After receiving their instructions, the two seamstresses took their measuring tapes and sewing boxes and left the room, waiting for the Prepared Princess Consort to finish resting before continuing their work.

However, less than a moment later, the cousin seamstress pushed open the door again, her voice trembling: “I forgot a pair of scissors and came back to get them.”

After saying this, she glanced at the Prepared Princess Consort lying on the soft couch.

Xiaoying was tilting her head, one hand dangling off the bed, appearing completely unconscious.

The drug in the tea was potent enough to knock out a bull, let alone a small, young lady.

The seamstress’s face betrayed her delight as she walked over and picked up Yan Xiaoying, then placed her in a clothing trunk the seamstresses had brought.

Soon, someone came to carry the trunk away, thus taking the person out of the Prince’s mansion without anyone noticing.

Since the seamstresses had visited the Prince’s mansion several times, the guards were familiar with them, so they passed through without hindrance.

However, just as they were approaching the mansion gate, Shen Jing suddenly appeared with his men, blocking their path.

“What’s in this trunk?” The seamstress was too frightened to speak, but the cousin seamstress remained composed and replied: “Reporting to Your Excellency, these are formal and casual clothes for the Prepared Princess Consort to examine. After the Prince’s wedding, he plans to travel with the Prepared Princess Consort for a while. Fearing there wouldn’t be enough clothes, we’ve prepared some more urgently.”

Shen Jing walked around the trunk, examining it, and said coldly: “The capital has been unsafe lately. There have already been several cases of young masters and female family members mysteriously disappearing from several dukes’ mansions. You should be careful when coming and going from the Prince’s mansion. Don’t bring in unrelated people.”

The cousin seamstress naturally agreed.

After Shen Jing finished speaking, he was about to inspect the trunk when suddenly thunder rumbled in the sky. The seamstress used the excuse that the expensive fabric in the trunk couldn’t get wet, and thus successfully managed to leave through the Prince’s mansion gates.

After the trunk was loaded onto a carriage and they had traveled some distance out of the city, the cousin seamstress’s expression changed. She signaled the carriage driver to drag the trembling seamstress off the carriage and take her to a nearby grove to finish her off.

The seamstress pleaded with a trembling voice: “Please spare me! I’ve done everything as you instructed. Didn’t you say that once the deed was done, you would release my son?”

The carriage driver, with a ferocious expression, couldn’t be bothered to deal with a dead person and simply raised his knife to strike.

But just then, a sleeve arrow shot past with lightning speed, piercing through his throat perfectly.

The driver choked on his breath and fell to the ground.

The cousin seamstress turned back in alarm, only to discover that Xiaoying, who should have been unconscious in the trunk, had somehow climbed out and was now standing behind her with a smile, holding a sleeve arrow.

“Cousin, your heart is too cruel. Hands stained with blood are inauspicious—how could they be suitable for sewing a wedding dress?”

Earlier at the mansion, she had long noticed this cousin’s hands, which weren’t those of someone who sewed clothes, but were covered with calluses. Judging by the position of these calluses, they belonged to someone accustomed to wielding knives and swords!

She had been bored at the mansion and thought this seamstress situation would be interesting to resolve.

The cousin seamstress no longer bothered with the pretense. Her eyes flashed with murderous intent as she suddenly produced blades from both sleeves and swung them toward Xiaoying’s throat.

Her movements were fast, but Xiaoying’s were faster. Using her palm as a blade, she swiftly struck the woman’s carotid artery. The woman’s eyes rolled back, and she immediately collapsed to the ground.

Xiaoying pulled off her belt, tied the woman’s hands behind her back to a thin tree, then turned to ask the seamstress: “Tell me, what’s going on?”

Having escaped death, the seamstress immediately knelt crying, and revealed that her son had been kidnapped by bandits who forced her to cooperate with their infiltration of the Prince’s mansion.

“I didn’t know these bandits were so bold as to dare kidnap you, the Prepared Princess Consort!”

Seeing her tears streaming down, Xiaoying knew she was telling the truth.

“Besides the Prince’s mansion, which other households have they visited?”

This seamstress was quite famous and a regular visitor to many noble houses in the capital, so Xiaoying concluded that she wasn’t their first target.

The seamstress, tremblingly, named two households, which coincidentally were the same ones from which young ladies had disappeared in the past two days.

Just as Xiaoying was about to ask where these people had been taken, a gloomy laugh suddenly came from the corner of the grove: “Surprising! You have this skill and managed to take down my people.”

Xiaoying looked up and recognized the man. He was the one who had recently replaced Chen Kun in the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards. According to Feng Yuan, his name was Meng Fan.

But his subordinates privately called him Eighteenth Master.

At the time, Xiaoying had wondered what connection this Meng Shiba had with Fan Seventeen.

Now that the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards had been disbanded, he was waiting here with a group of men—everything seemed to make sense.

Although Meng Shiba had heard about this lady kicking the Second Prince’s men into the lake at the Imperial Garden, he merely assumed she was a salt merchant’s daughter with some strength and fierceness.

What sophisticated skills could a performer’s daughter possibly have?

To avoid raising suspicion, they hadn’t sent many people into the Prince’s mansion. Unexpectedly, while they had successfully abducted the person, their two subordinates ended up one dead and one unconscious.

This greatly exceeded Meng Shiba’s expectations, forcing him to appear personally to capture this lady.

To his surprise, seeing the seven or eight men behind him, the lady showed no sign of panic on her face. Instead, she displayed a strangely excited smile.

“Eighteenth Master, how considerate of you! How did you know I’ve been bored at the Prince’s mansion lately? You’ve especially come to add some excitement?”

Meng Shiba sneered with contempt and waved his hand, prompting the seven or eight strong men behind him to pounce forward.

The men he brought weren’t the useless drunkards of the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards, but highly trained killers secretly nurtured by Xiaoyin Mountain Villa for many years. Everything they learned was lethal.

If the young lady cooperated, that would be fine, but if she dared resist, she shouldn’t blame their merciless blades for scarring her face!

However, when those large men lunged at her, the lady used some unknown clever technique, soaring into the air, lightly like a swallow, using one man’s shoulder as a pivot to flip around. At the same time, her sleeve arrow flew out rapidly, instantly piercing the throats of two more men. Then, while still in mid-air, she kicked her legs, striking several of the large men.

Meng Shiba’s expression turned grave.

He hadn’t witnessed how she had ambushed the carriage driver and the seamstress earlier.

He had assumed it was just a lucky, unexpected strike. But now, seeing the lady’s skills, he realized she wasn’t some amateur with rudimentary martial arts, but someone who had truly honed her combat techniques in the crucible of battle!

Any contempt he had felt because of her young face resembling the Crown Prince’s completely vanished at that moment!

Meng Shiba quickly drew the long whip from his waist and lashed it fiercely toward the lady.

By now, Xiaoying had seized a knife from one of the men she had throat-locked. Seeing the whip coming, she remembered Master Xiao’s advice about dealing with flexible weapons like whips: “Always pair, never single.”

Once caught by a long whip, if the whip wielder is very strong, one must immediately let go to avoid being dragged away, while the weapon in the other hand can be effective.

With these thoughts flashing through her mind, she was already rolling on the ground, picking up another knife, then using her foot against a tree trunk to leap into the air again.

When the long whip came at her, Xiaoying’s left-hand blade met it, and sure enough, it was entangled by the whip like a snake. Meng Shiba gripped the whip with one hand and pulled hard, intending to drag Xiaoying toward him.

Meanwhile, the large men whom Xiaoying had kicked down with her spinning legs had also gotten up and were like fierce tigers pouncing on a lamb, waiting for Xiaoying to lose her balance so they could rush over and pin her to the ground.

But just as Meng Shiba yanked the whip forcefully, Xiaoying deftly released her grip.

Meng Shiba was thrown off balance by his force, stumbling back a couple of steps.

At that moment, Xiaoying’s right-hand blade had already been hurled like an arrow straight at Meng Shiba.

The wrist strength she had developed from Feng Yuan’s daily training with sandbags was astonishing. As Meng Shiba stumbled backward, the knife tip had already pierced his right eye socket.

With a piercing scream, Meng Shiba’s eyeball was stabbed, and fresh blood gushed out between his fingers.

Meng Shiba, furious and frustrated, shouted: “No need to keep her alive! Kill her!”

But just then, someone spoke in a deep voice: “Who said I want a dead person? Useless trash, get out of the way quickly!”

Xiaoying looked carefully and saw a young man in a black robe with cold eyes, holding a sword, walking out from behind the trees.

The newcomer was none other than the famous Young Master Mu from the capital.

Xiaoying hadn’t expected him to come and couldn’t help but mock: “Mu Hanjiang, I thought you might compromise on small matters but never on important principles. I didn’t expect you to aid the wicked today. I thought you had some intelligence, but you turn out to be a fool who can’t distinguish between loyal and treacherous. What potion did Duke Ding give you to make you ignore the facts before your own eyes and continue to recognize a villain as your father?”

Although Mu Hanjiang was already aware of what he was doing today, his face darkened at Xiaoying’s sharp words. He said coldly, “When dealing with such a cunning female bandit, one must not adhere to chivalrous codes. To capture her, why bother with exchanging moves?”

Several men who were already prepared immediately stepped forward, took out a fishing net from their waists, and cast it toward Xiaoying.

This fishing net was made from iron wire mixed with special silk, small yet sturdy. When thrown, it immediately expanded into a large net, surrounding Xiaoying from the front, back, left, and right.

Xiaoying relied on her agile movements to navigate within the confined space, but unfortunately, the fishing net suddenly expanded in mid-air, covering her like the Tower of the Heavenly King. Despite her vigorous attempts to dodge, she was still caught by the net and dragged to the ground.

At the moment of falling, Xiaoying pressed her hand against her lips and emitted a shrill whistle.

Before she could rise, she was immobilized by spears and blades at various vital points. Then a strong man grabbed Xiaoying, quickly binding her hands with a dampened oxhide.

He used considerable force, pulling it tight enough to leave white marks on her skin.

A cold light flashed in Mu Hanjiang’s eyes as he stared at the strong man, but ultimately said nothing. Finally, he slowly walked up to Xiaoying, raised his hand to grip her chin, and gazed down, examining every inch of the defiance and hatred on her face. He said coldly, “Don’t bother calling for help. Your people have all been intercepted by me. I may not understand Yan Xiaoying, but I know the Little King of Hell’s methods very well!”

He knew too well the arrogance and recklessness of the Little King of Hell, along with her audacity.

When Feng Yuan had previously helped him analyze the Little King of Hell’s movements, he had commented that this person loved to show off skills and venture into danger alone. Looking at it now, his assessment was completely accurate!

Sending a seamstress full of flaws was meant to arouse her curiosity.

Deliberately choosing a time when Feng Yuan wasn’t by her side, he knew she would put herself in danger.

As a longtime adversary who had fought with the Little King of Hell for a long time, each of her reactions was within Mu Hanjiang’s expectations. Therefore, Meng Zhun’s pursuit team, following the carriage, was intercepted at a fork in the road by another carriage arranged by Mu Hanjiang, which led them to a different branch road. There, naturally, Meng Zhun and his men faced a carefully arranged ambush.

Xiaoying knew she was in danger. She pressed her lips tightly and asked: “Mu Hanjiang, what exactly do you want to do?”

Mu Hanjiang replied coldly: “The three thousand brothers of the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards all need to eat. I cannot let them suffer because of my mistake…”

Emperor Chunde thought the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards could be easily replaced by the so-called Sacred Robe Guards? Then he just needed to prove that without the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards, the capital would fall into chaos.

Xiaoying raised her eyebrows: “So you came up with this rotten idea of kidnapping noble children and women everywhere? Mu Hanjiang, can you please wake up? If you continue like this, it will only lead to a dead end! The young master in snow-white robes I knew before would never do such things!”

“You’ve already said ‘before.’ But none of us can go back to the way things were.”

When saying this, Mu Hanjiang’s tone was bitter, as if he had used up his last patience. Then he coldly ordered: “Take her away!”

When Duke Ding received the news, he was somewhat surprised, raising his eyebrows and asking Mu Hanjiang: “Are you saying that this Yan Xiaoying is actually the Little King of Hell from Jiangzhe?”

No wonder the Grand Prince initially helped Meng Zhun wholeheartedly, clearing his name—the clue he had been puzzling over all along was this lady he had been ignoring!

Mu Hanjiang didn’t speak, just concentrating on sharpening his sword.

Duke Ding wasn’t surprised; lately, this child had been speaking less and less. Before, he didn’t know, but now he understood that the shock Mu Hanjiang had suffered was even greater than he had imagined.

He must have been deceived by this female bandit before, right?

“Since that’s the case, shall I hand this lady over to your father to deal with?”

“No need! Father promised me, I have full authority to deal with this lady!” Each word was spat out through the young master’s thin lips and clenched teeth.

The lady had already been locked in the dungeon set up by the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards in the suburban county, with iron cages and shackles binding her layer upon layer, making escape impossible.

Duke Ding’s smile deepened as he recalled what Meng Shiba had told him. Since Mu Hanjiang’s return, he had dragged the lady into the dark interrogation room, dismissed everyone, and remained alone with her.

During that time, Meng Shiba had heard sounds from within. The lady had loudly cursed without restraint, which then turned into terrified wails, after which she seemed to have been gagged, making no further sounds.

After two hours, when Mu Hanjiang emerged from the dungeon, his clothes were disheveled, his lips crimson, and his neck bore several obvious teeth marks and bite marks.

It showed how fierce the lady was, making people unable to handle her.

Duke Ding knew Mu Hanjiang’s inner conflict. The most important thing now wasn’t to interrogate this lady, but to use her capture to control Feng Yuan.

Before the grand plan was complete, restraining Feng Yuan was necessary to prevent variables from occurring.

Thinking of this, Duke Ding glanced at Mu Hanjiang, still speaking gently: “Originally, Feng Qishu and I shared the aspiration of stabilizing the realm when we came together. Unfortunately, once someone touches imperial power tactics, they forget the ideals of their youth. To balance court politics, he engaged in extensive balancing acts, heavily employing useless aristocratic families, which led to widespread corruption and unbearable suffering for the common people. You’ve been to Jiangzhe, so you know the hardships of the people there. Emperor Chunde is a monarch skilled in power manipulation, but he is not a wise and enlightened ruler!”

Mu Hanjiang replied coldly: “Father, didn’t we agree that we were only going to help the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards regain their status? Saying these things, aren’t you committing high treason? Among the princes in the palace, who is qualified to be the emperor now? Are you suggesting that if Feng Yuan becomes emperor, the realm will be clearer and brighter?”

Duke Ding’s smile deepened: “Why haven’t you considered that you also carry imperial blood? Those sons raised by Feng Qishu are either brutal tyrants or shrewd and incompetent. Is there anyone as excellent as my Hanjiang?”

Hearing this, Mu Hanjiang’s pupils dilated sharply: “Father, you’ve gone mad!”

But Duke Ding firmly gripped his shoulders, not allowing him to retreat half a step!

“In this world, if you don’t advance, you retreat! Don’t you understand the temperament of that madman Feng Yuan? If he learns that you’ve captured his Prepared Princess Consort and imprisoned her in a dungeon, damaging her reputation, will he let you off easily? If he seeks revenge, it won’t just be against you, but also your sister and our entire Mu family! Hanjiang, from the moment you planned to abduct the first person, our Mu family, like you, has passed the point of no return!”

Mu Hanjiang forcefully opened his father’s hand, gasping and backing away: “Father… what are you thinking? Didn’t you say that once we resolved the cases in the capital, we could plead to His Majesty to restore the Dragon Scale Shadow Guards?”

Duke Ding, however, pulled away a cloth from the table, revealing a large map of the capital and its surroundings.

“The Dragon Scale Shadow Guards have operated in the capital for so many years—how could it be for nothing? The secret tunnels buried under the capital are all under our control. And those children you’ve abducted are all the most beloved of key personnel at critical posts within and outside the palace. By controlling their vulnerabilities, the entire capital, inside and out, will be in our hands!”

Of course, using children and family members as leverage, the demands he made wouldn’t be so excessive as to make those officials unable to comply.

Such as letting a few carriages loaded with supplies pass through the city gates. Or setting up an unknown mechanism on the gate tower. Or having the ritual officials move forward the date of His Majesty’s worship by a few days.

Various seemingly unrelated incidents, when connected, formed his carefully laid out chess game!

The private iron furnaces of Xiaoyin Mountain Villa had been burning and forging for over ten years, accumulating an alarming amount of iron!

Did Emperor Chunde think that all this fine steel had been sold by Xiaoyin Mountain Villa? The power of thousands of giant crossbows would soon be known to the world!

Thinking of this, Duke Ding’s tone became even more gentle: “Hanjiang, you’ve already experienced the joy of having control over everything in the dungeon. You wouldn’t want this pleasure to be fleeting, would you? A true man in this world should dare to act boldly, not to waste his life. You are my only son—naturally, I hope you no longer have to submit to others or suffer the slightest grievance…”

After gently persuading Mu Hanjiang, Duke Ding knew he needed time to process everything. He patted his shoulder and left him alone.

Duke Ding then walked to another room.

“Has everything been arranged properly at Prince Ruixiang’s mansion?”

Although they needed to control Feng Yuan’s vulnerability, it wasn’t advisable to alert him too early.

Otherwise, with that man’s cunning mind, variables might arise. Therefore, creating the illusion that the lady was still present was crucial.