His entire body flushed red, blood flowing all over him.
Blood turned to ice, freezing everything in its path.
Qi Shen was drinking and making merry in the flower hall, served by many attendants around him.
A woman’s figure drifted into the flower hall.
On the ground, the bloody ice rapidly spread; the butchers in the corridor were instantly frozen solid like ice statues.
The female musicians, dancers, and beauties inside the flower hall, upon seeing the eerie figure, immediately let out startled screams.
A cold chill swept through.
These women, one by one, their beautiful eyes rolling back, their bodies trembling before losing consciousness.
On the corridor, several butchers turned instantly into mummified corpses under the icy grip.
Along with the cracking sounds of the ice breaking, the bodies of the butchers shattered, turning into shards of ice crystals falling onto the ground.
As for the female entertainers, they only fainted.
A thin layer of ice covered their bodies, but their lives were not taken.
A piercing long howl sounded from afar.
All over Qifang Garden, streaks of sword light flashed.
More than thirty sword guards from the Haojian Palace shot into the sky, dressed in snowy white.
They stepped on ancient plum trees, moving like lightning and wind, rushing from all directions toward the flower hall.
Besides these white-clad sword guards, Qi Shen’s several hundred guards also mobilized.
They put on armor as quickly as possible, grabbed various weapons, and formed ranks as they surged toward the flower hall.
A bit closer were Yin Xing’s guards.
Yin Xing was drinking and enjoying himself inside the flower hall, with his guards stationed at the small hill made of strange stones nearby.
Upon hearing the commotion inside the flower hall, a dozen or so fit guards wearing robes embroidered with dragon patterns immediately rushed to the flower hall’s entrance, their blades gleaming coldly as they cut through the chill, ready to burst inside.
“Prince!” the guards shouted in unison.
“Help!” Yin Xing, who had been full of bluster just moments ago, now looked utterly weak and limp upon seeing the woman’s floating figure approaching step by step.
Hearing the cries of his trusted guards, Yin Xing instinctively howled for help.
At the same time, he grabbed the jade talisman around his neck and bit his teeth as he recited the incantation taught to him by the Unworried Daoist.
The jade talisman trembled, but the incantation brought no response.
Yin Xing stared blankly for a moment.
Then, he suddenly lifted his robe and revealed six troop commander tokens, muttering six military incantations taught by the six generals.
Still, no response at all.
The woman’s figure even paused briefly, casting a curious glance at Yin Xing.
Yin Xing’s face twisted, livid with rage.
He suddenly pulled out the cork from a porcelain bottle and shouted, “Roar!” as he splashed the murky black dog’s blood mixed with boy’s urine from the bottle onto half of her semi-transparent body.
The woman did not expect Yin Xing to have such a “treasure” in his hands.
The pungent mixture of black dog’s blood and boy’s urine was immediately poured over half of her body.
With a loud sizzling sound, as if molten iron had been poured into frozen pork fat, white smoke billowed from her form.
A small part of her semi-transparent body suddenly disappeared.
A piercing, agonizing howl rose.
Thick mist swirled around.
A surge of coldness rushed continuously into the contorted figure, slowly restoring her vanished form.
With the replenishing chill, her figure gradually became whole again.
“Hah! I knew it, I knew it!”
Yin Xing danced excitedly, “The method I dug out from the old books really works!”
Then he stomped his foot and yelled angrily, “Unworried Daoist, six generals, just you wait! If I don’t die today, I’ll mobilize the Imperial Guards and burn your dens to the ground, skin you alive as kites!”
A dozen royal guards had already arrived at the flower hall door, shouting as they prepared to storm inside.
With a humming sound, a dozen women dressed entirely in red floated before the flower hall entrance.
With a wave of their wide sleeves, strands of white silk ribbons entwined with cold wind flew out, interlacing to completely block the flower hall’s main gate.
The dozen guards charged headlong into the violently trembling white ribbons.
Several guards shouted loudly, their blades releasing a foot-long cold aura, tearing sizable rips in the ribbons.
Others uttered muffled groans, thrown backward by the feminine force exerted by the ribbons.
The chill seeped into their bodies, covering their faces and hands in a layer of ice shards, causing their movements to slow drastically.
Yin Xing shouted and screamed while a group of guards were held back outside the flower hall by the silk ribbons.
Only then did Qi Shen and Liu Wu regain their senses.
Qi Shen quickly dove under the table and shouted hoarsely, “Where are my trusted men?”
Liu Wu was straightforward; he fell to his knees with a thud, and tearfully begged the woman inside the flower hall: “Green Sparrow, Green Sparrow, I know it’s you — you, it’s you! I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean it!”
“Married one night, favors for a hundred nights. How can you say otherwise? You’re mine and I’m yours!”
“I was just playing around and lost control.”
“I never meant to kill you, I really didn’t!”
“You already killed my father and mother, the head steward, the second steward, so many people in the family!”
“You, you, please spare me!”
Liu Wu’s face turned deathly pale.
Trembling, he bowed his head repeatedly toward the woman’s figure.
“The ancients say, ‘When will enmity between enemies end?’ Please be magnanimous and treat me as air, please let me go!”
He raised his hands; the corners of his eyes twitched as he shouted hoarsely at her, “If you let me go, I’ll build you a grand tomb, prepare a fine coffin, hold a proper wife’s funeral ceremony to bury you, personally sweep the tomb on holidays and festivals, offer fresh fruit four seasons, eight times a year... I can even, I can even...”
His eyes lit up as he pondered carefully, “I can even place your memorial tablet in the Liu family ancestral hall, where you’ll receive offerings from every clan member... Hey, hey — there’s never been a woman’s tablet in the ancestral hall before. For you, I’ll make an exception, an extra special one!”
The woman’s figure chuckled coldly.
She turned away from Yin Xing, who had doused her with foul substances, and floated step by step toward Liu Wu.
Qi Shen’s sobbing suddenly ceased.
He peeked out from under the table, blinked at Liu Wu’s direction, then gently covered his mouth.
Good.
It’s not him coming for revenge.
The one dying is Liu Wu.
None of his business!
Though they were friends, it was just a loose association — acquaintances from the brothel who shared similar cruel tastes for tormenting maids, and they gradually ended up playing together.
There was some camaraderie, but camaraderie doesn’t put food on the table, does it?
No feelings? Without feelings, Qi Shen had no reason to take the blame for Liu Wu!
Thinking this, Qi Shen held his breath, crawled on all fours, inching slowly toward the back door of the flower hall.
Yin Xing also realized that the deceitful Liu Wu knew the strange woman.
He closed his mouth, bent his waist, curled up slightly, and began retreating slowly toward the rear exit.
The debts have their rightful owners.
Liu Wu, this pretty boy, is right here.
Go ahead and wreak havoc on him as much as you like!
Don’t give me any face.
Absolutely no mercy!
Just as Yin Xing took two steps back, a small whirlwind erupted on the ground.
A figure appeared before him — a woman with white hair and red lips, dazzlingly beautiful, wearing a bright red palace dress and red embroidered shoes.
Yin Xing shivered hard, screaming hoarsely, “Debts have their owners, you...!”
Suddenly, his eyes widened, staring in terror at the seemingly familiar figure.
“Qi... Qi... Qi...”
Seeing the woman’s drifting, dim figure, a bright spark flashed through Yin Xing’s mind.
He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Consort Qi, debts have their owners! The Empress Dowager is in the capital and will want revenge. Go to her!”
“My feelings for you were sincere. You—you—can’t kill me!”
Yin Xing squeezed his legs tightly, warm drops trickling down them.
“Hiss, hiss...”
The cold palace’s Consort Qi looked at Yin Xing with a sinister gaze.
“Yes, Prince Lancang.”
“I remember you.”
“When the late emperor was still alive, you repeatedly and secretly sent me rouge, fragrant ointments, perfume powder, scented sachets, as well as exquisite hairpins, bracelets, rings, and pendants.”
“But after I was sent to the cold palace, these past nineteen years, you never even asked after me once?”
Evil energy drifted in the air.
Yin Xing looked into Consort Qi’s blue-glowing eyes and muttered instinctively, “Nothing tastes better than dumplings, nothing is more enjoyable than... Eh, the emperor is no longer here, you’re stuck in the cold palace, so it’s no fun anymore, huh!”
Shivering fiercely, Yin Xing hurriedly waved his hands and explained loudly, “No, no! Consort Qi, please listen to me! Ah, you know it’s the Empress Dowager who’s so jealous and so cruel.”
“I dare not visit you.”
“Going to the cold palace would bring me punishment from the Empress Dowager, and that’s the least of my worries!”
“Hey, you say you’re locked in the cold palace, but if I were to visit...”
Yin Xing blinked and wracked his brain for an excuse, “That wouldn’t be good for your reputation either!”
Consort Qi chuckled softly.
“When the late emperor was alive, you used every means to seduce me. Weren’t you afraid that my reputation would be ruined?”
Shaking her head, Consort Qi sighed softly, “You men are cold-blooded scoundrels by nature. This world is as rotten as it is because of you.”
“Haojing is like this, Dayin is like this, the whole world is like this... the entire world, none surpasses this.”
“Because of you men, the world has become corrupted!”
“How beautiful this world would be without you!”
Around the flower hall and inside and outside Qifang Garden, cold and lifeless flames surged upward.
One by one, pavilions and cottages were quickly engulfed in flames.
Fleeting human figures drifted through the firelight.
Everywhere they passed, even frozen streams and ancient plum trees fell into the blaze.
Qi Shen sneaked away quietly.
Yin Xing wailed loudly.
Liu Wu kept kowtowing like a pounding pestle.
White silk ribbons sealed off the flower hall’s gates as large groups of guards furiously attacked them, colliding with figures of palace maids dressed in red.
The flames rapidly grew fiercer, dyeing the dense clouds above with red light.
Suddenly, the sound of gongs filled the air.
A cold and proud voice rang out from afar, “Qi Shen! Qi Shen! You’re not dead yet? Your uncle’s here to save the day!”
From the west of Qifang Garden, piles of firewood were thrown inside.
Jars of oil were tossed into the garden.
Flames set the oil ablaze, followed by terrible explosions.
Broken pots scattered burning oil in all directions, and Qifang Garden quickly became a sea of fire.
Cheers, claps, and stomps rang out from all sides, from many young masters and young ladies.
The back door Qi Shen wanted to escape from was also shrouded in flames.
Qi Shen leapt up in fury, pointing to the sky and shouting, “If I don’t get revenge for this, I’ll never be human again!”
Then, with a thud, he knelt before Consort Qi, “Consort Qi... we have no grievances, no hatred. I am innocent!”
(End of Chapter)