Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 61 The culprit (3)
"So 30 years later, when she learned that the evidence had not been destroyed and might leak out, she chose to destroy all the book collection caves at the cost of sacrificing the entire Nagato," Tang He also said. Full of hatred, no doubt thinking of his elder brother Zhang Haoge, "This is really a vicious old hag!"

Bai Qianyun slapped the table hard: "This old villain is so damn hateful! We must deal with her properly!"

As soon as this was said, everyone fell silent.It is not an easy job to clean up the empress dowager, but what if the whole thing is exposed recklessly?It is hard to say what catastrophic consequences there will be.Now that everyone has deduced the truth, they are in an embarrassing situation—what should we do?

Everyone was silent, contemplating, and all their attention was on thinking. The waiter who came in to deliver the fresh fruit may have seen the expressions of these people, and knew that there would be no reward, so he didn't say a word, and put down the meal. The disk was quickly withdrawn.

After a while, Xue Huaiqing felt thirsty, picked up a slice of melon and put it to her mouth, suddenly, her nose faintly smelled something unpleasant to her.This smell is very weak, and others will definitely not be able to smell it, but with the sensitivity of the corpse dancer, she still distinguishes this smell from the aroma of roasted lamb and the sweet smell of melon, and——she has also smelled this smell before been!
She suddenly felt that something was wrong, and wanted to warn everyone to be careful, but found that she was speechless, and wanted to turn her head to look at other people, only to realize that even the muscles in her neck were stiff.It must be the waiter who came in with his head down to deliver the fresh fruit just now, and sprinkled the poison and powder on the plate or the fruit. He hated himself for being so absorbed in thinking that he didn't have the slightest defense.

Oh no!I'm a corpse dancer who is best at using poison, and I'm really ashamed to be attacked with poison... This was Xue Huaiqing's last thought before passing out.The world in front of her eyes began to turn dark, and she lost consciousness before her body fell to the ground.

three

It was dark all around.However, this darkness may not necessarily come from the surrounding environment, but may just be due to the black blindfold.She could still faintly smell the uncomfortable smell in her nose, but Xue Huaiqing couldn't remember where she had smelled it before.

The body was bound as a matter of course, but not too tightly, probably because the poisoner was very confident in the potency of his poison.Indeed, now Xue Huaiqing only felt that her limbs were limp and weak, and even without the restraint of the rope, she probably couldn't escape anywhere.She listened quietly, and judged from the sound of her breathing that none of the four people fell down, and they were all locked together.However, my resistance to poisons is stronger than that of ordinary people, so I woke up earlier, and the breaths of the remaining three people were very long and light, indicating that the force of the medicine on their bodies had not passed.

She mobilized her mental power again, trying to sense if there was anyone else nearby, but she had an unexpected surprise: she sensed her corpse servant!This trip went to the big golden tent, because she was worried that the appearance of the corpse servant would be too scary, so she hid the corpse servant in the inn and did not take it out.In other words, the location where they are being held is actually not far from the inn.

The distance between the inn and the palace is quite far, so it can be inferred that they were not locked in the palace.This made Xue Huaiqing a little confused.The moment she was attacked, a thought flashed through her mind: Could it be that the Empress Dowager had discovered their whereabouts a long time ago and thus captured them in the palace?It doesn't seem like it now.

But after thinking about it, if the Empress Dowager really did this, she wouldn't be so stupid as to arrest them into the palace, that would be too dangerous.So who caught them, she couldn't figure it out now, so she could only wait.

After staying in the dark like this for about half an hour, An Xingmian and the others woke up one after another. It seems that their captors deliberately did not gag their mouths, allowing them to talk.Bai Qianyun has a hot temper, and has already started to yell, but in return there is only endless silence, as if there are only four of them left in the world, and everyone else has disappeared.

"What should we do now?" Tang He asked, his voice was very calm.Although she is the only one among the four who does not know martial arts, she also has the indifference and composure of her brother Zhang Haoge in the face of major events.

"I can only wait," An Xingmian said, "I'm really sorry for involving you..."

"We were originally together," Tang He immediately interrupted him, "What do you mean being involved? Don't forget, my brother died because of them."

"But... After all, you... Alas!" An Xingmian sighed, sounding very annoyed, "It's all my fault. In such a dangerous place, I didn't have the heart to guard against it. I thought I was safe after changing my face. I After all, there is still too much talk on paper, and too little real experience.”

"Young people can have the courage to admit their mistakes and take responsibility. It's very good, but it's not easy. No wonder a virtuous person like Zhang Haoge values ​​you so much." A strange man's voice suddenly sounded.

All four of them were shocked, and An Xingmian, Xue Huaiqing and Bai Qianyun were even more surprised.The three of them were all skilled in martial arts, and their hearing was stronger than others, but none of them noticed when this strange man appeared silently.This person's martial arts skills are probably higher than theirs, and the three of them are worried about this.

And this person's voice is also very strange, it sounds deep and full of magnetism, but it is difficult to judge the age of this person through the voice, he may be very young, or he may be very old.Xue Huaiqing was even more aware of the astonishingly powerful spiritual power hidden in this person, and she was almost worthless in front of him.

Who the hell is this?What is the relationship between him and the Queen Mother?For a moment, everyone began to guess, but they were completely lost.

"In fact, I really admire you," said the man, "I thought my plan was impeccable and had begun to see substantial results, but you finally guessed the truth and saw through my means. So I have to start with you, if you spread this inference, my plan will no longer have the possibility of success."

Although it was still impossible to judge this person's age from his voice, An Xingmian could hear a kind of vicissitudes and composure that only the elderly could have from his tone.He was basically sure that the man in front of him was very old, maybe he was an old man at all.

"Senior, all these incidents are due to your arrangements? What is the relationship between you and the Queen Mother?" Although facing an opponent who may be Nagato's great enemy, An Xingmian is still polite.What's more, at this moment, blind impatience and anger will only mess up and lose the chance to come back.He must keep his mind absolutely calm.

"Yes, it's all my layout, a layout that has lasted for decades," the old man replied, and did not deny his identity as a "senior". To see it destroyed by you. So I can only ask you to come here and silence you forever."

All four of them felt a chill in their hearts.The old man's words were gentle and gentle, and he seemed to have no edge at all, but his words were full of power to control everything, and at the same time, there was an indifference that despised life and death.In terms of aura alone, An Xingmian felt that among the people he had met in his life, only Xu Mizi could be compared with him.It's just that Sumizi's arrogance is exposed on the outside, while the old man's sharpness is restrained.

When dealing with such a person, you need to be even more careful, An Xingmian thought, and continued to ask politely: "Since you have already planned to kill us, can you tell us your identity before we die?"

The old man was silent for a while, and then said: "I'm afraid I can't. I am a person who has disappeared from this world, and my identity involves other secrets, so I can't tell you. However, in order to express my wisdom to you Dear Wisdom, I may be able to explain the incident in the Book Cave to you clearly, so that you will at least have less regrets when you leave this world. And you can remember that the relationship between me and the Queen Mother is not important , The Empress Dowager's planning is from my handwriting, and our purpose is the same."

"In this case, thank you for your generosity," An Xingmian said calmly, "They are all dying anyway, and it is always a good thing to die a little later."

"Young people are commendable for their courage," the old man said. "Of course, it may also be because you are confident in your heart, because you know that there may be someone, someone who has always protected you, who will stand up at the critical moment." Save you, right?"

An Xingmian's heart trembled, only then did he realize that this old man knew far more about himself than he imagined.He could only force himself to be calm: "It's not certain, the so-called auspicious people have their own appearance."

"I can't tell if you are a lucky person, but what about your celestial appearance...Unfortunately, he has already fallen into my trap." The old man said.

"What did you say? Him?" An Xingmian's shock was no small matter.He knows Feng Qiuke better than anyone else, he is a ruthless character who can compete with Xu Mizi, and there are probably few people who can beat him in this world.If this old man can even deal with Feng Qiuke, then his strength is beyond imagination.

"He is indeed very powerful. In terms of force alone, there are not many people in this world who can defeat him," said the old man. "His flaw lies in his heart. He is so obsessed with certain things that he loses his peace of mind and loses his mind." Mental balance. So he is not difficult to deal with. Of course, he still caused me a lot of trouble, I am old after all."

This was the first time that the old man admitted his old age, but An Xingmian knew that an old man who could defeat Feng Qiuke was probably far more terrifying than a hundred strong young people.He sighed: "Then I really have nothing to say. Please continue to talk. In your words, at least unravel the doubts in our hearts, and let us die with less regret."

But Xue Huaiqing thought in her heart, so what if there is less regret?If death is inevitable after all, it's all the same if you have more regrets or less regrets.In the words of the Nagato monk, no matter what, after stepping through the last gate, everything will end in eternal darkness.

"I know a special secret technique, and I can hear people's whispers from a long distance," said the old man, "so all your deduction in the big gold tent is no secret to me. But I still admire you very much. Your guess is basically consistent with the truth, which is very remarkable. Can you tell me how you suspected this? You know, a great sage like Zhang Haoge People are killing themselves because of it.”

"There are some trivial details that are not common sense, so I have been paying attention," An Xingmian told some doubts between him and Xue Huaiqing, including the "coincidentally" appearance of the long-door monk in previous events, including the fat eunuch before and after The words vary, "But these are just small details after all. Even if they cause doubts, you can't make a conclusion through them. Your real fatal flaw is in a book."

"Book? What book?" asked the old man.

"You arranged that fake cave, pretending it was a cave for collecting books in the Yinmoxiechu period, and filled it with a large number of books from that era," An Xingmian said, "That was the core of your conspiracy to win people's trust. , the emperor was fooled, my teacher Zhang Haoge was fooled, some of Tianzangzong’s colleagues were fooled, and I was fooled at the beginning. But luckily, when the emperor set fire to those books, it may be because of the rush of time and not The burning was too complete, and some were left behind, and I am a book lover, so I picked up a few."

"Those books are ancient books that I have carefully collected over the years. What's wrong?" said the old man.

"The other books are all good. They are indeed very rare ancient books from the Yinmoxiechu era, but you made a mistake with one book," An Xingmian said, "That book is the famous song "Shangyang Blood". The original sheet music."

The old man pondered for a while: ""Shangyang Blood"? Isn't that the famous song of Ouyang Fu, the great player of Yinmo? What's wrong with this score?"

"For a long time, people really thought that "The Blood of Shangyang" was written by Ouyang Fu," said An Xingmian, "but unfortunately, I met an expert a few days ago, and I learned from him that "The Blood of the Sun" "Shangyang Blood" is a fake work at all. It was composed by an unknown musician in later generations under the guise of Ouyang Fu's name. It is hundreds of years away from the era of Yin Mo Xie Chu. So the problem arises. How was this book sealed in a cave hundreds of years ago?"

The old man was silent again, and asked after a long time: "How did they verify that this is a fake book? Is the evidence reliable?"

An Xingmian told the old man about the research process of elder Heluo's flute Kyle, and the old man thought for a while: "Their research is correct, that's right, I was negligent on this point. It's a pity that I am so conceited that I have a lot of knowledge, and I don't even have a book." Even fake books can’t be identified, leaving flaws in the end, which shows that manpower is always exhausted, so it’s better not to overestimate yourself.”

"Actually, it's just an omission in this book, which is already very remarkable," An Xingmian said, "If you hadn't accidentally put this book in the cave, if it hadn't been for the emperor's fire that didn't happen to burn If I lose this book, I will never get conclusive evidence."

"A wise man thinks a lot, but keeps a hundred secrets," the old man sighed, "Okay, then how did you deduce it to the Queen Mother step by step?"

An Xingmian replied: "First of all, through the book "Shangyang Blood", I confirmed that the so-called 'underground volcano that destroyed Kyushu' and the statement that the monks dig caves in order to trigger the volcano are all lies and deceptions. Then I need to figure out, why would someone weave such a lie, and cover the bloody wind on Nagato, who is indifferent to the world, and who did Nagato offend?"

"Yeah, how did you judge the 'who'?" asked the old man.

"My companion is also investigating a past incident that happened in the 11th year of Shengde, and we accidentally discovered that there is an intersection between the incident she wanted to investigate and this conspiracy against Nagato. body," An Xingmian said, "so my thinking became like this: Why did the Jinwu Guard chase and kill a female Tianluo with a baby, which would eventually bring disaster to Nagato? What is the connection between this?"

"I see." The old man was really sharp in thinking, "You also know about the chase that happened in Suohe Mountain, so you can guess it. The Tianluo female killer hid the key in the basket behind the Nagato monk. evidence of."

An Xingmian nodded: "Yes, and after this level is figured out, other things are not difficult to deduce. The female Tianluo is not the point, the baby she is carrying is the most important thing, it must be involved It is a terrible secret. What kind of baby can be chased and killed by the Jinwu Guard makes us very distressed. The simplest way of thinking is of course that this is the illegitimate child of a concubine, which is a royal scandal, so the emperor sent But there is a big obstacle to such speculation: it is just an illegitimate child anyway, how could it possibly affect such a wide-ranging disaster? Even a sick person would not make a fuss like that."

"I hope you stop at the step of inferring illegitimate children. That will save you a lot of disasters, but it's a pity you didn't stop." The old man said.

(End of this chapter)