Chapter 29 Opening the Coffin

No one knows whether Old Master Liu is dead or not.

Today, apart from the Liu family, no one has ever seen Old Master Liu’s body.

The inner prison was quiet and a little depressing. Yun Yang waved his hand, and all the spies in the room retreated silently.

He stood up suddenly and paced around the room: "Old Master Liu is not dead. We must have found the key point. The Liu family is panicking and can only use this method to force us to stop."

Chen Ji pretended to be surprised and said, "Old Master Liu is not dead? No way, would the Liu family lie about such an important matter? I see that Liu Mingxian looks very sad."

Yun Yang sneered and said, "Officials in the court and the public have done even more outrageous things in their quest for power and profit. It's not surprising that a 90-year-old man faked his death to save his family's descendants. And Liu Mingxian, those civil servants are used to pretending."

As he said that, 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 and perform an autopsy."

Yun Yang was shocked. "Old Master Liu is the biological father of the current Queen Mother. I have no problem investigating the Liu family, but opening his coffin is courting death! I just realized that you are braver than me. What if he is really dead?"

Chen Ji held the Bagua Lantern in both hands, raised his head and looked at Yun Yang: "Master Yun Yang, even if Old Master Liu is really dead, would you be willing not to open the coffin and take a look?"

Yun Yang paced quickly in the room, thinking quickly about all the possibilities after opening the coffin and conducting an autopsy. Finally, he stopped and said word by word with certainty: "Open the coffin and conduct an autopsy!"

At this time, a cold wind blew from the depths of the inner prison, causing the Bagua lantern in Chen Ji's hand to sway.

Just now, Chen Ji only took away Bingliu from cells A and B, and did not dare to check on the cells of other numbers.

But at this time, as the cold wind swept across, the icy streams from cells C, D, E, and F deeper in the prison began to stir and rushed up on their own!
There was a tendency for the ice flow in Chen Ji's body to become unsuppressible!

Don't stay here for long.

Chen Ji stood up and walked out: "Master Yunyang, I've been out for so long, my master must be worried, please take me back first."

Yun Yang smiled grimly and said, "You are the one who came up with the idea. You want to leave now? Let's go together. It's not appropriate to bring other coroners with you. It just so happens that you have some talent in autopsies. If Old Master Liu is in the coffin, you can also investigate his cause of death. If something really happens, no one can escape."

Chen Ji hesitated: "Master Yunyang, the credit belongs to you and Master Jiaotu, I just gave you some advice."

"What if I don't take you with me and your plan ends up killing us?" Yun Yang sneered, "Let's go quickly and pick up Jiaotu. We need to reach the Liu family's ancestral tomb before nightfall."

Yunyang and Jiaotu are not good at catching spies, but they are good at protecting themselves, shifting the blame, and taking credit.

He blindfolded Chen Ji again and asked in surprise, "Why do you always hold this Bagua lamp?"

As he said that, he snatched it away and put it back where it belonged.

Chen Ji let Yun Yang pull at his clothes as he stumbled out of the inner prison.

In the swaying carriage, he sat upright and clenched his teeth. Without the Bagua lamp, Bingliu became unbridled.

The gray cloth curtains of the car windows were blown up by the wind from time to time, and the setting sun outside the window shone on his face, but he could not feel any warmth.

After an unknown amount of time, someone lifted the curtain of the carriage, and a cold aroma wafted into the air. Jiaotu got into the carriage and said, "Hey, Yunyang, why are you bringing this kid with you?"

Yun Yang was driving the carriage in front: "It was this guy who came up with the idea, so of course we have to take him along."

Jiaotu pulled off Chenji's blindfold, plucked the cotton from his ears, and asked curiously, "Yunyang, I heard that you sent all the jailers in Luocheng Inner Prison to Lingnan? I hope Qiushu won't be angry that you made the decision on your own, after all, the Inner Prison is her territory."

Yun Yang showed a sneer on his face: "She should think about how to face the anger of the Minister. The inner prison has been infiltrated like a sieve, and information is leaking out at will. I will definitely report her for this matter."

Jiaotu thought for a moment, "But being exiled to Lingnan is very hard. It's a long way to go. I heard that malaria is rampant there. If you get it, you will suffer for several days before you die."

Yun Yang was stunned for a moment: "Ah...what should I do then?"

"Just kill him in Luocheng, why run so far?" Jiaotu said seriously.

"Makes sense."

After that, Jiaotu looked at Chen Ji and said seriously again: "You won't cheat us, right? If you cheat us, we will die."

Chen Ji said with a smile: "Master Jiaotu, if I cheat you and Master Yunyang, who can I make money from?"

"That's good to know!" Jiaotu said with a smile. She raised her wrist and put it close to Chen Ji's nose: "Smell the incense I just bought at the Daughter's Pavilion. Is it fragrant? It's expensive."

Yunyang frowned: "What do you want him to smell?!"

Jiaotu glanced at him and said, "Drive your car and mind your own business."

Yun Yang was so angry that he shut up.

Along the way, Chen Ji saw white paper money scattered on both sides of the ground. It was the day of the Liu family's funeral, and they threw it into the sky on the way to the funeral procession.

Yun Yang said disdainfully, "You lived a life of luxury, but you have to scatter so much paper money after you die. You want to continue to enjoy wealth and glory in the other side, but you can't see that poor students can't even afford paper." Jiaotu said with a smile, "Seeing that you hate evil so much, you should ask the Minister of Internal Affairs to transfer you to the Chief Criminal Department. They are investigating corrupt officials every day."

"I'm not going. The Chief Criminal Division is a bunch of old-fashioned people. They're so boring."

……

……

At night, Yunyang and Jiaotu took over driving, and he got into the car to guard Chenji.

"Oh, right," Yun Yang looked directly into Chen Ji's eyes. "During the interrogation, the Liu family member said that Liu Shiyu had a very good relationship with a certain important person in the Jing Palace. I suspect that the Jing Palace is also involved, and there are even spies from the Jing Dynasty operating in the palace... Have you found any clues in the palace?"

Chen Ji's heart tightened: "Master Yunyang, are you sure there are spies in the palace?"

The air in the carriage suddenly froze, as if an invisible hand was pulling at everyone.

Yun Yang asked thoughtfully, "Do you think that Doctor Yao could be a spy for the Jing Dynasty? He is highly respected in the Imperial Hospital of the capital, and many dignitaries want him to come to consult, and even His Majesty wants to summon him to the palace to stay. But he refused, and actually ran to Luocheng three years ago and became the imperial physician of Prince Jing's mansion... Don't you think it's strange?"

"Strange," Chen Ji asked curiously, "Has my master changed in these years?"

"Dr. Yao was known in the capital for being mean, but the Prime Minister once said that he was not like this in his early years. At that time, Dr. Yao was kind and generous, and was even willing to diagnose people for free."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "I don't think my master is a spy. Previously, someone in the palace wanted to see him for medical consultation, but he was unwilling to go. If he was a spy, how could he give up the opportunity to contact the big shots in the palace?"

"That makes sense," Yun Yang stroked his chin, "What about your two fellow apprentices? I checked them out. Liu Quxing is a branch of the Liu family. Is he a possibility?"

Chen Ji took a deep breath and looked puzzled: "Master Yunyang, you are not doubting me in a roundabout way, are you?"

Yun Yang smiled and said, "How could it be you? I have absolute trust in you, I just want you to be careful with the people around you."

Jiaotu suddenly said, "Park the carriage in the woods nearby. We are almost at the Liu family's ancestral tomb. Let's go over the mountain and walk there."

The three got off the car and climbed along the mountain road beside the official road to the top of Zhuangyuan Mountain.

Yunyang and Jiaotu were running very fast. Chen Ji thought he would be exhausted and out of breath, but he didn't expect that he didn't even break a sweat when he reached the top of the mountain.

He lay on the hill, panting heavily, and asked exhaustedly, "Can we see the Liu family's ancestral tomb here?"

Yunyang pointed forward and said, "That's it, the highest point of Beimang."

Chen Ji propped himself up and looked over, only to see that at the highest point of Beimang Mountain there were a series of stone tablets and stone-built tombs, stretching for dozens of acres. The Liu family's ancestral tomb was very magnificent.

In front of each tomb, there are stone men, stone sheep, stone tigers, and stone watchtowers. Some of the tombs are more than ten feet high!

You must know that the Ning Dynasty had a strict hierarchy. Ordinary people were not allowed to ride in sedan chairs, common people were not allowed to wear boots, and only officials were allowed to wear bamboo hats. Every written law and decree proclaimed the etiquette and hierarchy.

For example, the Liu family tombs that are more than ten feet high must have been of the third rank or above during their lifetime.

Yun Yang looked at the ancestral tombs and said with emotion, "My Ning Dynasty civil servant family has been a noble family for thousands of years. They have ridden on the heads of the common people and drank their blood, accumulating a lot of wealth, and only then can they have such a glorious life."

Chen Ji subconsciously felt that something was wrong. How could the Ning Dynasty have lasted for thousands of years? This was an incredible thing. According to the laws of history, it was impossible for this to happen.

Unless there is external force.

At this time, Jiaotu said: "There is indeed something wrong with the death of the old man of the Liu family. Look at the ancestral tomb. There are actually hundreds of private soldiers stationed in it, and there may even be officials guarding it. The last time we sent spies to Luocheng to investigate, we explored this place. At that time, there were only more than ten people stationed in the Liu family's ancestral tomb."

"Then we can't force our way in," Yun Yang frowned and looked at Jiao Tu: "You take action? I can't open the coffin."

Jiaotu glanced at Chen Ji and said, "Let him cover his eyes and turn his back to me. You guard me."

Chen Ji turned his back on his own initiative. He understood that the way an official practices cultivation should not be known to others.

But after he blindfolded himself, Jiaotu sat cross-legged on the top of the mountain, drew the dagger from his waist and cut his forehead.

Yunyang cut his own fingers and put eyes on more than ten paper shadow puppets, staying closely beside Jiaotu.

The next moment, a shadow suddenly emerged from between Jiaotu's eyebrows and separated from her body like a crab shedding its shell.

The shadow stood still, looking exactly like Jiaotu, but wearing black light armor and holding a Qinglong Yanyue Sword in his hand that was taller than a human!

The Jiaotu deity remained motionless, while the Yin spirit looked at Yunyang and said, "I'm going."

After saying that, the Yin God walked to the cliff and jumped down, landing on the treetops at the foot of the mountain as light as a feather. With each jump, he could easily cross more than ten big trees and head straight for the Liu family's ancestral tomb!
Gradually, the sky became completely dark, and the evil spirit merged into the night.

When the Jiaotu Yin God arrived in front of the tomb of the old man of the Liu family, he took advantage of everyone's inattention and crashed straight into the stone tomb!

The stone wall seemed to not exist!
After a long time, the Yin Spirit quickly retreated and went into Jiaotu's brows and disappeared. She suddenly opened her eyes and said in surprise: "There is really no one in the coffin!"

(End of this chapter)