You Jun glanced at him, looked up at the sky outside, his expression dark and gloomy.
Continuous footsteps sounded from outside the courtyard. You Jun listened while watching the faint flames inside the secret passage, his expression calm.
Inside the secret passage, the light was much brighter, dispelling the ghostly atmosphere where everyone looked like demons. People breathed sighs of relief and looked around. Though there were no changes, they weren’t disappointed this time—everyone stared intently at Tie Ci and You Weixing.
You Weixing only stared at Tie Ci with that direct gaze that ordinary people truly couldn’t bear—for instance, Murong Yi couldn’t stand it. But being held by Tie Ci, with her finger tracing back and forth in his palm, he endured it.
Their little fingers moving in and out, making secret signals in each other’s palms, Murong Yi played this palm game with Tie Ci while thinking smugly that everyone said the Crown Princess didn’t understand romance—those fellows just didn’t have the fortune to experience her romance. In fact, the Crown Princess could be salty or sweet and was skilled in various flirtatious techniques.
Countless women in this world, relying on their noble status, put on airs in everything and everywhere, making themselves detestable for no reason. Only his A’Ci would never be like that. Though possessing the most noble status in the world, she remained untainted by vulgar customs, retaining only the warm atmosphere of human life.
She was a treasure he had encountered with great difficulty.
He especially loved her manner of conducting serious business with dignified righteousness while secretly exchanging romantic gestures—just like now.
Their fingers and palms entangled in secret, never affecting the dignified brightness on the surface. Even her smile conformed to royal grace. Tie Ci raised her hand and brushed it across the wall.
People exclaimed in surprise.
What had been a very natural earthen wall, fitting the appearance of an unpretentious secret passage, suddenly changed as Tie Ci’s fingers brushed across it. The dust vanished, the wall surface became old and dark, revealing many marks.
These were the shocking traces Tie Ci had seen when she entered the secret passage that night.
Under the torchlight, from top to bottom on the secret passage walls were handprints of various sizes—from tiny palms to adult-sized handprints—various dripping marks, various blood-red colors that hurt the eyes.
Everyone’s breathing became light for a moment. Even without understanding what these walls represented, they were horrified by the cold, murderous, and evil aura that seemed to emanate from those hideous marks. The earlier rusty smell became even more intense, and some people couldn’t look for more than a few seconds before turning to retch.
Tie Ci’s voice rang out. “Don’t look too much. Some of these drawings contain drugs, others have special painting methods that make people feel irritated and confused when they look at them. You’re ordinary people without martial arts—don’t get hurt because of this.”
Someone angrily said, “What kind of person made such nauseating images on these walls!”
Others looked thoughtful. How did these patterns appear? Was an outer layer scraped away? But in just an instant, this inner wall was revealed, and no one saw any dust falling.
In the distance, You Jun’s eyes flickered.
The Crown Princess’s restoration ability—he had heard vague rumors but hadn’t expected it to be real and so miraculous.
When covering up this secret passage wall, he had considered the possibility of it being seen publicly, but at the time thought the Crown Princess might not have the opportunity to stand here—it was just an extra precaution.
But the Crown Princess had walked step by step into this secret passage, lifting all concealment and exposing everything that couldn’t be known to public view.
Tie Ci said, “Look at these handprints.”
You Weixing slowly placed his hand on the topmost bloody handprint. It matched perfectly.
Everyone stared at the precisely fitting handprint, following that position downward until they saw small handprints about three feet from the wall. Many people realized what this meant and gasped in shock.
Someone held the ghastly green fire starter and stood before the wall. Those wild lines and marks trembled as if about to move in the ghostfire’s illumination, seeming ready to pounce from the wall at any moment. That face and the long shadow reflected on the wall also writhed like evil spirits. Everyone instinctively stepped back, then back again. Without knowing when, their foreheads and backs were covered in sweat, but they had completely lost their voices until someone, as if strangled by the throat, hoarsely said, “…did he watch this from childhood to adulthood…”
No one spoke. After a long while, Tie Ci laughed softly. “A fool?”
She suddenly turned and kicked the wall with tremendous force. With a thunderous crash, half the secret passage wall collapsed. Amid the sound of crumbling bricks and stones, Tie Ci said in uncontrollable anger, “In such circumstances, with such torment, which of you could avoid going mad? Could avoid becoming a fool?”
The thunderous sound and questioning echoed in the winding secret passage, continuously repeating “fool, fool, fool, fool…”
Some people, frightened by the shock, shouted “The secret passage is collapsing!” and turned to flee.
But at this moment, they discovered there was no light behind them—the secret passage door had been silently closed!
The people immediately became agitated. “Open the door! Open the door!”
Someone realized, “It’s Minister You and his people! Seeing his crimes exposed, Minister You has decided to go all out and trap us all to death in the secret passage!”
You Weixing grabbed Tie Ci’s hand. Tie Ci knew what he wanted to do, pressed down on his hand, and shook her head.
She walked forward. The people had been panicking, but seeing her say nothing and just move forward with steady steps and a straight back, they inexplicably felt much more at ease. They all fell silent and followed behind her until they reached the end of the secret passage.
At the end of the secret passage was a wall with a door now open.
Tie Ci didn’t push this door. She just placed her hand on it, and after a moment, the door disappeared, restored to a complete wall. Someone knocked on the wall and found it was very thick.
If there had originally been no door here, then You Jun’s supposedly warm story of “arranging the secret passage to cover his nephew every night” would become a ghost story.
Fortunately, everyone now had a clear understanding of the true relationship between this uncle and nephew. Seeing this situation, they weren’t very surprised, only wondering if this was just a wall, whether the eldest young master couldn’t get through and Minister You couldn’t come over either.
But they saw Tie Ci walk to the corner of the wall, kick somewhere unknown, and shout, “Stand back!”
People hurriedly stepped back, then discovered the entire wall was sweeping toward them. Those with slow feet were knocked down by the slowly turning wall and pushed forward like garbage being swept, while Tie Ci had already walked forward.
People involuntarily moved forward along the wall’s rotating trajectory until they were pushed under the skylight of another room. Standing on the ground’s blue-green carved floor tiles and looking at the curio shelves, ivory couches, and huanghuali wood writing desk on the four walls, they realized they had reached You Jun’s study.
Everyone was thinking this didn’t seem like much when they saw Tie Ci stomp down hard.
The area under Tie Ci’s foot was an empty space on the right side of You Jun’s study, currently unoccupied. With Tie Ci’s stomp, the entire room’s floor shook, then a large section collapsed.
Tie Ci’s guards rushed up, using spear points and blade tips to lift the topmost layer of decorative tiles, revealing the brick and earth underneath. Everyone looked and saw nothing unusual, but the guards continued expanding the excavation area. As more of the ground was uncovered, everyone finally noticed something strange.
The soil where Tie Ci’s foot had caused the collapse was relatively fresh, the bricks and stones more fragmented, appearing hastily laid. Moreover, the surrounding soil contained more white substances—everyone knew this stuff. Yannan had many snakes and insects, so particular households would lay a layer of lime under the ground.
But the ground area under Tie Ci’s foot showed no traces of lime.
Without needing to say more, people understood.
This section of ground had also been newly filled.
Due to time constraints, it was filled hastily, so no lime was scattered, and the soil and bricks were all different.
The guards continued digging downward. Gradually, everyone discovered this had originally been a large pit.
At the very bottom of the pit, the guards scooped up a handful of earth, spread it with their fingers, and everyone saw a black nail.
Tie Ci said concisely, “A stray fish that escaped the net.”
The people were bewildered.
Tie Ci said, “Think about it. You light that ghostfire, pass through that secret passage, encounter a wall. Because of fear, you want to push open this wall, then you hit a mechanism, the entire wall begins rotating, sweeping you into the adjacent room. But where the wall stops rotating, there’s a large pit, and you inevitably fall into it, and in the pit, there are nails.”
Everyone’s hair stood on end.
What a terrifying experience this was.
And this experience might have begun very early, might have become his nightmare since childhood, might have happened again and again—not fatal but heart-piercingly painful, terrifying yet inescapable.
After a moment of silence, someone rushed out of the crowd, shouting, “Where is You Jun!”
Someone answered from outside, “I’m here.”
The angry people looked up and instantly held their breath.
Outside was a completely different beautiful scene—artificial mountains and flowing water, small bridges and pavilions. But now on the artificial mountains, small bridges, and pavilion tops, there were densely packed soldiers everywhere—those holding spears, drawing bows, raising swords… A mass of weapon glints dazzled eyes under sunlight.
Beyond those pavilions and towers, everywhere visible, one could see masses of dark heads and snow-white blade light stretching endlessly.
As if in just the time it took to walk through the secret passage, all of Yannan’s troops had gathered here.
The sound of clashing weapons rang out from afar. Judging by the position close to the prince’s manor, it should be the Crown Princess’s guards left outside the manor, already engaged in close combat with the continuously arriving Yannan soldiers.
You Jun sat under the artificial mountain, where someone had already moved a grand master chair for him. He crossed his legs, picking his favorite candied fruits from a glass plate on the small table beside him.
While leisurely saying, “What do you want with me?”
He spoke in Yannan dialect, his tone gentle and friendly, but the people who had been righteously indignant just moments before were instantly silenced.
Some still had their blood up and cursed loudly, “You Jun, you’ve lost all conscience! You’ll die a horrible death!”
You Jun selected his favorite candied fruit, put it in his mouth, and made a satisfied “mm” sound.
Then he looked up, smiled at Tie Ci, and said, “Your Highness, oh Your Highness, why must you do this? Everyone could have gotten along harmoniously, made some ceremonial gestures, sat down to discuss things properly. Why force things to the point where the dagger is revealed? What, do you think your three thousand guards are enough to flatten Yannan?”
He chewed the candied fruit, rarely speaking so clearly, smiled, and spat out the pit. Shaking his head, he said, “Or do you think that ruining my reputation would let you manipulate public opinion and drive me from the prince’s manor? How strange and curious! Your Highness, you yourself were driven from the capital and secretly went to Yongping to show favor to Di Yiwei, gaining control of Yongping’s military power. On this Yannan trip, you’ve also been flirting with Xiao Xueya, coveting his navy. How is it that when you reached Kunzhou, you forgot that having troops in hand makes one the boss?”
Tie Ci said, “Since you mention Xiao Xueya, you should know he not only controls the navy but also temporarily commands Qianzhou’s local military forces. He has now secured all the passes leading to various parts of Yannan—the nearest can reach Yannan in three days.”
“That’s still three days away. And Your Highness, you’re in Kunzhou. Once I mobilize all of Kunzhou’s forces to take you, have you calculated how long your three thousand guards can hold out?” You Jun’s smile didn’t diminish. “Besides, Da Qian’s iron law states that as long as a feudal prince hasn’t rebelled, armies from other territories cannot enter without authorization. Your Highness, do you want to risk the universal condemnation of starting a war without cause?”
He chewed the candied fruit, squinting with enjoyment. “As for me, I’m a timid man. I don’t dare risk universal condemnation. I prefer people to submit to me willingly. But today Your Highness has torn off my face—what should I do? Naturally, I must keep Your Highness and these elders who have seen things they shouldn’t have seen here forever in the prince’s manor. Wouldn’t that solve everything?”
The people’s faces changed drastically.
“Minister You, what do you mean!”
“Exactly what you think I mean.” You Jun said, “If you want to blame someone, blame your Crown Princess for bringing you in to manipulate public opinion against me.”
You Weinan waved his fan, laughing, “They say once you enter a marquis’s gate, it’s as deep as the sea. Since it’s as deep as the sea, naturally you can’t swim out.”
You Jun seemed slightly annoyed by his chattiness, glanced at him sideways, then looked outside.
The people all turned to look at Tie Ci, most now with resentful gazes, completely forgetting that the evil was done by You Jun and they themselves had wanted to watch the excitement.
Tie Ci didn’t mind—seeking profit and avoiding harm was human nature.
“The prince’s manor guards, Kunzhou Inspection Bureau, Kunzhou Five Cities Military Commission, even the Kunzhou Grand Camp twenty li outside the city—all the military forces in Yannan’s central region have now been deployed to this Three Pagodas and One Pool area,” You Jun said. “Your Highness, give up. As long as you give up, I can still treat you with the courtesy due to an honored guest, invite you to attend the female heir’s wedding and my son’s heir apparent investiture ceremony, and finally escort you ceremoniously from Yannan. These innocent people naturally won’t be harmed either.”
“What if I’m unwilling?” Tie Ci shook her head. “Ceremoniously escort me from Yannan? That sounds nice—did I come on this southern tour just to drink at a wedding?”
“That’s fine too. It’s just that all the other people here will have to die.”
The people cried out in anger and agitation. Some cursed You Jun, some cursed Tie Ci, and others rushed forward to grab Tie Ci’s legs. “Your Highness! Save us! We don’t want to die! We were wrong—we shouldn’t have come to hear the prince’s manor secrets! Please step back, just step back a little!”