The Emperor saw him and laughed. “You stubborn mule — did I not say to deal with it yourself?”

The Second Imperial Prince’s gaze flickered almost imperceptibly. Such warmth, such trust — just who among the Gu family was this man behind the mask?

Gu Yanxi knelt on one knee. “This official reports to Your Majesty: the Qisu Division has discovered traces of the Chaoli tribe within the capital.”

The Emperor’s smile froze on his face. He rose to his feet. His authority needed no anger to make itself felt. “You are certain it is the Chaoli tribe?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. This official is certain.” Gu Yanxi had been watching Tong Yi the entire time. She still wore the same expression of naive, capricious charm — yet the moment he uttered the words Chaoli tribe, her body had clearly stiffened for just an instant.

“Very well! Splendid! Are the soldiers of the Five Capital Garrisons all dead? Is the city defense army dead? And you — the Qisu Division — you let them creep right under our noses before you noticed? What are you all good for!” The Emperor’s face darkened. He felt as though the Chaoli tribe had shoved his face into the ground and stamped on it.

Everyone in the room knelt in unison. The Emperor gave a cold snort and strode out of the hall.

Gu Yanxi and the others waited until the Emperor had fully left the hall before rising. The palace servants rushed forward to assist their respective masters.

Now.

Gu Yanxi struck without warning. His long whip snapped out with the speed of thunder and lightning, coiling around Tong Yi and hauling her before him. She had barely managed a single scream before he seized her by the throat, landed a swift chop, and she crumpled unconscious.

“How dare you! She is His Majesty’s favored consort — what do you think you are doing!” Huifei, supported by her son, cried out in furious alarm. No matter how much she resented Tong Yi, the girl was one of their own — their fates were bound together. If anything happened to Tong Yi, she would not escape unscathed either.

Gu Chengan had a vague sense that something was wrong. He tried to reason from what he knew of Tong Yi to figure out what crime she could have committed — but no matter how he turned it over, he could not imagine what she might have done in this palace besides competing for favor.

“What is the meaning of this!” The Emperor had heard the commotion and returned, shielded by Chen Qing. He looked at Yanxi holding without a shred of tenderness the consort who had just moments ago seemed all delicate beauty, and his brow creased.

Handing the woman over to a subordinate, Gu Yanxi swept his gaze across the shaken faces in the room. “Lai Fu — take a count of everyone present. All who deceive or fail to comply are to be treated as enemy agents.”

“Your Majesty…” Huifei’s face went pale. She looked toward the Emperor with plaintive eyes, hoping for even a moment of imperial clemency — for without it, even if she and her son were innocent, there would be no recovering from this day.

The Emperor looked toward Gu Yanxi.

Gu Yanxi said nothing. He stepped forward and guided the Emperor to the window of the inner bedchamber in the side chamber. One by one he removed the horizontal and vertical wooden pieces from the window frame. Within moments, a wolf — its head thrown back, a pointed horn atop its crown, howling as though alive — occupied the full span of two window panels. The sharp horn seemed to have tasted blood, suffused with a ferocious light.

The Emperor stepped back, his outstretched finger trembling as he pointed at the window. “The Chaoli tribe totem! They actually — they actually have this much audacity! Investigate! Find out who made this window frame — I will have his ten clans exterminated!”

“This official has already sent men to look into it.”

The Emperor steadied himself against the table, breathing hard. The emotions piling inside him were impossible to name — he simply felt wretched, wretched enough to make everyone else suffer along with him.

“When was this discovered?”

“Just now.” Gu Yanxi guided him to a seat to one side. “Noble Consort Tong is a new face in the palace. Those who come into close contact with Your Majesty must by custom be carefully investigated. This official was in haste to report to you regarding the crimes of the Second Imperial Prince, and had only just returned from Yinshan Pass — my subordinates had not yet had the opportunity to brief me.”

The Emperor thought of the indulgence he had shown toward his second son that very day and felt all the more deceived. Tong Yi was suspect — and as Tong Yi’s daughter, how could Huifei be above suspicion? Yes — with that blockheaded brain of his, without someone advising him from behind the scenes, how could he have outwitted Wu Yong? How could he, without the Emperor noticing for two full years, have dispatched so many military commanders to the same location?

“After seeing Noble Consort Tong at Lanzhidian, this official then received the report on her from my subordinates. At first I had no suspicion of her. The Tong family is a great house of the capital — their daughter is an imperial consort, their grandson an imperial prince. They had no reason whatsoever to act against the interests of the Great Qing dynasty.”

“What made you suspect her?”

“My subordinates informed me that she had lived in Yuzhou before the age of ten. Because of the matter involving Yuan Shifang, this official is now very sensitive to anything connected with Yuzhou. When I inquired further into Tong Yi’s background, I began to truly suspect.” Gu Yanxi looked at the wooden wolf looming high above, silently mocking him. “Tong Yi is a distant relative of the Tong family. When she was ten years old, following her mother’s death and her father’s mistreatment, she sought help from the Tong dowager matriarch, came to live with the Tong household, and was registered under the second son of the family. It was at that point this official thought of the methods the Chaoli tribe are currently employing — applied to Tong Yi’s situation, it fits precisely.”

“So you had Lai Fu keep me here while you searched for evidence?”

“Yes.”

Lai Fu knelt to the ground. “This old servant deceived Your Majesty. I deserve ten thousand deaths.”

“If you deserve ten thousand deaths, is there anyone left alive in this entire palace?” The Emperor’s eyes were bloodshot. He suddenly swept the teapot and teacups from the table in one motion and hurled them at the window. “Tong Yi! The Tong family! Men!”

Fu Gang answered the summons and entered.

“Tong Zhensheng has committed treason and betrayed the nation — arrest him at once! I want him flayed alive — alive!” The Emperor turned, his expression savage. “Throw every member of the Tong family into the Imperial Dungeons for rigorous interrogation!”

“This official obeys the imperial decree.” Fu Gang withdrew with a bow. The Tong family was finished. Huifei, who had wielded such influence in recent times, was finished.

“Bring my second son before me! I want to ask him to his face whether he cannot wait for me to die — whether he intends to send me off himself!”

How laughable. Behind his mask, Gu Yanxi truly laughed — a laugh without warmth. He did not care that the border commanders had nearly lost their lives. He did not care that the Hua family had barely escaped annihilation and the realm had teetered on chaos. He did not care how unjust Zeng Han’s death had been. He did not care whether the second son had colluded with forces beyond the frontier. All his fury now — every last bit of it — was because someone had threatened his own life, because someone had set their sights on the dragon throne he sat upon.

Gu Yanxi let the silence stretch, gazing at the wreckage around him, and felt that everything he had done held no meaning whatsoever. No matter how far he traveled in every direction to shore up the cracks, it would never be enough against the destruction wrought by this father and his sons. It would be simpler to let the dynasty be torn apart entirely — at least everyone would be done with it cleanly.

The distance being short, Gu Chengan was shoved in within moments. Chen Qing knew precisely what he had done and showed him not an ounce of courtesy.

Gu Chengan took one look at the scene and knew things had gone badly. Without waiting for the Emperor to speak, he dropped to his knees with a resounding thud. “Imperial Father — this son truly had no knowledge of this matter. I do not even know what crime Noble Consort Tong has committed. I beseech Imperial Father to investigate clearly.”

“And now you manage to wash your hands of it cleanly.” The Emperor walked up to him and delivered a kick that sent him sprawling, the recoil causing the Emperor himself to stagger back a step — caught in time by Gu Yanxi standing nearby.

“Sending men to assassinate Hua Yizheng — did you know of this?”

“Conspiring as a prince against your own country — did you know of this?”

“Poisoning Wu Yong, last of the Wu family men who have defended Yinshan Pass for generations — did you know of this?”

“This son… this son was deceived into committing these grave errors…”

Gu Yanxi cut him off. “Deceived by whom?”