Chapter 305: Chapter 306: Hidden Compartment

’It’s just a spirit tablet. Why hide it?’

’And if they were going to hide it, why secretly put it back?’

’Most importantly, of all the spirit tablets, why choose the Late Emperor’s?’

One question after another popped into Li Ji’s mind.

His fingers began to unconsciously rub the tablet.

The pad of his thumb was pricked by something, and it stung.

Li Ji paused.

He glanced down at his thumb. A small bead of red blood slowly welled up from where he had been pricked.

His gaze shifted to the spirit tablet.

The sky was dim, making it difficult to see clearly.

Li Ji had someone bring over a lantern.

By the dim yellow light of the lantern, he leaned in to examine the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet closely.

He was surprised to find a small splinter on the edge of the tablet.

The Late Emperor’s tablet had been repeatedly polished and lacquered. Something like a splinter should have been impossible.

Li Ji’s eyes gradually deepened.

He glanced at Bian Ziming and Chen Wangbei and said curtly,

"There’s nothing for you to do here. Go about your business."

Bian Ziming and Chen Wangbei knew Prince Zhao was deliberately dismissing them. They didn’t dare ask any questions and obediently walked away.

With no one else around, Li Ji was left alone.

He took out the dagger he carried and brought the blade close to where the splinter was.

If anyone else had been there, they would have certainly leaped up to stop Prince Zhao. Deliberately damaging the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet was an act of great disrespect, a crime punishable by beheading!

But Li Ji didn’t care about that.

He slid the tip of the blade gently along the tablet.

The moment he felt the tip catch slightly, Li Ji immediately stopped.

He applied more pressure, pushing the blade down.

The thin blade sank into the tablet, and a seam appeared along its side.

Li Ji narrowed his eyes.

’So there’s a hidden compartment inside this tablet.’

He took the tablet apart and saw that the secret compartment was empty.

Someone had gone to great lengths to hide a secret compartment in the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet; it must have been to conceal something very important.

But now, there was nothing inside the compartment.

That could only mean that whatever had been hidden inside had been taken.

Li Ji reassembled the tablet and placed it back on the incense table.

Since all the spirit tablets had been recovered, Li Ji gave the order to withdraw the troops and return to the capital.

—This was why Prince Zhao had returned so late.

After hearing Prince Zhao’s account, Hua Manman couldn’t help but ask,

"Who would hide something inside the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet?"

From its creation to completion, the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet would have undergone layers of inspection. If it had a secret compartment, the Ministry of Industry would have discovered the issue during their initial approval. They would never have allowed a flawed tablet to be placed in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Feihua Zhenren mused, "Could the Late Emperor’s tablet have been swapped?"

Li Ji replied, "No. The inscription on the Late Emperor’s tablet was personally written by the Saint. It would be incredibly difficult to forge a perfect copy.

"Moreover, the wood used for the tablet is extremely special—a tribute item supplied exclusively to the Royal Family. Only the Saint’s private treasury would have it."

Unless the Emperor himself had a duplicate made, it would be impossible for a second, identical tablet of the Late Emperor to exist.

In other words, there had only ever been one spirit tablet for the Late Emperor. The possibility of it being swapped was nil.

Anyone capable of tampering with the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet must have an extraordinary identity.

Things were getting more and more complicated.

Hua Manman felt like her brain was about to short-circuit.

Just then, dinner was ready.

The topic of conversation was put on hold.

The three of them moved to the dining hall to eat.

By the time they had eaten their fill, it was already very late, and they all returned to their own rooms to rest.

Because of Li Ji’s injured arm, when Hua Manman lay down in bed, she purposefully kept some distance from him to avoid accidentally touching his wound in her sleep.

Hua Manman pulled the covers up, then turned to look at Prince Zhao, only to find him lost in thought.

She waved her little hand in front of his eyes.

"What’s on your mind, Your Highness?"

Li Ji snapped back to reality, catching her hand and voicing the thoughts that had been troubling him.

"I suspected before that the collapse of the Imperial Ancestral Temple might not have been a natural disaster, but man-made.

"It turns out I was right. The temple was most likely brought down deliberately, all to steal something in the chaos."

The "something" he mentioned must have been what was hidden inside the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet.

"I once asked my maternal grandmother if there were any treasures hidden in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

"She said that aside from the ancestral tablets, there was nothing that could be called a treasure."

Who would have thought someone would tamper with the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet?

It was no wonder that despite the temple being renovated every year, no one had ever discovered its existence.

Because no matter how they renovated the temple, no one would ever dare to touch the ancestral tablets.

Hua Manman yawned. "To go so far as to collapse the entire Imperial Ancestral Temple just to steal something... that’s too high a price to pay."

Li Ji replied, "That only proves how important the stolen item is."

Seeing Manman’s sleepy expression, he cut the conversation short and stroked her hair.

"Go to sleep."

Hua Manman snuggled her cheek against the soft pillow and asked in a low voice, "Are you going to tell the Saint what happened tonight?"

Li Ji asked in return, "What do you think?"

Hua Manman thought for a moment before answering.

"It’s probably best to tell the Saint.

"Even though Bian Ziming is your man, he might not be willing to deceive the Saint for you.

"To be safe, you should just tell the truth.

"Being forthcoming is always much better than being forced to confess."

Li Ji smiled. "Alright, I’ll do as you say."

It wasn’t that he couldn’t have thought of what Manman said, but he still loved seeing her trying so hard to strategize for him. It was adorable.

...

「The next morning」 Li Ji went to the palace to report.

"Your humble subject has recovered all the spirit tablets of the past Saints."

The Emperor didn’t seem to be in good spirits, as if he hadn’t slept well the night before. There were clear signs of fatigue on his face.

He rubbed his temples and asked, "Are the ancestral tablets undamaged?"

Li Ji answered truthfully, "They are not."

The Emperor let out a slight sigh of relief. "That’s good."

Noticing Prince Zhao’s hesitant expression, he said, "Speak your mind. You don’t need to hold back in front of me."

Li Ji said, "Your humble subject discovered someone in the Imperial Ancestral Temple last night..."

He recounted the events after he discovered Xu Yi.

He didn’t mention his discovery of the secret within the Late Emperor’s spirit tablet, but how could the brilliant Emperor not realize? He immediately suspected that Xu Yi might have been after the ancestral tablets.

The Emperor immediately rose and went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple himself.

After some tidying up, the Imperial Ancestral Temple looked cleaner than it had the day before, but the broken walls remained, unable to conceal the desolate state of ruin.

The Emperor walked straight into the side hall where the spirit tablets were stored.

Amidst the pile of tablets, he accurately located the one belonging to the Late Emperor.

After a careful inspection, the Emperor discovered the hidden compartment inside the tablet.

He stared at the empty compartment, and for some unknown reason, his gaze turned colder and colder. His knuckles, gripping the tablet, grew white from the force of his grasp.