"Open the door, open the door..."

When Li Mufeng and his group arrived in the capital, they found the city gates tightly closed. No matter how hard Zhao Hu and the others pounded on them, the gates wouldn't open.

"Find me a pillar so I can break down the door."

Just as Li Mufeng was losing patience, a sinister voice came from the city wall.

"King Longxuan, how have you been?"

"Phoenix Feather?"

Li Mufeng was extremely surprised. Wasn't this person imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison? How did he get out?

"The imperial edict has arrived. Prince Longxuan, receive the edict."

Just as Li Mufeng was puzzled, he heard Feng Ling shout again from the city wall.

Everyone looked up and saw Feng Ling holding a gleaming roll of cloth. Li Mufeng clenched his fists tightly, as if struggling internally, before kneeling on one knee.

"Your subject receives the decree."

Despite disliking Feng Ling, Emperor Li Hongwen still had to give her face.

Li Mufeng knelt on the ground, his heart filled with doubt.

"Father Emperor killed all the members of the Feng family, so why didn't he kill Feng Ling? And why did he release her from the Heavenly Prison? Why is that?"

Li Mufeng knelt down, and Zhao Hu and the others naturally couldn't stand, so they all knelt down as well.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees..."

As my son, Prince Longxuan should share my burdens.

I dispatched him to "Chenxi County" to capture the serial killer, but unexpectedly he himself became the serial killer, murdering five civilians. His crime is unforgivable. He is hereby ordered to be executed immediately as a warning to others!

So be it!

After Feng Ling finished reading the imperial edict, Li Mufeng was stunned.

"My father actually wants to kill me! My father actually wants to kill me..."

His head was buzzing. Feng Ling threw the imperial edict off the city wall. Zhao Hu caught the edict, glanced at it, and...

"Impossible. How could the Emperor kill my Prince? He once said that my Prince was his last hope. If the Prince is killed, who will protect the country for him? You must have forced him to write it."

"Brother, that's a misconception. Even if Prince Longxuan is dead, isn't there still Prince Lin? How come there's no one to protect the Emperor's empire?"

Besides, if King Longxuan dares to kill even ordinary people, who can guarantee that he won't kill us after he enters the city?

As Feng Ling finished speaking, she glanced at the soldier beside her.

"Do you dare let him into the city? I've heard that he killed not only civilians, but also some government soldiers and his own guards. Even the late Princess Consort, the eldest daughter of the Han family, was knocked off a cliff by him, and her fate is still unknown."

"Kill the Dragon Prince! Kill the Dragon Prince..."

The threat of the phoenix feather was very effective, and the soldiers on the city wall shouted in unison.

"King Longxuan was bewitched by villains; it was not his will. Fengling, stop spreading rumors here."

"But you, who privately mobilized troops, posing a risk of rebellion, yet managed to escape from the imperial prison. If I were to go in, I would certainly question the Emperor about how you could be so foolish."

General Tiger Warrior angrily pointed at Phoenix Feather, only to hear a cold shout from it.

"We'll have to wait until you get into the city to talk about that."

Feng Ling was extremely arrogant. After a moment, she waved her hand.

"What are you all standing there for? Shoot your arrows! Kill the Dragon King and rid the people of this scourge!"

At a command, arrows rained down from the city walls.

"Protect the prince! Protect the prince..."

Zhao Hu exclaimed in surprise, and everyone rushed to protect Li Mufeng behind them.

Seeing Feng Ling's eagerness to kill him to silence him, Li Mufeng realized something was wrong. If his father really wanted to kill him, he shouldn't have turned him away. As father and son, he should have given him some dignity and allowed him to see him one last time! There must be something fishy about this.

Thinking of this, Li Mufeng spoke in a deep voice, his tone filled with endless authority and pressure.

"I must see the Emperor! Open the city gates immediately! Anyone who obstructs me will be killed without mercy!"

His voice was deep and powerful, like a tiger descending the mountain, sending chills down one's spine.

The phoenix feathers on the city wall, naturally, dared not open the city gates; they could only clamor from atop them.

"Is Prince Longxuan planning a rebellion?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a "whoosh" was heard, and Li Mufeng shot an arrow at Feng Ling with his bare hands, demonstrating the depth of his inner strength, which made him even more capable of using a bow and arrow.

"ah……"

With a scream, Feng Ling turned around, preparing to leave this dangerous place, but then heard a "poof" sound and felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking up, he saw a man in black standing in front of him.

"you……"

Phoenix Feather crashed to the ground.

"The Lord is dead! Lord Feng is dead! Prince Longxuan has rebelled! Prince Longxuan has rebelled..."

Chaos erupted on the city wall, while Ye Fan and the others below were completely bewildered.

"What's going on?"

Only Li Mufeng and Zhao Hu remained as steady as Mount Tai.

The city gates swung open, and Li Mufeng waved his hand.

"Let's go."

"Your subordinates are late in coming to your rescue, please forgive us, Master."

A group of men in black knelt on the ground at the city gate. The city was in a mess, indicating that a bloody battle had just taken place.

"Shadow Blade, what's going on in the palace? Why did the Emperor kill our Prince?"

Upon seeing that the leader was Shadow Blade, Zhao Hu asked in a deep voice.

"Your Highness."

Shadow Blade stood up and whispered something in Li Mufeng's ear. Li Mufeng's expression turned serious.

"So, you haven't seen Father Emperor for over ten days either?"

"The Emperor forbade us to approach the sleeping quarters. We could only watch from afar on the outside. Apart from Eunuch Zhou being beaten to death on the orders of Consort Zhen, there was nothing unusual."

Shadowblade spoke the truth, but Li Mufeng was greatly shocked.

"What did you say? Eunuch Zhou was beaten to death on Consort Zhen's orders? And Father didn't say anything?"

The relationship between Eunuch Zhou and Emperor Li Hongwen had long surpassed that of master and servant, and Li Mufeng did not believe that his father would agree to Han Ruyi killing Eunuch Zhou.

"Your subordinate also found it suspicious, so we led men in and broke in, only to find...find..."

Shadow Blade couldn't continue, her face slightly flushed. She leaned close to Li Mufeng's ear and whispered something else. Li Mufeng gritted his teeth.

"That damned bitch, I hope she really treats Father Emperor as well as she seems."

It turns out that before Li Mufeng left, he arranged for secret guards to protect Li Hongwen.

It was supposed to be foolproof, but we overlooked the variable of Han Ruyi.

A month after Li Mufeng and Han Ziwei left, Han Ruyi was found to be pregnant. Emperor Li Hongwen could be ruthless towards Han Ruyi, but he could not ignore the child in her womb, after all, it was his own flesh and blood.

In addition, Han Ruyi shielded Li Hongwen from an arrow, and her wound was not treated in time and began to become inflamed. Li Hongwen then released her from the "Lanxiang Pavilion" and brought her to his "Yangxin Hall".

At first, Han Ruyi truly served Emperor Li Hongwen wholeheartedly, disregarding her own pregnancy, personally making soup for him and feeding him by hand.

The Shadow Blade guards naturally dared not let their guard down and tested the soup multiple times, finding nothing but tonics in it.

One day, several screams suddenly came from the Hall of Mental Cultivation. The secret guard Shadow Blade led his men in and rushed in, only to find that Emperor Li Hongwen and Han Ruyi were deeply in love, doing something unspeakable.

Li Hongwen was filled with shame and indignation, and with Han Ruyi's charming and seductive words, Ying Ren and the others were ordered not to enter the vicinity of the "Hall of Mental Cultivation".

This didn't just happen once, and it wasn't every day, but it would happen every few days. Either Han Ruyi was disheveled, or Emperor Li Hongwen, unsatisfied, would pull Han Ruyi aside and woo her...

Over time, Shadowblade and the others got used to it.

As for the matter of Eunuch Zhou, Ying Ren hesitated. For the safety of Emperor Li Hongwen, he attempted to break into the palace, but Li Hongwen's voice came from inside.

"I am aware of this matter. You may leave now. I am fine."

Then came a faint but rapid panting sound. As a bodyguard, what could Shadow Blade say?

The reason why she was able to appear in time today to open the city gate for Li Mufeng is that Han Ruyi was too eager to kill Li Mufeng. When Feng Ling came out of the palace, she brought a lot of people with her, which made the sharp-eyed Shadow Blade see something unusual.

"They've broken in! They've broken in! Li Mufeng has broken in!"

As Han Ruyi was having Zhang Mama help her with her makeup, Prince Li Muchen stumbled in.

"The Prince of Lin is here, Granny Zhang, quickly make some tea."

Han Ruyi smiled charmingly, showing no sign of panic whatsoever, though a cold glint flashed in her eyes...