[On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Lao Gao greets all book friends! I wish you a happy New Year and all the best!]

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In the early morning, a fire suddenly ignited in Foguang Pavilion. The fire started from the first floor. The flames spread rapidly and soon swallowed the pavilions. The smoke in Taichu Palace was rolling. The palace maids and eunuchs were trembling with fear. The guards on duty came from all directions.

More than a thousand guards shouted loudly, trying hard to put out the fire, and buckets of water splashed on the attic that spitted flames. The Buddha Light Pavilion, which covers several acres, has been completely burned out, and the raging fire reflects the night sky red.

In the guard rest room about two miles away from Foguang Pavilion, Li Zhen stood in front of the window and stared at the raging fire in the distance. An imperceptible sneer appeared on his face. Xue Huaiyi might have pushed the blame to the craftsmen again for failing to observe!

As the sky gradually became brighter, the fire in the Foguang Pavilion was finally extinguished by the guards, but the four-story pavilion had been burned halfway, leaving only a burnt shelf in the loft, and the facilities and items inside were burned to pieces.

It was not until the sky was bright that Wu Zetian surrounded more than a hundred palace maids and arrived in front of the burned Foguang Pavilion. The Foguang Pavilion was an abandoned empty pavilion. This building was burned, and Wu Zetian generally did not take it too seriously. He just ordered the cause of the fire to be investigated and then punished the responsible person to complete it.

But today Wu Zetian's face was as gloomy as water. She looked at the burned attic for a long time and glanced coldly at Xue Huaiyi following behind her from the corner of her eyes.

"General Wu, why did the fire fall? Have you found out the reason?" Wu Zetian asked General Qianniu Guard Wu Youxu with great unhappiness.

Wu Youxu replied tremblingly: "Report to Your Majesty, the cause of the fire is still under investigation and there is no conclusion yet."

Wu Zetian snorted coldly and turned around to ask Shangguan Wan'er behind him, "The Fo Guang Pavilion has been burned. Will the arrangements continue today?"

Shangguan Wan'er said without saying a word: "Report to Your Majesty, you need to ask Guard Li about this matter, and Wan'er is not very clear about it."

"It's said that Li Zhen is here to see me!"

Wu Zetian issued an order, and the guards had already rushed away. At this time, Princess Taiping rushed over with several palace maids.

Princess Taiping is named Li Lingyue. She is Wu Zetian's youngest daughter. She is about 30 years old this year. She is tall and fat. She has a wide forehead, a large jaw, a tall nose, and a pair of slender phoenix eyes, which looks very much like her mother Wu Zetian, and is also deeply loved by Wu Zetian.

Princess Taiping's ex-husband Xue Shao died in Dali prison because of the rebellion case of Li Chong, the eldest son of King Yue. She then married Wu Youji, the Right Guard General, and officially became the wife of the Wu family.

Princess Taiping attaches great importance to power and often appears in the palace. She repeatedly proposes official positions to her mother. Her suggestions were basically adopted by Wu Zetian, which gave her gradually a foundation of her own power.

In the early morning, there was a fire in the Foguang Pavilion. Princess Taiping got the news immediately. She hurried into the palace just as dawn.

Li Lingyue stepped forward and bowed to her mother, "My daughter heard that the palace had a fire last night, so she came to greet her mother!"

When Wu Zetian saw her daughter coming early in the morning, she was very happy. She held her hand and asked with a smile: "Lingyue, how are the prince consort?"

"Report to my mother, my husband is so happy, and he also asks me to pay my respects to my mother on his behalf!"

"I am deeply pleased that you two have such filial piety. However, the fire in Foguang Pavilion is not a big problem. Just rebuild a new Pavilion, so you don't have to worry."

Princess Taiping held her mother's hand, looked at the burned attic, frowned and said, "Mother, who did this?"

"I don't know yet, General Wu is investigating." Wu Zetian looked back at Wu Youxu.

"It's because the mother is too tolerant to others, which leads to the people below who are willing to do things. Can the mother hand over this matter to her daughter for investigation? The daughter will find out the real murderer before noon."

"this....."

Wu Zetian hesitated for a moment and looked back at Shangguan Wan'er. Shangguan Wan'er certainly knew Princess Taiping's intention. Giving her a chance to investigate the case, she would definitely turn the palace upside down.

More importantly, once her hand reaches into the palace, it will be difficult for her to retract.

Thinking of this, Shangguan Wan'er smiled faintly and said, "General Wu is investigating this case. If General Wu cannot find out, it will not be too late to let the princess come to investigate. What does Your Majesty think?"

Wu Zetian also felt that Shangguan Wan'er's words were reasonable, so he patted his daughter's hand and smiled: "Wan'er's words make sense. When the general Wu can't find out the cause of the fire, I will ask Ling Yue to come and investigate again, so don't be too anxious."

Princess Taiping was extremely annoyed and couldn't help but glar at Shangguan Wan'er fiercely. Like Wei Tuaner, Shangguan Wan'er held the power to make edicts and also made Princess Taiping very jealous.

She always believed that she should be the one who handles government affairs for her mother, and should not let outsiders like Shangguan Wan'er take power.

In Princess Taiping's opinion, Shangguan Wan'er actually robbed the power that originally belonged to her, how could she not hate Shangguan Wan'er to the core?

Before Wei Tuaner was killed, Princess Taiping also had a deep conflict with Wei Tuaner, and thus kept a certain distance from Xue Huaiyi.

But with Wei Tuan'er being killed, there was no obstacle between her and Xue Huaiyi, but they had a common enemy, and the two quickly approached.

Although she had not formed an alliance with Xue Huaiyi at this time, the two were actually in a relationship. Xue Huaiyi blew good words from Princess Taiping by Wu Zetian's pillow, while Princess Taiping secretly helped Xue Huaiyi to deal with Shangguan Wan'er outside the palace.

Seeing that Wei Shifang's immortal arts were about to be exposed, Xue Huaiyi was facing a crisis of trust with great trust. How could Princess Taiping stay out of the matter?

At this time, Li Zhen hurried over under the guidance of the guards. Li Zhen stepped forward and knelt on one knee, saluted to Wu Zetian and said, "I am not good at ease, please see Your Majesty the Emperor!"

"Maid Li, the Fo Guang Pavilion unfortunately caught fire. Can you still show me your soul-losing technique today?"

"Report to Your Majesty, Bei Zhi has considered this accident, so he made two plans in advance. Although the burning of Fo Guang Pavilion was unfortunate, it did not affect today's plan. If Your Majesty is willing, Bei Zhi can now show His Majesty the technique of hiding the soul."

Li Zhen's words were beyond everyone's expectations. Not only was Xue Huaiyi stunned, but even Princess Taiping glared at Xue Huaiyi with great dissatisfaction.

Princess Taiping was originally disgusted with Xue Huaiyi's stupidity. He thought everyone was blind, so he couldn't tell who burned the Fo Guang Pavilion?

After burning the Foguang Pavilion, it will only delay the other party for a few days at most. Shangguan Wan'er can find another place to show her soul-breaking skills, but burning the palace will anger the emperor and make them lose their points in vain. So when Li Lingyue heard about the fire in the Foguang Pavilion, she was extremely angry with Xue Huaiyi's stupidity.

Now the other party is prepared and also hinted that he knew in advance that the Fo Guang Pavilion would be burned, which undoubtedly put Xue Huaiyi on the fire rack to roast.

Princess Taiping suddenly realized that the other party was prepared. If she said more, she would probably fall into the other party's trap. She immediately shut up and no longer expressed any opinions.

Wu Zetian was also deeply surprised and looked back at Shangguan Wan'er. Seeing that Shangguan Wan'er was also confused, it was obvious that Shangguan Wan'er was not aware of it. Wu Zetian understood in her heart. She nodded to Li Zhen with approval, "Guard Li is thoughtful and comforted me deeply. I wonder where you are going to show the soul-lossing technique?"

Li Zhen pointed to Jingyun Pavilion not far away, "I am willing to show His Majesty the soul-lossing technique in Jingyun Pavilion."

Wu Zetian became more interested, and she immediately said, "Okay! I have time now, Guard Li just let it go!"

"Abide by your Majesty's order!"

Li Zhen stood up and walked quickly towards Jingyun Pavilion. Wu Zetian slowly walked towards Jingyun Pavilion surrounded by a large group of people. At this time, Xue Huaiyi was really uneasy. He realized that burning the Foguang Pavilion was a waste of time. Not only did he not stop Li Zhen, he made himself speak out.

However, he also saw that Wu Zetian did not seem to want to investigate the cause of the fire in Foguang Pavilion, which means that she had forgiven herself in this matter, which made Xue Huaiyi breathe a little relieved while being uneasy.

Shangguan Wan'er followed Wu Zetian closely, and she was quite surprised. She didn't expect Li Zhen to be prepared. Judging from Li Zhen's statement, he obviously knew that someone would come to destroy it at night, but he used the trick and set up a trap, so that Xue Huaiyi would steal the chicken without losing the rice.

Although this incident itself did not cause much harm to Xue Huaiyi (Shangguan Wan'er also saw that Wu Zetian did not want to pursue the arson), it was of great benefit to Li Zhen, allowing the emperor to see Li Zhen's skills with his own eyes, laying a good foundation for Shangguan Wan'er's next arrangement.

Not to mention all the benefits, just slapping Xue Huaiyi in the face also made Shangguan Wan'er feel deeply happy.

However, Shangguan Wan'er felt a little uncomfortable, that is, Li Zhen did not report this to her in advance, which made her think that today's soul-losing technique could not be continued. Unexpectedly, Li Zhen used the trick and kept her in the dark.

Although it was her own people's actions, Shangguan Wan'er still saw Li Zhen's unruly side from this trivial matter, and made Shangguan Wan'er realize that if she wanted to control Li Zhen, she had to put in some more effort.

The group followed Wu Zetian to the front of Jingyun Pavilion with their own thoughts. The door of the pavilion was already open, and more than a dozen guards were nervously arranged under Li Zhen's command. Compared with the complicated arrangement of Fo Guang Pavilion, the arrangement of Jingyun Pavilion was very simple.

Li Zhen used a very simple arrangement when doing the experiment in Dengfeng County. He had understood the principle of soul-hiding technique, which was actually a kind of mind control technique.

Use pictures, oral techniques and other means to give strong hints to the recipient, and then use drugs to make the recipient hallucinate. The recipient will naturally think that he is in a fairyland and meets the souls of his deceased relatives again.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Li Zhen finished preparations. He stepped forward and bowed to Wu Zetian, "Report to Your Majesty, your humble position is ready!"

As soon as Li Zhen finished speaking, Princess Taiping stepped forward and said, "Mother is a dignified emperor. How can you personally test the magic? If there is any mistake, no one can afford to be guilty. My daughter is willing to try the truth for her mother."

Wu Zetian was also a little hesitant. When Wei Shifang used the soul-losing technique on her, the feeling was very wonderful at that time, but afterwards she suffered from insomnia for several days, which made her physically and mentally exhausted. Li Zhen seemed to have no experience. Once the experiment failed, wouldn’t it hurt her even more?

It just so happened that his daughter was willing to take the test for him. Wu Zetian was about to agree, but Shangguan Wan'er smiled and said, "The princess is also a daughter-in-law, how can she try the danger with her body? Why don't we change to another person? Wan'er suggests that General Wu come to the test."

Wu Youxu hurriedly stepped out and said, "I am willing to give it a try."
Chapter completed!