False evidence

Chapter 318 Fish on the Chopping Board

Shuangshan Road, Funeral Parlor —

When Lu Zelin heard me say that I wanted to find the remains of the Emperor, he immediately looked troubled.

Seeing his expression, Yan Fengwei carefully said:
"We dare not and cannot dig up the tombs of the great emperors, but throughout history, there have been quite a few minor emperors who seized territory and ruled over their own land..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Zelin waved his hand and said:
"You're mistaken, the remains of the imperial spirit are not the emperor's bones!"

I asked what exactly the remains of the Emperor were.
Liu Yi'er just passed away, and I really haven't been able to bring myself to ask Liu Hong about it these past few days.

Lu Zelin said, "The remains of the imperial spirit are indeed related to the royal family, but they are not the remains of the emperor, but rather the blood and bones of the royal family."

Meng Chao said, "Isn't that a prince?"

Lu Zelin frowned so deeply that his already deep forehead wrinkles twisted into a grid pattern.
"He is indeed a prince, but he must be unborn."

Xiao Shen was the first to lose his temper: "How many times have I told you, kid, when you talk to people, just pick out the key points and say it all in one breath. You're spewing out your words like farting after eating fried soybeans, little by little. You'll get beaten to death if you go outside!"

Lu Zelin blushed, and Xiao Shen said, "Have you forgotten the method I taught you?"

"oh oh!"

Lu Zelin raised one hand, bent one finger, and said, "The remains of the imperial spirit are the blood and bones of the emperor."

Then he bent his second finger: "Not just any prince or nobleman, but one who was born at full term but died in the womb."

His third finger bent, and he became sluggish again:

“Unborn, buried with its mother. It should have been born into an imperial family, but lost that blessing due to external factors. Its resentment lingers after death, and its soul, already destined for reincarnation, refuses to go on to the next life. Such unborn fetuses that retain the imperial spirit are called imperial spirit remains.”

Xiao Shensan frowned as well: "In short, when an ordinary baby dies, its soul will become an infant spirit; the remains of an imperial spirit are the infant spirits of the emperor's children and grandchildren!"

Yan Fengwei and Meng Chao were both stunned. Yan Fengwei touched his bald head and said:
"Good heavens, the emperor's grave is easy to find, and the emperor's wife's grave isn't hard to find either, but where are we going to find the old royal grave of a woman who died before giving birth, when she was fully pregnant? And now there are only about thirty days left until Qingming Festival..."

I looked at Lu Zelin, whose facial features were almost contorted in pain, and shook his head, saying:

“I did learn skills from my master, but I… I’ve only been tomb raiding once, and that was before I was kidnapped. I do know how to ‘fish out’ the remains of a royal spirit, but I don’t know where such a tomb exists…”

I took a deep drag of my cigarette. "What should we do if we find a grave like this?"

Lu Zelin shook his head again: "Although the resentment of the imperial spirit's remains is deep, most of the royal family's children and grandchildren are timid. As soon as a living person enters the tomb, the infant spirit is frightened away. Without the imperial spirit, the remains are no different from ordinary bones."

Therefore, to retrieve the remains of the imperial spirit, one cannot first enter the tomb; a special method must be used to lure the infant spirit, and then a tunnel must be dug down into the tomb to retrieve the bones. A live scorpion must be used to lure the infant spirit.

At this point, he was shaking his head so hard it was practically a rattle drum. "Compared to the remains of the imperial spirit, the living demon is just as hard to find..." Little Shen frowned and said, "Just tell me first, what is a living demon!"

Communicating with Lu Zelin was quite difficult, but fortunately I had already obtained some information from Lü Xin, so I said:

"When a person dies, they become a ghost; when a ghost dies, it becomes a demon. Ghosts fear demons just as people fear ghosts."

Xiao Shen nodded three times: "I have heard my elder brother mention this, but when a ghost turns into a demon, its soul dissipates, leaving only a wisp of residual consciousness. Even if we can find a demon, it is formless and intangible. Even the Three Pure Ones cannot touch it, so how can we use it as bait?"

“The living demon is no longer a demon, but a reincarnation of the demon, and it has a physical form.”

I stubbed out my cigarette and stared at the ashtray, saying, "We already have the raw spirit, now all we can think about is how to find the remains of the imperial spirit."

Xiao Shen San leaned closer to me: "Wait a minute, can a demon reincarnate? Its three souls and seven spirits have all scattered, how can it reincarnate? My eldest and second brothers never told me about this!"

I couldn't suppress the chaos in my heart, but I could only grit my teeth and force myself to stay calm at this moment.

I checked the time, thought for a moment, and asked Xiao Shen San:

Have you ever heard of Bai Qi?

Meng Chao blurted out, "You mean Bai Qi, the butcher of the Warring States period? I know him. He massacred 400,000 surrendered Zhao soldiers at the Battle of Changping. He is the number one killer of surrendered soldiers in history, both in China and abroad. He is truly a butcher!"

I nodded: "Even the underworld dares not accept a vicious and wicked person like Bai Qi, and he is immediately executed again after death. But Bai Qi, who became a demon, although he lost his soul, his consciousness was still extremely ferocious, and he has been wandering in the mortal world for thousands of years."

To put it simply, the law stipulates a statute of limitations for crimes and infringements. Since Bai Qi, in his guise as a demon, survived the statute of limitations without completely disappearing, he had another chance to reincarnate.

Because they lack a soul, they must first pass through the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and the first stage of the Six Paths is the Animal Path. Only by experiencing the Animal Path can one reunite one of the three souls—the human soul! And even as an animal, one cannot be a good animal, for one cannot have a good end.

The story goes that during the Longqing era of the Ming Dynasty, a Taoist priest at the Xianling Palace in the capital caught a carp. After scaling it, he saw five characters on its belly—"Qin Baiqi's reincarnation!" This carp was Baiqi's first incarnation after more than two thousand years, the one who was born as Sheng Mo!

Yan Fengwei blinked and said, "It seems that whether you're a human or a ghost, it's better to have a big temper."

I lit another cigarette: "It doesn't necessarily have to be a bad temper or a bloodthirsty mind. Some people with very deep obsessions can also reunite their souls and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation."

During the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Ruyi, a man from Zhenjiang, traveled to Hangzhou and saw a butcher slaughtering a pig. After the pig's hair was removed, five characters were found on its belly—"The reincarnation of Qin Hui of the Song Dynasty." Wu Ruyi was greatly surprised and asked the butcher, who also didn't know. Being observant, Wu Ruyi then asked the butcher: "This pig is only half-grown; why not fatten it up before slaughtering it?"

The butcher replied, "This pig is mine. I've disliked it ever since it was a piglet. It's just an animal; I planned to fatten it up before slaughtering it. But last night, when I got up to use the outhouse and passed the pigsty, I overheard people whispering. They were saying, 'I'm truly innocent! Killing Pengju was Emperor Gaozong's order; why should I bear this infamy?'"

The butcher found it strange and searched around before discovering that the one repeatedly muttering these words was actually a half-grown pig in the pen that was born with a missing eye! Most people, upon hearing that a pig could speak human language, would be terrified or would think it was a deity descended to earth, and would worship the talking pig as their ancestor.

But the butcher, already filled with murderous intent, and having been woken up by the urge to urinate and defecate, was in a foul mood. Annoyed by the pig's nagging, he grabbed a sharp knife, pierced the pen, and plunged it into the pig's mouth, forcefully ripping off its tongue…

(End of this chapter)