Emperor Ying squinted his eyes, looking at Wei Zhao. Unlike his father and uncle, he was overly cunning and rebellious.

He always knew Wei Zhao could attack enemy states like Liang Yue, but while attacking, Wei Zhao also gave them breathing room.

This was intentional by Wei Zhao.

It was to make Da Jin need him, to make him feared.

Wei Zhao must know too that the affection he professed was just for show.

In the past, when Wei Zhao played tricks, he could accept it.

But now with things as they are, with the Wei Family Army disbanded.

How dare he deliberately provoke him.

Could it be that he still had hidden cards?

Or was he just reckless?

Knowing he had no heirs, he did things flawlessly, leaving no mistakes to be caught. He would not kill him.

A moment of deathly silence.

At this moment, someone emerged from the dawn mist.

It was Bao Pu.

His Daoist robe fluttered in the wind, looking very cheap and washed to a faded white.

Yet he possessed the demeanor of an immortal.

The bronze eight trigrams mirror hanging at his waist was tarnished with green rust yet still faintly glimmered with the light of the sky.

"Holy Emperor, we can begin now."

Emperor Ying returned to his senses and nodded.

The eunuch behind him hurriedly brought talisman paper and a pen before Bao Pu.

Bao Pu washed his hands, took up the talisman paper.

"Where’s the vermillion?"

The eunuch: "Here."

Bao Pu took the inkstone, poured in the finely ground vermillion, added a bit of ink, and, thinking it insufficient, walked directly in front of Emperor Ying.

"Take a drop of the Holy Emperor’s blood, it can suppress evil spirits."

"Impudence!"

Yang Changzheng’s voice was cold.

"The Holy Emperor is the true dragon son of heaven; how could you use his essence blood for sorcery?"

He, from the bottom of his heart, didn’t believe Bao Pu had any capabilities. The last time he invited him home to check the feng shui, it only caused trouble.

Bao Pu didn’t speak, just waited for Emperor Ying to respond.

Emperor Ying’s eyes were deep: "Bring the needle."

This...

Bao Pu was unceremonious, took the needle and directly pierced it in, quickly squeezing out blood to drip into the inkstone, shook it evenly, lightly dipped a brush.

Only then did he take the talisman paper and write on top a spell to drive out evil that others could not understand.

He directly stuck it onto the compass.

The compass began to spin.

Bao Pu walked directly in the direction it turned.

Very unruly.

But Emperor Ying didn’t bother to mind.

He still remembered what Bao Pu said the first time he saw him yesterday.

— "Holy Emperor, there seems to be a curse on you?"

At the time, he thought this Daoist was full of lies.

But Bao Pu said.

— "No wonder it’s said, your injury the Imperial Physician couldn’t heal. But are you prone to dreaming at night, feeling palpitations? Often headaches as if eaten by ants. Even your urine is yellow."

At that moment, his expression went cold.

During Bao Pu’s house arrest, who could have spoken to him about this?

But he wouldn’t believe it just because of a few words.

Until Bao Pu gave him a talisman, he held it in his palm, which felt hot, but his body didn’t hurt anymore.

Unfortunately, the effect only lasted a short while.

Yes. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Because Wei Zhao told Bao Pu, his purpose was to make Emperor Ying believe, not to relieve his pain.

Emperor Ying indeed believed, and wanted Bao Pu to resolve the evil spell.

But Bao Pu said the yin energy at night was too heavy for rituals, only by daylight.

A skilled Daoist with a bit of temper was not a problem.

"Alright, let’s all follow me once."

Emperor Ying indeed wanted to see who was plotting against him!

These officials were important ministers of the court and also the ones he suspected.

His gaze slowly passed over each person, and not one face showed panic.

"Regarding the flood disaster, you all should have an idea by now, later each person will present a solution to me."

Though his injury was serious, his authority was undiminished.

The Dragon Robe he wore gleamed under the light, seeming to reduce a hint of the disheveled.

Everyone saluted: "Yes."

Ying Cheng was about to push Emperor Ying forward.

"Yang Changzheng."

Emperor Ying said lightly: "You come."

Indeed, Emperor Ying chose to trust him!

His attitude was clear, this was plainly... to protect Yang Changzheng.

Who dared to bring up the water conservancy projects anymore?

Ying Cheng stepped aside, and Yang Changzheng breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Wei Zhao’s actions would be in vain.

He pushed the emperor to follow Bao Pu.

Watching the two walk away, everyone snapped out of their reverie, guessing what had happened, and chose to follow.

Gu Fuju also stepped forward to follow.

Only a few honest and upright officials, with no concern for outside affairs, were utterly baffled.

Duke Zhongyong pushed Wei Zhao past them, his tone casual.

"Mr. Yang spends lavishly, his wife bought a set of jewelry just yesterday."

He gestured to Wei Zhao.

"This amount."

"It made my wife envious, insisting I get her one too. That would cost my entire year’s salary, I can’t afford it."

An official caught up, speaking quietly.

"Was it General you who funded the new water conservancy projects in previous years?"

Duke Zhongyong: "Isn’t it Wei who provided the money? Do you think money sprouts from the ground?"

"Did... did it not come from the national treasury?"

Of course, it was the shamelessness of the emperor and Yang Changzheng.

"Why did this official not know?"

The official was elderly, stubborn, with greying hair.

"The responsibility of every man is to build water conservancy, this official is willing to offer some help with his salary too."

He was about to continue speaking.

Someone beside him tugged at his sleeve, shaking their head.

The elderly official suddenly thought of something.

Like how the Minister Yang could be so wealthy, like why the dams built in recent years collapsed so quickly.

How much money did Minister Yang take?

And... what about the Holy Emperor.

What role did the Holy Emperor play in it?

Among those who can sit on the Dragon Throne, at the peak of power, how many are kind and benevolent?

The people of the Prince Yan Mansion all died that year, and Duke Shun also died of a minor illness.

Was there really not a trace of conspiracy in this?

Bao Pu walked and stopped repeatedly.

The officials behind could only follow, stopping and going.

Emperor Ying had great patience, but as time dragged on, the sun came up, and the wound on his body began to itch intolerably.

He lightly scratched, and blood and pus immediately flowed out.

"Haven’t found it yet?"

Bao Pu was impatient: "How could it be so quick?"

It wasn’t him who buried it!

He wasn’t told where it was buried!

He had to look for it!

Yang Changzheng, out of loyalty: "How dare you speak like that to the Holy Emperor?"

"Mind your own business?"

Yang Changzheng: ?

"You!"

Emperor Ying raised a hand to stop him from speaking.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

The officials whispered among themselves.

"Initially thought it was some ritual, but it doesn’t seem like it."

Bao Pu suddenly stopped, the compass began to spin violently, the talisman paper on top rustled and finally pointed straight to a spot.

Found it.

He ran over.

Reached the base of a big tree.

He pinched his fingers for calculations, paced back and forth under the tree, and finally stopped at a spot.

"With the decree of Lord Lao Zi of the Great Monad, as the sun rises in the east..."

As he chanted, the talisman on the compass spontaneously caught fire, burning into ash.

Bao Pu stomped on the ground, confident: "Bring a hoe!"

Soon, they dug out a strange box.

"What is this?"

Minister Yang was surprised.

Bao Pu didn’t even look at him, performed a ritual, and opened it.

Those close could feel a chilling air emanating.

Inside was a wooden puppet that resembled Emperor Ying.

It was stained with blood, pierced full of silver needles.

Emperor Ying’s expression was grim.

"This!"

Before others could react, the sycophant Minister Yang was the first to express his loyalty: "A vile traitor wants to harm the Holy Emperor."

"Holy Emperor."

He knelt down.

"Such evil sorcery, truly a fierce calamity! How dare the vile person dare to act against you! I request permission to thoroughly investigate this matter. We must bring the person behind this to justice and have them executed!"