"There are masters in the Nine Princes' Mansion, and it is not easy for us to sneak in."

The corners of Xu Lan's mouth twitched slightly,

Before that, he had thought of many possibilities, but he didn't expect that Xiahou Changyuan would actually use this method to let him meet with the Nine Princes.

At this moment, Xiahou Changyuan's only remaining trace of the image of a master in his heart also collapsed.

"It's okay, I've got a plan."

Xiahou Changyuan smiled mysteriously,

Then he led everyone to a barren well in the backyard of the City God Temple, and said, "This is the entrance to the passage." ”

"Doesn't look out of the ordinary"

Sun Hongying approached and glanced down,

This barren well has not been used for many years, and although it is bottomless, there is no reflection in the water.

"If it's so easy for people to find out, then what's the point?"

Xiahou Changyuan smiled slightly and said, "You must know that this passage can even go directly to any place in the palace. ”

"Not many people know this secret, right?"

Xu Lan said softly: "If you let the people in the imperial family know that there is such a passage under the ground of Kyoto, I'm afraid no one will be able to sleep peacefully." ”

"Not many people know about this secret passage anymore."

Xiahou Changyuan shook his head with a smile and said, "And even if you know, it's useless, if you want to open the passage, you need to know the formation in addition to the token of the first emperor." ”

After speaking, he took out a jade token the size of a palm from his arms,

And it looks quite unique, it seems to be a strange creature, but Xu Lan can't tell it for a while.

"Even if I know the formation, you can figure it out?"

Xu Lan's face was full of question marks,

"Huh? Do you also know formations? ”

Xiahou Changyuan is also full of question marks,

The two of them stared at each other like this, you look at me, I look at you, they seem to be quite surprised that each other actually understands the way of formation.

"Didn't you say that people in the royal family can't cultivate?"

Xu Lan was puzzled,

If Xiahou Changyuan was a member of the royal family, then he would not be able to cultivate, how could he understand the way of the formation?

"I'm not like them."

Xiahou Changyuan coughed lightly a few times to hide the embarrassment in his heart,

In my heart, I secretly said that I had miscalculated,

From the moment Xu Lan agreed to make a deal with him, even he couldn't deduce it.

I knew that Xu Lan knew some of the ways of formation, so I wouldn't expose myself too much, and maybe I could pretend to be a master at a critical moment.

"Forget it, if you don't want to say more, I won't ask anymore."

Seeing that Xiahou Changyuan was reluctant to say,

Xu Lan did not continue to ask.

Now it is certain that Xiahou Changyuan is not a real member of the royal family,

I'm afraid it also has a lot to do with the Great Chu royal family.

Otherwise, how could he master so many royal secrets?

If nothing else,

Just the passage in front of you that can lead directly to any place in Kyoto,

I'm afraid that not many people in Kyoto know about it.

"When the time comes, you'll know."

Xiahou Changyuan chuckled: "The trajectory of everyone's fate is not static, and too many accidents will make your fate uncontrollable. ”

Xu Lan: .......

Okay, you can tell fortunes.

The next moment, Xiahou Changyuan closed his eyes and pinched out a handprint with one hand, and the jade token he took out earlier at the same time emitted a faint light.

The two mirror each other,

Immediately after, Xu Lan and the others felt a slight vibration on the ground under their feet.

The long-abandoned ancient well in front of me has taken on a different form.

Each piece of masonry was stripped and reassembled, and in the blink of an eye, a staircase descending appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

"Let's go."

Xiahou Changyuan didn't know when there was an extra torch in his hand,

Then he walked straight down the stairs. Xu Lan and Sun Hongying glanced at each other and followed.

"Is it an illusion? Or is it a trap? ”

At this time, Xu Lan found an extremely strange place,

The spiraling staircase would disappear automatically as soon as they passed, and if I guessed correctly, it should have been part of the formation.

"It's both."

Xiahou Changyuan, who was walking in the forefront, slowly spoke: "But without the understanding of tokens and formations, it is impossible to open the entrance at all. ”

"I see."

Xu Lan became more and more interested in Xiahou Changyuan's identity,

It seems that after the fact, I should go through the history of the royal family in the past hundred years, and I should find the answer in it.

I don't know how long I walked,

The surroundings were dark and swarthy, and there were no five fingers in sight, and only the torch in Xiahou Changyuan's hand illuminated the direction of progress.

"Here we are."

Xiahou Changyuan stopped suddenly, and then he reached out and snapped his fingers.

Countless fires suddenly appeared around to completely dispel the darkness,

It was only at this time that Xu Lan found that there were countless torches hanging on the walls around him, and at this moment, under the reflection of the torches, he was able to take in the surrounding environment.

"Here it is"

The group of four of them was in a place like a palace, extremely wide, and he also found the existence of hundreds of entrances and exits around him.

"The very center of Kyoto."

Xiahou Changyuan smiled slightly and said, "You can go anywhere in Kyoto here." ”

"Including the Imperial Palace?"

Sun Hongying suddenly asked,

This is a little too scary, who would have thought that there is such a place hidden under the ground of the majestic Chu Kyoto.

"If you want to, you can."

Xiahou Changyuan said with a smile: "But I don't mind doing this, there are many forbidden magic circles in the palace, and if you are not careful, you may not even know how to die."

"I guess the people in the palace don't know that there is an underground passage."

Xu Lan's eyes fell on Xiahou Changyuan's body, and he said word by word: "A person who has mastered this kind of secret, even if he wants to attack the eldest princess, I'm afraid it won't be difficult." ”

Hearing this, Sun Hongying's face changed suddenly,

That's right, what if this Xiahou Changyuan takes the two of them to the palace?

"You're too cautious."

Xiahou Changyuan laughed,

This was Xu Lan's temptation to himself, but he didn't respond.

"The eldest princess is in charge of supervising the country, I feel okay, why should I do it to her?"

Xiahou Changyuan smiled meaningfully, and then changed the topic: "Do you know who built this place?" ”

"To have such a big deal, it should be the one who established the Great Chu Dynasty thousands of years ago, right?"

Xu Lan paused for a moment and continued: "If it was built by later generations, this place would either be heavily guarded or would have been destroyed long ago. ”

"Well, that's right."

Xiahou Changyuan said calmly: "It is indeed the handiwork of that person. ”

"It seems that he is quite cautious."

Xu Lan looked around and said with a puzzled look: "This is more like a place of refuge, was there still a strong enemy when the Great Chu Dynasty was established?" ”

Xiahou Changyuan: ......

He glanced at Xu Lan deeply, but didn't say anything.

A thousand years is just a snap of the fingers for this world,

But a thousand years is too long for the Terrans.

"Let's go, I'll think about it. In which direction should the mansion of the Nine Princes be? ”

Xiahou Changyuan counted his fingers and then walked straight to one of the entrances and exits,

Under his leadership, Xu Lan and the others walked in another passage for I don't know how long before stopping.

"Here we are."

Xiahou Changyuan stopped and took out the jade token again, embedding it in a groove in the wall.

Then the rock wall in front of them changed again, and a staircase leading to the top appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Xiahou Changyuan walked ahead, and Xu Lan didn't have to worry too much that he would take him to some dangerous places.

After this period of contact, he also has a certain understanding of Xiahou Changyuan.

Although it is unclear who he really is,

But if he wants to do his own good, he doesn't need to go through such a big deal at all.

Walking up the stairs,

After a while, Xu Lan and the others realized that they had come to a courtyard.

"Is this the mansion of the Ninth Prince?"

Xu Lan looked around and found that the decoration here was indeed different from the ordinary mansion.

Together with the pillars of the house, there are carvings of Tengyun unicorn and other strange beasts, which looks like the residence of the royal family.

"Well, something is wrong, though"

Xiahou Changyuan closed his eyes slightly, as if sensing something, and after a while, he opened his eyes with a puzzled look.

"There are so many cultivators in just one prince's mansion?"

Xiahou Changyuan spoke: "What do you know about that Nine Princes? ”

Hearing this, Xu Lan and Sun Hongying looked at each other and shook their heads,

They only knew that the Nine Princes were the owners of that batch of goods, but they didn't know much about what kind of person the Nine Princes were.

"Then that's weird"

Xiahou Changyuan was puzzled and said, "Let's go, let's go to one of them first." ”

Unlike others,

He is connected to the Nine Princes by blood, so he can easily sense the location of the other party.

It was just that at that moment just now, in this prince's mansion, he sensed two identical breaths.

It's exactly the same, it's weird.

"But there are a lot of cultivators here, if we go this way."

Sun Hongying frowned slightly,

This is the prince's mansion, but it is not a market place, how can they be allowed to walk around at will?

"Rest assured, no one will be aware of our presence."

Xiahou Changyuan said with a smile: "I have already performed a formation to shield the qi machine just now, as long as it does not exceed the radius of twenty zhang around my body. ”

Xu Lan: ......

He had been secretly observing Xiahou Changyuan, but he couldn't detect when he cast the formation.

Could it be that he is the one in the Great Chu Dynasty who has been recognized by the luck of the royal family?

If it is the cultivation of the Seven Realms,

Then it makes sense to be able to hide your own eyes.

But he quickly overturned the possibility,

Xiahou Changyuan said that although the luck of the dynasty can make people enter the seven realms overnight,

But there is a gap of 50 years.

Moreover, such a person cannot have the same lifespan as a cultivator.

They, like ordinary people, tend to live only fifty or sixty years, and if they are lucky, they can live for about seventy or eighty years.

If he was the last person who was approved by the fortune of the dynasty,

Then he is now at least sixty years old, which is almost the limit of an ordinary person's lifespan.

But Xiahou Changyuan in front of him looked like he was only in his forties at most,

Could it be that he used some secret technique to hide his true appearance?

"Let's go, as long as we are careful to stay out of the guard's sight."

Subsequently, under the leadership of Xiahou Changyuan,

They walked around the mansion and bypassed the sight of dozens of patrolling guards.

Just as Xiahou Changyuan said, none of the many cultivators in the entire mansion could detect their existence.

Not long after, Xiahou Changyuan paused in front of a side courtyard.

"Would the Nine Princes live in this kind of place?"

Sun Hongying's eyes widened and showed an incredible look,

It stands to reason that the Ninth Prince, as the owner of the mansion, could live in such a remote courtyard?

And she's sensed it all around,

Except for an extremely faint aura in the courtyard, no one else existed.

"It really shouldn't."

Xiahou Changyuan was also quite puzzled,

He glanced around and said, "Let's go in and take a look, there seem to be a lot of secrets hidden in the mansion of the Nine Princes."

"Be careful."

Xu Lan glanced at Sun Hongying,

This is the prince's mansion after all, and no one knows what accidents will occur in the next moment.

"You have to take care of it."

Sun Hongyan glanced at him, but his pace was a little brisk.

Then they went into this courtyard,

There are some messy footprints on the ground, which seems to prove that it is not that no one has been here.

It's just that looking around, it's hard to imagine that this will be a place where a prince lives.

I saw Xiahou Changyuan gently push open the door of the room in the courtyard and walk in,

There was no furniture in it, only a dilapidated wooden bed in the center, and it was vaguely visible that there seemed to be a person lying on the bed.

"You guys. . . Who is it? ”

Just then, a weak voice came from the direction of the bed.

Although Xiahou Changyuan's formation could isolate the aura, now the few of them were blatantly walking into someone else's room.

The other party was naturally able to detect the existence of several of them at the first time.

Xu Lan and Xiahou Changyuan looked at each other and nodded, and the two of them took a few steps forward and finally saw the figure lying on the bed.

"This"

Xu Lan suddenly frowned, and even Xiahou Changyuan on the side changed his face slightly.

"Let me see."

Sun Hongying stepped forward,

But then she was stunned, but then her expression returned to normal.

"What, what, I'm going to see it too."

Seeing this, the girl beside Xiahou Changyuan couldn't help but come up and take a look, but as a result, she glanced at the whole person and retreated again and again.

"Master, this. What is it? ”

She pointed to the figure on the bed in horror and said, "What a terrible thing. ”

At this time, a man lying on the bed can no longer be called "human",

His limbs had long since been severed off, and the only remaining head was shaped like a skeleton, and a foul smell emanated from all over his body.

But even so, the most unbelievable thing is that this person is still alive.

"It's okay, people still have a breath."

Sun Hongying said expressionlessly, she had even seen a scene a hundred times more tragic on the battlefield.

"What a feud this must be"

Xu Lanqiang held back the feeling of extreme discomfort in his heart,

Although his own hands were also stained with blood, the scene in front of him was still quite shocking to him.

"But what does he have to do with the Nine Princes?"

Xu Lan looked at Xiahou Changyuan on the side, but found that compared to before, Xiahou Changyuan at this moment seemed to be. Angry?

"What an ignorant and pathetic fool"

Xiahou Changyuan slowly stepped forward and said expressionlessly: "You people, you are really stupid from generation to generation."

You guys?

Xu Lan was silent on the surface, but he was secretly thinking in his heart.

"Kill me."

The man raised his head slightly,

When the originally cloudy eyes saw Xiahou Changyuan, it was like a drowning man grasping the last straw.

He didn't know who Xiahou Changyuan was,

But at this moment, the same royal bloodline made him feel that the person in front of him was the same as himself,

It's the Great Chu royal family!

"Tell me, what's going on?"

Xiahou Changyuan looked down at the other party and said calmly: "When I'm done, I'll let you go." ”

"Ahem, someone"

The man was about to speak, but the next moment he was interrupted by Xiahou Changyuan.

"Say something useful."

Xiahou Changyuan said expressionlessly: "I'm not interested in how you were stolen from the royal bloodline, I just want to know who did it." ”

Stealing royal blood?

Xu Lan's expression changed slightly, and when he looked at the person in front of him, he suddenly had some realization in his heart.

"Bloodlines can still be stolen?"

Sun Hongying's brows furrowed,

Bloodlines don't have much effect on ordinary people, but it's not the same if they are the descendants of some strong people.

And she had never heard of the secret art that could steal other people's bloodlines in this world.

"Naturally, there is."

Xiahou Changyuan said slowly: "But what I'm more curious about is who wants to steal the bloodline and purpose of the Great Chu Imperial Family. ”

"You mean that this is the real Nine Princes in front of you?"

Xu Lan said in a deep voice: "Who is the other one in the mansion?" ”

"Naturally, it's fake."

Xiahou Changyuan shook his head and said, "He stole the imperial bloodline and refined it into his own body, so that he could take his place." ”

"What's the use of stealing a royal bloodline that can't be cultivated?"

Sun Hongying said coldly, but this question silenced Xiahou Changyuan.

"I don't know."

Xiahou Changyuan let out a long sigh of relief and said, "If you didn't guess wrong, I'm afraid that the goods that your father transported are indeed a little frustrated. ”

"Hmm."

Xu Lan nodded,

In other words, his father's disappearance is probably related to another "Nine Princes".

"I don't know anything."

The Nine Princes on the bed gasped for every word he spoke, which showed how bad his state was.

"About half a year ago, I took a concubine, and then it didn't take long for me to suddenly fall ill, and I was bedridden all the time, and I was in a mess every day, until I woke up one day and found myself locked up here."

"Every day she would come in my form and suck my blood, and she would even cut off my limbs to prevent me from escaping."

"Smoking?"

Xiahou Changyuan thought for a moment, and then said to himself: "Probably. It's like some familiar trick. ”

Familiar?

Xu Lan's heart trembled slightly, how much information was hidden in this Xiahou Changyuan.

"I think I kind of understand what's going on."

Xiahou Changyuan slowly squatted down, looked at the poor Nine Princes in front of him and said word by word: "But it's a pity, you can't die now." ”

All:.

"You said you were going to help me get free!"

The Nine Princes are like crazy, he has had enough of this inhuman torture!

Die, he just wants to die now!

"Nope."

Xiahou Changyuan made a silent gesture, shook his head and said, "You still have royal blood in your body, although there is only a little left."

"If I kill you at such a time, those people in the palace will know that you are dead without a stick of incense, and this must be the reason why she left you alive."

"But if you don't do anything, there will inevitably be some surprises, such as you will tell you about tonight."

Thinking about it, Xiahou Changyuan didn't have a good way.

"The royal family seems to have some kind of secret art, no matter who dies, they can know it as soon as possible"

Xu Lan wrote down this small detail again,

"Wouldn't it be enough to turn him into a fool."

At this time, Sun Hongying spoke: "In this way, he will neither die nor reveal anything." ”

"It's a good idea."

Xiahou Changyuan snapped his fingers, and seemed to think that Sun Hongying's suggestion was good.

The next moment, he slowly stretched out his palm to cover the face of the Nine Princes, while at the same time, the Nine Princes were still making their last bitter pleading.

"Kill me, please kill me."

However, Xiahou Changyuan was indifferent to his pleas,

"What you did has put a layer of humiliation on this bloodline in your body, so be your punishment."

Next, Xiahou Changyuan's face slowly appeared with a uniquely shaped mask,

When he saw this mask, Xu Lan's eyes narrowed slightly, isn't this the symbol of the Great Chu royal family, the unicorn?

As the mask completely covered Xiahou Changyuan's face, ripples appeared in the space in front of him.

ripples gradually spread,

gradually formed a completely spread out picture,

At this time, there was an extremely strange scene in it, like a movie playing backwards.

Frame by frame kept flashing in front of everyone, and at this time, the careful Xu Lan found that this seemed to be a person's memory.

"What kind of means is this?"

Xu Lan and Sun Hongying looked at each other and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

In the end, it was a picture of a man holding a baby in his arms, and Xiahou Changyuan only stretched out his hand and shook it slightly.

In an instant, all the images disappeared.

And the diffuse spatial ripples in front of me gradually returned to their original appearance.

"Alright, it's settled."

At this time, the mask on Xiahou Changyuan's face slowly dissipated, and he regained his original appearance.

At this time, the Nine Princes on the bed in front of him were already looking demented, his pupils were dilated, and he seemed to have really become a fool.

"How is this done?"

Xu Lan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Since the day I came into this world, I have never been able to fill my heart with such a shock as this scene happened in front of me.

Wrong

It even turned his perception of the world on its head.

"It's nothing, it's just a little trick."

Xiahou Changyuan waved his hand and said with a smile: "At most. There is a price to pay. ”

Xu Lan: ......

"Let's go, we've got a lot of things to gain tonight."

Xiahou Changyuan said calmly: "It's almost dawn, we have to go." ”

"Just gone?"

Xu Lan's face was full of question marks, and he pointed to the demented Nine Princes on the bed and said, "He is also your clansman, and it is not trivial for someone to pretend to be the Ninth Prince, so you left like this?" ”

"Or else?"

Xiahou Changyuan showed a strange look on his face and said, "Then you still want me to level this prince's mansion?" Or did you kill another person? ”

"And"

Saying that, Xiahou Changyuan pointed at the Nine Princes, and said angrily: "That's it. Waste is worthy of being my people? ”

"But aren't you from the Great Chu Imperial Family?"

Sun Hongying's face was also puzzled,

No matter who encounters this kind of thing, it is impossible to be indifferent, right?

"Yes and what, no and what?"

Xiahou Changyuan shook his head and said, "I am not in that position, so naturally I don't need to think about the things that need to be considered in that position." ”

Xu Lan: ......

It is well-founded and cannot be refuted.

However, he became more and more interested in Xiahou Changyuan's identity, although he already had some guesses in his heart, he always felt that it was wrong.

"Let's go, then."

Xu Lan didn't act rashly,

In terms of the current situation, we can roughly deduce something,

His father was probably inadvertently implicated in a conspiracy against the Great Chu Dynasty.

Even at this moment, it seems that he is going to be involved.

Later, under the leadership of Xiahou Changyuan, everyone returned to Tingyuxuan the same way, and at this time, the sky gradually broke.

"Alright, what I promised you has been done."

Standing in front of Tingyuxuan's door, Xiahou Changyuan looked at Xu Lan with a smile and said, "There is something I need your help with." ”

"Yes."

Xu Lan nodded, this should have been the agreed thing.

"I guess I'm going to run a little errand these days, and it's inconvenient to carry a drag oil bottle."

Xiahou Changyuan glanced at the girl beside him and said with a smile: "I've been bothering you for this time." ”

"I, no, yes, drag, oil, bottle!"

As soon as she heard her master say this about herself, the girl was immediately unhappy.

"No problem."

Xu Lan readily agreed to this request,

For him, it's just a matter of adding an extra pair of chopsticks, and it's not spending his own money anyway.

"Okay, then I'll go."

Xiahou Changyuan was extremely free and easy, and disappeared into the crowd after explaining a few words to his apprentice.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Xu Lan looked Xiahou Changyuan's apprentice up and down, and then remembered that he didn't even know her name.

"My name is Wei Buge."

The girl looked wary, her big blinking eyes revealing a stupid clarity.

"The master said, if you inquire about him, you can't say a word."

Xu Lan: ......

Is there a possibility, I haven't asked yet?

"Yes, you don't know."

Xu Lan smiled: "Don't worry, I won't ask you." ”

"Who says I don't know?"

As soon as Wei Buge heard this, he was immediately unhappy.

"I still have more than a dozen senior brothers and sisters, don't bully me, otherwise they won't let you go."

"Huh?"

Xu Lan tilted his head slightly,

This Xiahou Changyuan seems to like to accept apprentices?

"Then can you tell me about your senior brother and sister?"

Looking at Wei Buge, who was a little stupid and innocent in front of him, the corners of Xu Lan's mouth raised slightly.

(End of chapter)