Liang Zhu looked at the Princess, bundled up like a little zongzi, then stepped forward and untied her rope.
Although her skin was covered in marks from the hemp rope, the Princess did not become angry or make a fuss, just as Liang Zhu had expected.
“It’s getting late. I’ll escort Your Highness back,” Liang Zhu said with a beaming smile. “Princess, did you have a pleasant time?”
The Princess snorted a sound. She put on her outer garment and returned to Changle Palace together with Liang Zhu.
The night outside was deep and heavy. Judging by the moon’s position, it was probably around one to one-thirty in the morning.
Liang Zhu followed behind the Princess, moving unhindered throughout the entire Imperial Palace.
The Princess was famous for liking to make a fuss and fool around. Since she often wandered around the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night, the guards had long since grown accustomed to it, so no one came over to question them.
When they passed the Female Emperor’s chambers, Liang Zhu glanced in that direction.
The direction of the imperial bedchamber was brightly lit, and palace maids were carrying late-night snacks over there.
So the Empress had not gone to bed yet?
Liang Zhu suddenly understood something.
Could it be that both people had to be asleep before they could form a party to practice cultivation in “Spring Sleep Unaware of Dawn”?
Looking at how Xiao Yanran was so diligent in governing and caring for her people, practicing cultivation with her in a dream would not be easy.
After sending the Princess away, Liang Zhu returned to Wutong Court and immediately fell asleep!
He refused to believe that Xiao Yanran could review memorials all night without sleeping!
Xiao Yanran was not actually tired, nor did she want to rest.
But the Empress could hardly refuse to sleep.
The reason was simple: if someone who was usually weak and easily tired suddenly became full of energy and worked day and night, remaining incredibly vigorous at that—anyone would become suspicious.
Therefore, when it reached the early hours of the morning, the Empress still forced herself to sleep for a while.
However, after entering the dreamscape, Liang Zhu came again.
The dreamscape was so realistic that Liang Zhu lifted Xiao Yanran up like an eagle catching chicks, then dragged her directly into the imposing and magnificent main hall.
The Empress could not understand why this guy, despite being merely a little eunuch, had no reverence whatsoever for the Imperial Family. His attitude was practically that of someone treating a toy.
Even stranger, although the two of them were clearly inside the main hall, the guards at its entrance acted as though they could not see them.
The Empress was certain that this was a dream, but she still could not understand why the dreamscape was so realistic.
Only at the last moment did the utterly baffled Empress suddenly think: Could they have a child in the dreamscape?
Upon thinking of this, the Empress suddenly reached out, trying to push Liang Zhu away.
In an instant, the Empress woke from the dreamscape.
The sky outside was faintly bright, and she was once again drenched in sweat.
The Empress let out a breath, sat up in bed, and casually picked up a hairpin from the tea table.
Xiao Yanran exerted force with her hand. The hairpin gradually bent and fused together, finally becoming a tiny golden ball.
The Empress stared blankly at the gold ball in her hand for a moment, then threw it out.
With a soft clack, a small hole was smashed into the ground beside the bed.
The hole was very deep; the gold ball could no longer be seen.
Xiao Yanran frowned. She could not understand why her power had suddenly become so strong.
Although the Empress did not practice martial arts, she had heard of martial arts cultivation.
Normally, advancing from knowing nothing to the beginner level required at least two years of arduous practice.
Advancing from the beginner level to the intermediate level usually took around five years.
As for someone like the Empress, whose cultivation had surged after sleeping a night, she had never seen—or even heard of—anything like it.
When attending court, the Empress stole a glance at Little Pillar, who was standing at the palace entrance.
This guy seemed not to have slept well and stood with his head drooping lazily.
The Empress thought of a question: Could it be possible that their dreamscapes were connected?
But the Empress quickly rejected this absurd idea. A dreamscape should be the most unfathomable thing in existence.
How could anyone arrange a dreamscape for someone else?
The Empress sat upon her imperial throne, looking at the civil and military officials kneeling and kowtowing in greeting, her heart filled with lofty ambition.
With the results of her Dream Cultivation, perhaps she could personally kill Long Baitian in the future.ŴŴŴ.
The Empress’s forehead was filled with lofty ambitions, while Liang Zhu was truly exhausted.
Liang Zhu had gotten almost no sleep the previous night, only managing to sleep for a while at around three-thirty in the morning by Earth time.
Although the power brought by cultivation could dispel most of his drowsiness, as an Earthling, Liang Zhu was very fond of sleeping.
It was just like most people on Earth: even when they had already slept enough, they could still sleep until noon.
In the main hall, morning court had already begun. Liang Zhu yawned, curled up in a corner, and began to doze.
Just as Liang Zhu was on the verge of falling asleep, a whooshing sound suddenly came from the distance.
Liang Zhu had some strength now. He keenly sensed danger and hurriedly opened his eyes.
In the sky, half a person came flying over, spraying blood rain.
The palace maids were terrified and screamed as they scattered in all directions.
With a crash, half a corpse fell onto the plaza in front of the Imperial Palace, breaking apart with flesh and blood flying.
Liang Zhu was startled. After steadying himself, he saw that the corpse’s clothing appeared to belong to a member of the Imperial Forest Army who had been guarding the gate.
Figures moved in the direction of the palace gate. The Imperial Forest Army had already begun fighting the enemy.
A calm voice pierced through the palace gate and spread throughout the entire Imperial Palace: “Bring out Wu Yongyan’s dog of a Son to meet his death!”
The voice belonged to a Woman, and her tone was cold, carrying boundless killing intent.
Wu Yongyan was the famed Prince of Zhenxi of the Imperial Dynasty.
And the Prince of Zhenxi was an absolute traitor.
Back then, before the Imperial Dynasty had suppressed the realm, Western Chu, occupying a remote corner, was still extremely powerful.
Western Chu possessed strategic terrain, and its king called himself the “Hegemon King of Western Chu,” an exceptionally formidable titled martial saint.
Back then, the old emperor wanted to attack Western Chu but was delayed in taking action.
The old emperor feared that attacking Western Chu would cause him to lose soldiers and generals, and he feared the Hegemon King of Western Chu’s retaliation even more.
Then Wu Yongyan did what the old emperor had not dared to do.
Wu Yongyan ambushed the Hegemon King of Western Chu, carried out a bloodbath in the Imperial Palace, and killed the entire Imperial Clan of the Hegemon King of Western Chu.
The men were killed, while all the Women in the Imperial Clan were sent to the Imperial Palace as slaves.
Chuchu, whom the Princess had given to Liang Zhu as a reward, was a descendant of the Imperial Clan.
Wu Yongyan could be called ruthless, but the problem was that the Hegemon King of Western Chu’s clan had not been completely wiped out.
A descendant of the Chu Kingdom’s Imperial Clan practiced cultivation with great dedication and finally became a peerless master.
That peerless master was now slaughtering enemies in every direction outside the palace gate.
She was the “Azure Cloud Sword Saint,” Chu Xiaoxiang.
It was said that when Chu Xiaoxiang advanced to Sword Saint, her aura was extraordinarily exaggerated: all the clouds and mist in the valley were reflected by her sword qi into a sheet of cyan!
At this moment, Chu Xiaoxiang, a person wielding a single sword, was savagely cutting her way toward the Imperial Palace.
Wherever this Female Sword Saint went, the Imperial Forest Army was killed until Rivers of Blood flowed, with hundreds dead or wounded in a quarter of an hour.
The eyeballs of the civil and military officials in the main hall rolled around as their gazes fixed on a young man.
This young man was Chu Xiaoxiang’s assassination target: Wu Yongyan’s Son—Wu Shixiong!