Chapter 29: Opening the Coffin

Did Old Master Liu actually die? No one knew.

Nowadays, aside from the Liu family, no one had seen Old Master Liu's corpse.

The inner prison was quiet to the point of being oppressive. Yun Yang waved his hand, and all the secret spies in the room silently withdrew.

He stood up abruptly and paced around the room. "Old Master Liu isn't dead. We must have hit a critical point; the Liu family is panicking and can only use this method to force us to back off."

Chen Ji feigned surprise. "Old Master Liu isn't dead? No way. Would the Liu family resort to such deception in a matter of such magnitude? Liu Mingxian looked quite grief-stricken to me."

Yun Yang sneered. "The officials throughout the court and the realm have done far more outrageous things in their pursuit of power. What is so strange about a man in his nineties using a fake death to preserve his family's lineage? And as for Liu Mingxian, those civil officials are experts at putting on an act."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Chen Ji. "What do you think I should do?"

Chen Ji lowered his eyes and replied after a moment, "Open the coffin. Perform the autopsy."

Yun Yang was startled. "Old Master Liu is the biological father of the current Empress Dowager. I have no problem investigating the Liu family, but opening his coffin is seeking death! I'm only realizing now that you have more guts than I do. What if he really is dead?"

Chen Ji cupped the Bagua lamp in both hands and looked up to meet Yun Yang's eyes. "Lord Yun Yang, even if Old Master Liu truly is dead, would you be content if you didn't open the coffin to take a look?"

Yun Yang paced rapidly around the room, quickly weighing all the possibilities following an autopsy. Finally, he stopped and said each word with certainty: "Open the coffin. Perform the autopsy!"

At that moment, a gust of yin wind swept through the depths of the inner prison, causing the Bagua lamp in Chen Ji's hands to flicker.

Just now, Chen Ji had only collected the ice flows from the Jia and Yi cells; he hadn't dared to look at the other cells.

But as this yin wind swept through, the ice flows from the deeper Bing, Ding, Wu, and Ji cells began to stir, surging upward of their own accord!

The ice flow within Chen Ji's body showed a faint tendency toward becoming uncontrollable!

This was no place to linger.

Chen Ji stood up to walk out. "Lord Yun Yang, I've been out for so long; my master must be worried. Please escort me back first."

Yun Yang gave a sinister laugh. "You came up with the idea, and now you want to leave? We're going together. This matter shouldn't involve other coroners. It just so happens you have some talent in autopsies; if Old Master Liu is in the coffin, you can investigate his cause of death. If something goes wrong, no one is getting away."

Chen Ji hesitated. "Lord Yun Yang, the credit belongs to you and Lord Jiaotu. I am merely an advisor."

"If we don't bring you along and your plan ends up digging our graves, what then?" Yun Yang sneered. "Let's go. We'll pick up Jiaotu; we need to reach the vicinity of the Liu family ancestral graves before nightfall."

Yun Yang and Jiaotu were not skilled at catching spies, but they were experts at self-preservation, shifting blame, and seizing credit.

He blindfolded Chen Ji again and asked in surprise, "Why do you keep holding that Bagua lamp?"

As he spoke, he snatched it away and put it back in its place.

Chen Ji allowed Yun Yang to pull him by his clothes as he stumbled out of the inner prison.

Inside the swaying carriage, he sat upright with his teeth clenched. Without the Bagua lamp, the ice flow became unrestrained.

The gray cloth curtains of the carriage window were occasionally blown by the wind. The setting sun outside shone on his face, yet he could not feel even a hint of warmth.

After an unknown amount of time, someone lifted the carriage curtain. A sharp, cold fragrance wafted in as Jiaotu climbed inside. "Eh? Yun Yang, why are you bringing this kid?"

Yun Yang was driving the carriage in front. "It was this kid's idea, so naturally, we must bring him."

Jiaotu pulled off Chen Ji's blindfold and removed the cotton from his ears, asking curiously, "Yun Yang, I heard you exiled all the jailers of the Luocheng Inner Prison to Lingnan? The Prison Rat won't be angry that you took matters into your own hands, will she? After all, the Inner Prison is her territory."

Yun Yang's face showed mockery. "She should worry about how to face the Empress's wrath. The Inner Prison has been infiltrated like a sieve, with intelligence leaking at will. I will certainly file a report against her for this."

Jiaotu looked thoughtful. "But exile to Lingnan is very bitter. It's a long journey, and I heard malaria is rampant there. Once you catch it, you suffer for many days before dying."

Yun Yang froze. "Ah... then what should we do?"

"Just kill them in Luocheng; why travel so far?" Jiaotu said seriously.

"Makes sense."

Having said that, Jiaotu looked at Chen Ji and said seriously again, "You won't screw us over, right? Screwing us over would be fatal."

Chen Ji smiled. "Lord Jiaotu, if I screw over you and Lord Yun Yang, who else would I make money from?"

"As long as you know!" Jiaotu said with a grin. She held her wrist up to Chen Ji's nose. "Smell this. It's the incense I just bought at the Daughter's Pavilion. Is it fragrant? It was very expensive."

Yun Yang frowned. "What are you making him smell!?"

Jiaotu glanced at him. "Just drive your carriage and mind your own business."

Yun Yang fell silent in frustration.

Along the way, Chen Ji saw white paper money scattered all along the sides of the road; those were the offerings splashed toward the sky during the Liu family's funeral procession.

Yun Yang said disdainfully, "They lived in luxury and ate fine food, and even in death, they require so much paper money. They want to continue their prosperity on the other side, yet they don't see that even scholars from humble backgrounds can't afford paper."

Jiaotu teased, "Seeing how much you hate injustice, the Empress should transfer you to the Ministry of Punishments. They investigate corrupt officials every day."

"I'm not going. The Ministry of Punishments is full of old fogies; it's deathly boring."

...

...

At nightfall, Yun Yang and Jiaotu swapped drivers. Yun Yang climbed into the carriage to watch over Chen Ji.

"By the way," Yun Yang looked directly into Chen Ji's eyes, "when the Liu family descendants were interrogated, they mentioned that Liu Shiyu once had an extremely close relationship with a certain high-ranking figure in the Prince Jing Mansion. I suspect the Prince Jing Mansion is involved, and perhaps even Jing Dynasty spies are active within the mansion... Have you discovered any clues in the mansion?"

Chen Ji's heart tightened. "Lord Yun Yang, are you certain there are spies in the mansion?"

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

Yun Yang asked thoughtfully, "Do you think it's possible that Imperial Physician Yao is a Jing Dynasty spy? He is highly respected in the Imperial Academy of Medicine in the capital. Plenty of high officials want him to visit them for consultations; even His Majesty wants to summon him to reside in the palace. Yet, he refused and instead ran to Luocheng three years ago to serve as a physician for the Prince Jing Mansion... Don't you find it suspicious?"

"Suspicious," Chen Ji asked curiously, "Has my master changed in any way over these years?"

"Imperial Physician Yao was famously acerbic in the capital, but the Empress once said he wasn't like that in his younger years. Back then, he was charitable and even willing to diagnose people for free."

Chen Ji pondered for a moment. "I don't think my master is much like a spy. Previously, when people from the mansion came seeking his medical advice, he was unwilling to go. If he were a spy, how could he possibly give up the opportunity to contact high-ranking figures in the mansion?"

"Makes sense," Yun Yang rubbed his chin. "Then what about your two fellow disciples? I've investigated them. Liu Quxing is a branch member of the Liu family; is it possible for him?"

Chen Ji took a deep breath, a look of doubt on his face. "Lord Yun Yang, you aren't indirectly suspecting me, are you?"

Yun Yang laughed. "How could it be you? I have absolute trust in you; I am merely advising you to be careful of those around you."

Jiaotu suddenly spoke. "Stop the carriage in the nearby woods. We are almost at the Liu family ancestral graves. We'll cross this mountain and walk the rest of the way."

The three of them got out of the carriage and climbed the mountain path alongside the official road until they reached the summit of Mount Zhuangyuan.

Yun Yang and Jiaotu were very fast. Chen Ji thought he would be panting for breath, but to his surprise, he had hardly broken a sweat by the time they reached the summit.

Lying on the mountain, gasping for air, he said wearily, "Can you see the Liu family ancestral graves from here?"

Yun Yang pointed ahead. "There they are, at the highest point of Beimang."

Chen Ji propped himself up to look. He saw a series of stone tablets and stone-built tombs at the highest point of Mount Beimang, stretching across dozens of acres. The Liu family ancestral graves were quite grand.

In front of those tombs stood stone men, stone sheep, stone tigers, and stone pillars; some of the tombs were over ten feet tall!

One must realize that the Ning Dynasty had a strict hierarchy. Commoners could not ride in sedan chairs, commoners could not wear boots, and non-officials could not wear bamboo hats. Every single law and regulation emphasized ritual and rank.

For tombs like the Liu family's, which were over ten feet high, one had to have held a rank of the third grade or higher during their lifetime.

Looking at the ancestral burial grounds, Yun Yang lamented, "The civil official families of our Ning Dynasty have been high officials for a thousand years. They have ridden on the heads of the people and sucked their blood, accumulating vast fortunes to achieve such splendor."

Chen Ji instinctively felt something was wrong. The Ning Dynasty's mandate had lasted for over a thousand years? This was inherently inconceivable. According to the laws of history, it should have been impossible.

Unless there was an external force.

At this moment, Jiaotu said, "Old Master Liu's death was indeed problematic. Look at the ancestral graves; there are actually hundreds of private soldiers stationed there, and there might even be an Executive Official guarding them. The last time we sent spies to Luocheng to scout, they investigated this place, and at that time, there were only about a dozen guards."

"Then we can't force our way in," Yun Yang frowned and looked at Jiaotu. "Will you take action? It wouldn't be easy for me to open the coffin."

Jiaotu glanced at Chen Ji. "Have him blindfold himself and turn his back to me. You guard me."

Chen Ji proactively turned his back. He understood that the methods of cultivation for an Executive Official could not be known by others.

Once he had covered his eyes, Jiaotu sat cross-legged on the summit, drew a short blade from her waist, and slit the skin between her eyebrows.

Yun Yang cut his own finger, dotting the eyes of over a dozen shadow-puppet paper figures, and stood guard closely beside Jiaotu.

In the next moment, a shadow suddenly emerged from Jiaotu's brow, detaching from her body like a crab shedding its shell.

The shadow stood still, looking identical to Jiaotu, but it was clad in light black armor and held a Green Dragon Crescent Blade that was taller than a person!

Jiaotu's original body remained motionless, while the shadow spirit looked at Yun Yang and spoke, "I'm going."

With that, the shadow spirit walked to the edge of the cliff and leaped down, landing on the treetops below as light as nothing. With every leap, it easily cleared a dozen large trees, heading straight for the Liu family ancestral graves!

Gradually, the sky turned completely dark, and the shadow spirit merged with the night.

When Jiaotu's shadow spirit reached Old Master Liu's tomb, taking advantage of everyone's inattention, it crashed straight into the stone-built tomb!

The stone walls seemed not to exist!

After a long while, the shadow spirit retreated rapidly, re-entering Jiaotu's brow and vanishing. She suddenly snapped her eyes open and said in astonishment, "There is truly no one in the coffin!"