I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 76 Loopholes and the Painting Spirit's Methods
"Why are you staring at me? I'm a tough guy, I won't die that easily, stop looking at me with such a smirk!"

Hong Lie lowered his head. He was usually fierce to outsiders, but he could only smile foolishly towards his wife, which made people around him roll their eyes.

"Are you sure that Wu Fu is also within the surveillance range of these monsters?" Princess Yunyang looked around. She could not see the four so-called Yin Gods guarding the country with her naked eyes, but she could clearly feel the goose bumps that automatically appeared on her body. There was something very terrifying watching her, and as long as it got the chance, it would tear her to pieces!
"No doubt." Hong Lie sighed and said, "I've read the secret history of the palace. This happened during the coup d'état of Emperor Hongzhi. The old Emperor Hongzhi died before he could announce his will, which gave outsiders an opportunity to take advantage of it. Several evil cults took action, and they were joined by three great masters. Hundreds of assassins were all top-notch, and none of them could return alive!"

After hearing Hong Lie talk about the taboos of Emperor Hongzhi in the past, everyone knew that it was true. For a moment, several military officers who came to the banquet turned pale!

They originally thought that they could at least protect themselves, or that these warlock enemies would beg them to rescue their families. But now, they are afraid that they may not even be able to get out.

"I'm afraid this was carefully planned." Yun Yang looked at the women's area calmly: "Old Hong, is the person who killed your daughter the same person behind this incident?"

When Hong Lie heard about this, he suddenly became furious, but then he gritted his teeth and said, "Princess, don't worry. I will find him sooner or later and skin him alive!"

"Waiting for you?" Yun Yang snorted coldly, then pointed at a white figure opposite him and said, "Miss, please stay!"

The separation between men and women at the banquet was not actually very strict, there was just a water feature between them, and it all depended on self-awareness. At this time, because of the tragic death of Lord Qiu, the female relatives heard the noise and had already rushed over from the other side, looking over here. Among the group of female relatives, Yunyang saw someone who looked a little strange at a glance.

She herself is also a martial arts genius. Although her ability is not as good as that of the rough man Hong Lie, she is also a master among first-class martial artists. She has excellent eyesight and can see at a glance that all the female relatives are rushing here, but she obviously wants to leave.

"I advise you not to go on." Seeing that the figure in white ignored her and continued to walk out, the princess's face turned cold: "Maybe I will die here, but I can definitely drag you down with me. Do you believe it?"

The white figure paused when he heard this and sighed slightly.

Warlocks have no chance, but warriors do have a chance. As long as they are fast enough, they can kill them before the four spirits kill them.

Zhang Ruike was not sure he could hold his own against a top-level warrior, not to mention that there was an even top-level warrior next to the princess.

Finally, Zhang Rui turned around and walked back slowly.

"The princess's wife." The daughter of the Shen family said quickly: "Don't misunderstand. She is..."

She looked anxious at the moment, fearing that the other party would mistake Lord Zhang for an enemy. Seeing this, Zhang Rui grabbed her and stopped her from continuing.

Are you kidding? There are civil and military officials in the court, plus a bunch of female relatives here. If the fact that I am wearing women's clothing is exposed, it will be a real social disaster! !

"Meet the princess."

"You look unfamiliar, young lady. This is the prince's birthday, and everyone who comes has received an invitation in advance. Please forgive me for my poor eyesight, but which family is the young lady from?"

Everyone looked at the woman in white unkindly. Miss Shen next to her suddenly felt a headache. She couldn't say in front of her father that that was her cousin, right?

"Does the princess suspect me?"

"Those who come to the prince's banquet are all dressed up, hoping that others will take a closer look. But you, on the other hand, are wearing a veil. Shouldn't you be suspected?" The princess moved closer as she spoke. Hong Lie, who was standing beside her, became anxious and quickly followed, fearing that his wife would not be able to control herself and take action.

"The princess also said that I am very conspicuous. If there is really any conspiracy, I shouldn't dress like this, right?"

"Then take off your veil." The princess stared at the other person.

Zhang Rui frowned. Why did the princess care so much about her appearance? Did she see the murderer who killed her daughter?

"Back then, this princess asked Master Tian Ye to use the mediumship technique to draw a portrait. Miss, just take off your veil. If it weren't for you, this princess wouldn't have risked her own life!"

Looking at this situation, I can't get through it.
Zhang Rui sighed and thought, let it be a social death. He has already married a wife anyway.

"This"

"It really is"

As the veil was removed, almost everyone who saw the face beneath the veil, including the princess, was stunned.

Under the moonlight, that face seemed not to be of this world. Although the surrounding lights were dim, even the bright moon in the sky was not as dazzling as this.

How could there be such a beautiful woman in this world?
Especially the young man, he lost three points of his soul at this time!

Hong Lie's pupils shrank, and he pointed at the other person in disbelief: "You, you are..."

"Do you know him?" The princess frowned.

How could she not know that this big, stupid guy of hers could recognize such a person?
Zhang Rui's heart skipped a beat. Was he discovered so quickly?

The girl from the Shen family’s words were indeed unbelievable. Didn’t she say that she looked completely different from a man after putting on women’s clothes?

Hong Lie gritted his teeth but did not dare to reply to his wife. Of course he recognized the girl in front of him. The portrait in the imperial study that had been treasured for a long time and the person he had been secretly asked to find was this girl.
Why is she here?
Is it related to His Majesty's disappearance? Seeing that Hong Lie didn't say anything, Zhang Rui secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at the princess: "Is the princess satisfied?"

"I'm sorry." The princess took a breath and said, "It's just that I've never heard of a girl with such a beautiful face. I guess she's not from the capital, right?"

"no."

"What is that girl doing here?"

"Something that will disturb the world is about to appear. According to my will, I am ordered to come and find that thing."

"Tianzong? Miss, do you know what caused all this?" the princess asked hurriedly.

"I probably know a little bit."

"Please give me some advice, young lady." Minister Shen said hurriedly, "The whole court is trapped here. If something goes wrong, the world will be in chaos!"

"I'm sure you all know about the Crown Prince Beihai's affairs?"

All the ministers looked at each other and finally nodded slightly. Although the palace did not actively announce this news to the public, they all obtained the news through various channels. In this case, there was naturally no need to cover it up.

"All of you noble families have invested in the Art Market. The last time the owner of the Art Market did something terrible, you were not on guard at all."

The people from the major families looked at each other in confusion, with embarrassment on their faces. Minister Shen said, "Young lady, you may not know that most of the people who have made large investments in the art market are from the families in the Jiangnan area. Although we, the Beijing families, have also made some investments, we have only found the entrance in recent years and have not yet formed a scale, so we don't care much."

"The painted spirit is the prince's business, I think everyone knows about it, right?" Seeing that no one recognized him in women's clothing, Zhang Rui simply laid the matter out in the open.

Most of the noble families had expressions of horror at this time, apparently it was the first time they heard of such a horrifying thing, but the head of a big family like Minister Shen was very calm at this time.

When I first heard the news, I was shocked for a long time.

"Miss, do you mean that this time it was that prince who did it?"

"Only he can do it." Zhang Rui said calmly: "The four spirits guard the four gates, evil spirits cannot enter, those who are not on the queen's list cannot enter, evil spirits cannot enter theoretically, sorcerers cannot cast spells in the palace, and warriors cannot easily take action after the four spirits are activated. It seems perfect, but there is actually a loophole, that is, once someone with royal blood wants to rebel, there will be a lot of room for operation."

"The owner of the painting spirit is a prince with royal blood. He can avoid the rule that sorcerers cannot use spells. The painting spirit is very special. As long as people come in, his painting spirit can come in through his painting and avoid the four city gates. As long as the emperor who can use the four spirit spells can be trapped, all the civil and military officials who enter the palace will be lambs to be slaughtered."

A group of ministers' faces turned pale when they heard this. The group of female relatives looked at the people around them in horror, while the painting spirits looked at Zhang Rui secretly with sinister eyes.

"What the young lady said makes sense, but if that's the case, why don't they take action yet?" Minister Shen frowned and said.

If this is true, we should have taken action long ago. Why are we waiting?

"This lord is quite wise." Zhang Rui gave him a deep look and said, "The reason why they didn't do anything is very simple, because they couldn't do anything either."

"Why?" Everyone's eyes lit up.

"Because they will die if they act rashly." Zhang Rui looked around. In the eyes of the four huge Yin gods, everyone was a lamb to be slaughtered. Many people thought that evil spirits only killed people, but in fact, evil spirits were also very keen on devouring their own kind. This might be the reason why the profession of sorcerer can be successful, because evil spirits themselves had no psychological burden about slaughtering their own kind.

"The rules set by Taizu back then should not be that complicated. It is unlikely that there would be such a classification of sorcerers and warriors. There is probably only one rule: anyone who threatens the safety of the palace can be suppressed. I think that was the rule set by His Royal Highness Taizu back then."

"If that's the case, why hasn't Lord Siling killed the evil spirit yet?" a tall general asked hurriedly.

"If they were to kill you directly, everyone here would have died long ago." Zhang Rui said coldly, "In their eyes, there is no difference between you and the evil spirits themselves. You are both possible threats to the safety of the palace. No matter if you or the evil spirits dare to make a move, you will die!"

"But just now, Lord Qiu clearly saw his daughter being..." A middle-aged scholar gritted his teeth and said
"That's the special feature of the painting spirits." Zhang Rui said dimly, "They didn't actually do anything. They just took people into the painting. Once you're in the painting, you're no longer in the palace. In the painting, you can do whatever you want."

"Is this also a technique?" Minister Shen frowned.

"But it was a spell cast by His Royal Highness the Prince!" Zhang Rui looked around, "It should have been long before the Crown Prince's birthday that this place was decorated with many entrances in the painting. After all, the painting spirits are best at making the fake look real. The rockery, pavilion, and the Mingde Hall in the back are probably all fake. Once you enter that area, you will be pulled into the world in the painting. These painting spirits don't need to do anything, they just need to lead you into that place."

That's it!

Many ministers from aristocratic families immediately understood.

"Everyone, don't move." Minister Shen looked at the women and said, "Ladies, don't move either. As long as you don't move, the painting spirits around you won't be able to do anything to you."

The group of pale-faced women finally calmed down a little, but they didn't dare to look at the people around them, for fear that they were surrounded by the Painted Skin Ghost that the girl had mentioned!
"Is this temporarily safe?" Minister Shen looked at Zhang Rui and asked.

"It's only safe temporarily," Zhang Rui sighed, "If we delay for too long, we will still die!"

　Here is the first chapter. The second chapter should be out after ten o'clock. Hehe, please try to subscribe to the original version. There are not many subscriptions to begin with, and your subscriptions are the motivation for Magic Cube to continue writing!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)