The atmosphere inside the tent gradually became tense. The candlelight in the corner flickered restlessly. After being silent for a long time, General Xiahou asked indifferently, "The thirteenth year of Tianqi...... How many people died like him?

Gu Xi replied softly. "Examiner Zhang Yiqi died in a car accident. Chen Zixian, the former Xuanwei general, died suddenly in Dongcheng. plus Yan Suqing, who was beheaded, three people died this year.

The folklore of the Tang Dynasty was simple but firm. Chang'an has a large population. Although it is very good in law and order, there are one or two unnatural deaths every day. The three people mentioned did not refer to the number of unnatural deaths in the thirteenth year of Tianqi, but to deaths related to past events.

"If Her Majesty hadn't stopped the birthday party this year and allocated some free money to the military department, they wouldn't have thought of asking veterans to send comfort money and find out that the forgotten Chen Zixian was dead."

Gu Xi looked at Xia Hou and said softly, "Now Yan Suqing's head has been cut off. The modus operandi is very similar to the previous case. If we can determine the so-called accident of examiner Zhang Yiqi...... It's also murder, then we can find the truth.

"Not everything has its truth." General Xiahou said indifferently: "Those people in the two cases are already dead. Who will remember these things?

Gu Xi replied: "When a fisherman throws away his fishing net, he always thinks that he can catch all the fish. But in fact, every time he pulls the net out, he always finds that a few of them have already slipped through the net. "In my notes, there are at least eleven more people alive who came out of General Xuanwei's mansion."

General Xiahou slowly closed his eyes and said, "Those who survived were all temporary workers. They were released according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty. But the servants and maids who were bound for life died. I don't believe in those temporary workers who have nothing to do with them, dare to hold a grudge against the imperial court, and keep a low profile for many years waiting for revenge.

"We still need to look into it." Gu Xi said anxiously: "At least we should send someone to investigate the censor, Zhang Yiqi's death is just like what we said before." And I don't believe there are any more people involved in these two cases. But I fear that some nobleman in the court will use this series of murders to improve his position in the court.

Xiahou said lightly: "The prince is still young, and the fourth princess is just a little girl." If His Majesty wanted to circumvent the law against me, he would have sent someone to cut off my head ten years ago, so there is no need to use those despicable means.

"But there is still a nobleman in the court." Gu Xi glanced at his face and said cautiously.

Hearing this, Xia Hou's face suddenly turned pale, and he stared at Gu Xi coldly. "Twenty years ago, when you swore to follow me, I warned you not to mention that noble man in front of anyone as long as I live. Have you forgotten?

Gu Xi buried his head deeply, full of regret. His heart was full of exhaustion, and he sighed helplessly. He thought to himself, "General, you don't want the world to know about your relationship with the nobles. I'm afraid the aristocracy doesn't want the world to know either. But you chose to leave Chang'an and remain silent. Who can say for sure if the aristocracy will use some of the more extreme methods? As we all know, as soon as we entered the palace gate, we gained a heart of steel......"

Xia Hou looked at the repentant subordinate in front of him. He thought of his loyalty, recalling those years when they crossed the strait with great difficulty in the rushing river by ferry. His expression cleared, and he whispered, "But you're right." The murder in Chang'an must be investigated. Send a psychic master. "

After a brief pause, he added with a blank face. "Warning to the military. Even if he found something, he was forbidden to act on his own. Submit all evidence to the Ministry of Military Affairs and the local government of Chang'an. After all, the investigation is a matter for the imperial court.

Gu Xi took the order and left.

In the empty tent, Xia Hou took off the heavy armor on his body and sat on the sofa. He watched silently at the faint candlelight, which would be swallowed up by the bright sky outside the tent, motionless like a statue.

His face was a little pale. His thunderous roar before had already killed two cultivation masters. It looked mighty and tough, but no one knew he was wounded.

As a powerhouse at the pinnacle of martial arts in the world, his strength can be called incomparable. As long as he has a little spiritual power, there will be a strong heaven and earth qi inside and outside his body. The power of the mind can't hurt him, and the flying sword can't hurt him. In fact, he could have chosen a simpler, non-destructive method to kill those two cultivator assassins from the Yan Kingdom.

However, he was the Xiahou general who was known for his ruthlessness, cold-bloodedness, and brutality. There are too many powerful enemies waiting for him in the world. He must maintain an invincible image in front of enemies and subordinates. Therefore, he must choose the most arrogant and powerful means in response, even at the expense of his wounded body and mind.

In order to stop the steady stream of assassinations, he needs to forcibly crush the fighting desires of most of his enemies with arrogant means. This is presumably something that many unworldly sublime beings are forced to do.

The curtains were lifted, and a manservant cautiously walked in with a bowl of carefully prepared bird's nest and Chinese jujube porridge. The manservant was very beautiful, and the delicate and beautiful porcelain bowl on the plate was obviously not an ordinary item.

General Xiahou indifferently took the porridge bowl and drank it all. Then he waved his hand and motioned for the manservant to leave.

He knew that those officials in Chang'an who were jealous of him had been secretly spreading rumors that General Xiahou liked beautiful male servants and had different sexual tastes. He was indifferent to the rumor and was not angry at all. His Majesty and those who were genuinely afraid of him were well aware that he had not been close to a woman since he had killed her by boiling her to death, refusing to let any maid serve him.

The incident occurred at a time when the attacks of the censors were at their strongest and the position of the general was in jeopardy. Those who thought they knew the inside story thought that he had used the pretext of snooping on military secrets to kill his favorite concubine in such a cruel way to intimidate a certain eunuch who had been ordered to enter the barracks and interrogate him.

However, only Xiahou himself knew that the eunuchs came to interrogate him at that time, and it had nothing to do with the documents of the imperial court censors. What he fears has nothing to do with the less powerful censors.

It was a summer with short nights and days. The luster emitted by Haotian is not only warm, but also blazing. The serious letter of inquiry from the Xishan Divine Kingdom was directly handed over to the Chang'an Palace. Even "Unknownlands" expressed serious concern. In the vast Qiyue Mountain, not far from the barracks, there were countless vague Dao Dao and sword light.

"Double, you shouldn't have done the devil's dance that day."

Xia Hou stared at the porridge that was gradually freezing in his hand, thinking that the gentle woman he loved the most would be the first to notice. Then he smiled and took out a handkerchief and wiped it gently. He couldn't help but shake his head and repeated it with a blank face. "You really shouldn't dance that dance, though...... You're really beautiful dancing.

"In a world full of Haotian Holy Light, the Demon Dance should not have appeared. In the face of the pressure of the Xishan Dao Sect, especially that temple, who can protect you? Your Majesty, the Dean of the Academy, the Abbot of the Abbey or the man?

"The former emperor was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and he could order hundreds of thousands of cavalry from the empire to sweep the world, shouting and smashing all Taoist temples to pieces with just a few words. And with the academy behind him, he can ignore Haotian's holy light. However, why did he oppose the Xishan Divine Kingdom for the sake of a demon saint?

"That person has been cultivating for twenty-three years. Then who else can protect you, afraid that he has long forgotten about his female disciple you, in the fall. Key: I'm just a brute force general, not the dean of the academy, nor the dean of the hall. I don't have that power... So I have to defend myself with your death, because I need to live to protect the more important people in my life.

Many years later, the great general, whose hair had turned gray on his temples, was in the military camp on the border between the Tang Empire and the Yan Kingdom, silently recalling the demon dance that confused the Three Realms back then, without any emotion on his face.

What happened back then originated from a letter from the Haotian Taoist Sect of the Xishan Divine Kingdom, written to the capital Chang'an. In that letter, the leader of the Haotian Taoist sect changed his usual moderate attitude towards the Tang Imperial Family, coexisted peacefully, and avoided conflict. On the contrary, on behalf of hundreds of millions of Haotian Taoist believers, he expressed extreme anger to the Tang imperial family, severely accusing the Tang generals of colluding with the remnants of the Demon Sect and demanding an explanation.

At the same time as the letter was sent, the three noble great monks who rarely left the Xishan Divine Kingdom led countless powerful Taoist strongholds across the border and arrived at the vast Minshan Mountain, which was not far from the Tang Dynasty's frontier military strength. This is a strong warning: if Don does not give believers all over the world a response; The Haotian Dao Church took the risk of being hostile to the Tang Empire by killing the remnants of the Demon Race.

Few people know about this crisis, which ended when Tang Gang was just beginning to get angry and was about to be killed by the cruel boiling of General Xiahou. Although the Haotian Daoist was satisfied with this response, the Tang Clan avoided another war with the whole world because of the woman's death.

The Don people are definitely not afraid of war. However, no one was willing to sacrifice for the demonic saintess. Therefore, few people know the whole story, and since then there have been rumors. It is speculated that His Majesty's mercy on General Xiahou over the years was to comfort his grief over the killing of his loved ones at that time.

This may not be true. However, the truth of history is always hidden in the ditch in front of the door. No one wants to dig up the truth because you have to put up with too much sludge and stench.

In the blink of an eye, many years have passed. It was the thirteenth autumn of Tang Tianqi, and the former devil saint Murong Linshuang became a poor and unknown concubine in her memory. However, another letter written by Haotian's senior management was sent from the Xishan Divine Kingdom to the capital Chang'an in the autumn of this year.

"I didn't read the previous letter, but I heard that my father was so angry that he tore it to shreds and spread it all over the palace. While sending Eunuch Cui to ask Xiahou about the truth in the territory of Yan Kingdom, he ordered Xu Shi, the general of the National Guard, to secretly mobilize troops and prepare to attack the Xishan Divine Kingdom once they were hostile.