The legendary Imperial Seal vanished after the Later Tang dynasty, never to be seen again.
Throughout the ages, there have always been those who claimed to have found the Imperial Seal, but in the end, all were proven to be fakes.
No one alive has ever seen the real Imperial Seal, and even Yan Jing had no idea what the genuine article looked like.
But a fake was still easy to spot.
Xu Qin did have some skill—this jade seal was likely a magic artifact he crafted himself.
But his craftsmanship was a bit lacking.
It might fool an outsider, but any expert would see the flaws at a glance.
Most likely, the events in Biannan disrupted Xu Qin’s plans.
After that, he rushed back to the country and was constantly hunted by the Mystic Sect, so he couldn’t maintain quality control as strictly as before.
Ouyang Jue’s clouded eyes lost their last glimmer of light.
His first thought was that Yan Jing was deceiving him.
But the facts were right before his eyes—the jade seal had already shattered into pieces, falling to the ground.
Shattered along with it was his last hope.
Ouyang Jue’s dark purple lips trembled violently as he muttered to himself, “No, no, impossible…”
Shi Pengpeng couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re the kingpin of swindlers, and you actually believed another swindler?”
The scene was so ridiculous that it reminded her of the Evil God Statue in Benan Ling Palace—at the most critical moment of battle, it too discovered that the Imperial Preceptor had given it a fake Zigan Sword.
In this regard, the Imperial Preceptor could be said to have stayed true to himself.
Ouyang Jue slowly turned his head, the decaying skin on his neck flaking off as he forced out each word, “Xu Qin, how dare you?”
No one knew when Xu Qin had already moved to the edge of the stone platform, widening the distance between them.
He held the Zigan Sword in his hand, looking troubled.
“There’s nothing I can do, Director Ouyang. There’s only one Unwithering Bone. If I give it to you, then I won’t have one myself…”
“You…” Ouyang Jue finally realized, belatedly, “You want the Unwithering Bone too!”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Shi Pengpeng said coldly, “Xu Qin has been dead for a long time now…”
Until now, Xu Qin had always worn the Deception Eye and kept to the shadows, so no one had ever noticed anything strange about him.
But now, he had lost all the magic artifacts he used to conceal himself.
Shi Pengpeng saw through his true form.
This was a soul that had died many years ago.
He was likely already dead before he ever sought out Ouyang Jue.
By that time, he was already a walking corpse, a dead soul attached to someone else’s body.
A man long dead, yet claiming he could help Ouyang Jue achieve immortality.
Obviously, from the very start, this whole affair was a scheme Xu Qin had crafted just for Ouyang Jue.
In fact, even the name Xu Qin was probably fake.
Just like so many throughout history who impersonated descendants of Xu Fu to commit fraud, he was simply borrowing the story of Xu Fu’s journey east to swindle Ouyang Jue, who was desperate for immortality.
But at this point, his real name didn’t matter anymore.
“Shi Pengpeng, you again…” Xu Qin turned to look at her, his face twisted and sinister.
“If you hadn’t ruined my plans in Biannan, I wouldn’t have had to take such a huge risk coming back to the country…”
“So it really was like that,” Shi Pengpeng had expected as much, and replied indifferently, “If you can’t do it, don’t blame the road for being rough.”
And so, at last, all the mysteries were resolved.
The mausoleum in Biannan wasn’t built for the Evil God, nor for Zhao Xiwen.
It was built for Xu Qin himself.
Xu Qin had died many years ago.
In life, he was a notorious swindler on the run, his crimes no less than Ouyang Jue’s.
But he was skilled in dark arts, forged a Deception Eye, and escaped Heaven and Earth’s scrutiny by constantly seizing new bodies.
But in the end, mortal bodies always rot, and a life of hiding had no end in sight.
His only way out was to find the legendary Unwithering Bone and completely transcend Yin and Yang.
To do this, he needed massive funds and influence.
Ouyang Jue was the perfect ATM and pawn he’d hand-picked.
Under the guise of experimentation, Xu Qin tricked Ouyang Jue into laying out plans for him in the country and had Yan Jing kidnapped to Biannan.
In fact, Xu Qin had planned all along to seize the Unwithering Bone for himself.
But the Anti-Fraud Task Force was too strong, wiping out all of Longevity Island.
Xu Qin was forced into exile, and the way to Biannan was heavily sealed by the Mystic Sect.
He didn’t dare make a move and could only trick the Evil God and Zhao Xiwen into guarding the mausoleum for him.
Xu Qin never intended to help Zhao Xiwen escape punishment, so from the start, he gave Zhao Xiwen a fake Zigan Sword.
What Xu Qin didn’t expect was Shi Pengpeng.
With a Qin Banliang coin, she borrowed the lingering power of the First Emperor and crushed all his plans.
Xu Qin had no choice but to change bodies and, at great risk, return to the country.
Fortunately, years ago, Xu Qin had Ouyang Jue secretly build a similar tomb within the country to win his trust.
Over the years, Longevity Island had carried out countless “pig-butchering scams.”
And the fattest pig Xu Qin raised was none other than the big boss behind Longevity Island.
After raising the pig for a thousand days, it was finally time to eat it clean.
In truth, Xu Qin’s scam wasn’t even clever—one could call it clumsy.
“I am Qin Shi Huang, send me money.”
This old scam, used by the fraud parks in foreign countries to trick gullible victims years ago, was now so outdated that no one would spare it a glance even on Crazy Thursday.
Yet Ouyang Jue believed it.
Only Ouyang Jue could believe it.
Just like the Anti-Fraud campaigns always say—”It’s not that you can’t be fooled, you just haven’t met the right scam yet.”
As shrewd as Ouyang Jue was, he still couldn’t escape a script tailor-made for him.
The irony was, the reason he was scammed was precisely because of his own cunning.
Had Ouyang Jue not foreseen his family’s fate and learned of his own end, perhaps he wouldn’t have been so afraid.
So afraid that he lost his judgment, willing to try at any cost, even knowing that what he sought might be nothing but an illusion.
“You… you…” Ouyang Jue shook all over in rage, his flesh and skin sloughing off like rotting mud, revealing the stark white bones beneath.
“Director Ouyang, don’t look at me like that.” Xu Qin shrugged, shameless as ever.
“I don’t believe you never suspected me. In the end, you chose to trust me because you wanted to.”
Ouyang Jue was speechless.
Just as Xu Qin said, did he really never consider it might be a scam?
How rare was the Imperial Seal?
Emperors of every dynasty had failed to find it despite spending their nations’ might.
How could a wanted criminal like Xu Qin suddenly produce such a priceless treasure after the Biannan mausoleum fell?
Ouyang Jue wasn’t blind.
Like so many greedy souls who willingly enter scams, he clung to hope.
He gambled that Xu Qin wouldn’t dare trick him.
Even if Xu Qin did, he believed that, back in the country with nowhere left to run, Xu Qin would have to stick with him.
They were in the same boat, and Xu Qin would have to keep it afloat.
What Ouyang Jue never realized was that Xu Qin was never on the same boat with him to begin with.
He was just a stepping stone.
“If a man doesn’t look out for himself, Heaven and Earth will destroy him.” Xu Qin grinned.
“Director Ouyang, surely you know this best.”
He raised the Zigan Sword, laying it across his own neck.
“This one’s for you. Thanks.”
Zigan Sword, styled Liangfei.
Long ago, this sword was used by true men for corpse-liberation and ascension.
The Imperial Seal was fake, but the formation in this stone tomb, the walls covered in Blood Talismans, were all real.
But the true core of the formation was this Yin-Yang Sword.
As long as he killed himself with the sword, he could activate the array…
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
A series of gunshots interrupted Xu Qin’s spellcasting.
Xu Qin’s eyes widened, staring blankly at the dark muzzle suddenly pointed at him.
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