So satisfying! The Great Demon King wiped out everyone equally!

The scene shifts, and Cang Lan is lying lazily on the couch, with a handsome man beside her holding a wine cup, leaning forward slightly as if to bring the cup to Cang Lan's lips.

On the other side, a pretty woman was carefully peeling grapes, the juicy grapes looking especially tempting on her fingertips.

Not far away, a boy or girl of indeterminate gender was gracefully playing the guzheng. The melodious music flowed in the air, adding a unique charm to the scene.

The man next to Qin Yurou comforted her, saying, "Don't be nervous, young lady. We only sell our art, not our bodies." Qin Yurou became even more shy at the man's sudden words, and a blush spread across her cheeks.

Canglan: "Yurou, there's no need to be so tense. This is both my territory and a great place to enjoy yourself. Just relax and enjoy it; we're not going to do anything~"

Qin Yurou chuckled awkwardly, "Hehe, I'll try my best, but I never expected that you would own Yiyun Pavilion?"

"Opening a shop is not that simple; it all comes down to connections."

Suddenly, a man walked in. "Princess, the Emperor has summoned you and the Crown Princess to the palace. I heard it's because of the Ninth Prince's disappearance."

"Okay, I'll go right now!"

Seeing this, Canglan took Qin Yurou home and then took a carriage into the palace.

Upon entering the imperial study, Canglan performed the rites. The emperor inquired about the events of the previous night. Finding no issues, he asked her to stand aside.

Immediately, the emperor ordered Eunuch Gao to bring in the three henchmen who had accompanied the Ninth Prince the previous night.

The three burly men lowered their heads, not daring to look at the emperor sitting high on the throne, and immediately knelt down, begging for mercy.

The emperor demanded sternly, "Who are you three? And where is the Ninth Prince?"

"Your Majesty, my name is Chen Dong, and his name is Zhang Yuan." Zhang Dong raised his head slightly to answer, and immediately saw Cang Lan's ambiguous smile.

In that instant, Chen Dong's heart trembled violently. The fear from last night surged into his mind like a tide. But since things had already come to this point, and he was going to die anyway, he might as well take a gamble.

As long as he insisted that she killed the Ninth Prince, he could not only avenge his tragically killed brother, but the emperor might also reward him with some silver, ensuring his comfortable life for the rest of his days. Thinking of this, a glint of smugness flashed in Chen Dong's eyes.

Seeing Chen Dong's lewd appearance, Cang Lan felt extremely sorry. She had finally decided to do something good. Cang Lan's eyes sharpened, and she silently activated the Gu worms.

Just as Chen Dong was about to speak, he suddenly clutched his chest, collapsed to the ground in agony, vomited blood, and died with blood flowing from all seven orifices.

This sudden turn of events terrified everyone in the hall. The Empress turned pale with fright, and the palace maids and eunuchs screamed in panic, creating chaos.

"What's going on?" the emperor roared.

Xie Wu was standing nearby. He quickly went over and checked Chen Dong's breathing. "Your Majesty, he is dead."

The Empress's eyes widened in anger. "Why did this person suddenly die? The remaining two must be hiding something. Send them to the Imperial Prison for severe interrogation until they tell the truth."

Zhang Yuan and Wu Sheng were also trembling with fear. They stared in horror at the corpse on the ground, as if they had guessed something. They immediately said, "Your Majesty, we had no idea that the man was the Ninth Prince. We were just doing our job for money. As for the Ninth Prince, we have no idea where he is."

Wu Sheng: "Your Majesty, it was a woman who asked me to follow the Ninth Prince."

"Who is it? Is this person inside the palace?" The Empress then glanced at Li Yaoguang without changing her expression.

Wu Sheng looked up and glanced around. The moment he saw Cang Lan, he put on all his acting skills.

"Your Majesty, no, I only know that she has a beauty mark under her eye. She asked me to follow the Ninth Prince. She promised to give me ten taels of silver as long as I helped her find out about the Ninth Prince."

Upon hearing this, Xie Wu was taken aback. Wasn't that referring to Xie Xing'er?

Empress: "A beauty mark under the eye? Isn't that Xie Xing'er, General Xie's adopted daughter!"

Xie Wu immediately knelt down, "Your Majesty and Empress, I have always loved the Ninth Prince and would never harm him. The only possibility is that the Ninth Prince and I met with misfortune together."

The emperor frowned, pondered for a moment, and said, "In that case, I will leave this matter to the Crown Princess."

Li Yaoguang immediately knelt down, "Father, rest assured, your son will do his best to find the Ninth Prince."

The Empress hurriedly stopped her, knowing that if Li Yaoguang were to handle the matter, her son Yu'er would surely die. "Your Majesty, it's better not to trouble yourself..."

"Alright, Your Majesty, there's no need for further words. My mind is made up."

After leaving the imperial study, they boarded the carriage back to the princess's residence. Little White was utterly perplexed. [Host, something's off about this emperor! He's clearly dying, so why does he seem so energetic?]

"It's so obvious, he's been reborn!"

[You can do it this way!]

It turns out, the old emperor has been reborn.

In his previous life, the emperor died from anger after being forced to abdicate. On his deathbed, he learned that the empress and their good son had plotted against him, so he refused to be reincarnated and existed as a ghost.

After Li Yu forced the emperor to abdicate and successfully ascended the throne, he began a bloody massacre of the other princes, sparing neither the old nor the weak, nor women and children, and slaughtering their entire families.

With Xie Zhaohua established as empress, military generals came to power, and the status of civil officials was greatly diminished. Those greedy officials, in order to expand their own power, unscrupulously engaged in favoritism and corruption.

For a time, the phenomenon of "when one person attains enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven" emerged one after another.

Merchants saw an opportunity: anyone willing to pay could buy their way into official positions and promotions. Prices skyrocketed, reaching tens of millions of taels of gold.

Li Yu never forgot his beloved. In order to find her, he spared no expense in wasting manpower, material resources, and money in searching for Taoist priests.

Blinded by his obsession, he became mad and fanatical. In the end, he burned the Empress alive, all in pursuit of that elusive love.

Later emperors even enjoyed forcing respectable women into marriage, a practice that further emboldened local officials, leading to frequent cases of women being forcibly taken from the people. The common people lived in dire straits, suffering immeasurably.

In his later years, Li Yu became increasingly senile and even began to pursue the elixir of immortality. The heavy taxes burdened many people, and his daughter, Qin Yaoguang, witnessing their suffering, resolutely led a people's uprising.

The emperor, witnessing all this as a ghost, was filled with unbearable grief. He never imagined that the foundation laid by his ancestors would be so painstakingly destroyed by this beast, Li Yu, and he could only watch helplessly as the country gradually declined.

However, the old emperor was, after all, a true Son of Heaven, and had performed countless merits in his lifetime, so Heaven gave him a second chance.

--split line--

Not long after, Li Yaoguang found the dead Li Yu and the still-breathing Xie Xing'er in a house.

When Xie Xing'er woke up, her eyes were full of resentment, and she told everyone that Xie Zhaohua had killed the Ninth Prince.

However, the coroners had already carefully examined the Ninth Prince's body and concluded that the person who killed him must have been a highly skilled male.

The Ninth Prince's leg was twisted off, leaving it in an extremely contorted state. Only an adult male could possibly achieve such a twisting force.

Therefore, no one believed Xie Xing'er's words.

To confirm Xie Xing'er's condition, the imperial physician was immediately dispatched. After examining her, the physician shook his head helplessly and said, "This woman has probably been imprisoned for too long and abused. She has gone mad and can no longer distinguish between reality and fantasy."

Afterwards, Xie Xing'er was led back to the Xie residence by Xie Wu.