After deceiving the villain, I was forced to love him.

"Young Miss!" The usually composed Feng Deng rushed over with a letter.

Bai Liming quickly put down his chopsticks and took the urgent letter from Feng Deng's hand.

"..." He looked serious after reading it.

Sensing that things were really serious, Fengdeng immediately became alarmed and ordered, "This old servant will go and gather men immediately and head to Lincheng!"

"Wait!" Baili Ming shouted to the butler.

"Miss?"

Bai Liming slowly sat down, his stern expression unchanged. "She is still safe."

"Then?" Feng Deng asked, puzzled.

Why would the young lady send an urgent letter if the situation wasn't urgent?

"It's not that she has something important to do, it's that what she said is too important."

Bai Liming turned around and found paper and pen, quickly translating the symbols on the letter into text that others could understand. "Send this letter to the palace immediately."

Feng Deng hesitated for a moment.

"Go!"

"Yes!" Fengdeng took off running and disappeared in an instant.

Two hours later, Zhang Shan, who was by Lu Jian's side, quietly entered Baili Mansion.

He was accompanied by a eunuch and a physician.

Upon seeing the person arrive, Baili Ming immediately dismissed his attendants and went to a secret room to meet him.

"Paying respects to Your Majesty," Baili Mingxing performed the grand kowtow ceremony.

The little eunuch looked up, and Lu Jian's face appeared before him. "Rise."

He beckoned the imperial physician forward and got straight to the point, saying, "You speak."

"That stone is definitely not glass." Along with Bai Li Ce's urgent letter came a small piece of stone.

The imperial physician took out his arguments from his sleeve and handed them to Baili Ming.

Baili Ming listened to the imperial physician's explanation as she looked at the exhibits.

"This is a stone that looks very similar to glass. It first appeared in coastal cities in the southeast and is said to be the possession of deep-sea mermaids."

"Because it is constantly exposed to the aura of merfolk, it also has the ability to bewitch people's hearts."

"Is there a solution?" Lu Jian asked.

The imperial physician shook his head. "These are all records in the 'Records of Strange Things,' but the information is incomplete. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes today, I wouldn't have believed it."

Baili Ming was silent for a moment, then asked the imperial physician, "May I ask what effect this kind of stone will have on people?"

"As for the impact..." The imperial physician carefully considered his words, but found it difficult to explain.

Lu Jian urged impatiently, "Say whatever comes to mind, and I will forgive you."

"Then I will be offended."

The imperial physician stroked his beard, which reached his chest. "To say that the stone itself does not cause any real harm to the human body, that's not true."

"In certain circumstances, the consequences of this... could ruin a person's life."

"Huh??" Lu Jian and Baili Ming both looked puzzled.

The imperial physician bowed and quickly explained, "Simply put, it's like when fishermen encounter mermaids singing at sea; it stirs up all sorts of desires deep within their hearts."

"And amplify those desires a hundredfold or a thousandfold."

"For example, the desire for money, beauty, and power; the longing for loved ones; and the guilt towards those to whom one has wronged."

"Or things that you wouldn't normally do, or things you wouldn't dare say."

Lu Jian seemed to understand, "What if someone is bewitched by this stone?"

"Fishermen, bewitched by the mermaids, often lose their reason and approach danger, becoming their prey."

The coldness in Baili Ming's eyes grew stronger.

"But the stone's efficacy should be far less than that of the mermaid's voice."

"How so?" Baili Ming asked.

"Fishermen usually encounter sharks at sea, and most of the time it is in foggy or rainy weather, in seas full of reefs. They are already afraid, so it is easy for the sharks to bewitch them."

"These stones only possess a partial bewitching power; if we disregard the environment, their influence on people should be far less than that of the mermaid's voice."

"Secondly, to reach the point of bewitching people, a considerable amount is required."

"The important thing is that over time, the effect will disappear, and the stone will be no different from ordinary glass."

"In other words... nothing can be found."

Bai Liming remained silent with a gloomy face.

"You may leave."

"Yes"

Fengdeng sent the imperial physician out.

The moment the door to the secret room closed, Lu Jian and Baili Ming looked at each other simultaneously.

"What does Miss Baili want to say?"

"What does Your Majesty want to say?"

He thought it was impossible when the Arrow Guard incident happened.

How could a normal person possibly achieve 100% accuracy?

It's still a group of people!

Later, with Wang Qingyan's help, the private army was completely wiped out, and Lin Yuchuan also raised many doubts.

Now it seems that Shucheng is indeed full of treacherous stones, or that Wang Qingyan really has the ability to manipulate others.

The suppression of the rebellion in the northern frontier, the He family's private army, the powerful clans of Shucheng, and even the deaths of An Luoshi and the Ming siblings, which Baili Ce emphasized—

Lu Jian's expression turned solemn, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. "With such cunning and methods, we cannot let him live."

"Such deep affection is beyond my reach, I, Baili, am not worthy of it."

"Then..."

Lu Jian's expression turned cunning. "Give him something tough."

......

The results of Lu Jian and Baili Ming's discussion reached Baili Ce late the next night.

Just as she expected, the effects of the Heart-Slaying Stone wouldn't last long.

If placed in the wild or in a large space, its effectiveness will diminish even faster.

That's why he personally put the stone into her room.

Moreover, just like her and the other leaders, after returning home, Fenglan did say some things she shouldn't have.

The so-called loss of efficacy refers only to the stone itself.

And the impact of the cursed stone on them...

Bai Li Ce gritted his teeth and pinched his thigh hard again to suppress those chaotic thoughts.

If she hadn't discovered it in time, any later, she probably would have truly fallen for him, fallen for him to the point of living and dying for him, even banging her head against a wall for him.

But it wouldn't be right to rely entirely on this broken stone.

According to the letter, all the emotions caused by the evil stone actually stemmed from their deepest, most secret feelings.

Pure, emotional, irrational, and innate.

Therefore, including herself, everyone felt that their romantic moments with him were spontaneous and of her own free will.

But this is clearly abnormal.

Everyone has desires and a dark side. You can't simply say that someone is bad just because they had inappropriate thoughts.

There are quite a few people who can resist and uphold their bottom line when faced with obvious temptations.

However, the subtle influence is difficult to prevent.

Just like those seemingly harmless foreign cultures, they have long since permeated every aspect of life, even the education of children.

The most terrifying things are those that induce you to abandon reason and morality, make you forget your roots, gradually turn you into a puppet, and make you follow your "natural instincts."

Once you gain power, your personality, dignity, thoughts, words, and actions will all become tools for others.

As a tool, they not only trust the other party implicitly, but also help the other party attack their own people.

Then, in the "Shangri-La" constructed by the other party, they live happily and freely in their own eyes.

Shucheng today is probably already a "Shangri-La" that is intoxicated with greed and unable to extricate itself.

No wonder the private army was wiped out so cleanly in just one night.

And the smell of human blood she caught back then...

I'm afraid the reason she slept so well was because he used some tricks.

This person... Baili Ce felt a cold sweat break out and his back go cold.

Let’s not talk about anything else.

The fact that he could make An Luo "change his mind" before his death is terrifying.

"..." His legs went weak, and Baili Ce sat back on the bed, feeling a chill run through his body.

She didn't even dare to look at the stone on the dressing table anymore.

If the powerful clans of Shucheng were also a shield he created, then what he truly desired must be far more terrifying than Lu Jian suspected.

Not all of those powerful families were necessarily greedy and insatiable at the beginning.

But when all the sheep are moving forward, can one or a few sheep in the flock really stay in place?

At this moment, Lin Yuchuan and Li Tong have probably already fallen victim to the trap.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been unable to capture Shucheng for so many days.

And she actually... destroyed the letter, covered herself with the blanket, and Baili Ce couldn't help but tremble.

I wish I could run away right now!

But deserting in the face of battle will only hasten your death!

She had to stay calm; she couldn't provoke him, she couldn't give herself away...