Qin Chang Ge smiled again: “Phoenix as in the phoenix bird, Alliance as in sworn alliance.”

This time Qi Fan could no longer pretend.

“Who are you?” This time Qi Fan’s smile looked entirely superficial. “Allow me to advise the young lady – in this place, it’s better to be cautious with words and actions. Otherwise, no matter how much I pity beautiful women, I’ll have to provide you with a free coffin.”

Qin Chang Ge ignored him and looked around: “Not even a chair, not a cup of tea – is this how you treat guests?”

“Oh,” Qi Fan gestured with his hand very sincerely: “Our humble shop is a coffin store, so naturally we must fully commit to the coffin business. The shop has no tables or chairs, only coffins of various sizes. As for tea… how about some candy?”

Qin Chang Ge looked around, her expression unchanged as she hooked her foot and dragged over a small coffin to sit on, chuckling lightly: “Enough fooling around. Take a look at this.”

A square black jade token, carved with layered clouds and pavilions, the rising sun in the east, with a phoenix soaring among them, its wing feathers clearly defined. The phoenix’s eyes were inlaid with fire-red gemstones, radiating brilliant light, gorgeous and magnificent.

The phoenix occupied most of the entire token – mountains, rivers, sun, moon, palaces, and towers were all beneath its cloud-soaring wings, trampled under its feet.

Black jade and red crystal, with flowing radiance, lying in snow-white palms – it truly was a very beautiful scene.

However, Qi Fan and Rong Xiaotian had no mood to appreciate a beauty’s delicate hands.

Seeing the token was like seeing their sovereign.

The two jumped up with a whoosh, their faces changing color simultaneously.

Even Rong Xiaotian’s voice changed: “Who are you! How do you have the Phoenix Command!”

Back then, when the Empress died, they had infiltrated the palace to rescue their young master. They had all personally seen their master’s corpse. At that time, he had wanted to take their master’s body away too, but Qi Fan forcibly stopped him, saying their master wouldn’t care about such things. If taking the body caused the Emperor to become suspicious and implicate the Phoenix Alliance, that would truly be failing their master. Before leaving, Qi Fan selected a tall eunuch, cut off his head and shoulders, and threw them into the center of the fire where the flames were fiercest. He said that with such fierce flames, by the time they were extinguished, the remains would surely shrink into an unrecognizable mass. The head and shoulder section would roughly be the length of an infant, perfect for impersonation. It would be normal not to see limbs – fire burning away limbs was common. As for the headless eunuch corpse in the outer hall, surely one eunuch wouldn’t attract attention – people would assume it was burned and rolled somewhere.

At that time, he had helped Qi Fan cut and drag the corpse. Passing by the Empress, seeing her tragic death – her eyes with the pupils gouged out, the bloody long blade that entered from her back and exited through her front abdomen, the gold hairpin dyed with blood at her throat… He felt as if all the strength in his life seemed to flow away like water the moment he touched those eyes that had once been brilliantly beautiful but were now bloody holes.

Qi Fan’s face had also turned white as a corpse…

Oh right, there was also Fei Huan. Fei Huan… normally such an indifferent person who barely acknowledged their master, yet at that moment he stared at the corpse with an expression that could never be described in words.

Their master was dead, absolutely certain!

And the place where the token was stored behind Shanglin Nunnery was one of their master’s precautionary arrangements, with layers of mechanisms that only the three of them knew about in the entire world!

Could it be Fei Huan?

But that night, when they discovered Fei Huan acting suspiciously and questioned him, he remained silent and refused to answer any questions. Afterward, they sorrowfully obtained black-and-white evidence, discovered his collusion with the palace, and heard him personally confess his wrongdoing toward the Empress. In extreme anger, he had struck a killing blow. What hit Fei Huan’s back was his God-Destroying Palm – personally taught by their master, capable of destroying even gods, let alone a mortal body like his!

He was definitely dead.

Then who was this? Who was she?

Qin Chang Ge’s gaze wandered, seeing their urgent expressions. Rarely moved, she said gently: “I am a palace maid called Ming Shuang. Before Empress Ruiyi died, she told me some things.”

Qi Fan forced a smile: “The Empress wouldn’t easily tell anyone about Phoenix Alliance matters. What proof do you have?”

Waving the token in her palm, Qin Chang Ge smiled: “This is the proof.”

“Did the Empress instruct you to come?”

“Naturally.”

“Then why did you only come after three years?”

“This was the Empress’s instruction. Her wisdom was heaven-sent – how could I possibly guess her intentions?”

Qi Fan frowned, thinking that their master’s actions were indeed unpredictable, so it was entirely possible. Never mind this woman before him – even after following her for many years, sometimes he still couldn’t fathom her true thoughts.

Perhaps… their master had foreseen this and planted a backup plan in advance?

Watching Qi Fan’s changing expression as he convinced himself, Qin Chang Ge smiled slightly. She knew it was best and most convenient to blame everything on the dead ghost.

She forgot again that the “dead ghost” was actually herself.

Heh… Qin Chang Ge smiled as she thought – she was truly kind-hearted and considerate of her subordinates. Afraid that such supernatural matters might frighten them, she even took the trouble to fabricate an identity.

She automatically ignored the fact that she simply wanted to toy with people.

Someone who constantly emphasized she was a good person but actually couldn’t be considered good at all smiled evilly…