The punishment of the female imperial court

The corpses of the imperial guards lay scattered on the steps outside the palace. The wind howled, carrying the overwhelming smell of blood, and howled between the three palaces like a ferocious beast about to unleash its fury.

She did a quick count, but the number of corpses didn't match up.

At the edge of her vision, a faint white light flashed by, and she turned and rushed towards it.

Two imperial guards drew their swords to block the way, but the palace lanterns in front of the hall jumped onto the blades, their faint white light flickering.

Seeing that Yu Qiansi showed no sign of stopping, the two imperial guards were startled, muttering, "Insolence!"

However, Yu Qiansi used a clever trick, snatched one of their knives with all her might, flipped the hilt, and knocked both of them unconscious.

Her hands trembled, and she was panting heavily. Without her internal energy, these few simple movements had exhausted all her strength.

Seeing that he could no longer hold the knife, he simply threw it on the ground. He raised his head and stared expressionlessly at the door behind the two of them.

Even if a sage were assassinated, what would they protect instead of rushing to his aid?
She paused for a moment, and after her breathing stabilized, she stepped forward and pushed open the door.

The blood-red wind that echoed through the hall, like a trapped beast finding an escape route, filled the side hall first.

Yu Qiansi was pushed by the wind and stepped into the side hall.

"Lord Yu, we meet again." A leisurely-looking man sat in the room. He put down his teacup, tilted his head slightly, and revealed the black stone prayer beads that were faintly visible around his neck.

Seeing Yu Qiansi walk in with unsteady steps and a cold expression, he didn't care at all. He even reached out and took a clean teacup to pour her a cup of tea.

"No wonder he interrupted me earlier and wouldn't let me continue. It turns out you betrayed your master for personal gain."

“Lord Yu, those words are rather unpleasant,” Shang Fu said, a familiar smile returning to his face as he gently inhaled the rising aroma of tea. “The Dowager Consort and I have an equal working relationship. And the Sage is the ruler of the world, and naturally, he is also my ‘master’.”

"The night is cold and the wind is strong, Lord Yu, would you like to have a drink with me?" He reached out and offered the teacup in his hand.

Yu Qiansi snorted coldly, knocking over a teacup and scalding Shang Fu's hand. At the same time, she reached out with her claw-like hand to grab Shang Fu's face. Shang Fu instinctively turned his head to dodge, but Yu Qiansi twisted her wrist and pulled the string of Buddhist beads from his neck, twisting it around once.

Only when the sound of the teacup shattering rang out did Shang Fu realize what Yu Qiansi was about to do, but it was already too late.

Yu Qiansi pulled his hands apart and used the knot she had made to tightly restrain him. To prevent him from struggling, she also stepped on his chest and ribs.

"Now, can we have a proper chat, Lord Yunzhong?"

The black stone prayer beads, when viewed up close, were exactly the same as the jade beads in her hand, and as the locust wood beads she had been caressing for ten years. Each bead was perfectly round, but the light in the side hall seemed to have been absorbed by these black stone beads, leaving it as dark as a night without light.

"What is the origin of these prayer beads and thread?" Yu Qiansi stared down at Shang Fu, then applied more pressure, pressing the prayer beads into Shang Fu's neck, revealing the milky white silk thread that adorned them. "I advise you to think carefully before answering." Shang Fu's face was flushed red from being strangled, but he gave a faint smile. "Lord Yu is incredibly intelligent; it seems you already have the answer."

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt the thread around his neck tighten even more, the prayer beads making a soft rustling sound as they rubbed together, and his breathing became even more difficult.

"The thread of this beaded string is a family secret recipe passed down by an old master craftsman in the Ghost Market. Lord Yu has met his young apprentice. Although it looks like silk thread, it is extremely tough and cannot be broken by knives, axes, swords, or halberds. The only thing finer than this silk thread is the tendon of an insect."

No wonder they were able to leave such deep marks on the hands of Consort Cao and Lin Peiyun's doubles.

"This thing is indestructible, yet only blood and tears can easily melt it. Hence it is called 'Love Threads'," Shang Fu said, his face flushed red, but he still raised an eyebrow and a compassionate smile appeared on his lips.

Recalling the scene of the prayer beads scattering earlier, Yu Qiansi's heart sank; she had indeed guessed correctly. Then, she thought of the worm tendons found at Steward Cao's house and the basin of salty, bloody water in the Flower Festival case. It seemed that what connected those worm tendons was the "thread of love."

Looking up and seeing the glaring smile on his lips, her irritation intensified, and she tightened her grip on his hand. "Continue!"

"The Ghost Market has many abandoned orphans," Shang Fu said, his grip tightening this time. He struggled instinctively with his hands, speaking haltingly. "If any of them are exceptionally talented, they will be personally raised by the Ghost Market Master. The most outstanding among them will be given prayer beads of different materials according to their talents to signify their special status. The patterns on the prayer beads are all personally carved by the successive Ghost Market Masters. The owners of the prayer beads that Lord Yu has seen were all chosen by my uncle. Those who are adept at making money through connections are given gold beads. Those who would rather die than bend are given jade beads. And the one Lord Yu intends to use to strangle me right now is made of a meteorite from outer space. If the injured wear it, they can recover quickly; if the weak wear it, they can strengthen their bodies. It was specially given to me by my uncle."

Yu Qiansi paused, her grip loosening slightly, but her heart sank even further. She shook her head slightly, glaring fiercely at Shang Fu, but her question sounded hesitant: "Where's the locust wood? What does 'locust wood' mean?"

Shang Fu caught his breath, took two deep breaths, and then burst into wild laughter, laughing so hard that tears almost streamed down his face: "Lord Yu, you're so smart, you should already know the answer, right? Why do you have to ask me again? Are you afraid you've guessed wrong, or are you afraid you haven't guessed wrong at all?"

Yu Qiansi knew he was provoking her, but the panic in her heart still overcame her reason. In a moment of stunned silence, Shang Fu used the shards of porcelain he had touched during his struggle to cut his finger and smear it on the prayer beads. The tears he had just squeezed out also fell down at that moment, the teardrops hitting the prayer beads and rolling down onto the blood-stained "love threads".

The "love thread" suddenly snapped, and the black prayer beads scattered like fireworks before their eyes. Yu Qiansi lost her balance and fell backward. She took several steps back but couldn't regain her footing.

She lay on the ground, her palm cut by shards of porcelain. The pain in her palm constantly reminded her that she was now nothing more than a cripple.

Having lost her means of restraining Shang Fu, she could only stand up, clutching the shard of porcelain, and glare menacingly at him.

Shang Fu simply stood up, straightened his robes, picked up the broken "love thread" on the table with two fingers, and sighed, "What a pity, this 'love thread' is quite troublesome to make."

He tucked it into his robes, then looked up and asked, "Lord Yu, do you really want to know the answer to the question I just asked?"

In an instant, the balance of power shifted dramatically.

Even though there was still some distance between them, Yu Qiansi felt like she couldn't breathe.

"The locust tree is a ghost among trees," Shang Fu said, taking a step towards Yu Qiansi, forcing her to retreat step by step. "It hides its tracks, undetectable to anyone. The families it visits, without the need for war, are wiped out; the lintels remain, but the bones and flesh turn to dust, the entire clan like a grave." (End of Chapter)