Transmigration: I, the Dragon Overlord, start by protecting my beautiful bride!

"So what happened after that?"

“That’s what’s strange,” the maid leaned closer and whispered cautiously. “There were so many suspicious things about this matter, yet it was ultimately left unresolved.”

Long Aotian was also very surprised to hear this.

The emperor was the ruler of the entire empire, and his favorite concubine went missing unexpectedly on the day she miscarried.

Instead of investigating further, he directly announced the lockdown of the courtyard, which was truly...

"Lord Shen, you can't tell anyone about this, and you can't say that I told you..." The maid looked at Long Aotian and pleaded, "After all, the only people who know about this are probably me and that old maid..."

Long Aotian nodded to reassure her that he would never tell anyone about this.

He then inquired about the old maid's name and appearance, preparing to meet her.

After bidding farewell to the maidservants, Long Aotian and Zhao Zhaoyi re-entered the courtyard.

As soon as you enter the courtyard, a chill washes over you.

It seemed as if a cold wind was blowing, and it certainly looked strange.

"The yin energy here is so heavy, it seems that what the maid just said must have been true..."

As Long Aotian spoke, he walked toward a well under a tree in the courtyard.

Consort Zhao followed and said, "Brother, you don't suspect that this palace secret is related to the disappearance of Physician Shi and the others, do you?"

Long Aotian glanced at the bottom of the well, but it was pitch black inside and he couldn't see anything at all. However, he was certain that it was a dry well.

"Don't you find it strange?" Long Aotian said calmly, "An emperor, whose beloved concubine disappeared on the day she miscarried. Instead of investigating, he tried his best to hide the truth as if he was afraid of something. There must be something wrong with that."

Zhao Zhaoyi nodded in agreement, but only briefly before scratching her head and continuing, "However, the concubine who disappeared during the New Year was six months pregnant. This time it's Jiang Beichuan, Miss Zi, Miss Pei, and others. With their skills, they won't be captured so easily; they'll always have a chance to call for help..."

Long Aotian also felt that what she said made some sense. Even if the other party was stronger than them, the three of them should still have had a chance to shout for help...

"unless……"

"Unless what?"

“Unless the other party is much stronger than them, or because they have been subjected to some kind of trick.” Long Aotian said this, having already walked around the courtyard, and now came to the wall. “For example, a bewitching incense or something.” As he said this, he suddenly noticed that the color of the stone bricks in front of him did not seem to match the stone bricks next to him.

“Yes, brother is right.” Zhao Zhaoyi nodded and followed. “If we use a mind-control incense, we can knock out the other three and only deal with Doctor Shi. But to use this method, someone must be very familiar with us. After all… Doctor Shi has been practicing medicine for many years, so ordinary mind-control incense shouldn’t work on her.”

Long Aotian was aware of this as well, so he began to ponder carefully what Zhao Zhaoyi had just said.

The only people familiar with them here are Pinru and Bai Yuhua.

But given his character, Long Aotian found it hard to believe that he would do such a despicable thing.

Can……

As Long Aotian thought this, he felt as if many threads were tangled together in his head, and he couldn't find the starting point to untangle them.

He walked into the room and looked at this simple and unpretentious place, which was completely different from other luxurious mansions. He couldn't help but wonder if this was really where the favored concubine lived.

Not only were the things used tattered and worn out, but the environment was also terrible. It was nothing like the room where a favored concubine of the emperor would live...

"Sir, I've searched the entire area. Have you made any new discoveries?"

Zhao Zhaoyi wandered around the room again, but still found nothing.

Long Aotian did not answer her, but simply walked silently around the room.

Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation under his feet and his gaze involuntarily turned downwards.

He was standing on a stone slab, which looked exactly like the other stone slabs, but the gaps around it were a bit larger.

Long Aotian immediately bent down to examine it, and stretched out his finger to carefully feel around the cracks in the stone slab. Finally, he said to Zhao Zhaoyi, "There's something wrong with this stone slab. Open it and take a look."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhaoyi readily drew her sword, inserting the blade of her short sword into the gap, and then kicked it open with a powerful kick!

The stone slab flew up, then crashed heavily to the ground, shattering into several pieces, revealing slightly damp soil underneath.

“Brother, there are no secret passages or hidden things down there. It looks perfectly normal.” Zhao Zhaoyi glanced down and then asked, “You say there’s a problem, but what exactly is the problem?”

Upon hearing this, Long Aotian did not answer immediately. Instead, he bent down and touched the damp soil on the ground before speaking, "A few days ago, Jingcheng experienced heavy rain. Logically speaking, it's not a problem for the soil to be damp, but... this is indoors, with eaves to shelter from the rain. How could the soil be so damp? Besides, there isn't even a trace of rainwater on the floor."

Hearing Long Aotian's words, Zhao Zhaoyi also felt a little strange. She immediately used the same trick again and lifted up the rest of the floorboards. However, unlike the first floorboard she lifted, the surrounding soil was very dry.

"What...what's going on?"

"It's very simple. This soil was only recently used for backfilling."

Long Aotian quickly guessed that the soil in front of him had been filled in later by someone.

The backfill soil became so damp because it was the rainy season these past few days.

"So, you mean there are secret passages underground?"

"Well, it should be."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Zhao Zhaoyi rolled up her sleeves and got to work. "Hurry up and dig up the soil. Perhaps Doctor Shi and the others are down there!"

Upon seeing this, Long Aotian grabbed her and said, "If the two of us dig, how long will it take? You should go and call two people over first, and we'll check the depth first."

Zhao Zhaoyi thought it made sense, nodded, and immediately used her lightness skill to leave the place.

Meanwhile, Long Aotian took advantage of this time to begin studying the soil in front of him.

The backfill soil was a very distinct red color, and it would be difficult for one person to transport so much soil from outside the city without making a sound.

Therefore, it can be basically determined that the soil must have come from inside the palace. If he can find the source of the soil, he may be able to narrow down the search area and find the real murderer.

As he was thinking this, something suddenly fell from the roof and landed squarely on Long Aotian's head.

"Who, who?"

Long Aotian reacted as if on instinct; even though it was just a ring, it startled him so much that he dodged to the other side.

He picked up the rings that had fallen to the ground. The rings were exquisitely crafted, but they didn't look like Chinese designs; they resembled designs from other countries...

He held the ring in his hand, then used his lightness skill to move upwards, and finally found a very decomposed skeleton, which was just bones, directly above the roof beam.

Judging from the marks on his fingers, it is clear that he is indeed the owner of this ring.

only……

How did these remains end up here? And who was its original owner? Long Aotian couldn't figure it out for the time being, nor did he want to think about these questions.

……

A gathering of heroes.

Heroes' Gathering Stronghold, Dungeon.

Because Shi Yiguang had disappeared, the task of giving Leng Yuhuan acupuncture was completely handed over to her.

At this moment, Leng Yuhuan in the cell had changed from her usual disheveled appearance.

Although her hair was still loose, she looked quite relaxed.

The iron chains that were originally set up to stop him have now loosened considerably.

"Leng Yuhuan, time for acupuncture." Xiaoyuer walked into the ward carrying a medicine box and greeted Leng Yuhuan, who was preparing medicine.

Leng Yuhuan was very cooperative, letting Xiaoyuer perform acupuncture on her. Even when Xiaoyuer tried some new things on herself, Leng Yuhuan was used to it.

Little Fish: "Strange, really strange..."

Leng Yuhuan: "What's so strange about it?"

Little Fish squinted at him and said, "Why have you become so much more obedient these past few days? You're completely different from before."

Leng Yuhuan laughed and said, "There's nothing I can do. People always have to learn to adapt. I already have nowhere to go, so what's the use of being arrogant? Besides, I'm overjoyed that the Chairman of the Ying Association agreed to my request."

Some time ago, Leng Yuhuan made a request to the Heroes' Association: that he should step in and intervene if the Celestial Empire could no longer withstand the pressure.

Although the request was quite unrealistic, Leng Yuhuan was already very happy to be able to fulfill it.

Only after Xiaoyuer left did his eyes begin to turn sinister again.

……

Celestial dynasty.

First line of defense.

After a month of fighting, the Shang Dynasty army could no longer leverage its previous advantages to sustain itself through war. It could only be held back by the Heavenly Dynasty cavalry and then taken away with muskets.

This was a situation he refused to believe until his death. But he had already used his power to eliminate the Yu family, the only family in the Shang Dynasty that could rival him.

It would be too risky to ask him to mobilize the army again and take a desperate gamble. If he fails, it's not just a matter of whether they can defeat Long Aotian; the safety of their Shang Dynasty itself could also be crushed.

"Grand Preceptor, why don't we return to the capital to recuperate and then continue our attack on the Celestial Empire?" Temujin suggested from the side.

"How can this be allowed?" the Imperial Advisor said angrily. "If we were to withdraw at this time, where would my face be? Would anyone listen to me in the future?"

After the Grand Preceptor roared, the entire tent fell into a deathly silence, until his eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had thought of something...