Has Grand Elder Liu died or not? No one knows.

Currently, apart from the Liu family, no one has seen Grand Elder Liu’s body.

The Internal Prison was eerily quiet and somewhat oppressive. Yun Yang waved his hand, and all the shadow spies in the room silently withdrew. He abruptly stood up and paced back and forth in the room. “Grand Elder Liu isn’t dead. We must have discovered something crucial, and the Liu family panicked, resorting to this tactic to force us to stop.”

Chen Ji feigned surprise. “Grand Elder Liu isn’t dead? No way. Would the Liu family resort to deception in such a major matter? I saw Liu Ming Xian looking very grief-stricken.”

Yun Yang scoffed. “Officials throughout the court have done far more outrageous things for power and gain. What’s so strange about a ninety-year-old man faking his death to protect his family’s descendants? As for Liu Ming Xian, those civil officials are accustomed to putting on airs.” He then turned to Chen Ji. “What do you think I should do?”

Chen Ji lowered his gaze and, after a moment, replied, “Open the coffin and examine the body.”

Yun Yang was startled. “Grand Elder Liu is the Empress Dowager’s biological father. It’s one thing for me to investigate the Liu family, but opening his coffin is courting death! I’m just realizing how much bolder you are than me. What if he really is dead?”

Chen Ji cupped the Eight Trigrams lamp in his hands, looking up to meet Yun Yang’s gaze. “Sir Yun Yang, even if Grand Elder Liu is truly dead, would you really be content not to open the coffin and take a look?”

Yun Yang paced rapidly around the room, quickly considering all possibilities after exhuming the body. Finally, he stopped and stated with conviction, word for word, “Open the coffin and examine the body!”

Just then, a chilly gust of wind swept from the depths of the Internal Prison, causing the Eight Trigrams lamp in Chen Ji’s hand to flicker wildly. Earlier, Chen Ji had only absorbed the ice flow from cells marked ‘A’ and ‘B’, not daring to look into cells with other designations. But now, with this chilling wind, the ice flow from deeper cells within the Internal Prison—those marked ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’, and ‘F’—began to stir and surge forth on their own! The ice flow within Chen Ji’s body showed an almost uncontrollable tendency. This was no place to linger.

Chen Ji stood up and began to walk out. “Sir Yun Yang, I’ve been out for quite a while. My master must be worried. Please send me back first.”

Yun Yang smiled sinisterly. “This idea was yours, and now you want to leave? Let’s go together. It’s not suitable to bring other coroners, and you happen to have a talent for autopsies. If Grand Elder Liu is in the coffin, you can also investigate his cause of death. If anything goes wrong, none of us will escape.”

Chen Ji hesitated. “Sir Yun Yang, the credit belongs to you and Sir Jiao Tu. I only offered advice.”

“What if your plan leads us to our deaths if we don’t bring you?” Yun Yang sneered. “Let’s go quickly. Pick up Jiao Tu, and we need to reach the vicinity of the Liu family ancestral tomb before nightfall.”

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu were not skilled at capturing spies, but they excelled at self-preservation, deflecting blame, and taking credit. He blindfolded Chen Ji again and asked in surprise, “Why are you always carrying this Eight Trigrams lamp?” With a swift motion, he snatched it away and put it back in its original place. Chen Ji allowed Yun Yang to pull him by his clothes, stumbling out of the Internal Prison.

In the swaying carriage, he sat upright, gritting his teeth. Without the Eight Trigrams lamp, the ice flow became unrestrained. The gray cloth curtain on the carriage window occasionally flapped open in the wind, and the setting sun outside, though shining on his face, offered no warmth.

After an unknown period, someone lifted the carriage curtain. A cool, austere scent wafted in as Jiao Tu climbed inside. “Oh, Yun Yang, why are you bringing this kid along?”

Yun Yang, who was driving the carriage from the front, replied, “It was his idea, so of course, I’m bringing him.”

Jiao Tu pulled off Chen Ji’s blindfold and removed the cotton from his ears, asking curiously, “Yun Yang, I heard you exiled all the jailers from Luocheng’s Internal Prison to Lingnan? Won’t Prison Rat be angry that you acted on your own authority? After all, the Internal Prison is her territory.”

Yun Yang sneered. “She should worry about facing the Grand Chancellor’s wrath. The Internal Prison has been infiltrated like a sieve, and intelligence is leaking out freely. I will certainly report her for this.”

Jiao Tu mused, “But being exiled to Lingnan is very harsh. It’s a long journey, and I hear malaria is rampant there. People suffer for days before dying after contracting it.”

Yun Yang froze for a moment. “Ah… then what should we do?”

“Just kill them in Luocheng; why go so far?” Jiao Tu said seriously.

“Good point.”

With that, Jiao Tu looked at Chen Ji and said seriously again, “You wouldn’t plot against us, would you? If you do, we’ll die.”

Chen Ji chuckled. “Sir Jiao Tu, if I plot against you and Sir Yun Yang, whose money would I earn then?”

“That’s good to know!” Jiao Tu said with a playful smile. She raised her wrist and brought it to Chen Ji’s nose. “Smell this. I just bought this incense at the Daughters’ Pavilion. Isn’t it fragrant? It was very expensive.”

Yun Yang frowned. “Why are you making him smell it!?”

Jiao Tu glanced at him. “Just drive your carriage and mind your own business.”

Yun Yang huffed and fell silent.

Along the way, Chen Ji saw white paper money scattered everywhere on both sides of the road. This was thrown into the air by the Liu family during the funeral procession on the day of the grand burial.

Yun Yang scoffed. “They live in luxury in life and then scatter so much paper money after death, hoping to continue their wealth and glory in the afterlife, yet scholars from poor families can’t even afford paper.”

Jiao Tu chuckled. “Seeing how you detest evil, the Grand Chancellor should transfer you to the Ministry of Penalties. They investigate corrupt officials every day.”

“I’m not going there. The Ministry of Penalties is full of old fuddy-duddies; it’s dreadfully boring.”

As night fell, Yun Yang and Jiao Tu switched drivers. Yun Yang climbed into the carriage to watch Chen Ji.

“By the way,” Yun Yang said, looking directly into Chen Ji’s eyes, “When the Liu family’s children were interrogated, they mentioned that Liu Shi Yu had an excellent relationship with a prominent figure in Prince Jing’s Estate. I suspect Prince Jing’s Estate is also involved, and there might even be Jing Dynasty spies operating within the estate… Have you found any clues there?”

Chen Ji’s heart tightened. “Sir Yun Yang, are you certain there are spies in the estate?”

The air in the carriage suddenly solidified, as if an invisible hand was pulling between them.

Yun Yang asked thoughtfully, “Do you think Imperial Physician Yao could be a Jing Dynasty spy? He’s highly respected at the Imperial Academy of Medicine in the capital, and many high-ranking officials and nobles want him to make house calls. Even His Majesty wants to summon him to reside permanently in the palace. But he refused and instead came to Luocheng three years ago to serve as Imperial Physician for Prince Jing’s Estate… Don’t you find that strange?”

“Strange indeed,” Chen Ji asked curiously, “Has my master changed at all these past few years?”

“Imperial Physician Yao was notoriously harsh in the capital, but the Grand Chancellor once said he wasn’t like that in his early years. Back then, Imperial Physician Yao was benevolent and even willing to provide free medical consultations.”

Chen Ji pondered for a moment. “I don’t think my master is much like a spy. Previously, when people from the estate sought his medical advice, he was unwilling to go. If he were a spy, how could he possibly give up opportunities to connect with important figures in the estate?”

“That’s a good point,” Yun Yang stroked his chin. “What about your two senior disciples? I’ve investigated them. Liu Qu Xing is a collateral branch of the Liu family. Is it possible he’s involved?”

Chen Ji took a deep breath, a perplexed expression on his face. “Sir Yun Yang, you aren’t subtly trying to suspect me, are you?”

Yun Yang chuckled. “How could it be you? I have complete trust in you. I’m just reminding you to be careful of those around you.”

Jiao Tu suddenly said, “Stop the carriage in the nearby woods. We’re almost at the Liu family ancestral tomb. We’ll cross this mountain and walk the rest of the way.”

The three disembarked and followed the mountain path beside the official road, climbing all the way to the summit of Zhuangyuan Mountain. Yun Yang and Jiao Tu were very fast. Chen Ji had expected to be gasping for breath, but to his surprise, he barely broke a sweat by the time they reached the summit. He lay on the mountain, panting heavily, and said, utterly exhausted, “Can we see the Liu family ancestral tomb from here?”

Yun Yang pointed forward. “There it is, at the highest point of Mount Beiman.”

Chen Ji propped himself up to look. He saw a sprawling complex of tombs, constructed with continuous stone tablets and materials, extending for dozens of acres at the highest point of Mount Beiman. The Liu family ancestral tomb was indeed magnificent. Before each tomb stood stone figures, stone sheep, stone tigers, and stone gateposts. Some tombs were over ten feet high!

One should know that the Ning Dynasty had a strict social hierarchy: commoners could not ride sedans, ordinary people could not wear boots, and non-officials could not wear straw hats. Every single written law emphasized etiquette and social status. Tombs like these, towering over ten feet high, were only permissible for those of the third rank or higher during their lifetime.

Yun Yang gazed at the ancestral tomb complex and sighed with emotion, “For a thousand years, the civil official families of our Ning Dynasty have served as high-ranking officials for generations, exploiting the common people and amassing vast family fortunes to achieve such splendor.”

Chen Ji instinctively felt something was off. The Ning Dynasty’s reign had extended for over a thousand years? This was an absurd notion; historically, it should be impossible. Unless there was some external force.

At this point, Jiao Tu said, “There’s indeed something wrong with Grand Elder Liu’s death. Look, the ancestral tomb complex is garrisoned by hundreds of private soldiers, and there might even be acting officials stationed there. When we previously sent shadow spies to Luocheng for reconnaissance, they investigated this place, and at that time, only about a dozen people were guarding the Liu family ancestral tomb.”

“Then we can’t force our way in,” Yun Yang frowned, looking at Jiao Tu. “Will you act? It’s not good for me to open the coffin.”

Jiao Tu glanced at Chen Ji. “Have him blindfold himself and turn his back to me. You guard me.”

Chen Ji voluntarily turned his back. He understood that the cultivation paths of acting officials were not to be known by others.

After he blindfolded himself, Jiao Tu sat cross-legged on the mountaintop, drew the short blade from her waist, and cut her brow. Yun Yang cut his finger, dotting the eyes of more than ten paper shadow figures, and guarded Jiao Tu closely.

The next moment, a mass of shadow distinctly emerged from Jiao Tu’s brow, detaching from her body like a crab shedding its shell. The shadow stood still, identical to Jiao Tu in appearance, but clad in light black armor, holding a Green Dragon Crescent Blade taller than a person! Jiao Tu’s main body remained motionless, while the shadow spirit looked at Yun Yang and said, “I’m going.”

With that, the shadow spirit walked to the edge of the cliff and leaped down, landing weightlessly on the treetops below. With each leap, it effortlessly crossed more than ten large trees, heading straight for the Liu family ancestral tomb!

Gradually, night completely fell, and the shadow spirit merged with the darkness. When Jiao Tu’s shadow spirit arrived before Grand Elder Liu’s tomb, it slipped unnoticed, crashing directly into the stone-built tomb! The stone wall seemed to be nonexistent! After a long while, the shadow spirit rapidly retreated, disappearing back into Jiao Tu’s brow. She suddenly opened her eyes and exclaimed in astonishment, “There’s really no one in the coffin!”