"Maybe it's just a wrong perception," Zongzheng Fengyi didn't think it was possible that someone would coincidentally take it away.
Moreover, he had never seen anyone who could take something away silently and without a trace under his grandfather's nose.
However, the Saint Master disagreed strongly. "How could the Gu - detecting spell go wrong? Besides, there's no such a coincidence in the world. It disappeared precisely when I was about to find it. And..."
The Saint Master's tone turned cold. "After that, I couldn't detect the trace of the Drunken Gu Ring again."
"There are only two possible reasons for this result. One is that the Drunken Gu Ring is too far away for the Gu - detecting spell to sense its aura. The other is that someone smeared the Ring with the Back - tracing Juice to block its aura so that the Gu - detecting spell couldn't find it."
"Given the situation at that time, the second possibility is more likely."
"Not many people know about the Drunken Gu Ring. Even the Grand Yuan might not be clear about its effects. The person who knew I was looking for the ring and how to use the Back - tracing Juice to cover its aura must be either one of our people or someone from Hui Zhi's side!"
"What!?" Zongzheng Fengyi was obviously extremely shocked.
"Grandfather means... someone from Aunt's entourage back then is still alive!?"
Yun Xi, who had been listening to their conversation and secretly thinking about how to hide the Drunken Gu Ring from the Saint Master and others, instantly froze.
Hui Zhi?
She had seen this name before.
If she remembered correctly, when she had looked through the palace records, the late Concubine Qing was surnamed Rong and named Hui Zhi!
Although Zongzheng Fengyi called the Saint Master "grandfather", as a member of the royal family, his real grandfather was the retired emperor of the Ying Kingdom. The Saint Master was actually his maternal grandfather.
But... Zongzheng Fengyi's repeated references to Concubine Qing as "aunt" completely overturned her previous assumption that Concubine Qing was just a subordinate of the Saint Master with a certain status.
That is to say, Concubine Qing was actually the Saint Master's daughter!
Yun Xi was still in shock when Zongzheng Fengyi's next words sent a chill down her spine.
"But... back then, grandfather ordered Mo Tong to use Gu to get rid of the traitorous aunt and those unfaithful maids. He was the most loyal and would never fail to carry out the order. And I remember that he replied saying that he had completed the task perfectly and had watched as all the corpses were burned. How could there still be survivors!?" Zongzheng Fengyi said.
Yun Xi unconsciously tightened her hand covering the ring and gritted her teeth hard to stop herself from making a sound.
So it was the Saint Master who had arranged for Concubine Qing's death back then!
She was his own flesh and blood. How could he be so cruel!
Suddenly, a figure with hideous scars all over her face flashed through her mind.
Lan Chu!
Now Yun Xi finally knew how she got those scars on her face.
Being burned by fire and bitten by Gu, how painful and terrifying that must have been...
The Saint Master didn't answer Zongzheng Fengyi's question for a long time.
Just as Yun Xi was wondering, she heard the Saint Master slowly say something that made her tremble.
"I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about... Hui Zhi's child."
"Child!?" Zongzheng Fengyi's shocked exclamation coincided exactly with Yun Xi's stunned cry in her heart.
Yun Xi almost thought it was herself who had cried out.
Could this child be Yi Zhen!?
A thin layer of sweat broke out on her back. Then she heard Zongzheng Fengyi's extremely confused voice.
"How could she have a child? She didn't give birth during her years in the palace, did she?"
"Moreover, with grandfather's Gu still there, how could she get pregnant?"
The Saint Master thought this was easy to explain. He snorted and said, "Since she could get involved with Qing Yi, nothing is impossible."
"I only found out about the child recently. Back then, Mo Tong searched hard and finally found Yun Xi, a living furnace whose birth date, bones, and flesh were all suitable. But on his way to kidnap her, he was discovered by Qing Yi, who cast a sealing Gu on her."
"At that time, Mo Tong fled seriously injured. Since he couldn't defeat Qing Yi, he intensified the spread of the Gu poison in the capital, trying to keep Qing Yi busy saving people. But in the process of secretly spreading the Gu, he accidentally discovered that Hui Zhi had a child outside!"
Even without seeing the Saint Master, Yun Xi could feel his anger just from his tone.
"That bitch fell in love with a man from the Ying Kingdom and even gave birth to a child for him at the cost of her own life!"
"It's a pity that she didn't die at that time. I guess she must have known that old man Qing Yi by then."
"Only then did Mo Tong understand why Hui Zhi had hesitated when he asked her to charm the emperor and enter the palace to plot great things as planned. That's why it took so many years after her entry into the palace to start our original plan."
"After accidentally learning this, Mo Tong originally wanted to report it to me quickly. But then he remembered that he had rushed to send a message back after finding Yun Xi as a suitable furnace, only to be intercepted by Qing Yi, who cast a sealing Gu on her. He hadn't dared to report the previous matter. Afraid that there would be another accident this time and I would ask about Yun Xi again, he decided to put it on hold for the time being, fearing that he would be severely punished for both mistakes."
"He planned to find a suitable person to remove the sealing Gu on Yun Xi and bring her back before searching for the child's whereabouts. It's a pity..."
The Saint Master's voice seemed even more aged, mixed with an indescribable tone of regret or frustration. "Mo Tong managed to find a suitable person to transfer the Gu on Yun Xi. With the help of an insider in the Liu family, he took her away. But in the end, he died at the hands of Qing Yi while looking for clues about the child."
Yun Xi thought it served him right and couldn't help cheering for Master Qing Yi in her heart.
But doubts also arose in her mind.
Since Mo Tong was dead, how did the Saint Master get the news?
Zongzheng Fengyi was obviously also very confused and asked the same question as Yun Xi.
"But after more than a decade, how did grandfather get this news?"
The Saint Master's tone carried a hint of self - confidence, though it was hard to tell his expression.
"To conquer the Ying Kingdom, just using Gu poison is not enough."
"Back then, we were just using the Ying Kingdom as a test and didn't really intend to conquer it. To ensure the smooth progress of the plan, when I cooperated with the Shen family, I, under the guise of doing business, changed the identities and household registrations of several capable subordinates with their help and established our secret contact point in the capital."
"Mo Tong died suddenly back then, leaving them leaderless. They only knew that the person I wanted was taken away by Mo Tong to transfer the Gu, but they didn't know where. And very few people knew about Hui Zhi's child. One of Mo Tong's loyal subordinates stepped forward to take charge. He first reported the news about Yun Xi truthfully, but he didn't know about Hui Zhi's child. Although he knew that Mo Tong had told him to investigate everyone Hui Zhi had contacted before entering the palace, for some reason, he didn't report this matter."
"Later, this person managed our business in the capital while secretly carrying out the last task Mo Tong had assigned him before his death. It was not until recently when you entered the capital in the name of a marriage alliance that he learned from a dying midwife in the town where Hui Zhi had once posed as a merchant girl that Hui Zhi had given birth to a baby boy shortly before entering the palace!"