Consort Yin probed cautiously, “You mean Lord Xiahou has sided with the Prince of Qin?” After a pause, she said, “Though your subject doesn’t understand the full circumstances, from what the Prince of Qi just said, Lord Xiahou merely cured the Prince of Qin’s poison. To say he’s sided with the Prince of Qin may not necessarily be true.”

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes, saying gloomily, “If it were merely curing poison, it would be nothing. I fear… there are other matters.”

Consort Yin looked completely bewildered, “Other matters? What does Your Majesty mean?”

Li Yuan didn’t answer her question, saying coldly, “I have some matters to attend to. I’ll come see you tomorrow.” With that, he strode away, with Gaoyang quickly following behind.

“Your subject respectfully sends off Your Majesty.” After Li Yuan left, Consort Yin straightened up, a cold smile floating at the corners of her lips. This time… Li Shimin still won’t die!

Li Yuan returned to the imperial study in silence, his expression terrifyingly dark. Gaoyang had followed Li Yuan for seven years, and this was the first time he had seen him look so frightening. He lowered his head, not daring to speak, even slowing his breathing considerably, lest he accidentally invite disaster.

“Gaoyang!” Li Yuan’s voice startled Gaoyang, who quickly responded, “This slave is here!”

“Summon the secret guards!” These three words made Gaoyang’s scalp turn ice-cold. Apart from Li Yuan, he was probably the only one who knew of the “secret guards'” existence. These were a group of death warriors secretly trained by Li Yuan after his ascension, hidden in darkness, obeying only Li Yuan alone. Apart from Li Yuan and himself, no one else knew of the secret guards’ existence—not even the Crown Prince and the Prince of Qin.

In previous years, though the secret guards existed, they were still developing and Li Yuan hadn’t assigned them any tasks, at most having them gather some intelligence. These past two years, with the realm pacified, Li Yuan hadn’t summoned the secret guards again, letting them remain hidden in training.

“This slave will go immediately!” The secret guards weren’t in the palace, but for convenient communication, they had specially arranged for one secret guard to disguise himself as a eunuch and remain in the palace. Apart from Li Yuan and Gaoyang, no one knew of his dual identity.

Soon, a eunuch of about twenty appeared in the imperial study. Apart from his somewhat gloomy countenance, there was nothing unusual about him. “This slave greets Your Majesty!”

Li Yuan said coldly, “I want you to investigate Xia Houduan immediately. Before sunset tomorrow, I want to know everything about Xia Houduan—leave nothing out!”

To investigate everything about Xia Houduan in two days and one night was undoubtedly demanding the impossible. Even Gaoyang unconsciously frowned, but the eunuch didn’t even bat an eyelid, calmly saying, “This slave obeys your decree!”

What the secret guards would do or how they would investigate, Gaoyang didn’t know. He only knew that before sunset the next day, that eunuch appeared in the imperial study as scheduled.

Li Yuan closed the book in his hands, staring at the eunuch, “Have you found everything?”

“This slave has gathered all the information that could be found.” The eunuch’s words made Li Yuan’s eyes brighten, “Speak!”

“Your Majesty, Xia Houduan was summoned to the palace at night several days ago. He…” He had only spoken halfway when Li Yuan raised his hand, “I know about this matter. Speak of other things.”

The eunuch looked up, his expression calm, “But what happened afterward, Your Majesty probably doesn’t know.”

Li Yuan’s face changed, saying coldly, “What happened afterward?”

“After leaving the palace, Xia Houduan didn’t return to his own residence, but went to the Prince of Qin’s mansion.” Upon hearing this, Li Yuan suddenly stood up, his expression grave, “What did he go there for?”

“This slave couldn’t determine that, only knowing he stayed until dawn before returning home. Not long after, he left the city and didn’t return until the city gates were about to close. Before leaving the city, Duan Zhihong from the Prince of Qin’s mansion had gone to find him.” No one knew how these secret guards had uncovered such hidden matters.

“Left the city?” Li Yuan’s face looked extremely ugly. He remembered clearly that on that day, he and Li Shimin had left the city to visit Wang Yuanzhi at Xuanjing Temple. At precisely that time, Xia Houduan had also left the city, not only leaving early and returning late, but also meeting with Duan Zhihong…

Wait, he remembered—when he and Shimin walked out of the palace gates that day, Duan Zhihong was waiting there. Later, Li Shimin had him return to the mansion first, which meant… returning to the mansion was false, notifying Xia Houduan was the truth!

“Did Xia Houduan go to Xuanjing Temple?” Faced with Li Yuan’s inquiry, the eunuch shook his head, “Since he was alone, no one knew where he went, but… this slave discovered something else!”

Li Yuan said urgently, “Speak!”

“Xia Houduan studied at Zhongnan Mountain and shares the same lineage as Wang Yuanzhi, the abbot of Xuanjing Temple!” When these words fell upon his ears, Li Yuan’s head buzzed as if a giant hammer were pounding it, his mind going completely blank.

Gaoyang looked worriedly at Li Yuan, whose body kept swaying, “Your Majesty, what’s wrong? Should I summon the imperial physician?”

Li Yuan heard him speaking but couldn’t make it out clearly, as if his ears were blocked by something. Over and over, it was the eunuch’s words. He never would have imagined that Xia Houduan and Wang Yuanzhi were fellow disciples.

This meant that Xia Houduan’s hurried departure from the city—he must have learned from Duan Zhihong about his visit to Xuanjing Temple, so he rushed to find Wang Yuanzhi to coordinate their stories. In other words… both of them had deceived him. Li Shimin still possessed the qi of an emperor and would threaten Li Jiancheng’s inheritance of the throne he would pass down!

“Xia Houduan! Wang Yuanzhi!” Li Yuan ground his teeth as he spoke these two names, his face contorted frighteningly. Gaoyang felt chills run down his spine—this time, it wasn’t just the two of them who were in trouble, but the Prince of Qin as well.

Though there had been no wars these past two years, the Prince of Qin’s reputation as a war god was known throughout the realm. Whether in court or among the people, he commanded unparalleled prestige. If something happened to him, the entire Chang’an would likely fall into chaos.

The more Li Yuan thought about it, the more he hated it, veins bulging on his forehead. He had summoned Xia Houduan for questioning to learn whether Li Shimin would compete for the realm, but not only had Xia Houduan deceived him, he had secretly notified Li Shimin and even colluded with Wang Yuanzhi.

Good! Truly excellent!

Li Yuan grabbed the fine Qingtian jade paperweight from the table and smashed it violently on the ground. With a “crash,” it shattered into pieces, no longer resembling its former appearance. Gaoyang was frightened out of his wits, lowering his head even further to avoid inviting unwarranted disaster.

After smashing the paperweight, Li Yuan seemed somewhat calmer. He stared at the tightly closed vermillion palace doors for a moment, saying word by word, “Summon Xia Houduan to see me immediately!”

“This slave obeys your decree!” Gaoyang didn’t dare say an extra word, quickly agreeing and going out to deliver the edict. The originally clear sky had somehow become overcast, very much like a storm was about to break.

When Xia Houduan saw Gaoyang appear before him, his heart inexplicably jumped heavily, giving rise to an ominous premonition. He suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, stepping forward to bow, “I greet Eunuch Gao.”