Chaos

Song Caitang had either been silenced, or she had been moved elsewhere.

Both possibilities sent a shudder down Zhao Zhi’s spine. His palms were sweating.

But after thinking more carefully, he calmed down.

The former was not possible. Even if Nanny Sun had really been the problem Empress Chen had been seeking to solve and Song Caitang confirmed it, Song Caitang was still of use to the empress. He was very confident of himself. The empress would still be extremely wary of him.

Song Caitang was his weakness, so it would be stupid of her to kill Song Caitang at this juncture. After all, she could still use Song Caitang to threaten him when necessary. Song Caitang was still a good bargaining chip.

So, it had to be the latter.

The remnant footprints outside the room were proof of this. If the empress wanted to kill Song Caitang, then she could have done so when she arranged for Nanny Sun to be killed. But since Empress Chen had allowed Song Caitang to live for the time being, then there was no need to urgently kill her in the middle of a thunderstorm.

His girl must have been moved elsewhere!

Zhao Zhi’s eyes were like an eagle’s as he carefully scanned the room.

His girl was very intelligent, so she must have left him something!

…

Song Caitang had indeed been moved. That night, she had slept especially soundly. When she woke up, she realized her surroundings had changed. She was no longer in the same room as before.

She couldn’t figure out why. Empress Chen had not expressed any clear opinion or reaction, and she had not seen Empress Chen or her underlings since that day. She couldn’t even confirm if Nanny Sun had died or not.

But her instincts told her that Nanny Sun must have died. Otherwise, Empress Chen wouldn’t have let her off just like that. Empress Chen would have made her continue working on the case.

So, why did Empress Chen move her to another location so urgently?

A thought struck her and her eyes lit up. Had Zhao Zhi come looking for her?

So Empress Chen had no choice but to quickly move her elsewhere?

She had no proof, but she really hoped this was the case!

And if that was really the case, she hoped that Zhao Zhi would open his eyes wide and find the thing she left for him!

She wasn’t sure if she could get through this crisis, she didn’t know if Empress Chen would silence her or when she might do that, or whether Zhao Zhi would find her and when he might find her. But she had to leave clues she was sure about.

So, she hid something in the room she was in before.

She did whatever she could to send a message to Zhao Zhi. To comfort him, to tell him she was fine, to tell him not to be anxious or afraid, but to have faith in her. No matter what dangers they faced, they could get through it together!

…

Zhao Zhi left the palace and brought a letter with him when he met up with Wen Yuansi and Qi Yan.

Qi Yan’s eyes were wide as he snatched the letter from Zhao Zhi. “Tangtang left this? You found the location within the palace but she wasn’t there anymore? Wait, this isn’t her handwriting!”

Zhao Zhi glared at him. “I had to copy it down myself.”

Wen Yuansi quickly finished reading the letter, then shut his eyes and exhaled deeply. “Miss Song is someone who can be used to threaten you, so I’m sure she’s safe. Empress Chen is a clever woman, so I’m sure she’d definitely use her to force you to do her bidding.”

He reached the same conclusion as Zhao Zhi with regard to Song Caitang’s current situation.

Zhao Zhi leaned forward, his eyes as murderous as an eagle’s. “The next battle is going to be a really nasty one. I’m ready for it. What about both of you?”

Qi Yan immediately got up and stared solemnly at Zhao Zhi. “Of course I’m ready too!”

Wen Yuansi elegantly rolled his sleeves up. “We’re a team, so all of us have to be in it together.”

Zhao Zhi reminded them, “It’s going to be very dangerous.”

Wen Yuansi chuckled. “Hasn’t that always been the case for us?”

Qi Yan declared, “I’m not scared!”

…

On the 15th day of the 5th month, the royal family conducted their annual ceremony to remember their ancestors.

Everything had gone according to plan. It was a grand but solemn ceremony.

The emperor was dressed in his golden robes and crown as he sat on his ivory seat in his sedan. The empress was in her royal robes next to him. All the palace servants next to the sedan and behind the sedan were all dressed in new clothes and carried golden lamps with gold decorations. They were all around the same size and height, and even their steps were in sync.

The crown prince’s sedan was just behind the emperor’s and it was also beautifully decorated in a majestic and valiant manner. Prince Ping rode on a large white horse, looking incredibly authoritative as he led the rest of the royal guards.

A whip cracked and the drums resounded. All of Bianliang city fell silent and solemn.

The citizens came to kneel by the streets. The officials escorting the parade had grave looks on their faces. This was a very serious occasion.

The wide, silent road led all the way to the royal tombs, and everyone remained somber throughout the journey.

This ceremony to remember the royal ancestors was an extremely important one. Each part of the ceremony had strict rules and standards that had to be followed closely. The timing of everything had been calculated and rehearsed countless times by all the eunuchs and officials in charge of such rites, making sure that nothing would go wrong on the day itself.

All these years, they had done the same thing and the ceremony had gone without a hitch. But not this year.

When the emperor stepped onto the platform to offer incense, a strong wind suddenly began to blow.

It was like a demonic wind that chose to only blow at the emperor and nobody else. The hundreds of officials standing below the platform were completely unaffected and didn’t even have any reaction, but the clothes of the emperor on the platform were about to be blown away!

Many people of this era were superstitious, especially because they were at a cemetery.

This was a bad omen!

Was it because the heavens were unhappy? Or was it a warning from the ancestors? Was something terrible about to happen to Da’an?

What one felt in the air was difficult to describe and impossible to see, but it was easy to imagine and it was also very contagious. It didn’t take long for everyone to start having anxious thoughts in their minds and it showed on their faces.

While nobody was going to suddenly break down and start screaming in panic, since they were halfway through a serious ceremony and they had not received any instructions, the confidence and faith they had in their hearts had begun to waver.

The emperor, of course, kept a straight face. He remained as steady as ever.

But Zhao Zhi knew that the wind was just a coincidence.

Nobody could control the wind, so all that talk about it being demonic was ridiculous. With sufficient exposure, one would understand what was really going on. The wind was different depending on the geography of the location. The wind was obviously going to be stronger in a wide open space that was located on higher ground compared to a densely built town or city on lower ground. The emperor was also on higher ground, plus the royal cemetery was in the midst of mountains. Of course the wind was strong around here.

But…since someone had planned to make trouble and would have to create a chance to do so if the chance did not present itself, how could that person still sit down and do nothing now that a chance had presented itself?

Zhao Zhi scanned the crowd at the ceremony.

Below the platform, standing just a few steps away from emperor, was the crown prince. He too, was very tense as he kept watch over the area.

After that, everything seemed to go well. The emperor pushed the incense stick into the incense bowl, knelt down to bow to his ancestors and read the necessary chants. Everything was going as planned.

But just when the rites were completed and the emperor got ready to step off the platform, something happened.

The incense stick he had put inside the bowl had gone out!

Not just that, but the stick broke!

A broken incense stick was a bad omen.

Immediately, gasps could be heard in the crowd. Fear and anxiety instantly gripped the people.

Before anyone could do anything or express their opinions, a man in black suddenly leaped out from behind the platform. His body was as agile as a wolf and as quick as lightning. The long sword in his hand reflected the light as he thrust his sword toward the emperor.

The crown prince immediately ran forward and pulled the emperor aside, so the man’s sword failed to strike his target.

But since he was here to kill the emperor, he wasn’t going to just let that go. He immediately spun around and made another attack!

And after the first man appeared, all his accomplices showed themselves too. A huge number of men in black had appeared out of nowhere.

The men in black were prepared to attack, but Zhao Zhi wasn’t a force to trifle with either. He had gone through several drills beforehand and had a plan for what to do in such a scenario. He had his own fair share of guards hidden in several places who waited on his instructions, and the royal guards were equally quick to react. They immediately flew to the fore, yelling, “Assassins! Protect His Majesty!”

Zhao Zhi wasn’t going to just stand around either. He immediately flew off the ground and landed in front of the emperor and crown prince as quickly as possible.

The situation below the platform was chaotic.

Many people in the crowd had suddenly put on masks and pulled their outer cloaks away to reveal their fully black outfits.

Since they had revealed themselves, the next step was to kill. Anyone who happened to stand next to a man in black was instantly killed.

“Help! Help! Rebels are among us! Rebels!”

The officials went into a panic as they held onto their hats and ran in all directions. As long as there was a path of escape, they took it. They just wanted to get out of here alive.

And what about the emperor?

He was barely visible amidst the huge crowd of men in black hoods, clothes and masks.

The men focused their attacks on the platform first, so the fight was the fiercest there.

There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide on a high platform, so the crown prince could only raise his sword to defend himself as he helped the emperor off the platform using whatever path Zhao Zhi was able to clear. As he moved along, he suddenly yelled at Zhao Zhi, “Watch out!”

He yelled because he spotted an arrow headed straight for Zhao Zhi’s back.

At the same time, a man in black stood in the crown prince’s way and swung a sword at him, so the crown prince had to focus on fighting back.

Another arrow was flying straight for the emperor’s heart! As though they were worried that this arrow wouldn’t be enough to kill the man, another man in black flew toward the emperor, his sword aimed at the emperor’s throat!

“How dare you!”

Zhao Zhi’s eagle eyes were bloodshot and he seemed to have eyes on his back as he turned at a very strange angle to reach for and catch the arrow that was flying toward him. He threw the arrow aside and stomped on the floor to fly like a lightning bolt to where the crown prince was, the tip of his sword colliding directly with the crown prince’s to push his sword forward some more.

Clang!

He was able to move very quickly, but he was a little too far to attack the assassin blocking the crown prince’s way. So, he used the length of his sword to assist the crown prince’s attempt to stop the assassin.

The crown prince was trained in how to manage a country from a young age, so while he was trained in martial arts to a certain extent, it was mostly for strengthening his body and he wasn’t very good at it. He didn’t know a lot of moves and wasn’t really strong enough to actually fight, but with the help of Zhao Zhi’s sword, the thrust of his sword at the assassin suddenly became incredibly powerful. The assassin’s sword flew out of his hands and the crown prince’s sword even sliced the assassin’s throat!

In that instant, the crown prince saw the look of utter disbelief in the assassin’s eyes.

The assassin’s sword that flew out of his hands was now flying straight for the back of the other assassin who was flying toward the emperor’s throat.

The sword stabbed the assassin in the back, making it impossible for him to stab the emperor. He crashed to the floor and died at the feet of the emperor

As for the arrow that was headed for the emperor…

When Zhao Zhi caught the arrow coming at himself and threw it aside, he also caught this arrow while flying over.

All the dangers surrounding the emperor were suddenly resolved within seconds.

Zhao Zhi didn’t even need to attack any of them directly. He had stopped all the attacks with a few simple moves.

Empress Chen had followed the chaotic crowd away from the platform and was standing in a hidden shelter when she witnessed this scene. Her eyes were slightly narrowed and her nasolabial folds were tense.

It’s a pity I can’t get such a talented man on my team.

In the midst of the chaos, someone tugged at the empress’ clothes. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty! It’s very dangerous here, please follow me!”

Empress Chen turned and grabbed hold of the palace maid pulling at her with a trembling hand as she pretended to look like she was panicking but acting calm. “Don’t be scared…our ancestors are watching over us, so both myself and His Majesty will be fine!”

The maid bit her lips and tears poured down her face as she pointed in a different direction with a trembling finger, “The royal guards said that it’s safe over there, so they would like you to go there instead!”

“Alright, I’ll go over. But I’m actually really alright. The safety of the emperor is paramount,” said Empress Chen as she followed the maid and glanced back worriedly at where the emperor was. “Tell the royal guards that they need not bother about me. Just focus on protecting the emperor.”

The maid’s eyes were bloodshot as she sobbed, “Your Majesty…”

Empress Chen said, “I’m just a woman. If I die, I die. There’s no need to be afraid. But while Da’an can do without an empress, it cannot do without the emperor!”