Sima Ray’s tone was scary. There were screams from Meng Hua, General Meng, who was tortured into the non-human form with his hamstrings cut off. Qin Yunuan walked near and smiled suddenly. She said to Sima Ray, “Do you think that I follow you to come in without any preparation to get out?”
To her surprise, Sima Ray grinned, “Qin Yunuan, you’re so arrogant and confident. That’s why I like you so much.”
“Is it?” Qin Yunuan walked towards him slowly. There was a kind of enchantment in her eyes like a charming spell, which had never appeared before. Even the man with the strongest will would be lost in it for a moment. “Do you like it, then?”
While speaking, Qin Yunuan poured quicklime that had been hidden in her hands upon Sima Ray’s eyes and drew back quickly.
“Leng Shuang.” With Qin Yunuan’s order, a purple figure popped up like a ghost. She waved her soft sword like a silver snake. Apart from the darkness in the tunnel, Sima Ray couldn’t open his eyes because of the prick brought by the quicklime on it. Before he could do anything, Leng Shuang’s soft sword was already on his neck.
The cold feeling made Sima Ray tremble, but he would never flog a dead horse.
Sima Ray’s eyes were already red and swollen. The smell of the quicklime, along with Qin Yunuan’s light fragrance, titillated Sima Ray again and again. Both could drive him to his death.
“Oh, just a trick,” Sima Ray said disdainfully, “There are people of mine everywhere in the Jingchen Palace. I’ve already controlled most of the whole Royal Palace. Even though you kill me, you won’t be able to walk out of here.”
“Prince Ray, you really belittle my servant girl,” Qin Yunuan shook her head, “Leng Shuang won’t kill everyone. Someone like you will only contaminate her sword.”
Sima Ray sneered, but his feet were moving backward slowly. His hand in his back touched a small bulge accurately on the wall of the tunnel. He turned his fingers and was about to press it.
“Third Young Madam, he is sending out signals for help,” Leng Shuang saw through Sima Ray’s trick with just a glance. She pricked him with her swords. The sharp pain made Sima Ray withdraw his hands subconsciously. There was red blood on his fingertips. However, he had already pressed the special button promptly. At the same time, a string of bells outside East Side Hall would ring so that people outside would know that he had an accident inside. Troops would arrive within the time for an incense to burn out.
“Let him be,” Qin Yunuan looked completely unworried, “Just let him press! I’ll wait together with him to see who will come to save him in the end.”
Her calmness sent a chill to Sima Ray. Before long, there were heavy footsteps outside the tunnel. Sima Ray chuckled with obvious complacent until the footsteps were nearer and nearer. He frowned. The footsteps were not familiar. They didn’t belong to his people.
A gust of strange wind came towards him. Sima Ray seemed to feel a cold, eerie smell, the smell of death.
“Prince Ray, we haven’t seen each other for ages.”
The voice…
“Leng Changxi! It’s you!” Sima Ray wouldn’t believe it. Last night, he had already laid out a thorough plan to draw away Leng Changxi’s eighteen shadow guards one by one. Although he hadn’t caught them yet, their whereabouts were entirely in his control. As for Leng Changxi, while he didn’t seize him, he had sent his best master-hands to tail after him. Now he hadn’t received any message from them yet. It would never occur to him that Leng Changxi was still in the Royal Palace.
The quicklime made Sima Ray unable to open his eyes, but he could feel cold wind coming towards him. It was Leng Changxi.
“Yes. It’s me,” Leng Changxi watched with interest.
Sima Ray had a moment of enlightenment, “Are you the servant following Sima Han?”
Leng Changxi smiled, “There’s more than that. You should have seen me for more than one time from last night to today. From the guard outside your palace to the internal attendants who passed you on the way and even some of the people closest to you are probably me,” waving the mask made of human skin in his hand, Leng Changxi showed a smile of confidence.
After all, Leng Changxi was good at making and using the mask made of human skin. It was reasonable. What was surprising was that the one who helped Leng Suxin to hide her appearance with the mask made of human skin was Leng Changxi himself. At that time, he was merely ten years old, but he could already make such a delicate mask.
“Nuan, are you alright?” Leng Changxi bypassed Leng Shuang, who was protecting Qin Yunuan, and held Qin Yunuan in his arms to kiss her on the forehead. His kiss was like a pill to relieve her. At that moment, all the worries and perturbation in her heart disappeared.
In Leng Changxi’s arms, Qin Yunuan nodded like a little cat, “I’m fine.”
Before long, there was a message coming from outside, saying that Sun Miaoyang had already entered the Qiankun Palace to cure the emperor. Despite the unconsciousness as a long effect of the hallucinogenic drug, the emperor was not influenced in other aspects. What’s more, Imperial Doctor Zhao, who had been poisoning in private, confessed everything when caught by the Leng Army, including how he and Prince Ray poisoned the Grand Prince’s Wife and then scapegoated Empress Chen.
“Sima Ray, all your crimes are clear now,” Shang Xianhua, or General Shang, shouted. Two soldiers behind him came forward immediately and chained up Sima Ray tightly.
Another group of people crossed the blood pool to save Meng Hua, who was tortured into a non-human form. However, his hands and feet were hurt so heavily that he wouldn’t be able to use swords even after recovery.
“General, how should we deal with the fake General Meng in the suburbs of the Royal City?”
Leng Changxi squinted, “Of course, detain him and wait for the emperor’s decision.”
When it came to helpers, Liu Bao following Sima Ray, Imperial Doctor Zhao, forces of the Qin Family, and assassins of the Dou Family were all exposed. When it came to military strength, those people that he had gone to great lengths to put in the powerful Meng Army were killed. Even the secret tunnel that had taken him seven years to build was known to the public now.
Nobody in Sima Ray’s position could accept the fact.
In the Qiankun Palace, after using the medicinal materials with special fragrance brought by Doctor Sun, Emperor Zhaoxuan was close to full recovery. Gradually, he could walk and talk to people.
“Queen Mother has arrived.”
Before the eunuch finished his words, Queen Mother sprinted into the palace, “Emperor, how is your health?”
Touching the temple, which was still aching, Emperor Zhaoxuan shook his head, “I feel as if I had a long dream. I’m in a muddle. However, since Doctor Sun said that there was no more problem, I believe I’ll soon recover. Mother, you needn’t worry about me.”
Queen Mother flapped her sleeves seriously, “How dare he! Sima Ray is so arrogant that he used hallucinogenic drugs to you.”
Knowing the situation outside, Emperor Zhaoxuan felt angry at the time and patted on the mahogany stand beside his bed, “What an ungrateful son! I wouldn’t have indulged him so much to let him have so much power but for the recent death of the empress, the only person who can take care of him. How foolish I am!”
“You don’t need to blame yourself,” Queen Mother comforted Emperor Zhaoxuan, “However, this time Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan have made a great contribution on pacify the rebels. Emperor, what do you think?”
Of course, Emperor Zhaoxuan knew Leng Changxi’s contribution. In his deep heart, he always took this son of his deceased sister as his own child. Otherwise, he wouldn’t secretly invite the best teachers to teach Leng Changxi since his childhood or give him 20% of the military force of Qi when he was only 18.
“I will certainly reward them for that,” Emperor Zhaoxuan nodded to agree, “However, now I’m thinking how to deal with the rebellious son.”
The rebellion of a prince must be supported by some officials. If the emperor handled the issue on a large scale, he would only alert his enemy. Emperor Zhaoxuan wanted to seize the chance that Sima Ray was arrested now and to come up with a perfect plan to sweep out Prince Ray’s forces before he got any chance to communicate with his helper outside the palace.
Queen Mother thought for a while, “You may follow the example of your ancestors. Firstly, you send Prince Ray to Imperial Mausoleum to pray from ancestors in the excuse of the frequent disasters this year. Since there is a long way between Imperial Mausoleum and the Royal City, Prince Ray will certainly lose contact with his people in the Royal City as long as he is under watchful eyes. You may grab the chance to cast an escape-proof net. After you clear his forces in the Royal City, you can kill him secretly in the Imperial Mausoleum, claiming that he died of disease.”
“Good. I will do as you say,” At that moment, Emperor Zhaoxuan felt no kinship with Sima Ray. In his mind, Sima Ray was no more than a traitor. Killing him was easy.
At the same time, Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi just came out of the tunnel. They didn’t know that Queen Mother and Emperor Zhaoxuan had already decided on the death of Sima Ray easily in the Qiankun Palace.
“Take him down,” Leng Changxi asked Leng Wu to take Sima Ray away.
Walking to the entrance of the Jingchen Palace, Sima Ray captured a familiar figure through his eyes that could barely see people. His eyes became bright immediately. He stared at the woman who had been obedient to him just now unbelievably.
“Qin Yunzhuang, it’s you! You, foolish woman! Did you lead them there?” gritting one’s teeth, Sima Ray said to Qin Yunzhuang, who looked scared, “You, eating outside thing! Someday I will rip out your skin.” Sima Ray wanted to give a more trash talk, but Leng Wu wouldn’t give him the chance. He sprayed some water from his kettle on a piece of worn-out clothes. Then he put it in Sima Ray’s mouth so that he could say nothing.
Standing on the eighteenth floor, Qin Yunuan watched that Sima Ray was sent away. She then looked at Qin Yunzhuang, who was glancing at her carefully. Qin Yunuan didn’t speak until Qin Yunzhuang went near her. She smiled, “Sister, hope that you are well.”
