Everyone turned around to see Lian Yue standing at the memorial archway entrance, looking at Wu Yan.

Su Zhen disliked Lian Yue but couldn’t abandon proper etiquette, so she led everyone in paying respects.

Lian Yue smiled slightly and walked in. “Since Imperial Concubine Wei is now temporarily staying at the Court of Justice, I surmised she would surely accompany Chief Investigator Li here today. I have matters to discuss with Imperial Concubine Wei. Might I borrow a moment to speak a few words?”

Yesterday with Lian Yu present here, Lian Yue could not act inappropriately under any circumstances. Now, how could she let Wu Yan be alone with her? Wu Yan was about to speak to deflect and decline when Wu Yan said softly, “I can handle this. You go attend to your business first.”

She looked toward Lian Yue. “Please.”

“Very well.” Lian Yue smiled in response.

Before parting, Su Zhen pulled Wu Yan aside and whispered, “That woman won’t have anything good to say. Handle it diplomatically if you can, but if you don’t want to, just walk away directly. We’re not afraid of her.”

Wu Yan felt warmth in her heart and simply said, “I’ll handle it. Go quickly, don’t delay the important matters. Huaisu, some things I ultimately need to handle myself.”

Su Zhen’s group departed, and the two women slowly walked deeper into the imperial mausoleum. Wu Yan didn’t want to waste time with her either and spoke directly, “I wonder what the Princess Imperial wishes to discuss with Wu Yan?”

“I previously thought you were a respectable opponent, but unfortunately, since you cannot have Chang’an, you’ve turned to seducing my brother.” Lian Yue stopped walking and spoke word by word.

Facing the mockery in her eyes, Wu Yan smiled. “Unfortunately, you were never a respectable opponent. That being the case, why should I bother respecting you? Whom the Seventh Prince chooses to like and treat well, I cannot prevent. This is perhaps exactly what they call karmic retribution.”

Lian Yue’s heart sank, but she quickly brought out her sharpest words to block her. “Is using my brother as a substitute interesting? Your heart still thinks of Huo Chang’an, doesn’t it? Do you know what happened last night? Chang’an wanted to be intimate with me, but was concerned about the child in my womb. I told him to go find Zhu Xin, but guess what he said?”

“He refused, afraid I would feel hurt. Fine, you and Lian Jie can be together. My brother has no fewer concubines than Huo Chang’an.”

Mother was right—Lian Jie’s matter wasn’t urgent, but she still wanted to make Wu Yan uncomfortable. Who told her to dare use her brother to get revenge on her?

Wu Yan finally understood that as long as Lian Yue brought up Huo Chang’an, no matter how much she had the upper hand, she would still lose. The heart palpitations that had calmed for many days suddenly struck sharply, as if thousands of needles were simultaneously stabbing fiercely into her heart. Her body trembled, remembering Su Zhen’s words, and she simply walked away.

Deep in the Mausoleum

Imperial Concubine Yu’s tomb was located deep within the mausoleum grounds. They had to walk quite a distance inward to reach it. Su Zhen worried about Wu Yan and kept looking back, but after passing several sacrificial halls and multiple tombs of the Lian family ancestors, they could no longer see even a trace of her.

“We’re here.” Wu Qing reminded softly.

Su Zhen’s spirits lifted—time to get to work!

Everyone opened the tomb door, lit torches, and walked inside. It was still the same narrow, long corridor as yesterday. Wu Qing and Xiao Zhou in front, Su Zhen with Tie Shou and Zhui Ming in the middle, two coroners at the rear, walking toward the depths of the tomb cave where one couldn’t see their own hand.

Everyone’s footsteps echoed eerily in the quiet underground palace.

Su Zhen rather pathetically clutched at Tie Shou and Zhui Ming’s sleeves. Suddenly, Wu Qing lowered his voice: “Stop. There seems to be breathing sounds inside. That’s… strange.”

Wu Qing had the highest martial arts skills among them, so naturally his hearing and sight were the sharpest, and he was also shrewd and cautious by nature. But this wasn’t a tavern, shop, or residence—how could there be people here!

For a moment, everyone couldn’t help but stop, and though they were skilled and bold, they inevitably felt somewhat alarmed.

Zhui Ming then thought of something and laughed: “Didn’t they say His Majesty sent morticians over for us? Maybe that’s them. Boss, look how scared you got.”

“No,” Su Zhen suddenly said. “It’s not the morticians. If it were them, they wouldn’t be without lanterns, and hearing our sounds, they would have come forward to greet us.”

“Retreat quickly!” Wu Qing suddenly shouted, and at the same time, a stench like rotting decay drifted through the air.

Everyone was horrified—there was an ambush in this tomb chamber!

Wu Qing held his breath and covered Xiao Zhou’s nose and mouth with one hand while shouting fiercely, “Extinguish the fires, hold your breath! This stuff might be poisonous. Retreat quickly! Tie Shou, Zhui Ming, protect Huaisu!”

Everyone almost immediately blew out their torches and turned to run frantically, but at this moment, several sword lights slashed down from above, completely cutting through the thick darkness of the corridor!

The torch light had been dim before, and this underground palace built several fathoms below ground was extremely dark. These assassins had actually been lying in wait one by one in hanging positions under the stone walls above everyone’s heads. Now seeing their opportunity, they struck to kill.

One of the black-clad men lit a lamp and threw it toward the front of the tomb cave, preventing the entire corridor from being completely dark and facilitating the fight!

Fortunately, the several constables from the Six Doors Bureau weren’t merely living off their reputation or advancing solely through Xiao’an’s favoritism—their skills were all quite formidable. In this life-or-death moment, Zhui Ming roared and swept Su Zhen into his arms, using his own arm to block a sword for her. His other hand drew his waist sword and began fighting with a black-clad man. Tie Shou swung his fists, creating a whooshing wind, forcefully taking on attacks from three black-clad men, allowing the other two to escape first.

Wu Qing and Xiao Zhou were in the worst situation. The two stood back-to-back, protecting each other’s rear, but Xiao Zhou was gritting his teeth fighting three men while Wu Qing was desperately battling five alone.

The two coroners with no martial arts skills weren’t so fortunate. A black-clad man laughed coldly and thrust his sword fiercely, skewering both men together, piercing through them to create two bloody holes. The two men made muffled sounds and then were silent.

However, though these black-clad men numbered only about ten, their martial arts were quite formidable. Having gained the advantage of surprise, and with everyone having inhaled the poisonous smoke, causing dizziness and weakness, plus during intense combat how could they avoid breathing? They gradually couldn’t hold on and were wounded one after another.

In the chaos, Wu Qing let out a muffled groan, and Xiao Zhou angrily yelled, “Cripple, are you crazy? Who told you to block that for me!”

Apart from Su Zhen, Wu Qing was clearly everyone’s core. With him the most skilled, once he was injured, everyone’s morale was affected, and their sword techniques immediately became chaotic and disorganized.

Among the black-clad men fighting Wu Qing was their leader. He laughed softly: “Intensify the attack—they can’t hold out much longer! Be sure to take that Li Huaisu’s head.”

Su Zhen knew the coroners were dead. Though they hadn’t been close friends in daily life, they had worked together, innocent and blameless, and now the brothers and friends she lived and died with were trapped in this underground palace. Who were these assassins?! They had come to investigate a case—could it be… Her heart jumped in shock, filled with grief and anger, thinking silently: Mother Lian Yu, please protect us and let us escape alive. We cannot die so wretchedly in this place!

Desperation breeds ingenuity. Her whole body shuddered, and she grabbed the bundle on her shoulder. Ignoring the poisonous smoke, she shouted fiercely: “I have poison powder in my bundle, prepared to test and verify what poison Imperial Concubine Yu suffered! To avoid accidentally ingesting deadly poison, we’ve all taken antidotes. Now we’ll use their own methods against them!”

She called out intermittently, but her hands and feet moved swiftly. The black-clad men heard this and were about to abandon their respective opponents to attack her together, but she had already grasped her materials. As soon as she finished speaking, everyone saw a large handful of powder scattered in midair, glittering brightly. Though this cave was narrow, it was quite tall. The black-clad men exchanged glances and almost simultaneously leaped up to higher places, avoiding the dust.

It was in this critical moment that the Court of Justice people exerted all their strength, each displaying their ultimate lightness skills, and fought their way out.

“This is wrong—this is lime powder, the little thief’s trick! Chase them!” The lead black-clad man inhaled some residual powder and suddenly understood, shouting fiercely.

“Yes!” Everyone received the order and immediately flew out, racing urgently toward the tomb entrance.

Su Zhen’s group emerged from the tomb cave and dared not delay, still flying and running. Everyone bore wounds, looking bedraggled and wretched. Wu Qing was the most severely injured, with several sword wounds, including one on his shoulder deep enough to see bone. Xiao Zhou’s eyes were slightly red as he helped support him.

Su Zhen felt dizzy and nauseous, her chest tight. Having the poorest martial arts skills, her breath-holding ability was also the worst. Having opened her mouth to speak earlier, she had inhaled the most poisonous gas. But fortunately, the thing that had even tricked Lian Yu was something she always carried with her, whether at home or traveling.

Years ago, her father had told her, Leng Xue, and her brother about the dangers of the martial world, telling them that if they ever had to leave home someday, they must carry a useful item with them that might save their lives in danger. Her brother and Leng Xue chose magnificent swords, while she chose this thing.

“To the archway… find… the Imperial Guards for help. Find… Wu Yan.” She whispered once and then collapsed in Zhui Ming’s arms.

Deep in the Imperial Mausoleum

Wu Yan had only walked a few steps when Lian Yue caught up with her, but both women quickly stopped in their tracks.

They saw a black-clad, masked man emerge from behind a sacrificial altar ahead.

All parties were startled upon seeing each other.

The black-clad man’s eyes gleamed viciously as he spoke coldly: “Well now, there are still two fish that slipped through the net here.”

Lian Yue had seen enough situations to remain composed despite the impropriety. She asked sternly: “Who are you? This is the imperial family’s mausoleum. Unauthorized persons are absolutely forbidden entry—violators face execution. How dare you act so brazenly here!”

“If you know what’s good for you, leave immediately. I can let bygones be bygones.”

“You dare investigate Imperial Concubine Yu’s case? At death’s door and still bargaining with me! I’ll kill you first!”

The other party laughed coldly, his form flickered, and he was already before the two women. Lian Yue gasped in alarm and covered her belly. Wu Yan’s whole body trembled, and she suddenly said: “Big brother, we’re not the people investigating the case—just palace women ordered to come here for sacrifices. Look how pretty we are. If you’ll spare us, we’ll serve you well, all right?”

The black-clad man saw her in a plain dress with light makeup. Though her complexion was somewhat pale, her features were incomparably beautiful. As she spoke, her almond eyes were like smoke, even more seductively charming. Clearly pure as snow yet simultaneously alluring—his heart couldn’t help but stir. But of course he couldn’t be tempted. However, just as he was about to draw his sword, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down in shock to see a sharp dagger embedded in his chest.

The woman who had been speaking held the dagger with trembling hands but resolutely gripped it, pushing it deeper into his flesh—

Had any of the Court of Justice people delivered this blow, it would have been instantly fatal. However, Wu Yan was just a woman with limited strength, and having recently recovered from illness, this strike, though hitting a vital point, couldn’t immediately kill him. The black-clad man flew into a rage and fiercely thrust his sword into the woman’s heart.

Wu Yan smiled tragically. She suddenly released the dagger and desperately embraced the man, turning back to stare intently at Lian Yue: “Go, find the Imperial Guards, save the Court of Justice people! Treat Huo Chang’an well… and grow old together… with him.”