There was a sudden uproar in the lavishly decorated hall.

Emperor Jingxiao stood up and slapped the desk with his big hand. And it became quiet again. The concubines, the civil and military officials, and the two hundred commoners all held their breaths for fear of a little carelessness that might lead to fatal disasters.

In the depressed and tense atmosphere, Emperor Jingxiao sternly shouted,

"Poisoning? How could there be such a thing? What kind of poison did the murderer use?"

Leng Qingtang calmly replied,

"After the Imperial Hospital took the well water to feed the livestock, it was known that the poison was extracted from the Wutou Grass. Your Majesty can call the head of the Imperial Hospital in and then get answers by inquiring him"

Emperor Jingxiao wrinkled his brows and rubbed his palms, "Summon the head of the Imperial Hospital."

Not long after, Head Qi went to the temple and bowed down to worship.

Emperor Jingxiao raised his hands,

"Tell me what you know!"

Head Qi made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before his chest, "Your Majesty, after repeated checks by the Imperial Hospital, it was confirmed that the people in the capital drank poisonous well water instead of picking up the disease.

Wutou Grass grows all year round in Southern Jiang, and its branches, leaves, roots, and stems are highly poisonous. If a person accidentally eats it, she or he will suffer slight symptoms like colic, vomiting and diarrhea, or serious ones like convulsions, high fever, and even death due to a collapsed lung, which are the same as plague."

The emperor's complexion darkened after he heard this, and the veins on his forehead protruded from his skin. He roared,

"The person who uses such a poison really deserves to die! Where is he now? Immediately bring him to meet me!"

With an order, Yu Xuanji, High Priest, led several officials of the Observatory Director to the hall. They were Sichen, Sili, Director Song, and some others.

The hall was silent, and countless pairs of eyes were shocked, angry, or hostile. They stared firmly at them.

The five people knelt down on the golden platform, trembling all over and holding their breath with necks down.

The emperor looked down at them, and his eyes were full of rage,

"Song Xiang, I have promoted you as Observatory Director and treated you well. How dare you deceive me by slandering and framing Concubine Yu, and making a deliberate attempt to kill my son!"

"Your Majesty, I beg for my life. Please forgive me..."

Song trembled and cried so much that his face was full of tears,

"I didn't mean it. Some people robbed me of my wife and children and forced me to poison the well water in the city, and then to make up the words to make Concubine Yu lose the baby. If I did not obey them, all my family members would die..."

Yu Xuanji's red fairy clothes were enchanting like fire. He coldly lowered his eyes and skimmed over the person crying on the ground. He smiled and his face was cold,

"I dare to assume that the person who persecutes Song Xiang must be Lin Zhangzheng who is new to the palace of Observatory Director..."

High Priest supervised the Observatory Director. Now that his subordinates committed a crime, he could not sit idly by and thus personally bring the criminal to the court to keep himself out of the affair.

Suddenly Song Xiang stopped in grief, and after a shiver, he was humbled like a bird of fright.

The emperor clenched his fist and hit the desk hard,

"Come here! Take Song Xiang and four of his men out of the Meridian Gate and behead them. Hang their heads on the tower to show the public and exterminate their entire family involved."

Hearing these words, the five people of Observatory Director fainted, collapsed, and were dragged down like dead dogs.

All the people in the hall knelt down, and the concubines, court officials, and the people said in unison,

"Your Majesty, you are wise. Long live, Your Majesty."

The emperor turned to look at Leng Qingtang and pointed at him,

"Go and immediately bring Lin Zhangzheng to me. I want to see him alive or his corpse if he has been dead."

Leng Qingtang raised corners of her lips lightly, pressing his bare hands between the sleeves and lifting up,

"Your Majesty, please rest assured. I have already sent two troops to hunt him around the capital. Once the criminal is arrested, I will personally bring him to see you. The current situation is looming, and I need to return to the Eastern Depot to make important arrangements. I can't stay here for a long time and hope that Your Majesty will forgive me."

Emperor Jingxiao's sorrowful expression was constricted and he nodded in relief,

"Well, my country won’t prosper without you. Go ahead."

"Your Majesty, thank you so much."

Leng Qingtang got up, turned around, and walked out. With eyes flashing, he turned to Concubine Xu's seat. Seeing Jinzhu alone standing behind her, he felt depressed and his eyes were clear and dark.

Yunxi, was she really going to do her own way?

Yu Xuanji bowed at this time and said slowly, "Your Majesty, while I am supervising Observatory Director, such a disaster happens in the capital. I know I am guilty, and I ask Your Majesty to punish me."

Just because of the physical relationship, the emperor was always merciful to High Priest. He waved his hand and said, "Hey, you have helped me to make alchemy and have several positions. You cannot reach every aspect of a matter. This time the crime is not yours."

Yu Xuanji bowed, "Your Majesty, thanks a lot. Now that the problem is solved, and the time is right. I should go to the Pengxian Temple to burn incense and do the ritual to supersede the dead souls who died in the catastrophe. Please allow me to leave the palace immediately."

The emperor replied. Hearing that the time was right, he didn’t stop Yu Xuanji and allowed him to leave the hall.

When High Priest left, Emperor Jingxiao held his forehead and looked at Gu Yunyao who was under the platform with a gloomy look. He sighed,

"Yao'er, I really wronged you."

Empress Qian got up from the phoenix chair when she heard it, lifted her dress and, walked down the golden stairs step by step. She came to Gu Yunyao to help her stand up,

"Sister Yu, you can't afford to kneel so long because you are pregnant. Come on, sit on the chair with me."

"Thank you, Your Grace."

Gu Yunyao said with a smile, but her face was cold and not warm.

Wan Yuyao, the Imperial Noble Concubine, sat silently. Narrowing her gloomy eyes, she watched Empress Qian and Concubine Yu step upstairs hand in hand and her vicious heart sank to the bottom.

…

On the black and windy night, a man was violently chased by the guards of the Eastern Depot and ran hurriedly under the moon. He had been injured during the fight. At this moment, he staggered and was almost caught up by the followers.

At the critical moment, a black figure fell, unexpectedly knocking down a guard. The steel blade in that man’s hand was snatched by the masked man, and he wielded a cold light and beat the guards violently.

There were only a few guards in this tribe, less than twenty. The tribe was charged by Zhao Wuji. The masked man surrounded by them looked exquisite and slender, and he did not seem to be good at fighting.

Unexpectedly, this person made sure and fierce moves. He wounded his opponent's limbs with a blade while waving his hands. Although it was not a critical point, all the guards were not able to attack anymore.

With two fingers of the vacant left hand clamping tightly, he inadvertently hit the other's numb point. His opponents suddenly became as soft as mud and collapsed on the ground without any killing power.

After a while, the guards were all beat by the mysterious masked man.

Turning around, the masked man walked up to the chased man with a steel blade in his hand.

The man tremblingly shook his hands,

"Please, don't kill me. Hero, please spare my life..."

The black cloth covering his face moved. His voice was soft and tactful when he opened his mouth, and he yelled coldly,

"Immediately give me the Kunhuang Island map in your hand!"

The man was suddenly startled. According to the voice, this person was a young girl. He somewhat calmed down, winking his eyebrows and pretending to be unable to understand,

"Lady, what, what are you talking about? What map? I have never heard of it..."

Silverlight paced in front of him, and the man suddenly felt cold in his neck and throat, and then shut his mouth.

The eyes of the masked man exposed to the moonlight were gloomy and dull, and his tone was dumb and impatient,

"Lin Zhangzheng... or it might be better to call you "Priest Wu" at this time. Since I can rescue you from the Eastern Depot, I will naturally take you to the Eastern Depot again."

That night, Gu Yunxi obtained a monthly amount of Hanfu Powder from a mysterious woman. When she opened the lid of the rouge box alone, she found that there was a note in the box.

The words in it were indeed a handwritten script by His Highness, explaining that Lin Zhangzheng, Observatory Director, was Lei Huan's apprentice and that his real identity was a priest whose surname was Wu.

It was no wonder that he had the same smoke on him as people who worshipped Buddha and Taoist had.

Thinking of the escaped key culprit Leng Qingtang mentioned in Peng County when they were in front of the solitary pagoda of Yuyan Ridge, Gu Yunxi could guess that the Eastern Depot and High Priest had been focusing on Lei Huan and his apprentice, probably because of the mysterious island map.

She must control Priest Wu before them.

After careful planning in her mind, Gu Yunxi took leave from Concubine Xu for two days, hid in an inconspicuous inn in the capital, and temporarily settled down. She changed clothes after nightfall.

At this moment, seeing Priest Wu leaning against a dry tree trunk with a tangled expression, Gu Yunxi instantly raised her eyebrows and forced her wrists to press the blade against the man's throat.

His skin was hot and painful, and then there was a greasy liquid gushing out. Priest Wu frowned, knowing that the skin on his neck was cut by a sharp blade.

This fierce woman only needed one more effort and his throat would be cut by the blade in an instant.

"Take me to look for the Kunhuang Island map. Otherwise, I will kill you immediately!"

Gu Yunxi's eyes widened and were stained with blood.

"Oh no, no..."

As he spoke, Priest Wu frowned in pain and large drops of sweat from the sideburns rolled down. Only a pair of fox eyes radiated a sly light and the sharpness was revealed,

"Swordswoman, let me go. I'll take you to go... Take the blade away. Let's go on the road."

Shaking his fingers and holding the icy blade, Priest Wu removed the blade from his neck. He watched Gu Yunxi's actions vigilantly and faintly got up from the ground.

Priest Wu had traveled across Da Yi over years. He appeared to be a priest. In fact, he had long been bribed by the Wan Clan. He had become a middleman of resource exchange and sharing between the Imperial Noble Concubine’s family and the officials and business circles for speculation and money laundering.

By chance, he came across Lei Huan who was wandering around in the Central Plain, and formally acknowledged him as a teacher. Lei Huan was willing to accept him as a disciple. Naturally, he knew his background and was able to accumulate social relations and build networks for Tianyan Faction to return to the Central Plain in the future.

A few days ago, hearing that his teacher encountered an ambush on his way to the Central Plains, Priest Wu was worried. Fortunately, after ten days, his teacher was safe and successfully contacted him. He secretly stayed in Yuqing Temple where he practiced to recuperate. Later he obtained the informant's carrier pigeon from Peng County and was able to get away before he was discovered by the Eastern Depot.

With the help of Priest Wu, Lei Huan met with Wan Fu, Lord Shen, and discussed to choose a day to present the treasure map in his hand to the emperor. However, Wan Li, the Shenle Marquis, visited and warned them that Emperor Jingxiao was moody and suspicious by nature.

Right now, Lei Huan’s treasure map contained a secret when the emperor ascended the throne. It was feared that after the map was presented, the two would be killed and meaningless for the royal family.

After thinking about it, the teacher and the apprentice were also shocked, and finally adopted Wan Li's suggestion to cooperate with him to find a way out. They used Wutou Grass to poison the well, which caused the symptoms of an overnight plague in the capital and waited for an opportunity to persecute Concubine Yu.

In the last round of "Putian Banquet", Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot exposed the conspiracy behind the scenes, and the outsiders had already received the message. Priest Wu couldn't take care of his decency anymore, and he hugged his teacher's thigh. He cried, begging him to save him from death.

Lei Huan became Wan Zong's assistant with Priest Wu's help. Now Priest Wu committed a crime, and he knew that he was a dying person, but refused to let go of his last value in use.

Once hearing about matters of the sound of the flute in the deep palace and the mannequin case, Lei Huan concluded that the forces that ambushed him at sea and on the way to Jing City would affect the palace. In order to successfully elicit the rebellious party in the palace who intended to rob the map, Lei Huan deliberately coaxed Priest Wu to pretend to flee, attracting the thieves to enter the Yuyan Pagoda of the Yuyan Ridge.

However, the little girl with a black veil in front made him deeply disappointed. He had thought that he could attract a lot of big fish with this bait, but now the girl seemed to be alone. She did well in Kung Fu and it could be seen that how powerful the people behind her were.

Anyway, it was fine to lure one by one. It was better than being handed over to the Eastern Depot by her.

Priest Wu turned his black eyes and smiled flatly at Gu Yunxi,

"Let's go. I will take you there. As long as you don't kill me or hand me over to the Eastern Depot, I can do whatever you want."

He gestured with his hand to lead Gu Yunxi on a winding road...

—

Leng Qingtang and some people from the third tribe of the Eastern Depot rushed to the scene of the accident and saw more than a dozen secret guards lying on the dirt road in the hills, trembling in pain.

"Master, we are incompetent... Priest Wu was rescued..."

"Useless!"

Seeing the failure of his subordinates, Zhao Wuji scolded angrily while holding a steel ball.

Leng Qingtang looked at the wound on the guard's body and smiled coldly,

"This person has a high level of martial arts and can hit the limbs in one move without taking your life. It seems that he is an enemy... and also a friend of the Eastern Depot."

Yu Xuanji was dressed in a black suit on a high-headed horse beside Leng Qingtang and his handsome face was covered by a golden mask. His lips were lightly curled when he saw it,

"Why are you still speaking for her? You are so scheming that she doesn't necessarily have to consolidate at every step. Otherwise, would she run ahead of you and rob Priest Wu?"

A guard pressed his calf with his hands, rolled on the spot with pain, and still intermittently answered,

"Quickly, Master... The woman forced Priest Wu... to take her to look for the Kunhuang Island map..."

Yu Xuanji raised his eyebrows with a cold smile at the corner of his mouth. He looked at Leng Qingtang and said with sarcasm,

"Look, woman...Who else can she be?"

Leng Qingtang's expression was calm with his star eyes shining dazzlingly under the silver moon,

"Since that map is so important that it can cause turmoil around, if I were Lei Huan, I would also deliberately release bait and wait for the fish to take it. Now that someone wants to be a pioneer, wouldn't it be better for us to sit back and enjoy the success?"

Yu Xuanji immediately stopped talking and followed the crowd to spur the horse, galloping forward in the night.