringe upon the interests of those who have already gained.

Who are those who have already gained? Naturally, it’s the huge bureaucratic Scholar class that the Court has supported for hundreds of years.

Reform from the top down is like committing suicide.

When numerous people oppose you for their own interests, even a descent of Immortals would be helpless to reverse the situation.

"It’s just that..."

Since yesterday, Wang Yuan kept a doubt in his mind that he hadn’t expressed to Huang Wu.

Even if he was an Emperor who faced many restrictions from his court officials, the resources at his disposal were still as vast as mountains and seas.

However, the little ghost girl had lain in Beimang Mountain for fifteen years, and no one had ever searched for her.

Similar to how Huang Wu’s mother never returned to Beimang Mountain, all of it was subtly weird.

After all, as the Emperor, even if he summoned the "Sect Master Marshal" from the heretical branches like "Taiyin Xuanbing Dao" or "Dragon Elephant Tao", supported by the dynasty for generations, shouldn’t there be a problem for them to take action?

Unfortunately, from beginning to end, nothing happened!

And the Concubine is essentially a Dragon Claw Locust tree Demon, could Zhou Wenrui really bring a Demon back to the Capital to ascend the throne?

After piecing these thoughts together, Wang Yuan couldn’t shake a rather ominous premonition.

While pondering this, his view now revealed a vast complex of palaces and halls situated by the shores of Luoxia Lake.

The King Jing Mansion might look a bit old and couldn’t compare to the grandeur of the Luoyang Royal Mansion, which had been managed by the Yifan for two hundred years, but it was still majestic and resplendent.

Surrounded by tall walls and four gates, the towers were covered with blue-glazed tiles, and the doors decorated with vermilion lacquer and gilded copper nails— it resembled a miniature Imperial City.

Yet the paint was slightly mottled, giving it a somewhat desolate appearance.

Wang Yuan approached the palace gate leisurely, as if taking a casual stroll. Suddenly, his body collapsed like a piece of paper and slipped through the tightly closed crack of the eastern gate, the "Body Kindness Gate".

Having been possessed by Nie Hongying, who wielded the "Ten Thousand Enemies Skill" to have a good slaughter with Zheng Wan, he also retained much of the physical memory, allowing him to take another great step toward the "Spirit Communication Transformation".

The "Thirty-Six Martial Arts Books" describe such a realm:

"Capable of being large or small, short or long, soft or hard, gentle or rigid.

One’s body can grow large like a ferocious tiger or shrink small like a civet cat.

Those who are flexible are naturally spirited when rigid!"

With Nie Hongying’s help in controlling his body, achieving this had become effortless for him.

Having passed through the gate in the blink of an eye, he was now in a garden where the plants seemed slightly unkempt.

It looked as though someone was attending to it, but in an indifferent manner.

"To say that King Jing is not favored, he was granted the very King Rank that once belonged to Zhou Wenrui.

To say he is favored, yet he was sent away to establish his province early on, spending years at sea commanding troops to guard the maritime borders of Great Yan, not only unwed but also with his mansion’s expenditures being cut year after year.

This brother seems to be a man with a story as well."

Wang Yuan never fought unprepared battles and had already gleaned a crystal-clear understanding of King Jing Mansion’s circumstances from Zheng Wan in advance.

He also took advantage of the birds to survey the interior of the Prince Mansion, making himself fully aware of the situation within.

Of course, the main reason was that King Jing himself had been leading his army outside for years, stationed in Ninghai State, and had not returned to this mansion for many years.

Even on such significant festivals as the New Year, it was the same.

Now, the mansion was left empty, with hardly any valuables left behind.

The power of the Dharma Prohibition was also somewhat thin, far from comparable to the thriving days of Luoyang Royal Mansion.

Despite visiting in broad daylight, Wang Yuan was still like a ghostly shadow, passing unnoticed by anyone.

However, his inspection was far from smooth.

"Something strange is going on!"

He continuously walked through the garden, the three main halls of Chengyun Hall, Circular Hall, and Cunxin Hall, the Top Gate Tower, courtyards, side buildings, kitchens, storerooms, granaries, and dozens of other rooms.

The scattering of palace attendants he met were all very young.

He had Lady Peach Fairy use "ghostly spell" on them one by one.

Only then did he learn from their mouths that even the oldest among the palace attendants had not served in the mansion for more than fifteen years.

Without exception, from top to bottom.

Nor did anyone remember that fifteen years ago, there had been a "Princess Yunhe" living there, along with her mother.

Suddenly.

Wang Yuan then searched the study, storerooms, and every place with written records, still unable to find a single word about the mother and daughter.

It was as if they had never existed.

In contrast, there were residual writings about Zhou Wenrui as well as other concubines and children.

For instance: a certain concubine received twenty bolts of Shu brocade; a commandery princess took a pair of jade bracelets...

It was as if some force had completely severed the connection between this mansion and them.

Any trace of their at least fifteen years of life here was deliberately cleared away, without leaving behind even the slightest clue.

"Since there is the widely recognized sealing title ’Yunhe,’ it indicates that everything was still normal when Huang Wu was alive fifteen years ago.

So why would they deliberately erase all traces after her disappearance?

Could it be that once his status changed to Emperor, Zhou Wenrui began to feel that having had a demon concubine was not honorable?

If he thought it was disgraceful, why did he marry her in the first place? And why did he bestow a title on Huang Wu?

This possibility seems a bit illogical."

By this time, they all had realized something was amiss.

Huang Wu vanished without a thorough search, and the concubine seemed as if she had never existed.

The Emperor appeared to have some secrets he didn’t want to be known.

Unfortunately.

Upon returning to this "home," Huang Wu seemed somewhat familiar with every blade of grass and tree here, but that was all.

The cold buildings did not trigger her memory or help her recall her own past memories.

Now, the only clue remaining was the current King Jing, also named Zhou Jinhuan—the second generation King Jing.

"The name Zhou Jinhuan sounds somewhat familiar to me, just like when I first heard the name ’Yunhe.’ Perhaps it’s someone I used to know."

Wang Yuan consoled her by patting her shoulder:

"It’s okay; this Prince is located in Ninghai State, next to Yunhe County. There will be plenty of opportunities to interact with him in the future."

The law does not favor the noble, and the Dao is hard to access in the Capital.

The "Dragon Qi Prohibition" hub of Yunjing City repels all magicians and demons.

Not wishing to have their Taoist skills completely evaporated, Wang Yuan and the others naturally dared not enter the Capital City.

Now, apart from going to the Capital to ask the Emperor in a performance, "Do you remember Zhou Huangwu by Luoxia Lake?" the most accessible clue was this King Jing, Zhou Jinhuan.

After a short while.

They entered from the east gate and left from the west gate.

Coming and going not only left them with no resolution to their doubts but had further shrouded their hearts under a thick layer of dark clouds.

The situation of the Tree Demon Concubine likely was not good.

Just then, Wang Yuan suddenly spotted a decrepit old crone with white hair and ragged clothing curled up in a corner near the west gate.

Not only was she filthy and foul-smelling, but she was also completely blind, babbling some story to a group of children:

"A long, long time ago, an Azure Dragon swam out from a pond, transformed into a human to go out and play, and hid its shed Dragon Scales under a pile of rocks by the pond.

A while later, a peddler happened to rest on the rock.

Seeing the hidden Dragon Scales, which looked just like a piece of clothing, he put it on himself."

Up to this point.

The seemingly mad old crone suddenly widened her dreadful, white-filmed eyes and continued:

"At that moment, a fishy wind arose around the pond, and all kinds of creatures from the deep pond came to greet the peddler.

When the Azure Dragon returned from playing outside, it could not find its scales and had to enter the water naked.

But by then, the Water Clan no longer recognized it, rudely chasing it away.

Later on, the peddler turned into a dragon and took over the deep pond. When locals learned about this, they started calling him ’Huo Langlong’!"

The old woman, now laughing madly, chanted:

"Huo Langlong! Huo Langlong! Not a True Dragon! Hahaha..."