The council chamber has limited space.

Most of the soldiers were waiting in the courtyard.

The adjutant led several commanders into the room to discuss matters.

They stood around the table, watching the disc of hidden weapons being carried up, and seeing Luo Jiu carefully disassemble it with tools; their expressions were unusually solemn.

Just then, a commotion arose outside.

Jiang Qingwan walked over, draped in a white cloak. The lights were dim, the moonlight alluring, and her figure was graceful and ethereal.

Before she even reached the door, Mo Yunhan came out and calmly extended his hand to her.

"The morale of the troops is low right now. If you have a way to break this deadlock, please share it with everyone."

Although Jiang Qingwan had not witnessed the devastation on the city wall herself, she had heard about it from Su Liuer and thus knew what Mo Yunhan was worried about.

She placed her small hand in the man's palm, her exquisite face displaying a cold and calm demeanor, exuding an air of authority.

"This disc is not indestructible."

Upon hearing her say this, the guards standing in the courtyard subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Qingwan glanced at Mo Yunhan, and the two went inside together.

Luo Jiu was already impatient and immediately raised his hand to call out, "Your Highness, I have disassembled three curved swords. Come and take a look at this joint. It seems to be a little different from what we saw before."

Jiang Qingwan immediately released Mo Yunhan's hand and quickly stepped forward.

The disassembled scimitar was neatly placed on the table, and the mechanism at the joint was indeed different from the one seen at Luo Jiu's house.

Luo Jiu dismantled another one, becoming increasingly certain.

"It seems that the identities of these people still need to be investigated. This should not be the real Golden Hook Scimitar."

Wang Hao was completely bewildered.

"What do you mean? Could it be that these traitors aren't remnants of the Sui Dynasty?"

Mo Yunhan couldn't help but frown.

"Isn't that so?"

If not, then it might truly be a malignant tumor within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This will be more troublesome.

Jiang Qingwan placed the mechanism on the table, her mood somewhat heavy.

"Take all the scimitars off and see if there's a thousand-hole lock inside."

Luo Jiu's movements suddenly stopped.

"A thousand-hole lock?"

His expression changed drastically, and without saying another word, he huffed and puffed as he dismantled all the curved swords.

Sure enough, all the control panels connected to the mechanisms were indeed a thousand-hole lock.

A lock that can be described as a masterpiece of craftsmanship.

It can automatically reverse the control of the mechanism by adjusting the force of its operation, the resistance it encounters, or even subtle changes in wind direction.

In other words, if this thing targets you, it can relentlessly pursue you with the airflow generated by your breathing or running until it kills you.

Moreover, this kind of control does not require a very close distance.

It truly evokes a sense of dread, like the fear of taking someone's head from afar.

Luo Jiu picked up the thousand-hole lock, his voice trembling.

"Divine mechanic Banlu, this is a divine machine that only Divine mechanic Banlu could create. Could it be that Divine mechanic Banlu is behind those traitors?"

"impossible."

Jiang Qingwan rejected it without hesitation.

Mo Yunhan immediately turned to look at her, his scrutiny deepening, but he did not ask any questions.

Jiang Qingwan knew what he was thinking.

Since you've investigated Yun Tianji, the number one diviner in the world, you must know that she and the diviner Banlu came from the same school.

Right now, she's more eager than any of them to find the real culprit.

We must not allow the Zhuge family to become the target of public criticism.

She took the thousand-hole lock and examined it closely.

As she moved her fingers, the thousand-hole lock emitted a clicking sound as the mechanism turned.

Luo Jiu was stunned.

"Your Highness...you, you actually know how to operate the Thousand-Hole Lock?"

He suddenly remembered the chariot drawings Jiang Qingwan had given him before, as well as the drafts of the mechanical weapons she had brought the second time, and his heart trembled.

"Could you be Ban Lu?"

All the soldiers turned to look, and their jaws dropped in astonishment.

Jiang Qingwan glanced at him speechlessly.

"Since you know about the Divine Strategist Banlu, do you not even know whether he is male or female?"

Luo Jiu froze, then raised his hand and slapped his head hard.

"It was my mistake, it was my mistake."

Jiang Qingwan tried it no less than a hundred times, but the latch never stopped.

A thousand-hole lock doesn't actually have a thousand holes.

Instead, it contains a thousand mechanisms; one wrong step and the whole thing is lost.

Only the one who created it can unravel it.

Her second senior brother had once boasted to her that if she could break this thousand-hole lock, he would do all the work of stealing wine and roasting chicken from now on.

For this reason, she stayed in her room for seven days, fiddling with the thousand-hole lock.

In a fit of rage, he grabbed the thing and shoved it into his iron-smelting furnace.

The two men got into a fight in the office, which ended with the senior brother giving each of them a whack with a board.

When the eldest brother learned of what the second brother had done, he ordered him to teach her how to make the thousand-hole lock step by step.

"Snap!"

As her memories unfolded, the thousand-hole lock in Jiang Qingwan's hand suddenly opened.

Like a lotus flower slowly blooming, it is very beautiful.

"You...you actually opened it?"

Luo Jiu rubbed his only eye, his whole body becoming excited.

"The only person in this world who can open the thousand-hole lock must be the divine mechanic Banlu."

As he spoke, he suddenly knelt down on the ground.

"My greatest wish in this life is to become an apprentice of the divine strategist Banlu. I beg the princess to accept me and fulfill my lifelong wish."

The group of people looked at each other in bewilderment.

Wang Hao couldn't help but say, "Since the princess is the one who made this thousand-hole lock, then whoever the princess gave the lock to is the leader of this group of traitors."

His line of thinking is perfectly sound.

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Only Mo Yunhan remained silent, his cold lips pressed together, his dark eyes fixed on Jiang Qingwan with an unfathomable gaze.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!