Chapter 180 (Final Chapter, Part 1)

When Xue Jin'an arrived at Cining Palace, he could hear the Empress Dowager's suppressed coughing even before he reached the entrance. Granny Su was urging the Empress Dowager to drink her medicine, looking very anxious: "Your Majesty, please drink some!"

The Empress Dowager coughed until her face turned red, but she waved her hand in refusal, saying, "I can't drink it, take it away."

"Your Majesty!" Granny Su said, her eyes reddening, "Even if you don't think about your own health, you should think about the Empress! The Empress died unjustly; you must at least let her rest in peace!"

The Empress Dowager's eyes reddened at the mention of the Empress. She pounded her aching chest and said painfully, "Yan'er died with resentment for so many years, and I only learned the truth today. How can I face my brother after I die? How can I face my parents? How can I face the ancestors of the Zhong family?"

"Youqing's death was my mistake in tying the knot, causing a pair of ill-fated lovers to be together, and in the end, both she and her unborn child died. How tragic! Yan'er's death was my mistake in trusting a villain, causing her to marry a heartless scoundrel, and she ended up dying with a grievance. Cough cough cough—" The Empress Dowager was so emotional that she coughed up blood.

"Your Majesty!" Granny Su was so shocked that she dropped the medicine bowl and rushed over to pat the Empress Dowager's back to help her catch her breath.

Fortunately, Xue Jin'an came in in time and caught the medicine bowl. Not a single drop of the medicine was spilled. Xue Jin'an smelled the escaping medicinal aroma and identified the medicinal herbs one by one.

"This medicine is potent. Let the ancestor calm down before drinking it." Xue Jin'an said, handing the medicine bowl to the side and giving a precise prescription for a calming ointment.

This prescription is from the original novel. It's the brain-opening magic weapon for the protagonist, the Eighth Prince. Just by smelling it under his nose, he can immediately calm his mind and clear his head, and he can suddenly come up with a solution to a problem that was previously unsolvable.

The Empress Dowager needs it.

The ointment took some time to set, but fortunately, Xue Jin'an mainly wanted the invigorating smell; the shape didn't matter, as long as the effect remained. Soon, someone brought up the paste-like medicine, and the Empress Dowager's mood did indeed calm down considerably after smelling it.

Granny Su forced her to drink some medicine. Seeing that her coughing frequency had decreased and there was no more blood, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, if you continue like this, this old servant will have to go to the Yellow Springs before you, so that I won't have to worry about you anymore," said Granny Su helplessly.

Since her previous prolonged cold, the Empress Dowager had become increasingly sensitive to the cold. As soon as the summer heat subsided this year, she put on a thick padded jacket, and the Cining Palace was heated early. Not only that, her cough had become a chronic ailment. She would cough uncontrollably if she was exposed to even a slight breeze or became emotionally agitated.

Naturally, the imperial physicians were summoned to examine her, and they all said it was just a common ailment among the elderly. They prescribed some mild medicines, but they had no effect. The Empress Dowager herself didn't take it seriously, saying only, "It is rare for a person to live to seventy. I am already nearing the end of my life, so some ailments are not unusual. Don't make a fuss about it."

Lu Bingzhu and Granny Su were still worried. Before going to Rongdi, Lu Bingzhu would bring famous doctors from the martial arts world to examine the Empress Dowager's pulse every day. It was only because Lu Bingzhu's martial arts skills were really high, and he had reliable information such as the patrol routes and shift times of the Imperial Guard provided by Fu Lu, that he was able to keep bringing people in and out of the palace without being discovered.

Lu Bingzhu initially thought that Xue Jin'an had revealed all this information on his own initiative, but later, when Xue Jin'an contacted him about his infiltration of the Rongdi, he learned that it wasn't true.

It turned out that Xue Jin'an had been focusing on the Northwest Army during that time, so Fu Lu took matters into his own hands.

Lu Bingzhu couldn't help but praise, "He has a thorough understanding of the Imperial Guard's movements. Fu Lu is quite good; he's a promising talent. Intelligence gathering is also one of the standards for judging a spy's ability. You made the right choice in selecting him to take over a part of the Imperial Guard. In that case, Shou Quan must also have his own extraordinary abilities."

The Imperial Clothing Administration was an institution established by the Empress Dowager, and Lu Bingzhu was its first supervisor. Xue Jin'an had naturally discussed with them his intention to formally integrate the Imperial Clothing Administration into the military organization after ascending the throne, and to further reform it. He also inevitably mentioned that he would hand over the Imperial Clothing Administration to Fu Lu, Shou Quan, and Xuan Shiyi in the future.

Lu Bingzhu did not agree with the decision. Even though Xuan Shiyi had been re-educated by him before being released, it did not mean that he approved of Xuan Shiyi as a person. He affirmed Xuan Shiyi's basic abilities as a spy, but he questioned his integrity.

As for the two eunuchs, Fulu and Shouquan, they seemed to have no outstanding abilities other than loyalty, in Lu Bingzhu's eyes at the time.

However, Lu Bingzhu was a very sensible person. He understood the principle of "a new emperor, a new court," and he also knew that Xue Jin'an had come to inform them out of respect and trust, not to discuss matters. Therefore, although he harbored some resentment in his heart, he never voiced any objections to their faces.

It was only at this point that Lu Bingzhu truly affirmed the abilities of these three men, gained confidence in the future plans of the Fengyi Bureau, and was willing to give a push for the Fengyi Bureau's listing plan. Thus, he agreed to go on the expedition against the Rongdi.

In short, the opinions of the itinerant doctors on the Empress Dowager's intractable illness were not much different from those of the Imperial Hospital doctors, except for their prescriptions. The Imperial Hospital doctors were relatively conservative in their prescriptions and would not use strong medicines. However, the itinerant doctors were dealing with impulsive and vengeful people every day, so few of them were not impatient and were used to prescribing strong medicines.

The Empress Dowager drank several doses in rotation, and although the chronic illness was not cured, it no longer affected her life.

The Empress Dowager wanted to minimize the impact of her illness, not only because she was worried that the Emperor and his officials would use it as an excuse to take more power from her and trap her in Cining Palace, but also for Xue Jin'an's sake.

In her view, even though Xue Jin'an was quite capable in both character and methods, he was still too young and lacked a prominent maternal family to rely on. He would be at a disadvantage when it came to vying for the throne. She wanted to hold out for a few more years to accumulate more political capital for Xiao Qi, and ideally, to solidify Xue Jin'an's position as crown prince while she was still healthy and capable of maintaining control.

The calls for establishing a crown prince were so strong that even after the emperor repeatedly tried to stop the matter, they persisted—something the second prince's faction couldn't have accomplished. As for why there was such unanimous support for the second prince as crown prince, besides the faction's high-profile actions, it was also because the Empress Dowager knew that the first candidate proposed as crown prince would only end up as cannon fodder.

The emperor is currently in his prime and has no need to establish a crown prince. Moreover, given the precedent set by the Empress Dowager, the emperor is unwilling to have another person share his power. Therefore, the second prince will not amount to anything.

When the second prince brought about his own downfall, the time was ripe to establish a crown prince. With the princes getting into trouble one after another, and the ranking starting from fifth, the court officials who were worried about the country would naturally become restless. This time, even if the emperor did not want to establish a crown prince, he had no choice but to establish one to appease the officials and the people.

The Empress Dowager originally thought that this opportunity would take at least a year and a half, but she did not expect that the second son, who had cultivated such a good reputation, was actually a pretty face but no real talent. He was also so stupid that it was laughable. Before the eldest son's body was even cold, he had a falling out with his own sister and was even exposed as being related to the death of the second princess!

Before Consort Wen could finish speaking, the Empress Dowager could no longer bear to listen. She was so angry that she felt short of breath, her temples throbbed, and she was coughing so hard that she could barely hold it in.

The Empress Dowager simply turned and left, leaving the matter to the Emperor. No sooner had she left the Hall of State Affairs than she couldn't stop coughing. Before she could even take out a handkerchief, she covered her mouth with her sleeve and coughed so hard it was heart-wrenching.

Granny Su quickly helped her into a wheelchair and patted her back to help her catch her breath. After she finally stopped coughing, the Empress Dowager clutched her chest and looked rather unwell.

The Empress Dowager waved her hand, telling Granny Su to push the wheelchair away quickly. After they had gone several dozen paces away from Qian Yuan Palace, she said in a hoarse voice, "I'm coughing so badly that my heart, liver, spleen, and lungs feel terrible."

"This wheelchair is a good gift for Xiao Qi. It's so easy to push and move, much faster than a sedan chair," the Empress Dowager boasted secretly. She added, "I heard that Consort Xian had a fight with the Third Prince and tried to hit him with the wheelchair, but she couldn't move it. She was angry, so she sent someone to the wheelchair manufacturer to report the situation. The manufacturer immediately said that they were developing a new model of wheelchair, which is not only much lighter, but also has handrails and foot pedals. She can drive it by herself and doesn't need to exert so much effort and be so unseemly to turn these big wheels herself."

Granny Su, understanding the implied meaning, smiled and said, "His Highness the Seventh Prince is concerned about Her Majesty, so I'm afraid the first one of this new model has already been assigned to a destination."

Even if it's not finalized yet, it has to be finalized. Granny Su will remind Xue Jin'an.

The Empress Dowager was satisfied, but said aloud, "It's good enough as long as it works. Why insist on the latest model? It's just a waste of money."

"This is His Highness the Seventh Prince showing his filial piety. New styles are naturally better, otherwise Consort Xian wouldn't have been so happy to hear this, right? She even mentioned that she wants to hold a wheelchair racing competition next spring," said Granny Su.

The Empress Dowager snorted, "If I were to participate, the first place would undoubtedly be mine."

"Yes, yes, you're still got it! Once you cure this cough, you'll definitely dominate the wheelchair race!" Granny Su said, draping a windproof hat over the Empress Dowager's head. She suddenly sped up and said playfully, "Let's go, time for your medicine!"

The Empress Dowager leaned back in her chair, unable to reprimand her for her earlier arrogance. She silently gritted her teeth, calling out Su Mama's full name several times in her mind, thinking that this woman, having spent so much time with Lu Bingzhu, was starting to become unreliable. —The Empress Dowager still remembered the time Lu Bingzhu snatched her cup and used it as a hidden weapon.

They arrived at Cining Palace in a whirlwind. The two, mistress and servant, exchanged a glance. The Empress Dowager straightened her back and got out of her wheelchair, while Granny Su nimbly went to park the wheelchair.

When the two reached a place where they could no longer see each other, the Empress Dowager patted her chest and breathed a long sigh of relief, while Granny Su rubbed her sore legs.

No sooner had they returned to Cining Palace than the death knell tolled in the palace, and Consort Wen Zhaoyi passed away.

The Empress Dowager immediately sent someone to find out the news, but unexpectedly, Consort Zhuang arrived before the news. Consort Zhuang knelt down as soon as she entered. Su Mama had a feeling that something big was about to happen, so she quickly told someone to prepare the cough medicine that was being kept warm on the stove.

The matter was even bigger than Su Mama had imagined, as it involved Empress Xiaojingyi. It should be noted that the two Empress Zhongs were the Empress Dowager's Achilles' heel, and she still couldn't let go of the matter to this day.

If what Consort Zhuang said is true, then the late Empress may not have died of illness, but was killed by the Emperor… Granny Su was terrified and dared not think any further.

"Words are no proof. What evidence do you have?" The Empress Dowager asked rationally, trying to suppress her emotions.

“Evidence… If our ancestor goes to Weiyang Palace, wouldn’t he know everything?” Consort Zhuang was quick-witted. She said, “The things that Weiyang Palace must seal off are definitely not secret letters, but something that is obvious and cannot be eradicated.”

"Does the Tenth Prince's birth mother, Consort Chen, still remember her, Grandmother?" Consort Zhuang said in a low voice. "I heard that her death was extremely gruesome. Her skin and flesh were torn apart, as if she had been torn apart by some ferocious beast, rather than... being injured by an assassin."

When the Empress Dowager heard her mention Consort Chen, she knew that at least 60% of the matter was true: "Consort Chen's body was discovered by the Blood-Clad Guards. At that time, it was covered with a white cloth and sent directly to the Department of Cautious Punishment. Consort Chen was arrogant and spoiled by the emperor's favor. She did not have a good relationship with the concubines in the palace. I have never heard of anyone visiting her."

The Empress Dowager also had doubts about the sudden death of Consort Chen in Weiyang Palace. However, Lu Bingzhu went to see it and found that in addition to Consort Chen's body, there was indeed an assassin dressed in black with his face and head covered so that they could not be seen.

Lu Bingzhu vaguely felt that the assassin's features were somewhat familiar. He tried to remove the mask, but found that it was stuck to his skin and flesh. If he removed it, he would probably tear the skin and flesh apart as well.

As for Consort Chen's body, when Lu Bingzhu went to lift the white cloth, he was stopped by the eunuch in charge of the encoffining. The eunuch subtly indicated that Consort Chen's clothes were disheveled and her body was in disarray, implying that her cause of death was not simple.

Since Consort Chen was the emperor's woman, Lu Bingzhu didn't want to offend her too much. In the end, he only looked at her from the neck up, noticing her somewhat disheveled face and the loose red ribbon of her bodice.

After that, no one mentioned Consort Chen again, and her death did not cause any ripples in the palace. The Empress Dowager accepted that Consort Chen had been caught having an affair with another man by the Emperor and was killed in a fit of rage.

"I have never seen her, but has anyone else?" Consort Zhuang said, a smirk playing on her lips. "No one would have guessed that Consort Chen's sister is such an audacious person."

"The person who handled the body believed that as long as the person was put into a coffin and their identity was confirmed by their relatives, they would have to consider the peace of the soul after death and would not take the body out of the coffin again. Unfortunately, he went one step further. In order to be absolutely sure, he nailed the coffin shut. It was this step that aroused her sister's suspicion. So she opened the coffin to examine the body and saw the real, tragic death."

"That child named Yaoguang is very smart. She discovered that her sister's death was suspicious, but she did not launch a big investigation. She knew that if her sister's death could be covered up, the murderer must be someone of high rank and power. Was it Consort Min, who was in charge of handling the aftermath? Or some other concubine? She didn't know, but she knew that whoever it was, it was someone she couldn't get close to or deal with at the moment."

Yao Guang chose to leave the capital immediately. She planned to return under a different identity, make contact with members of the royal family, climb to a high enough position, and then slowly investigate the matter.

Consort Zhuang sighed, "What a pity..."

Hearing this, Xue Jin'an already knew the outcome: "Unfortunately, Lu Yaoguang was unlucky. She was targeted by Prince An early on and was ultimately placed under house arrest before she could even leave the capital."

Prince An was unaware that his identity as the son of Consort Hui was false. Ever since he learned of his "identity" from Prince Ping, he had been working to gather martial arts heroes to secretly plot a rebellion. Xue Jin'an remembered that on the day Xiao Shu died, the Fifth Prince came to discuss cooperation with him and said when he mentioned Prince An, "If he loses, he will be a traitor; if he wins, he will return to the rightful heir."

Everyone knows that the late emperor favored Consort Hui and intended to make her empress and her son crown prince. It is understandable that Prince An believed himself to be the rightful heir.

Seeing that the emperor deliberately provoked the struggle for the throne and deliberately gave Prince An the opportunity to build up his power, he thought he wanted to make the "ambitious" Prince An a target so that the struggle would be more intense. However, he did not expect that Prince An was not only eyeing the position under his but also could not wait to become the successor. Instead, he wanted to replace him directly.

So, before the princes had even grown up, Prince An made frequent moves, and some of his actions even went out of his control. For example, the martial arts practitioners who came to seek refuge with him initially did come because of the Gu Doctor Zhang Jinghua, but as time went on, Prince An's reputation spread, and quite a few people came to seek refuge because of his reputation as well.

In the original novel, when Cui Zui entered the capital to find a way out, wasn't the first person he thought of seeking help from Prince An? However, he failed to make contact with Prince An and was instead introduced to the Fifth Prince's household.

Only then did the emperor realize that his recklessness had given Prince An unprecedented boost and strength. He wanted to rein in his son, but the horse was no longer obedient. Fortunately, many of Zhang Jinghua's old associates were people he had planted, and with his informants, he could obtain some of Prince An's plans and thus deal with the troubles Prince An had caused.

The emperor's decision to leave Xia Xiazi fishing was not a charade. Prince An was still useful to him, and he would not easily abandon him. Moreover, Prince An's identity was a trump card that could only be used once, and he could not use it now to stop Prince An's actions. What he needed to do was to find out who Prince An's people were in the palace and what his trump cards were.

Whether they've figured out the cards or not is unknown, but Xia Xiazi and the undercover agent Xuan Shiyi are definitely gone for good.

Prince An had connections with the emperor in the early stages, which allowed him to learn more secrets. He suspected that the emperor had something on Weiyang Palace. When the emperor needed a concubine to raise the Ninth Prince and the Fourth Princess, he sent Consort Zhuang, Xie Hongying, into the palace.

Knowing that something was amiss at Weiyang Palace, and with Consort Chen dying there, it was impossible for Prince An not to have some suspicions. Naturally, he would have paid attention to Yaoguang. It's likely that from the moment Yaoguang left the palace, she had been under Prince An's surveillance, and when he discovered she was trying to escape, he caught her and brought her back.

In this way, it makes sense that the female protagonist, Yao Guang, an ordinary commoner, could change her name and identity to participate in the selection of a prince's consort, just like in the original story, because Prince An was helping her behind the scenes.

In the original novel, Prince An's career ultimately crumbled, likely because he was secretly reprimanded by the emperor, who exposed his true identity as the son of the fake Consort Hui. Prince An's years of dedication collapsed from the very beginning, becoming a laughingstock. It shouldn't have been just that; the emperor probably gave him two choices: either remain Prince An obediently, or leave the capital and become a beggar of unknown parents, so the whole world would know about his foolish mistake of identifying his ancestor, and it would be recorded in history for millennia to come…

Prince An essentially had no choice.

It's unclear whether Lu Yaoguang killed the Eighth Prince at the end of the original novel because she had discovered the truth about her sister Chen Jieyu's death but couldn't find the real culprit, the Emperor, and thus took her anger out on the Eighth Prince to kill him in revenge, or whether it was related to the Prince of Tong'an, or perhaps both, while also having a grudge against the Eighth Prince, so she simply decided to go all the way and solve the problem once and for all.

Regardless of the ending in the original story, Yao Guang, who has not yet changed her name, has been kidnapped and used by Prince An.

Consort Zhuang answered all the questions raised by the Empress Dowager, leaving the Empress Dowager with nothing left to ask.

If Consort Zhuang's words are true, it means that Empress Xiaojingyi may not have died of illness, but was murdered by the emperor.

The Empress Dowager was so angry that she felt short of breath and her vision blurred. As soon as Consort Zhuang left, she could no longer bear it and coughed violently until she coughed up blood.

Consort Zhuang did not actually leave Cining Palace; in fact, she voluntarily chose to stay and "attend to the sick."

"Your Majesty wants to investigate the cause of Empress Jingyi's death, and you must go to Weiyang Palace. Then my existence will be impossible to hide... Please save my life for the sake of the information I provided." So Consort Zhuang stayed. There were many empty rooms in Cining Palace, and she wisely chose the furthest one.

The Empress Dowager calmed down, feeling dejected and powerless. She couldn't think of any other way to verify the truth. If she could have found out about Empress Jingyi through other means, she wouldn't have only learned the truth now.

"What should I do?" the Empress Dowager asked Xue Jin'an.

"Do you want to confirm if there's anything fishy going on at Weiyang Palace, or do you want to know what's fishy about Weiyang Palace?" Xue Jin'an confirmed her specific request before giving an answer.

Empress Dowager: "If it's just a matter of confirmation, what should we do?"

“Just charge in,” Xue Jin’an said. “If it’s fake, you won’t encounter any obstacles. If it’s real, it’s a den of dragons and tigers.”

"Wouldn't this alert the enemy?" Granny Su couldn't help but ask. "And isn't this very dangerous?"

"It's just to confirm whether this is true or false, and it's okay to alert them." Xue Jin'an answered the questions one by one. "It's not very dangerous, it's dangerous PRO+."

Don't forget, the emperor also has a secret army of at least eight thousand men hidden in the shadows that has never appeared.

"This..." Granny Su wanted to say something, but the Empress Dowager raised her hand to stop her.

She went straight to the next question: "How do you find out the secrets of Weiyang Palace?"

Xue Jin'an uttered a single word: "Wait."

The Empress Dowager didn't ask Xue Jin'an what he was waiting for, but directly asked about the time: "How long?"

Xue Jin'an shook his head: "Unknown."

"Perhaps in the next second, perhaps in a year or two." Xue Jin'an was waiting for news of the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince entered the secret passage of the abandoned palace. Everything started with Consort Hui, so it was impossible for it to be completely unrelated to her. This secret passage could not have been dug overnight. Xue Jin'an had examined the soil at the entrance of the secret passage, and it was consistent with the construction period of the abandoned palace. Moreover, it was mined around the same time as the cave that Xue Jin'an had once walked through, which led directly to the abandoned well at the base of the city wall.

In other words, this was originally designed when the abandoned palace was being built.

Xue Jin'an could roughly guess the reason. It was nothing more than an underground escape tunnel built by the late emperor for Consort Hui. After all, he regarded Consort Hui as a thorn in his side, and the Empress Dowager alone was enough to make him live in fear.

Clearly, the abandoned palace is the entrance to the secret passage, but there is more than one exit; there must be at least one in the Qian Yuan Palace.

The overall specifications and even the architectural style of the abandoned palace were modeled after and imitated from the Weiyang Palace where the Empress resided. The Empress Dowager did not allow Consort Hui to enter the central palace, and it is highly likely that the late emperor developed an obsession with Weiyang Palace, especially when Consort Hui was on the verge of death and when he was blocked from becoming empress again after Consort Hui's death. His rebellious heart would have reached its peak during these two periods.

Before leaving Cining Palace, Xue Jin'an specifically asked Su Mama to check the construction department's accounts from that year. Sure enough, she found that during the time when Consort Hui was seriously ill, Weiyang Palace and the abandoned palace were frequently repaired. After Consort Hui died, the construction department repaired Weiyang Palace, which had been uninhabited for a long time, and replaced all the floor tiles in Weiyang Palace.

Xue Jin'an went to the cave again just in case, but this time he entered through the abandoned well. The underground was cold in winter, and the beggars would not stay there if they did not want to freeze to death. Xue Jin'an had no trouble getting through. He carefully examined the cave and followed the traces of artificial excavation to find the entrance blocked by stones.

Xue Jin'an scanned the area with a high-definition camera and found that the stones were piled up at least five layers high. The stones were heavy and large, and it would take a long time to break them apart by hand. Explosives would be the only option.

The world already has gunpowder, but because it hasn't been processed, it's weak and has been used for fireworks. Xue Jin'an can easily make explosives by hand.

However, he doesn't know the situation inside the secret passage yet, and the explosives would cause too much noise, so he's not in a hurry and will put it aside for now.

Xue Jin'an opened the map, set the destination to the abandoned palace, and started navigation by selecting the shortest distance. Sure enough, the navigation prompts, which did not follow the usual route, made him squeeze through the gaps between the rocks in a strange and twisted movement that required a great deal of flexibility.

Xue Jin'an looked at the size of the crack in the stone, opened the intelligent voice customer service at the top of the software, and tried to reason with the map, "I can't, please plan a path for me that I can take."

"Why can other phones do it but you can't? You should reflect on that," said Teacher X, who received the order.

Xue Jin'an: "..."

Faced with the choice between turning myself into a human pig or directly confronting the rock head-on, I chose to turn off the navigation and manually block a certain AI customer service.

Xue Jin'an continued to wait for the Fifth Prince's message, and in the meantime, he bought a bunch of fireworks and the kind of flashy bombs commonly used in the martial arts world that could only scare horses but not kill people. He began to hand-make explosives and improve them.

Given the Fifth Prince's personality, he would never come out of the tunnel before he had figured out the situation. In fact, he might even try to venture out.

I just don't know if he made it back alive.

As it turned out, the Fifth Prince was indeed quite resilient. Three days later, at dawn, Xue Jin'an had just opened his eyes when a notification popped up in front of him:

[Ding! You have received a gray message from Xue Junjue]

Xue Jin'an immediately clicked on it. The blood-stained ash did not contain any writing, but instead formed a hastily drawn map with only a few winding roads.

Xue Junjue turned on location services.

[Your gray message is opening the map, do you want to open it?]

*

On the surface, Xue Jin'an took Poria cocos, Ganoderma lucidum, Xuan Shiyi, and a bag of improved Thunderclap Bombs to Cining Palace. In secret, he also left all his secret guards with him. Xue Jin'an left the people and things with the Empress Dowager.

“Weiyang Palace is dangerous. The Emperor will not allow anyone to break in easily. He will definitely kill them if necessary. They are all left for you,” Xue Jin’an said.

The Empress Dowager was still worried. "Although I don't know what you're going to do, it must be quite a difficult task. You should bring some people with you."

Xue Jin'an did not deny the danger; he only said, "It's even more dangerous if we bring people with us."

"If you attract as much attention as possible from up there, I'll be much safer." Xue Jin'an will not only be facing Prince An's men when he goes down there, but also very likely the Emperor's men.

After all, the Fifth Prince's letter was silent, which meant he must have encountered an extremely dangerous situation and was probably on the verge of death.

The Fifth Prince is best at sowing discord. If it were just the group of Jianghu people under Prince An, they would each serve their own masters and have their own thoughts, so it wouldn't be difficult to sow discord among them. Even if the Fifth Prince couldn't escape, he would still be able to retain some strength. The only thing that could completely prevent him from using his skills was a group of assassins who would never stop talking.

Xue Jin'an had always suspected that the "assassin" who killed Consort Chen was actually a death squad trained by the emperor.

Training assassins is difficult and their numbers are limited. The more assassins the Empress Dowager has, the fewer assassins Xue Jin'an will have to deal with.

"We should bring some of those thunderbolts." The Empress Dowager was very uneasy and still wanted to give him something.

Xue Jin'an only took five. He said, "These thunderbolts are not very powerful. You will only be killed if you are unlucky enough to step on them. The effect is very weak beyond a certain distance. They are not good for people, but they are good for splitting mountains and breaking rocks."

Xue Jin'an had inspected the cave's sturdiness; five thunderbolts were already the limit. Any more and there was a high chance of a partial collapse. If a natural cave supported by rock layers was like this, then the tunnel dug beneath the palace was even more vulnerable.

Xue Jin'an would not use this unless absolutely necessary.

"Be careful," the Empress Dowager patted the back of his hand and warned.

Half an hour later, the Empress Dowager led her entourage straight to Weiyang Palace.

The emperor was indeed in trouble. As soon as the Empress Dowager arrived at Weiyang Palace, a squad of imperial guards surrounded her. "His Majesty has ordered that Weiyang Palace be sealed off. No one is allowed to enter. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

"How dare you! This is the Empress Dowager! How dare you be so disrespectful?!" Granny Su shouted.

"His Majesty has decreed that no one is allowed to enter Weiyang Palace! Leave immediately!" The Imperial Guard leader was unmoved by reason.

"What arrogance! Let me see what you're capable of!" Lingzhi sneered and charged forward with her sword.

Lingzhi's actions may seem reckless, but they are actually shrewd. She knows that the most important thing now is to buy time rather than storm Weiyang Palace. It is obvious that the Imperial Guards are not the type to waste words with them, so she might as well take the lead.

There's a saying that when two armies clash, there's a duel between their generals. Lingzhi decided to bring out the duel himself, hoping to buy some time.

Lingzhi heard the Seventh Prince, who was usually carefree, repeatedly warn her that Weiyang Palace was dangerous, so she was on high alert and careful. However, she did not expect that although the Imperial Guards, who were all talk and no action, were not bad in martial arts, they were only at the middle to upper level of the Imperial Guards commander.

Lingzhi's martial arts skills are not as good as Fuling's, who is obsessed with martial arts, but she can definitely hold her own against Xuan Shiyi. As a Blood-Clad Guard whose abilities are recognized by Lu Bingzhu, Xuan Shiyi's martial arts skills are not to be underestimated and he is also of a top level in the Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guards practiced straightforward, large-scale martial arts with few variations in their moves, making them rather simple. In contrast, the Imperial Guards were a spy agency, and when spies engaged in direct combat, their aim was always to kill. The Blood-Clad Guards, on the other hand, were often exceptionally agile and nimble, and their moves were always deadly, regardless of whether their methods were despicable or morally right.

Therefore, the top-tier Imperial Guards were often on par with the mid-to-high-tier spies of the Imperial Guard in one-on-one combat.

Lingzhi's beating of this junior commander of the Imperial Guard was considered bullying.

Lingzhi had never expected this situation. She had already exerted all her strength, and it would be difficult to stop now, especially since it was too obvious.

Besides, she was trained by Lu Bingzhu and used the methods of the Imperial Wardrobe. The spies always learned to kill with one blow. They learned everything but never how to hold back.

Despite her best efforts, Lingzhi managed to end the battle within a few moves.

“You lost, move aside,” Lingzhi said.

"Impossible! I'd rather die than let you in!" he said, curling his tongue around the small whistle hidden under his jaw and blowing it.

This is the battle whistle of the Imperial Guards.

Lingzhi thought to herself, "This is bad," and kicked him unconscious, but it was too late.

Imperial guards surged toward this side from all directions.

"Just charge in!" the Empress Dowager ordered bluntly.

"Fuling, protect the Empress!" Lingzhi took the lead, a large eight of them, and did not forget to instruct Fuling.

The two sides fought fiercely, with too many Imperial Guards and secret guards also deployed. Fuling protected the Empress Dowager and charged straight in, actually managing to get inside.

The creaking sound of the gate being kicked open, accompanied by the rustling of wind chimes, drew the attention of the Empress Dowager. She looked up instinctively and saw simple, rough wind chimes hanging haphazardly from the eaves of the palace, looking completely out of place.

The Imperial Guards, who were hot on their heels, hesitated and stopped. Lingzhi vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

"Yan'er has always preferred quiet, so why are there wind chimes here?" The Empress Dowager felt that she had seen the style of the wind chimes somewhere before.

Granny Su remembered, "That's...that's the Emperor's wind chime! The Emperor secretly made it by hand and always liked to hide it under his pillow."

The Empress Dowager also remembered. She was now very sensitive to anything related to the Emperor and wanted to go over to take a look, but Lingzhi stopped her, saying, "Your Majesty, I feel that there may be something strange in the palace. It's best to be careful."

"Let me check it out first." Lingzhi approached a wind chime, holding a soft sword in her left hand and drawing a dagger from her waist with her right. Holding her breath, she gently touched the wind chime with the dagger, but nothing happened.

Lingzhi examined the wind chime. It was a very simple wind chime, easy to understand at a glance. Only the wind chime ball was somewhat interesting. She used her dagger to straighten it, only to find that there was no small ball inside the bell that made a sound when struck.

Lingzhi peered into the opening, but it was too dark to see clearly inside. She held the dagger horizontally and probed it inside, feeling a soft, small object, somewhat like…

"Insects... Oh no, they're Gu worms! Retreat quickly!" Lingzhi immediately let go and tried to leave, causing the bells on the eaves to ring strangely.

Lingzhi sensed danger and instinctively raised her hands above her head. As soon as her arms were weighed down, a person dressed entirely in black, whose face was completely obscured, appeared out of nowhere like a ghost, wielding a large cleaver. The force of the blow bent Lingzhi's legs into an arc.

As if this were a signal, several black figures emerged from all over the palace like bats.

Qianyuan Palace

The emperor was drafting edicts. One was a pre-written imperial decree exiling the second prince to the north, and the other was a secret letter ordering someone to kill the second prince on his way back north.

"Waiter, you're so foolish," the emperor sighed, but then stuffed the secret letter back into the envelope, sealed it, and stamped it with his unique floral seal.

The emperor was much more efficient in dealing with the second prince than he was with the first prince.

As for the eldest princess, the emperor directly ordered Li Hechun to convey an oral decree to imprison her.

Just then, a series of muffled sounds suddenly rang out in the inner hall. Li Hechun subconsciously asked, "Where did that sound come from?"

The emperor's expression changed: "The wind chimes are ringing."

"Wind chimes?" When did wind chimes appear in Qianyuan Palace? Li Hechun was slightly taken aback and hadn't quite realized what was going on.

The emperor strode to the dragon bed in the inner palace, lifted the pillow, and pulled open the hidden compartment underneath. Inside lay a simple and old wind chime, which vibrated violently despite the absence of wind.

The Imperial Guards, having barely broken through the blockade of the secret guards, scrambled into Qian Yuan Palace in a disheveled state. "Your Majesty, Wei Yang Palace—the Empress Dowager is storming the palace with her entourage!"

"Insolence!" The emperor kicked over the table and strode out with a furious expression.

Meanwhile, Xue Jin'an descended from the entrance of the secret passage in the artificial hill of the abandoned palace. The cave was pitch black, so dark that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. Xue Jin'an's eyes gleamed in the darkness, sometimes emitting a faint white light—the night vision function of the camera, with a variable aperture.

Xue Jin'an felt that his eyes were too bright, making him an obvious moving target in the dark. So he simply tore off a corner of his tattered clothes and tied it to his eyes. He carefully made his way forward, following the map and sticking close to the walls.

Just then, the Fifth Prince's location, which had been stationary for a long time, began to move rapidly in the opposite direction from Xue Jin'an, as if he were—escaping for his life.