My wife has a secret

Chapter 165 Fantasy
The crowd present looked toward the heavenly wonderland with mist shrouded in clouds, towering ancient trees, and blooming flowers, all with fascinated expressions on their faces.

Then, the illusion in the scroll expanded outward, getting bigger and bigger, and actually submerged everyone at the banquet.

Xu Qing opened his eyes again, and the environment had changed from a fairyland with lush branches and leaves to a tall palace rising from the ground, filled with the world's treasures and bright and dazzling night pearls.

Countless exquisitely crafted murals are so lifelike that one can be captivated by them at first sight.

"This is fake!"

Just as Xu Qing was about to follow the footsteps of the person next to him and continue to explore the interior of the Fairyland Palace, a somewhat familiar voice sounded in front of him.

Xu Qing's consciousness was forcibly pulled out, and after shaking his head and blinking violently, he returned to reality.

His sight was like that of a newborn baby, awakening from the darkness.

"Huang Sheng?"

The voice that just came into his ears was that of Huang Sheng, who had fallen into the wine pool twice before. When Xu Qing opened his eyes, the other party was standing in front of him.

Looking around again, everything around him seemed as if time had stopped. Except for Huang Sheng and himself, all other guests attending the Paradise Banquet were frozen in place, with their eyes closed, concentrating, and not moving at all.

The place was quiet, without a sound, as if the wind and birdsong in the "fairyland" had never appeared.

"It's me! Lord!"

Huang Sheng said to Xu Qing anxiously, "When I climbed out of the wine pool, I saw that everyone had become like this. It took me a while to find you..."

When Xu Qing regained consciousness and looked at the huge cave again, he found that the inside was very different from what it looked like when he came down.

He clearly remembered that the top of the cave was covered with colorful gauze and was very beautiful, but why when he looked up at this time, it was just an ordinary, uneven rocky cliff.

Moreover, the colorful lights and candlelight also disappeared, and the entire space seemed to have fallen into endless darkness, where one could not see one's hand in front of one's face.

"Illusion, illusion..."

Xu Qing looked at the strange scene around him, his mind turning.

Then, he suddenly felt the hair on the back of his head stand on end, as if a cold blade was pressed against his neck.

Even though he was on guard, he still fell into the trap set by Princess Danyang at the Paradise Banquet. If the other party had intended to target him, he would have been beheaded long ago.

After realizing the seriousness of the incident, Xu Qing subconsciously looked towards the place where Princess Danyang had stood before.

There was nothing there.

Looking back at the platform where he had been sitting before, there was no luxurious wooden platform there. It was just a high mound of earth.

Thinking about how he had sat there and watched the entire treasure show, Xu Qing felt a little strange.

How could the banquet of bliss, which seemed so luxurious on the surface, be like this?

"Wait, where's the wine pool?"

Hearing Xu Qing's question, Huang Sheng pointed to the direction he came from and said slowly: "My Lord, I am also wondering, I clearly saw the Fairy Heavenly Wine... but for some reason, when I woke up in the middle pool, the wine pool was gone and turned into a pool of muddy water."

In order to prove that what he said was true, Huang Sheng raised his arm so that Xu Qing could see the mud stains on his clothes.

After witnessing it all with his own eyes, Xu Qing was convinced that this paradise banquet was a complete scam. Not only was it a fairyland in the sky performed by the magician, but even the golden cups, jade thrones, and fairy wine pools were all illusions created by Princess Danyang using some technique.

This practice is very similar to the style of the White Lotus Sect.

No, the most urgent task now is to find the connection between Princess Danyang and the White Lotus Sect.

The thing that could bewitch tens of thousands of people and make them have hallucinations in their dreams must be the work of the Mandragora again.

However, the large-scale use of this thing will definitely bring extremely strong side effects and traces of use. I can use the time of waking up early to investigate the true situation of the princess's mansion.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing pulled Huang Sheng down and lowered his head.

Huang Sheng saw that the two were acting like thieves, and asked in confusion: "My Lord, why don't we go find the princess and ask her the reason..."

Xu Qingbai glanced at the silly boy and reminded him.

"Princess Danyang is a tyrant in the capital, relying not only on her status and reputation, but also on this banquet that accommodates all the officials and dignitaries... In the past few years that she has held banquets, have you ever heard of anything bad happening at these banquets?"

"No...no."

Huang Sheng's answer was a little hesitant, but he was not a stupid man. After Xu Qing's whispered reminder, he realized that there was something fishy about this paradise banquet, and it must be a secret that Princess Danyang did not want to make public.

If I go to the other party to ask, wouldn't that be like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth?

"Lord Xu has thought everything through. He is truly as good as a god..."

Huang Sheng was signaled by Xu Qing to shut up, and immediately saw two guards from the princess's mansion walking towards him with sharp blades in their hands. They held lanterns in their hands and shone them on the lowered faces of the banquet guests.

After confirming that the guests had not moved, the two guards continued to check forward.

Only when their footsteps faded away did Huang Sheng dare to remove the hand that was covering his mouth and exhale deeply.

After seeing the fierce eyes of the guards and the dazzling white blades, Huang Sheng was absolutely certain that these people must have come to check whether there were any signs of premature awakening in the crowd.

If they saw what happened between him and the Marquis, both of them would be dead.

"Then what do we do now?"

Xu Qing thought for a moment and said, "When we came down, you told me that there are many roads leading to this cave. We just need to choose an unguarded exit to go out."

"it is good."

Although the light in the cave was dim, Huang Sheng still simply identified the direction and said to Xu Qing: "My Lord, I often lead the caravans in my hometown. If you trust me, just follow me."

Xu Qing didn't have any better ideas for the time being. Seeing Huang Sheng take the initiative to recommend himself, he nodded.

The two men bent their backs and walked slowly among the rows of dark shadows standing in the crowd, while also avoiding the palace guards who were holding lanterns and checking on them.

Fortunately, Huang Sheng's memory was really good. After winding forward for dozens of steps, they went up smoothly through the cave entrance they came from and reached the periphery unimpeded.

Although the princess's mansion still looked as prosperous as when she arrived, there was no one in sight.

If you think about it carefully, you can understand it. After all, the cave below has so much space. Princess Danyang must have put all her people in the cave to support this blissful banquet. "It seems that there are two guards guarding the front gate. My Lord, let's go out the back door."

"it is good."

Huang Sheng arrived a few hours early and was busy trying to build relationships with the powerful people in Da Qi, hoping to open up a trade route for medicinal materials to be shipped to the capital.

But he didn't expect that all those relationships he had worked so hard to build were of no use, but the back door he had found out in advance helped him.

The two of them walked around the main gate of the princess's mansion and went out from the back door. They happened to see some guards of the princess's mansion moving the ministers and officials who were trapped in the dream under the cave into the room.

Huang Sheng seemed to have thought of something when he saw this scene, and said to Xu Qing: "My Lord, I finally understand what the Paradise Feast he mentioned is."

When the two of them walked to a quiet corner of the street, Huang Sheng continued his unfinished words: "When I was in the princess's mansion before, I asked the nobles who participated in the Paradise Banquet about this feast, but everyone kept silent about what was at the banquet."

Xu Qing nodded when he heard this.

Judging from tonight's experience, even if he told others about the Paradise Banquet, no one would believe him.

Did he say that the wine waitress at the Paradise Banquet could fall from the sky? Or did he say that he had seen the number one illusionist in the Great Qi Dynasty and had gone to the legendary fairyland?
"But some of them told me that they had a great time at the Paradise Banquet, but they woke up in different places in the Princess's Mansion... Some people hugged the rockery, some lay in the room, and some fell headfirst into the potted plants in the garden."

Huang Sheng swallowed his saliva and said with lingering fear: "Now it seems that they were all drugged by Princess Danyang and then dragged out by the guards in the palace."

"Ah."

Huang Sheng's words were roughly the same as Xu Qing's thoughts.

Because of the Queen Mother's clear ban, Chengxuanfang did not conduct too much investigation into Princess Danyang's Paradise Banquet, but he was still able to deduce the true nature of the Paradise Banquet from the intelligence traces left in the house, combined with what he saw and heard today.

It seems that Princess Danyang has deceived all the powerful people in the capital and told a huge lie.

……

"No one is alive?"

Princess Danyang looked at the trembling palace guards in front of her, and the sweet and shy smile on her face disappeared.

The self in the dressing mirror was clearly wearing gorgeous clothes and a delicate and beautiful makeup, but unexpectedly... the hero of tonight disappeared.

"I have carefully searched the area around the mud hill, but have not found any trace of Marquis Guangping."

The guard knew what he had done wrong and tried to explain himself, "Even though we and the people around us evacuated all the people near the mud hill, we still couldn't find any trace of Marquis Guangping."

Princess Danyang played with the bright red lip balm on her hand, the light in her eyes gradually dimmed, and she became a little lonely.

After hearing the report that Xu Qing was missing, she accidentally used force and her index finger moved the red lipstick on her lips, leaving a hideous red mark.

Her originally pretty, sweet and lovely face was now tinged with a gloomy look because of this mistake.

Before Princess Danyang could say anything, a figure appeared in the darkness behind. Although she was wearing the scale skirt and armor of the princess's guards, it could be seen from her curvy figure that she was a woman.

The guard knelt on the ground, prostrating himself, and was completely unaware of the approaching murder.

There was a "swish" sound.

The head rolled to the ground, and the headless corpse gushed out a huge amount of blood after a moment, staining the area around the threshold with blood.

Princess Danyang stood up calmly, turned around, looked at the horrific scene of blood spreading, and laughed to herself.

"What an idiot! He can't even do such a small thing."

Yuheng Xingjun put away the bloodstained weapon, bowed and asked: "Saintess, Tianmingren does not know martial arts, and his feet are not very fast. There is no carriage in the middle of the night, and he cannot leave this market. Do you need Yuheng to capture him?"

Princess Danyang pouted and thought about it thoughtfully.

"If you capture him, wouldn't this princess be exposed? How would Jin'er explain to her beloved brother that she is the White Lotus Sect that he hates the most?"

Speaking of this, Princess Danyang suddenly grinned and giggled for a while.

"But he was able to wake up from the Bliss Feast, probably because he was suspicious of Jin'er's identity... What a pity, if he had listened to Jin'er and abandoned that guy Shen Shuangxu, he could have lived a happy life with Jin'er as a match made in heaven."

The smile on Princess Danyang's lips grew wider, as if she had thought of something very interesting.

"In this case, Jin'er will have no choice but to lock him up on the ground and slowly teach him the rules... Jin'er will use a red-hot iron to print Jin'er's name all over his body. She will dig out his eyes and forbid him to look at other women. She will also cut off his tongue, so that he can only stammer like a puppy and stick to Jin'er's feet... Hehe, hehe..."

Yuheng listened to Princess Danyang's extremely terrifying remarks and remained silent with an expressionless face.

The tests for the Holy Maiden within the White Lotus Sect were comparable to torture. It was common for them to distort people's minds and drive them crazy, so it was not surprising that Princess Danyang had such a change.

Not to mention what she had witnessed when she was assigned to this saint.

When Princess Danyang was still a candidate for saint, her family was selected by Empress Dowager Xu and brought into the prosperous imperial city.

At that time, the saint did not often show the expression and behavior she has today. She often appeared as a quiet, elegant, well-educated and rational aristocratic girl.

There were many heirs to the throne at that time, and Emperor Xuan was not chosen by the empress dowager. Princess Danyang was treated like a rat in a gutter.

In the circle of royal relatives and nobles, everyone looked down on the brother and sister.

The Crown Prince and the Eighth Prince, who were most likely to inherit the throne, also hinted that Princess Danyang's siblings were of low status and were not worthy of being royal sisters.

It has to be said that even Yuheng Xingjun himself once believed that Danyang Princess Li Jin'er was just a pawn planted by the Holy Church in Da Qi, responsible for transmitting intelligence about the royal family to the sect.

Later, as Princess Danyang grew older, she became more graceful and sweet.

At the age of ten, she attracted many powerful people with ill intentions because of her beautiful appearance and status as a princess.

Yuheng once heard from outside the window that Princess Danyang's mother secretly sold her daughter to a noble in the capital at a fixed price.

But that night, Yuheng, who was hiding in the dark and observing, did not see the tragedy in the ordinary story. Instead, he witnessed with his own eyes a skinny girl picking up kitchen utensils and killing everyone in the mansion with her own hands.

After cutting her biological mother into pieces, she also stabbed herself in the abdomen, causing that horrific massacre in the capital.

But how sophisticated could a ten-year-old girl be in committing a crime?
This sensational and shocking case was quickly investigated by the Dali Temple and reported to the palace.

(End of this chapter)