“Your Majesty, be careful!” Hearing the great commotion inside, the guards rushed forward to stop her, but Consort Li seemed frozen in shock, standing motionless on the steps. Suddenly she appeared unsteady, stumbling forward just as the great door was yanked open, and she crashed into someone’s embrace with a thud.

Both inside and outside erupted in cries of alarm. Consort Li remained perfectly still, her heart pounding wildly as she caught a rich masculine scent. This made her even more afraid to move, feeling somewhat regretful – she had originally thought it would be the Queen who came rushing out.

Now pressed against this man’s chest, she felt the slightly taut muscles beneath his thin clothing – the texture of a young man that combined both flexibility and explosive power, full of youth and blazing vitality. Her body involuntarily went soft as she couldn’t help thinking of Ge Shen, nearly fifty years old, with his flabby muscles and slightly decaying scent that even incense couldn’t mask. Her heart trembled again.

She was only eighteen, in the bloom of youth, all locked away in the lonely deep palace. Usually suppressed, but now in this moment of crisis, inexplicably her inner wildness and desire had suddenly awakened – crisis was also opportunity! Step out! Perhaps there would be an even greater turning point!

The man above her head, however, didn’t seem to have her instant complexity of emotions and surging passion. He gave a slight grunt and reached to grab her head, making a gesture as if to throw her aside.

Consort Li quickly whispered, “Don’t you want to get out?”

The hand above her head paused, then a pair of eyes slowly looked down. When Consort Li raised her eyes and met those bright, fierce eyes like black gems, she felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, her heart wildly racing, nearly missing what he said.

Then she heard a female voice calling from behind: “Pei Shu!”

The Golden War God!

Consort Li’s eyes widened as she stared unblinkingly at Pei Shu, wild joy filling her heart. She felt her luck was indeed quite good.

“What do you mean?” Pei Shu narrowed his eyes, staring at the woman in his arms, his chest instinctively retreating a bit.

“Someone wants to harm me. I need to leave the palace, and you also happen to need to leave the palace.” Consort Li whispered, “You can pretend to hold me hostage, I’ll get you out, as long as you agree to protect me and my son!”

A figure flashed, and Jing Hengbo arrived, just in time to hear this. She immediately said, “Do you have a physician there? Or medicine?”

Yélu Qi had suffered a poison attack after entering the palace, and everyone only then realized he had been enduring it all along. Si Rongming, who had entered the palace with them, had written a prescription, but there was no medicine. Where could they get medicine in the dead of night? The guarding soldiers had been blocking them constantly. This was why Jing Hengbo and Pei Shu had come into conflict with the guards inside. Though Pei Shu’s martial arts had been suppressed, he still charged to the main gate in one breath, only to collide with Consort Li.

“Physicians cannot be summoned at this hour, but I have many spiritual medicines bestowed by the King. My son is frail…” Before Consort Li could finish, Jing Hengbo interrupted, “Excellent! You still have your son staying in your chambers, right? Perfect – we’ll go fetch your son and get the medicine at the same time, then we’ll escort you out of the palace!” Jing Hengbo glanced at her expression and added, “Don’t worry about our suppressed martial arts. With just moves and fists, this palace might not be able to hold us. We’re just trying to avoid bloody conflict with Luoyun.”

Pei Shu had already grabbed Consort Li’s throat with one hand, shoving her forward as he shouted fiercely, “This is your King’s favored consort, right? Haha, perfect that she’s fallen into my hands – all of you back off!”

Jing Hengbo’s followers all emerged from the palace. Tian Qi carried Yélu Qi on his back, saying, “We must hurry, no delays.”

“Stand aside!” Pei Shu roared.

The guards dared not forcibly block them, especially the officers who knew the Crown Prince was dead and the heir would very likely be Consort Li’s young son. Consort Li could not be offended now. They all stepped back, with some rushing to report to Ge Shen.

Pei Shu gripped Consort Li’s throat and, following her directions, headed toward her chambers. Before long, Ge Shen arrived, startled awake in the middle of the night without time to dress properly, wearing only a robe. Seeing Jing Hengbo’s people holding his consort hostage as they all emerged, his face turned iron-blue with rage as he shouted angrily, “Queen! How can you go back on your word! You promised not to conflict with Luoyun and to wait for the truth to clear your name!”

“You also promised that as long as I was willing to be a hostage, you wouldn’t harm any of my people!” Jing Hengbo laughed coldly. “My royal husband is nearly dying of illness, yet your people won’t provide a physician or medicine. Do you expect me to watch him die? You started it, I’m finishing it. You put me in a difficult position, so I’ll have to put some pressure on your beloved consort. Stand aside!”

Ge Shen stepped back, his face dark, his eyes rapidly turning as he considered the possibility of abandoning this consort.

In the harem, women were never the most important people. No matter how beloved, they were just flowers to decorate a vase.

Jing Hengbo wasn’t deeply aware of this point – she was a cherished woman. But Pei Shu understood this very well and didn’t waste words, quickly moving with Consort Li. Taking advantage of Ge Shen’s moment of consideration, they had already reached Consort Li’s chambers. He kicked open the main door, let Jing Hengbo and the others enter first, then slammed the door shut.

Ge Shen hadn’t pursued them inside, shouting angrily from outside the courtyard: “Heavy crossbows ready—”

“Heng’er! Heng’er!” Suddenly came Consort Li’s anxious calls from inside.

Ge Shen’s face changed dramatically as he stopped speaking, remembering his young son was in Consort Li’s palace. “Wait!”

Women could be discarded like clothing, but sons were flesh and blood.

The palace guards preparing heavy weapons stopped.

Ge Shen stamped his foot in frustration. “Hah!”

…

As soon as the palace door closed, Jing Hengbo immediately said urgently, “Medicine! Medicine!”

According to Si Rongming’s prescription, he said it couldn’t cure the root cause but could ensure safety for a period of time. It contained quite a few precious medicines, and only the royal palace would have the most complete supply.

But Consort Li was running around in circles, “Heng’er, where is Heng’er? Where did Heng’er go?”

Pei Shu suddenly sniffed, saying simultaneously with Qi Sha, “The smell of blood!”

Everyone looked toward the ground. Under the grand armchairs arranged for receiving guests in the main hall, beneath the first chair on the left was a large pool of blood.

Consort Li also saw the bloodstain and stood stunned, crying out, “Princess Shao!”

Only then did she remember that in her hurry to find the King, she had left the severely wounded and dying Ge Shao in the palace. At the time, seeing her serious injuries while her own mind was full of anxiety, she hadn’t thought much about it. Now where had she gone?

Qi Sha circled the hall and dragged out two female corpses from behind the curtains, both killed with single knife strokes, their blood not yet dry. Seeing them, Consort Li’s expression became even more distraught. “These are Heng’er’s wet nurse and governess!”

“We cannot stay long in this palace.” Pei Shu, having already heard from Consort Li about Ge Lian’s rebellion, immediately said, “Once Ge Lian enters the palace, the first targets will be Ge Shen and his son. This is the most dangerous place.”

“So you all quickly help her find her son and take her away first.” Jing Hengbo said, “I’ll go get the medicine and join you shortly.” Without waiting for an answer, she rushed toward the side room where Consort Li stored medicines.

Tian Qi, carrying Yélu Qi, said, “He urgently needs medicine. I’ll go with you to save time and protect you.”

The others also wanted to follow, not feeling safe leaving her alone, ignoring Consort Li’s wailing as they all followed behind. But Jing Hengbo’s instant movement and Tian Qi’s light skills were the strongest among them, and in the blink of an eye, they had left everyone behind.

Consort Li followed behind, originally wanting to say something, but seeing that no one was helping her find her son or paying attention to her, she became furious, stopped in her tracks, and bit her lower lip hatefully.

Consort Li had a room specifically for storing various items the King had given her. Jing Hengbo rounded the corridor corner from afar and saw the door was ajar, rushing over in great joy.

The moment she crossed the threshold, she suddenly felt something was wrong, as if something important had been overlooked by her.

This thought flashed by, not as fast as her pace. She and Tian Qi, one after the other, had already crossed the threshold.

The room had no lights, completely dark, but fortunately there was some moonlight outside. Jing Hengbo remembered Consort Li saying earlier that the cabinet facing the door contained various medicinal materials. Rushing over to look, indeed there was a row of cabinets directly ahead, but they weren’t solid – more like a multi-treasure display case, storing various medicines. The compartments below even had paper labels indicating the names of the medicines. The precious medicines she needed – old ginseng, deer antler, snow lotus, thousand-year-old polygonum multiflorum, and so on – were all there, even rare items from the prescription like solitary lotus and spatholobus stem. She was overjoyed and first took out a thousand-year-old mountain ginseng, asking Tian Qi to slice it thin for Yélu Qi to dissolve under his tongue first. Tian Qi then set Yélu Qi down, leaning him against a chair beside the cabinet.

Over there, Jing Hengbo casually tore a section of curtain, pulled open drawers, and threw things into the curtain. As she threw, she suddenly felt her fingers sticky. Puzzled, she raised her hand to look – the color was dark, with a bloody smell.

Lightning flashed through her mind as she sharply retreated, shouting “Get out quickly!”

But it was already too late.

As soon as she moved, her leg tightened. Looking down, she saw a rope had somehow already looped around her leg.

She drew her knife and bent to cut the rope when suddenly something was forcefully shoved through the empty compartment below. Her knife nearly stabbed into that thing.

Just as Jing Hengbo was about to give that thing a knife stroke and throw it away, there was a loud wailing burst from her knee. Looking down, she realized what had been shoved over was a small child!

Consort Li’s son!

She shouted fiercely, “Ge Shao!”

Only now did she remember what she had overlooked. Ge Shao, severely wounded, would naturally want to save herself. This room had medicine – of course she would hide here!

Behind the medicine cabinet came mocking laughter, weak yet strange in voice. At the same time came odd sounds as the cabinet suddenly split in two, the left cabinet crashing outward.

That position was exactly where Yélu Qi and Tian Qi were. Yélu Qi was leaning further in, having just taken a slice of old ginseng and slowly regaining consciousness. Tian Qi was still busy organizing the remaining ginseng when, hearing the commotion, both rose simultaneously. Yélu Qi’s speed was actually slightly faster than Tian Qi’s – his figure flashed as he pounced behind Jing Hengbo. The cabinet crashed down with a thunderous sound, blocking Tian Qi’s path.

The inside half wasn’t safe either, as the other half of the cabinet swayed precariously. Jing Hengbo cut the rope with one stroke and saw the blood-covered Ge Shao rolling toward the darkness. Behind her, Yélu Qi suddenly pounced, the child on her knee wailing loudly, while behind them through the shelf, Tian Qi anxiously called, “Come out! Get out quickly!”

As Ge Shao rolled inward, she cackled madly, “Every royal palace has mechanisms. Once I activate the master mechanism underground here, I’ll have you all die, all die! How dare you harm me… how dare you scheme against me!” Her laughter became increasingly shrill toward the end, full of resentment and poison.

Jing Hengbo had already stood up, holding the child and supporting Yélu Qi, preparing to flash out together when she heard this and paused.

Outside, Tian Qi was still shouting frantically while chopping at the cabinet. Pei Shu and the others had now arrived, and hearing the child’s cries inside, Consort Li immediately screamed, “Heng’er! Heng’er!”

In all the chaos, Jing Hengbo suddenly threw the child in her hands outward.

The cabinet blocking her and Tian Qi had fairly large compartments – the child could pass through easily. Tian Qi instinctively caught him as Jing Hengbo said, “Ge Shao might have more tricks. I’ll follow to take a look. You all leave quickly!”

She turned to look at Yélu Qi, still wanting to send him out, but Yélu Qi firmly grasped her hand. Jing Hengbo wanted to shake him off, but looking up to meet his gaze, she couldn’t help but freeze.

Those eyes – tolerant yet determined, like wind that was everywhere, could be felt but couldn’t be escaped.

Outside, Pei Shu was jumping with rage, “No! No!” He rushed over, first taking the child and throwing him to Qi Sha, reaching out to pull her. But before Jing Hengbo could extend her hand, suddenly came cackling laughter from inside. The ground tilted, and Jing Hengbo’s figure immediately disappeared from before Pei Shu.

Pei Shu shouted, “Hengbo!” In desperation, he pushed hard, actually moving the heavy iron-reinforced massive cabinet, but at that moment came a thunderous crash as the other half of the cabinet toppled down, dividing the room in two and blocking it completely. If Tian Qi hadn’t pulled Pei Shu back sharply, his toes would certainly have been crushed.

Everyone momentarily couldn’t stand steady as they watched the ground slowly tilt, with various objects sliding toward the back half of the room. This room was actually movable.

Pei Shu whirled around and grabbed the pale-faced Consort Li, shouting loudly, “This is your room! Why didn’t you warn us about the mechanism!”

“I, I, I…” Consort Li’s lips trembled. How could she dare say she had deliberately concealed it in a moment of anger? She stammered, “…I also don’t really know…”

“Where is the switch!”

“I… I don’t know!” Having reached this point, Consort Li didn’t dare admit she knew where the mechanism was. Also thinking they couldn’t delay further and must leave the palace quickly, she simply closed her eyes and insisted.

Qi Sha and the others looked around for a while, then Yi Qi said, “The activation mechanism isn’t here – we’d have to search slowly. But this should be an escape passage, something every royal palace has. There shouldn’t be any danger.”

“But we can’t let her stay alone in the palace!” Pei Shu said irritably.

“Escape passages all lead outside the palace!” Si Si scoffed.

Suddenly violent commotion erupted outside, with someone vaguely shouting, “The palace gates have been breached!”

“Protect the King! Protect the King!”

“Oh oh, they really rebelled!” Qi Sha exclaimed excitedly.

Consort Li’s expression became even more anxious as she suddenly shouted, “I remember where the exit is! Outside the palace! Really outside the palace! You can’t enter from anywhere inside the palace except here. If you protect me and my son to get outside the palace, I’ll lead you to find the Queen!”

Pei Shu thought for a moment and could only grit his teeth, “Fine!”

A fierce light flashed in his eyes as he snatched the child to hold personally, brushing away Consort Li’s reaching hand. Seeing his deep, dark, fierce gaze, Consort Li’s heart sank. She suddenly felt her earlier heart-fluttering over his masculine presence was utterly ridiculous. Where in this world did men truly care about women like her? Ge Shen said he wouldn’t see her and simply wouldn’t see her. Pei Shu had never looked at her properly from beginning to end. In this world, for women to survive, they could only be like the Queen – possessing followers, possessing power!

Distant lights shone brilliantly toward them.

Illuminating this woman’s eyes, which had gained the light of power lust due to the upheaval.