The window of that side room suddenly opened, revealing Yelu Qi’s face with a smile like flowing wind and warm moon: “Your Highness, we already know what you want to tell us. Thank you for your kind intentions, Your Highness. It’s late at night – please return to your quarters.”

Princess Daming’s gaze drifted past Yelu Qi’s face to empty space beyond, then withdrew with disappointment as she bit her lower lip.

Her trusted maidservant had just overheard Lady Ye’s conspiracy. Lady Ye had inexplicably brought three men into Fuyun Palace, making the princesses very nervous. Though they seemed to mind their own business, they had never relaxed their attention to this side. The moment Lady Ye turned around with a darkened expression, they had seen it.

Hearing Yelu Qi’s tone, she knew her intelligence report was indeed worthless. These men, especially those two in the room, were clearly not ordinary people – they couldn’t possibly fail to see through Lady Ye’s intentions.

In the end, this was just a group of people seasoned in scheming playing games with each other. She and the other powerless and incapable young women had no qualification to interfere.

But precisely because of this, several more flames of burning desire ignited in her heart, making her feel even more strongly that she couldn’t let this only chance slip away.

These men would eventually leave. Once they left, the several low-ranking princesses in the palace would sooner or later be silenced by Lady Ye. Harboring foreign men in the palace was a capital crime – Lady Ye couldn’t possibly let them live to hold such leverage over her.

That’s why she had come to find Qiu Jinfeng, hoping to use the favor of providing intelligence to ask these three men to take her and her sisters out of the palace.

The royal palace was a place that devoured people. These three men’s arrival was both calamity and opportunity – she had to seize it.

After Yelu Qi finished speaking, he was about to close the window. Princess Daming hurriedly stepped forward: “I imagine you are prepared, but this palace has strict security. Since Lady Ye has decided to kill, it won’t be easy for you to leave the palace safely. Though we are insignificant, we are still mistresses of this palace. We have connections and know the routes well. Wouldn’t having additional help be beneficial to you?”

“The princesses are probably worried about Lady Ye silencing you, so you want to follow us out of the palace.” Yelu Qi smiled. “But the martial world is dangerous – it would be better for you noble ladies not to wander and take risks. If Lady Ye doesn’t act, so be it. Once she does, we’ll handle it cleanly, ensuring you have no worries. Please rest assured, Your Highnesses.” With that, he closed the window.

Princess Daming stared blankly at that window. The other person she had been hoping for never appeared – it seemed he didn’t even have interest in speaking with her.

The window suddenly opened again, revealing Yelu Qi’s charmingly smiling face as he said gently: “We keep our word – Your Highness need not worry. Just rest peacefully and wait for dawn. Don’t be a clever person doing foolish things by using those methods the palace excels at – be careful not to go too far.”

The window closed. Princess Daming’s face burned with crimson. She staggered back a step, feeling that this man with a smile beautiful as moonlight must harbor a demon in his heart – otherwise how could he have guessed her thoughts?

She had just been calculating whether to sacrifice her reputation to entangle one of them and force compliance, or use forbidden palace drugs to make them submit…

That window remained tightly shut with no intention of reopening. Princess Daming pressed her lips together and stepped back. She didn’t believe Yelu Qi’s promise, thinking it mere placation. Having stayed in the royal palace too long, she had grown accustomed to false lies and worthless promises. How could two men who needed others’ protection possibly kill Lady Ye, who wielded overwhelming power in the palace?

Qiu Jinfeng walked over from behind her, looking at her curiously. Princess Daming, accustomed to reading different expressions, judged from his gaze that this person lacked scheming.

Perhaps this physician was the appropriate breakthrough point…

Princess Daming forced a smile at Qiu Jinfeng, said she wouldn’t disturb him, and retreated. She had new ideas.

Qiu Jinfeng entered the room. Gong Yin sat cross-legged in meditation, making the room feel very cold. Yelu Qi leaned casually against the window, gazing at the vast starry sky outside, his eyes seeming to reflect the gentle starlight filling the heavens.

As soon as Qiu Jinfeng entered, he asked: “Lady Ye wants to silence us?”

Gong Yin ignored him. Yelu Qi smiled: “Burning bridges after crossing – it’s only to be expected.”

“Should we leave now?” Qiu Jinfeng looked very anxious. He felt staying in the palace was unnecessary and very unsettling.

“No.” Gong Yin suddenly opened his eyes. “She should arrive soon.”

He gazed toward the window where a small six-pointed snowflake had formed, vanishing in an instant.

“She? Who? It’s not the Queen, is it? What does it matter if she comes? You can’t possibly oppose the entire Fushui Royal Palace, can you?” Qiu Jinfeng thought these people were incomprehensible – staying in a dangerous place yet speaking as if they could control the world.

“Doctor, don’t worry. We’ll certainly keep you safe.” Yelu Qi’s tone was sincere, but Qiu Jinfeng felt it was dismissive. He angrily left with a flick of his sleeves.

He circled the courtyard twice. The early autumn moon was cold, and swaying bamboo shadows danced light and dark on the flower walls. Rustling sounds came from all around, making the deep palace night feel even more desolate and cold. In the distant sounds of bells, drums, and watch calls, countless soft footsteps seemed to echo.

Qiu Jinfeng’s intuition wasn’t good. He felt something would definitely happen tonight, even sensing eyes in the darkness watching him constantly.

“Who’s there!” He spun around suddenly.

There was movement behind the flower wall. A delicate figure emerged hesitantly, seemingly startled, timidly keeping her head down and staying in place, stammering: “Master Qiu…”

“Oh, it’s you.” Qiu Jinfeng recognized this little palace maid called Chan’er, one of the sweeping maids in this palace. She had been about to be dragged to the cremation ground due to inexplicable abdominal pain when he spotted the worms in the child’s belly and cured her with one dose of medicine. This could be considered a life-saving favor, but the child was too shy, always avoiding him when she saw him, yet occasionally bringing food.

Today Chan’er didn’t avoid him. She quickly walked two steps to him and pressed a small handkerchief into his hands, saying in a low, urgent voice: “Young master, leave quickly! This servant just overheard the princesses talking – Aunt Ye is going to move against you…”

Qiu Jinfeng gripped the handkerchief. Inside it was something soft and warm – probably food – plus something hard, perhaps silver coins. Who knew how long this palace maid with meager monthly wages had saved to accumulate this pocket money. The handkerchief carried faint fragrance, still warm with the body heat of a young woman who had kept it close…

Qiu Jinfeng’s heart warmed. He pushed the handkerchief back, saying gently: “Thank you for your kind intentions, but I don’t plan to leave just yet…”

The girl looked up at him in confusion. That faint fragrance grew stronger. Qiu Jinfeng found himself staring at her pomegranate-red lips, feeling slightly dizzy and thinking confusedly that she seemed to be wearing makeup…

“Once Aunt Ye acts, the princesses can’t protect you. Why won’t you leave, young master!” Chan’er’s voice was quite urgent.

“Because we’re still waiting for someone…” Qiu Jinfeng’s mind was somewhat muddled, and he spoke without thinking. “Those two are probably waiting for her to come – how could they be willing to leave now?”

“Waiting for whom?” Chan’er opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Heh heh, an annoying woman.” Qiu Jinfeng waved dismissively. “Heaven knows what’s so good about her that those two in the room are blind enough to fancy that troublesome woman. I really don’t understand them – a woman who got pregnant before marriage and lacks virtue, she’s just somewhat beautiful. Is she worth treasuring like a precious object?”

Chan’er listened blankly, her gaze flicking toward the darkness.

“She won’t cause you trouble.” Qiu Jinfeng sighed. “They’re waiting for her. I estimate once they meet up, they’ll leave. Since we’ve met, I’ll leave you some medicine for future protection.” Qiu Jinfeng untied the brocade pouch embroidered with five poisons that never left his waist and pressed it into Chan’er’s hands. “Go on, go on.”

Chan’er stared blankly at the pouch in her hands. She opened her mouth as if to say something but was pushed away by Qiu Jinfeng. She glanced at the dark corner of the palace and could only say quietly: “Go on, go on…”

Qiu Jinfeng waved at her retreating figure and shook his head. A breeze blew, and he suddenly felt dazed. After a long moment, he said sharply: “What just happened? What did I just say?… Oh no, sleeping fragrance!”

He raised his sleeve to sniff. His expression grew increasingly grim. He stamped his foot, about to rush back inside to tell Gong Yin and Yelu Qi about this, but suddenly stopped and muttered gloomily to himself: “Those two already look down on me enough. If they find out that I, a divine physician, was actually drugged by a little girl’s sleeping fragrance, where would I put my face for the rest of my life…”

He thought it over and felt he hadn’t said anything important anyway. He turned around resentfully, then painfully touched his waist – what a pity about that pouch he’d worn for years…

…

The Cao family guards playing black-clothed assassins had already charged to the royal city plaza.

They had no choice but to make this desperate charge because Si Si had placed several needles in their bodies, making them energetic yet agonizingly painful. Si Si promised that once they charged to the royal city plaza and were seen by the city guards, she would give them a quick death.

Now these men had reached their destination. The royal city plaza was a place where approaching at midnight meant death. Almost all the guards saw these black-clothed masked men the moment crossbow strings began to ring.

A horseman galloped over, his black cloak melting into the night like iron, his voice ringing like iron: “Within a hundred zhang of the royal city plaza, trespassers will be killed without question…”

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly paused. The Imperial Guards defending the royal city behind him also froze in unison.

Behind that group of masked men who had trespassed into the plaza, a small team of figures suddenly appeared. These people moved swift as shooting stars, quick as flowing wind, flashing behind those masked men. The leader shouted: “Where do you think you’re going!” He pounced like an eagle and struck one masked man with a palm, actually sending the man flying three zhang before he spat out a rainbow arc of blood.

The others also displayed their prowess, rushing forward to fight those masked men. These people had either exquisite techniques, tremendous strength, ghostly movement skills, or nimble attacks. Within just a few breaths, before the royal city Imperial Guards could release their crossbow bolts, those black-clothed masked men had fallen to the ground.

The Imperial Guard commander looked carefully but didn’t recognize this group of righteous heroes. He immediately stepped forward to inquire. The leader, a somewhat strangely-featured man, smiled: “We come from Luoyun. By our king’s command, we pursued national traitors to this place. Invited by your nation’s Chamberlain Cao, we stayed at his mansion waiting for your sovereign to summon us for audience. Unexpectedly, we encountered assassins who broke into the Cao mansion at night, burning and looting. Fushui and Luoyun have always been friendly, and moreover Chamberlain Cao treated us with great sincerity – how could we stand by and watch? We immediately pursued them all the way and finally captured these bandits. We’re presenting them to your forces now. If there are any improprieties, please forgive us.”

He spoke politely and presented documents he carried with him. The Imperial Guard commander examined them, his suspicions vanished, and he exchanged pleasantries. He then ordered soldiers to examine those men. The soldiers stepped forward and exclaimed: “General, these bandits have all taken poison!”

The commander urgently ordered the face masks removed, only to see that each person’s face was swollen and festering beyond recognition. All had died.

The commander frowned, thinking that tonight’s assault on the royal city plaza was a major matter that must be reported to the Great King. These masked men appeared mysteriously and died suddenly – perhaps they were related to the recent strange incidents frequently occurring in the royal city. Maybe the Great King would need to question these people personally. He immediately asked Tian Qi and the others to wait while he personally led men to knock on the palace gates for an audience.

Jing Hengbo had been hiding in the crowd without moving. She had arranged this performance but didn’t need to appear personally. If her guess was correct, the Fushui Great King would definitely be very interested in summoning this “Luoyun pursuit squad” with superior martial skills.

She stared intently at the continuous roof ridges behind the palace gates. An assault on the royal city plaza and the Imperial Guard commander entering the palace in the middle of the night would definitely alarm many people. If Gong Yin and the others were there, they would surely respond to her.

As if answering her inner anxiety and hope, suddenly there was a “whoosh” sound. In that distant darkness, fire suddenly blazed, and a line of deep red fireworks shot straight into the sky!

Jing Hengbo was overjoyed!

…

The fires at the Cao mansion were still burning. Those guards forced to turn against their own household were setting very fierce fires.

Just as the Cao household was in chaos, Cao Zhi’s carriage returned. However, the wives and concubines who rushed out of the mansion calling for their master’s rescue immediately received a second thunderbolt – inside the carriage, Cao Zhi was covered in blood, his eyes wide open in death.

The Cao family’s shock exceeded their anger. Looking back to count the household members, they discovered that quite a few guards were also missing. One of the Cao mansion’s stewards turned pale – he felt something was fishy about this affair. Why were all the missing guards the ones the master had sent to kill people tonight? That Luoyun pursuit squad had run off claiming to chase assassins, but how had those assassins suddenly appeared? Weren’t the candles supposed to be poisoned? Why did those Luoyun people seem completely unaffected and even able to help the Cao family kill enemies?

Several stewards who knew the inside story looked at each other. Lady Cao noticed something wrong and, after repeated questioning, the stewards voiced their suspicions.

Lady Cao was both shocked and furious. She immediately led people to rush toward the courtyard where the Luoyun people had been staying. The lights were still burning in the courtyard. After Lady Cao ordered the courtyard surrounded, she brought a group of guards and quietly walked in.

Upon entering, they heard someone in the side room speaking in a strange voice: “Princess, thanks to the secret signal you left, we subordinates finally found you. Rest assured – we’ve killed all of Cao Zhi’s guards, and those Luoyun people who dared capture you have been lured away. That old man Cao Zhi dared target you, so we killed him too. Now no one can harm you. This subordinate will take you away immediately.”

Outside, Lady Cao trembled all over and screamed: “Slut! Quickly stop this wretch who killed my husband!”

The guards charged forward.

Inside the room, Ge Lian lay on the ground, trembling all over as she stared at… Er Gouzi on the perch across from her.

Her limbs had been disabled, her mouth stuffed with stinking socks. She couldn’t move or cry out, her eyes blazing with anger that seemed ready to ignite Er Gouzi.

Flames burned in her eyes while her heart felt packed with ice and snow, chilled to the core. All her life she had used schemes to harm others, immersed in plots and calculations, skilled at machinations, causing countless enemies to fall into abysses with no way to speak their grievances. In the end, she too would be completely destroyed by conspiracy and calculation – unable to speak, unable to argue, unable to escape!

Er Gouzi looked at Ge Lian with a lewd grin, feeling like composing poetry again.

Ge Lian stopped staring at Er Gouzi. She struggled to crawl on the ground. There was still some distance to the window, but even with death approaching, she would never give up struggling!

After Er Gouzi finished reciting the passage Jing Hengbo had taught it, it looked at the commotion outside, flew down from the perch, pulled out the stinking sock from Ge Lian’s mouth in one bite, and flew out the window.

Just as it flew out, with a thunderous crash, the door was smashed open.

Cao mansion guards rushed in as if facing a great enemy, but only saw Ge Lian collapsed on the ground.

“Seize her!”

“It wasn’t me!” Ge Lian cried out. “They killed Cao Zhi! They killed your guards too! I had no need to kill Cao Zhi! Calm down and listen to me…”

“Bah!” Lady Cao spat in her face. “Why would those Luoyun people need to kill my husband? You’re the one who needed to kill him to escape from both the Luoyun people and my husband. I heard your conversation clearly just now – how dare you argue! Someone slap her mouth! Beat her lying mouth to pulp!”

A group of guards surged forward. Fan-like palms slapped down with crackling sounds. Teeth and blood flew out. Soon Ge Lian’s screams became muffled groans. When the guards dispersed, what lay on the ground was a mass of bruised and purple flesh.

“Daring to harm my husband – I’ll make you taste all the hellish suffering in this world!” Lady Cao’s skirts swept hatefully over the bloody stains on the ground. Without looking back, she walked out: “Give her mute drugs, then sell her to the lowest brothel in the royal city! Send three family servants to guard her day and night – don’t let her escape. I want her to serve the filthiest men in the filthiest places day and night until she dies!”

…

In the royal palace, both the cloaked man and Wu Xian heard the Imperial Guard commander’s report simultaneously.

Wu Xian was very interested in that “extraordinarily brave secret guard squad from Luoyun who fought assassins courageously.” He also wanted to personally question them about what the masked men they pursued had said and what characteristics they had, to determine whether this was connected to the recent frequent disturbances in the royal city. So far, his side hadn’t found any clues.

A few days ago, a guard in the royal city suddenly went mad, running through the marketplace and saying many things he shouldn’t have said, directly causing unrest in several noble families and the wrongful deaths of many people.

After that mad guard was executed, the Tianluo Army soon had problems too. Soldiers on duty actually caused disputes over cheating at gambling, which led to brawling. What started as a small fight somehow inexplicably resulted in deaths, which then triggered factional struggles within the Tianluo Army. Gradually the situation escalated into irreconcilable contradictions, causing Zhou Tong, who managed the Tianluo Army, to be overwhelmed recently. Wu Xian was even considering whether to rotate the palace guards and transfer the already unstable Tianluo Army out of the royal palace. But changing guards lightly was equally taboo, so he had been hesitating.

These incidents seemed scattered and random, just coincidental events. But those who had weathered years of royal power struggles could always detect something unusual.

Under these circumstances, Wu Xian naturally hoped to know as many clues as possible. Especially after problems arose with the palace guards, he began to feel there were too few expert guards around him. Therefore, he was quite interested in these experts from Luoyun – recruiting one or two wouldn’t be bad.

But tonight, with this mysterious cloaked man beside him and thinking about the equally mysterious things he planned to do, he suddenly began to suspect – could this Luoyun pursuit squad also have hidden motives?

“Your Majesty, please summon them into the palace.” The cloaked man smiled calmly. “Having taken such pains, how could we not meet?”

The guards went out to summon them into the palace. Under Wu Xian’s puzzled gaze, the cloaked man descended the steps, found a somewhat secluded corner of the bedchamber, lit a large fire, and threw in a firework.

“Whoosh!” Deep red flames shot straight into the clouds.