Qi Fan looked toward Rong Xiaotian and said, “Xiaotian is the person who knows the most about this. You speak first.”

Rong Xiaotian darkened his face and said, “The matter must be told from the night when the Empress met with disaster…”

Three years ago, a great fire suddenly erupted at Changle Palace, alarming the three heroes of Huang Meng who were stationed at the coffin shop on Tianqu Street outside the palace city.

In truth, the three had already sensed something before the flames rose, because for some unknown reason, Chu Feihuan suddenly jumped up in the middle of the night, shot out from the room like lightning, leaped onto his horse with a flip, and without calling to the other two, rushed toward the palace city like a madman.

When Qi Fan and Rong Xiaotian chased out, they only saw his distant figure disappearing at the end of the long street.

Qi Fan and Rong Xiaotian knew something of Chu Feihuan’s mysterious supernatural ability. The two exchanged glances and immediately gave chase.

When they infiltrated the palace city following the secret route the Empress had left behind, Changle Palace had just caught fire.

The fire at Changle Palace caused all the palace guards to rush there, with human figures and fire shadows chaotic as a tide. It was Chu Feihuan’s mysterious premonition that allowed them to arrive first, reaching Changle Palace before the guards arrived.

At that time, there were no cries or struggles in the palace – it was eerily quiet, with only the crackling sounds of flames consuming wood. When Qi Fan rushed into the palace, he nearly tripped over something beneath his feet. Looking by the firelight, he discovered it was a corpse with a sword through its throat, cleanly killed and long dead.

Throughout the entire Changle Palace, from the palace gates to the inner courtyard, bodies lay scattered everywhere.

Qi Fan’s heart sank to the depths at that moment, yet he still refused to believe that the Empress could have met with disaster.

She was no ordinary person – she was an extraordinary figure who had established the realm through bloody winds and rain, a founding Empress of renown who came from the Thousand Absolutes, outstanding in wisdom, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the world with her own strength. Her martial arts, talent, wisdom, strategic planning, and scheming were all unmatched choices. How could she die so easily?

But Rong Xiaotian didn’t even look at those corpses and had already charged inside.

The moment he stepped through the palace doors, the flickering firelight and rising heat made everything appear twisted, illusory, and blurred. Rolling black smoke brought tears to his eyes, making it difficult to distinguish objects in his limited vision. Vaguely, he seemed to see Chu Feihuan’s hand sweep over some object on the ground, as if collecting something into his embrace.

The bed curtains slowly curled under the heat, the embroidered butterflies among flowers fluttering in eerie arcs. The ceiling canopy was about to collapse and the four walls were charred black. In this destruction and collapse, he could see nothing clearly, only vaguely recognizing the identity of the female corpse on the ground.

“Empress!”

He rushed over, while Chu Feihuan stood up, looking around in a ghost-like daze. Suddenly he rushed to a completely undamaged corner of a wall and picked up a one-year-old infant.

When Qi Fan rushed through the door, what he saw was the furious Rong Xiaotian, and Chu Feihuan holding Xiao Rong in his arms, staring blankly at Qin Chang Ge’s corpse on the ground.

Rong Xiaotian’s face was fierce and blood-red, while Chu Feihuan’s face was pale as death, not human in color, motionless and speechless like a wooden carving.

Qi Fan saw that bloody female corpse on the ground and only heard a thunderous sound in his mind as his vision went black.

However, he immediately forced himself to regain consciousness. Looking at Xiao Rong once, he immediately understood his master’s final plan: no matter what, preserve Xiao Rong!

Suppressing his grief, he pulled Rong Xiaotian to hack and drag corpses, fabricating the scene of the Crown Prince being burned to death. Throughout this, Chu Feihuan remained silently speechless.

The firelight reflected his beautiful countenance in a deathly dark color, as if he had fallen into a deep abyss with no hope of ever emerging.

When everything was finished and the guards were about to arrive, Qi Fan pulled him to leave. Just as they were about to exit the palace gates, Chu Feihuan suddenly thrust Xiao Rong into his arms and said, “You go first, I’ll come immediately.”

Time was already pressing. Though Qi Fan was full of questions, there was no time to ask. He could only leave the palace first with Rong Xiaotian, waiting anxiously for a long time. It wasn’t until evening that Chu Feihuan returned with a weary expression.

Rong Xiaotian immediately questioned what he had gone to do. Chu Feihuan paid no attention, and when pressed urgently, only said, “It has nothing to do with you.”

He had always been a solitary and indifferent character, which everyone knew. However, at this moment, Rong Xiaotian remembered his movements in the palace hall earlier, and suspicion suddenly arose.

He shared this doubt with Qi Fan. Qi Fan outwardly didn’t believe it, only advising him to calm his heart. With brotherly unity, they should properly raise the young master and avenge the Empress in the future.

Having pacified Rong Xiaotian, Qi Fan was not as carefree as he appeared on the surface. That very night, he stationed himself early outside Chu Feihuan’s residence. Sure enough, late at night, he saw Chu Feihuan emerge from his room and head toward the outskirts of the city. He wanted to follow, but knowing that with his lightness skill, he absolutely could not both pursue Chu Feihuan and remain undetected, he simply didn’t pursue. Instead, he snuck into Chu Feihuan’s room to search around, and beneath his bedding, he discovered a letter.

The letter read: “Second month, yiwei day, heaven drops a hanging rainbow, the hen rules at dawn, heaven’s way does not permit this. For the matter requested, we earnestly beseech your consent. We humbly hope for your precious care, and cannot overcome our prayers and expectations.”

Qi Fan stared at those thirty-two characters, his fingers trembling.

“The hen rules at dawn” must secretly refer to the Empress holding power. The second month, jiwei day was precisely the day of the incident. And “heaven drops a hanging rainbow” – what else could it be but the great fire at Changle Palace?

Chu Feihuan, you… you…

In the dark night, Qi Fan’s gaze flickered and shifted in indescribable ways, yet he carefully folded the letter exactly as it was and placed it back in its original position.

Hiding in the shadows to watch Chu Feihuan return, drenched in sweat with a pale complexion, Qi Fan remained composed and continued back to sleep.

The next day, he told Rong Xiaotian about this matter. Rong Xiaotian immediately jumped up in great anger, saying, “This boy was originally just a wandering vagrant. It was our master’s wise eyes and compassionate heart that took him in, yet he repays kindness with vengeance like a venomous snake!” He was about to rush out to find Chu Feihuan, but Qi Fan held him back.

Facing Rong Xiaotian’s angry gaze, Qi Fan also felt sorrowful and powerless, only saying, “If you go find him now, you’re no match for him. Moreover, condemning someone based solely on a piece of letter paper is too rash. The Empress valued him greatly while alive, and if she knew from the underworld, she definitely wouldn’t want us to handle this hastily. Let’s observe further.”

Having restrained Rong Xiaotian, Qi Fan immediately deployed a group of Huang Meng experts. He was someone who never shrank from imagining the worst in all matters, and regarding Chu Feihuan, he was even more cautious.

That night, Chu Feihuan went out again.

Everyone followed from a distance. This time they saw him heading toward the palace gates.

They saw Chu Feihuan from afar waiting at the corner of the palace gate, looking up at the sky, not knowing what he was thinking. The moonlight floated ethereally, vaguely revealing his beautiful and exquisite countenance with eyebrows and eyes like a painting. When the wind passed, his sleeves fluttered gracefully, his appearance radiant, only his expression was mournful as he remained silently speechless.

Qi Fan and the others knew his martial arts were extremely high and dared not approach closely. From far away, they dared not even breathe heavily, yet they saw Chu Feihuan appearing somewhat absent-minded, only gazing toward the south, looking at that round moon, silent as a beautiful tree blooming with abundant flowers.

After a long while, they saw a man emerge from the dark corner of the palace city. He was not tall and walked with a somewhat strange gait. He approached Chu Feihuan, bowed respectfully and spoke. Chu Feihuan didn’t look at him, only nodded indifferently.

That person turned his face, showing a profile. In the moonlight, his face was pale and beardless. Qi Fan’s gaze flashed as he lightly wrote the characters “eunuch” in Rong Xiaotian’s palm.

Vaguely they saw the eunuch hand something to Chu Feihuan. Chu Feihuan hesitated slightly but still accepted it. That person bowed once and hurriedly left.

The two exchanged glances. Now there was no doubt – meeting with someone from the palace in the dead of night, and with that previous letter – Chu Feihuan was a spy!

Rong Xiaotian immediately wanted to rush out, but Qi Fan pressed him down. Together with the Huang Meng experts, they quietly retreated in the darkness, lying in ambush on the path Chu Feihuan must take to return to Tianqu Street, waiting silently.