Reincarnation Girl Becomes Immortal

After a day of interrogation, the Imperial Guards actually found some clues—the assassin who poisoned the Imperial Preceptor and then attempted to assassinate the Emperor was actually a spy under the former Prime Minister Li Shimei. It was the former Prime Minister who arranged for her to serve tea and water to the Imperial Preceptor.

Even with a lead, the investigation became increasingly complicated. It was unclear which official in the court had ordered Li Shimei to assassinate the Imperial Preceptor after her death; it couldn't possibly have been someone else acting on their own initiative...

The other coachman, who also wanted to harm Xi Heng, was also caught, but he was mentally unstable and could only say strange, incoherent things. His words lacked clear logic, and the information obtained from the interrogation was of dubious authenticity.

Xi Heng waved his hand to dismiss the imperial guard who had delivered the message, and sighed softly:

"Killing a few people is such a hassle."

After finishing processing several memorials in the palace, he ordered the imperial guards to deliver a message to the Imperial Guards' Office, asking their commander, Ma Yi, to come to the Taixiao Palace for an audience.

After being summoned, Ma Yi, who was feasting and drinking in his mansion, rushed over and knelt before Xi Heng in the hall, asking:

"What orders does Your Majesty have for me?"

"In your opinion, who was behind yesterday's events?" she asked.

Ma Yidao, the tall, strong, and fully armored commander of the Imperial Guards:

"At that time, when His Majesty ordered me to kill the traitors, there were too many civil officials in the court who revealed their murderous intentions, and I could not be sure."

He probably already guessed that Xi Heng had called him here to inquire about this matter, and his answer was quite fluent.

Who is most likely?

"Zhu Xun, the military governor of Weiyuan; Liang Cegong, the Grand Tutor; and Li Yuan, the remonstrating official—these three are accomplices of the three former ministers Your Majesty previously executed. They are equally treacherous and wicked in the court. However, compared to Li Shimei, Wang Xiangfu, and Cai Yuan, their influence is smaller, and they still have some usefulness. Therefore, they were not included in the imperial edict to be beheaded by the previous emperor," Ma Yi said frankly.

“The three officials were the most terrified when His Majesty executed them in court the other day. They were afraid that His Majesty would issue another imperial edict someday, and recently they have even refused to come to the court... The assassination of His Majesty was likely arranged by one of the three, or it may have been a scheme orchestrated by all three of them.”

"You're such a coward." Xi Heng scoffed, then asked, "I wish to kill them again, is that alright?"

Ma Yi could only smile bitterly:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for not being able to accept the order... In order to fulfill the late emperor's last will and testament, I have already disregarded my own life and future by killing a major traitor in the court, and have offended too many people. If I were to lead the Imperial Guards out of the palace again, I am afraid that we would be ambushed by experts halfway and die in a dark alley."

"..." Xi Heng remained silent.

She couldn't force the commander of the Imperial Guards to his death; if she did, she feared that the only two Imperial Guards who still obeyed her would also be out of control.

As an emperor who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, she couldn't really do anything on her own.

Xi Heng turned away in silence, looked up at the dense dark clouds in the sky, and knew that he had reached a dead end.

Lacking the necessary strength, yet ascending to the throne, he was destined for a bad end...

"Never mind," Xi Heng comforted himself.

“I killed Zhao Qianyuan, used him to refine the Blood Spirit Stone, and also read the four Transformation Realm martial arts manuals in the palace. I also satisfied my murderous intent with the heads of several prime ministers, and my Dark Realm has almost advanced. This trip has been very profitable.”

"In this life, there's no need to think about how to save the Great Zhao..." she sighed softly.

Although the emperor had a duty to save the country, she was simply unable to do so with the resources and power she possessed.

“When a country is going downhill, someone has to step on the gas pedal…” Xi Heng casually found a sentence to convince himself, stopped talking to Ma Yi beside him, left Taixiao Palace directly, and returned to his residence in Fuqing Palace.

After returning to the palace, she no longer wanted to deal with the problems of the court. She sat down at her desk and picked up four martial arts manuals on the subject of "Transformation of Internal Strength" to begin memorizing them.

After an afternoon, Xi Heng, whose memory was still pretty good, had almost memorized the whole book.

These martial arts manuals are relatively thin, and their core principles are mostly short passages that are easy to memorize. If you just memorize them without having to understand them deeply, it is relatively simple.

After memorizing one chapter, Xi Heng put down the manual during his break, took out his Blood Spirit Stone from the drawer, and looked at it from left to right.

"Although Zhao Qianyuan said that spiritual energy would dissipate and disappear, I don't know the specifics yet. Let's try it first and absorb the spiritual energy into my body..."

She gripped the Blood Spirit Stone in her hand, causing it to emit a faint light and release wisps of spiritual energy.

She first used the common martial artist's method of circulating energy to absorb it into her stomach, but in her perception, the spiritual energy only moved slightly before drifting into the blue sky and disappearing.

The layers of tiles, wood, and stone in the main hall could not prevent the loss of spiritual energy in the slightest.

"A normal inhalation can cause the spiritual energy to move slightly... there should be a chance to absorb it into the body."

"But even if spiritual energy enters the body, it will quickly pass through the physical body and float away."

Xi Heng had previously heard Zhao Qianyuan say that the other party had also forcibly absorbed spiritual energy into his body, but was unable to retain it in his body for long.

"If there is a vortex within the body that constantly draws in spiritual energy, preventing it from leaking out, perhaps one can cultivate Qi and achieve Taoism... But how can one do that?"

After a moment, she muttered to herself, "For example, is there any magic?"

"Master of Ceremonies," she called out, remembering this.

There was a slight knocking at the door, but when she opened it, the person she saw was not the master of ceremonies she had called for, but another petite palace maid who was guarding the door.

"Your Majesty, the Master of Ceremonies is downstairs arranging Your Majesty's clothes. This servant will go find him right away..." the other party said.

"No need. Do you know where the former emperor's study is? Take me there." Xi Heng simply wanted to find another spellbook like the Blood Sea Technique.

"This servant understands." After bowing, the palace maid turned and led the way, taking Xi Heng to the study on the same floor.

Xi Heng paid no attention to the magnificent scene and the exquisitely carved bookshelves. He walked directly into the room and wandered around the sixteen large bookshelves.

The books stored in this study are mostly legends of immortals and gods, Taoist classics, or books on divination, astronomy, yin and yang, etc. A few are books on political governance written by previous emperors.

She even found the genealogy of the Zhao royal family and found her own name in it, but she couldn't find any magical manuals like the Blood Sea Technique.

After searching, she had a palace maid take her to another imperial study, and even searched Zhao Qianyuan's former bedroom, but still found nothing.

"Perhaps spellbooks like the Blood Sea Great Art are truly rare treasures in the world... Even the emperor doesn't have any more."

After shaking his head, Xi Heng returned to his dormitory, took out the Blood Sea Great Manual, and carefully examined it, searching word by word for more information about Blood Spirit Stones.

The girl pressed her temples, and with a troubled expression, she arrived at the answer:

In this spellbook, the Blood Spirit Stone seems to be used only as a storage artifact to store the spirit of flesh and blood, which will then be transformed into spells when needed.

The original text in the book did not mention that the spiritual energy in the Blood Spirit Stone could be used to cultivate Qi and become an immortal. The so-called path to immortality through Qi cultivation was nothing more than a few poems and reflections written by the mad emperor prince next to the Spirit Absorption Method.

"Could it be that cultivating Qi and seeking immortality is merely Zhao Qianyuan's wishful thinking?" Xi Heng became increasingly perplexed.

"Are there really no immortals or methods of immortality in this world? Are there only these witch-like spells?"

"But there are indeed legends in the world that immortals can summon wind and rain, ride the clouds and mist, and move mountains and overturn seas..." She tried to convince herself, but then shook her head slightly:

"However, these may also be fabricated stories."

Xi Heng gradually became hesitant, and subconsciously looked up, gazing at the azure sky through the window in front of the long table.

As he pondered this carefully, he murmured to himself:

"Indeed, there are so-called cultivation methods circulating in the mortal world, which allow one to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refine qi into spirit, refine spirit into emptiness, and refine emptiness into the Dao..."

“There are indeed extraordinary spells and spiritual energy in the world, but I am currently unable to capture these spiritual energies into my body for cultivation and immortality… If I could seal the spiritual energy and create an environment full of spiritual energy, perhaps that would be enough.”

"How should we do that?"

"Planks and soil certainly can't lock in spiritual energy... what about other materials?"

Upon realizing this, Xi Heng immediately began to try it out.

She squeezed the Blood Spirit Stone and squeezed out wisps of spiritual energy. She first tried to cover it with her palm, and the result was that the spiritual energy did not stop at all and naturally penetrated the flesh and bones of the human body.

She broke off two buds, one gold and one silver, from the gold and silver carved decorations on the side of the room and placed them on the blood spirit stone.

Then, it gripped tightly and released wisps of spiritual energy, which quite naturally pierced through the gold and silver bracts and drifted into the sky.

"Let's set a small goal first: try using all the elements we can get our hands on from the periodic table... and see which ones can affect spiritual energy." Xi Heng clapped his hands and then ordered the palace maid to enter.

She said directly, "Issue my decree, ordering the Ministry of Revenue to open the imperial treasury, take out all kinds of special metal items, and bring one of each type of metal to the palace."

"..." The palace maid did not immediately agree, and her gaze gradually became strange.

"What's wrong?" Xi Heng asked, puzzled.

The palace maid then realized her rudeness and quickly knelt down to explain:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was just lost in thought. It was because I remembered that His Majesty the late Emperor had issued a similar decree half a year ago."

"He thought of this too?" Xi Heng narrowed his eyes.

If Zhao Qianyuan had tried but failed to get any results, it would be disappointing news for her.

"His Majesty the late Emperor placed all sorts of unique items in the underground vault. This servant can take His Majesty there..." said a palace maid from Fuqing Palace.

"That would be more convenient. Take me there." Xi Heng stood up, holding the bright red blood spirit stone in his hand.

The other party quickly responded, and after bowing respectfully again, turned around and led the way.

After walking through the wide corridor of Fuqing Palace and descending the long wooden stairs to the first basement level, carrying a lantern further in, you will see a double-leafed, thick wooden door blocking your way.

The wooden door was left slightly ajar and was not locked; it could be pushed open with a little force.

Upon entering, a palace maid lit the hanging candlesticks, illuminating the underground storehouse somewhat.

Xi Heng barely endured the stuffy air as he entered, where he saw all sorts of strangely shaped objects arranged neatly on shelves.

She walked around the shelves, which were mostly filled with oddly shaped items, and she could hardly recognize any of them.

Zhao Qianyuan had no idea about the periodic table; instead, he simply and crudely collected all sorts of rare and precious items from around the world.

Currently, hundreds of strange and unusual items are displayed in the underground vault of Fuqing Palace.

Among them were not only strangely shaped and colored metals, fluorite that emitted a faint glow, but also pungent, yellowish medicinal powder, various pills, and small insects, snakes, rats, and the like that were constantly climbing inside wooden cages.

Holding the faintly glowing Blood Spirit Stone, Xi Heng approached each item step by step, pinching out wisps of spiritual energy and sensing how the energy gradually disappeared through various objects.

Lead ash, kerosene, bauxite, tungsten ore, rare earth elements, strong magnetite, fluorite...

Half an hour later, Xi Heng used her spiritual energy to circulate through everything in the storehouse. As she expected, the spiritual energy that surfaced was not affected at all.

For some reason, it seems that only human breathing can disturb spiritual energy.

Even if you try your best to absorb spiritual energy into your body, it cannot stay there for long.

"Either I convert the spiritual energy into magic using the Blood Sea Technique, or I can only let it flow away?" Xi Heng stared at the Blood Spirit Stone and pondered.

"Perhaps nothing in the mortal world can block spiritual energy; only things from the celestial realm can..."

She looked up at the unfamiliar and dull ceiling and sighed softly.

After fiddling with the blood spirit stone in his hand for a while, Xi Heng left the vault with no choice, having lost all expectation for these mortal materials.

As he moved around, he tossed the precious blood spirit stone in his hand up and down as if it were a simple stone, his fingers flicking and jumping lightly, then pinching and kneading it, hoping to find some inspiration.

"Huh?" She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"If things from the mortal realm don't work, then can the Blood Spirit Stone itself, which is used to disperse spiritual energy, have any effect on spiritual energy?"

If possible, she could try to use a large number of blood spirit stones as bricks and tiles to build a house that locks in spiritual energy, and practice qi cultivation and Taoism in it.

Xi Heng blinked, gripped the spirit stone tightly with his right hand, and let wisps of spiritual energy ripple out. He then immediately placed the blood spirit stone above the rapidly dissipating spiritual energy.

"..."

Then, the spiritual energy still passed through the spirit stone and disappeared.

"This can't stop it either." Xi Heng sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Why?"

Even spirit stones cannot stop the loss of spiritual energy, so perhaps nothing in the world can work.

"Perhaps the Blood Spirit Stone really is just something used to store spells." By now, her expectations for the spirit stone have almost completely faded.

"This thing can't help me embark on the path to immortality, at least not now."

Xi Heng came to a conclusion, and then comforted himself:

"But it's alright, I still have plenty of time. Since relying on Blood Spirit Stones won't lead me down the path of cultivation, I'll find some other methods..."

"When I cultivate martial arts in my next life, I'll also take the opportunity to search for traces of immortals and their techniques throughout the world." Xi Heng still harbored hopes in this regard.

"Perhaps we can find a secluded mountain valley where cultivators gather, where the spiritual energy doesn't drift away into the sky, and mortals can directly use Taoist methods to cultivate their Qi... Hope."

Xi Heng grabbed the Blood Spirit Stone and went back upstairs to continue studying the several books on Transformation Techniques.

Since she couldn't find a path to immortality for the time being, she would continue to study martial arts—her martial arts still had considerable room for improvement.

"In my next life, I will also look for other martial arts that can be transformed into internal energy. If I can find one that suits me, I would even be willing to join that somewhat annoying Yellow Eyebrow Mountain Army."

"But if you can't find anything suitable, try to develop the Red Thread Sword into a martial art that can transform into internal strength... If that doesn't work, then switch to a martial art that has a similar temperament and meaning."

"Thinking about it this way, I'll have a lot to do in my next life," Xi Heng said with a wry smile.

Even though she wasn't dead yet, she had already planned out almost everything for her next life.

"After all, we're already facing a dead end."

I studied and read until night fell.