Chapter 1 Feng Yu

Feng Yu was a key figure in the Hidden Court. Actually, when you connected the dots and thought about it, it wasn't much of a secret to Ye Chuxiao.

After all, Feng Yu was a grand eunuch relied upon by the late emperor. After the late emperor's nominal death, Feng Yu retired to his hometown but was reported for corruption and imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice's dungeon, where he lived out his 'retirement' life.

At first glance, it seemed reasonable, but it wasn't that reasonable.

As the late emperor's favored grand eunuch, even if he knew too many inside secrets of the royal family and was disliked by those outside the court, he could have found a quiet palace within the imperial palace to retire.

There was no need for him to move to the Ministry of Justice's dungeon to suffer.

The reason he came out was precisely because, without the late emperor as protection, some of the Hidden Court's remote control activities were no longer convenient to carry out within the imperial palace.

At this time, the Ministry of Justice's dungeon became another suitable 'office' location after weighing the pros and cons.

Before coming here, Ye Chuxiao's original plan was to find a way to control Feng Yu and use Feng Yu to pry out more secrets related to Jin Buyi and the Hidden Court.

But unfortunately, Feng Yu seemed to have a premonition of his own fate and had taken a poison that was enough to scatter his soul in advance.

In this case, even if Ye Chuxiao had so many cards to play, he still felt helpless.

Feng Yu's suicide was only partly due to his exposure.

His previous close contact with Ye Chuxiao was also an important factor.

As far as his master was concerned, he no longer seemed trustworthy.

The assassination attempt on Ye Chuxiao may have been a task given to Feng Yu by Jin Buyi to test his loyalty.

If Ye Chuxiao died, Feng Yu would have proved his loyalty.

If Ye Chuxiao lived, then Feng Yu only had the option of suicide.

Rather than saying that Ye Chuxiao's arrival forced Feng Yu to his death, it would be better to say that this ending was already doomed when Ye Chuxiao returned alive to Shenjing.

Perhaps that was why Feng Yu advised Ye Chuxiao to leave before his death.

But what he didn't know was that the conflict between Ye Chuxiao and Jin Buyi, Ying Shu, was impossible to reconcile.

The winner takes all, the loser perishes. This was destined from the moment the Mind Pill was planted.

"Feng Yu is dead. Jin Buyi's control over the Hidden Court will definitely weaken."

"Without being able to personally stand on the stage to manage, Jin Buyi can't possibly have too many subordinates who know his identity."

"In other words, people like Feng Yu are one less with each death, and it will be impossible to find a replacement in a short time."

"At most, if I cut off one or two more of his tentacles, I can force Jin Buyi to stand up and reveal his identity, at least tear off his Jin Buyi mask and force him to return to the position of 'late emperor' first."

"This time, during the Yunmeng Eight Prefectures incident, the Ministry of Works reacted very quickly, and the Ministry of Works also put in a lot of effort in taking away my power and transferring me back to Shenjing."

"This shows that Jin Buyi's tentacles are also in the Ministry of Works, and their position is not low." Ye Chuxiao scanned the old eunuch Feng Yu's cell.

The domain slightly expanded, covering the entire cell.

Every detail in this cell, which didn't look like a cell at all, was presented very clearly in Ye Chuxiao's consciousness.

"There is no residual information."

"It seems like a cleanup was done."

"But no information is also a kind of information."

"Feng Yu was still suppressed by the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact and did not recover his cultivation. To transmit information to the outside world, obtain information, and obtain the poison for suicide, he needed someone who could move freely in the Ministry of Justice's prison to help provide and transfer it."

With a thought, Ye Chuxiao's domain completely broke through the limitations of the seal and was about to cover the entire dungeon and sky prison of the Ministry of Justice for screening.

Of course, Ye Chuxiao's domain still avoided the prison where Ying Shu was.

As for Jin Buyi, he was originally imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice's dungeon, but when Ye Chuxiao was on a business trip to the Yunmeng Eight Prefectures, a merit he had made earlier was brought to light, and then he left the Ministry of Justice's dungeon as a criminal.

Now he is performing meritorious service as a criminal, heading to the front line to attack Yunmeng.

The Dragon King Yuan Jia and Dragon Queen Yuan Meng left such a big mess for Daheng that the Daheng Dynasty would definitely attack them, no matter what considerations it had, even if it was just for the sake of face.

However, this aspect does not need to be taken too seriously for the time being.

Although the overall strength of the Yunmeng aquatic race is far inferior to that of Daheng, they after all occupy a geographical advantage.

And Daheng cannot really use all its strength to attack Yunmeng, so the tug-of-war between the two sides will last for a while.

At present, it is still in the stage of half-probing and half-wrangling, and there is still a considerable distance before a real fight breaks out, and whether a real fight will break out.

At this time, in the prison, the Ministry of Justice's Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact was indeed impacted by Ye Chuxiao's domain and moved along with the trend.

Suppression, sealing, imprisonment, three characteristics, automatically took effect, and were about to wrap around Ye Chuxiao's body.

The next moment, the Yuanyang Treasure Armor emerged, and the Yuanyang Treasure Mirror turned into a halo, slightly revealing its light behind Ye Chuxiao's head.

Multiple divine artifacts, combined with Ye Chuxiao's own domain, formed a mountain of overlapping domains and characteristics.

The three major specificities of the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact, facing Ye Chuxiao's package of characteristics from many divine artifacts, appeared humble and pitiful. Without an Intent Realm cultivator to cooperate with the domain, it could only shiver under Ye Chuxiao's 'bullying'.

The characteristics of the Divine Artifact Pagoda took effect, and the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact was temporarily suppressed, without making an alarm sound, inviting the Intent Realm cultivator guarding the Ministry of Justice's prison.

Before, when Ye Chuxiao's realm was not enough, he always thought that the Intent Realm cultivator guarding the Ministry of Justice's prison was hidden deep in the dungeon.

When the realm arrived, he knew it was impossible.

Intent Realm cultivators are also human beings, and they would not imprison themselves in order to perform official duties, suffering endless punishment even though they are innocent.

In fact, he just contacted the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact and reached a tacit understanding.

Once the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact warned, the Intent Realm cultivator in charge of guarding the Ministry of Justice's prison would immediately rush over through the teleportation array.

As long as the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact is controlled, the abnormality will not be discovered in a short time.

Of course, it is not easy to restrain the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact.

Ordinary Intent Realm cultivators, even if they hold one or two divine artifacts, do not have this ability.

Only Ye Chuxiao, who is not an ordinary Intent Realm cultivator, has accumulated a terrifying amount of power and has a body full of powerful divine artifacts to support him, can suppress the Prison Suppressing Divine Artifact like a quail.

At this time, when Ye Chuxiao's thoughts covered the entire dungeon of the Ministry of Justice without any scruples.

All the hidden secrets in this dungeon were unfolded before his eyes.

Through the control of subtle traces, Ye Chuxiao easily caught the person who ran errands for Feng Yu.

"An ordinary prison guard, a guard on duty, and two logistics personnel responsible for external procurement. This number... is a bit too much." Ye Chuxiao did not feel happy, but frowned.

Logically speaking, the fewer participants in a secret matter, the more confidential it would be.

But Feng Yu arranged for a total of four people to contact him, which can only mean that these four people are basically just tools for transporting information. They themselves may not even know what they did, only thinking that they earned extra money.

Putting away his domain, Ye Chuxiao met these four people separately. After indirect inquiries, he confirmed his previous judgment.

They really didn't know anything.

It was just a simple matter of taking money to do things.

This kind of thing, taking benefits and doing private work for prisoners in the prison, is very common in the Ministry of Justice's dungeon.

Ye Chuxiao himself was once the biggest beneficiary of this behavior.

Of course, after Ye Chuxiao implemented standardized management, it was a taboo to privately connect with prisoners without permission or reporting.

Ye Chuxiao did not tolerate them and expelled these four people together, taking away their jobs.

Although these four people themselves did not know anything.

But Feng Yu always needed a suitable carrier to communicate information to the outside world.

This cannot be changed.

And this carrier is books.

In the past period of time, the most things these four people did for Feng Yu were renting and returning books.

And they also designated a bookstore.

When Ye Chuxiao rushed to the bookstore that these four people had confessed to.

Unsurprisingly, the bookstore had been burned to ashes, and several corpses had been carried out of the bookstore's ruins.

The corpse repairer in charge of examining the corpses was casting spells on the corpses, and cultivators who knew a few psychic spells were assisting on the side, trying to see if they could summon some remnants of souls to understand what happened.

These were the standard operating procedures after a murder occurred in Shenjing City.

At the same time, of course, there were also constables from the Six Doors conducting an on-site investigation.

Looking for traces of vendettas, malicious robbery, etc.

Ye Chuxiao revealed his identity and directly asked the Bronze Badge Constable who was assisting in the on-site investigation, "How many people died? Are they all the bookstore's clerks and shopkeeper?"

The Bronze Badge Constable in charge of the scene saw Ye Chuxiao's Golden Badge and immediately bowed and said, "A total of eight people. After the corpse repairer restored their appearance before death, they were indeed the bookstore's shopkeeper Yu Shuting, his six clerks, and a customer who happened to be in the store."

"The cause of the accident is still being investigated. Currently, no psychic or soul-calling has been successful. It is very likely that because they died suddenly, these people could not generate resentment, and their souls could not gather."

Ordinary people, without entering the Wonderful Realm, have scattered souls.

Without the body as a support, they would disappear with the wind.

Only a small number of people, before their death, have strong resentment or unwillingness, will have a certain concept and leave behind a part of their remnant souls.

Of course, this remnant soul is no longer the same concept as the living person.

It can only be regarded as another individual who has inherited part of the memory.

"What about the people from the Wuhou Garrison? Why didn't they rush to put out the fire when it broke out?" Ye Chuxiao questioned.

This is, after all, a world of cultivation, and the rate of popularization of cultivation in Shenjing City is still very high. Basically, most ordinary people have attended elementary school and learned some tricks.

Even if Shenjing City controls ordinary people's use of spells, martial arts, and other extraordinary means, if a fire occurs, or if they are used for self-rescue, it is an exception to use them. If they are discovered afterward, they will at most be beaten two or three times.

How could they allow the fire to instantly burn the entire bookstore to ashes?

What's more, each ward has a Wuhou specifically responsible for patrolling the streets and managing fire-fighting and other affairs.

Of course, Ye Chuxiao also knew that someone was deliberately doing this behind the scenes in order to eliminate traces.

However, traces, once they exist, even if the original traces are erased, new traces will be left behind.

It's more like superimposing watermarks.

And what Ye Chuxiao has to do is to grab the clues and never let go, biting them tightly.

The more the other party does, the more traces and flaws they will reveal.

The closer he will get to forcing Jin Buyi out of his 'lair'.

"The Wuhou from the entire Yunxi, Baisong, and Liufei wards have been called to Dingguo Temple to help watch the venue."

"Today is the annual Buddha's Birthday at Dingguo Temple, and many people are going to burn incense." The Bronze Badge Constable explained.

"Such a coincidence?" Ye Chuxiao thought.

In this way, it doesn't seem like it could have been arranged in advance.

But Ye Chuxiao still rushed to Dingguo Temple.

Dingguo Temple was opened more than a thousand years ago and was established in Shenjing together with Daheng.

The reason it has this honor is entirely because Dingguo Temple, as a unique cultivation sect, provided a lot of help when the founding ancestor of Daheng established his foundation.

There is even a rumor that the founding ancestor also cultivated Dingguo Temple's Dharma.

Of course, Dingguo Temple was not called Dingguo a thousand years ago.

These were all changed later.

A second or third-rate Buddhist cultivation sect bet on the right treasure, rose up with it, and became the top sect in the world. After becoming famous, it is normal to change to a more 'reasonable' name.

And today's Buddha's Birthday commemorates a Buddhist cultivator who followed the Taizu to conquer the country back then.

This person has already passed away hundreds of years ago, so there is no need to mention him much at this time.

Because it was the Buddha's Birthday, Dingguo Temple was extremely lively.

All kinds of passing pilgrims and worshipers crowded the square in front of the temple.

The reception monks, whose faces were full of oil when they smiled, stood in front of the temple gate, holding large merit boxes, waiting for the believers to donate.

The fierce-looking warrior monks drove away the small vendors who had not paid the stall fee.

For those vendors who dared to sell incense, paper, amulets, prayer beads, and other items privately without permission, they showed the ferocity of the Buddha subduing demons.

The Wuhou from several wards maintained order in the outer field.

Trying to separate the crowd as much as possible to avoid stampedes due to overcrowding.

Ye Chuxiao, with his Golden Badge, naturally had unimpeded passage.

Only the reception monk at the temple gate, turning up his nose, still charged Ye Chuxiao one or two taels of silver as an entrance fee.

After entering the temple, it was still people to people, people squeezing people.

Those believers who were rushing to join in the fun, worship the Buddha, and ask the Buddha for help, did not know whether they had straightened out the causal relationship.

The monk who was crowned with 'Buddha's Birthday' had not yet attained longevity or tasted immortality and had already passed away.

Is it really meaningful for them to worship the Buddha at this time?

Or, are they simply joining in the fun, since they have come all this way?

Inside the Great Hero Hall, Ye Chuxiao stood in front of the Buddha and looked up.

The Buddha was also looking at him. Suddenly, it was as if Ye Chuxiao had been dragged to the clouds.

And above the clouds, the tall Buddha shadow shrouded Ye Chuxiao, ready to strike down with a palm at any time.

This was clearly a trap.

Ye Chuxiao was forcing Jin Buyi to drop his mask, breaking his psychological defenses little by little, and punishing his heart.

Jin Buyi's choice was more direct.

He wanted to kill Ye Chuxiao, to physically destroy Ye Chuxiao's existence.

These two different judgments still stemmed from the uneven distribution of Mind Pill shares.

Of course, it was also because Jin Buyi did not have a thorough grasp of Ye Chuxiao's information.

He may have guessed that Ye Chuxiao had made progress, but he never expected that Ye Chuxiao was no longer the same person he was back then.

"Jin Buyi! Aren't you going to come out and see me?"

"You made such a big detour, leaving behind countless traces. Even if you kill me afterward, you will have to spend a lot of effort cleaning up the mess."

"At this time, it's a bit inappropriate for you not to say a few words." Ye Chuxiao stood under the shadow of the great Buddha, but he was calm and composed.

Perhaps Ye Chuxiao's calmness triggered something.

Or perhaps, Ye Chuxiao's words themselves made sense.

Jin Buyi, who should have been at the front line attacking Yunmeng, actually appeared, stepping directly on the head of the great Buddha, looking down at Ye Chuxiao.

The coldness and killing intent in his eyes were not concealed at all.

Although this was not the first time they had met.

But this was the first time they had faced each other head-on.