The ministers of Southern Xinjiang also looked at Yi Qing with dissatisfaction. No matter what relationship this Yi Qing had with the empress, it was inappropriate to suddenly stop the enthronement ceremony.
Zi Su looked at Yi Qing.
"There's a problem," Yi Qing said with certainty.
"What's wrong?" Zi Su walked straight over.
"Look," Yi Qing pointed at the water basin.
"This is..." Zi Su also noticed the problem. "All the ceremonial musicians, witches and priests stop immediately."
The surroundings instantly fell silent, but the water in the basin was still vibrating slightly, and the vibrations were very frequent.
This copper basin was specially made and was integrated with the copper pillar below. The copper pillar was buried three - tenths into the ground.
"Someone, search around the palace. Be sure to..." Zi Su gave the order.
"Ah—" someone below cried out.
Everyone looked over and saw a gu worm drilling out of the ground. It almost crawled onto that person.
"There are screams underground," Lu Tianxun also heard.
"Underground?" Yi Qing looked at Zi Su.
Zi Su suddenly realized: "All the soldiers, protect the ministers. You come with me."
She thought of a place. She thought it was useless. If Xiang Beizheng was really hiding there, it was really possible to remain completely undetected.
Wu Peng was a bit excited when he saw so many gu worms. Just as he was about to catch some for research, he was pulled away by Su Ge.
Just as Zi Su was about to enter the main hall, Xiang Beizheng blocked her way with his sword, and his men stood in front of her. Zi Su dodged backward, and the two sides confronted each other.
"Xiang Beizheng, you've been hiding in the treasure vault," Zi Su looked at Xiang Beizheng.
Xiang Beizheng knew that Zi Su had misunderstood but didn't explain. "So what?"
Yi Qing looked at Xiang Beizheng. "Zi Su, kill him."
Zi Su waved her hand, and the people behind rushed forward. Zi Su was about to go too when Yi Qing grabbed her.
"I'll help you kill him," Zi Su looked at Yi Qing.
"He's not in the treasure vault. These gu worms suddenly came out of the ground. It may be related to the treasure vault." Yi Qing turned to look at the gu worms below. "These gu worms are enough to kill everyone here. Why did he come here?"
Zi Su also reacted. This Xiang Beizheng was sly and wouldn't do anything useless. "Let's go."
"Wu Peng," Yi Qing called out.
Wu Peng had just picked up two gu worms like stealing chestnuts from the fire. When Yi Qing called him, he didn't hold them well and the worms escaped. He stamped his foot in anger.
"Let's go," Yi Qing motioned for Wu Peng to run inside.
Wu Peng had no choice but to follow.
Seeing Chen Yu'an and the others walking inside, Xiang Beizheng immediately rushed over, which further confirmed Yi Qing's speculation. Xiang Beizheng was here to stop them from going to the treasure vault.
The secret of the treasure vault was only known to the successor of the throne. Although Chen Yu'an was the crown princess, she had left Southern Xinjiang too early. Chen Yuqing didn't have the imperial gu. Even if she knew the secret, she couldn't use the treasure vault.
The late emperor was too disappointed in Chen Yuqing. He knew that Chen Yu'an was still alive. It was a pity that he didn't see Chen Yu'an before he died. So he told Chen Yuqing, hoping that one day when Chen Yu'an came back and subdued Chen Yuqing, Chen Yuqing would tell her this secret to save her own life.
But Chen Yuqing was killed by Xiang Beizheng first.
The treasure vault of Southern Xinjiang was underground in the palace. It was used by generations of emperors to store treasures. The passage leading underground was very wide, wide enough for carriages to pass through. When they reached the entrance of the passage, the passage was already full of gu worms.
"All of them are poisonous gu worms," Wu Peng said in surprise, looking at the dense gu worms in the passage.
Even he was scared. He considered himself unparalleled in gu worms, but with so many poisonous gu worms, there was no way out for anyone.
"Do you think you've won?" Xiang Beizheng looked at Zi Su. "You're just making the whole Cixi City bury you with you."
Zi Su looked at the passage leading to the treasure vault and suddenly remembered the time when her father took her to the treasure vault.
Her father placed his hand on the mechanism to open the treasure vault. When he took it away, his hand was pricked and there was a wound. She heard the sound of countless crawling insects.
"Ah! Father, you're bleeding," little Zi Su lay on her father's broad palm and blew on it seriously. "Does it hurt?"
"You must remember that we in Southern Xinjiang defend our land with blood."
"Okay, I remember."
Seeing Chen Yu'an being so serious, the emperor of Southern Xinjiang knew that she didn't really understand what it meant. He stood up straight and looked at the slowly opening door of the treasure vault.
"Father, there are insects," she was very curious at that time.
"Don't worry. These are the gu worms guarding our royal treasure vault," the emperor of Southern Xinjiang said with a smile.
"Will they bite us?"
"No, we are the royal family," the emperor of Southern Xinjiang took Chen Yu'an's hand and entered the treasure vault.
She was very young at that time and didn't know what was precious. She only thought it was beautiful. She couldn't remember exactly what she saw.
"Let's get out of here quickly," the King of Zhen protected Zi Su on one side, preventing the insects from getting close.
Xiang Beizheng laughed smugly. "Is this the result you want?"
Zi Su thought for a moment and took a step forward directly.
"Zi Su!" the King of Zhen hurriedly grabbed her.
A gu worm crawled onto Zi Su, but then quickly crawled away.
Everyone looked at the reaction of the gu worms in surprise. These gu worms didn't bite Zi Su.
"It's the imperial gu," Wu Peng said in shock.
The imperial gu was a secret of the royal family. Once the imperial gu appeared, all gu worms would submit. Wu Peng only thought it was a legend, but he didn't expect it to be true.
Over there, Xiang Beizheng turned around and fled. They had discovered the imperial gu. With the abilities of Wu Peng and Yi Qing, they would soon figure out the mystery.
"Stop him," Zi Su ordered.
However, Xiang Beizheng didn't want to fight. Taking advantage of the obstruction of the poisonous gu worms, he turned around and ran away.
"Quickly find a way to deal with these gu worms," Yi Qing reminded.
Zi Su directly cut her palm. The blood dripped on her imperial robe, and the surrounding gu worms made way one after another.
Yi Qing and Wu Peng followed Zi Su forward and saw the door of the treasure vault.
The patterns on the door were very complicated, including the creation totem of Southern Xinjiang and some legends. The dense raised patterns formed a huge sun pattern.
Zi Su placed her hand on the mechanism to open the door. There was already a wound on her hand, but it was pricked again.
After a while, the gu worms that had been fleeing outside slowly ran back, and their speed became faster and faster.
The people in Cixi City were shocked. On the day of the crown princess's enthronement, so many gu worms had appeared in the whole city. Did it mean that the heavens were angry?
Then soon the gu worms retreated. It was a close call.
Zi Su and Yi Qing watched as the door of the treasure vault slowly opened. The light inside shone out. The night pearls on the gold, silver and jewels sparkled brightly, showing no sign of being dull because of being buried underground.
"Okay," Zi Su understood what was going on.
It turned out that her father had placed the imperial gu on her long ago. Only she could open the door of the treasure vault. Maybe her father had been waiting for her to come back, but she had ultimately disappointed her father.
"Let's go. The ceremony isn't over yet," Yi Qing reminded Zi Su.
Zi Su nodded and was about to close the door of the treasure vault when a figure flew in.
"Xiang Beizheng?" Zi Su recognized the person who had gone in.