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Emperor Yuming lay on the bed, his eyes cloudy and his arms unable to straighten. He seemed to have developed slurred speech, his words incoherent, "Quick...quickly go find the third brother..."

Wu Chang waited respectfully to the side. Upon hearing his words, he lowered his head and bowed slightly, but did not make a sound.

"Hurry...hurry up..." Emperor Yuming thought he hadn't heard him, so he repeated it.

He spoke slowly, and before he could finish, a woman's voice came from the entrance of the palace.

"Don't make things difficult for the Grand Steward. Your lifespan has come to an end. Even if you called the Third Prince, or even the King of Hell, you would be powerless to save him."

This statement was utterly treasonous. Emperor Yuming strained to open his cloudy eyes, trying to see who it was, but cried out in terror the next moment.

“You…it’s you…” He pointed at the newcomer with trembling hands.

The woman, dressed in white, had a bright smile, but her eyes were extremely sinister. "It's me. What's wrong? My dear royal uncle, how have you been?"

Emperor Yu Ming withdrew his hand, his eyes filled with fear, "You... what... are you here for..."

The woman in white smoothed a strand of hair at her temple and smiled gently, "Niece is here to see His Majesty off on his journey, of course, what else would she be here for?"

"Insolence!" Emperor Yuming finally managed to utter a single sentence, though it was not very fluent, at least it was understandable.

The woman in white, however, remained unconvinced. She flicked her hair and said, "Does Your Majesty still think you have any say in this matter? You've already driven away all those who were loyal to you. Even the promising young Lu Changliu was punished by you, wasn't he?"

Emperor Yuming's eyes darted around, then he seemed to suddenly remember something and looked at Wuchang beside him, "Quick... Wuchang, go... go find..."

"Looking for Li Ningqi, is that it?" The woman in white raised an eyebrow, then shook her head with amusement. "You don't actually think he's one of yours, do you?"

Emperor Yuming's eyes widened upon hearing this. What did he mean by that?

"Oh, I forgot to tell you." She picked up a chair and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Uncle, you don't know, do you? The current Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Li Ningqi, was once a retainer of His Highness the Regent, whom you personally appointed."

Emperor Yuming was speechless and could only stare at her in astonishment, "You..."

"Me? You want to ask me why I'm here?" The woman in white shrugged dismissively, but her expression suddenly hardened, and she said sharply, "Because you killed my parents and wiped out my entire family. If I hadn't been weak and slow, and hadn't been traveling alone in a carriage back to the capital, I'm afraid I would have died under the blade of the executioners you sent!"

Emperor Yuming shrank back in fear, "This is...who told you...?"

The woman in white sneered, "My father and mother were farsighted enough to leave me a letter, otherwise I'm afraid I would have been deceived by your hypocritical facade."

"Your...illness..."

"Illness?" The woman in white seemed to have heard something amusing and couldn't help but laugh. "My illness was cured more than ten years ago, but if I hadn't continued to pretend, I'm afraid you would have already driven me to my death."

Emperor Yuming shook his head desperately, wanting to say something more, but the woman in white didn't give him the chance. She took out a small porcelain bottle from her bosom, took out a pill from it, and put it into his mouth.

Emperor Yuming looked pleadingly at Wuchang, who was standing to the side, but the latter lowered his head and turned away, seemingly unaware of anything. The woman in white sneered and only released his grip when he stopped resisting.

She stared at him for a long time before finally turning and leaving. Silence fell over the hall; the Impermanence beside the screen couldn't help but sigh.