Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Han Xu was about to respond when he heard someone among the officials cry out in panic, “Fire!”

The words were like a boulder thrown into water, causing a huge uproar.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. Outside the hall, half the sky was dyed a vivid red, leaping flames shot straight into the sky, and thick smoke billowed, covering the entire night.

Someone ran to the entrance of the hall and looked toward the fire.

“It’s Mingyue Pavilion!”

The scene immediately descended into chaos. Many people rushed out of the hall to look toward Mingyue Pavilion.

No one was unfamiliar with that place.

Mingyue Pavilion, the most bustling pleasure quarter in Shangjing.

Unlike ordinary brothels, Mingyue Pavilion had many refined courtesans and talented women, and it had always been known for its elegance. Many of the dignitaries present were regular patrons.

Wei Yi watched the soaring flames and an ominous premonition surged in his heart.

Zhou Wei, Jin He, the Northern Garrison and Pacification Office, the West Suburb Farm, Mingyue Pavilion…

Why had Sheng Zhaoning hastily released Jin He from the palace? Why had Zhou Wei gone to such lengths to rescue someone from the Northern Garrison and Pacification Office?

And Mingyue Pavilion, why had it suddenly erupted in towering flames?

All these events linked together, like an impenetrable black mist closing in from all sides, enveloping him completely.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.

In an instant, the mist dispersed.

“Find Sheng Zhaoning!”

Wei Yi’s eyes turned red as he bellowed the order.

Eunuch Zhao shuddered. Before he could react, Han Xu had already dashed out the door. Other Shadow Guards who had been lurking in the shadows scattered in different directions to search for Zhou Wei and the others.

For a moment, panic swept through Guangyang Hall.

A storm unlike any before brewed in Wei Yi’s eyes. His entire aura was dark and terrifying, the red at the corners of his eyes like blood, his reason inching toward the brink of collapse.

Before a cup of tea’s time had passed, Han Xu returned to report.

“Your Majesty, Sheng Zhaoning is not in Changhua Hall!”

Wei Yi’s face turned livid.

Zhao Quan’s vision went black and he nearly fainted.

Sheng Zhaoning had somehow knocked Tao Rui unconscious and replaced her with another maid on the bed. The eunuch and guards at the door noticed nothing amiss, but she herself was nowhere to be found.

Wei Yi crushed a corner of the table, the wood splintering to dust in his hand.

“Find her!”

Zhao Quan scrambled out, hurriedly dispatching men to search every palace.

Wei Yi felt his blood run cold. His expression was icy and terrifying, the bones of his pale fingers bulging with veins, his face nearly crazed.

The Eastern Palace.

The eerie, ghostly music abruptly stopped.

The moonlight was cold and desolate. The surroundings were barren and silent, like a land of death.

Gao Qi lay on the ground, tightly bound. His dilated pupils slowly regained focus as the music faded.

He felt sharp stabs of pain in his head. His blank mind gradually refilled with thoughts, the darkness before his eyes receding as the scene around him became clear.

“Awake?” A cold voice sounded next to his ear.

Gao Qi came to his senses, only to find himself in a vast, dilapidated palace. Cold wind blew in through the torn window paper, making a sobbing sound like a ghost’s wail.

The icy touch of the ground seeped into his limbs and bones. His face was pale, cold sweat instantly soaking his clothes, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

His gaze traveled up the person before him until it fixed on that familiar face. His mind went blank, and a sharp ringing filled his ears.

“Sheng Zhaoning, it’s you!”

Her face was entirely hidden in darkness; only by the flickering firelight from the window’s skyline and the chilling moonlight could her features be faintly discerned.

Sheng Zhaoning tilted her head slightly, a faint smile on her face.

“As expected of medicine brought back from the Southern Frontier. It beguiles with music, and when the music stops, you wake.” She tossed away the bamboo whistle, holding a sharp dagger that gleamed with a cold, sinister light under the moon. “Otherwise, if you remained asleep the whole time, the pain of torture would be wasted.”

Sheng Zhaoning spoke to herself, completely ignoring Gao Qi’s terrified gaze, as if he were seeing a ghost. “It’s just a pity that Xu Fu died too quickly; I didn’t get to use many methods.”

“You-I have no grudge against you! What on earth do you want?!”

Gao Qi struggled desperately. In his eyes, Sheng Zhaoning now appeared exactly like a ferocious ghost crawling out of hell. He stared at her in terror, his heart pounding, and squirmed backward with all his might.

“No grudge? Perhaps.” Sheng Zhaoning tilted her head to look at him, her tone somewhat innocent. “But among all the people I’ve killed, was there any who had a grudge against me?”

Gao Qi truly couldn’t bear to hear the word “kill.” He was drenched in sweat, breathing rapidly, his voice tinged with sobs. “Lord Sheng, spare me! Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you!”

Sheng Zhaoning half-leaned against a pillar, her strength draining quickly, the wound on her abdomen still aching dully. She coughed twice from her chest. “Oh? Is that so?”

Hearing her ask that, a glimmer of hope lit up in his eyes. He looked at her ingratiatingly. “Yes, yes, yes! Whether you want money or anything else, I’ll give it to you!”

Sheng Zhaoning’s lips moved. “But, I only want your life.”

Gao Qi instantly fell into despair and blurted out, “The Crown Prince’s death had nothing to do with me! Why do you want to kill me?!”

Under extreme fear, a person loses the ability to think rationally.

The moment he saw Sheng Zhaoning, he knew why she had come for him.

One could even say he had long been prepared for her to find him, only that when it actually happened, he still couldn’t help the fear radiating from the depths of his heart.

Ever since he started working for Prince Zhenbei, he had not slept a single good night. On one hand, there was Prince Zhenbei’s coercion and temptation; on the other, the constant anxiety of a guilty conscience. He worried every day that he would be exposed.

It wasn’t until Prince Zhenbei marched his army into the capital, rebelled, and usurped the throne that he finally enjoyed a few days of peace.

Who knew that right after that came Sheng Zhaoning’s frenzied slaughter like a demon from hell? Everyone who participated in the Palace Coup was killed; only he survived by a stroke of luck.

When he learned of Xu Fu’s death, he was so terrified that he fell gravely ill.

Xu Fu was the last person to be killed. If Sheng Zhaoning continued her investigation, she would certainly trace it back to him!

Even after he heard that she had been dismissed and imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice, the fear in his heart did not lessen in the slightest. Even in his dreams, he saw her approaching step by step with a blood-dripping knife!

Sheng Zhaoning was his nightmare!

“Does it matter?” She tilted her head to look at him. “I didn’t come to investigate. Whether you confess or not, I’m going to kill you.”

Under Gao Qi’s terrified gaze, she slowly said, “Not just you. From the Grand Secretariat to the Six Ministries, the newly appointed scholars, the Twelve Directorates of the inner palace, the twenty-six garrisons of the Imperial Guards-those who helped Prince Zhenbei numbered thirty-one in total.”

“And you are the thirty-second.”

Gao Qi’s eyes instantly widened. “You… you…”

“Want to ask how I know?”

Sheng Zhaoning curled her lips into a smile and looked at him, enunciating each word:

“Because, I was originally from the Wei Clan.”