She... cut off her own hand...

Zi Tong was stunned, feeling as if the sky had fallen and the earth had cracked for a moment.

The pain was somehow controlled; at first, I felt nothing, but it quickly rebounded a thousandfold or even ten thousandfold.

The pain caused her to collapse to the ground, her face turning deathly pale. She could barely breathe, let alone scream.

It hurts, it hurts so much, I wish I could die to escape it, but I can't even die!

Seeing this, the Empress's eyes flashed with even stronger murderous intent. Zhu Yan was dead; she couldn't leave empty-handed. She had to kill that white fox!

She had no choice but to lower her gaze and order Shao Linyuan: "Commander Shao, I am acting on His Majesty's orders to kill the White Fox and hand it over."

She knew Shao Linyuan well; he listened to the emperor the most. As long as the emperor was mentioned, he would definitely hand over the white fox.

The Empress's lips slowly curled up, and she stood calmly, waiting to get the demon core and do her job.

But the commander of the Changning Division, who stood calmly in front of him, simply lowered his eyes slightly, pulled the little fox closer to his arms, and carefully protected it.

His demeanor was cold and aloof, and he didn't even spare a glance for the Empress: "But I remember that Your Majesty has never given such an order."

The Empress was both flustered and furious: "How did you know the Emperor..."

"I don't know either. When did I order you to kill the white fox?"

Before she could finish shouting, a familiar voice entered her ears, startling the Empress so much that she stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

The Emperor... why is he here...?

He was most interested in the male fox.

If the Emperor hadn't been so infatuated with the White Fox and insisted on taking her into the harem these past few days, she would have obtained the demon core long ago, instead of waiting until now.

"Your Majesty!" After thinking for a while, the Empress had no other choice but to kneel on the ground and shed tears: "My spirit beast Zhu Yan is dead. The little monkey I raised for a long time was scratched to death by this fox. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so heartbroken."

"As you know, Yan'er loves little monkeys the most, so you must... do justice for me."

Yan'er is the Crown Prince, the Emperor's favorite son. Mentioning this will surely evoke some of his favor, right?

The Empress's lips trembled as she continued to hope. Just when she saw the Emperor's brows relax slightly, she heard a fox's cry.

This mournful and lingering cry seemed to be telling some extremely painful story, causing Shao Linyuan's eyes to turn cold and the veins on his hands to bulge.

"Your Majesty," he reported, bowing his head, "the fox said that the Empress ordered Zhu Yan to bite him, but Zi Tong killed Zhu Yan and saved him."

A set of words, half true and half false, instantly silenced the entire hall. The Empress and Zitong were both stunned and at a loss for what to do.

The Empress thought to herself: She hadn't sent Zhu Yan at all. It was that little monkey who must have been possessed by some evil spirit to insist on coming here to die!

How did it come to the point that she instigated Zhu Yan to kill the fox? This will only make the Emperor hate her even more!

Zi Tong wondered: She had always wanted to kill the white fox, so how did it become that she wanted to help the white fox?

Now, the Empress will definitely not trust her anymore, and her future will be ruined. This will be more painful for her than losing a hand!

"Your Majesty!" The Empress was the first to lose her temper, pointing at Si Jin and shouting, "This fox, he's slandering us!"

"Awooo~~" At this moment, Si Baihu, who was spitting blood, let out a mournful howl and shrank further into Shao Linyuan's arms, his ears drooping down.

It was as if it had been frightened by something, and it was extremely frightened.

After a moment of hesitation, it carefully opened its paws and hugged the tail to its chest, trying its best to keep the tail away from the queen.

A simple act of weakness instantly changed the old emperor's expression: "It's a fox that can't even speak. If it's this afraid of you, you must be abusing it!"

"Your Majesty, you tried to kill the fox but instead framed him. When did you become so vicious?!"