Chapter 56#

The weeds around the Cold Palace were all cleared away, and the bodies of the dead spies were dragged aside. Strange floral totems were discovered on the deceased “palace attendants.” Ye Xuanjiu was deeply shaken and reported everything to Qi Hanzhou.#

“Young General, we didn’t search in the wrong place.” Ye Xuanjiu’s heart trembled with astonishment. The results had exceeded their expectations—or rather, ever since they encountered those assassins at the thatched cottage, this was no longer a simple political struggle between court factions. “Some of those outside have the death warrior totem, but others don’t. Those with the totems are all the sweeping attendants of the Cold Palace.”

This suggested that the totem was not absolute. Those with even a slight status in the palace would not bear such obvious markings.

Qi Hanzhou looked at the dead Shuangyue before him. She also bore no totem. “Cut the skin. Have a physician examine it.”

A chill ran down Ye Xuanjiu’s spine. The person they had been investigating for so long had simply died like this?

“Young General, does that mean we’ve lost the trail?”

Qi Hanzhou turned and walked out. “No. Because what that person cares about is not the trail.”

Ying Fusheng’s goal had never been a single hidden piece. What he valued was the function of that hidden piece.

Ye Xuanjiu asked, “Young General, where are you going—”

Qi Hanzhou’s face was as cold as frost.

“To see the Emperor.”

As night fell, a commotion stirred in the depths of the palace, as if the Imperial Guard were moving about.

It seemed silent and unnoticed, yet like an undercurrent surging.

A palace attendant hurried to Cining Palace, whispered something to Song’an, and then left. Song’an nodded indifferently. “Understood.”

Inside the side hall of Cining Palace, Xiaoqing was devouring the food laid out before him. Ying Fusheng reached out to tease it, and Xiaoqing nudged his hand with its head. On his palm was a small, hideous wound. When Song’an entered, he seemed to sense her presence and looked up, a hint of mockery curling at his lips—

It seemed he had lived a few more hours than he had anticipated.

He tossed the brocade pouch he had used to tease the bird during the day into the charcoal brazier. The simple totem embroidered on it was devoured by the flames. The assassination attempt on the Crown Prince at the thatched cottage—from the moment Shuangyue had lost her composure and touched that brocade during the day, he had known the plan would succeed.

Song’an bowed her head and said, “But Your Highness, this way the trail of Shuangyue is cut off.”

Shuangyue had followed the rules and was also the Empress’s senior palace maid.

As a high-ranking female official, she carried great weight. The power of the rear palace had gradually been gathered into her hands. With her as the leader, countless connections would inevitably follow—whether from the Xu family or the forces behind the court… Someone like this could be investigated in detail, yet His Highness insisted on killing her.

Ying Fusheng said, “If you think that way, then Shuangyue will also think that way.”

Such people possessed a natural self-confidence, knowing their own extraordinary value. With that in mind, they could always have a contingency plan.

Killing someone, eliminating future trouble—the sooner, the better.

“Do you know what the fastest way to uproot something is?” Ying Fusheng asked.

Beside the bird feed, the chaotic chessboard from the day had already been restored to its orderly arrangement of moves. The crucial white stone in the encirclement was picked out by Ying Fusheng, and with a light release of his hand, it fell gently into the chess bowl. Now the gang of thieves had lost their leader.

His gaze shifted slightly toward the direction of the Qianqing Palace.

“Then the next move falls to me.”

…

Late at night, urgent reports arrived at the Emperor’s desk.

Strange gu insects had been discovered deep within the Cold Palace. Shuangyue, the Empress’s trusted senior palace maid, had died from poisoning by the gu insects. Because of the assassination attempt on the Crown Prince, the night-patrolling Imperial Guard had noticed clues and uncovered the rebels.

The lanterns of the Qianqing Palace were lit. The surviving mother gu and half a stalk of the long-letter plant were brought before the Emperor after being processed. The Emperor sat in his robe, the lamplight reflecting a chilling glint in his eyes. “The previous dynasty…?”

“Yes.” Qi Hanzhou bowed in salute. “There are those skilled in identification within the Imperial Guard. This item has no records within the Great Yuan domain, but some mention of it appears in secret scrolls from the previous dynasty.”

He gestured, and someone handed over a secret scroll. It contained detailed drawings of the long-letter plant and the characteristics of the mother gu, closely resembling what was before the Emperor.

“Additionally, totems were found on the palace attendants who committed suicide.”

The transcribed totem was presented before the Emperor.

Upon seeing the flower totem, the Emperor’s pupils moved slightly, and he stared at it for a long time.

The previous dynasty—after the late Emperor had overthrown the previous dynasty’s regime, the remnants had been completely eradicated to establish the foundation of the Great Yuan. Over the years, there had indeed been occasional secret rumors about the previous dynasty, but most were unfounded hype—until Consort Ning appeared, and the crushed red seeds entered the palace.

Now it seemed that it was not just the secret medicines of the previous dynasty. Even in these deep palace halls, death warrior spies had appeared, hidden among the palace attendants. How many such people were there, and where were they hidden… All were unknowns.

Qi Hanzhou waited silently. The Qianqing Palace was utterly still.

The coldness in the Emperor’s eyes deepened.

Shuangyue bore no totem, yet as the Empress’s female official, she had appeared in such a secretive place late at night.

On that point alone, even in death, she could not escape suspicion.

The Emperor suddenly laughed. “I campaigned for several years, and the Xu family has left me quite a few surprises.”

With a secret decree from the Qianqing Palace, as soon as Qi Hanzhou left, the covert investigations authorized by imperial power began in earnest. His trusted Imperial Guards swarmed out, following the trail of Shuangyue. The palace attendants who had close dealings with her were still asleep when the Imperial Guards, warrants in hand, took them away.

The shocking news of the Cold Palace incident spread abruptly half an hour later. The Crown Prince, in the Eastern Palace, woke with a start. As he came to, a shadow guard knelt before him. “Your Highness, something has happened. Shuangyue is dead.”

Hearing that Shuangyue was dead, the Crown Prince’s face turned deathly pale. To him, Shuangyue had supernatural abilities within the rear palace. He could always rely on her to handle any matter. Moreover, Shuangyue was highly skilled in martial arts—how could someone like her suddenly die?

“How is that possible?”

“All the palace attendants at the Cold Palace stronghold are dead. The spies connected to Shuangyue have been discovered. Before our people could react, the Imperial Guard had already moved,” the shadow guard reported. “Other shadow guards will handle the situation first, but they might not be faster than the Imperial Guard.”

“Such swift action could only be taken with the Emperor’s permission.”

Shuangyue’s death was sudden and bizarre, with no news spreading beforehand. Now the Cold Palace stronghold was entirely under the Imperial Guard’s control.

Shuangyue wielded authority by Empress Xu’s side, essentially the mastermind of the rear palace’s shadow network. Many matters had to be arranged through her. If she fell, the master would have their own arrangements. But the key point was that her death was so abrupt that it almost completely disrupted the rear palace’s arrangements, leaving them no time to cover up.

Soon, another person arrived to report. The shadow guards vanished without a trace.

A palace attendant from Kunning Palace entered. “Your Highness, something terrible has happened. Something’s wrong at Kunning Palace.”

At Kunning Palace, Empress Xu watched as two of her palace attendants were led out. The Imperial Guard, citing the investigation into the Crown Prince’s assassination attempt, were conducting a search and had found her trusted maid Shuangyue.

When the Crown Prince arrived, he saw several of Kunning Palace’s attendants being taken away. Shaken, he hurried to Empress Xu’s side. If Shuangyue was found to be problematic, the Xu family would inevitably be implicated. He rushed over to see.

“Your Majesty, Shuangyue died mysteriously within the palace. Gu insects were discovered on her body,” the Imperial Guard reported truthfully. “We need to thoroughly examine everything related to her. She cannot escape suspicion.”

Hearing the word “gu insects,” Empress Xu’s expression shifted momentarily. “What gu insects?”

The Imperial Guard bowed and then turned to give orders to the others. “That is not yet clear. His Majesty has decreed that I am merely carrying out orders to investigate.”

Seeing this, the Crown Prince wanted to call out to his mother, but he saw Empress Xu’s gaze fixed on the retreating Imperial Guard. Her hand gripping his tightened. At that moment, the Crown Prince inexplicably felt a sense of panic, as if something was slipping out of control.

The palace attendants who had clear connections to Shuangyue were all taken to the Imperial Guard’s prison for interrogation.

Undercurrents surged in the depths of the palace, and many halls were filled with unease.

…

A faint light shone in Cining Palace. When Qi Hanzhou entered, there were no other attendants in the hall, only a light in the inner bedchamber. The young man had not yet slept. He sat before a table, his robed figure appearing especially frail.

The candlelight cast his shadow flickering, as if a slightly stronger gust of wind from outside might blow him away along with his shadow.

Before him was a chaotic chess game. The black and white stones were scattered in disarray, as if placed at random by the youth. But after personally pushing this game forward, Qi Hanzhou knew it was no random arrangement.

“Young General pays a late-night visit.” Ying Fusheng did not look up, his fingers toying with the scattered stones in the chess bowl. He said softly, “Song’an has gone to sleep, so I haven’t prepared tea to welcome you.”

“You decided to do this at the very moment the Crown Prince was attacked,” Qi Hanzhou said.

The Imperial Guard and the Qi family had the authority to secretly investigate many matters, but some things were not suitable to be presented directly to the Emperor.

A blade was only a good blade under the tacit approval of imperial power. The Crown Prince’s assassination attempt allowed the Imperial Guard to act with convenience, and thus all the results fell into place naturally.

When Shuangyue died before him, his best choice was to see the Emperor.

And all of this was within Ying Fusheng’s calculations.

Ying Fusheng said indifferently, “The person behind the scenes wanted to reinforce the Crown Prince’s position. When the opportunity was handed to me, why not use it?”

He admitted frankly, “Shuangyue was an open card in your eyes, but she herself didn’t know. With the witch-gu incident occurring, to prevent further trouble in the palace, she would act, and you would act.”

Qi Hanzhou’s gaze deepened, shifting from his face to the hand holding the chess piece. “You knew where she would die?”

“Who knows? I don’t know where she would die either.” A frivolous smile crept onto Ying Fusheng’s face. “As for the rest of the Imperial Guard, it’s debatable. But with you, I thought I could gamble…”

Before he finished speaking, Qi Hanzhou suddenly stepped forward. Ying Fusheng’s movement with the chess piece paused, his expression stunned, as his wrist was seized by Qi Hanzhou. The chess piece in his hand fell onto the table with a crisp sound. Qi Hanzhou had already turned over his palm, exposing the hidden wound.

The Empress Dowager’s symptoms, and the mention of the mother-and-child gu at the thatched cottage—

The Empress Dowager’s old illness could not hide from Qi Hanzhou. When he saw Shuangyue’s death, he had already understood.

“Where is the child gu on the Empress Dowager?” Qi Hanzhou asked.

Ying Fusheng relaxed his posture, letting Qi Hanzhou hold his wrist. Seeing that he couldn’t hide it from that wolf’s nose, he generously revealed the wound. “Didn’t you see? Someone reaped what they sowed.”

When Chen Xuchu said that the mother-and-child gu was a secret medicine of the previous dynasty, Ying Fusheng had already come up with a plan.

In his previous life, Ying Fusheng had been entangled with the crushed red seeds until death. Chen Xuchu had used countless methods to keep him alive, and the pharmacology of previous dynasty poisons was interconnected. Using gu insects to fight poison with poison was one method. Chen Xuchu had used gu insects to sustain his life. That night, when he bled to force the child gu out of the Empress Dowager’s body, he realized that his own poisonous blood was effective against the gu insects. So he drew out the child gu and nurtured it with his poisonous blood.

With the child gu drawn out, he no longer feared that the person behind the scenes would harm the Empress Dowager.

“She came at just the right time today. The child gu is still alive. I had Song’an place it inside.” Ying Fusheng gestured with his finger. “Just this big, smaller than a sesame seed. As long as I arranged for Shuangyue to be injured, in front of so many people, she wouldn’t dare to make a move.”

“How do you know the method to draw out the child gu?” Qi Hanzhou asked directly.

“Death warriors are covered in poison. When the child gu smelled her blood, it burrowed in very quickly—no effort needed.” Ying Fusheng looked into his eyes and casually recounted the plan to kill Shuangyue. “Once the child gu entered her body, any time she planned to kill the Empress Dowager, she would reap what she sowed.”

Qi Hanzhou watched him as he nonchalantly changed the subject, his tone calm. Laying out a plan to kill someone was merely a simple scheme in his words. Having cooperated with this person for some time, it was the first time Qi Hanzhou hadn’t seen through him. When had Ying Fusheng started planning this? At the palace lanterns, when he learned of the hidden piece by the Empress’s side? Or at the tavern, when he learned of the Crown Prince’s death warriors…?

When they first met, Qi Hanzhou felt this person was quite ambitious, intent on the throne, and that everything he did was for power.

But after many collaborations, Qi Hanzhou realized there was something on his mind—beyond the throne, as if he had more things he wanted to scheme for.

The knife wound appeared to be only one, but the injury had ruptured repeatedly, clearly the result of multiple bloodlettings.

The wound had not fully healed, and the traces of wound medicine were obvious, but with slightly larger movements, a little bloody fluid seeped out. Ying Fusheng used medicine year-round, carrying an inescapable medicinal smell. He had never bandaged the wound, so no one would notice when exactly he had acquired another scar. The strong medicinal powder had already covered the scent of blood.

Not the slightest attention had been paid… the wound had already become infected and festered.

Ying Fusheng noticed Qi Hanzhou’s silence. Handling this young blade, he actually had no set course.

How cunning was the person behind the scenes? Ying Fusheng hadn’t even uncovered his identity in his previous life, and the Qi family had fought until the very end.

This person was sly. His father the Emperor was no inferior in civil and military prowess, and after returning from campaigns, he had repeatedly tried to revitalize the country. But even such an emperor was still devoured by that person’s vast web, eventually triggering a coup. Facing such an opponent, the slower they moved, the easier it was for them to be controlled. So Shuangyue could not be kept; that hidden piece had to be fully overturned to gain the upper hand.

What he was familiar with was the Qi Hanzhou of his previous life, when he and the Qi family had already become stable allies.

Now, his father the Emperor was still alive, Qi Shen was at the northern border, and Qi Hanzhou’s wings were not yet full. So every step he took had to be carefully measured against Qi Hanzhou. He was using Qi Hanzhou, but he could not cross the bottom line of the Qi family’s loyalty to imperial power.

Had he not appeased him enough?

Ying Fusheng pondered everything just now, but it was also that Qi Hanzhou was only sixteen now.

He frowned slightly. Before he could think further, the person beside him suddenly moved.

The next moment, a gleam of cold light flashed. A blade dropped from Qi Hanzhou’s sleeve.

Ying Fusheng’s pupils moved slightly, but he saw Qi Hanzhou take out a wine pouch. He expertly poured the wine over the blade, and when it passed through the candle flame, fire blazed up.

Wine…?

Ying Fusheng was momentarily stunned.

Then Qi Hanzhou grabbed Ying Fusheng’s hand. A sharp pain came from his palm. Ying Fusheng instinctively tried to pull back, but his hand was firmly held by Qi Hanzhou. The warmth of the martial artist’s palm was hot. Ying Fusheng had nowhere to escape as he saw the blade, burned in the fire, descend onto his palm.

“Hang on,” Qi Hanzhou said. “If you still want that hand.”

Under the lamplight and candle shadows, Qi Hanzhou carefully cut away the rotting flesh on his palm. His movements were gentle, the thin blade steady and precise in his hand. In a few breaths, he scraped away the festering flesh on Ying Fusheng’s palm.

Ying Fusheng looked at him in surprise. Qi Hanzhou didn’t speak.

The lamplight flickered with Qi Hanzhou’s movements.

The face in the candlelight seemed to overlap with the person from his previous life. The torrent of time surged forward, and Ying Fusheng seemed to see the Qi Hanzhou of his past life. Back then, Qi Hanzhou always came late at night. Court disturbances increased, the government collapsed, and the Imperial Guard became the last line of defense before imperial power. Several times, Ying Fusheng woke from nightmares in the middle of the night. Qi Hanzhou sat by his bed, silently watching his wrist, which he had injured during his daytime madness, and he did the same thing.

Ying Fusheng gazed at this young face until the grip on his palm loosened, and cloth strips were wound around to cover the hideous wound. Only then did he snap back to reality. “The Young General has fine skills.”

Qi Hanzhou looked at him, catching that momentary distraction. He cleaned up the other things, sheathed his knife, and turned his gaze toward the window. Outside, the sky was gradually brightening. He didn’t stay long; he turned and left.

Leaving Cining Palace, Qi Hanzhou flipped up onto the eaves and vanished in an instant.

Ying Fusheng’s words held secrets. How could a prince deep in the palace know about using poisoned blood to lure gu insects? It was clearly bloodletting that weakened the body, yet his pulse was stronger than usual, and there seemed to be new needle-prick bruises on his wrist. Ying Fusheng had tampered with his own pulse. Drawing out gu insects was definitely not as simple as just letting blood.

He carried secrets.

Inside Cining Palace, Ying Fusheng watched him leave, then raised his own hand. The wound was properly bandaged.

He looked down at it, turning it over and moving his fingers.

“He’s quite easy to appease.”

His expression slightly sobered, he looked out the window at the layers of palace walls.

Day had broken. There would be a show today.