In the wind and snow, the gates of Dianfang Studio were hastily knocked upon by an unexpected visitor.

Noble Consort Jing, who was curled up on the couch applying face masks, heard the report and sat up in surprise, saying, “What? The Empress Dowager has come?”

Noble Consort Jing instinctively rose to greet the Empress Dowager, walking hurriedly while arranging her skirt as she went.

The fear of the Empress Dowager that had formed over many years made her completely unable to consider at this moment why the Empress Dowager, who was under house arrest in Ciren Palace, would suddenly come to her place on this snowy night.

The door opened, and outside the hall doors stood the Empress Dowager wrapped in a fox fur cloak. She was dressed very solemnly and exquisitely today, standing calmly without showing any trace of sorrow from her family’s destruction.

Such an Empress Dowager made Noble Consort Jing feel even more ashamed of herself. She hurried forward to personally hold an umbrella for the Empress Dowager, asking ingratiatingly, “Whatever Mother Empress wishes to command, this consort will obey. How could you come personally in such weather?”

The Empress Dowager then took her hand, first looking her up and down carefully for a while, then nodded saying, “Not having seen you for some time, you are indeed more outstanding than before.”

Joy appeared in Noble Consort Jing’s eyes. For all these years, the Empress Dowager never looked at her properly, but now she was talking with her like addressing a dear daughter-in-law. This made her feel both flattered and proud, and she couldn’t help saying, “It’s all thanks to Mother Empress…”

The Empress Dowager gently squeezed her hand.

Noble Consort Jing came to her senses and stopped speaking.

The Empress Dowager didn’t speak immediately but lingered at the hall entrance, quietly watching the chaotic wind and snow.

Noble Consort Jing was somewhat puzzled. She also turned to look at the sky. The wind and snow were too heavy, with howling winds where nothing could be seen or heard clearly. She only vaguely felt that one area seemed particularly dark, and another area seemed to have a flash of red light that disappeared instantly.

The Empress Dowager was also looking at that place, and at this moment her eyes were extremely dark and cold.

After a moment she resumed her smile, patting Noble Consort Jing’s hand and saying softly, “I came looking for you because I heard in Ciren Palace that His Majesty is unwell. Hearing this made me uneasy, so I wanted to go see him. I happened to pass by your place and thought to ask if you’d like to come along.”

Noble Consort Jing immediately panicked, hurriedly saying, “Of course I should go!” She rushed to have sedan chairs prepared, took tonic medicines, and changed cloaks. After a flurry of activity, she suddenly remembered that the Empress Dowager wasn’t supposed to leave Ciren Palace?

But she couldn’t ask this question in front of the Empress Dowager.

Anyway, they were going to see His Majesty, so whatever it was could naturally be discussed between mother and son.

Noble Consort Jing, accustomed to being a hands-off manager, simply put these doubts aside.

Two heated sedan chairs slowly left Dianfang Studio and disappeared into the wind and snow.

…

Tie Ci had a viscous darkness overhead where she couldn’t see, speak, or perceive anything.

She had many things she wanted to say to Sang Tang, but unfortunately the Night Emperor in his fury had made an exception to use his ultimate technique, wanting to directly strangle any life from the legendary increasingly powerful Crown Princess.

At this moment Tie Ci felt regret in her heart.

To ensure palace security and avoid alerting the enemy, she had always wanted to contact Duanmu first before revealing the truth to Sang Tang. After all, words alone were no proof, and Sang Tang might not believe her.

Who knew that Duanmu would suddenly disappear without a trace. A person like him, if he didn’t want to be found, then no one could find him.

Sang Tang had never stepped out of Ciren Palace due to her old injuries, and always maintained an attitude of only wanting to protect the Empress Dowager while ignoring everything else. Because of this, she had been relatively negligent amid all her busy affairs.

Just this small negligence led to a deadly situation.

Now with darkness pressing down, she couldn’t even find her opponent, and all her martial prowess couldn’t be deployed.

So this was the Night Emperor’s true strike.

This was still after years of severe injury.

One could imagine the mighty power of the Three Madmen and Five Emperors in their prime.

In this instant, Tie Ci suddenly thought of Duanmu’s paintings, thought of that master who had quickly dealt with those eight most powerful people between dawn and dusk.

For the first time, deep fear surged in her heart.

But immediately she raised her head.

She couldn’t be afraid.

She couldn’t so easily form mental barriers.

She suddenly raised her hand, golden light flashing at her fingertip like a thin thread, piercing through the dark barrier straight to the heavens.

The next moment thunder roared, and the thin golden light transformed into a column of light thick as a water barrel, striking straight down.

The darkness truly seemed substantial. When that golden light struck down, it only illuminated the surrounding area, while the darkness around remained dense, like demonic fog, like black syrup, rolling restlessly.

But the instant this golden light appeared, Tie Ci actually leaped up toward the lightning.

She brushed against the edge of the electric light, feeling like she was carrying a mountain. With great difficulty she leaped to mid-air, just in time to see red light flash in the direction of the palace gates.

At this moment, she finally heard the tremendous crash from that direction.

Tie Ci’s heart stirred.

That red light looked like Pingzong.

Pingzong was lazy and rarely made moves. At this moment in the palace, only Sang Tang could make her exert such effort, and Sang Tang was here.

Then at the palace gates, it was Duanmu!

The two most powerful grandmasters of nearly fifty years were simultaneously attacking the palace city.

It was an enormous crisis, but this crisis came strangely.

The golden light flashed and vanished, the surroundings instantly returning to darkness. The dense darkness seemed angered by the electric light that had just split it, rolling and churning as it pressed toward Tie Ci.

Tie Ci felt suffocation and heavy pressure.

In that instant she thought of Dan Shuang and Chi Xue, the palace servants of Ruixiang Hall.

She didn’t know how many had been swept into this darkness. If she was struggling so much, how long could they survive?

Tie Ci took a breath.

She reached out and pulled out the hairpin binding her hair.

She aimed the sharp end at the back of her neck and gently pricked it.

True energy flowed into the acupoint, and her brow twitched slightly.

After a moment, she exhaled a long breath.

That breath was actually like a white dragon, rolling through the black fog.

The next moment her figure flashed and disappeared from her original position.

A moment later, she appeared on a stretch of rooftops.

The darkness indeed followed step by step.

Tie Ci looked down at this stretch of rooftops and recognized they should still be the roof of Ruixiang Hall.

Taking the risk to break the prohibition and use teleportation, she could indeed move now.

But it was still much shorter than the expected distance.

This meant that to reach the palace gates, she would need many teleportations.

Rong Pu’s warning echoed again.

“From my observations, teleportation is extremely dangerous for Your Highness. Each use makes the reversal of Your Highness’s meridians more severe. Once completely reversed, even immortals cannot save you. I hope Your Highness will diligently practice martial arts. If you need to escape, please practice light body techniques well and don’t use teleportation. I’ll teach Your Highness a method to lock acupoints to prevent inadvertent teleportation. Please don’t unlock the acupoints lightly, and especially don’t teleport consecutively. Remember this, remember this.”

Tie Ci looked up at the seemingly endless darkness and smiled bitterly.

In life, nine out of ten things don’t go as wished.

Her figure flashed, and this time she landed on the roof of Ruixiang Hall’s front hall.

The black cover followed again.

Another flash.

This time, she finally landed outside the gates of Ruixiang Hall.

The black cover followed step by step, thunderously covering down.

Inside Ruixiang Hall, people lay collapsed everywhere.

People looked up at the sky, seeing only continued chaos and snow filling the deep courtyard.

Dan Shuang struggled to get up, staggered to the hall entrance, and saw that huge black cover land on the roof of neighboring Yuxiu Palace.

The next moment, it fell into the second courtyard of Ningkun Palace next to Yuxiu Palace.

The next moment, it fell into the front courtyard of Ningkun Palace.

The next moment, it fell into Qunxi Hall in front of Ningkun Palace.

…

Dan Shuang leaned against the wall, watching that mass of stagnant darkness move with one person, bit by bit in the wind and snow, like a swaying ancient giant bell, heading toward the palace gates.

…

Outside the sleeping quarters of Chongming Palace, one person gently pressed their hand against the wall, eyes closed as if murmuring to themselves.

Inside the sleeping quarters of Chongming Palace, Murong Yi walked toward Tie Yan with a smile.

For an instant, he suddenly felt his vision blur, as if the light and shadows before him twisted slightly, but then everything returned to normal.

Murong Yi rubbed his brow.

His head was splitting with pain now, his vision blurred, his internal organs burning, his muscles and bones seeming to crawl with countless ants, while waves of evil fire rose restlessly in his heart.

He relied entirely on powerful willpower to suppress it, maintaining his smile unchanged as he walked forward step by step.

For an instant, his fingers lifted slightly, as if wanting to take something from his chest, but ultimately he put them down.

Across from him, Tie Yan stared at him intently.

In Murong Yi’s eyes, this face that usually looked quite amiable suddenly twisted, revealing a ferocious smile.

He was startled and stopped walking.

At the same time, Tie Yan, who had been watching him, also changed expression.

His face suddenly became extremely pale, then turned blazing red, blue veins appearing on his forehead, twitching wildly.

He suddenly roared and lunged at Murong Yi.

Murong Yi, weakened as he was, was caught off guard and knocked down. The two rolled and tumbled on the carpet.

Tie Yan raised his fists and rained blows down on him, roaring, “I’ll teach you to deceive me! How dare you deceive me!”

Murong Yi raised his hand and Tie Yan tumbled away. Murong Yi rolled over to help him up, but his robe tightened as Tie Yan, who had immediately pounced again, grabbed it.

He grasped Murong Yi’s robe hem, saw the small knife that had rolled to the ground, immediately grabbed the knife and raised it to stab, “How dare you treat her like that!”

Murong Yi was pulled by someone. In his dizziness, he instinctively raised his foot to kick.

His kick carried more than a thousand pounds of force. Under one kick, Tie Yan would be dead if not severely injured.

His foot was only a hair’s breadth from Tie Yan when Murong Yi suddenly stopped and bent down to pull at Tie Yan’s hands.

But at this moment he heard Tie Yan’s wild curses and was startled.

Just this moment of being startled.

With a soft hiss, the small knife inserted into his side.

Even after stabbing him, Tie Yan wasn’t satisfied and actually gripped the knife handle to pull it upward, still roaring, “I’ll kill you! Kill you!”

Murong Yi half-knelt on the ground and suddenly grasped his hand.

Looking up, he saw Tie Yan’s face close at hand. That face no longer looked like his—the usually gentle and dignified features were now twisted and fierce, covered in hot sweat, his eyes full of blood vessels forming a sheet of blood red, his gaze wild, overflowing with bloodthirsty hatred and killing intent.

Murong Yi’s heart shook as he shouted, “Focus! You’re being controlled, aren’t you? Wake up!”

But Tie Yan seemed to hear nothing. Unable to move while being held, he raised his foot to kick viciously at the wound, “Die, die! Die—”

The two were extremely close. Murong Yi had to control him and couldn’t dodge, so he could only block with his arm across. But he didn’t expect that Tie Yan’s boot sole had mechanisms. Under violent shaking, the boot sole flashed with dark light and a thin blade shot into his abdomen.

Already severely ill, in just this instant he was stabbed repeatedly and covered in blood.

Murong Yi opened his mouth and violently spat out blood.

It splashed all over Tie Yan’s head and face.

Tie Yan, his face covered in blood red, was now completely mad. Taking advantage of Murong Yi loosening his grip due to injury, he raised his hand and pulled out the small knife.

The raised knife brought out a trace of blood that splattered across the snow-white silk screen.

Tie Yan didn’t even wipe his face and wielded the small knife as he pounced again.

Murong Yi dodged to the side, grabbed his hand, and with a skillful technique, threw him toward a corner of the hall.

At the same time, he kicked away the silk screen, which crashed into the imperial throne screen with a tremendous crash, smashing half the throne.

Murong Yi staggered and grabbed a bronze crane beside him, raising it in a swing.

The bronze crane, carrying heavy wind sounds, flashed around the hall like lightning. Wherever it passed, tables and chairs overturned, curtains shredded, and all vessels shattered.

The hall instantly became a complete mess, losing all furniture in clear view.

The mess finally confirmed for him that no one was hiding in hall corners to cause mischief.

Murong Yi closed his eyes and staggered.

Across from him, Tie Yan roared and pounced again.

At this moment he was steaming with heat, his eyes blazing bright, teeth snow white, face blood red, and cauliflower-shaped warts suddenly appeared on his neck, making him look inhuman.

Murong Yi suddenly retreated rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, with a tremendous crash, his back slammed hard into the wall.

Both wounds burst open simultaneously, blood spraying wildly. The blade embedded in his abdomen was forcibly shaken out and bounced to the ground.

At the same time the solid palace wall cracked with a muffled sound.

Murong Yi’s hand ghostly passed through the collapsed wall’s smoke, dust, and broken bricks, suddenly grasping the hand that hadn’t had time to withdraw.

No one expected that at this time he could still have such precise judgment and fierce action.

Wind and snow seemed to stop at this moment.

Separated by one hole, a scream rang out.

Murong Yi gripped hard, trying to drag this evil spirit hiding outside the hall to cause trouble inside.

But at this moment his head spun with dizziness, severe pain exploded from his heart, his vision went black, and his hand loosened.

The person outside the wall immediately struggled and staggered away.

Murong Yi looked up to see Tie Yan pouncing again, holding the knife, shouting, blood flowing from his face to his teeth, looking like a man-eating demon.

Murong Yi: “Wake up!”

This shout used the last of all his strength, like a thunderclap.

Even a deaf person could be awakened.

But Tie Yan remained unmoved, his gaze straight and wild, full of hatred.

Murong Yi closed his eyes.

That shout and collision had drained all his strength.

For an instant, his hand lifted as if to reach into his chest for something.

But ultimately it turned downward.

Fiercely inserting into the wound at his side.

Blood flowed wildly, and the unbearable itching and weakness in his body seemed to flow out with the blood.

Using this lucidity-bringing yet extremely painful injury, he looked up, caught Tie Yan’s knife with one hand, his fingertip touching Tie Yan’s wrist pulse. Tie Yan’s hand softened and the knife fell into Murong Yi’s palm.

Murong Yi’s figure turned as he caught him, his other arm’s elbow already striking Tie Yan’s neck.

Unable to wake Tie Yan, he could only knock him unconscious first, then deal with the person outside the hall.

When his elbow struck down, it hit the pustules on Tie Yan’s neck.

Blood and pus splattered, wetting his sleeve.

Tie Yan fell into his arms. Murong Yi could no longer support himself and his legs gave way.

His head roared thunderously, his vision completely dark, unable to see or hear anything clearly. He only felt countless snowflakes ice-cold penetrating his body, stuffing into his heart.

At this moment he suddenly heard Tie Yan in his arms say hoarsely, “So you really did approach her intentionally. You approached her first, won her, then killed her… I… even if I die I can’t let you—”

Murong Yi’s mind thundered.

He didn’t know what was happening. On one hand he felt himself falling, constantly falling, as if into a bottomless abyss. On the other hand he felt someone bursting out, someone pouncing, himself seeming to dodge and fight back. Struggling sounds, rolling sounds, fighting sounds, gasping sounds, cursing sounds… all became countless thunderclaps continuously echoing in his mind, making his head split with pain, his whole body burning… until in all this chaos, he suddenly heard a soft hiss.

So familiar yet slight, so light it was hard to catch among all these loud sounds.

But he was struck as if by lightning. Though he hadn’t yet understood what this sound was, he instinctively began trembling.

Trembling all over, even his teeth chattering—this was trembling from the depths of his soul, the despair of instantly understanding that his greatest fear had occurred while he was powerless to prevent it.

That despair drowned him like a tide. The unbearable pain and confusion slowly receded in an instant, and he suddenly had the strength to open his eyes.

Without hesitation he opened his eyes.

He found himself lying on the hall floor, blood stains everywhere, chaos all around several times worse than the mess he had created—clearly the result of frenzied fighting. And not far from him… lay Tie Yan.

Murong Yi slowly turned his head.

In an instant.

As if falling into an ice cave.

The person beside him had no breath.

In his heart, the small knife that had wounded him and been seized by him was inserted.

Murong Yi closed his eyes and showed a bleak smile.

Struggling to crawl up, he reached to pull out the knife.

But at this moment, with a tremendous crash, the hall doors were broken open.

Murong Yi’s whole body convulsed.

He stiffened his back and slowly turned around.