After Bingbi Liu's order, the eunuch behind him came forward and pulled Gu Yunxi towards the gate of the Palace.

Before Gu Yunxi cried, Yan Gui came over and said with a frightened, anxious and trembled voice.

"Hey, hey, Bingbi Liu, do not be like this! Do not be like this! If you take her away, how could I explain to Your Grace?"

Bingbi Liu rolled his eyes and looked at Yan Gui without blinking. He raised his thumb and pointed at nothing behind him.

"Explain? Explain what? I am under the order of Master Leng to arrest the suspect of theft case in the Palace. If you need an explanation, ask the Master. Go!"

Then the crowd flung out of Chuxiu Palace.

...

At the Imperial Ceremony Office—

The air in the Violent Room was stagnant with blood and putrefaction. Various instruments of confinement and torture could be seen everywhere.

Under the dim light, the eunuchs taking charge of punishment were expressionless, and their indifferent eyes shone sharply.

Thrown in this hellish environment, any other people would have been frightened to death.

However, Gu Yunxi was different.

She had gone through the Royal Prison in the Eastern Depot and seen many interrogation methods.

Albeit trapped in the Violent Room and faced with chilling torture devices reeking with blood, she did not elicit any emotion, let alone fearful wailing.

"Tu Muxue, if you know your situation, confess now. Don't wait until we pry your mouth open!"

Seated at the desk, Bingbi Liu said coldly to Gu Yunxi.

Now she was a madam in the Palace, so even if she committed a crime, the Eastern Depot could not take out for interrogation. Hence, it was reasonable to put the Imperial Ceremony Office on the job.

Kneeling silently, Gu Yunxi pondered to herself. She had been the accomplice with the masked man and hurt Prince Chen with her own hands. She deserved the punishment now.

Nonetheless, she worked at Chuxiu Palace. If she confessed her guilt, would she implicate honest and kind Concubine Xu and other maids?

Suddenly, Gu Yunxi looked up and met Bingbi Liu's eyes calmly.

"What do you want me to confess about, my lord?"

"Where have you been on the night of July 7th? Who were you with? And when did you return to Chuxiu Palace?"

Bingbi Liu's intimidating questions were uttered through the eunuch's unique piercing voice. They stabbed Gu Yunxi's heart like taggers, tormenting her nerves.

"On the night of July 7th, I went out at 6 o'clock to see the lanterns out of the Palace and returned around 7 o'clock. I was out alone with no company."

To not involve the innocent, Gu Yunxi deliberately concealed the fact that she had been accompanied by Lanxin and Guard Fan.

"You're lying!"

Bingbi Liu snorted at her reply and struck the table.

"Nonsense! You did leave the Palace at six. But the Imperial Ceremony Office has already investigated and found a witness saying that you only returned after 8 o'clock."

"In those two hours, you had not only visited the streets but had been to the Imperial Garden, right?"

There was a boom in Gu Yunxi's mind as if it had been about to explode.

For the safety of people in Chuxiu Palace, she recomposed her crumbling thoughts and put on a calm mask. Joining her hands under the sleeves, she insisted decisively.

"I truly left at six and walked along the west bank of the Silver River to North Street to see the lanterns. At around seven, I came back and never went to the Imperial Garden. The Honour Guards at the gate of divine prowess had the records for my departure and arrival that night. You'll know when you read it."

"Stubborn."

Bingbi Liu struck the desk again angrily as coldness darted out of his eyes.

"If you did not go to the Imperial Garden, why were your clothes covered with mud and blood?"

Speechless, Gu Yunxi squinted.

It seemed that she had been betrayed.

The Palace was truly a purgatory on earth! Some people would tread on others for wealth and fame. Others would sell people out for as little money as five taels of gold. They turned themselves into monsters for the sake of wealth.

By her ears, Bingbi Liu's sharp voice full of irritability sounded again.

"It seems that you will not speak unless tortured by the Imperial Ceremony Office! Come, let's show her the real business!"

Immediately, two young eunuchs flashed out. One held Gu Yunxi's shoulders down on the ground when the other stuck her fingers in clamps.

As the clamps were squeezed up, blood soon dripped out of her knuckles.

The nerves in the fingers directly linked to the heart. So, Gu Yunxi almost fainted due to the severe pain.

Although her face was twisted by the pain, she still gritted her teeth to endure it without screeching or crying.

One year ago, she had experienced skin peeling and changing. The crucifying agony had numbed her body and mind. The pain now was nothing in comparison.

Bingbi Liu was surprised and secretly awed by her endurance. He knew little about Gu Yunxi's past and took her resistance as a mockery of the power of the Imperial Ceremony Office.

"Tu Muxue, will you confess or not?"

Bingbi Liu pressed on fiercely.

Sweaty all over, Gu Yunxi replied breathlessly.

"I have told you... all I know. What would you have me... to say?"

Grinding his teeth, Bingbi Liu gave a glance to the eunuchs taking charge of punishment.

They then brought some needles a few inches long and pierced them under her nails.

Blood splashed out. And Gu Yunxi's limbs twitched in pain. Her lips were bitten broken, where groans came out.

She nearly passed out several times. But before she could, cold water was poured over her, freezing her to the bone.

Bingbi Liu also ordered the eunuch to flog Gu Yunxi with a thorny whip soaked in salt water.

The whip thundered in the dark and cold Violent Room, trembling the listeners' hearts and souls.

The lashes descended like rain.

Before long, her clothes were torn, and her once smooth flesh was mutilated.

When salt stimulated her wounds, the pain was like driving thousands of nails into the bone. Gu Yunxi rolled and wailed, but she did not utter a word.

After twenty lashes, Bingbi Liu motioned to stop.

Gu Yunxi was limp on the ground, her eyes half-closed and her body bloodstained.

She gradually lost consciousness...

In the darkness, she saw a warm and smiling face.

It was the Master!

He approached her and whispered softly in her ear.

"Girl, I'll be waiting for you."

The door opened and let in a shaft of light into the Violent Room. Then a few people came in.

Seeing that the head of the Imperial Ceremony Office had arrived, Bingbi Liu hurriedly got up and kowtowed with his men.

"Master."

Leng Qingtang looked at the bloody unkempt woman on the ground and asked indifferently.

"What did you find?"

A frown fell on Bingbi Liu's brows as he replied reverently.

"Sorry, Master. The woman was very stubborn. She did not even shed a tear after we used three torture instruments. I will find another way to open her mouth tonight!"

"Not a single tear? Is she made of steel?"

Puzzled, Leng Qingtang sneered.

As the Eastern Depot’s Commander-in-chief for the last twelve years, he had watched countless interrogations but never seen anyone who did not cry out of pain.

The Imperial Ceremony Office and the Eastern Depot shared the same 372 ways of punishment.

Generally, a young and strong eunuch could not stand three punishments, let alone a maid.

Leng Qingtang walked towards her step by step, trying to take a closer look at the strange girl on the ground.

A hint of familiar perfume permeated Gu Yunxi's nose, waking her up from pain and dreaminess.

Master…

Covered with wounds, she struggled to open her eyes. When she raised her head dejectedly, a blue figure came into her blurred vision.

"Master?"

Gu Yunxi's eyes widened in disbelief. Her gaze froze when they looked at each other.

Was it really him? The man she was willing to stake her life to love and protect?

Or was she caught helplessly in a dream again, longing for him?