On the high building beside the arena, the Ge sisters watched the successful negotiations below without showing disappointment, only sneering coldly as they raised their cloak collars to cover their faces, preparing to go downstairs.

Though they very much hoped the Queen and Ge Shen would erupt into fighting—preferably with one shot dead by chaotic troops and the other killed by masters around the Queen, both sides suffering losses for them to benefit from—the two princesses who had grown up surviving political games in palaces and noble houses understood very well that the more kingly someone was, the more they avoided bloody slaughter. A son of a thousand gold doesn’t sit under a dangerous hall—compared to killing, they preferred using schemes.

Ge Shen was deep in thought, and the Queen wasn’t reckless or foolish either. This slaughter indeed didn’t proceed.

But with more methods, the fires would eventually be lit.

Ge Lian was just about to leave when her gaze shifted and she suddenly exclaimed “Eh?” saying, “Isn’t this a maid from the Eastern Palace? Why would she suddenly appear here at this time?”

Ge Shao also recognized her, saying, “It’s that Ah Wen.”

When the two had visited the Crown Prince, Ji Wen had escorted them to the second gate as the Princess Consort’s maid. Someone like Ji Wen, even in coarse cloth and simple hairpins, would be carefully observed and remembered, especially by women, who had a natural sensitivity and memory for beautiful women.

At this moment the two saw Ji Wen sneaking along the street below the opposite building. Because soldiers had locked down the streets now, there were almost no pedestrians. Ji Wen looked panicked, apparently not expecting so many soldiers here. She kept hiding her tracks, constantly ducking and weaving under shop eaves and signboards below.

The two women silently watched her, seeing her walk a stretch before discovering the path ahead was full of soldiers with no way forward. Finally sighing in disappointment, she slowly pressed something in her bosom and walked back.

Ge Lian immediately said, “Follow her.”

The two women hurriedly went downstairs, got in a carriage, lowered the curtains, and slowly followed Ji Wen. Ge Lian kept lifting the curtain to observe Ji Wen’s expression, signaling the coachman outside to be ready. When Ji Wen reached a narrow alley, with Ge Lian’s carriage traveling beside her, blocking the view of pedestrians from the outside street, and no one in the alley, Ge Lian shouted, “Now!”

The coachman suddenly reached out, grabbed Ji Wen who was walking below the carriage, and quickly threw her into the carriage compartment.

Caught off guard, Ji Wen let out a startled cry. Just as she opened her mouth, it was covered by a pair of cold hands.

The carriage window’s dark door was suddenly pulled down with a crisp snap, then the carriage sped away. In the darkness someone laughed softly, “Stop shouting, save your strength for questioning.”

Ji Wen opened her eyes wide in terror. After recognizing for a long time, she hesitantly said, “Princess Lian? Princess Shao?”

Those two didn’t answer. Ge Shao’s shoe pressed on Ji Wen’s knee, preventing her from getting up, saying leisurely, “Ah Wen, right? Instead of serving your Princess Consort, what are you doing here sneaking around?”

Ji Wen opened her mouth to answer, then suddenly looked alert and lowered her head, stammering, “This servant was ordered to come out shopping…”

Ge Shao laughed coldly, “A pile of people in the Eastern Palace are dead, and you still have the mood to shop!”

Ge Lian’s gaze coldly swept over, and Ge Shao realized her slip, turning away without speaking. Ji Wen’s expression changed just right.

This change was seen by Ge Lian, further confirming her inner suspicions. She said slowly, “Looking at your walking direction, it seems you want to leave the city. Are you taking something out of the city for the Princess Consort?”

“Ah yes yes…” Ji Wen instinctively answered, then her expression awakened and she hurriedly changed her words, “Ah no…”

Ge Lian smiled slightly, signaling Ge Shao to lift her foot, saying gently, “We are close friends with your Princess Consort. How could we make things difficult for you? Get up and speak.”

Ji Wen tremblingly got up. Ge Lian granted her a seat, and Ji Wen carefully sat with half her bottom, not yet settled when she suddenly heard Ge Lian say, “Your collar is loose.”

Ji Wen was startled and immediately reached to check her collar. Ge Shao suddenly leaned forward, grabbed her wrist, and yanked it outward, laughing, “What good thing are you hiding? Let this princess see too.”

With a “thud,” a small box rolled to the ground. When it landed, brilliant light flashed. Ji Wen cried out and lunged to grab it, but Ge Shao slapped her back with one palm. Ge Lian lifted her foot and stepped on the object, smiling gracefully, “Sister, be careful not to scratch the beauty’s face.”

Ge Shao hadn’t cared before, but now couldn’t help glancing at Ji Wen, jealousy and killing intent flashing in her eyes.

Ji Wen’s heart turned cold as she silently bit her lip.

With one sentence, Ge Lian had passed the killing job to Ge Shao while picking up the box herself. Holding it in her hands, she froze and exclaimed, “Succession Treasure Box?”

This exclamation no longer held her usual permanent composure and smile—even her voice slightly changed pitch.

Ge Shao directly forgot about killing and silencing witnesses, staring straight at that box, unable to speak.

Ji Wen lowered her head.

“Succession Treasure Box,” as the name suggested, was a treasure box for storing seals worthy of inheriting the throne. In Dahuang, it generally referred to the special box for storing the Crown Prince’s seal.

In the third year of Founding Empress Tuoyuan’s reign, when she established her eldest son as Crown Prince, a box was made of purple gold, inlaid with nine-colored gems, lined with heavy brocade, containing a mutton-fat jade Crown Prince seal. Before Yuzhao Hall, the Crown Prince received the seal from the Empress’s hands after three kneelings and nine kowtows in jade crown and ceremonial robes with nine decorative patterns. Since then, all six kingdoms and eight tribes of Dahuang made succession heir seal boxes following this system.

The treasure box was round outside and square inside, symbolizing round heaven and square earth. The outer circle had yellow gems representing Dahuang’s brilliant thick earth and marshes. The inner hexagonal setting had six rubies representing the six kingdoms illuminating the earth. The innermost octagonal edges held eight emeralds representing the eight tribes’ vigorous vitality. At the very center was a map of Imperial Song territory, inlaid with a huge obsidian representing the Queen like the sky, shining in all directions.

This was common knowledge that all royal children of the six kingdoms and eight tribes had to learn from childhood. In those royal codes, the treasure box’s shape, specifications, and patterns were clearly detailed. Though only one person possessed it, all royal children recognized it.

So the Ge sisters knew real from fake at a glance.

So they were shocked speechless.

In Ji Wen’s lowered eyes, a hint of cunning smile passed.

Everything was an act.

Only this treasure box was real—otherwise it wouldn’t be enough to fool these two cunning women.

The treasure box certainly wasn’t Ge Heng’s—it was hers.

After returning from Shang Kingdom, due to her excellent performance there, she had been internally designated as Crown Princess by the Ji Kingdom Queen. Because of competing daughters and the Queen’s long illness and weakness, to prevent accidents, the Queen had given her the heir seal early. On this border inspection with the possibility of mobilizing border troops, she had brought the heir seal with her, never expecting it would come in handy now.

The seal in the treasure box was naturally different from the Luoyun Crown Prince seal, but opening the treasure box required skill. She dared bet these two sisters didn’t know how. In fact, the gems on such treasure boxes were uniformly made and distributed to the six kingdoms and eight tribes by arrangement of the Founding Empress, using gems from the same original stone. Every dimension was particular—impossible to imitate and no one dared imitate.

So she wasn’t afraid of being discovered.

As for what consequences taking out her own heir seal would have, she couldn’t care about that much. In a foreign country, having depended on Yélu Qi for survival all along, nothing was more important than Yélu Qi’s safety at this moment.

“Why do you have this thing…” Ge Lian gripped the box tightly, breathing rapidly.

Ge Shao greedily stared at the box beside her. Seeing Ge Lian hide it in her sleeve, not even willing to let her see it, her expression slightly changed.

“This servant doesn’t know what this is…” Ji Wen said tremblingly. “The Princess Consort sent a message by carrier pigeon, ordering this servant to quickly go to a certain place in the Eastern Palace hall, take out this box, and secretly take it out of the city to her…”

“Such an important thing, entrusted to you alone to take out of the city?” Ge Lian’s eyes flashed.

“There are three teams of guard brothers who left the city separately from this servant. This servant just doesn’t know what they’re carrying.”

Ge Lian let out a long “Oh,” thinking she had guessed the Princess Consort’s strategy—creating confusion by having several groups carry fake treasure boxes while letting the most seemingly useless little palace maid carry the real treasure box, calculating that even if someone noticed, they wouldn’t think she was so bold.

Ge Lian almost wanted to laugh aloud—Heaven protects! To let her stumble upon this by mistake! If this wasn’t Heaven’s will, what was?

Heaven gives but if not taken, one suffers the consequences!

Ge Lian’s sleeve quickly turned the treasure box as her thoughts raced—the Crown Prince was extremely beloved by the King and could mobilize twenty thousand troops in Luoyun City except for palace guards, just by holding the Crown Prince’s seal. Currently the Crown Prince’s murder was temporarily sealed by the King with news not yet spread. If she really wanted to act, she had to fight quickly and decisively…

In the dim light inside the carriage, her face was sunken in gray-black color, with only her nose tip faintly bright white. That white point gradually began to move—it was actually beads of sweat emerging.

Ge Shao looked at this sister with some surprise. She had always thought Ge Lian wouldn’t change color even if Mount Tai collapsed before her. Ge Lian’s current expression made her nervous too, as she quietly wiped the sweat from her palms on the carriage wall.

Ji Wen’s face was also hidden in darkness, quietly observing Ge Lian’s expression. Gradually a cold, sinister smile crossed her lips.

This expression was familiar.

Years ago, her second sister who was executed by slicing for failed rebellion had this same expression the night before taking action.

Ge Lian was already tempted.

It wasn’t in vain that she risked taking out the treasure box.

Fox nature was inherently greedy—how could they bear to give up temptation so close at hand?

As long as they dared act, Luoyun would definitely be in chaos. Ji Wen believed the Queen would certainly find opportunity from it.

What she needed to do had already succeeded. Half her heart was relieved, but the other half was raised.

In the darkness, breathing was fine and dense, eyes flickering—that was killing intent close at hand.

With these two women’s natures, killing to silence witnesses was necessary.

Ji Wen was just thinking whether to desperately jump from the carriage to escape when suddenly the carriage shook violently and stopped.

…

Time returns to when Gong Yin had just swept out of the street.

He didn’t walk from the street beside the arena, but went in the opposite direction through the military formation, away from the wine shop where the Ge sisters were located.

Normal people at this time would choose to first capture the Ge sisters, but he went against convention, heading straight for the Eastern Palace.

The Eastern Palace was heavily guarded. The murder case that had just occurred was strictly sealed, not allowing the slightest leak. The Eastern Palace guards had all been replaced with the King’s personal guards. From far away, one could see iron-armored troops standing densely for half a street.

Several districts near the Eastern Palace were residential areas for court ministers. Now every household had doors tightly closed, looking even more deathly still than the Eastern Palace. But the internal busy inquiring for news and various anxious speculations were only known to the families within these high walls.

The Eastern Palace’s sudden change of defense and lockdown, with large numbers of troops moving in, was equivalent to telling the noble families that the royal family was in trouble.

Because they didn’t know what had happened, no one dared go out to inquire. Gong Yin traveled over the walls of various mansions, glancing at the turmoil below with a light expression.

This was just the beginning.

He headed straight for the Eastern Palace Crown Prince’s sleeping quarters. Naturally the guards there were extremely tight, but trying to stop him was still impossible.

A quarter hour later, he stood on the opposite hall roof, looking across at the window below the sleeping quarters’ wall—the legendary place where the Crown Prince had hung half-dead. The half wall that now bore “The Queen Kills Me” was gone.

Gong Yin slightly frowned. He had rushed here precisely for this wall.

If the Crown Prince had hung by the window and died, with his hanging hand writing something, it would be very hard to discover.

Now that wall was gone—naturally Ge Shen had cut out the entire wall section to keep as evidence accusing the Queen, preventing the Queen from sending people to destroy evidence.

Gong Yin wasn’t anxious. He looked at that wall surface from afar, then during a guard shift interval, went to the window sill to examine the footprints before flashing into the hall.

Naturally there was no one in the hall. It had been burned to a charred black, with a foul smell of burned corpses still faintly lingering. Gong Yin’s demeanor remained as when he had inspected Jing Court years ago.

He calmly walked to the bookshelf. Half the shelf had been burned, and he searched through the intact half, quickly finding a batch of official documents. He casually opened a few to look at Crown Prince Ge Heng’s personal annotations.

Then he put the items back in place, left the hall, and went to another window sill on the other side of the sleeping quarters, shaded by thick foliage. He killed two guards who discovered him, placed their corpses on the window sill, observed the position for a while, then dipped in the guards’ blood and wrote “The Queen Kills Me” in four characters.

He wrote very quickly and naturally, but if Ge Shen or those killers had been there, they would probably have been shocked speechless.

He clearly hadn’t seen that wall with blood writing, yet he wrote “The Queen Kills Me” exactly the same as Ge Heng’s blood writing, even the stroke directions, character sizes, and traces of blood dripping were similar.

This seemed impossible, but some people have extraordinary memory and are good at analysis. Having seen Ge Heng’s handwriting, they could imitate it. Through bloody footprints left on the ground, they could judge the height, weight, and position of the person who wrote the blood characters. Based on this person’s posture at the time, they could determine approximately how large the characters would be.

After writing, Gong Yin studied the corpse’s posture, then in an inconspicuous place at the lower right of the window sill, used his fingernail to carve a lotus flower and wrote a crooked grass radical.

The carved marks were heavy at first then light, finally almost invisible, with weak and chaotic lines, like the handwriting of a dying person.

Then he went to another window sill and did the same, making an identical “blood character suicide note wall.”

After doing all this, he condensed ice into a sword and cut these two wall sections down completely intact.

After cutting, he didn’t forget to bind the guard corpses with stones and sink them in the lake, and cut tree branches to let thick shade hang down, covering the walls where sections had been removed.

This was originally a secluded part of the sleeping quarters where few people came. He worked so meticulously that no one would discover these wall sections were missing in the short term, and even if discovered, they wouldn’t think about why.

Gong Yin carried one wall section in each hand, leaped onto the hall roof, and surveyed the dark Eastern Palace, finally determining a place with concentrated lights—white candles burned palely there, faint light swaying under the cold moon.

Gong Yin swept directly there. Looking down from above, it was indeed where the Crown Prince’s corpse was placed. Since news of the Crown Prince’s murder hadn’t leaked, the body must temporarily be kept in the palace.

Gong Yin didn’t look at the main hall, but focused on a locked room in the eastern wing. Sweeping over for a look, that cut blood-character wall section was indeed inside.

He flashed in and compared, satisfied to find this wall section was similar to what he had made.

And as he had expected, in the lower right of the wall surface there were indeed traces. Ge Heng had indeed tried to leave clues on the wall before dying, but he was already too weak then. After some scratching, only blurred marks remained that became completely unidentifiable after the actions of cutting and moving the wall.

Outside the room, a figure suddenly passed by. Gong Yin flashed to one side and saw a black shadow on the window paper, pacing with the measured steps typical of officials, slowly passing by. He could even faintly hear this person’s worried sighing.

Someone followed behind him, saying, “Master, why are you so worried? Though the Crown Prince’s murder is a major case, the killer is clear. Our Criminal Department has no responsibility this time—we just need routine investigation. This is rather good luck.”

That man said heavily, “What do you understand? Though this case’s killer is clear, the identity is too shocking. Now the King grieves his beloved son’s death and doesn’t hesitate to oppose that woman. But she is the common lord of all our tribes, with a large army stationed outside our Luoyun City. If this conflict erupts, our Luoyun City, even our entire Luoyun, might suffer unexpected disasters…” He finished with constant sighing.

The person behind said, “So what if she’s the common lord? Just a nominal lord. The six kingdoms and eight tribes have long formed their own power—who are we afraid of? Could Imperial Song or Daimao really attack Luoyun across several tribes? Besides, as long as we handle it secretly, it won’t necessarily cause big waves…”

That man shook his head, “I feel this case still has some suspicious points. Not to mention anything else, the Queen killing the Crown Prince seems really unnecessary… If the killer isn’t the Queen, then what kind of mind and nature does the hidden killer who dares kill the Crown Prince have? Then our Luoyun would have the Queen’s revenge outside and ambitious power-grabbers inside—what a terrible situation that would be… Well, let me first pay respects to the Crown Prince, hoping his spirit isn’t far and will give me guidance…”

The figure on the window paper disappeared diagonally. Gong Yin slightly raised an eyebrow, took out his previously forged wall brick, replaced the one stored in this room, and flashed out of the eastern wing.

Moments later, at the Crown Prince’s resting place, Criminal Department Chief Liu was devoutly burning three incense sticks, preparing to pray to the Crown Prince’s wronged soul in heaven, when he suddenly felt a cool breeze pass by, followed by a chill around him.

That chill was so bone-piercingly eerie that his family members behind him shivered and stared at the floating white curtains with pale faces, crying out, “Ghost, ghost, ghost… a ghost has come…”

“Nonsense!” Chief Liu managed Luoyun’s criminal and prison departments, had seen countless fierce and dead people, considered himself righteous with strong yang energy on both shoulders. How could he be willing to hear such supernatural talk? He glared sternly, “Under bright heaven and vast earth, where is there room for ghosts to exist! Stop talking nonsense here and get out!”

That family member was only too glad for this command and hurriedly crawled out. Chief Liu remained unmoved and continued lighting incense. The incense tip had just lit when suddenly a wind passed and “poof”—it went out.

Chief Liu was startled and picked up the incense tip, bringing it close to the eternal lamp to light. “Poof”—another sound, and the eternal lamp also went out.

Not only did the lamp go out, but the surrounding chill intensified. That kind of cold wasn’t from a cold wind or sudden temperature drop—it was as if ice and snow had suddenly been stuffed into his blood, cold moon filling his chest. The bone-deep cold throughout his body made his bones seem ready to freeze and crack instantly with crisp sounds.

Such abnormal cold made Chief Liu’s expression change too. He slowly turned around.

At this time, white curtains in the hall flew silently. Red pillars and domed ceiling were all shrouded in desolate darkness. In the darkness came faint chattering sounds—indistinguishable but making people feel this definitely wasn’t human voices. Remote, mournful, desolate and empty.

The dead person’s face in the golden coffin was vaguely visible, pale as paper. A wind passed and hair slowly rose—the whole person seemed about to float up.

Chief Liu steadied himself, stepped back, and sternly said, “Your Highness! If your spirit is truly near and you have unredressed grievances, please speak clearly to Liu Yuanming!”

Before his words finished, that corpse went “bang” and sat up!

Liu Yuan was so shocked he stepped back, stepped on his own robe hem, and nearly fell. Even with his great courage and disbelief in ghosts and gods, his legs went weak.

Fortunately the corpse made no further moves, only slowly turning its head to look toward the east direction, then looking again.

When it turned back, black blood slowly flowed from the corners of its eyes and mouth.

Liu Yuan watched in shock and fear, saying tremblingly, “Your Highness… you have grievances… this humble official will risk his life to clear your name… please rest in peace!”

That corpse stared at him fixedly for a while, then “bang”—fell down again.

A wind passed.

This wind was much warmer than before. Then the eternal lamp lit up, light returned, and the hall’s illumination was pale yellow and gentle. Ge Heng lay quietly in the coffin as before.

Liu Yuan wiped his sweat, heart pounding and legs weak. After a long struggle he barely managed to get up, not daring to approach the golden coffin, turning his head to look toward the east.

He saw the tightly locked door of the eastern wing room.

Liu Yuan seemed to understand something. He quickly left the hall and headed straight for the eastern wing room, had the lock opened, lit a lamp, and walked to that blood-character wall surface.

He crouched before that wall surface he had already examined countless times, holding up the lamp, and once again looked over that wall from top to bottom, carefully and thoroughly.

Suddenly his whole body trembled and he cried out in shock, nearly dropping the bronze lamp.

“…Here! Why wasn’t this discovered before!”

He suddenly stood up.

Moments later, Chief Liu’s loud commands came from the courtyard.

“Prepare horses! Gather all the constables! Bring this wall! I must see the King immediately!”

…

When Liu Yuan gathered his men and headed straight for the royal palace to report this major discovery to Ge Shen to prevent an unnecessary disaster, Gong Yin’s figure had already floated over the Eastern Palace’s high walls.

Matters like clearing false accusations—no matter how much evidence the suspected party raised, it wasn’t as powerful or convincing to the victim as evidence “discovered” by the victim’s own people.

He was a kingdom’s State Preceptor, wielding Dahuang’s authority. All criminal cases under heaven required his approval. In terms of understanding human psychology, he might not be inferior to those seasoned officials.

Clearing a so-called “false accusation” was just a minor side matter in his view. How could Jing Hengbo be casually framed and wronged? Naturally making all of Luoyun pay the price was the proper business.

Carrying the second piece of forged “blood-character wall,” he swept toward the direction of the Princess Mansion.