Shen Ji gave a slight nod toward Old Duke, ignoring the worried look Yan Shu sent from not far away and the mocking smugness in Prince Duan’s eyes at the seat of honor, and followed the eunuch leading the way toward the side hall.
As he walked, Shen Ji remained alert to every stir around him. The lamplight grew sparser, and the eunuch ahead walked faster and faster, veering farther and farther off course. When they finally reached a secluded palace hall, “Swish… !” the sharp sound of arrows slicing through the air came from all around, followed by a faint, pungent smell drifting through the air.
So it was poison powder. Shen Ji sneered inwardly and directly activated his ability, forming a barrier around himself, while nimbly dodging the incoming arrows.
The eunuch leading the way tried to slip away while he had the chance, but his body stiffened and his eyes filled with shock and terror. Before he could even make a sound, he was struck by a rain of arrows and fell dead.
The shadow guards hiding in the woods under Prince Duan’s Residence had not expected Shen Ji to detect the poison powder in the air… Lanruo Powder… and were secretly shaken.
Shen Ji moved with agile skill; not a single arrow hit him. The others no longer hesitated and rushed straight at Shen Ji with drawn blades.
In an instant, several dark shadows swept out of the woods, blade light glinting under the bleak moonlight as they flew straight at Shen Ji’s face.
Shen Ji’s eyes turned fierce. He took a short sword from his storage space and activated his ice ability at the same time. His figure moved like afterimages among the shadow guards, striking ruthlessly, every blow fatal. In just a few breaths, the shadow guards surrounding him had all fallen, and the air was thick with the heavy stench of blood.
Shen Ji breathed heavily. Moonlight poured down like water, spilling over his bloodstained robes and cold face, casting a breathtaking beauty mixed with killing intent. At his feet lay several bodies, scattered in all directions.
He quickly scanned the surroundings and confirmed there were no more ambushes. With a thought, the bodies and arrows on the ground vanished in an instant, taken into his storage space. He did not want to expose his skills yet.
After quickly clearing away the traces of the fight and the bloodstains, and tidying his somewhat disheveled robes, Shen Ji was just about to return to the banquet by the original route, pretending nothing had happened.
Just then…
“Creak…”
The door of the abandoned palace beside him suddenly opened from the inside, and a figure staggered out of the dim interior.
It was a palace maiden dressed in a moon-white gauze dress. Her bun was disheveled, her jeweled hairpins hanging askew, and a few strands of black hair stuck to her sweat-dampened cheeks. Her gauze dress had been torn in several places, revealing the equally damaged undergarments beneath and a small patch of snow-white skin. Her clothes were in complete disarray, making her look utterly miserable.
Staggering toward the main hall, she cried out in a shrill voice, “Someone help! Save me… Heir Shen of the Pingyang Marquis Residence… he, he made improper advances toward me… help me… !”
Her voice was filled with helplessness and terror, and in that abandoned, silent corner of the palace, it sounded especially piercing.
Shen Ji’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
Dense footsteps sounded from not far away. Clearly, the palace guards on patrol had been drawn over by the commotion.
Shen Ji’s eyes turned cold. Without the slightest hesitation, he struck directly, using his ability to seal her acupoints from a distance, instantly silencing the still-shouting young woman and freezing her in place. He then deployed his mental energy to temporarily disrupt her mind, making her fall completely silent.
After doing this, Shen Ji slipped away at once, found the side hall actually used for changing clothes, quickly changed, and returned to the banquet without a sound. He sat down calmly, casually picked up an exquisite chestnut cake, and savored it slowly, as if he had never left his seat.
At the abandoned palace, the guards who arrived only saw the concubine-born Third Young Lady of Vice Minister Shi’s Residence slumped on the ground and hurried forward to ask what had happened. But the young lady of the Shi family merely lowered her head and wept silently, saying nothing. The guards carefully searched the surroundings but found no trace of anything unusual. Just as they were at a loss, a burst of noisy clamor came from not far away.
Consort Shu arrived surrounded by a crowd of palace maids and eunuchs, followed by a grand procession of noble ladies, titled wives, officials, and scholars, all eagerly looking at the Shi family young lady encircled by the guards.
“What is going on? Why all the noise here?!” Consort Shu swept her phoenix gaze over the scene, but her heart sank. The people she had arranged had clearly said that Shen Ji had been brought here, so why was he nowhere to be seen now? Only this concubine-born daughter of the Shi family was here, looking as if she had been scared out of her wits?
A few eunuchs and palace maids hidden in the crowd immediately followed Consort Shu’s prior instructions, occasionally dropping remarks among the whispering bystanders:
“Oh? Isn’t this the Third Young Lady of Vice Minister Shi’s household? Just now it seemed I saw the Heir of the Pingyang Marquis coming this way…”
“Yes, yes, so why is only the Third Young Lady here now? And in such a state…”
“Could she have encountered something…” The words trailed off, inviting speculation.
…
At once, the gazes around them grew complicated. Suspicious, probing, and contemptuous looks shot toward the young lady of the Shi family on the ground and the newly arrived Shen Ji.
Consort Shu was furious that the plan had gone awry, but the arrow was already on the string and had to be loosed. Her sharp gaze fixed on the young lady of the Shi family on the ground, and she said sternly, “What exactly happened? Third Young Lady Shi, you speak!”
But the young lady of the Shi family seemed not to have heard Consort Shu’s question at all, still sitting blankly in place and silently weeping.
Seeing Consort Shu’s expression grow colder, the guard beside her hurried forward and reported with a bow, “To report to Consort Shu, when your subordinates arrived, we found Third Young Lady Shi collapsed here, seemingly overwhelmed by fright and unable to speak. After searching the surroundings, we also found no trace of anything unusual.”
“Overwhelmed by fright?” Consort Shu’s voice rose, thick with disbelief. “Why would she run to this abandoned place and be frightened for no reason? Just now someone saw with their own eyes Heir Shen coming this way!” Her sharp gaze bored straight into Shen Ji.
Just as she was about to signal the palace maids she had arranged, Shen Ji stepped forward and said with a puzzled expression, “In reply to Consort Shu, this subject did indeed have my robes splashed with wine earlier and went to the side hall to change clothes. But after changing, I returned directly to the banquet. I never passed through this place, nor have I ever laid eyes on this young lady of the Shi family. May I ask who it was that saw me come here? Could they be brought forward to confront me face to face?”
His gaze was clear, his manner open and calm, with not the least trace of guilt. He swept his eyes around, directly locking onto the few people in the crowd who had been covertly steering the discussion, and silently struck out to seal their acupoints, just like the young lady of the Shi family. And so no one in the crowd came forward to confront him.
The scene suddenly fell silent. Consort Shu stared hard at the few informants in the crowd, suppressing the shock and suspicion in her heart, and gnawed at her teeth in secret hatred. Useless, all of them.
With no other option, Consort Shu shifted her approach, tightly seizing on the gap in Shen Ji’s absence from the banquet and implying that he had used the opportunity to slip away and commit an indecent act against the young lady of the Shi family. After all, Shen Ji’s timing in leaving was far too coincidental.
The people around vaguely felt that Consort Shu’s words were somewhat strange, but none dared speak. They could only be astonished inwardly, wondering how Heir Shen had offended Consort Shu, and silently watch the show.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Suppressing the rage in her heart, Consort Shu barely maintained her dignified composure. “The timing is so coincidental. Even if no one saw it, how can Heir Shen prove his innocence? After all, the only one who left the banquet just now was the Heir himself, and from the side hall to here is not that far!”
Shen Ji looked at the high and mighty Consort Shu, who was questioning him with a stern face, and his expression remained calm as he replied, “In that case, please have Consort Shu summon a few imperial physicians over. Once the physicians arrive, the truth will naturally come to light.”