359: The weirdness in Mogui Lane!

The scorching sun of midsummer hung high in the sky, baking the bluestone pavement in front of Xianxian Pavilion until it was piping hot.

In the rising heat, the kneeling crowd seemed to be roasted over charcoal, their clothes soaked through with sweat.

The procuress, Mother Liu, lay prostrate on the scorching ground, her forehead pressed against the stone slab.

The rough stone grain made her knees ache, yet she dared not move an inch.

The heat wrapped around the cold sweat constantly seeping from her back; the sticky sensation slid down her spine and into her collar, making her shiver uncontrollably.

Mother Liu stole a glance at the approaching hem of a dark purple robe, which shimmered with an indescribably noble luster under the blinding sun.

The images of yesterday flashed before her eyes.

At high noon, a group of East Palace secret guards, clad in chainmail, approached the backyard under the fierce sun; the sunlight reflecting off their armor was blinding.

It was this very dark purple figure who trampled the scorching sunlight scattered across the ground and roughly dragged the courtesan Chen Qingran up from her rattan chair.

"This commoner welcomes Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Mother Liu's voice was hoarse and dry, and her fingernails, painted with balsam, dug deeply into her burning palms.

Her scalded skin almost blended with the bright red nail polish.

Lu Xuan's footsteps suddenly stopped in front of her, the hem of his dark purple robe fluttering slightly in the heatwaves.

"Speak, who instigated you!"

This gentle voice carried a pressure more scorching than the midday sun, making the hairs on the back of Mother Liu's neck stand on end, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

She tremblingly raised her eyes, meeting Lu Xuan's indifferent gaze looking down at her.

Those ink-black eyes were so deep that they showed no ripples, yet they were more daunting to look at directly than the midday sun.

"What instigation? This commoner does not understand what Your Highness the Crown Prince means."

Mother Liu's voice was clearly faltering.

Lu Xuan did not pay attention to her; instead, he spoke to himself.

"You let that woman, Chen Qingran, approach Me, and she even carried something stained with Yin Qi."

"I am very curious, who has the audacity to force a woman to use her life to drag Me into the clutches of those ghostly things."

As his words fell, the surrounding heat seemed to freeze instantly, leaving only the noisy chirping of cicadas piercing the eardrums.

The commoners kneeling on the ground wished they could bury their heads into the bluestone slabs.

This was not something they were supposed to hear!

Assassinating the Crown Prince was a grave crime punishable by the extermination of one's nine clans!

The scorching stone slabs made their knees ache, but no one dared to move a fraction, and even their breathing became cautious.

Several merchants kneeling in the back row were already drenched in sweat, a puddle of water forming on the ground where their foreheads rested.

They exchanged glances secretly, their Adam's apples bobbing, but they could not speak.

In each other's bloodshot eyes, they saw the same terror.

Watching this spectacle today might just cost them their heads!

The girls kneeling in front of Xianxian Pavilion were shaking like chaff.

The young girl in the apricot-red shirt in the front row clutched her handkerchief tightly, her fingernails almost digging into her palms.

She stole a glance at Mother Liu, who was as pale as death beside her, and couldn't help but mutter in her heart.

Good heavens, it's one thing for our Mother to dock our monthly wages, but now she even dares to scheme against the Crown Prince!

She's truly like a long-lived star hanging itself—tired of living!

But seeing the sisters around her trembling like withered leaves in the wind, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

She only hoped that this earth-shattering disturbance would pass quickly, lest she lose her own small life in the process.

"This commoner is innocent!"

Mother Liu suddenly erupted into a shrill cry, the gilded hairpins on her bun tilting as if to fall.

When she suddenly raised her head, her face, stained with blood and filth, was twisted like a ghost under the scorching sun.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, it was clearly you who forcibly took Qingran away!"

After saying this, she slammed her forehead against the ground; the jewels in her hair clattered with the violent movement, creating a harsh echo in the silent long street.

The scorching stone slabs emitted a dull thud with each knock, each one making the hearts of the onlookers tremble.

In just a few breaths, a large patch of eerie scarlet had bloomed on the bluestone slab in front of Mother Liu's forehead.

The blood quickly dried under the fierce sun, forming dark red scabs that snaked along the crevices of the stone slabs like snakes.

Her thin body heaved violently, blood-stained hair sticking to her face, yet she continued to kowtow without stopping.

As if by this act of self-destruction, she could carve away the crime of exterminating nine clans from herself.

Just as everyone was stunned by this tragic scene, a flash of sinister cold light suddenly flickered under Mother Liu's lowered eyelids.

She stared fixedly at the dark purple robe at Lu Xuan's feet, a suppressed sob spilling from her throat.

Impossible, how could he not be dead!

Why is the Crown Prince not dead!

Yesterday, she watched with her own eyes as Chen Qingran hid the silk handkerchief soaked in Yin Qi close to her body.

That was an evil object that her master had painstakingly extracted from Mo Gui Alley in the West City, using the lives of seven death warriors.

That alleyway, shrouded in foul-smelling fog all year round, was a secret place her master had discovered half a month ago.

Ordinary people, once stained by the objects in the alley, would be devoured into a pile of ashes by the resentment of those ghosts within an hour.

Even a Martial Dao Grandmaster could only last for a day at most.

The cicada chirping suddenly became sharp and piercing, and the cold sweat on the back of Mother Liu's neck mixed with bloodstains, dripping down.

She remembered her master's sinister instructions before leaving: "As long as the Crown Prince touches that handkerchief, even a Martial Dao Grandmaster cannot save him."

"Now, the Crown Prince is still standing perfectly fine in front of me..."

"Could it be that the bitch Chen Qingran ruined things?"

"That's not right..."

That woman Chen Qingran had already been sought out by the ghosts of Mo Gui Alley last night and was dead as a doornail!

Moreover, she had two young sisters held in her master's hands, which was a life-threatening noose hanging over Chen Qingran's head.

Mother Liu suddenly raised her head, meeting Lu Xuan's half-smiling gaze, and her heart instantly leaped into her throat.

Even if given a thousand guts, Chen Qingran would not dare to ruin her master's grand plan!

Unless... unless from the very beginning, this was a trap deliberately set by the Crown Prince?

At this moment, the procuress Mother Liu felt the cold sweat on the back of her neck, mixed with blood, flowing down and soaking through the clothes on her back.

The heat from the bluestone slabs rushed up through her knees, but it could not dispel the chill rising from the bottom of her heart.

Lu Xuan lowered his eyes to stare at the blood beads seeping out from the gaps in the blue bricks, as the complete memory images left by the original body flashed rapidly through his Sea of Consciousness.

Yesterday afternoon, it was Feng Qi who knelt before the study, smiling and pretending to bring up the matter of Xianxian Pavilion.

"Does Your Highness the Crown Prince know?"

"The new courtesan at Xianxian Pavilion is so beautiful that she puts the moon to shame; it is said in the streets that seeing her once is worth ten years of life!"

The original body was a debauched person by nature and could not resist the incitement of the guards, so he directly took people to forcibly abduct Chen Qingran.

After the third watch clappers sounded, on the carved sandalwood bed.

Chen Qingran, with disheveled hair, lay on the original body's chest, and she quietly took out the silk handkerchief hidden in her wide sleeves on the ground.

The silk handkerchief soaked in the resentment of Mo Gui Alley, the moment it touched the original body's skin.

The original body suddenly twitched violently, a voiceless sob emitting from his throat.

And the woman who should have been panicked suddenly calmed down, pressing the handkerchief tightly against his heart, looking at the black shadow outside the window and sneering: "Your Highness the Crown Prince, do not blame this servant."

Amidst the sound of the watch drums at the hour of the Tiger, Feng Qi took five or six confidants, stuffed Chen Qingran into a carriage full of spices under the cover of night, and quietly sent her out from the side gate of the palace.

So, from the courtesan's debut to the silk handkerchief's ghostly demand for life, it was just a meticulously woven trap.

However, Lu Xuan was not interested in these things; he wanted to know where the silk handkerchief came from.

The ghostly things there were Lu Xuan's true goal.

Just a pink silk handkerchief could cause a Crown Prince to lose his life.

If he were to encounter the true entity of this ghostly thing, its Yin Qi would surely be shockingly powerful.

At this time, Lu Xuan swept his gaze over the crowd swaying in the scorching sun.

Some had skin peeling off the back of their necks from the sun, and others had bluestone slabs beneath their knees soaked with sweat, almost melting into water.

"You all, withdraw."

Lu Xuan's voice was not loud, but it sounded like a thunderclap in everyone's ears.

This made the crowd kneeling on the ground feel as if they had received a pardon.

Those commoners who had long been sweating like rain under the scorching sun now had expressions of surviving a disaster on their faces.

Not long after Lu Xuan issued this order, the scorching air seemed to be injected with ice water instantly.

An old man in silk and satin scrambled to his feet, and the young girl in the apricot-red shirt was pulled by her companion, not even noticing that one of her embroidered shoes had fallen off while running.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the entire long street was empty.

The commoners who had just crowded the street were now nowhere to be seen, not even a shadow.

The doors and windows of Xianxian Pavilion closed with a "bang, bang," and even the curtains in the second-floor private rooms were drawn tightly.

The entire street was left with only the procuress Mother Liu kneeling in place.

The blood on her forehead had dried, leaving a dark red mark on the bluestone slab.

Even now, the procuress Mother Liu maintained the kowtowing posture.

She stiffly turned her face and saw Lu Xuan looking down at her from above.

"Tell this Crown Prince the origin of the silk handkerchief, and your life may be spared!"

Upon hearing this, Mother Liu's body trembled violently.

The original kneeling posture could no longer be maintained, and she fell backward to the ground.

She quickly raised her head, looking at Lu Xuan in disbelief, her murky eyes full of horror.

"Cr-Crown Prince..." Mother Liu's voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

"Do you really think this old servant would believe you?"

She suddenly laughed eerily, her blood-stained teeth appearing particularly jarring in the sunlight.

Her hand hidden in her sleeve quietly reached for her waist, where a poisoned dagger was tucked.

Her master had said.

If the matter was exposed, the poison on this dagger could kill a person within three breaths...

A trace of determination flashed in Mother Liu's murky eyes, and her blood-stained fingernails quietly hooked onto the dagger with the faint blue cold light at her waist.

Even if she died, she must never reveal her master's identity!

Otherwise, she would suffer a fate worse than death!

But Mother Liu had completely forgotten about the old man in the red robe standing beside Lu Xuan.

Peng Lie, a veteran of three dynasties, was a Great Grandmaster who ranked at the pinnacle of the Martial Dao in the Wenjing Dynasty.

In front of such a powerful figure, even life and death were not up to her.

A cold light burst out with blinding radiance under the scorching sun!

Mother Liu discovered with horror that the tip of the dagger had stopped three inches in front of her forehead, and no matter how hard she tried, it remained motionless.

Watching her wrist, with its bulging veins, tremble under an invisible force, the gilded dagger reflected the sneering face of the person behind Lu Xuan.

Peng Lie stood with his hands behind his back, his red Gale Force already solidified, slowly spreading from his body and casting a scorching shadow on the ground.

Under the scorching sun, wisps of red Gale Force were firmly wrapped around the procuress Mother Liu's body.

That intense aura imprisoned every inch of her muscles so tightly that she couldn't even twitch her eyelashes.

"Want to die?"

Peng Lie snorted coldly, his red python robe moving without wind, "In front of this old man, even the King of Hell must submit a petition!"

Then, he hooked his withered finger in the air, and the poisoned dagger flew out on its own, shattering into powder in mid-air.

The faint blue poisonous mist contained within it, before it could disperse, was burned away by Peng Lie's intense Gale Force, emitting a "hissing" sound.

Lu Xuan stared at Mother Liu, who was slumped on the ground still panting, and a cold curve appeared at the corner of his lips: "Grandfather, pry her mouth open!"

As soon as the words fell, heatwaves, wrapped in red Gale Force, rushed toward them.

Peng Lie stroked his gray beard and laughed loudly, his red Gale Force surging like clouds around him, "Rest assured, grandson!"

He took a step forward, the bluestone slabs groaning under his feet under the unbearable weight, "Back then, that Wolf King of Mobei was interrogated by me for three days and three nights."

"In the end, he even spat out the treasure map hidden in the eighteenth-level cellar."

After saying this, the red Gale Force around Peng Lie turned into chains and wrapped around Mother Liu's limbs.

She looked in terror as a faint red flame rose from Peng Lie's palm.

The flame looked weak, but it scorched the air within three zhang until it was distorted and deformed.

"This torture of being burned by fierce fire is all about a good sense of proportion."

As he spoke, Peng Lie lightly tapped his fingertip, and the flame instantly jumped onto Mother Liu's skirt.

Yet the moment it touched her skin, it turned into wisps of heat.

"It can both make her hurt so much that she wishes for death, and keep her alive to suffer slowly."

"After she tastes eighteen types of death, she will naturally feed the secrets she knows into our mouths, one spoonful at a time."

On the incredibly quiet street, the red Gale Force wrapped tighter and tighter, wrapping the procuress's shrill screams entirely under this scorching sun.

...

"Lu Xuyang!"

"Hmph, so it was this little beast who was causing trouble behind the scenes."

Peng Lie waved his sleeves, and the pile of human-shaped ashes on the ground was immediately scattered by the Gale Force.

Lu Xuyang was the ninth prince of the Wenjing Dynasty!

"Let's go, to Mo Gui Alley, Grandfather!"

With a clear neigh, eight snow-white Ferghana horses galloped away, their hooves thundering.

What Ninth Prince, what conspiracy or scheme, at this moment, they were all just passing clouds.

Lu Xuan's mind was full of the Mo Gui Alley described by the procuress, where many ghostly things were hidden.

For others, this place was a forbidden Forbidden Ground.

But for Lu Xuan, it was a paradise for a Dragon returning to the abyss, a source for replenishing a large amount of System points.

"Good grandson..."

Peng Lie's thick eyebrows were tightly locked, and the veins on his palms under the red python robe bulged, "Those filthy things are not to be touched!"

"Grandfather, please set your heart at ease."

Golden light flowed in Lu Xuan's eyes: "I have my own sense of proportion."

Even though Peng Lie's Martial Dao was godlike and his red Gale Force could burn three thousand armored soldiers, that was ultimately someone else's towering mountain.

No matter how mighty external force might be, it was like a tree without roots or water without a source.

When the tide rose, it looked like it could cover the sky, but after the tide receded, it ultimately became a phantom.

Lu Xuan only believed in the power mastered by his own body.