The seductive princess is no longer being pursued; the aloof prime minister is facing a crematorium.

Chapter 157 He has always been short.

Jiang Buhuo, the Prince of Ruiyang, was a victorious general who guarded the border of Wanjin for many years, but in the end, he could not even enter the ancestral hall or temple.

—Only this small mound of earth remains.

A desolate graveyard.

Jiang Jinshuang knelt before the tombstone.

"Uncle Wang, I've come to see you."

As she said this, a cool breeze blew by, and for some reason, Jiang Jinshuang's nose tingled, and she lowered her head in slight panic.

She wore a long blue and white dress today, and the strong wind ruffled the hem of her dress.

The tomb of Prince Ruiyang is a very small mound of earth.

Wild grass grew on the mound, rustling softly in the wind.

“I have returned from Baiyujing. My father has summoned me back to the capital.”

In fact, Jiang Jinshuang had a lot to say to Uncle Wang, but when she actually knelt in front of the tombstone, apart from frantically wiping away tears and sobbing, she couldn't say anything more.

"Uncle, rest assured, Shuang'er can handle things in the capital."

She lowered her head, took a few steps forward, and gently wiped the dust off the tombstone.

Few living people enter or leave the mass grave, but Jiang Jinshuang noticed that Uncle Wang's tombstone seemed to have been wiped clean.

—Someone must have been here.

Thinking this, Jiang Jinshuang heard footsteps behind her.

The visitor made no attempt to conceal his presence. Jiang Jinshuang lowered her eyes slightly, her fingers tracing the indented characters on the tombstone.

How did you know I was here?

These were the words Jiang Jinshuang asked those who came after her.

Pei Du stepped forward, slightly lifted his robe, and knelt upright and gracefully beside Jiang Jinshuang.

“Just a coincidence,” he said.

He simply stared at the tombstone, his expression serene.

Jiang Jinshuang naturally didn't believe Pei Du's "coincidence," but since he didn't say anything, she wouldn't ask anymore.

"His Majesty's entourage has arrived at Huguo Temple, Your Highness need not worry," Pei Du added.

Jiang Jinshuang smiled and said, "As the chief minister of the country, isn't it a shame that you won't be laughed at for not attending the ancestral worship ceremony at Huguo Temple at a time like this?"

Pei Du lowered his eyes slightly, his tone cold: "Your Majesty, I am not yet fully recovered and fear that I might pass on my illness, which would be disrespectful to our ancestors."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jinshuang remained silent, only gazing absently at the tombstone.

"Uncle Wang is very short."

Suddenly, she spoke slowly, her tone calm and casual.

“He has always been short. In my memory, when I first met Uncle Wang, I was sitting on a high wall and looked down at him. He was much shorter than me.”

"Later, whenever he talked to me, he would kneel down in front of me, look up at me, and still be shorter than me."

"In the New Year's market, Uncle Wang lifted me high above his head. I sat on his shoulders, but he was still shorter than me."

"Later, as I grew up, his figure became more and more hunched over, and even without bending down, I had to look down at him."

At this point, Jiang Jinshuang chuckled and bumped her head on the overgrown, desolate grassland.

"Even now, after I've knocked my head to the ground, he's still shorter than me."

Uncle Wang's height wasn't particularly outstanding among men; he was even about the same size as Jiang Jinshuang.

He's so short.

Jiang Jinshuang was so short that she didn't even have time to reach out and support him before he lay down in the cold coffin and passed away silently.

She still remembered the time she went to see Uncle Wang in the death row. She knelt before him, crying, and said, "Uncle Wang, please, I'll help you escape, okay?"

He looked at her with a smile, his eyes filled with complex emotions she couldn't understand.

Jiang Jinshuang didn't understand.

He said, what did he say again? Oh, he told her to eat well and grow up safely.

Jiang Jinshuang felt that Uncle Wang was not smart at all.

He's pretty stupid.

Uncle Wang left behind few possessions in this world.

—She is one of them.

"Uncle Wang, I'm sorry, but I have to take away your God of Slaughter mask today."

Jiang Jinshuang kowtowed again.

With her head down, she took out a dagger from her sleeve and dug at a protrusion in front of the tombstone.

Not long after digging, Jiang Jinshuang saw something wrapped in a dark blue cloth.

Jiang Jinshuang dug out the package and opened the cloth. Inside, the terrifying face lay there quietly, without a sound.

Legend has it that this mask of the killing god possesses demonic power. If anyone looks into the eyes of this mask, they will either feel palpitations and tremble, or even suffer liver and gallbladder rupture and die on the spot.

Very few people can meet the gaze of this mask.

Jiang Jinshuang reached out, her fingertips tracing the fine lines on the mask, her eyes calm and undisturbed.

Everyone says that the mask of the god of death endowed King Ruiyang with divine power, enabling him to be invincible on the battlefield, but in reality, it is just a mask.

—There is no such thing as divine power.

Pei Du, who was standing to the side, simply watched her quietly. Seeing her examining and stroking the mask of the God of Slaughter, he quietly asked, "Is Your Highness's search for the mask of the God of Slaughter related to what happened to Prince Ruiyang back then?"

Jiang Jinshuang took a deep breath. Some parts of the mask were rough. She ran her fingertip across one of them, and her originally calm eyes suddenly narrowed!
The next second, Jiang Jinshuang hurriedly picked up the mask and looked at it over and over.

"What's wrong?" Pei Du frowned slightly, as if he had also realized something.

Finally, Jiang Jinshuang put down the mask, her tone slightly cold: "The mask has been switched."

Upon hearing this, Pei Du pursed his lips slightly.

He picked up the mask and examined it closely: "How did Your Highness know?"

Jiang Jinshuang said coldly, "Uncle Wang's mask of the God of Slaughter has a few Sanskrit words for protection engraved on the inside. The mask is finely made and every detail is exactly the same, but the Sanskrit characters are not imitated very well."

As she spoke, Jiang Jinshuang flipped the mask over again and pointed it out to Pei Du: "Moreover, on Uncle Wang's God of Slaughter mask, there is a very shallow scratch here. It was left when an arrow from afar grazed the mask during the great battle with Beihuai."

The workmanship and expression are exactly the same, but some small details are not handled very well.

If Jiang Jinshuang hadn't been very familiar with this mask of the God of Slaughter, even she might have been fooled.

The cloth covering the mask looked quite old, and even the mask itself carried the smell of earth that would only come from being buried for a long time.

In other words, this mask must have been switched with another one not long after she buried it.

Jiang Jinshuang lowered her gaze, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

She rewrapped the mask, put it back in the soil, and used some dry soil to clean the scene.

She didn't know why the person had switched the God of Slaughter mask, but it at least showed one thing: the God of Slaughter mask was indeed a key clue.

Brushing the dirt off her clothes, Jiang Jinshuang turned to Pei Du: "Lord Pei, neither of us has been here before, and you have never seen that mask before, do you understand?"

Pei Du nodded earnestly: "I understand."

The situation wasn't so bad that it was beyond repair.

Despite the mask of the God of Slaughter being switched so long ago, the Black Armored Knights remain unmoved.

There are two possibilities. One is that the God of Slaughter Mask is not the Tiger Tally, so the mask cannot command the 300,000 Black Armor Cavalry.

Secondly, although the person behind the scenes switched the masks, they were unaware of the connection between the masks and the 300,000 Black Armored Riders. They simply hid the masks in case they came into use.

Therefore, Jiang Jinshuang must not let the person behind the scenes know that she has been to the mass grave and searched for the God of Slaughter Mask. Otherwise, the person behind the scenes will definitely be prompted and will pay attention to the God of Slaughter Mask again.

"Let's go back first."

Jiang Jinshuang said in a deep voice, and followed Pei Du as they mounted their horses and returned to the capital.

As soon as Jiang Jinshuang entered the capital, she heard murmurs from the crowd.

"Hey! Have you heard? I heard that the Grand Preceptor was assassinated while presiding over a sacrificial ceremony!"