Wang Xuan, the Attendant Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, courtesy name Boyan, was a concubine-born son of the Wang clan from Langya. In the fifteenth year of Longxing, he placed first in the palace examination, becoming the top scholar.

Born into a prestigious family and achieving scholarly success at a young age, Wang Xuan should have had a brilliant future ahead. However, his excessively cautious nature made him fear standing out in any matter. Thus, he remained merely an Attendant Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, maintaining an unremarkable presence at court. He never actively socialized with high officials and was practically invisible.

Surprisingly, such a person became close friends with Lu Huai, who was known for fighting injustice without fearing death.

Lu Huai said, “Boyan is indeed cautious and timid, and many look down on him. But who knows that besides being a weak Attendant Gentleman, he is also a man of integrity who is filial to his mother and devoted to his wife? Boyan’s birth mother was merely a maidservant in the Wang family. Even after giving birth to him, she continued to suffer mistreatment. After Boyan became the top scholar, he brought his birth mother away from the Wang family, enduring fifty strokes of his father’s punishment rod for this. His wife, Lady Liu, was his childhood sweetheart, but her family had fallen into poverty. In the fifteenth year of Longxing, when Boyan achieved scholarly success at a young age, many officials and nobles wanted to marry their daughters to him, but he still chose to marry Lady Liu, who offered no benefit to his official career. Many people wonder why Boyan and I became close friends, but shouldn’t I befriend such a person?”

As Lu Huai spoke steadily, Li Ying gradually grew surprised, and Cui Xun’s expression became serious.

Lu Huai continued, “Boyan left a letter claiming he was eloping with a courtesan after quarreling with a powerful figure over her. I cannot believe this under any circumstances. Someone wants to harm him and also smear his reputation. If his body is found in a few days, will they say he deserved to die because he fought over a courtesan with a powerful figure? I cannot accept this. Even if the whole world doesn’t believe in Boyan, I do. I am determined to find him, even if it costs me my own life.”

After Lu Huai finished speaking, Li Ying was moved. She gently poked the back of Cui Xun’s hand resting on his knee: “Seventeen, help him.”

Cui Xun looked up at Lu Huai: “May I ask Deputy Minister Lu, how exactly did Wang Xuan disappear?”

Hearing this, Lu Huai was overjoyed, knowing that Cui Xun had agreed to help. He then carefully narrated the circumstances of Wang Xuan’s disappearance. It turned out that after court that day, Wang Xuan should have followed Emperor Longxing to record his actions and words, but because Wang Xuan also had the official duty of compiling historical records, he let other Court Diarists follow the Emperor while he rode to the History Bureau to work on the records. However, before he reached the History Bureau, he vanished.

Cui Xun pondered in silence for a long while before saying, “I understand. I will do my best.”

Lu Huai clasped his hands gratefully and sincerely said, “Thank you, Deputy Minister Cui.”

The Metropolitan Prefecture investigated Wang Xuan’s disappearance by starting with his letter, checking which courtesan in Chang’an had also gone missing recently. The Court of Judicial Review investigated by examining Wang Xuan’s route from Daming Palace to the History Bureau, trying to determine at which point along the way he had disappeared. The Metropolitan Prefecture’s approach might be wrong, but the Court of Judicial Review’s wasn’t. However, Cui Xun found that neither approach was useful.

For Wang Xuan to mysteriously disappear, he was either robbed or killed. Known for his integrity, he wouldn’t have been robbed. If he were killed, considering his timid and non-confrontational nature, who would harm him?

Cui Xun suspected only one person.

Perhaps in the entire world, only Cui Xun dared to suspect that person.

The Investigation Department’s spies didn’t investigate Wang Xuan, but instead focused on Consort Hui, Ashina Wuduo, who had been banished from the palace.

According to the spies, after being demoted to Changchun Temple, Ashina Wuduo had been quite subdued, spending her days observing precepts, chanting scriptures, burning incense, and lighting lamps, detached from worldly affairs, appearing to be wholeheartedly devoted to Taoism. But Cui Xun didn’t believe a single word of it. Others might not know Ashina Wuduo’s ruthlessness, but he did. For Ashina Wuduo to sincerely devote herself to Taoism would be as impossible as rivers flowing backward or the sea flooding inland.

However, after watching for two days, the spies discovered something strange. Theoretically, Changchun Temple should only house female Taoist priests with no men present, but the food delivered to the temple far exceeded what all the female priests could consume—unless the temple harbored some secret.

So the spies infiltrated Changchun Temple and indeed discovered what seemed to be a dungeon beneath it.

When the spies reported their findings to Cui Xun, he understood most of the situation. Li Ying asked him, “Do you think Wang Xuan is in the dungeon under Changchun Temple?”

Cui Xun nodded. Li Ying asked puzzledly, “Could you be wrong? Consort Hui and Wang Xuan have no grudges between them. Why would she capture him?”

Li Ying didn’t understand. Cui Xun pressed his lips together and gave a vague answer. The person he suspected was precisely the one closest to Li Ying, the one she deeply trusted. Without concrete evidence, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He only said, “Although Consort Hui has been banished from the palace, she is still His Majesty’s consort. The Investigation Department cannot rashly search the temple, or we risk being counterattacked. At the third watch tonight, I will have someone set fire to Changchun Temple. During the chaos, perhaps we can rescue Wang Xuan.”

He intended to rescue Wang Xuan, but the thought of Ashina Wuduo made Li Ying’s scalp tingle. This woman had such a deep obsession with Cui Xun that she had brought him a lifetime of nightmares. How could she let Cui Xun enter Changchun Temple to rescue Wang Xuan?

She shook her head: “Don’t go. Let me go instead. You don’t need to set a fire. No one can see me anyway. I can go to the dungeon to check if Wang Xuan is there.”

“Changchun Temple is, after all, a Taoist temple, surely filled with objects that repel evil spirits. You cannot go.”

“But I’m afraid if you go to Changchun Temple.”

Li Ying had a vague feeling of foreboding. She didn’t know if it was because this matter involved Ashina Wuduo, causing her to feel this fear, or if it was something else. She just held Cui Xun’s hand and pleaded, “Seventeen, I’m really scared. Please don’t go to Changchun Temple.”

Her palm was unusually cold. After hesitating for a long while, Cui Xun finally sighed slightly and clasped her hand: “Alright, I won’t go.”

Cui Xun thus changed his plan. At the third watch, he still had a fire set outside Changchun Temple, but this time, five spies infiltrated the temple instead of him.

He, Li Ying, and five other spies waited to provide support in a desolate forest outside Changchun Temple. The night was cold as water. The barren forest was completely silent, with only occasional croaking from crows. Cui Xun stood on a hillside, watching as Changchun Temple gradually caught fire, the flames growing larger, and the temple falling into chaos with incessant cries to save the fire. He and Li Ying didn’t speak a word, just silently watching. Before long, in the darkness, five spies carrying a dying man rushed toward the forest.

It was Wang Xuan.

Wang Xuan’s entire body had not a patch of intact skin left. His legs had been branded with hot irons, leaving flesh exposed and torn. His eyes had been burned blind, his tongue cut off. There was no trace of his previous jade-like elegance. Even though Cui Xun was accustomed to scenes of torture, seeing such cruel injuries still shocked him.

Li Ying was so frightened that she stepped back several paces. She felt her stomach churning and had to grip her skirt tightly with her fingers to steady herself.

Who? Who would treat a non-confrontational person like this?

The spies took Wang Xuan off their backs, sat him on the ground, and gently supported his body. Black blood continuously flowed from the corners of Wang Xuan’s mouth. Unable to see, his scorched black hands waved futilely in the air while he made sorrowful, indistinct sounds. With these injuries, he wouldn’t survive.

Cui Xun gritted his teeth. He grabbed Wang Xuan’s hand and said, “It’s me, Cui Xun.”

“Lu Huai asked me to find you. You can trust me.”

Wang Xuan’s body convulsed as he approached death. When he heard the name “Lu Huai,” he suddenly gripped Cui Xun’s hand with all ten fingers, so forcefully that he nearly broke Cui Xun’s bones. Cui Xun felt intense anger and asked, “Who? Who did this to you?”

Wang Xuan’s fingers trembled in Cui Xun’s palm, painstakingly writing: “Emperor, killed, six, states.”

The Emperor killed six states?

Which emperor? Which six states?

Which emperor! Which six states?

So the destruction of the Heavenly Guard, the fall of six states, the deaths of countless common people—these were indeed connected to Emperor Longxing!

Wang Xuan must have discovered something. He wanted to tell others about his discovery but inadvertently revealed his knowledge, resulting in his being tied up in Changchun Temple’s dungeon, tortured for information for a full nine days! Yet despite the torture, he hadn’t disclosed anything.

Wang Xuan gasped for breath, using his last bit of strength to write in Cui Xun’s palm: “West, Ming, Temple.”

After writing these three characters, his fingers dropped weakly, and black blood flowed increasingly from his mouth. His face displayed the gray pallor of approaching death, but he still kept his bloodied eyes open, refusing to close them. Cui Xun gripped his hand and said, “Rest assured, Lu Huai will take care of your elderly mother, wife, and children, and I, Cui Xun, will take care of them too! I swear on my life!”

Hearing this, Wang Xuan’s body finally stopped convulsing, and he slowly closed his eyes.

This despised, timid top scholar, this fragile scholar, in the final moments of his life, endured severe torture yet still struggled to pass on the spark of truth. He was no coward; he was the Great Zhou’s bravest hero!

Cui Xun felt indescribable grief and anger. He knelt beside Wang Xuan’s corpse, fixedly staring at the bloody characters in his palm, murmuring, “Emperor killed six states… The Emperor killed six states… West Ming Temple… West Ming Temple…”

It was the father of the Great Zhou who killed the children of the Great Zhou!

It was the Emperor of Great Zhou who sold the land of Great Zhou!

The ten spies surrounding Cui Xun were shocked. Li Ying was shocked too. A moment later, Li Ying was suddenly startled as something occurred to her.

No.

It was too easy.

Rescuing Wang Xuan had been far too easy.

As if they had been expected to rescue him.

Just as she was about to warn Cui Xun, arrows suddenly rained down like clouds, striking down the ten unprepared spies.

Then a dark, murky substance was splashed toward her. Cui Xun shouted, “Watch out!”

He spread his arms, tightly embraced her, and dodged to the side. The two fell to the ground, but despite Cui Xun’s quick reaction, some of the dark substance still splashed onto Li Ying. She instantly felt an excruciating pain penetrating her body, sweeping through her entire being. Her body even began to emit white smoke, as if being branded with hot irons, causing unspeakable agony. This intense pain made her body tremble uncontrollably, cold sweat broke out on her forehead, her face turned pale, and her eyes began to lose focus. Cui Xun urgently called out, “Moon Pearl, Moon Pearl…”

“Stop calling.”

Ashina Wuduo stepped on the dry branches, carrying a sheepskin bag filled with black dog blood. She threw the bag to the ground in disgust. “They say freshly killed black dog blood is the most yang and powerful substance, naturally countering ghosts. It seems that’s true.”

Behind her were dozens of black-clothed Palace Guards holding arrows. The Palace Guards surrounded Cui Xun. If he made any move, arrows would turn him into a hedgehog.

Ashina Wuduo smiled at Cui Xun, who was holding Li Ying tightly: “You Chinese have a saying, ‘The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.’ Last time you were the oriole. This time, it’s my turn to be the oriole.”

Under the moonlight, the crimson lotus pattern tattooed on her face was particularly vivid. She drew her sword and placed it against Cui Xun’s throat: “So, you’ve fallen into my hands again, my lotus slave.”