Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, candlelight burned quietly.
The shadows of the hall pillars were stretched long and thin, like ghosts lurking in the darkness.
In the air, the rich, warm scent of ambergris, mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible bloody aftertaste drifting from the Hall of Supreme Harmony, formed a bizarre balance.
He Sui sat cross-legged on the couch, his eyes tightly closed.
A majestic and vast golden current, like a surging river, roared and rushed through his body.
This power was no longer the faint wisp of Qi from before, but a awakened golden Dragon, fiercely scouring along his stagnant and dry Meridians!
Wherever it passed, it was like lava flowing through, or an ice river thawing!
The rust-like coldness and burning pain, entrenched deep within his flesh and blood, let out silent w wails and disintegrated inch by inch under the cleansing of the golden Dragon Qi!
Crack! Crack!
The bones in his body emitted a series of dense crackling sounds, like popping beans, as a complete Rebirth was taking place.
His pale, paper-like face also rapidly gained a touch of living blood under the nourishment of this overbearing Dragon Qi.
He Sui suddenly opened his eyes!
A sharp glint, like a sword, cut through the dim candlelight!
He slowly stood up, his legs firmly planted on the ground, like an old pine tree with deep roots, no longer swaying in the slightest.
He lowered his head to examine his hands, still slender, but no longer sickly transparent, his knuckles filled with a restrained power, as if capable of crushing rocks.
This feeling of completely regaining control over his body was incredibly wonderful.
However, there was no joy on his face.
“A bloody profit?”
He Sui mocked himself in his heart.
“Trading a Rebirth Empress for thirty days of life sounds good.”
“But will Gu Bingqian, that old fox, give me thirty days to develop peacefully?”
The answer was self-evident.
Today’s reversal in the imperial court relied on surprise.
Next time, that old fox’s counterattack would undoubtedly be swift and fierce, and he would use more covert, more impeccable open schemes!
Just then, the hall door was silently pushed open a crack.
Xiao Anzi slipped in through the crack, his steps light and soundless.
Only, his face carried an unusual trace of panic and hesitation.
“Your Majesty…”
He knelt on the ground, his voice extremely low.
“There’s some unusual activity over at the Cold Palace.”
He Sui didn’t even lift an eyelid, his voice calm.
“Speak.”
“Reporting to Your Majesty, the imperial guards watching the Cold Palace were replaced by a new batch of unfamiliar faces today. It is said that… they were transferred from the City Defense Camp.”
Xiao Anzi paused, his voice even lower.
“Also, the food boxes and clothes sent to the Cold Palace have been several times more frequent than usual, and they are all being delivered by eunuchs who are not on duty.”
He Sui finally lifted his eyes, a cold curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
The City Defense Camp, the sphere of influence of the Gu Family.
Eunuchs not on duty, rootless and baseless pawns.
What a clever move, secretly replacing the pillars with rotten timber.
This old fox, having just suffered a setback in the imperial court, wants to get his daughter out tonight, and also give me a heavy blow.
“I know.”
He Sui walked to the window and pushed open the carved window frame.
The cold night wind poured in, making his hot mind even clearer.
He knew that Gu Bingqian was waiting.
Waiting for an opportunity to bring the deposed Consort Gu out of the palace, and raise the banner of “cleansing the monarch’s side and executing the tyrant.”
At that time, with inside and outside collusion, he, a lonely man, would surely die.
And this vast imperial palace was now a leaky fishing net.
He didn’t even know who he could trust besides Xiao Anzi.
The Empress Dowager?
That nominal mother, at this moment, was probably in Cining Palace, twirling her prayer beads, secretly regretting that her imperial brothers hadn’t lived longer.
That way, this “evil creature” (evil spawn) of hers could die sooner, allowing her to support a more obedient new Emperor.
The Chief Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, his senior attendant Wei Jin?
Although he accompanied “my” growth, he was too opportunistic.
That old dog, who was already shrewd under the previous Emperor, not to fall into the well and throw stones was already a sign of his old affection.
“Xiao Anzi.”
He Sui’s voice echoed in the silent hall.
“Your servant is here!”
“I ask you, in this palace, besides me, who else can you trust?”
Xiao Anzi trembled all over, then a decisive ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
“Your Majesty! I dare not speak of important people.”
“But in these nooks and crannies of the palace, I have a few fellow villagers who are not starving and cannot climb high!”
“They can’t do much else, but they’re excellent at tailing, guiding, and blocking rat holes!”
“As long as Your Majesty trusts your servant, your servant… is willing to be that rat-catching cat for Your Majesty!”
“Good!”
He Sui’s eyes burst with brilliance, and he turned to walk in front of him, placing a pure gold token, symbolizing the Emperor’s personal presence, into his hand.
“I will let you, this cat, guard the rat holes for me!”
“I appoint you as a ‘Hall of Mental Cultivation Envoy’ to act on my behalf!”
“Remember, I don’t want to alert the enemy.”
“I want… to catch them red-handed!”
…At midnight, the moon was dark and the wind was high.
A secluded alleyway connecting the Cold Palace to the Imperial Garden was as dark as thick ink.
A young eunuch carrying a food box was hurrying through the shadows, his head bowed.
He looked vigilant, constantly glancing back to ensure no one was following him.
Just as he was about to leave the alley and turn into a rock garden.
“Meow—”
A mournful cat’s cry suddenly sounded from the nearby bushes.
The young eunuch was startled, stumbled, and almost dropped the food box in his hand.
He looked closely and saw a black cat dart out from the bushes, quickly disappearing into the night.
“Damn beast!”
He cursed softly, composed himself, and was about to continue forward.
However, a hand, like a ghostly claw, silently reached out from the shadow behind him, covering his mouth and nose tightly with a wet cloth strip!
“Mmm! Mmm mmm—!”
The young eunuch struggled desperately, kicking his legs wildly, but couldn’t make a sound.
Another slender figure flashed out from the darkness, skillfully twisting his hands behind his back and kicking him in the knee.
Thump.
The messenger was pressed firmly to the ground, unable to move.
Xiao Anzi released his hand, his eyes as cold as a venomous snake.
He didn’t waste words, directly snatched the food box, and roughly opened it.
Inside, besides a few exquisite pastries, there was nothing else.
Xiao Anzi sneered, flipped the food box over, and knocked it hard.
“Click.”
At the bottom of the food box, an almost invisible secret compartment popped open.
Inside, lay a tightly rolled piece of paper.
Xiao Anzi picked up the paper and turned to his two equally slender fellow villagers behind him, whispering.
“Clean it up, leave no trace.”
“Yes, Brother An.”
Behind him came a muffled thud of bones dislocating and a suppressed whimper, then everything returned to dead silence.
Xiao Anzi didn’t look back; he clutched the thin strip of paper as if holding a venomous snake by its vital spot, and quickly disappeared into the night… Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, candlelight flickered.
Xiao Anzi slowly roasted the secret letter, written with rice water, over the candlelight.
Lines of elegant but venomous handwriting slowly emerged.
The content was very simple.
It arranged for Gu Family assassins to create a diversion at the North Gate of the Cold Palace at midnight three days later, to help her escape through a secret passage in a disused dry well.
At the end of the letter, there was an additional sentence.
“Once I leave the palace, it will be time to raise the banner to ‘eliminate the tyrant’!”
Xiao Anzi felt a chill run through him, cold sweat pouring down.
“Your Majesty, this… this is treason! It’s irrefutable evidence! Should we immediately inform the Empress Dowager…”
“Inform the Empress Dowager?”
He Sui laughed, his laughter full of mockery.
“The Empress Dowager probably thinks the wind isn’t strong enough tonight.”
He took the secret letter, without anger or panic, just calmly looking at it, as if it were a piece of art unrelated to him.
A moment later, he threw the secret letter into the candlelight.
The flickering flames reflected his increasingly cold face.
“Leaning on mountains, mountains fall; relying on people, people flee.”
“Xiao Anzi, only today do I truly understand that in this vast imperial palace, the only ones we can trust are ourselves.”
He walked to the desk, personally ground ink, changed to a different brush, and, mimicking a woman’s handwriting with his left hand, awkwardly wrote a line on a new piece of paper:
“Plans have changed, the surveillance is too tight, await the opportune moment, do not act rashly.”
After writing, he handed the paper to Xiao Anzi.
“Find a trustworthy person to send it back.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Having done all this, He Sui stood with his hands behind his back by the window, gazing at the silent Cining Palace in the distance, and the brightly lit Directorate of Ceremonial, his eyes as cold as an abyss.
Today, he had only cut one thread.
But the Gu Family’s net was still spread both inside and outside the palace.
He needed a knife.
A knife that could cut through this net for him, and shatter all conspiracies!
He needed a pair of eyes even more.
A pair of eyes that could perceive all darkness and monitor the entire Da Yue Dynasty!
He turned to Xiao Anzi, who was kneeling on the ground, not daring to breathe loudly, and issued an imperial decree that would stir up the entire Da Yue Dynasty.
His voice was cold and resolute.
“Xiao Anzi.”
“Take my golden token and go to the Imperial Prison immediately.”
“That mad dog named Zhou Chun…”
A trace of brutal anticipation flashed in He Sui’s eyes.
“Bring him… alive, out of Hell for me!”
“I…”
He looked at the deep night sky outside the window, a cruel smile playing on his lips.
“Will personally unchain him!”
“And for him, reforge his sharp blade!”