The massive shock caused Xiao Changqing to faint, falling right beside Shen Xihe. Consort Su picked up Xiao Changqing’s sword and was about to stab Shen Xihe, but a figure moved first, raising a sword to slash her throat.

When You Wenjun appeared holding Xiao Changying’s head, all of Xiao Changqing’s men stopped fighting. As his secret guards, they had been sent countless times to protect Xiao Changying and knew how important he was to Xiao Changqing.

Their pause gave Mo Yu an opening, though she was wounded.

After killing Consort Su, she pulled Shen Xihe up, pointing her sword at the unconscious Xiao Changqing.

The secret guards immediately renewed their killing intent.

Shen Xihe pressed down Mo Yu’s sword. She silently gazed at Xiao Changying for a moment before shifting her gaze to address the leader of Xiao Changqing’s guards: “Prince Xin and I were never enemies. You’ve served him and earned his trust. You must know his sudden loss of control today was due to someone’s manipulation. Now that Prince Xin is unconscious, what will you choose?”

The guard leader found himself in a dilemma. He rushed to Prince Xin’s side – Shen Xihe didn’t stop him – and supported the unconscious prince while glancing at You Wenjun.

As Shen Xihe said, he was Prince Xin’s confidant. He knew best that the prince had no intention of turning against the Crown Prince Consort. The prince’s earlier behavior had been too strange – suddenly ambushing Xiao Changgeng and Xie Yunhuai, joining forces with the Empress Dowager’s men to trap them at the city gate – this wasn’t his master’s style.

If Prince Xin had planned to be the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, even if he’d hidden it from the Fierce Prince, he wouldn’t have hidden it from him!

“Awaiting the Crown Prince Consort’s orders!” After careful consideration, he decided to trust his understanding of his master.

The Crown Prince Consort was the one the Fierce Prince had died protecting.

Last winter, when the Crown Prince Consort went to the imperial tombs to pay respects to the Crown Prince, the Fierce Prince followed silently through wind and snow. Prince Xin had sent him to protect the Fierce Prince.

“Welcome Prince Yan and Duke Xie into the city,” Shen Xihe ordered immediately.

“Yes!” The guard leader handed Prince Xin to You Wenjun and rushed out with his men.

The Empress Dowager lost her spirit at this sight, looking at Xiao Changqing in disbelief: “How could…”

She took out a bell from her sleeve, shaking it repeatedly but failing to wake the unconscious Xiao Changqing.

Though unconscious, Xiao Changqing seemed immersed in great pain, his features twisting as if something was tearing at his face.

“Mo Yu!” Shen Xihe’s eyes grew cold.

Understanding, Mo Yu raised her sword toward the Empress Dowager’s bell-shaking wrist. The strike could have severed her wrist, but Liu San Zhi, who had been observing silently, blocked it with his whisk and pulled the Empress Dowager away.

Emperor Youning, who had been lying down, suddenly sat up and turned to place his feet on the footstool, frightening the consorts who had already endured several heart-stopping assassinations attempts even paler.

“Your Majesty…” The Empress Dowager’s face drained of color.

Emperor Youning walked down barefoot, each step extremely steady. He helped the Empress Dowager up, his face grave but showing neither joy nor anger. He seated her on the noble consort’s couch by the window: “As a child, I sensed Mother’s dislike for me. I thought then that Mother simply favored my elder brother more. Later, when we three were banished to the northwest, pursued by assassins the whole way, if not for Elder Brother’s protection, Mother and I might not have survived to reach the northwest.

Then I felt Mother’s favor toward Elder Brother was right, and I suppressed my jealousy. While Elder Brother traveled abroad, Mother always praised him before me. With Elder Brother around, everyone seemed to ignore me, and resentment gradually grew. Though Elder Brother’s death was Mother’s doing, was I truly innocent?”

After listening for so long, Emperor Youning understood everything he needed to.

Soul-controlling arts – he had heard of them before.

A mysterious art that could control minds, but without wayward thoughts, how could he have been so easily controlled by the Empress Dowager?

He had craved the throne, and though Shen Xihe was right that without Empress Dowager’s art, he wouldn’t have been so ruthless, if he hadn’t harbored such thoughts, Empress Dowager couldn’t have used her art on him.

In his brother’s death, he was ultimately the executioner; Mother had merely handed him the knife.

“You…” The Empress Dowager’s expression turned frantic as she looked at her calm son, unable to read his thoughts.

Of her two sons, the elder had been more straightforward to understand. The younger’s thoughts ran deeper, harder to fathom.

If not for needing both sons dead to control the court officials, she would have killed them both years ago and put the newborn Xiao Huayong on the throne.

Unfortunately, though the soul-controlling art sounded miraculous, it couldn’t control someone long-term, especially those of strong wills like Emperor Youning and Xiao Huayong. Maintaining control required repeated applications.

She had successfully controlled Emperor Youning once before he became emperor, but how could she get close enough after he ascended the throne?

Even Xiao Huayong, raised by her side, broke free during the second attempt when he was just ten years old.

The soul-controlling art could lie dormant for many years – as long as the trigger wasn’t activated, it could maintain control for ten or twenty years. But once activated, with time, the victim would grow suspicious, and its influence would gradually weaken.

“Mother, I said I would support you to enjoy your golden years,” Emperor Youning seemed to be reassuring the Empress Dowager.

After calming the panicking Empress Dowager, seemingly blind to her anxiety, Emperor Youning turned back with imperial dignity to face Shen Xihe: “I always knew you were a remarkable woman not to be underestimated, yet I still underestimated you.”

At least, he had never noticed Empress Dowager’s actions until Shen Xihe revealed the truth about the real Seventh Prince while he was unconscious.

Thinking back now, he wasn’t even sure if the Seventh Prince from the heaven-worshipping assassination attempt was real, given that Shen Xihe had the bone-shifting technique that created Bu Shulin.

At this thought, Emperor Youning couldn’t help but look back: “Mother, is the Seventh Prince still alive?”

The Seventh Prince Emperor Youning meant wasn’t Xiao Huayong, but his true legitimate son.

Back then, both the Humble Prince’s Consort and the Late Empress had given birth to legitimate sons. For the Empress Dowager to pass off Xiao Huayong as Emperor Youning’s legitimate son, the other child had to be sent away. If the Humble Prince still had a son, it would inevitably cause unrest.

They could only announce that the Humble Prince’s Consort had given birth to a princess who died young, to prevent any complications.

At that time, Emperor Youning didn’t know it was the Empress Dowager’s soul-controlling art that made him lose control, following his inner desires to kill his brother and seize the throne. The Empress Dowager had bitterly reproached him, using His Majesty’s debt to Xiao Huayong to force him to agree to switch the two children.

The true Empress’s legitimate son was also given to the Empress Dowager.