However, Feng Qian knew that this matter was urgent and her brother would probably take action soon. How could they wait any longer?
"Seventh Prince, there's no need to say anything more. Your elder sister has already made a decision on this matter. You can just stay at the Prince Jing's residence in peace."
After Feng Qian finished speaking, she stood up, took Helian Qianxun's hand, and slipped out. With a wave of her hand, she led the people away from the Jingwang Mansion. In the room, Feng Zihe opened her mouth to speak, but there was no time to speak. She could only stare blankly at the dark night. It was truly an eventful winter. Thinking of the war between the two countries, Feng Zihe's heart was heavy.
...
In the palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Feng Qian and Helian Qianxun, along with several subordinates, infiltrated the palace. Knowing that things might go wrong if they waited too long, they decided to act quickly and capture Feng Zixiao in one fell swoop, so that the seventh prince, Feng Zihe, could ascend the throne as emperor.
There were many guards patrolling the palace, but with Helian Qianxun's skills, ordinary people couldn't spot him at all.
He carried Feng Qian through various parts of the palace and soon sneaked into the palace where Feng Zixiao was currently living, the Moon Palace.
It was already late at night. In the Moonlit Palace, the eunuchs on night duty were dozing off while searching around. Feng Qian instructed Helian Qianxun, and the group headed straight for the Moonlit Palace's sleeping quarters.
Outside the palace, eunuchs stood guard. Feng Qian waved her hand, and Se Se, as elusive as a ghost, darted past. With a flick of her wrist, she swiftly knocked out several eunuchs at the door, then slipped into the palace.
On the dragon bed, a person was sleeping on their side. It was none other than Feng Zixiao. Helian Qianxun moved swiftly, as fast as lightning and as graceful as a dragon. In the blink of an eye, he controlled the person on the bed and used a finger to press an acupoint. Feng Qian followed closely behind and pounced on the bed, pulling the person on the bed up. The person who opened their eyes was full of panic. Although the face was somewhat similar, the expression was different. Feng Qian was shocked and looked at Helian Qianxun. Helian Qianxun had already spoken in a deep voice.
"This is fake."
"What, it's fake."
Feng Qian cried out in shock. She hadn't expected her brother to be so cunning, just like Jiang Batian back then, who had set up a fake emperor on his own dragon bed. And what about him? Feng Qian's eyes suddenly sharpened, and she grabbed the fake emperor's neck with one hand, screaming shrilly, "Speak, where is the emperor?"
The man whose neck was being choked shook his head repeatedly. He had no idea where the emperor had gone. The emperor had ordered him to impersonate him, so he had no choice but to impersonate him.
"How many days have you been pretending?"
Feng Qian asked in a deep voice, and the fake emperor quickly replied, panting heavily, "It's been several days. His Majesty is not in the palace. He has ordered his subordinates to impersonate him and stay in the palace pretending to be sick."
Inside the palace, during the interrogation, shouts suddenly rang out from outside: "Assassins! Assassins!"
It turned out that the eunuch who had been knocked unconscious by Se Se had woken up and started shouting as soon as he opened his eyes.
Footsteps soon echoed throughout the palace, all rushing towards the bedchamber. Helian Qianxun glanced at Feng Qian and said calmly, "Let's go. Feng Zixiao has likely gone to the border."
What a clever escape! He set up a fake emperor in the palace to fool the court officials, while he himself secretly led his men to the border with Beilu.
Upon hearing Helian Qianxun's words, Feng Qian's face turned green, and she grabbed Helian Qianxun's hand: "Let's go."
Two people led the way and slipped out of the window, followed closely by Se Se and the others. The group used their lightness skills to leave the palace.
Before the morning star faded and the fog thickened, the fragrance of flowers and grass condensed in the thin mist, forming intoxicating clusters. Inside the Jingwang Mansion, Helian Qianxun and Feng Qian called out to Feng Zihe and told him about the fake emperor in the palace. Feng Zihe was also shocked, his face full of gloom. Could it be that his elder brother had already gone to the border of Beilu? He really didn't know what he would do next.
Feng Qian looked at Feng Zihe: "Seventh brother, I don't know what you're thinking, but right now I just want to stop this, otherwise, the world will be in turmoil."
In truth, if it weren't for the sake of the people, even if she slaughtered everyone in the world after entering Yunjiang, what would it matter to her? But she really couldn't just stand by and watch the Great Zhou Dynasty perish.
"Royal sister, I'm with you. What should we do now?"
Feng Zihe finally made up his mind to work with Feng Qian to stop this.
"We must go to Beilu immediately, ride as fast as we can, and tell Ling'er and Ye Lingfeng that our imperial brother has arrived at the border between Beilu and the Great Zhou Dynasty, and he may very well make a move."
"Okay, let's go together."
Prince Jing, Feng Zihe, and Feng Qian, along with others, quietly left the Prince Jing's residence and headed towards Beilu.
Meanwhile, the palace in Beilu was peaceful. The kitten had been sent away, and Hailing was relieved. She was living a leisurely life, and she and Ye were becoming increasingly close. Ye had already mobilized troops to Hongxue Lake, but it was unknown whether they had arrived yet. With 100,000 troops, the journey would certainly be slow.
After taking a nap in the afternoon, I made some snacks and took them to the study.
However, outside the Imperial Study, Shi Zhu and the others looked extremely grim. As soon as they saw the Empress coming, they went to greet her.
"Your subordinates greet Your Majesty the Empress."
The atmosphere had been quite relaxed lately, but the coldness emanating from Shi Zhu's body and the bloodthirsty ferocity in his eyes indicated that something had happened. Thinking this, Hai Ling's heart sank, and she spoke coldly.
"What happened? Is something wrong?"
"Your Majesty, the 100,000-strong army has reached Red Snow Lake. General Pei sent an urgent message back saying that all the residents of Fulong Island have been killed, not a single one of them was spared. The men were not only killed but also their corpses were whipped, and the women were raped and killed. Even the children and the elderly were not spared."
As soon as Shi Zhu finished speaking, Hai Ling's body trembled slightly. She felt so cold all over that she couldn't even clench her fingers. She wanted to curse and roar, but no sound came out.
Feng Zixiao truly deserves to be torn to pieces. She never imagined he would become so perverted and depraved, not even sparing children, whipping the corpses of dead men, and raping and killing women. What deep-seated hatred could he possibly have for these people?
"How is the Emperor?"
Hai Ling spoke coldly, and Shi Zhu reported, "His Majesty has summoned several ministers to the study to discuss matters."
"Alright, go in and report to me."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Shizhu responded, turning and entering the study. Inside, behind the dragon desk sat Ye Lingfeng, whose exquisitely beautiful face featured long eyebrows that swept into his temples, and pupils as black as lacquer that gleamed with a cold light. The temperature in the study was colder and more chilling than ever before.
Apart from Ye Lingfeng, all the court officials had gloomy and cold expressions on their faces, and no one spoke.
As soon as Hai Ling entered, the seated ministers stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, we greet you."
Hai Ling's mood was naturally no better than that of these ministers. The deaths of the residents of Fulong Island were truly heartbreaking. Even on a small island with a population of at least 10,000, all of them had met untimely deaths. So she didn't say anything, but simply nodded, signaling the ministers to sit down. She then walked over to Ye Lingfeng and sat down next to him, slowly asking questions.
"Your Majesty, what do you intend to do?"
They had always known that Feng Zixiao would fight this battle with them, but they didn't expect him to cross Red Snow Lake so quickly, enter Fulong Island, and kill the island's residents. What does this mean? Does it mean that he had been planning this for a long time? Otherwise, there wouldn't have been such a big commotion in such a short time.
Ye Lingfeng's eyes were dark and bloodthirsty, his thin lips were tightly pressed together, and he felt an inescapable guilt towards those who had died.
"I have decided to go to Red Snow Lake."