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The captured concubines were already so terrified that they had lost all presence of mind and didn’t even bother to tidy up their appearances, hurriedly standing in line, looking pitifully at Chen Qing.

Obviously fearing that the young scholar would mistake someone else for them, leading to themselves being burned alive by the Emperor!

Chen Qing slowly stepped forward, while Mister Bai furrowed his brow, looking at Chen Qing with some confusion.

He had not been on that side from the beginning; he owed Thousand-Faced Fox a great karmic debt and was secretly contacted then swayed by some other factors to betray at the last minute.

He didn’t have much information, but recently, he heard a lot about this young fellow named Chen Qing.

The lad was unaffected by Ali’s Illusion Technique, forcing Ali to change plans on the fly, saving Wang Ye in Lyuzhou, exposing Mirror Master, and now, in a situation where Ali was almost successful, he forcefully halted the final step, as if heaven had sent his nemesis!

Even so, he was curious how this youngster in front of him could find Ali?

Thousand-Faced Fox wasn’t only capable of manipulating memories, but could change faces using human skin, matching bones and demeanor without the slightest error, making even close kin unable to discern—that was the origin of the ‘Thousand-Faced Fox’ moniker.

Though the lad had uncanny abilities, he was still a mere mortal; not even the Emperor with the purest Golden Crow Bloodline could find Ali, so how could this lad do it?

By relying on Mirror Master?

He had heard about Mirror Master’s situation too, but with Mirror Master being restrained by a technique, he would be of no help…

Chen Qing looked at the concubines, took a deep breath physically, very straightforwardly, in front of one of the concubines, trying hard to smell something.

Just like that, one by one, pausing before each concubine, less than half a meter away, Chen Qing would carefully take in a breath to smell, and his actions could not but be described as rather lecherous.

Mister Bai and the Emperor both felt slightly awkward.

If the situation hadn’t been so grave, wouldn’t the lad’s behavior be considered groping the concubines?

Finally, while smelling the fourth concubine, Chen Qing stopped his steps and took a second sniff in front of a concubine dressed in blue.

The Emperor’s gaze flashed, staring intently at the concubine in blue.

Imperial Concubine Feng, one of the four noble concubines, the eldest daughter of the Minister of Revenue, the youngest among the four major concubines, was diagnosed as pregnant four months ago, but the Court Sorcerer personally took her pulse and confirmed it was a female fetus!

That caused her to be the least regarded among the concubines today.

The Emperor was puzzled; did the adversary really choose her?

Wouldn’t it be better to disguise as a concubine pregnant with a male heir if they wanted to make him hesitant to act?

In the midst of his puzzlement, Chen Qing had already taken his position, staring intently at the other party for a long while, and finally bowed and said, “It’s been a long time, Sister-in-law of the Cui family!”

The other concubines upon hearing this scattered like frightened birds, but the one dressed as the blue-clad Imperial Concubine Feng shed her previously feigned panic and scrutinized the youngster who recognized her with great curiosity.

“Where is the Crown Prince?” the Emperor clenched his fists, struggling to control the flames behind him, preventing anger from completely consuming him.

In the face of that flame monster seeming to melt the very space, the woman didn’t even lift her eyelids but continued to look curiously at Chen Qing.

“How did you find me?”

To Chen Qing, Ali was not unfamiliar.

She had been married to Cui Yan for two years, and especially during the half-year she spent preparing for the exams in the Capital City, this young man almost daily came to their place to mooch off meals.

She had never realized that this person… had such capabilities!

“Thousand-Faced Fox, your body has the scent of a fox, especially after consuming a heart and liver, the fox scent becomes very strong.

To not expose this weakness, whenever the Thousand-Faced Fox eats heart and liver, it would bathe in special herbs, carrying the scent of those herbs…”

The woman was startled, looking at Chen Qing with incomprehension in her eyes.

How could she know something so private that generation after generation of Thousand-Faced Foxes had concealed so deeply?

Why does he… know everything?

Chen Qing’s eyes also carried complexity.

Of course, he knew that when he first designed the Thousand-Faced Fox, thinking of weaknesses was a hair-pulling ordeal, wrestling with it day and night, before finally deciding to target certain habits.

“Who… are you, really?”

Thousand-Faced Fox couldn’t help but approach, reaching for Chen Qing: “Why do you know about the cycle…”

But before her hand could touch, a flash of golden brilliance passed by, and the Fox Demon’s arm was instantaneously severed with pink blood tossed towards the sky!

Ali looked stunned, and as her arm was cut off her face began to shift rapidly.

In the next second, a visage of indescribable beauty was revealed, immediately filling the air with a sweet fragrance.

Even standing at the pinnacle amongst the powerful bloodlines, even with the anger of losing a loved one, the Emperor was still stiffened for a moment by that beauty!

In that one second of stillness, the colors around them suddenly darkened, and a neighing of a horse came from behind, followed quickly by a giant blade coated with black flames.

“Well met!!” The Emperor’s vacant expression vanished in an instant, and with a ferocious smile, he reached out with his bare hands and directly seized the nearly ten-meter-long black flame blade!

The clash was over in a moment, and the black flames were devoured by the golden flames, the great blade melting instantly as if it had struck the surface of the sun!

The black-armored giant who had ridden the ghost horse and flew in grunted, not hesitating to chop off his right arm, which was about to melt in an instant, with his left hand.

Then he leapt over the terrifying existence enveloped by the golden flames, grabbed the similarly dismembered fox demon, and as the ghost horse screamed, the Path of Yin and Yang was opened once more!

“Liu Yu!!”

The Emperor roared with rage, and in the next instant, a series of white lights sprang up, and countless complex runes surrounded the grand hall.

Following that, a force capable of distorting space itself stubbornly kept the closing Path of Yin and Yang open!

“Your Majesty, let’s go!!” A flash of white dashed past, and Liu Yu charged ahead into the distorted Path of Yin and Yang.

The Emperor did not hesitate either, flying into it with dazzling flames trailing behind!

As both vanished into the distortion, the splendid array of technique effects and the dazzling golden flames also disappeared, leaving Chen Qing standing there, dumbfounded.

Liu Yu hadn’t come in, which meant he knew that the other mustn’t be idling — he had been waiting for the Ghost General who controlled the ghost horse to make a move and save someone.

Chen Qing recognized the ghost general by his appearance — the Mountain Ghost, one of the four great Ghost Generals, who, just like the Ghost Doll, could control the ghost horse and traverse the Path of Yin and Yang…

He did understand the duo’s calculations; only in this way was there a chance to rescue the Crown Prince.

Although the Crown Prince’s yang essence had been taken, he had after all, successfully inherited the bloodline.

Recovering was not impossible, and he was certainly more reliable than those unborn children.

But…

Chen Qing swallowed hard, staring blankly at Mister Hua Pi, who was likewise staring back at him.

Chen Qing had the sinking feeling that he’d been screwed over!

You…

could have at least left something to protect me…

Mister Bai, too, stared blankly at Chen Qing.

Both stood in an eerie silence, looking at each other for nearly half a quarter of an hour…

Finally, it was the other man who moved first.

Watching the pale-faced stranger approach step by step, Chen Qing’s forehead broke out in cold sweat, retreating continuously.

The Five Great Demon Artisans were technical monsters, not particularly strong in combat, but that didn’t mean they lacked combat capability.

Dealing with someone like him, who had never killed even a chicken, would still be very easy.

“Mister…” Chen Qing couldn’t help but plead, “I was only following orders…”

Mister Bai didn’t stop advancing, but instead stepped closer and closer, forcing Chen Qing into a corner.

He observed Chen Qing carefully, without blinking, as if examining something rare.

“Mister…

what…

are you going to do?”

“You know about the matter of reincarnation?”

Chen Qing: “…”

He knew it!

This is what the other party would be interested in asking!

In this world, there are some special demons that are undying and indestructible, such as the Thousand-Faced Fox and the Five Great Demon Artisans.

They are special, formed from the desires of all beings and considered treasures of heaven and earth.

Even if they die, they will be reborn after decades or even centuries, as long as the desires they represent still exist in the world — they are eternal.

The Thousand-Faced Fox, representing human lust, had been inherited through generations.

So, Mister Hua Pi was willing to help her because, essentially, the previous generation of the Thousand-Faced Fox and the present one are the same being.

Because of their uniqueness, such demons are extremely cautious to hide the secret of their reincarnation.

They understand the matter implicitly and don’t reveal it, especially since humans had started recording history with writing.

They became even more cautious, doing everything possible to stay out of the human records and to destroy any records about themselves.

“I am quite certain…” Mister Hua Pi somberly gazed at Chen Qing, “We beings would never expose our greatest secret.

Over countless years, it has always been this way, but still, the secret leaked!”

Pushed against the corner, Chen Qing cursed Liu Yu’s ancestors in his heart.

If he was so wise, couldn’t he have considered including him in his plans?

Was he really so insignificant?

The guy likely wanted to silence him — after all, for them, the secret of resurrection is their most unwillingly exposed secret!

But the next words from the other party completely blindsided him.

“One you, one King of Qin, I am actually very curious…

how did you two…

come to know about it?”

Chen Qing: “…”

King of Qin??