After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

Once the body was buried, Qi Yuanshi immediately chased everyone away. After confirming that no one was around, he slowly squatted down in front of the body, took out a clean white handkerchief from his pocket, and gently covered the corpse's face, which was already rotting beyond recognition. He closed his eyes and began to chant the Taoist scriptures about reincarnation in a low voice.

After muttering to himself for a while, he finished reciting a Taoist scripture. His legs were sore and swollen. He was about to stand up, supporting himself on his knees with his hands, when suddenly, several dark, worm-like creatures, resembling black bamboo branches or charred twigs, crawled onto the white cloth.

"It's presumptuous."

With a whisper, Qi Yuanshi quickly picked up the black reptile with two fingers. Before he could get close enough to examine it closely, the reptile's tiny mouth bit a small gash on his finger. It didn't hurt or itch, and he felt nothing, but a drop of red blood oozed out. Immediately, it struggled to burrow into his finger.

Such a special insect, in the world today, there is only... Gu worm.

Qi Yuanshi's face changed in horror. He subconsciously threw away the black reptile in his hand. The reptile, which had just tasted fresh blood, was now gone in the blink of an eye. It lay on the ground, rolling and struggling in pain. Its small body searched frantically, but it could only find the body of its former owner.

Although blood is putrid, it's better than nothing. Driven by the body's instinct for blood, the black reptiles bite into the rotten flesh without hesitation and burrow in at an extremely fast speed, feasting voraciously, as if they were desperately thirsty and had encountered a large spring of sweet water.

Witnessing the black reptile's frenzied behavior, Qi Yuanshi raised his hand and stared at the still bleeding wound on his finger, his gaze complex and enigmatic.

Xiang An spoke up: "Hey, you don't actually think Xiang Xin was behind the Gu worms, do you?"

To be fair, when Xiang An saw the Gu worms crawling out of Fu Qingbai's body, his first subconscious thought was: Xiang Xin's.

The next moment, she dismissed the thought. The Gu worm in front of her was clearly not right. The books in the Fragrant Pavilion once recorded: Gu worms are usually divided into mother worms and offspring worms. Offspring worms are driven by mother worms and cannot be nurtured without the blood of living people. If the offspring lives, the mother lives; if the offspring dies, the mother dies.

The person is now dead, but the Gu worm is not. This worm is much more powerful than ordinary Gu worms.

Xiang Xin could not have used poison, nor did she have the opportunity to do so—from the moment Fu Qingbai entered the palace until the last moment of his death, Xiang An followed Fu Qingbai closely, and from beginning to end, Xiang Xin made no move to use poison.

who is it?

Names kept flashing through Xiang An's mind, but finally his gaze settled on Qi Yuanshi in front of him. Suddenly, he thought of something: "After Fu Qingbai died, his body was buried under the heavy snow in a remote, cold palace. How did he manage to bring Fu Qingbai out?"

Stealing? Bribing eunuchs and palace maids? Leading troops into the palace and killing Xiang Xin?

It wasn't that she was overthinking things; the truth was that Emperor Xiang Xin had a strong desire for immortality. If he had learned from Daoist Xuanqing that she was bound three zhang away from Fu Qingbai, he would never have allowed Qi Shiyuan to easily take Fu Qingbai's body out of the palace.

Before Xiang An could figure it out, Qi Shiyuan had already taken out another handkerchief to cover his hands, bent down and untied Fu Qingbai's prison clothes, revealing the rotting chest inside. Xiang An turned her head away, unable to bear to look, not out of fear, but because she could not face Fu Qingbai's death.

She had thought countless times: if someone had seen her or touched Fu Qingbai when he died, would he have survived? Could she have saved his life? Even if she couldn't, at least she could have properly buried his body.

Instead of sitting helplessly for two days guarding his body amidst the swirling snow.

At this moment, Xiang An desperately hoped that a strong wind would come and carry her far away.

She initially decided to lie in a coffin for peace and quiet, but she forgot that in chaotic times, the noisiest place is a mass grave.

Qi Yuanshi remained calm despite being in close proximity to the corpse, but Xiang An was not so calm. She leaned closer to him and said, "Judging from your appearance, you're only fifteen or sixteen? How can you be so brave at such a young age? Aren't you afraid of having nightmares?"

Children are the most dangerous creatures to be frightened; one wrong move and they could be scared to death.

"So it was you who stole Fu Qingbai's body."

Qi Yuanshen arrived silently without anyone noticing.

Qi Yuanshi did not turn around to look at him, maintaining the position of kneeling on one knee: "Then report to the authorities and have me arrested."

Qi Yuanshen was furious: "What nonsense are you talking about! You are my own brother! I don't allow you to get close to Fu Qingbai because I want to protect you. You are still young and don't understand the intricacies of the situation in the capital. Fu Qingbai's life and death are not something you or I can control! Nor can the Qi family cover it up."

"So you knew all along?" Qi Yuanshi moved his already numb legs. "You knew, so why didn't you tell me?"

"Know what?" Qi Yuanshen's anger froze like a raging fire meeting a chilling breeze.

Qi Yuanshi stood up, turned around, and opened his hand wrapped in a handkerchief. On the white silk handkerchief was a vivid black reptile.

Qi Yuanshen lowered his head, unable to discern the reason: "Spring has arrived, and there are indeed more insects. What's wrong? I wonder if the delicate Second Young Master Qi was frightened by this little reptile, or bitten by it?"

"You really don't know what this is?"

"I don't know."

Seeing Qi Yuanshi's solemn expression, Qi Yuanshen couldn't help but feel nervous as well. However, after looking at it again and again, he really couldn't find anything strange about the insect in front of him.

Qi Yuanshi said in a deep voice: "Gu worms."

Before he could finish speaking, Qi Yuanshen slapped the insect in Qi Yuanshi's palm away and kicked Fu Qingbai hard in the waist. The unconscious body rolled down the slope into the dug pit.

"Qi Yuanshen, what are you doing?!"

Things happened so fast that Qi Yuanshi didn't have time to stop it.

Faced with his younger brother's anger, Qi Yuanshen didn't want to explain. He reached out and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him down the mountain: "Get out of here with me right now!"

"I won't leave!" Qi Yuanshi kicked back with his heels like a stubborn donkey, "Qi Yuanshen, you're a coward! Even if you didn't tell me, I know it was the little emperor who did it, he killed him..."

"not him!"

Unwilling to listen to his willful younger brother's reckless words any longer, Qi Yuanshen struck Qi Yuanshi's neck with a heavy palm strike. With skillful force and a tricky angle, Qi Yuanshi instantly fell to the ground.

"Tsk tsk, I already said it wasn't Xiang Xin who did it, but you wouldn't listen at all. Look at you, talking nonsense, are you dizzy now?" Xiang An looked at Qi Yuanshi, who was lying on the ground with his eyes rolled back and covered in mud, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. "You..."

A muffled thud landed behind him. Turning around, Xiang An saw Qi Yuanshen had already jumped into the pit, taken off his large cloak, and completely wrapped it around Fu Qingbai's body. He bent down, one hand around her neck and the other around her knees, and easily lifted Fu Qingbai's body out of the pit and placed it in the empty coffin.

This man has the appearance of a refined scholar, yet he possesses such great strength.

Were people in ancient times really that fierce?

Xiang An was stunned for a moment, and the next instant he came to his senses, he let out a howl: "That coffin was the one I picked first! Mine!!"