Soon they came to a stone gate. Liang Qingchen raised his hand and rubbed the wall for a while, finally locking onto a green brick and pressing it down.

Then, the heavy stone door in front of them rose slowly with a rumbling sound of friction, and dust fell down.

There turned out to be a very spacious space inside. Perhaps the candlelight was not bright enough, and she couldn't even see the ceiling when she looked up.

When they walked in, they saw deep square pools, each several meters apart, enough for them to walk side by side.

Jiang Muyu looked down at the pool curiously. There was dark water in it and he couldn't tell how deep it was. But just looking at it made him feel inexplicably fearful.

Liang Qingchen grabbed her waist and whispered, "Don't look around, there's something inside."

When she thought of an unknown creature suddenly emerging from the calm bottom of the water, she immediately stopped looking around.

Liang Qingchen took her to a pool inside. The platform here was wider than elsewhere, and the pool was also wider and deeper than elsewhere.

She heard the sound of iron chains colliding and rubbing in the pool, accompanied by the tinkling of bells and someone's low moan, and she swallowed subconsciously.

Liang Qingchen snapped her fingers, and the surroundings suddenly became bright. She then discovered that the stone walls around her were inlaid with huge luminous pearls.

"Is this thing... voice-controlled?"

"It's controlled by people. There are guards here who are specifically responsible for guarding the water dungeon. They are hiding in the dark, so you didn't see them."

"Oh." Jiang Muyu touched his nose, glanced downward, and was stunned.

She had just guessed that there was someone in the pool in front of her, and she also guessed that this person was Zhao Yan, but she did not expect that this person would look like this at this moment.

The night light illuminated the pool, and she could see clearly that the things wriggling under the dark water were actually shiny black water snakes. Zhao Yan was now standing in the middle of the pool with his hands and feet tied with iron chains. The water only covered his waist. The snakes were not only entangled around his body and neck, but even climbed onto his face.

His upper body was naked and had turned white from being soaked in the water. There were small cuts all over it, and there was almost no intact skin or flesh. However, there was no trace of blood.

Liang Qingchen held her hand, led her behind him, and said, "I ordered people to raise these to punish criminals. I named them water ink. They are not poisonous, they like shade and human blood, so there are only wounds on his body but no blood. The water in these pools will rise one foot every hour, and after six hours, it will gradually recede, and after another hour, it will slowly rise again, and it will repeat over and over again."

This kind of double torture of mind and body is simply making life worse than death.

The man in the pool slowly raised his head when he heard the noise. The moment he saw them, he smiled palely and said in a faint voice, "Xia Lin, I really underestimated you. Compared to your cruelty, I am ashamed of myself."

He paused, and then continued, "And you... Jiang Muyu, the legitimate daughter of the Jing'an Marquis of Tianqian Kingdom, do you know that your beloved husband always has another woman in his heart? That person died eighteen years ago, and you are just a substitute."

Jiang Muyu lowered her eyes to look at him, and suddenly tilted her head and smiled: "Are you talking about the Miss Zhao Zhao they mentioned?"

"You know?"

"Yes, I know her. I also know you... Xiao Yanzi."

Zhao Yan was stunned for a moment, and looked at Liang Qingchen sarcastically: "You actually told her everything. It turns out that your self-proclaimed deep affection is nothing more than this."

Liang Qingchen snorted coldly and said, "What does this have to do with you? You are just a dying man."

"Even if you killed me, I was underestimated by falling into your hands. When I go to the underworld and meet Zhao Zhao, I wonder if she will feel that it was not worth it for her to sacrifice herself to save you when she finds out that you are now in love with someone else and have children."

"No." Jiang Muyu looked at him and said slowly: "I forgot to tell you that I have another nickname, Zhao Zhao."

Zhao Yan's already pale complexion had hardly changed, but the disbelief in his eyes was visible to the naked eye. His voice suddenly became hoarse: "How is it possible..."

"Zhao Yan, I will never forget how painful it was when you shot an arrow into my back."

Zhao Yan's pupils shrank and he stared at her for a long time without saying a word.

Liang Qingchen held her hand tightly and said, "Zhao Zhao, let's go."

"Um."

It would be enough to let Zhao Yan know that she was still alive. Killing someone is heartbreaking, that's all.

The two of them walked out of the dungeon together.

Jiang Muyu then discovered that there was another door here, and he could walk out directly from the side.

Liang Qingchen took her along another path and showed her the underground armory, the special poison-making room, and even several fully equipped sleeping halls, which looked very much like the imperial tombs in the tomb-raiding TV dramas she had watched.

"You won't be able to sleep at night living here, right?" Jiang Muyu looked around and felt it was eerie.

"This place can be used as a temporary shelter, as a precaution."

"Then why didn't we flee here when we were forced to abdicate?"

"How do you know we didn't come?"

She was stunned for a moment, then immediately responded: "The secret passage we took was also in this underground palace?"

"Yes, it is one of the secret passages." Liang Qingchen sighed and said, "It's just that the incident happened suddenly at that time. I was just a crown prince and had not yet inherited the throne. Although my father brought me here once, he did not have time to give me the detailed drawings of this underground palace, and the drawings were burned to ashes in the fire."

"Ah? But after the abdication, you were forced to flee to Tiangan Kingdom. So why do you seem to be very familiar with this place now?"

"Because I walked through every secret passage here myself, memorized all the routes, and drew new drawings."

Jiang Muyu's nerves jumped: "You actually have this skill?"

Liang Qingchen pursed his lips and smiled: "Zhao Zhao, my brain has always been good."

"Emm... Indeed." Jiang Muyu thought of his son who was smarter than his peers at the age of eight, and couldn't help but sigh: "It is said that the pupil is better than the master, but I feel that your son doesn't seem to have completely inherited your brain."

"Maybe... because it was neutralized by your stupidity."

Jiang Muyu kicked him unceremoniously and said angrily, "What did you say?"

Liang Qingchen laughed and said hastily, "You are just talking nonsense. Our Zhao Zhao is the smartest one."

The two of them walked all the way to the entrance of the secret passage while joking around. Liang Qingchen pressed the switch to open the secret door, and she realized that this place was actually next to the Bian River outside the palace.

"How many exits does this underground palace have? I remember that we didn't come out of this secret passage eighteen years ago."

"Some of the secret passage doors can be switched. There are actually twelve exits, and each exit leads to a different place."

Jiang Muyu nodded in understanding, turned around and saw a stone bridge next to him, and suddenly a picture flashed through his mind -

The little boy fell headfirst into the river, a look of relief on his face. The sunlight shone on him and a smile played on his lips.