Chu Honglin looked at him, puzzled.
Chu Hongming said, "Fifteenth Brother, matters of the court are different from the battlefield beyond the borders; it's not just simple slaughter."
"How are they different?" Chu Honglin said, "Isn't it just the rule of the strong and the survival of the fittest?"
"It's not that simple." Chu Hongming shook his head. "The most unpredictable thing in the world is the human heart, and within the court, everyone's thoughts are ever-changing."
Chu Honglin was still unconvinced: "If the Emperor speaks, would they dare disobey?"
"But how does the Emperor make decisions?" Chu Hongming said, "Based on what does he make decisions?"
Chu Honglin said, "The Emperor is still very wise."
"The Emperor is wise, but what if what the Emperor hears and sees is what others want him to hear and see?" Chu Hongming said slowly, "The same event can be described differently by different people."
Chu Honglin frowned, as if deep in thought.
Chu Hongming said, "The Emperor's judgment is based on the reports from the Outer Court Guard and the Surveillance Department, but do these people have no selfish motives? Are their reports the truth?"
Chu Honglin said, "So, the Emperor is being deceived all day long?"
"The Emperor must first judge the truth of their information, what selfish thoughts they have, then compare them with each other, and then analyze the interests of the various important officials, what they ultimately want… In short, it's not straightforward slaughter."
"That sounds exhausting." Chu Honglin shook his head.
Chu Hongming said, "The Emperor is like this, let alone us ministers?"
Chu Honglin sighed, "Fifth Brother, it seems I'm not suited to stay in the court."
"Fifteenth Brother, you're not stupid. Take it slow. After all, we are princes, which is already good enough." Chu Hongming smiled. "If it really doesn't work out, you can take a sinecure. Staying at Great Bright Peak to teach them martial arts is not bad either."
"Well, that's true."
The two chatted idly while watching Chu Zhiyuan enter the painted boat.
A moment later, when Chu Zhiyuan floated out, the painted boat was slowly sinking, eventually tilting and submerging.
The slowly sinking painted boat formed a huge whirlpool on the river surface.
The whirlpool slowly disappeared, and the river surface returned to calm, shimmering in the moonlight.
Chu Zhiyuan hovered in mid-air, watching the painted boat sink, then floated back to the shore, landing in front of the two.
He looked at Yu Jizu and Huang Jingfu on the ground: "Fifth Uncle, Fifteenth Uncle, can you get information out of these two?"
Chu Hongming said, "Don't mention that they're two who practice demonic arts, even if they were demons, they would still tell the truth in the hands of the Qintian Prison."
Chu Zhiyuan asked curiously, "Is there a special method or a magical artifact?"
"It is indeed a kind of magical artifact." Chu Hongming smiled, looking at the three Mr. Zhu.
Mr. Zhu said, "The Cave Heart Mirror, anyone who is shone upon by it will involuntarily tell the truth, unable to hold it back."
"There's such a treasure?" Chu Zhiyuan said, "Everyone has to tell the truth?"
"That's right." Mr. Zhu said in a deep voice, "Unless they achieve the Spirit Venerable realm."
"What about Father?" Chu Zhiyuan snorted, "Does he have to tell the truth in front of this Cave Heart Mirror too?"
It seems that the Crown of Light of the ancestor Chu Chunhan is not just a rumor, but is real.
Chu Zhiyuan sighed, "With such a magical artifact, wouldn't it be able to discern people's hearts? Why haven't I heard of it? Why didn't Father use it properly?"
Being able to see people's hearts clearly is extremely important to an Emperor.
How could he resist this temptation?
Chu Hongming said, "This Cave Heart Mirror also comes at a cost, and cannot be used lightly."
Chu Zhiyuan shook his head, "I see… Alright, then let's wait for their news."
He didn't want to see this Cave Heart Mirror.
What if it really made him tell the truth? Wouldn't that directly reveal his biggest secret?
-----
Chu Zhiyuan sat on his bed, holding a seven-colored pearl in his hand.
This was found on the painted boat.
It looks like a Soul Pearl.
Besides the demons, he is probably the only one in this world who still possesses this pearl.
Yet it appeared on this painted boat, in the hands of these Demonic Sect experts.
This made him somewhat puzzled.
It's unlikely that it was bestowed by the demons.
No matter how much the demons want to recruit these people, they would not bestow a Soul Pearl.
The demons look down on humans from the bottom of their hearts, despising them.
Even if they let the people of the Demonic Sect help, they would only treat them as servants, and would not treat them as equals, let alone bestow a Soul Pearl.
Then how did this Soul Pearl come to be?
Could it be that the Demonic Sect is not a vassal of the demons, and is not working for the demons?
He had always firmly believed in his judgment, but now he began to doubt because of this Soul Pearl: Was his previous judgment wrong?
He shook his head.
This matter has become complicated.
After thinking about it, he decided to try refining it to see what was special about this Soul Pearl.
…
After a cup of tea, Chu Zhiyuan stared intently at the seven-colored pearl in front of him.
This pearl is not a Demonic Soul Pearl, it only looks like a Soul Pearl, but its essence is more like an Enlightenment Soul Pearl.
But it's not quite an Enlightenment Soul Pearl either.
It's more like a special strange pearl that combines the Soul Pearl and the Enlightenment Soul Pearl.
Through this pearl, Chu Zhiyuan discovered the power of the Demonic Sect.
They had actually spied on the essence of the demons, the method of condensing the Soul Pearl and the method of refining the Enlightenment Soul Pearl.
This is one of the most core secrets of the demons, one of the most secret inheritances.
Yet it was spied on by the Demonic Sect.
They cannot condense Soul Pearls like the demons, and they cannot completely condense the souls within them.
They also cannot condense the souls and martial arts experience of others into the pearl.
But they condense their own cultivation into it.
Through a unique method, descendants can inherit the cultivation in this Demonic Pearl.
This cultivation is not only true essence, but also the understanding of martial arts.
Chu Zhiyuan felt that this method was tantamount to rapidly cultivating top experts.
Through this pearl, one can absorb cultivation and martial arts experience, thereby rapidly improving cultivation and reaching the realm of the pearl's owner.
The disadvantage is that it is difficult to break through further, and the advantage is that it progresses extremely quickly.
Chu Zhiyuan thought about it, but he didn't have the idea of absorbing it.
In his opinion, this demonic art is not attractive, he just wants to see the truth and doesn't have the idea of practicing it.
If the Demonic Sect has such a method of inheritance, then the Demonic Sect is indeed extremely terrifying.
…
At noon, Chu Zhiyuan and Chu Honglin were bathing in the sunlight on Qingfeng Cliff.
"They've been questioned." Chu Honglin's face was gloomy: "They really were going to assassinate me."
"Then how did they know that it was Fifteenth Uncle who pushed for the investigation?"
"They learned it through the discussions of some court officials, they heard it in a restaurant."
Chu Zhiyuan was immediately silent.
After court, or after work, inviting three or five friends to go to a restaurant for a drink is a favorite pastime of court officials.
They actually leaked his information.
"The key is not how it was leaked, but their audacity." Chu Honglin sneered: "They dare to kill even a prince."
Chu Zhiyuan said, "No shadow of the demons?"
Chu Honglin shook his head.
"Then what about gathering information?" Chu Zhiyuan said, "They were gathering it for the demons, right?"
"They don't know either." Chu Honglin said, "Their Demonic Sect and Demonic Gate have a Thousand Machine Pavilion that sells information, they don't know who bought it."
"Not the demons?" Chu Zhiyuan frowned.
Chu Honglin said, "If the demons bought information from the Thousand Machine Pavilion, they wouldn't know."
Chu Zhiyuan thought for a while and shook his head: "Actually, it's them!"
