The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 200 The Culprit, from Bian

Rather than watching someone be refined into a demon, why not become a demon yourself? You can live without death and not be subject to reincarnation. Isn't that better than spending years stealing someone else's lifespan to prolong your own?
After listening to Lang Jiuchuan's idea, the group felt their hands and feet turn cold and their backs go cold. Is it possible? Oh, is it impossible?

Let's put ourselves in their shoes. After a hundred years of planning, are you just willing to watch evil spirits emerge, and then peacefully close your eyes and stretch out your legs to die? What a joke! You go through all the trouble of stealing the lifespan of others to extend your own, just for this?

What if it becomes a demon?
If it succeeds, then all the planning and concealment over the past century will have been worthwhile!
“No matter how old the ancestor of the Cong family is, he is still a living person.” The more Lang Jiuchuan sorted things out, the more he felt that the ancestor of the Cong family was the one who was unaware of the danger.

Gong Qi said, "But unofficial histories say that the corpse-zombie was born from the yin essence and soul. If it came from the ancestor, how could he still be a living person?"

Lang Jiuchuan smiled: "Isn't it easy to die, if not to live?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at her, feeling a sense of unease and a touch of melancholy in her expression.

"I still don't understand. If it relies on the yin essence of a zombie to be reborn, then how could the ancestor be reincarnated even after death..."

"Possession and soul fusion," the ghost said.

Lang Jiuchuan and Gong Qi both looked over.

“You should be familiar with possession, which is the act of forcibly taking over someone’s body. Soul fusion, on the other hand, is the process of the east wind suppressing the west wind, devouring and fusing souls.” The ghost said, “This is also the most common way for many evil spirits to strengthen their own power. It’s all about the survival of the fittest. If it’s really as Ninth Sister analyzes it, then since our ancestor has been cultivating evil for himself all along, he must have been prepared to devour souls and possess bodies. They are father and son, and their two souls are fused together, making them even more compatible.”

Lang Jiuchuan wholeheartedly agreed. Beasts can be tamed, and so can zombies. Not to mention, these were zombies refined by his ancestor himself. He knew better how to exploit their weaknesses and how to tame them. When the time was right, he was even more confident in devouring their souls and seizing their bodies, using Princess Chao'an's pure yin body to achieve his grand plan of immortality.

Shen Qinghe stared blankly at them, feeling a chill run down his spine, as if he were in an ice cellar.

The fact that the Red Lotus Evil God was worshipped had already distorted his understanding, and now he heard that people were doing something shocking in their pursuit of immortality, and that it had been going on for a period of hundreds of years.

"Is there really anyone willing to wait this long to achieve their goals?" he asked, looking bewildered.

Lang Jiuchuan and Apiao exchanged glances and said, "Ordinary people work at sunrise and rest at sunset, and feel that the days are long, but to be honest, time is just a blink of an eye, and it quietly slips away without them noticing. This is even more true for cultivators. If a cultivator goes into seclusion to meditate and comprehend, he may not come out for several years. So a hundred years is not a long time, even if you say it is."

In other words, this is the mortal realm, where there is no cultivation. If it were truly a world brimming with spiritual energy, those who practice mystical arts would only wish that a day were not long enough.

Shen Qinghe sighed, "I can't even imagine."

Gong Qi looked at Lang Jiuchuan: "Let's assume your guess is correct. What should we do next? We've come at an inopportune time. Let's let them get away first and be on high alert."

"It's also my fault. I sent people to the princess's residence to investigate, but seeing that Princess Chao'an was unharmed, I didn't take it seriously. Little did I know that they were prepared and that it was a fake with a human face on." Shen Qinghe said with some self-reproach, "I'm afraid that's what alerted them and allowed them to escape."

Lang Jiuchuan shook his head: "It's not your fault. The day that evil spirit is born is not far away. Even without us, they would still go to prepare." Shen Qinghe thought of something and frowned: "According to you, if they are so cautious, why would they go to Huguo Temple and kill the young lady of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion? If they didn't go, I'm afraid they wouldn't have attracted your attention."

Gong Qi nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right. The closer we get to the critical moment, the more we need to keep things under wraps. Why would they go to Huguo Temple at this crucial time? If they hadn't gone, Qi Si wouldn't have died, and you wouldn't have noticed anything amiss."

“They probably have something they’re determined to get at Huguo Temple.” Lang Jiuchuan tapped the Imperial Bell lightly with his fingertips, pursed his lips, and said, “The Xuan Clan is currently searching for the hiding place of the Corpse Zombie. I’ll try to find the birth dates of that ancestor and his son first. Gong Qi, go to Huguo Temple and find out why Princess Chao’an went there. Just in case there’s anything we’ve missed, we might find something.”

"can."

"And what about me?" Shen Qinghe quickly asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

"My lord, the matter of the demons and evil spirits is closely related to the disappearance of the Pure Yin Maiden. How to conduct the trial is your business. You must clear the names of those girls. Even if they are dead, they should die with clear answers, shouldn't they? And why are there so many ancestral tablets in this ancestral hall? I don't believe that none of the family members know the truth."

Shen Qinghe stiffened and hummed in agreement.

Without further ado, the group split into several groups.

Shen Qinghe had his men escort the Cong family members back to the Dali Temple prison, where they were detained and interrogated separately. The real Cong consort had died, but instead of reporting it, they kept it a secret. Even the princess had been switched. What face did the Cong family have to cry foul?
With the royal princess missing and her husband dead, even without the demonic incident, Congjia (the family) can't possibly absolve themselves of any involvement.

Lang Jiuchuan glanced around the dark room, then turned and headed back to the ancestral hall. Just as she turned, she caught a glimpse of the frayed prayer mat out of the corner of her eye and instinctively picked it up.

"What's the point of picking up such a piece of junk? It'll only bring bad luck." The ghost looked at the prayer mat with disgust, feeling that it reeked of fishy and pungent odors.

Lang Jiuchuan left with the futon in his hand, returned to the ancestral hall, looked at the seven or eight rows of sandalwood shelves, his eyelids twitched, he threw down the futon and said, "The Cong family really can produce a lot of offspring."

The ghost said, "This whole area is inhabited by the Cong family. It is said that people within five degrees of kinship live together and are not separated. People think the Cong family is united, but now it seems that the Cong ancestor was afraid that his food supply would run away, so he kept them all together."

“Great minds think alike.” Lang Jiuchuan glanced at the names and dates of birth and death on the memorial tablets, his face grim, and said, “They didn’t even spare a ten-year-old child.”

The ghost followed her gaze and said, "He died last year. What were his family thinking? How could they bear to let such a young child die in place of that old man? Did they know or not?"

Lang Jiuchuan's eyes showed disgust as he said, "Anyone who knows the truth is an accomplice."

The ghost also expressed its disgust: "That's why people say that sometimes the human heart is a hundred times more terrifying than ghosts."

Lang Jiuchuan said no more and looked at the top. The one who founded the Cong family should be the Cong family patriarch, right?
Cong Bian, is that him? The culprit behind all the trouble!