Having been tricked once at the Hundred Flowers Palace, he is now truly "once bitten, twice shy."

So he hurriedly used the jade cong to control the small animals around him. At night, there were the most cats around, and he used their eyes to monitor the surroundings.

Having confirmed that there seemed to be no ambush in the palace, he quietly sneaked in.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stopped and hid behind a large tree.

Through the cat's eyes, he saw a group of people walking this way, and the bright yellow figure in the center was none other than Emperor Zhao Hao!

Zu An's hair stood on end. What did the Empress mean by this? She invited him here, and then the Emperor came too. Was she trying to kill him?

He didn't dare to utter a sound, and at the same time, he used the Bright Mirror Platform to make his aura become fainter and fainter.

As the emperor and his entourage passed by, and no one else seemed to notice anything unusual, the emperor suddenly stopped.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Eunuch Wen stepped forward to ask.

The emperor turned to look at Zu'an's hiding place, his gaze sharp: "Who dares to break into the deep palace at night!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tree in front of Zuan shattered into pieces. He instinctively tried to dodge, but found that the air around him had become incredibly viscous, as if an invisible force was imprisoning him.

A thought struck him; last time he was immobilized like this, it seemed like he couldn't move at all, but now it didn't seem so bad...

However, he did not flinch, but stood still and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

At this moment, the guards around the emperor finally reacted, drew their long swords, and quickly surrounded Zu An, but hesitated when they saw his embroidered envoy attire.

The emperor frowned: "It's you?"

Although Zu'an is currently wearing a mask, his cultivation level has reached the level of an emperor, so he no longer needs to rely on his eyes to recognize people.

"How did you end up here?" His gaze remained sharp.

Zu An hurriedly replied, "The Emperor sent me to investigate a case, so I came here to look for some clues."

The emperor snorted: "You've found your way to the Empress? Do you suspect her?"

“Your Majesty, I dare not,” Zu’an replied. “It is precisely because I dare not doubt Your Majesty that I came secretly, so as not to be misunderstood as Your Majesty being involved in this case.”

"Disrespectful," the emperor said, glancing at Eunuch Wen beside him. "How should we deal with an eunuch who breaks into the concubines' chambers at night?"

"According to the law, he should be executed!" Eunuch Wen glanced at Zu An, thinking to himself, "Has this Embroidered-Robed Envoy lost his mind? He's willing to risk his life for the sake of investigating a case."

Zu An's heart skipped a beat: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am new here and do not know the rules of the palace. In addition, the deadline for solving the case is approaching, so I was anxious..."

He knew that the emperor still needed him to do many things and would never kill him for this, but in front of others, he still had to maintain the proper demeanor and at least give him a way out.

As expected, the emperor nodded: "Very well, considering your extenuating circumstances, I will spare your life this time. However, you may escape the death penalty, but you will not escape punishment. Guards, drag him away and give him fifty lashes as a warning to others."

Zuan was both shocked and furious; this guy was serious.

Damn it, ever since we arrived in the capital, the emperor has been forcing me to do all sorts of things. Even the donkeys in the production team wouldn't dare use me like this.

The key issue is that they only gave him a hollow title of "Gold Medal Ambassador," and then there were no more carrots; all that was left was the stick.

He wanted to say something more, but the emperor had already turned and entered the Kunning Palace, giving him no chance to explain himself.

Zuan: "..."

Immediately afterwards, Eunuch Wen arrived before him with a group of fierce-looking guards: "My lord, please forgive me."

He was always kind and gentle, and even in this situation, he didn't want to offend anyone. After all, the fact that the emperor spared his life for breaking into the palace at night proved that this guy was definitely extraordinary.

However extraordinary it may be, the task assigned by the Emperor must still be carried out.

Several guards pinned Zu An to the ground and then used their scabbards as boards to whip him.

Zu An's face remained calm, but a surge of anger was rising within him.

In fact, the beating did him no harm at all; on the contrary, it increased his skill.

But this feeling of frustration was incredibly frustrating. Since arriving in the capital, he had been living a life where his life and death were in the hands of others.

Although he was easygoing and didn't take things too seriously, negative emotions still accumulated in his heart.

Today's incident became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The emperor clearly still needed his help with several important matters, and clearly wouldn't kill him, but he still pretended to spare his life with a condescending look, and then casually gave him a beating.

Ultimately, it was because he was too weak. In the emperor's eyes, he was probably just a servant who could be ordered around at will, or even just a dog, and a rather disobedient one at that.

That's why he was often put in a difficult position by various means during this period. In fact, this is normal imperial tactics. If it were anyone else in the world, they would have been trembling with fear by now, feeling that the emperor's power was unpredictable, and would have worked hard to serve the emperor in the future.

But Zu An, as a transmigrator, was raised with the concept of equality for all and the education that "no one is born with a special destiny." In addition, he had been an emperor in the secret realm, so how could he tolerate such a thing?

I want to become stronger!

This thought was clearer and stronger than ever before.

At this moment, in Kunning Palace, the Empress, accompanied by Eunuch Lü, came to greet you: "Your Majesty, I greet you!"

The emperor looked her over with some surprise: "Ning'er has become more and more beautiful since I last saw her."

The Empress seemed to have dressed up deliberately today, with exquisitely shaped eyebrows, luscious red lips, and her clothes were very form-fitting, perfectly outlining her voluptuous curves.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!