One joke from the witch, I open the gate of heaven with one sword

Chapter 66

"There are experts in the Ninth Prince's mansion. It will not be easy for us to infiltrate."

The corner of Xu Lan's mouth twitched slightly,

He had thought of many possibilities before this, but he never thought that Xiahou Changyuan would use this method to make him meet the Ninth Prince.

At this moment, Xiahou Changyuan's only image of a superior person in his heart also collapsed.

"It's okay, I have a plan."

Xiahou Changyuan smiled mysteriously,
Then he led the crowd to a deserted well in the backyard of the Town God's Temple, and said, "This is the entrance to the passage."

“Nothing seems out of the ordinary”

Sun Hongying came closer and looked down.
This deserted well has not been used by anyone for who knows how many years. Although it is bottomless, there is no reflection in the water.

"If it's so easy for people to find out, then what's the point?"

Xiahou Changyuan smiled slightly and said, "You must know that this passage can even reach anywhere in the palace."

"Not many people know this secret, do they?"

Xu Lan said softly: "If the members of the royal family know that there is such a passage under the ground in Kyoto, no one will be able to sleep peacefully."

"Not many people know about this secret passage."

Xiahou Changyuan smiled and shook his head, saying: "And even if you know it, it is useless. In order to open the passage, in addition to the late emperor's token, you also need to understand the formation."

After speaking, he took out a palm-sized jade token from his pocket,

And it looks quite unique in shape, it seems to be some kind of strange creature, but Xu Lan can't tell it apart for a while.

"Even if I know the formation, you can figure it out?"

Xu Lan's face was filled with questions.

"Huh? You also know formations?"

Xiahou Changyuan also had question marks all over his face,

The two just stared at each other like this, looking at me and you, they seemed quite surprised that they both knew the way of formation.

"Didn't you say that people in the royal family cannot practice?"

Xu Lan was puzzled,

If Xiahou Changyuan is a member of the royal family, then he cannot practice, so how can he understand the formation method?

"I'm not like them."

Xiahou Changyuan coughed a few times to hide his inner embarrassment.
In my heart, I secretly cried out that I had miscalculated,
From the moment Xu Lan agreed to trade with him, even he couldn't deduce it.

If he had known that Xu Lan knew some formation techniques, he would not have exposed himself too much, and maybe he could pretend to be an expert at a critical moment.

"Forget it, if you don't want to say more, I won't ask any more."

Seeing that Xiahou Changyuan was unwilling to say,

Xu Lan did not continue to ask.

What is certain now is that even if Xiahou Changyuan is not a real member of the royal family,
I'm afraid it also has a lot to do with the Great Chu royal family.

Otherwise, how could he master so many secrets of the royal family,
Don't say anything else,

Just the passage in front of me that can go directly to any place in Kyoto,

I'm afraid there are not many people in the whole of Kyoto who know about it.

"When the time comes, you will naturally know."

Xiahou Changyuan chuckled and said, "The trajectory of everyone's fate is not static. Too many accidents will make your own destiny uncontrollable."

Xu Lan:…….
Okay, just you can tell fortunes and deduce.

The next moment Xiahou Changyuan closed his eyes and made a handprint with one hand, and at the same time, the jade token that he took out earlier emitted a faint light.

The two mirror each other,
Immediately afterwards, Xu Lan and others felt slight vibrations coming from the ground beneath their feet.

The long-abandoned ancient well in front of us took on another form.
Each brick was stripped out and then reassembled, and in the blink of an eye, a downward staircase appeared in front of everyone.

"Let's go."

Xiahou Changyuan had an extra torch in his hand at some point.
Then walk straight down the stairs.Xu Lan and Sun Hongying looked at each other and followed.

"Is it an illusion? Or a mechanism?"

At this time Xu Lan discovered an extremely strange place,

The originally spiral downward stairs would automatically disappear after they passed by, and if I guessed correctly, this should also be part of the formation.

"Both."

Xiahou Changyuan, who was walking at the front, slowly said: "But without the tokens and understanding of the formation, it is impossible to open the entrance."

"I see."

Xu Lan became more and more interested in Xiahou Changyuan's identity,
It seems that afterwards I should read through the history of the royal family in the past hundred years, and I should find the answer there.

I don't know how long I walked,

The surrounding area was pitch black, and only the torch in Xiahou Changyuan's hand illuminated the direction of progress.

"arrive."

Xiahou Changyuan stopped suddenly, and then he stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers.

Countless flames suddenly appeared all around, completely dispelling the darkness,
It wasn't until this time that Xu Lan realized that there were countless torches hanging on the surrounding walls, and at this moment, under the reflection of the torches, he was able to have a panoramic view of the surrounding environment.

"here is"

The four of them were in a palace-like place. In addition to being extremely wide, he also discovered that there were hundreds of entrances and exits around it.

“The very center of Kyoto.”

Xiahou Changyuan smiled slightly, and said, "You can go to any place in any capital here."

"Including the palace?"

Sun Hongying asked suddenly,
This is a bit too scary. Who would have thought that there is such a place hidden under the majestic Kyoto.

"If you want, of course you can."

Xiahou Changyuan said with a smile: "But I don't mind doing this. There are many magic circles in the palace. If you are not careful, you may not even know how to die."

"I think the people in the palace probably don't know that there is an underground passage."

Xu Lan's eyes fell on Xiahou Changyuan, and he said word by word: "It is probably not difficult for someone who has mastered this kind of secret to attack the eldest princess."

Hearing this, Sun Hongying's face changed suddenly.
That's right, what if Xiahou Changyuan brought the two of them into the palace?
"You are too cautious."

Xiahou Changyuan laughed,
This was Xu Lan's test of himself, but he didn't respond.

"I think it's okay for the eldest princess to be in charge of supervising the country. Why should I attack her if nothing happens?"

Xiahou Changyuan showed a meaningful smile, and then changed the topic: "Do you know who built this place?"

"To be able to make such a big move, it must be the person who established the Great Chu Dynasty a thousand years ago, right?"

Xu Lan paused for a moment and continued: "If it was built by future generations, it would either be heavily guarded or it would have been destroyed long ago."

"Well, that's right."

Xiahou Changyuan said calmly: "It is indeed that person's handwriting."

"It seems that the temper is quite cautious."

Xu Lan looked around with a puzzled expression and said, "This is more like a place of refuge. Didn't there still be powerful enemies around when the Great Chu Dynasty was established?"

Xiahou Changyuan:...

He took a deep look at Xu Lan, but didn't say anything more.

1000 years is but a snap of the fingers in this world,

But for the human race, 1000 years is too long.

"Let's go, let me think about it. Which direction should the Ninth Prince's residence be?"

Xiahou Changyuan counted on his fingers and then walked straight towards one of the entrances and exits.

Under his leadership, Xu Lan and others walked in another passage for who knows how long before they stopped.

"arrive."

Xiahou Changyuan stopped and took out the jade token again, and embedded it in a groove in the wall.

Then the rock wall in front of them changed again, and a staircase leading upward appeared in front of everyone.

Xiahou Changyuan was walking in front, so Xu Lan didn't have to worry too much that he would lead him to some dangerous places.

After this period of contact, he also has a certain understanding of Xiahou Changyuan,

Although his true identity is still unclear,

But if he wanted to harm himself, he didn't need to spend so much trouble.

go up the stairs,
After a while, Xu Lan and others discovered that they had arrived in a courtyard.

"Is this the residence of the Ninth Prince?"

Xu Lan looked around and found that the decoration here was indeed different from ordinary mansions.
The pillars of the house are also carved with soaring clouds, unicorns and other exotic beasts, making it look like the residence of a member of the royal family.

"Well, but something is wrong"

Xiahou Changyuan closed his eyes slightly as if he was sensing something. After a moment, he opened his eyes with a puzzled expression.

"There are so many practitioners in a mere prince's mansion?"

Xiahou Changyuan said: "Do you know anything about that Ninth Prince?"

Hearing that Xu Lan and Sun Hongying looked at each other and shook their heads,
They only knew that the Ninth Prince was the owner of that batch of goods, but they didn't know much about what kind of person the Ninth Prince was.

"That's weird"

Xiahou Changyuan was puzzled and said, "Let's go and take a look at one of the places first."

Unlike others,
Since he is connected by blood with the Ninth Prince, he can easily sense the location of the other party.

It was just at that moment that he sensed two identical auras in the prince's mansion.

Exactly the same, very strange.

"But there are many practitioners here, so if we go this way."

Sun Hongying frowned slightly,
This is the prince's mansion, not a market place, how can they be allowed to walk around freely?

"Don't worry, no one will notice our presence."

Xiahou Changyuan smiled and said: "I have just used a formation to shield the energy, as long as it does not exceed the twenty-foot radius around my body."

Xu Lan:......

He had been secretly observing Xiahou Changyuan, but he could not detect when he used the formation.

Could it be that he was the first person in the Great Chu Dynasty to be recognized by the royal luck?
If it is the cultivation base of the seven realms,

So it is reasonable to be able to hide it from my own eyes.

But he quickly overturned this possibility,
Xiahou Changyuan said that although the luck of the dynasty can make people enter the seven realms overnight,

But there has to be a gap of 50 years.

Moreover, this kind of person cannot have the lifespan of a practitioner of the same cultivation level,

Like ordinary people, they often only live for 60 to 80 years, and if they are lucky, they can live for about [-] to [-] years.

If he is the last person recognized by the dynasty’s luck,
So he is now at least 60 years old, which is almost the limit of an ordinary person's lifespan.

But the Xiahou Changyuan in front of him looked like he was only in his forties at most.
Did he use some secret technique to cover up his true appearance?
"Let's go, as long as we're careful and avoid the guards' sight."

Later, under the leadership of Xiahou Changyuan,
They went around in this mansion and avoided the sight of dozens of patrolling guards,

As Xiahou Changyuan said, none of the many practitioners in the entire mansion could detect their existence.

Not long after, Xiahou Changyuan stopped in front of a side courtyard.

"Will the Ninth Prince live in this kind of place?"

Sun Hongying's eyes widened with disbelief.
Logically speaking, how could the Ninth Prince, as the owner of the mansion, live in such a remote courtyard?

And she sensed her surroundings,

Except for an extremely weak breath in the courtyard, there was no one else.

"It really shouldn't be."

Xiahou Changyuan was also quite puzzled,
He glanced around and said, "Go in and have a look, there seems to be a lot of secrets hidden in the Ninth Prince's mansion."

"Be careful."

Xu Lan glanced at Sun Hongying,

This is the prince's residence after all, and no one knows what surprises will happen next moment.

"I want you to manage."

Sun Hongyan rolled her eyes at him, but her steps were a little brisker.

Then everyone walked into the courtyard,

There are some messy footprints on the ground that seem to prove that no one has been here.

It's just that looking around, it's hard to imagine that this is the place where a prince lives.

Xiahou Changyuan gently pushed open the door of the room in the courtyard and walked in.
What came into view was that there was no furniture at all, only a dilapidated wooden bed placed in the middle, and it was vaguely visible that there seemed to be a person lying on the bed.

"who are you?"

At this moment, a weak voice came from the direction of the bed.

Although Xiahou Changyuan's formation can block the breath, but now they are all blatantly walking into other people's rooms.

The other party will naturally be able to detect the existence of a few of them at the first time.

Xu Lan and Xiahou Changyuan looked at each other and nodded. They took a few steps forward and finally saw the figure lying on the bed.

"This"

Xu Lan frowned suddenly, and even Xiahou Changyuan's expression changed slightly.

"Let me see." Sun Hongying stepped forward,
But then she was stunned, but then her expression returned to normal.

"What, what, I want to see too."

Seeing this, the girl next to Xiahou Changyuan couldn't help but leaned over to take a look, but in the end she just took a look and backed away again and again.

"Master, this... what is this?"

She pointed at the figure on the bed in horror, and said, "What a scary thing."

At this time, a man who could no longer be called a "person" was lying on the bed,
His limbs had been cut off long ago, and the only remaining head was shaped like a skull. There was a foul smell all over his body.

But even so, the most incredible thing is that this person is still alive.

"It's okay, I still have a breath."

Sun Hongying was expressionless and authentic. She had even seen a scene a hundred times more dire than this on the battlefield.

"What a hatred this must be"

Xu Lan suppressed the extreme discomfort in his heart,

Although his hands were also stained with blood, the scene in front of him was still quite shocking to him.

"But what does he have to do with the Ninth Prince?"

Xu Lan cast his eyes on Xiahou Changyuan who was at the side, only to find that compared to before, Xiahou Changyuan seemed a little angry at this moment?

"What an ignorant and pathetic idiot"

Xiahou Changyuan slowly walked up to the front and said expressionlessly: "You people, it's true that each generation is getting more stupid."

you?

Xu Lan remained calm on the surface, but secretly thought in his heart.

"kill me."

The man raised his head slightly,

When his originally cloudy eyes saw Xiahou Changyuan, he was like a drowning man grabbing the last straw.

He didn’t know who Xiahou Changyuan was.

But at this moment, the blood of the royal family made him feel that the person in front of him was the same as himself,
It's the Great Chu royal family!
"Tell me, what's going on?"

Xiahou Changyuan looked down at the other party and said calmly: "After that, I will let you go."

"Ahem, there is someone"

The man was about to speak, but was interrupted by Xiahou Changyuan the next moment.

"Say something useful."

Xiahou Changyuan said expressionlessly: "I'm not interested in how someone stole your royal bloodline. I just want to know who did it."

Stealing royal blood?
Xu Lan's expression changed slightly, and he suddenly realized something when he looked at the person in front of him.

"Can something like bloodline be stolen?"

Sun Hongying frowned tightly,
Things like bloodline have no effect on ordinary people, but it is different if they are the descendants of some powerful people.

And she has never heard of the secret technique in this world that can steal other people's blood.

"Of course there is."

Xiahou Changyuan said slowly: "But I'm more curious about who wants to steal the blood and uses of the Great Chu royal family."

"You mean that the one in front of you is the real Ninth Prince?"

Xu Lan said in a deep voice, "Who is the other one in the mansion?"

"Naturally it's fake."

Xiahou Changyuan shook his head, and said: "He stole the royal blood and refined it into himself, so that he can replace it."

"What's the use of stealing a royal blood that cannot be cultivated?"

Sun Hongying asked abruptly, but this question made Xiahou Changyuan completely silent.

"I don't know."

Xiahou Changyuan let out a long sigh of relief, and said, "If I guessed correctly, there might indeed be something tricky about the cargo your father transported."

"Ah."

Xu Lan nodded,

In other words, the disappearance of his father is probably related to another "Ninth Prince".

"I do not know anything."

The Ninth Prince on the bed gasped for every word he spoke, which showed how bad his condition was.

"I took a concubine about half a year ago, and then I suddenly fell ill not long after. During that time, I was bedridden and confused every day, until one day I woke up and found that I was locked up here."

"Every day she would transform into me and walk in, suck my blood, and even cut off my limbs to prevent me from escaping."

"Smoking?"

Xiahou Changyuan thought for a while, and then said to himself: "Probably. It seems to be some kind of familiar method."

familiar?

Xu Lan's heart trembled slightly, how much information did Xiahou Changyuan hide.

"I think I sort of understand what's going on."

Xiahou Changyuan slowly knelt down, looked at the poor Ninth Prince in front of him, and said word by word: "But it's a pity that you can't die now."

Everyone: .
"You said you would help me out!"

The Ninth Prince seemed to be insane, he had had enough of this inhuman torture!
Die, he just wants to die now!

"No."

Xiahou Changyuan made a gesture of silence, shook his head and said: "You still have royal blood in your body, although there is only a little left."

"If I kill you at this time, those people in the palace will know that you are dead within a stick of incense. Presumably this is the reason why she kept you alive."

"But if you don't do anything, some accidents will inevitably happen, for example, you will tell what happened tonight."

After much deliberation, Xiahou Changyuan didn't have a good solution either.

"The royal family seems to have some kind of secret technique. No matter who dies, they can know it immediately."

Xu Lan wrote down this small detail again,

"Just turn him into a fool."

At this time, Sun Hongying said: "This way he will neither die nor reveal anything."

"It's a good idea."

Xiahou Changyuan snapped his fingers, and seemed to think that Sun Hongying's suggestion was good.

The next moment, he slowly stretched out his palm to cover the face of the Ninth Prince, while at the same time, the Ninth Prince was still making the last begging.

"Kill me, please kill me."

However, Xiahou Changyuan was indifferent to his entreaties,
"What you have done has covered the blood in your body with a layer of humiliation, so let's take it as your punishment."

A mask with a unique shape slowly appeared on Xiahou Changyuan's face,
Seeing this mask, Xu Lan's eyes narrowed slightly. Isn't this the unicorn, the symbol of the Great Chu royal family?

As the mask completely covered Xiahou Changyuan's face, ripples appeared in the space in front of him.

The ripples gradually spread,

Gradually formed a completely spread picture scroll,
But at this time, an extremely weird scene appeared, like a movie played backwards.

Frames of pictures kept flashing in front of everyone, at this moment the careful Xu Lan realized that this seemed to be a memory of a person.

"What method is this?"

Xu Lan and Sun Hongying looked at each other, seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

In the end, it stopped at the picture of a man holding a baby in his arms, and Xiahou Changyuan just reached out and shook it slightly.

In an instant, all the images disappeared.

And the ever-spreading space ripples in front of him gradually returned to their original appearance.

"Okay, it's settled."

At this time, the mask on Xiahou Changyuan's face slowly dissipated, and his original appearance was restored.

But at this time, the Ninth Prince on the bed in front of him already looked demented, his pupils were slack and lifeless, and he seemed to have really become a fool.

"how did you do that?"

Xu Lan took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

From the day I came into this world, there has never been anything that can shock my heart as much as this scene before my eyes.

wrong
This even subverted his perception of the world.

"It's nothing, just some small tricks."

Xiahou Changyuan waved his hand and said with a smile: "At most, you need to pay some price."

Xu Lan:......

"Let's go, we've already gained quite a bit tonight."

Xiahou Changyuan said calmly: "It's almost dawn, we have to go."

"Just leave like this?"

With question marks all over Xu Lan's face, he pointed to the demented Ninth Prince on the bed and said, "He is one of your clansmen after all, and it is no small matter for someone to pretend to be the Ninth Prince, so you left like this?"

"Or else?"

Xiahou Changyuan had a strange look on his face and said, "Then you still want me to level this prince's mansion? Or kill another person?"

"and"

As he said this, Xiahou Changyuan pointed at the Ninth Prince and said angrily: "Is this kind of useless person worthy of being one of my clansmen?"

"But aren't you from the Great Chu royal family?"

Sun Hongying was also puzzled,
To be reasonable, no matter who encounters such a thing, it is impossible to be indifferent, right?
"So what if it is, what if it isn't?"

Xiahou Changyuan shook his head, and said: "I'm not in that position, so I don't need to think about the things that need to be considered in that position."

Xu Lan:......

It is justifiable and irrefutable.

However, he became more and more interested in Xiahou Changyuan's identity. Although he had already had some guesses in his heart, he still felt that it was not right.

"Let's go then."

Xu Lan didn't act out of emotion.

From the current situation, we can roughly infer some things.
His father was probably implicated inadvertently and was involved in a conspiracy against the Great Chu Dynasty.

Even I seem to be involved at this moment.

Afterwards, under the leadership of Xiahou Changyuan, everyone returned to Ting Yuxuan by the same route, and at this time the sky was gradually breaking dawn.

"Well, what I promised you has been done."

Standing in front of Ting Yuxuan's door, Xiahou Changyuan looked at Xu Lan with a smile, and said, "I need your help with something."

"can."

Xu Lan nodded, this should have been agreed upon.

"I'm going to have to do some errands these days, so it won't be convenient for me to carry a tow bottle with me."

Xiahou Changyuan glanced at the girl beside him, and said with a smile, "I will trouble you during this time."

"I, no, yes, mop, oil, bottle!"

As soon as she heard her master say that about herself, the girl immediately became unhappy.

"no problem."

Xu Lan readily agreed to the request,

For him, it's just a matter of adding an extra pair of chopsticks, and it's not spending his own money anyway.

"Okay, then I'm leaving."

Xiahou Changyuan was extremely free and easy. After giving his apprentice a few words, he disappeared into the crowd.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Xu Lan looked up and down at Xiahou Changyuan's apprentice, then remembered that he didn't even know her name.

"My name is Wei Buge."

The girl showed a vigilant look, and her big blinking eyes revealed a stupid clarity.

"The master said, if you inquire about him, you can't say a word."

Xu Lan:......

Is there a possibility? I haven't asked yet.

"Ask, you don't know either."

Xu Lan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't ask you."

"Who said I didn't know?"

When Wei Buge heard this, he immediately became unhappy.

"I still have a dozen senior brothers and sisters. Don't bully me, or they won't let you go."

"what?"

Xu Lan tilted her head slightly,
This Xiahou Changyuan seems to like to accept apprentices?
"Then can you tell me about your brother and sister?"

Seeing Wei Buge, who was innocent and stupid, the corners of Xu Lan's mouth slightly raised.

(End of this chapter)