The guards of the Second Prince’s Manor followed their orders and quickly placed the barely breathing Lian Que into a large chest, carrying her out from the secret chamber.

They quietly transported her out of the manor.

Even all the torture instruments inside were cleaned out one by one and completely removed.

They also concealed the entrance to the secret chamber with a bookshelf!

Less than three incense sticks’ time later, Na Tuo indeed arrived at the manor gates with his own guards in grand fashion.

Since that incident when they were children, the two had never visited each other’s residences again.

After all these years, Na Tuo never imagined he would set foot in the Second Prince’s Manor again in such a manner.

As soon as he reached the entrance, he stopped and looked up at the gleaming golden plaque above the manor.

How imposing and majestic!

He snorted coldly.

His eyes filled with contempt.

The manor’s servant was momentarily stunned before reacting, quickly bowing in greeting: “Third Prince, what brings you here?”

The servant was intimidated by the scene before him!

Setting aside the fact that Na Tuo was visiting the Second Prince’s Manor after so many years, just looking at the twenty-some guards he brought with him—each one with a robust physique and sharp gaze, standing there, they made one’s heart tremble with fear.

He couldn’t help but feel somewhat frightened.

Na Tuo glanced at the servant, lifting his chin as he said: “This prince wishes to see your Second Prince.”

“…Yes, I shall go report this immediately.”

“No need, this prince will go in myself, no need for your announcement.”

“But…”

Na Tuo swept his sleeves and entered with his men.

The servant swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

Faced with several dozen people, and being alone and weak, he couldn’t stop them even if he tried.

More accurately, he didn’t dare stop them!

He could only follow tremblingly behind.

Just as Na Tuo and his men entered the manor and reached the courtyard, Na Yan arrived with his own people and blocked them in the center of the courtyard.

The two forces confronted each other!

“Na Tuo, what is the meaning of this?” Na Yan’s face was extremely dark as he demanded.

Na Tuo’s lips curved slightly, lightly countering: “What do you think I mean?”

“You directly barge into my manor with your men—do you know what crime this is?”

“What crime doesn’t matter. What’s important is that I’m here to arrest you for your crimes.”

Crimes? Na Yan’s eyes tightened, his brow furrowing. After scanning the crowd, his gaze settled on Na Tuo. He walked up to him, his face showing severity and warning: “I’ll remind you once—it’s best if you leave now with your men. Otherwise, if I report this to Father King, that would be a grave crime that I’m afraid you cannot bear.”

To openly barge into a prince’s manor—the severe punishment was death!

As the saying goes, the Son of Heaven is equally guilty under the law as commoners. Even with Na Tuo bearing the title of prince, he might not escape punishment.

Even if not death, it wouldn’t be a light sentence.

However—

Na Tuo had clearly come fully prepared.

He calmly drew out a piece of paper from his sleeve.

With a grand flourish of his hand.

He displayed it before everyone’s eyes.

The paper was covered with writing.

Everyone’s gaze fell upon that paper.

Na Tuo raised his eyebrows, extremely pleased with himself: “Take a good look—what is this?”

Hmm?

Na Yan grabbed it with one hand and examined it carefully.

He was greatly shocked! Na Tuo continued: “This is a search warrant issued by the Ministry of Justice. This prince suspects there’s a secret chamber in your Second Prince’s Manor, so to avoid wasting time, I personally went to the Ministry of Justice and had Minister Liu write this search warrant word by word! With this search warrant, I can conduct a legitimate search, and no one can stop me!”

In plain terms, he had forced Minister Liu to write it!

Searching a prince’s manor was a grave crime. Naturally, Liu He would need to report to King Huyi before writing a search warrant.

Unfortunately, Na Tuo was aggressive and overbearing, pulling out his princely authority and spouting a bunch of reasoning about how delaying the search was something no one could bear responsibility for!

So—

Liu He had no choice but to write it.

Hearing these words—

“Utterly absurd.” Na Yan crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it on the ground.

Even at this moment, though gritting his teeth in anger, he still maintained his composure.

“Absurd or not, we’ll know once we search.” Na Tuo leaned forward slightly, the smile on his lips deepening. With a wave of his hand and a stern expression, he ordered: “Search!”

The guards were about to disperse to search various parts of the manor.

But the Second Prince’s Manor guards weren’t pushovers either.

They immediately blocked those people.

Surrounding them in the middle!

Na Tuo rebuked: “Who among you dares to obstruct?”

No one dared move.

They looked at each other.

Na Yan looked at Na Tuo: “Na Tuo, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. If you search my manor without evidence and find nothing, I don’t need to spell out the consequences, do I?”

Na Tuo: “Since I dared to come, I naturally considered the consequences. If I were afraid, I wouldn’t have come. Moreover, I’m enforcing the law! I’m acting according to Da Lin’s laws. Even if I come up empty, it won’t cost me my head!” Na Tuo said with furrowed brows.

“Fine! If you want to search, I’ll let you search to your heart’s content.” Na Yan restrained the fury in his heart.

Then he gave his guards a look.

The Second Prince’s Manor guards retreated one by one.

Na Tuo called out again: “Search! Search thoroughly and carefully, don’t overlook any place.”

“Yes.”

The response rang out like a great bell.

The twenty-some guards dispersed.

Occupying every corner of the manor.

Like sweeping for mines.

Na Tuo straightened his back.

Suddenly he chuckled lightly: “What, can’t the Second Prince’s Manor spare even a cup of tea?”

With that, he walked straight into the great hall and sat down.

As casual as if he were in his own home!

Anyone who saw this would want to hit him.

Na Yan didn’t argue or stoop to his level, and actually ordered someone to bring a pot of hot tea.

Serving this “venerable ancestor.”

Na Tuo sipped his tea. While waiting for his men to search, he didn’t forget to mock: “Oh right, I heard… you had assassins here again last night! Na Yan, oh Na Yan, why are you so unlucky? Tell me, what curse has befallen you that those assassins are specifically after your life?”

Having said this, he laughed heartily.

Na Yan appeared to have suffered in silence, but a hint of cunning flashed in his eyes.

Almost imperceptible!

Laugh, let him laugh!

He’ll have his turn to cry soon enough.

…

Na Tuo’s guards searched everywhere in the manor, not even sparing a single vase.

Among them, two guards went to search the main courtyard of the manor.

At this moment, Song Zhi was still lying in the room.

The imperial physician heard sounds and came out from the inner chamber, only to see two people dressed in guard uniforms entering.

He was immediately stunned: “What’s this about?”

One of the guards said: “Under orders to search. We trouble the physicians to wait in the courtyard.”

“There’s still a patient inside!”

“The patient need not leave, but we must search inside too.”

Having said this, the two guards wasted no more time and began searching the room.

The imperial physician had no choice but to go outside.

A dark-skinned guard said to another fair-skinned guard: “You search the outer area, I’ll search the inner chamber.”

“Alright.”

The dark-skinned guard then entered the inner chamber.

Song Zhi heard sounds coming from outside but didn’t know what was happening.