Seeing that firework, Jing Hengbo’s heart filled with wild joy, and she nearly jumped up.
At this moment, in the Fushui Royal Palace, who else but Gong Yin could think to seize the timing to respond to her!
The palace servant who had gone in to report had already emerged, informing the Imperial Guard commander that the Great King wanted to meet this group of Luoyun people immediately. The palace gates were slowly opening before Jing Hengbo.
Jing Hengbo looked back at her companions – beside her were Pei Shu, Tian Qi, Seven Kills, and several selected elite guards from the Horizontal Halberd Army. Dong Chi and Noble Consort Yun had also slightly altered their appearances and wore cloaks as they followed in the crowd. Zuoqiu Mo, Ji Wen, Meng Potian, Yong Xue with Feifei and Er Gouzi, plus the remaining guards and Dong Chi’s men, were hidden in concealed positions outside the royal city waiting to provide support.
All her friends were here. Taking on the Fushui Royal Palace shouldn’t be a major problem.
The palace gates opened, and the group followed the palace servant inside. It was clear that the Fushui Royal Palace had extremely tight security – Jing Hengbo’s team was escorted by a full five hundred men, surrounded so tightly that not even water could leak through, not to mention the bright torches everywhere and the endless patrols of night guards.
Under such circumstances, even a fly couldn’t escape.
Noble Consort Yun walked beside Jing Hengbo, constantly surveying the surroundings. She suddenly gave a cold laugh and said quietly: “The palace layout hasn’t changed much. The map I gave you seems very useful now. If you’re looking for people, remember – Changning Palace, Haobi Pavilion, and Fuyun Palace are the three most likely places. The latter two are remote, while the first, though close to the Great King’s bedchamber, has been sealed for a long time as it was the former queen’s palace, making it a forbidden area. The most dangerous place is often the safest – it’s also possible they’re there.”
“Where was that firework launched from?” Jing Hengbo compared this with the map in her memory. “It seemed to be from Changning Palace?”
“Yes.” Noble Consort Yun said. “Look, after the firework went up, many guards headed that way.”
“You want to assassinate the Fushui Great King for revenge, and I’m using this method to get you there. But I still think life is most important – just create a disturbance and leave quickly if it doesn’t work.” Jing Hengbo stared at the Great King’s heavily guarded bedchamber ahead, feeling that if Dong Chi and Noble Consort Yun’s desire for revenge was too intense, it might cause trouble.
“We’ve suffered inhuman torment for four years. Now that we can finally return to this place, we won’t forgive him even as ghosts!” Noble Consort Yun’s voice was very low, yet every word carried murderous intent.
Jing Hengbo glanced at her and sighed inwardly. Years of accumulated hatred couldn’t possibly be abandoned when faced with such an opportunity.
Dong Chi and Noble Consort Yun only wanted revenge, while Jing Hengbo needed someone to create disturbances in the Fushui Royal Palace so she could rendezvous with Gong Yin. As for how many people from the Fushui royal family would ultimately die and how much chaos would ensue, she didn’t care. Those who dared commit such unconscionable acts should be prepared to bear the consequences and retribution.
Seeing the bedchamber drawing near, a large group of guards came down from the steps to conduct a final inspection and handover of this group. In previous inspections, they had already surrendered their weapons.
At this moment there would be some slight confusion. Suddenly Tian Qi cried “Ouch!” and angrily said: “Watch where you’re walking! You nearly knocked into me!” as he bumped into Yi Qi.
Yi Qi immediately kicked back: “Are you part crab? Walking sideways!”
As the two clashed, the others moved forward to mediate, and the guards came to intervene, instantly creating some chaos in the crowd. After this disturbance settled down, the guards responsible for inspection, handover, and escorting people into the palace forgot to recount and verify the numbers. After checking that no weapons were being carried, they reported to the palace servant and announced entry into the palace.
Thus no one noticed that the group was already missing one person.
…
When the cloaked man lit flames and set off fireworks at Changning Palace, the people at Fuyun Palace naturally saw it too.
A relatively hidden back door of Fuyun Palace was opened. The little palace maid Chan’er from earlier peeked out, looked around, then sneaked out furtively.
In another side room, Gong Yin and Yelu Qi’s expressions weren’t very good.
Yelu Qi held fireworks in his hand that hadn’t been lit yet. He needed to calculate the timing of Jing Hengbo’s entry into the palace before making his call, but unexpectedly fireworks had already burst forth ahead of schedule.
“Someone already knows we’re planning to rendezvous with her in the palace,” Yelu Qi said. “We can’t set off our fireworks now. We must go there – Jing Hengbo will definitely be drawn there.”
“Their intention is to lure everyone to Changning Palace,” Gong Yin said calmly. “Why accommodate their wishes?”
Yelu Qi thought for a moment, then smiled: “Fine, we’ll set off fireworks too.”
“Are you crazy?” Qiu Jinfeng rolled his eyes incredulously. “If you also set off fireworks with two places responding, how will Jing Hengbo tell which is real? Setting off fireworks is like drawing people here to surround and attack us!”
Those two didn’t answer, both looking at him with expressions reserved for idiots. Qiu Jinfeng’s anger flared – always like this! Every time! Smart people can all go die!
Yelu Qi’s firework ignited, also a line of deep red shooting straight into the sky. But before the firework exploded, Gong Yin raised his hand, and a misty airflow shot from his fingertips. In mid-air it became a large mass of ice and snow that was shattered by the explosive force of the firework, scattering like falling crystal snow.
Viewed from far away in the dark night, this firework was deep red at the bottom and slightly white at the top – impossible for anyone to imitate.
Since they were causing trouble in the Fushui Royal Palace, their opponent should want to capture them even more. Once fireworks exploded on their side, the opponent would rush here, and any ambush for Jing Hengbo would cease to exist. This was Gong Yin and Yelu Qi’s thinking.
Moreover, seeing the fireworks, Jing Hengbo would change course, abandoning Changning Palace to head straight for Fuyun Palace.
When the second firework exploded, Jing Hengbo was already near Changning Palace.
As the firework shot up, she instinctively looked up, but suddenly turned around to stare at the low shrubs behind her, calling out: “Who’s there!”
Because of this turn, she didn’t see the ice and snow scattering at the firework’s peak moments later. That broken ice couldn’t remain in the high air long and vanished in a flash.
A slender black shadow timidly emerged, offering a standard palace curtsy before even approaching.
Jing Hengbo stared at this little palace maid, knowing that anyone appearing at this time and place definitely wasn’t here to watch the excitement.
“Please don’t approach Changning Palace, Miss!” the little palace maid spoke up, her voice small but clear.
Before Jing Hengbo could express her confusion, the maid had already come forward, pulling Jing Hengbo’s sleeve toward the shrubs. Just as they took cover behind the trees, a large group of guards suddenly emerged from a corner Jing Hengbo hadn’t noticed.
Jing Hengbo felt the little maid’s hand gripping her sleeve was slightly trembling. From the child’s breathing and movements, she couldn’t practice martial arts.
The little palace maid carried a faint, pleasant fragrance. Jing Hengbo was sensitive to scents and couldn’t help paying special attention, sniffing carefully.
The little palace maid kept watching the guards tensely. Only after seeing them enter Changning Palace did she release a long breath and pull Jing Hengbo to leave. When Jing Hengbo didn’t move, the little maid paused and turned back, as if remembering something. She smiled: “This servant is Chan’er. I greet you, Miss. My princess sent me to warn you – there’s an ambush at Changning Palace, you can’t go there. But at our Fuyun Palace, there might be someone you want to see.” She took out a brocade pouch from her bosom and handed it to Jing Hengbo.
Jing Hengbo examined the pouch carefully. It was blue-green, embroidered with the five poisons, with an eye symbol in the center of the five poisons – very distinctive. She vaguely felt she’d seen this pouch before but couldn’t recall whose it was. She could be certain that neither Gong Yin nor Yelu Qi would carry such a thing.
Seeing her blank expression, Chan’er also paused, seeming somewhat surprised. She then said: “A Master Qiu who’s skilled in medicine…”
“Oh!” Jing Hengbo suddenly understood. She had indeed seen this pouch at Qiu Jinfeng’s waist, just hadn’t left a deep impression.
“They’re at your place?” Jing Hengbo’s eyes brightened considerably.
“Yes…” Chan’er pulled her along, quickly moving through lanes and shrubs, apparently very familiar with the palace guards’ patrol patterns. She said urgently as they walked: “Master Qiu saved my princess’s life. At his request, this servant risked coming out to meet you. You can’t go to Changning Palace – Master Qiu and the others aren’t there. That place must be a trap.”
Jing Hengbo’s heart sank. If Changning Palace was a trap, then Tian Qi, Noble Consort Yun, and the others’ audience with the Fushui Great King was very likely also a trap!
She immediately became anxious. She had to quickly find Gong Yin and Yelu Qi, then immediately go support Pei Shu and the others.
“Are there two others besides him? How are they? Is everything alright?” she asked urgently.
“This servant risked coming to meet you precisely for this matter,” Chan’er said. “Master Qiu has two other companions. When they first arrived, they seemed ill. A few days ago they apparently went out once and returned even sicker. Now one of them seems to be in bad condition. Master Qiu is extremely anxious and has been having this servant find ways to gather information, looking for methods to get the person out…”
Jing Hengbo’s mind thundered as she interrupted the chatter: “Who did you say is in bad condition? Which one?”
“This servant doesn’t know. They live in the east wing. The princess has been caring for them. This servant only follows the princess’s orders…”
“How did you know I would enter the palace? How did you know to find me at Changning Palace?” Jing Hengbo was shaken by this news, her mind in chaos, but some questions still needed to be clarified. This little palace maid finding her so accurately was too strange.
“Master Qiu told us. He said someone would definitely enter the palace recently to rendezvous with them, asking the princess to help watch for them. He described your appearance to the princess in detail. When the palace was in uproar just now, the princess ordered this servant to investigate. I happened to see you and immediately knew you were the person Master Qiu and the others were waiting for.”
Jing Hengbo frowned. She didn’t think Qiu Jinfeng had such wisdom to guess she would enter the palace so quickly for support, but both Yelu Qi and Gong Yin had this ability. Which of those two had collapsed?
Suppressing the fear in her heart, she asked Chan’er how she became acquainted with Qiu Jinfeng and the others, and how three foreign men came to live in a princess’s palace. Chan’er’s truthful answers revealed no apparent flaws.
Suddenly Chan’er pointed to a palace gate ahead: “Fuyun Palace has arrived.”
“Why is there no nameplate?” Jing Hengbo asked.
“This is the back door. The front door is easily discovered.” The little palace maid quietly pushed open the door. The courtyard was completely empty.
“They’re right there.” Chan’er pointed to several sparse lights ahead. “Please follow me, Miss.”
…
In the east wing of Fuyun Palace, an hourglass was quietly consuming time.
Gong Yin suddenly opened his eyes. At the same moment, Yelu Qi also turned his head. Both said simultaneously: “Something’s wrong!”
Qiu Jinfeng looked at them in bewilderment.
Gong Yin was already standing. His complexion was still very poor. Qiu Jinfeng knew that such massive depletion of internal energy meant not only would he be unable to recover his vitality in the short term, but his martial skills would likely regress significantly. However, he couldn’t fathom Gong Yin’s actual condition since Gong Yin absolutely wouldn’t allow him to check his pulse.
He only felt this person was extraordinarily strange, with resilience beyond the ordinary. His body was clearly riddled with holes, harboring several diseases or poisons that could kill a person, but these individually fatal ailments, when intertwined, seemed to form constraints and balance. Under his qi regulation, they presented a strange stability that kept this person alive and well. However, Qiu Jinfeng was somewhat worried that when he suddenly lost the protection of powerful true force, would those diseases and poisons one day lose balance and suddenly erupt? Unfortunately, his divine sight could only see disease sources but couldn’t observe the flow of qi. His medical skills weren’t sufficient to handle such an extremely complex physical condition. This person might live a long time, but more likely would die suddenly…
“I’ll go check Changning Palace.” Gong Yin was already heading outside. The timing was wrong – if Jing Hengbo saw his fireworks, with her teleportation ability, she should have arrived by now.
Both he and Yelu Qi were familiar with Jing Hengbo’s capabilities. Based on distance and the speed she could achieve, they could calculate that something had gone wrong.
Yelu Qi also wanted to go, but Gong Yin said without looking back: “Someone must stay here in case she comes and needs support.”
Yelu Qi didn’t argue with him. After Gong Yin left, he extinguished the room’s lights and quietly listened to the movements in the darkness. Suddenly he said: “Let’s go check the princesses’ chambers.”
“Why go to the princess chambers for no reason?” Qiu Jinfeng stared wide-eyed. “At this crucial moment of rendezvous, you’re thinking about taking advantage of women?”
“Princess Daming seems interested in you.” Yelu Qi dragged him up while spouting nonsense. “Take this opportunity to say goodbye.”
Just as the two men walked out of the room, suddenly “whoosh whoosh” sounds rang out behind them. Sharp breaking sounds filled the air. Yelu Qi and Qiu Jinfeng turned around to see window frames shattering, window gauze flying, and several black lightning bolts piercing fiercely into the room.
This was the force of military-standard crossbows. Qiu Jinfeng’s expression changed. Yelu Qi said: “Not good!” and dragged him in a mad dash toward the princess chambers.
…
The rear hall of Fuyun Palace was quiet. Chan’er led Jing Hengbo inside, holding a finger to her lips to signal silence.
“Several princesses live here, but not every princess owes Master Qiu a favor…” she whispered nervously.
Jing Hengbo nodded and followed her toward a secluded chamber. There were no lights there, showing no signs of occupancy. Before they approached, the door quietly opened and a face peered out. Seeing them, she said anxiously: “Quick… come in quickly!”
Chan’er pulled her hastily inside. The woman who opened the door urgently closed it and pressed her back against it with both hands.
“Behind the screen…” Chan’er indicated with her mouth, whispering: “Someone’s in bad condition. They’re trying hard to treat him. They said no one can disturb them casually. We don’t dare go over either. You should go look quickly.”
In the center of the great hall stood a huge screen covered with gauze, decorated with bold calligraphy in running script. Through those large characters, by the moonlight streaming down from the skylight in the hall’s roof, shadowy figures seemed visible behind.
Faint scents of blood and medicine drifted over – smells that were ominous, conjuring all sorts of unlucky associations.
Jing Hengbo walked quickly toward the screen. Rounding it, she found a bed with someone lying straight and still upon it.
She instinctively leaned forward and quickened her pace to see who it was.
Suddenly the ground gave way beneath her feet.
With a thunderous crash, her body suddenly dropped halfway, caught at the waist in front of the bed. Immediately afterward, there was a “whoosh” from above as a large net fell over her head.
Princess Daming and Chan’er quickly ran over, along with two other women emerging from behind the screen. Rather than approaching Jing Hengbo, they first lit lamps to assess her condition before releasing long sighs of relief.
Jing Hengbo was trapped waist-deep in a pit before the bed, covered by a silk net above, unable to break free.
She struggled with the net, glaring angrily at Princess Daming and Chan’er, saying coldly: “What are you doing!”
“Miss,” Princess Daming stood far away, saying quietly: “Please forgive us. We actually have no intention of targeting you, but for self-preservation, we had no choice.”
“Your three friends living in our palace have brought us calamity,” another woman said. “We kindly warned them, hoping they would know gratitude and take us along when they left to prevent us from being silenced. They refused. We had no choice but to capture you for negotiation.”
Jing Hengbo’s eyes lit up: “They’re alright?”
Princess Daming looked at Jing Hengbo strangely, feeling this woman was acting oddly. Shouldn’t her own life be most important? At such a moment, she was still concerned about others’ welfare.
“They’re fine now, but soon won’t be,” she said regretfully. “The palace is already in chaos, and it seems something happened at the Great King’s bedchamber too. I had originally planned to use you to negotiate with those three men, having them escort us out together. Now it appears those three can’t escape either. I’ll have to take you to negotiate with them, making them surrender. Then I’ll present all four of you to the Great King, claiming you’re assassins who broke into our palace and were captured by us. The Great King should be very pleased, and perhaps our sisters’ situations will improve in the future.”
The other princesses nodded frequently, seeming more satisfied with this newly revised plan. After all, they could still live luxuriously in the palace. They weren’t keen on escaping to wander the martial world – staying in the palace with better lives would be perfect.
“We’re strangers who happened to meet – we shouldn’t make things difficult for each other, but survival comes first. Sorry about this.” Princess Daming waved her hand, signaling the two sisters to gather the net. Several palace maids came forward with ox tendon ropes.
With a “crack,” the mechanism at Jing Hengbo’s waist released. The young women worked together to pull her out and slowly tightened the net.
Seeing that Jing Hengbo hadn’t struggled throughout and her expression seemed dazed, Princess Daming smiled satisfyingly and stepped forward to direct the palace maids in tying her securely.
She had just taken one step when Jing Hengbo raised her hand.
“Whoosh whoosh” – several consecutive sounds rang out. The dark space was sliced by snow-white willow-leaf knives, carving several smooth arcs. In the next instant, each woman found a thin blade at her throat.
The knives pressed against Princess Daming and the others’ throats, their snow-white surfaces reflecting their terrified expressions. The blade tips hovered in air, still pressing forward, forcing the women to slowly retreat step by step until they were backed into corners.
This scene was quite eerie – the women were still far from Jing Hengbo, staring straight at empty space as they retreated step by step, as if being slowly pushed into corners by countless invisible phantoms.
Princess Daming’s eyes were about to pop from their sockets. She couldn’t accept what she was seeing. That woman was clearly still bound in the net – how had those knives appeared? Even if someone could control flying knives, it was impossible to control multiple knives from different angles simultaneously, holding everyone in their grasp.
“There are ghosts! Ahhh there are ghosts!” Chan’er was already screaming shrilly, her trembling skirt showing a gradually spreading puddle beneath.
“Ghosts – yes, you have guilty consciences.” Jing Hengbo laughed coldly as she slowly stood up, tearing at the net on her body.
“How… how did you discover…” Princess Daming asked in a trembling voice. She prided herself on cleverness and couldn’t understand how her seemingly flawless plan had failed.
This woman was too uncanny – a demoness!
Jing Hengbo looked at her with pity, thinking these yellow-haired girls who probably had never left the palace gates couldn’t compare to truly scheming people like Ge Lian. Such tricks were beneath notice for someone who had seen all kinds of villains.
This Princess Daming – she seemed familiar, like one of the dead princesses from Ghost Courtyard on the lake island. Originally she had been close friends with that princess. Princess Daming had accidentally discovered some noble’s secret and, to avoid being silenced, had blamed everything on her friend, causing the friend to be pushed forward as a test subject and ultimately die miserably on the lake island.
“How could a lowly palace maid use such expensive fragrance?” Jing Hengbo smiled. “Why would a kind-hearted palace maid coming to warn us carry the scent of sleeping fragrance?”
Jing Hengbo was extremely familiar with fragrances. The scent on Chan’er was a high-end product from her women’s commercial empire, exclusive premium goods for royal VIPs that a small palace maid could never access. Most crucially, while the fragrance was the same, the scent had subtle differences that others couldn’t detect but couldn’t fool her nose.
Princess Daming looked thunderstruck. To mask the sleeping fragrance and intoxicate people, she had given Chan’er some precious fragrance powder she was reluctant to use herself, thinking this rare fragrance would be hard for anyone to recognize. Even the divine physician Qiu Jinfeng had been fooled, boosting her confidence. Who knew it would be so easily detected.
“Speak! Where are they!” Jing Hengbo extended her hand, and all the blade tips thrust forward simultaneously.
She only intended to scare these women who had already wet themselves, but immediately her expression changed.
The blade tips didn’t stop immediately.
Instead they continued forward. “Hiss.” A soft sound – she watched helplessly as a spray of blood suddenly burst from Princess Daming’s neck!
“Hiss hiss” – several consecutive sounds. In the deep darkness of the great hall, several clouds of blood bloomed like red epiphyllum in her shocked vision.
She saw Princess Daming’s throat gurgling as she covered her neck and collapsed softly.
She saw Chan’er’s throat completely pierced, pinned to a pillar by her dagger.
She saw the other women covering their blood-streaming throats as they toppled forward, their hands reaching toward her as they died, seeming to want a companion in death or crying out for help.
Finally, she saw at the palace entrance, in the cold satin moonlight, a black shadow suddenly spreading open.