Quick Transmigration: The Foolish Beauty Saves the World

Chapter 157 The Useless Prince's Power Seizure (35)

The following day, the outcome of the spring hunt was announced.

However, the way it was handled was somewhat unexpected.

As expected, the group did not turn back because of yesterday's events. The thief had been captured, and apart from the "copper-faced monster" that the thief saw before he lost consciousness, everything else that needed to be interrogated had been obtained.

Furthermore, although Xiao Cheng'er survived, she was seriously injured and could not travel long distances, so she could only stay in the palace to recuperate for the time being.

Jingli saw genuine regret in the Emperor's eyes when he looked at Xiao Cheng'er, but she didn't know what he was regretting.

The eldest prince, the second prince, and their maternal families were sent back to the palace early that morning. The two princes and their mothers were confined to their quarters for three months, and the ministers in their families were demoted one rank.

What was unexpected was not the punishment of the eldest and second princes' families, but the severity of the punishment.

This punishment was not light, but compared to the fact that the two princes almost lost their lives, it seemed insignificant.

It is unclear whether the emperor favored his two eldest sons, did not value his offspring, or simply did not dislike such unscrupulous behavior.

After all, Jingli had also received some inside information from 6068, that the current emperor had also fought his way up from among the princes of that time.

A chill ran through Jingli's heart.

The more indifferent the emperor is to emotions, the more it reveals his ruthlessness. Coupled with the image of "humans and animals" in the spring hunt, Jingli had no choice but to be on high alert and take extra precautions.

Of the five princes who came with him, only Jingli and the fifth prince Jingyi remained.

The emperor's enthusiasm did not show any signs of waning, and the day after the spring hunt, he held a banquet in the garden of the imperial palace.

They found a pretext for holding the banquet, saying that the Xuanwu with its unique color contained a fortune, and it needed a witness.

Jingli had no idea what he was up to, but this cleverly disguised "gift banquet" was quite impressive.

Before the banquet began, Jingli was first invited by palace servants to the emperor's courtyard. Then, a eunuch from the emperor's side led Jingli into the mountains and into a hidden cave.

Jingli was initially worried that there might be a trap, so she made preparations to use props in advance, but little did she know that there was a hidden world inside.

The cave was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. After several hundred steps, the space gradually opened up and became brighter.

There is a natural opening in the cave ceiling, through which sunlight shines in, accompanied by the soft sound of flowing water.

The cave is filled with trees and shrouded in mist, resembling a fairyland.

In the very center, there is a pool made of white jade. The water is crystal clear and is even running water, with a faint fragrance.

Jingli concealed his surprise and feigned ignorance: "Eunuch Wan, where is this place?"

The eunuch glanced at him and said softly, "Your Highness, there's no need to ask any more questions. His Majesty would never harm you."

Hearing him say that, Jingli became even more cautious.

He carefully channeled a wisp of energy to protect his entire body. At the same time, the eunuch took out an incense burner and a set of pure white clothes from the box he carried with him, and said to Jingli:

"Your Highness, please bathe in the pool. After an incense stick has burned, this servant will come to fetch you to the banquet."

Jingli grabbed the eunuch and asked, "Eunuch Wan, aren't you going to stay with me?"

Eunuch Wan still smiled and said, "This holy land is not a place where I can stay for long, Your Highness. Please, my guards and I are waiting outside. Nothing will happen."

After saying this, he bowed and left.

Once Eunuch Wan's figure had completely disappeared, Jingli carefully examined her surroundings.

"Holy Land..."

He pondered those two words, his eyes shining.

The entire cave was filled with a sense of contradiction.

Rare plants of different seasons and with different habits grow together, layer upon layer, creating a particularly beautiful scene.

Jingli had seen similar scenes in both the first and second worlds.

However, the difference is that the first two worlds were formed as a result of the application of technology, while this world is like a natural landscape.

The reason I say "like" is because Jingli sensed a strange vitality and a pervasive sense of death here.

Like the imperial palace, there were no traces of shadows in the cave or the palace.

But Jingli felt that this place was related to breaking the pollution of this world.

Jingli's gaze fell on the pool of clear liquid.

As a precaution, he did not use his hands or energy to envelop the liquid directly, but instead used a container with 30 coins that he had previously exchanged in the counterfeit system.

Jingli stores the container filled with liquid into the observer system, which is then analyzed by 6058.

No sooner had the liquid been put into the system than 6058 couldn't help but let out a "yue" sound.

It should be noted that 6058 exists in this world as a small bird, and in the system space, he is merely a spirit connected to the system. This shows that the unidentified object in the pool can bypass the mouth and nose and directly affect the spirit.

[6058: This stuff stinks...]

6058 had to put a shield around itself to barely be able to analyze the liquid.

[6058: This old man made you soak in this? What exactly does he want to do...?]

Based on the analysis results, the composition of this liquid can only be described as "disgusting." In addition to a few precious herbs, it also contains various bizarre ingredients such as the corpse oil of children, amniotic fluid from first-time mothers, and tears.

After leaving the space where Jingli was and entering the system, it lost its original clarity and became turbid and foul-smelling.

It seems that some kind of formation is operating inside this cave.

Jingli suppressed her nausea: [He made me soak in it… Has he already discovered something's wrong?]

[6058: That's possible, but so far, the counterfeit system is still running stably. There's no reason why you might be discovered while I'm unharmed; the tricks we've done to the system have gone unnoticed.]

[6058: From the time compression to today, all our major actions have been using a counterfeit system. What happened yesterday was part of the world's original power struggle and shouldn't have affected you.]

[6058: I tend to believe that your identity hasn't been exposed, but the emperor does have some other ulterior motives.]

[6058: I don't know much about formations, but today's formation is somewhat different from the previous two worlds.]

Jingli had learned some formations from Yun Chuan and Qian Yu in the previous world, but only superficially. Even with the blessing of "learning by analogy", she still couldn't see through the formation in front of her. It must have been set up by someone like Sefosi, and was not in the same system as what Jingli had learned.

However, these formations also have something in common. After 6058 mentioned it, he immediately thought of something.

[Jingli: The formations in the first two worlds absorbed energy, but this formation doesn't; it releases energy, otherwise this liquid would have already stank.]

[6058: That's right, tonight's dinner is a gift of a beautifully crafted Black Tortoise. In other people's eyes, whoever obtains this Black Tortoise is the closest to the position of Crown Prince.]

[Keiri: Is this... a privilege reserved for the crown prince?]

[6058: I have some ideas, but I might have to wait until you return to verify them. This liquid itself won't absorb your energy. If this formation doesn't affect your energy either, you can try going into the water while enveloped in energy.]

[Keiri: I understand.]

Jingli didn't delay any longer and lit the incense that Eunuch Wan had left for him. Of course, Jingli had confirmed before lighting it that the incense had a certain hallucinogenic effect, which Jingli could easily handle.

Having prepared herself mentally, Jingli took off her clothes, enveloped her entire body in energy, took a deep breath, and stepped into the White Jade Pool.

·

As soon as she entered the pool, Jingli felt a strange sensation.

A certain energy contained within the liquid rose up, enveloping him as if it were alive; Jingli could sense that it seemed to be probing something.

At the same time, the burning incense began to take effect.

The scene before Jingli's eyes began to change. If he hadn't known it was an illusion, he probably would have thought a miracle had occurred in this fairyland-like cave.

Jingli kept her face blank, maintaining her protective energy while staring at the white mist in front of her.

As the probing intent of these liquids dissipated, a human figure materialized in the white mist before them.

This "person" didn't say a word, but simply handed over a snow-white jade slip to Jingli from mid-air.

The jade slip was blank, but Jingli understood its meaning—take a drop of blood and drip it onto the jade slip, and the contract can be formed.

As for the contract, judging from the information given in the jade slip, the world belongs to him.

Jingli has no idea what she will gain, only what she will have to give up.

It's definitely not going to be anything good.

Jingli's pink eyes flickered slightly as she broke through the illusion—there was no white mist, nor any "immortals," only a groove directly opposite the white jade pool beneath the jade slip, which seemed to be related to this formation.

The blood can't be stopped dripping.

But Jingli wasn't foolish enough to just shed her own blood; instead, she asked 6058 if there was any way to help.

6058 does exist.

[6058: I've scanned the physical conditions of the Emperor and the princes; I can create their blood.]

The function of this formation is currently unknown; it might even possess the ability to determine kinship through blood tests. Jingli is not the emperor's biological son, so using the blood of other princes is always a good thing, as it's best to be cautious.

Seeing that Jingli was still in a daze, the jade slip in his hand suddenly became hot. The "future" that Jingli felt was even more wonderful, and the liquid around him made a gurgling sound, as if urging Jingli to hurry up.

In no time, 6058 used the bodies of the emperor and the fifth prince as samples and the liquid that Jingli had just taken as raw material to create a container of blood that was half full.

Jingli pretended to wake up from a dream, and pretended to bite her finger. In reality, she hid the container in her palm and poured out the blood. It seemed to fall on the jade slip, but in fact, not a drop fell. It was all absorbed cleanly by the groove next to the white jade pool.

In less than five breaths, the surrounding liquid surged again.

It wasn't obvious in the illusion, but as soon as Jingli's eyes lit up, he saw the liquid form a water screen, covering him from all sides.

Then, they actually tried to crawl into Jingli's body through the visible orifices on his body.

Jingli immediately reinforced her energy barrier, while also separating a strand to directly engage the liquid.

This liquid had no intelligence. When it was blocked by energy, it thought it had succeeded. It gathered the energy in the scene and put a round object into the observer system.

The liquid returned to calm, and the hallucinogenic white mist gradually dissipated. Just as an incense stick burned out, Eunuch Wan's figure reappeared at the cave entrance.

Jingli remained in a daze, seemingly unaware of Eunuch Wan's arrival.

"Your Highness."

This sentence is much more respectful than the one spoken by Jingli before entering the pool.

Jingli guessed that this eunuch probably knew some secrets as well.

He silently increased the danger level of this person.

Eunuch Wan helped Jingli out of the White Jade Pool, draped a fine cotton cloth over him, and led him to the natural sinkhole in the cave—where a clean little pool had formed. Because the White Jade Pool was so bright, Jingli hadn't noticed it at first.

After scanning the water with an energy meter, Jingli confirmed that it was indeed clean and ordinary water, and she felt relieved.

"Your Highness, we must cleanse here again; the sacred water must not leave the cave."

Jingli knew exactly what the water was made of, and couldn't help but think to herself—"Divine water? They're probably worried that the water will turn smelly and give them away once they leave!"

On the surface, Jingli still looked as if she hadn't come to her senses. She obediently followed Eunuch Wan's guidance to wash herself and change into the white clothes that had been prepared in advance.

The clothes were ordinary, but they were embroidered with silver threads. Wearing this outfit, the scene truly gained a touch of sacredness and ethereal beauty.

After all this was done, it was almost time for the banquet. Eunuch Wan led Jingli to the garden where the banquet was to be held.

On the way, 6058 had already analyzed the information that Jingli had just stored in the system.

It is a piece of jade.

The jade contained a powerful evil aura and also included a formation.

6058 couldn't see through it, but could vaguely sense that the formation in the jade echoed the formation in the cave.

6058's previous guesses have become more plausible, but the specifics remain to be investigated. He told Jingli, put an invisibility cloak on the bird's body, and searched the palace for details that could corroborate his guesses.

Back at the banquet, as soon as Jingli appeared, several people breathed a sigh of relief without anyone noticing.

Leaving aside Langyue, Yu'an, and Jingjing for the time being, even the emperor seemed relieved and beckoned Jingli over.

"Li'er, come here. Now that you've obtained this ingeniously colored Xuanwu, what are your thoughts?"

Jingli hadn't forgotten that she had just inhaled hallucinogenic smoke in the cave, and still looked bewildered, gazing pitifully at the emperor:

"Father."

With the blessing of being "harmless to humans and animals," the emperor was captivated by his gaze and grew increasingly fond of his son.

"My good son, your father will tell you what to do, okay?"

Jingli nodded.

The emperor stood up and pulled Jingli to his side.

"As you all know, this Xuanwu with its unique color contains the nation's destiny, which is why it has always been kept in the palace."

"Today, as I promised before, I will bestow this Xuanwu upon my third son, Jingli. Soon, I will return to the palace, and the third prince will reside in the East Palace."

The expressions on the faces of everyone at the banquet were varied.

It was a consensus that the person who obtained the Xuanwu would have a greater chance of becoming the crown prince. However, no one expected that the emperor would decide this position directly at the banquet where the Xuanwu was presented.

Seeing that Jingli was still in a daze, Eunuch Wan, who was standing to the side, reminded her:

"Your Highness, why don't you express your gratitude?"

The emperor did not object to what Eunuch Wan said, and everyone understood, so they all lowered their heads and knelt down.

Jingli also brushed aside her hem and knelt down respectfully: "Thank you, Father Emperor."

The emperor made a gesture, and a palace servant brought up a brocade box containing the Black Tortoise, which the emperor personally presented to Jingli.

"This trip was rushed. Once we return to the palace, I will hold a grand investiture ceremony for Li'er."

Jingli bowed once more.

After another round of ceremonies, the banquet finally began.

But everyone knew that the main event of the banquet had passed, and the struggle for the throne had come to a temporary end.