The palace was brightly lit, with the Imperial Guards and the Jinyiwei each performing their duties, blocking the main and side gates of the southeast entrance so tightly that not even water could pass through. The remaining guards ran forward, carrying lanterns and searching everywhere. The large swords at their waists clanked as they moved, yet they couldn’t find even a trace of Emperor Shun’an.
The commotion had already disturbed the residents of the palace. Several accompanying civil officials hurriedly dressed and came over in the middle of the night. When they heard the reason for the disturbance, their eyes widened in shock. “Missing? Are you joking? If the Emperor were to move at night, how could you not see it?”
The official speaking was the Minister of Honglu Temple, who was in charge of the sacrificial ceremonies. He did not dare to question the Jinyiwei, so he interrogated the Imperial Guards instead.
The Imperial Guards’ faces were stern as they replied, “The Jinyiwei guard the south gate, the closest to the Jiulong Hall. If there was any commotion from the Emperor, wouldn’t they know?”
“Hey,” one of the Jinyiwei responded, “isn’t the south gate guarded by you Imperial Guards? If the Emperor really passed through there, you didn’t see it? I could say it was your east gate night patrol being negligent!”
“Ridiculous!” retorted the Imperial Guards. “You Jinyiwei always rush to claim credit for any merits and rewards, but now that something’s happened, you blame others?”
Xiao Yuanjing, standing silently on the side with a very displeased expression, reprimanded, “Enough! Stop arguing!”
The two sides fell silent.
Huo Xian strode over, having already grasped the general situation. He grabbed the anxious Wu Sheng, who was pacing nearby, and said, “You were serving inside. When did the Emperor go missing? You don’t know? Speak! What happened tonight, from start to finish!”
Wu Sheng’s legs were so weak he could barely stand. Losing the Emperor was a crime punishable by death many times over. He stammered, “The, the Emperor summoned Consort Xi to serve him at dusk. We servants retreated outside the hall. At first, the Consort massaged the Emperor’s acupoints. The Emperor fell asleep but woke up shortly after. Then we heard the Consort playing the pipa inside. They requested water twice, and after a short rest, the Emperor said he felt stifled. He took Consort Xi for a walk in the garden, dismissing the surrounding guards and eunuchs, and wouldn’t let us follow.”
By this point, Wu Sheng was on the verge of tears. “We didn’t dare slack off and followed from a distance. Who knew, in the blink of an eye, they were gone.”
Huo Xian asked, “You said it was the Emperor who dismissed the guards?”
Wu Sheng nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, the Emperor and Consort Xi were enjoying the scenery and said too many people were an eyesore.”
Huo Xian now understood why Xiao Yuanjing looked so displeased. The garden was under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Guards. Since the Emperor dismissed them, Xiao Yuanjing couldn’t escape responsibility if this matter was pursued.
But Huo Xian had no time to watch Xiao Yuanjing’s distress. His usually unruly eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the garden.
The palace was heavily guarded. If someone managed to abduct the Emperor under the noses of the Imperial Guards and the Jinyiwei, it was nearly impossible. There were only two possibilities.
One, the assailants had kidnapped the Emperor and were still hiding in the palace; or two, the restless Emperor might have sneaked out by himself, which wouldn’t be the first time.
However, in the past, when Emperor Shun’an sneaked out of the palace, Huo Xian was always there as an accomplice.
But that was when Emperor Shun’an was fed up with the courtiers and yearned for the pleasure districts outside the palace. What could he be thinking of in the deep mountains and forests now?
Wait! Consort Xi…
Emperor Shun’an had recently favored Lady Yu, so why did he suddenly summon Consort Xi to his bed?
Huo Xian suddenly thought of Ji Yuluo. She stood on those towering steps, smiling as she conversed with Concubine Xi. Why did she later bring up Xiao Yuanjing again? She was diverting his attention, inadvertently emphasizing her purpose for being there, making Huo Xian lower his guard!
Her purpose was never Xiao Yuanjing. Then she came for…
That night, when she galloped to the Grand Secretariat, she said, “Must it be Prince Ning who ascends the throne?”
—It must be Prince Ning who ascends the throne.
Huo Xian abruptly raised his eyes, his gaze surging with tumultuous waves. Even Xiao Yuanjing, standing before him, felt engulfed by this tide, spawning a baseless fear, as if something terrible was about to happen.
“You—”
Xiao Yuanjing was just about to ask when the emperor’s Chamberlain of the Hongluo Temple, who suddenly realized something, slapped his thigh and said, “If His Majesty intended to avoid the imperial guards and the Jinyiwei, he probably left through that forest!”
He dared not pull Huo Xian but grabbed Xiao Yuanjing instead, saying, “I’ve seen the Ministry of Works’ blueprints. The garden of the Jiulong Hall is separated from the Jiuzhen Temple by only that forest, right next to each other. If His Majesty dismissed the imperial guards here, it wouldn’t be impossible to come and go from the palace unnoticed.”
As the Chamberlain spoke, a howling sound pierced through the night. It was—
A wolf’s howl!
And judging by the sound, it was not an ordinary wolf cub but the wolf king!
Xiao Yuanjing reacted quickly. As he looked towards the mountain, a figure flashed before his eyes. Huo Xian, like a gust of wind, lifted his foot and rushed towards the forest. Xiao Yuanjing was a step slower but halted abruptly halfway, grabbing an imperial guard. “The wild beasts were all driven to the western forest for strict control. Where did the leak happen?”
The imperial guard didn’t dare raise his head and cupped his hands, “I will investigate immediately!”
Xiao Yuanjing’s voice remained steady, yet it seemed squeezed through his teeth, “Go, immediately!”
With that, he closely followed Huo Xian’s footsteps.
But he had calmed down. His uncle’s troops were about to march north. If something happened to the emperor now, it would only be heaven’s will aiding the Xiao family. The current breach in the imperial guards was the most urgent matter.
How many former subordinates of Prince Huaijin were still in the court and the imperial guards? Are they truly loyal to Prince Xingnan now?
This thought flashed through Xiao Yuanjing’s mind.
The wolf’s howl cut through the long night as Huo Xian ran towards a stone cave in the mountains.
He moved swiftly, scenes of Ji Yuluo’s unusual behavior today flashing through his mind. Even when he saw her applying medicine when he came out of the bathhouse, to her claiming dizziness, it was all part of her calculation!
Huo Xian panted heavily. If Emperor Shun’an encountered an accident, the capital would be in turmoil, and Xie Subai’s actions had accelerated.
He stopped, looking at the wolves near the stone cave. Their eyes glowed ominously in the night, ready to strike.
Xiao Yuanjing arrived moments later, nearly crashing into Huo Xian’s back. He smelled the strong scent of blood and saw a torn corpse, unrecognizable, with soft silk stained with blood. That was…
Concubine Xi!
Xiao Yuanjing’s pupils contracted, and he heard shouting from the slope above, “Someone, come quickly!”
–
The palace was in chaos. Ji Yuluo stepped out of her residence and stopped at the end of the path leading to the garden where the emperor had disappeared. Several ladies, hearing the commotion, gathered nearby, hesitant to step forward and reveal themselves. They stayed under a pavilion, observing from a distance and whispering among themselves.
Ji Yuluo’s expression remained indifferent as she watched the scene for a while. Just as she was about to turn her gaze away, she suddenly noticed a figure standing in the shadows of the trees.
It was the attendant who had brought food to Xiao Yuanjing earlier that night.
He was frowning, his expression slightly uneasy, peering around before he started to walk away.
Ji Yuluo’s gaze lowered to his embroidered soft boots, noticing the fine quality of the leather. His attire, although appearing simple, was clean and made of high-quality material.
Moreover…
Ji Yuluo took two unconscious steps in the direction he had left, wanting to get a closer look. Suddenly, two rows of Jinyiwei soldiers swept past her, saying, “Hurry up! There’s a problem with the imperial guards. Packs of wolves have been released. There aren’t many people on the mountain, and the lord is still there!”
Ji Yuluo stopped one of the Jinyiwei soldiers and asked, “Why did they go up the mountain?”
The Jinyiwei soldier was about to snap but instantly became respectful upon seeing her. “Madam, the lord went into the mountains. We heard wolf howls, and the imperial guards reported a breach. Please stay within the palace!”
After saying this, he hurriedly joined the others.
Biwu cautiously stepped forward, trying to persuade Ji Yuluo to return inside, but upon seeing her lowered eyes and tightly pressed lips, dared not insist, “Miss, we…”
“You stay here,” Ji Yuluo commanded, stepping forward. She turned back and added, “Don’t follow me.”
Biwu stopped, not daring to follow, and anxiously paced back and forth.
Ji Yuluo hastily grabbed a horse and took the path leading through the forest towards the back of Jiuzhen Temple. This route, though longer, was flatter than the one taken by the imperial guards and Jinyiwei. She rode swiftly and arrived at the cave entrance, where the imperial guards’ torches had already lit up the mountain forest, encircling the slope.
Arrows flew through the air with a “whoosh,” and wolves dashed, their howls piercing the long night. On the slope, the imperial guards and Jinyiwei faced off against the wolf pack, creating a chaotic scene.
Emperor Shun’an was surprisingly alive. He had climbed a tree to escape, but his overweight body made him clumsy. He fell from the tree, breaking his leg and having half an arm bitten off. He was covered in blood but still breathing, barely hanging on. The wolf king was biting his leg, trying to drag him down the slope.
Ji Yuluo finally spotted Huo Xian.
His steel blade was drenched in blood. He had just killed a snarling wolf attacking him and then dashed to the slope, grabbing Emperor Shun’an’s hand. The emperor dangled lifelessly from the slope, almost like a corpse.
Wrestling food from a wolf’s jaws was akin to battling soldiers at one’s throat.
The wolf king was massive, capable of commanding the pack and fighting ten men. Despite an arrow lodged in its back, it moved freely, its deep green eyes locked on Huo Xian.
Their gazes met, neither knowing whose was fiercer.
Huo Xian tightened his grip on the steel blade. In an instant, the blade sliced through the air, drawing blood. The wolf king fell aside, its claws slashing Huo Xian’s hand, causing the blade to drop.
The wolf king howled at the sky, its ferocity intensifying. It quickly turned and leaped towards Huo Xian.
In close combat with such a fierce beast, humans seldom have the upper hand.
The wolf’s sharp teeth sank into Huo Xian’s arm. Unable to shake it off, he swung his fist at its head.
Blow after blow, it seemed he could hear the sound of bones breaking inside the wolf king’s skull.
The wolf whimpered but refused to let go, as if intent on mutual destruction.
Ji Yuluo dismounted and strode forward, snatching a bow and arrow from a Jinyiwei soldier. Ignoring the astonished looks from those around her, she notched an arrow and drew the bowstring, aiming at the wolf clinging to Huo Xian. However, just as she was about to release, she glimpsed Xiao Yuanjing diagonally across from her, making the same motion.
But the arrow in his hand was not aimed at the wolf king.
In a critical moment, Ji Yuluo slightly raised her hand. With a “whoosh,” two arrows shot out almost simultaneously but collided a mere foot from Huo Xian and fell to the ground.
Xiao Yuanjing’s face showed shock as he sharply looked up.
He met a pair of cold, indifferent eyes.
She gazed at him quietly, without turmoil or anger, her expression as cold and serene as a spring from a snowy mountain amid the chaos of fire and wolves.
In that tranquil ripple, Ji Yuluo raised the bow again, this time aiming the arrow at Xiao Yuanjing.
