All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

The rooms in Yuxiu Palace are arranged according to the status of the ladies.

Mu Xue'e, head of Bingqing County, lives in the main hall.

Shen Lingxi is the prostitute's daughter of Xuanpinghou's mansion, and also a celebrity in front of the queen mother, who was arranged by Aunt Liu in the first wing on the east side.

On the opposite side of her lived Xu Ziyao.

Shen Lingxi was alone in the carriage during the day, and slept long enough in her spare time, but couldn't sleep at night.

At the beginning of the child's hour, there was a sudden autumn wind outside.

The thunder was surrounded by lightning, and there was a rumbling sound, with the potential for a storm to come.

Such weather may not be considered good in the eyes of others.But for the female ghosts, it was a good weather.

"The inner guards are all dodging, let's go."

"Grandmothers and sisters" were all laughing and joking, urging Shen Lingxi to go out.

Shen Lingxi learned the reason why they were trapped here during the day, and was planning to go out to find out, so she simply opened the door quietly, followed their guidance, and walked out of Yuxiu Palace.

Yuxiu Palace is located on the west side of the palace, separated from the palace where the emperor, empress and empress dowager lived, by an artificial lake, the environment is very quiet.

Shen Lingxi came out of Yuxiu Palace, and before walking a few steps, she saw a tall and straight figure standing under a tree not far away.

It's Chu Yan.

Xu Shi had just taken a bath, his original high bun was untied and fixed with a white jade hairpin. He was wearing a snow-colored brocade robe with large sleeves and a black crane cloak.

He was holding a lantern in his hand, and a black cloak was draped in his strong arms.

The night wind was wrapped in heavy humidity, making it extremely cold.

But for some reason, when Shen Lingxi saw the person in front of him, she felt that all the wind and rain were isolated behind him.

The female ghosts all chuckled, "If we hadn't urged you to come out, Mr. Xiao Lang might have to wait here all night."

"Go quickly, the night is dark and windy, with lightning and thunder, it's the best time to meet your lover!"

Shen Lingxi: ...

She walked quickly towards Chu Yan, bowed to him, with curiosity in her bright almond eyes: "Why does Your Highness appear here?"

"Today you said you were going to help those female ghosts." Chu Yan pretended to be understated: "Yu Jia only stayed in this palace for one night, I thought you might do something tonight... You can't sleep on the left or right, so just come and walk around , I didn’t expect to bump into you.”

The female ghosts would not give him face: "He was here half an hour ago, and in order not to be seen by others, he even escaped several waves of inner guards!"

"Xiao Langjun has taken care of you."

Hearing these words, Shen Lingxi felt her cheeks burning hot again.

I secretly rejoiced that it was night, otherwise he would have seen the clues again.

She hurriedly turned around and left, "Since His Highness is here...then follow 'us'."

Shen Lingxi bit down on the word "we" deliberately, trying to imply to Chu Yan that besides them, there are many ghosts here.

But Chu Yan had no such awareness at all.

"and many more."

He strode up to her with long legs, shook off the cloak in his arms, and wrapped her whole body.

A clear scent of grass and saponins, with a warm body temperature, surrounded Shen Lingxi.

Shen Lingxi raised her face, looked at his face, and said seriously: "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Chu Yan lowered her eyes, pretending to explain indifferently: "When I went out, I brought an extra piece, just for you to use."

As soon as these words came out, the female ghosts around burst into laughter.

"How did we see that he went to the door and turned back to get this cloak!"

"What a coincidence! It's just right!"

"Xiao Lang looks very smart, why is his mouth so stupid."

Listening to these words, Shen Lingxi felt that not only her cheeks, but also her ears were burning like fire.

It was obviously an extremely harsh and cold weather, but it made her hot forehead bead of sweat.

"It's getting late, let's go." She urged in a low voice, her voice became a lot softer before she knew it.

Led by the female ghosts, Shen Lingxi and Chu Yan walked southward along the lakeside side by side, avoiding the inner guards who came over occasionally on night watch, and walked towards the southwest corner of the entire palace, the most remote corner.

Along the way, the thunder "boomed" and became louder and louder, and the lightning became more dense.

It's just that the heavy rain has never fallen.

They walked for about half an hour, and stopped in front of a towering palace that was unattended.

Different from the vermilion gate of ordinary palaces, the gate of this palace is painted black, and the three characters of "Ksitigarbha Palace" are written on the plaque.

There are more than a dozen rows of silver doornails wedged on the door, glowing coldly under the lightning.

Chu Yan had obviously been here before, and asked inexplicably, "Why did you come here?"

"They said that if you want to help them get out of trouble, you have to destroy this place." Shen Lingxi said succinctly.

Chu Yan frowned slightly, and the doubts in his eyes deepened.

The gate was locked.

Shen Lingxi was about to use the hairpin to unlock the door as usual.

But it was stopped by Liu Meiren: "If the inner guard patrols here, it will be bad if they find out, come with me."

As she spoke, she waved to Shen Lingxi, motioning for her to follow.

Shen Lingxi followed Liu Meiren, walked north and west along the outer wall of the palace, and reached the corner of the outer wall on the north side of the Dizang Palace.

The white palace wall is densely covered by vines, and the wall skin is almost invisible.

Liu Meiren stretched out her finger painted with Kodan, and pointed to somewhere on the wall, "There is a door here, which used to be used to transport corpses."

Shen Lingxi groped for a long time on the door, and finally found a rusty brass lock.

The brass lock was severely eroded by the wind, and she tore it off the door with little effort.

With a "squeak", the secret door opened.

What came into view was an empty and spacious palace courtyard.

It should be because people often sweep it, the bluestone floor tiles in the yard are spotless.

Shen Lingxi followed Liu Meiren to the front of the main hall.

The main hall has no doors and windows, and two rows of pitch-black pillars prop up the entire hall. Compared with the height and width of the main hall, the beams on top seem a bit low.

A flash of lightning flashed across the night sky, illuminating the golden body of Ksitigarbha King in the middle of the hall, giving a sense of solemnity.

"This is the place where we executed the heavenly maid." Liu Meiren pointed to the beams above her head, "The white silk was hung on it, and people stood on the stool. When the hour came, the eunuchs removed the stool under their feet. , and died.”

It could be heard that she was trying to describe the situation in a calm tone.

But the dead souls who were laughing and joking were still rarely silent.

Shen Lingxi's eyes were slightly wet, and she whispered Liu Meiren's words to Chu Yan.

At the end she said: "They were sent to the deep palace by their close relatives before they were alive. They worked carefully in the harem of intrigues, struggled, and struggled to survive, but in the end, they were still buried with the emperor... After death, they brought their relatives full of splendor. They themselves cannot be reincarnated..."

Her voice was light and full of pity, which made her petite figure seem to be shrouded in heavy sadness.

Chu Yan looked at her with lowered eyebrows, and stretched out his hand to caress her back, "At least you can help them, and for them, it's a blessing in disguise."

"Xiao Langjun is very right, girl don't need to feel sorry for us."

"Yes, yes, fortunately, Xiao Langjun's ancestors are still good, and there is no such burial."

"Look at this Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, which was built by Mr. Xiaolang's ancestors. If it weren't for this Bodhisattva, we would still be trapped in that well!"

"Although I haven't been reincarnated in these years, at least I have some freedom in this palace. We sisters are together and have some fun. It's okay."

Hearing what they said, Shen Lingxi felt relieved a lot.

She relayed the words of the dead souls and told Chu Yan.

Chu Yan was puzzled, and asked again: "The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha is enshrined here. The Ksitigarbha King can save all living beings. Why are they still trapped here?"

Shen Lingxi also had this question, and looked at Liu Meiren inquiringly.

Liu Meiren said dejectedly: "The emperor of the previous dynasty believed in the words of sorcerers. When this hall was built, many spells were buried in it. Therefore, if we want to help us escape, we must destroy this hall."

She paused, and then said: "The empress who ordered us to be buried back then had a vicious mind. She was afraid that we would seek her life after death, so she ordered someone to dig a well in this courtyard and build a soul-locking underground palace."

She said, waved to Shen Lingxi, and walked into the depths of the hall.

Shen Lingxi motioned for Chu Yan to follow behind Meiren Liu.

The back of the main hall is the same as the front, without doors and windows.

Climbing down the steps, one can see the narrow backyard, and there is a stone octagonal wellhead standing in the middle of the backyard.

The well is covered with a manhole cover. When the lightning flashes across the sky, you can see the yin and yang eight diagrams engraved on the well cover.

Shen Lingxi recognized at a glance that it was a soul well.

Liu Meiren walked to the southeast corner of the courtyard and pointed to the floor tiles under her feet.

"This is the entrance to the underground palace. Few people in this dynasty know about it. I saw someone coming here ten years ago."

Shen Lingxi took the wind lantern from Chu Yan's hand and shined it on the floor tiles.

It was a floor tile engraved with "Fang Xiangshi".

Fang Xiangshi has a human body and animal feet, like a bear but not a bear, with his eyes open and his mouth open, naked, squatting down, as if running and arresting.

Shen Lingxi remembers that "Fang Xiangshi" is a god statue in some tombs to drive away ghosts and avoid epidemics. It is often used in tombs and is a symbol of fighting ghost leaders in tombs.

"The shield of the statue is a mechanism." Liu Meiren said.

According to Shen Lingxi's words, she tapped her toes on the shield in the statue's hand, only to hear a "click", and the floor tiles slowly moved aside in response, revealing a tunnel entrance for one person to pass through.

Liu Meiren walked in first, and Shen Lingxi followed.

Seeing this, Chu Yan stepped up and followed behind her.

There are rotating stone steps hovering downwards at the entrance of the floor tiles.

Leading the way, Liu Meiren said: "This underground palace was excavated by the last emperor and empress of the previous dynasty. It is 180 feet deep, corresponding to the [-]th floor of hell, and it has the meaning of 'Jiu Jiu Tong You'." meaning."

"The underground palace is connected to the soul-suppressing well above. The alchemist who offered to dig this well for the empress once said that we only need to bury the things we used in our lifetime in the underground palace, and then carve our birth date on the wall of the underground palace. Then we can keep our souls in this well."

Shen Lingxi frowned.

This is a Fengshui tomb technique from the previous dynasty. Since the fall of the previous dynasty, this technique has been extinct in the world.

I didn't expect it to be used as such a place.

No one has been to the underground palace for a long time, and there is a decaying musty smell in the air.

Liu Meiren pointed out the wall lamps in the underground palace to Shen Lingxi one by one, and when Shen Lingxi lit those lamps, the female ghosts who followed them all the way were already waiting for them in the underground palace.

The underground palace is not too big, there is a dry pool in the middle, and a small octagonal hole is connected to the top of the head, which is the mouth of the well seen in the courtyard.

Liu Meiren pointed to the stone wall on one side, "Look, what is engraved on it is our birth date and name taboo, and under this dry pool, there are our relics buried in our lifetime."

Shen Lingxi picked up the lantern and looked at the stone walls one by one.

Perhaps it was a long time ago, and the names engraved on the stone wall have been mottled and corroded, and some of them are not very clear.

"Fortunately, the vicious empress didn't live long before she was wiped out by the Great Chu. Otherwise, I don't know how many people's names would be written on this stone wall."

When Liu Meiren said this, she paused, as if thinking of something, she floated to the end of those names, pointed to the wall and said, "However, there was a person who came here ten years ago and engraved a person's name on it. In the pool, something was buried. No new dead souls have been locked into the well, and I don’t know who the unlucky dead man is.”

Hearing this, Shen Lingxi walked to where her finger was and looked at the name on the wall.

When she saw the name clearly, she was shocked.

Not only her, but even Chu Yan who was beside her immediately sank...