The court immediately erupted into a buzzing sound, even louder than before.

No one had expected the Queen would personally take action. Most critically, everyone knew she had been born without spiritual talent and was an ordinary mortal incapable of cultivation. Yet Fu Lingchuan had just explained that to summon a soul to identify a culprit required not only profound cultivation but also extraordinarily powerful soul force. For cultivators in the mortal realm, it was already impressive to deepen their cultivation day by day—how many could also nurture their soul force?

A golden light flashed in Feng Miaojun’s palm, and a golden pestle taller than her height appeared in her grasp. At this moment, the rising sun was just beginning to ascend, and the great hall faced east, making the golden pestle seem to shine brightly.

She raised the pestle high, then gently lowered it.

“Clang—” This far-reaching echo resonated like a great bell, audible throughout the hall.

The officials instinctively fell silent, but their vision blurred. Suddenly, the royal court scene transformed completely. The magnificent buildings, decorations, great pillars, and throne all vanished. Everyone found themselves bathed in the bright March sunlight, standing upon an endless sea of grass. White dandelions and pink wild peach blossoms covered the earth, attracting bees and butterflies.

Most amazingly, everyone standing there could seemingly smell the fragrance of fresh grass and soil, as if a light rain had just stopped.

Before anyone could voice their confusion, the Queen raised her golden pestle again and gently tapped the ground.

Amidst the lingering echoes, the scene of abundant flowers instantly vanished.

This time, the officials found themselves standing amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood. In the distance, cannon fire thundered; nearby, gunpowder smoke filled the air. The ground was pitted with craters, the deepest being over ten zhang wide and more than one zhang deep, equivalent to the area of a pond. And indeed, there was a pool there now—blood from nearby corpses had flowed in, gathering into a shallow pool.

Without a doubt, this was a battlefield, and an exceptionally brutal one. Dismembered limbs could be seen everywhere, or bodies missing half their torso, clearly blown apart by explosions, with internal organs scattered about. One official, frozen in shock, felt something at his feet. Looking down, he saw a blood-covered soldier clutching at his hem, gasping: “Save me, save me!”

The officials finally changed expression and bowed in unison: “Your Majesty!”

Feng Miaojun sighed softly and raised the golden pestle for a third time.

Immediately, this scene of carnage also disappeared.

Everyone was back in the original great hall, with sunlight streaming in from the east, scattering golden fragments across the floor, while the cold air was kept outside by the formation arrays.

Inside was comfortably warm, the temperature regulated to be quite pleasant, yet everyone who had not yet recovered from the previous two scenes felt increasingly feverish.

The Queen was a cultivator and with such profound power!

All this time, they had been kept in the dark.

Wait, what about the State Preceptor? Did Fu Lingchuan know?

Feng Miaojun’s gaze swept across the faces of Fu Lingchuan, General Ping Ye, Yu Gengqing, and others, observing their varied expressions after the initial shock.

Very good, this was exactly the unexpected effect she wanted.

“Bring in the deceased and Shi Zhangqing,” she commanded in a calm voice. “We will have him identify the culprit in court.”

Fu Lingchuan had remained silent all along, deep in thought. Now he stepped forward and said: “Changle, your royal authority is too powerful—lonely souls wouldn’t dare approach, and the palace grounds don’t permit ghostly entities to enter.”

Feng Miaojun was a sovereign recognized by the Heavenly Way, carrying the nation’s fate. Minor ghosts would flee at the mere sight of her, not to mention that this was the royal palace, with hundreds if not thousands of evil-repelling formations. It would be strange if any ghost could enter.

There was another point he didn’t mention: it was shortly after sunrise when the world’s yang energy was abundant.

Feng Miaojun had anticipated this and replied: “Outside the East and West Direct Gates, there is one yang spring and one yin spring each. Now with the sunlight rising from the east, it is the most yin time at the spring eyes. We can borrow the power of the yin spring.”

When the ancestors built the royal summer palace in Wusel, they foresaw that the earth’s energy was divided into yin and yang, and that yang energy alone would not be sustained if yin energy were completely removed. Therefore, they dug one yin spring and one yang spring at both the East and West Direct Gates to balance and guide the energies.

Though called springs, they were wells.

Conveniently, the yin spring was close to the inner palace, and those unsavory matters need not be detailed. Over more than a hundred years, this yin spring had buried countless bones of palace servants. Even during the hottest days of summer, a chilly wind blew constantly there. Ordinary people who approached would feel a cold penetrate their entire body, causing them to shiver uncontrollably.

The cultivators in the hall subtly changed expression upon hearing this, secretly admiring her thoroughness.

Feng Miaojun first called for wolf-hair brush and cinnabar, filled a sheet of golden paper, and added her private seal. Only then did she take up the pestle and walk outward: “Follow me.”

Having revealed her cultivation today, she no longer concealed her abilities. Though her figure moved gracefully and slowly, she traveled at the same speed as ordinary people running at full stride. Most mortal officials had to hurry at a quick pace to keep up with her.

In upper-class circles, rumors had circulated that the Queen possessed cultivation, as palace servants were often seen delivering large quantities of cultivation materials to her. But people’s innate talents varied greatly, and since Changle had shown no aptitude while still a princess, the officials assumed that even if she had cultivation, it couldn’t be very high. Combined with the fact that she never displayed her powers and that Fu Lingchuan controlled the court affairs, almost no one knew the depth of her abilities.

Today, how many people’s eyes would pop out in shock?

The West Direct Gate was several li away, yet Feng Miaojun arrived in an instant.

Just by observing the terrain, one could see that the yin spring’s construction was quite particular. It was excavated precisely at the place of turbid yin within the entire palace, where the “nine lower waters” converged. The surrounding palace walls enclosed it in a square formation, with only a small door connecting to the outside, causing yin energy to accumulate year-round without dissipating.

Now in the cold winter, people couldn’t stand near the spring, but Feng Miaojun was unafraid. After the seals were removed, she walked to the white jade railings surrounding the yin spring and looked down.

The spring water was clear and cold, yet bottomless, with moss growing around its edges.

After a short wait, the suspect and the deceased were brought almost simultaneously.

Feng Miaojun, not avoiding the impure air, ordered both to be placed on the open ground before turning toward the yin spring and silently reciting an incantation.

Years ago, when Yun Ya summoned the soul of Old Woman Wang, he used specially made yin candles to bring her into the county office. The royal palace’s imposing aura was many times stronger than a county office, and it was now broad daylight, making her spell-casting even more difficult.

Fortunately, her status was now different.

Barely halfway through the incantation, the wind began to howl from somewhere, swirling dead branches from the corners in the air. The temperature seemed to drop further, and even those wrapped in fur coats and cloaks felt the cold and acidic wind penetrate their bodies as if no amount of clothing could protect them.

Upon finishing the incantation, Feng Miaojun took out the golden paper and gently waved it. It suddenly ignited. The flames were not bright gold-red but ghostly blue-green like phosphorus fire, casting an eerie light on her flawless face.

This was what was known as yin fire.

Over these years, she had studied no small amount of unorthodox paths, and with the secret volume of celestial demons acquired last year, which contained many methods for refining the soul and communicating with spirits and ghosts, the soul-returning art was described in detail.