Chapter 1153: Tempered Poisoned Honey

“I’ve looked through it. There’s nothing special, only a few valuable lines.” Lingguang was happy when she got the ancient text, but He Lingchuan was now a bit disappointed. “Does the Bright Lamp have any other uses besides making Heart Lamps?”

“I don’t know.”

Dong Rui looked at her, unable to hide his curiosity. “How were you exposed? How did King Bo discover you?” This woman had been plotting for a long time, and her plan seemed meticulous. How did King Bo suddenly find out that she was behind the theft of the tribute and the framing of his kingdom?

“The mistake was likely with Imperial Physician Wang Chuanyi,” Concubine Mei said slowly. “Imperial Physician Chen exposed that he had given Prince Bo II sedatives, not that his condition had improved, which led to Wang Chuanyi’s downfall and Chen’s rise to the position of Imperial Physician. King Bo, thinking back afterwards, probably guessed that I used him to get rid of Wang Chuanyi.”

“Did you have a grudge against Wang Chuanyi?”

“He was the one ordered to prepare the poisoned wine that was given to my father,” Concubine Mei stated what she believed to be the truth. “King Bo’s henchmen and accomplices all deserve to die; I won’t let a single one of them go! But I was too impatient then. That person should have been dealt with last.” A small mistake led to her exposure.

“Of course, there’s another possibility: you.” She pointed at He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan was a little surprised. “Me?”

“In Xuncheng, Nangong Yan tried to trouble you, but I stopped him,” Concubine Mei said softly. “Nangong Yan always harbored some suspicion towards me; I shouldn’t have gotten involved right under his nose.”

Dong Rui asked her, “Why did you help us?”

“I thought you were just innocent passersby,” Concubine Mei sighed. “The Feathered Guards’ wrongful arrests and killings are commonplace. I save whomever I can.”

“You’re quite kind, aren’t you?”

“Actually, you didn’t need my help at all, did you?” Concubine Mei shifted, leaning against the wall. “Nangong Yan was later killed by you, wasn’t he?”

He Lingchuan remained silent, but Dong Rui quickly answered, “He and his Golden Guards were not easy to kill.”

Concubine Mei looked at Dong Rui, her beautiful eyes fixed on him. “At least half of King Bo’s atrocities were carried out by Nangong Yan. This person was utterly evil, yet unbeatable in Bo Kingdom. You rid the land of evil and brought peace; your merits are immense, and the common people are endlessly grateful. Why act as anonymous heroes?”

Hearing the beauty’s gentle praise, Dong Rui’s chest unconsciously puffed out.

He Lingchuan, however, was unmoved. “The ‘Elder Cao’ who secretly traded Bright Lamps with Bo Kingdom—you impersonated him, didn’t you?” Elder Cao himself vehemently denied it, and the disciples of the Carefree Sect testified, so the person who actually delivered the Bright Lamp to King Bo was a fake.

As soon as he brought the conversation back to business, Concubine Mei pouted her lips and had to admit, “Yes, it was me.”

“How did you manage it?”

Concubine Mei instinctively bit her lip, then reluctantly took out an object and handed it over. The object was round and blunt, slightly reddish, with a layer of short, fine fuzz on its surface.

“It looks like deer antler velvet,” Dong Rui leaned in to look. “What is it?”

“A mirage horn.”

The answer was completely unexpected, and both were surprised. “What?”

“This is a horn shed by a mirage demon long ago.”

“A mere mirage demon’s illusion—are you confident it could fool King Bo’s envoy and the imperial guards?” Although Bo Kingdom’s elemental energy is weak, discerning a minor illusion might not require much, and the Bo envoy himself possessed some cultivation. Most importantly, Concubine Mei’s plan allowed no room for failure; she wouldn’t dare attempt it without a viable certainty, would she?

Mistress Zhu Erniang’s Pansy Island also had a mirage demon, and He Lingchuan likewise didn’t know its appearance. But that was because it never revealed itself to He Lingchuan, and he didn’t want to force it. According to Mistress Zhu Erniang, mirage demons vary greatly in form and are not uniform. It is a peculiar and rare demon species.

Having handed over her life-saving treasure, Concubine Mei gloomily said, “Perhaps not with ordinary illusions, but this mirage demon was an ancient immortal!”

“An ancient immortal?” He Lingchuan’s heart stirred, and a strange thought popped into his head. *No way?*

“Which one? Does it have a name?”

“Its esteemed title is ‘True Person of a Thousand Illusions’.”

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui exchanged glances, speechless for a long time. A clue for the Mount Ling mission, more than a year in the future, just appeared at this time, in this place?

“How did you obtain such a rare treasure?”

“My father once unexpectedly acquired an immortal’s old collection, and the mirage horn was among them,” Concubine Mei said plainly. “This mirage horn was originally a pair; the other one I used at Mount Baimao.”

“The Bright Lamp?” He Lingchuan understood. “You didn’t actually attack the Shadowfang Guards, did you?”

“Yes,” Concubine Mei nodded. “If I had such excellent skills, would I need to borrow the power of Mou Kingdom for revenge?”

“Wait,” Dong Rui, who had been listening, was confused. “Then how was the Bright Lamp stolen from the Shadowfang Guards?”

He Lingchuan revealed the truth with a single sentence: “The Shadowfang Guards never obtained the Bright Lamp, so there was no theft to begin with.”

“When the Bright Lamp matured, I ascended Mount Baimao in advance to collect it. Then I used one mirage horn to conjure an illusion in the lamp’s likeness, letting the Shadowfang Guards take it,” Concubine Mei said, pointing to the mirage horn. “This kind of lifelike illusion can last for three days; even those with great magical powers might not see through it. But once the mirage horn materializes into an object, it will vanish on its own after the three-day limit.”

“Three days,” He Lingchuan realized. “But the Shadowfang Guards left too quickly after taking the fake Bright Lamp, so you had people use driftwood to block Julu Harbor, intending to delay their boarding.”

“Heaven helped me; there happened to be a fleet transporting timber at that time.”

When the Shadowfang Guards discovered the Bright Lamp had vanished before boarding, they naturally wouldn’t leave and began to search for the thief. Concubine Mei only needed to lead them towards Bo Kingdom.

Dong Rui hummed. “Elder Wu of the Carefree Sect was also your accomplice?”

“Not exactly. It was just by chance that we met a few times.” She emphasized the words “by chance.”

“The moment I saw him, I knew he was lustful. Yet, he insisted on speaking to me as if he were a morally upright man.” Concubine Mei smoothed her hair by her temple and smiled. “I have many ways to deal with such people. All I had to do was share a few drinks with him, and he would pour his heart out to me. Then, if I secretly fed him a little medicine, he would tell me all the passwords for the Bright Lamp.”

“Later, I left, and he never knew my true identity.” This was until He Lingchuan showed Elder Wu Concubine Mei’s bounty portrait.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui both felt a chill. Even if Elder Wu was somewhat lustful, the fact that he could rise to the position of an Elder in the Carefree Sect and control the Bright Lamp’s passwords indicated he truly had some skill. Such a cultivator, yet he completely surrendered and was routed before Concubine Mei? Hmph, lust truly is a blade that scrapes the bone clean.

“Where did you get the red string on your wrist?”

“This?” Concubine Mei raised her wrist, revealing the red string. “My father collected it too.”

Dong Rui couldn’t help but ask, “Who is your father?” “How could he collect so many strange artifacts?”

“My father was Mai Liansheng.” A hint of sadness appeared in Concubine Mei’s eyes. “He once assisted the current King Bo in raising an army, but was killed by King Bo after the kingdom was established!”

He Lingchuan realized. “So it was Lord Mai.” When he first arrived in Bo Kingdom’s capital, he encountered imperial guards searching for “remnants of rebel factions”—this was also the crime Jin Bai and the other Shadowfang Guards were accused of: being part of Mai’s faction. He even saw commoners secretly burning paper in the dark alleys of the Bo capital, offering it at ancestral tablets dedicated to Lord Mai. Burning paper for Mai Liansheng was risky, yet people still did it.

“My father governed well and loved the people, earning their deep support, yet King Bo grew suspicious and had him poisoned to death! I was nine years old that year and personally witnessed my family’s ruin.” Concubine Mei said softly, “Over the years, many have repeatedly used my father’s name to launch uprisings, but unfortunately, none have succeeded.” Mai Liansheng had popular support in Bo Kingdom; others even had to fly his banner when revolting.

He Lingchuan suddenly asked, “Was Prince Bo II’s madness also related to you?”

“In this world, good people don’t live long, while evildoers persist for a thousand years. If I hadn’t acted, how would he have gone mad while perfectly fine?” Concubine Mei said lightly, “Prince Bo II was no good himself—cruel and suspicious, very much like his father. Ha, it’s ironic: before he went mad, old King Bo was quite wary of him.”

This woman could harm anyone she wished, and Dong Rui increasingly admired her. “How did you drive him mad? With medicine?”

“King Bo and his son had committed many evil deeds, so they were especially careful about their food and drink. I had been in the palace for over two years, and King Bo never dined with me, never kept me overnight. Even when we drank wine, he drank his and I drank mine; I couldn’t possibly drug them.” Perhaps her leg had gone numb, as Concubine Mei shifted her sitting position, her figure unintentionally revealing a hint of allure under the candlelight.

Dong Rui was subconsciously a little distracted. From every angle, the woman seemed flawless.

“But Prince Bo II most coveted what belonged to his father, especially what he couldn’t have. All I had to do was appear before him a few times, remaining aloof and unyielding, and Prince Bo II naturally became interested in me.”

“The more interested he became, the more I ignored him and even advised him to respect himself. Finally, one time, Prince Bo II couldn’t hold back and tried to force himself upon me, only to be caught red-handed by his father!” Concubine Mei pouted, looking at her slender, pristine fingernails. “From then on, whenever Prince Bo II saw me, there was a fire burning in his eyes.” What one cannot obtain always stirs up turmoil.

“He had poor character but good cultivation talent, and he practiced the orthodox cultivation method that King Bo had obtained for him at great expense. This method was fast-acting and powerful, the only problem being its high demand for a cultivator’s focus; a slight error would lead to…” Concubine Mei shrugged. “I arranged to go to the hot springs at the imperial villa with King Bo, enjoying ourselves freely, and ‘coincidentally’ he stumbled upon us. Heh, he was hiding in the bushes, peeking, and thought I didn’t know! That very night, he suffered a qi deviation.”

Dong Rui gave a thumbs-up. “Brilliant, truly brilliant!” A soaking wet beauty, a seductive body, enchanting low murmurs, and all sorts of indescribable acts with his father. Let alone Prince Bo II, who harbored improper desires for her; any other man would have been inflamed, and their qi would have rebelled during cultivation. This demoness didn’t even need a knife to kill.

“King Bo’s death—it’s a pity I couldn’t witness it myself,” Concubine Mei looked up and asked He Lingchuan, “Did he suffer? Was he in pain?”