Starting as the young master of a medicine shop, he practiced swordsmanship for twenty years.

Chapter 356 The Strange Things in Mo Gui Alley!
The scorching summer sun hung high in the sky, making the bluestone slabs in front of Xianxian Tower scorching hot.

In the sweltering heat, the kneeling crowd seemed to be roasted over a charcoal fire, their clothes soaked with sweat.

Madam Liu, the madam, lay prostrate on the scorching ground, her forehead pressed against the stone slab.

The rough stone texture made her knees ache, but she dared not move an inch.

The sweltering heat enveloped her back, which was constantly covered in cold sweat. The sticky sensation slid down her spine and into her collar, making her shiver uncontrollably.

Madam Liu, the madam, stole a glance at the approaching crimson robe hem, which gleamed with an indescribable radiance in the dazzling sunlight.

The scenes from yesterday flashed before her eyes.

At noon, a group of imperial guards, clad in chainmail, approached the backyard under the scorching sun. The sunlight reflected off their armor was so intense that it was impossible to open one's eyes.

It was this figure in crimson purple who trampled the scorching sunlight on the ground and roughly dragged the courtesan Chen Qingran from the rattan chair where she was cooling off.

"This humble subject respectfully welcomes Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Liu's mother's voice was hoarse and dry, and her nails, painted with henna, dug deeply into her burning palms.

Her flushed skin almost blended into her bright red nail polish.

Lu Xuan suddenly stopped in front of her, his crimson robe billowing slightly in the heat.

"Tell me, who ordered you to do this!"

That gentle voice, carrying a pressure more scorching than the blazing sun, made the hairs on the back of Liu's neck stand on end, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

She cautiously raised her eyes, only to meet Lu Xuan's indifferent gaze.

Those eyes, as black as ink, were so deep they seemed to hold no emotion, yet they were more unsettling than the midday sun.

"What instructions? This humble subject does not understand Your Highness's meaning."

Liu's mother's voice was clearly weak.

Lu Xuan ignored her and instead spoke to himself.

“You let that woman Chen Qingran get close to me, and she even carried something covered in yin energy with her.”

"I am very curious, who has such audacity to force a woman to risk her life to let me fall into the clutches of those evil things?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the sweltering heat seemed to freeze, leaving only the incessant chirping of cicadas piercing our eardrums.

The people kneeling on the ground wished they could bury their heads in the bluestone slabs.

This is not something they should be listening to!

Assassinating the crown prince is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family!

The scorching hot stone slabs burned their knees, yet no one dared to move an inch; even breathing became a cautious affair.

Several merchants kneeling in the back row were drenched in sweat, their foreheads soaking into the ground.

They exchanged glances furtively, their Adam's apples bobbing as they spoke, but no words came out.

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

The spectacle today is so exciting, it might just make you lose your head!
The girls kneeling in front of Xianxian Tower were trembling like leaves.

The little girl in the front row, wearing an apricot-red shirt, gripped her handkerchief tightly, her nails almost digging into her palm.

She stole a glance at Liu's mother, whose face was ashen, and couldn't help but mutter to herself.

Goodness gracious! It's one thing for our mother to skimp on our monthly pay, but now she's even scheming against the young master!

It's like an old man hanging himself – he's tired of living!
But when she looked at her sisters trembling like withered leaves in the wind, she couldn't help but swallow hard.

She just hoped this huge uproar would pass quickly so she wouldn't lose her life.

"I am innocent!"

Suddenly, Liu's mother let out a shrill cry, and the gilded hair ornament on her head was about to fall off.

When she looked up abruptly, her blood-stained face was twisted like a ghost in the blazing sun.

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

With that, she slammed her forehead against the ground, the jewels in her hair jingling and echoing shrilly in the quiet street.

The scorching hot stone slabs were struck with a dull thud, each strike sending shivers down the spines of the onlookers.

In just a few breaths, a large patch of eerie scarlet had spread across the bluestone slab on Liu's mother's forehead.

The bloodstains dried quickly under the scorching sun, congealing into dark red scabs that snaked along the cracks in the stone slabs.

Her frail body heaved violently, blood-stained hair clung to her face, yet she continued to kowtow incessantly.

It was as if he wanted to use this act of self-destruction to remove the crime of exterminating nine generations of his family from himself.

Just as everyone was stunned by the horrific scene, a sinister glint suddenly flashed in Liu's mother's lowered eyelids.

She stared intently at the crimson robe at Lu Xuan's feet, a suppressed sob escaping her throat.

Impossible! How could he not be dead!
Why didn't the crown prince die?
Yesterday, she watched as Chen Qingran carefully hid the silk handkerchief, which was soaked in yin energy, close to her body.

That was a malevolent object that the master painstakingly extracted from Mo Gui Lane in the West City, using the lives of seven assassins.

That alleyway, shrouded in a putrid mist year-round, was a hidden place that the master had discovered half a month ago.

If an ordinary person gets involved with anything in the alley, they will be devoured by the resentment of those ghostly creatures and reduced to ashes within an hour.

Even a martial arts master can only last for a day at most.

The cicadas' chirping suddenly became sharp and piercing, and cold sweat mixed with blood trickled down the back of Liu's mother's neck.

She recalled her master's sinister instructions before he left: "As long as the Crown Prince touches that handkerchief, even a martial arts grandmaster cannot save him."

"Now, His Highness the Crown Prince is still standing here safely..."

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

"its not right…"

That woman, Chen Qingran, was already dead last night, as the ghosts from Mo Gui Lane came knocking on her door!
Moreover, she has two younger sisters who are in the master's hands, a death sentence hanging over Chen Qingran's head.

Liu's mother looked up abruptly and met Lu Xuan's ambiguous smile. Her heart jumped into her throat.

Even if you gave him a thousand lives, Chen Qingran wouldn't dare to ruin his master's important plans!
Unless... unless from the very beginning, this was a scheme deliberately set up by the Crown Prince?

At that moment, the madam, Liu Mama, felt cold sweat mixed with blood flowing down the back of her neck, soaking through her clothes.

The heat from the bluestone slabs rose up her knees, but it couldn't dispel the chill rising in her heart.

Lu Xuan lowered his eyes and stared at the blood beads seeping from the cracks in the blue bricks, his mind quickly flashing through the complete memories left behind by the original owner.

Yesterday afternoon, it was Feng Qi who knelt in front of the study with a beaming smile, pretending to bring up the matter of Xianxianlou.

"Is His Highness the Crown Prince aware of this?"

"The newly crowned courtesan of Xianxian Pavilion is so beautiful that she could eclipse the moon and shame the flowers. People say that even if it meant shortening one's lifespan by ten years, one would be willing to see her once!"

The original owner of this body was a debauched person and could not resist the encouragement of the guards. So he led his men to forcibly abduct Chen Qingran.

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

Chen Qingran's disheveled hair lay on the original owner's chest, and she quietly took out the silk handkerchief that had been hidden in the wide sleeve on the ground.

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

The original body suddenly convulsed violently, emitting incoherent whimpers from its throat.

The woman, who should have been panicked, suddenly calmed down, pressed the silk handkerchief tightly against his chest, and sneered as she looked at the dark figure outside the window: "Your Highness, please don't blame me."

At the sound of the night watchman's drum at dawn, Feng Qi, along with five or six trusted men, secretly slipped Chen Qingran into a carriage filled with spices and quietly sent her out through a side gate of the palace.

It turns out that from the courtesan's appearance to the vengeful ghost demanding her life, it was all a meticulously crafted trap.

However, Lu Xuan wasn't interested in any of that; he wanted to know where the silk handkerchief came from. That mysterious thing there was Lu Xuan's real purpose.

A mere pink silk handkerchief could cost a crown prince his life.

If we were to encounter the true form of this ghostly thing, its yin energy would undoubtedly be incredibly powerful.

At this moment, Lu Xuan glanced around at the crowd of people swaying precariously under the scorching sun.

Some people's necks were peeling from the sun, and the bluestone slabs under some people's knees were soaked with sweat, almost melting into water.

"All of you, step back."

Lu Xuan's voice wasn't loud, but it resounded like thunder in everyone's ears.

This was like a pardon for the kneeling crowd.

The people who were already drenched in sweat under the scorching sun now had expressions of relief on their faces.

Shortly after Lu Xuan issued this decree, the scorching air seemed to be instantly infused with ice water.

An elderly man in fine silk robes scrambled to his feet, while a young girl in an apricot-red dress was being pulled by the arm by her companion, oblivious to the fact that she had lost one of her embroidered shoes.

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

The people who had just crowded the streets had vanished without a trace.

The doors and windows of Xianxianlou were slammed shut one after another, and even the curtains in the private rooms on the second floor were drawn tightly.

Only the madam, Liu Mama, remained on the entire street, kneeling in place.

The bloodstains on her forehead had dried, leaving dark red marks on the bluestone slab.

Even now, the madam, Liu Mama, still maintains the posture of kowtowing.

She stiffly turned her head to the side and saw Lu Xuan looking down at her.

Tell me the origin of this silk handkerchief, and I'll spare your life!

Upon hearing this, Liu's mother trembled violently.

He could no longer maintain his kneeling position and fell backward to the ground.

She quickly looked up, staring at Lu Xuan in disbelief, her cloudy eyes filled with horror.

“Your Highness…” Liu Mama’s voice was hoarse and barely audible.

Do you really think this old servant would believe that?

She suddenly laughed eerily, her bloodstained teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

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

The master said so.

If things go wrong, the poison on this dagger can kill a person in three breaths...

A resolute glint flashed in Liu's mother's cloudy eyes, and her blood-stained fingernails quietly gripped the dagger gleaming with a cold, dark blue light at her waist.

Even if it means death, we must never reveal our master's identity!

Otherwise, she would be living a life worse than death!

But Liu's mother completely forgot about the red-robed old man standing next to Lu Xuan.

Peng Lie, a veteran of three dynasties, was a grandmaster who ranked at the pinnacle of martial arts during the Wenjing Dynasty.

Before such a powerful figure, even life and death are not in one's own hands.

The cold gleam burst forth with dazzling light under the blazing sun!
To Liu's horror, the tip of the dagger stopped three inches in front of her brow, and no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't budge.

Looking at his wrist, veins bulging, trembling under an invisible force, the gilded dagger reflected the sneer of the person behind Lu Xuan.

Peng Lie stood with his hands behind his back. His crimson aura had solidified and slowly spread from his body, casting a scorching phantom shadow on the ground.

Under the scorching sun, strands of crimson energy clung tightly to the body of the madam, Liu Mama.

That intense aura held every inch of her muscles firmly in place, preventing even her eyelashes from trembling.

"wanna die?"

Peng Lie snorted coldly, his crimson python robe fluttering even without wind. "Before me, even the King of Hell has to send me a formal invitation!"

Then, with a flick of his withered finger, the poisoned dagger flew out on its own and shattered into dust in mid-air.

The dark blue poisonous mist contained within was burned away by Peng Lie's blazing internal energy before it could even disperse, emitting a hissing sound.

Lu Xuan stared at Liu's mother, who was still panting heavily on the ground, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips: "Grandfather, pry her mouth open!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a heat wave, carrying crimson energy, rushed towards him.

Peng Lie stroked his long, white beard and laughed heartily, his body surging with crimson energy like clouds. "Don't worry, grandson!"

He took a step forward, the bluestone slabs groaning under his feet, "Back then, I interrogated that wolf king of the northern desert for three days and three nights."

"In the end, he even vomited up the treasure map he had hidden in the eighteenth cellar."

Having said that, Peng Lie's crimson inner energy transformed into chains that bound Liu Mama's limbs.
She watched in horror as a ghostly red flame rose from Peng Lie's palm.

The flames, though seemingly weak, scorched and distorted the air within a three-zhang radius.

"The punishment of being burned alive requires a good sense of proportion."

As he spoke, Peng Lie lightly tapped his fingertip, and flames instantly leaped onto Liu Mama's skirt.

But the moment it touches the skin, it transforms into wisps of heat.

"It can both make her suffer so much pain that she wants to die, and keep her alive and slowly endure the pain."

"Once she has experienced all eighteen ways of dying, she will naturally feed us the secrets she knows, spoonful by spoonful."

On the eerily quiet street, the crimson energy tightened its grip, enveloping the madam's shrill screams in the blazing sun.

.......
"Lu Xuyang!"

"Hmph, so it was that little bastard who was behind this."

With a flick of his sleeve, Peng Lie scattered the human-shaped ashes on the ground in a gust of wind.

Lu Xuyang is the ninth prince of the Wenjing Dynasty!
"Let's go to Mogui Lane, Grandfather!"

With a clear neigh, eight pure white Akhal-Teke horses galloped away, their hooves thundering.

The Ninth Prince, all the conspiracies and schemes, are nothing but fleeting clouds at this moment.

Lu Xuan's mind was filled with the description of Mo Gui Lane by the madam, a place where many ghostly things were hidden.

This place is a forbidden zone that is off-limits to others.

But for Lu Xuan, it was a blessed land where dragons returned to the abyss, a source of replenishing a large number of system points.

"Good grandson..."

Peng Lie's thick eyebrows furrowed, and the veins on his hands beneath his crimson python robe bulged. "Those filthy things must not be touched!"

"Grandfather, please don't worry."

A golden light flashed in Lu Xuan's eyes: "I know what I'm doing."

Even though Peng Lie's martial arts were divine, and his crimson energy could burn three thousand armored soldiers, it was still someone else's towering mountain.

No matter how powerful the external force is, it is like a tree without roots or water without a source.

When the tide rises, it seems towering, but when it recedes, it becomes nothing more than a shadow.

Lu Xuan only believed in the power that his own body possessed.

(End of this chapter)