Tang Dynasty: Feeding Chang Le, Emperor Li Er exclaimed that she was a true immortal!

Li Junxian entered the palace half an hour later.

He didn't live to see dawn.

Because when he knelt on the floor tiles of Ganlu Hall, his whole body was still trembling.

It's not cold.

I was scared.

Seeing that a seasoned general of the Imperial Guard had been so frightened, Li Shimin had already made his judgment.

But he didn't ask about the light screen and the figures first.

"Whose men are the assassins?"

"The interrogation is underway," Li Junxian replied in a low voice. "Four prisoners have been captured alive, and their fangs under their tongues have already been removed. I'm personally overseeing the operation."

"I want results. Before dawn."

"Yes."

Li Junxian left.

The interrogation methods of the Imperial Guards are far superior to the lukewarm procedures of the Court of Judicial Review.

They have a special darkroom, special equipment, and special personnel.

From the initial disinfection of their wounds to the moment the first person spoke, it took less than two hours to capture the four survivors.

The confession was written on a piece of silk cloth, stained with blood.

The content contains only one core message—

Source of the instruction: Changsun Chong.

The eldest son of the Changsun family.

When the silk cloth was delivered to Li Shimin's desk, it was still dark.

Li Shimin picked it up and looked at it.

Then put it down.

I picked it up and looked at it again.

Put it down again.

Zhao Dequan knelt at the corner of the hall, his head bowed low.

Because Li Shimin did not get angry.

This is the most terrible.

Smashing things, cursing, banging on the table—those are all okay.

This shows that the emperor's anger had an outlet.

But silence—

Silence means that anger has crossed the threshold of eruption and entered another level.

That level is called decision-making.

"The story goes that of Qin Shubao."

Li Shimin spoke.

The sound was as flat as a stagnant pool.

Qin Shubao arrived very quickly.

One of the most capable generals of the Tang Dynasty rushed into the Ganlu Hall without even having time to put on his full armor after receiving the summons.

Li Shimin only said one sentence.

"Lead 5,000 Left Guards and surround the Changsun residence."

Qin Shubao landed on one knee.

"This subordinate obeys."

I didn't ask a single extra question.

He turned and left.

The sound of the armor plates colliding disappeared into the darkness outside the palace gates.

Li Shimin sat alone behind his desk.

The candlelight cast alternating shadows on his face.

He picked up the paperweight on the table, clenched it in his hand until his knuckles turned white.

Assassinate the princess.

This is no longer a political game.

This is a provocation against the bottom line of imperial power.

Li Shimin could tolerate the monopoly of salt and iron by powerful clans.

It was acceptable for powerful families to interfere in court affairs.

They could even tolerate Changsun Wuji using economic means to force him to comply.

But there's one thing I absolutely cannot tolerate—

Someone stabbed his daughter.

Chang Le was his and Empress Zhangsun's eldest daughter.

She was the child he loved most in his life.

Whoever touches her will die.

The Changsun Mansion.

Five thousand elite Zuowuwei troops completed the encirclement before dawn.

Armored as a wall, spears as numerous as a forest.

The torches illuminated the entire street.

The people in the nearby market were awakened and peered over the wall, too scared to even breathe.

Changsun Wuji was woken up by his personal guards.

He put on his coat and went to the window. When he saw the torches and soldiers all over the street, his face changed instantly.

"What happened?"

The guard stammered, "The...the young master sent men from the secret service to Chang Le Palace last night..."

Changsun Wuji's body stiffened for a moment.

Then a surge of anger and fear erupted from my chest.

"Rei-zi!!!"

He smashed the wooden strips on the window frame with one blow, sending debris flying all over the floor.

Dark area.

That was the Changsun family's trump card.

A group of assassins trained over a century.

Changsun Chong actually used this card behind his back.

Moreover, the target of the operation was—the princess's residence.

To assassinate the emperor's daughter.

How is this any different from treason?!

Changsun Wuji practically tumbled and ran to Changsun Chong's courtyard.

Changsun Chong has already woken up.

He stood in the courtyard, his face ashen, staring at the direction of the raging fire outside the mansion, his lips trembling slightly.

Changsun Wuji rushed forward and slapped him across the face.

Snapped--

That slap was delivered with all my might.

Changsun Chong staggered two steps after being slapped, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Do you even know what you've done?!"

Changsun Wuji's voice cracked.

"Assassinate the princess! Do you think the Changsun family hasn't been wiped out fast enough?!"

Changsun Chong was stunned by the beating and couldn't utter a word for a long time.

He opened his mouth, as if trying to explain something.

But the heavy footsteps of armored soldiers clashing could already be heard outside the door.

Qin Shubao led twenty Imperial Guards into the gate of Changsun Mansion.

He held the imperial edict in his hand.

"Changsun Wuji, Changsun Chong—receive the imperial decree."

Changsun Wuji closed his eyes and slowly knelt down.

Changsun Chong was stunned for a moment, then knelt down as well.

The imperial edict was not long.

But every word felt like a knife.

Changsun Chong, having privately gathered assassins, launched a night raid on the princess's residence with the intent to assassinate members of the royal family. His crimes are heinous. Effective immediately, he is stripped of all official positions, titles, and honors, and is permanently confined to the Changsun residence, forbidden from ever leaving it.

Having read this far, Changsun Wuji thought it was over.

But Qin Shubao did not put away the imperial edict.

He looked at Changsun Chong with icy eyes.

"His Majesty has given a separate imperial edict."

Changsun Chong raised his head.

Qin Shubao did not repeat the contents of the oral edict.

He simply tilted his head slightly.

Two Imperial Guards stepped forward and grabbed Changsun Chong's arms from the left and right.

"What are you doing—what are you doing!! Let me go!!"

Changsun Chong struggled to his feet, but the strength of the Thousand Bull Guards was far beyond what a weak young master from a noble family like him could overcome.

He was forced to kneel on the ground, his legs forcibly straightened.

Qin Shubao walked up to him and looked down at him.

There was a two-second silence.

Then he lifted his right foot.

Changsun Wuji's eyes widened suddenly.

"General Qin—!!"

Click.

A crisp, teeth-grinding cracking sound.

Changsun Chong's right knee was bent at an impossible angle by Qin Shubao's kick.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

The screams ripped apart the morning air in the Changsun Mansion.

Changsun Chong's face instantly turned liver-colored, his features were distorted to the extreme, and the veins on his forehead bulged like earthworms.

Before he could even catch his breath—

Click.

The second kick.

Left leg.

The same location.

The same angle.

Changsun Chong's mouth was wide open, but this time he couldn't even make a sound.

The pain exceeded the limits of what the human vocal cords can express.

His eyes rolled upwards, revealing most of the whites of his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing and losing consciousness.

Changsun Wuji knelt three steps away, his whole body trembling.

He's a man who's seen it all.

He participated in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

But to witness his son's legs being crippled right before his eyes—

His lips were deathly pale, his jaw was clenched so tightly it was grinding, and his eyes were red-rimmed, yet he didn't shed a single tear.

Because he knew this was the lightest punishment he could receive.

Assassinating the princess is punishable by death according to the law.

crippling his legs was merely the last shred of dignity left for the Changsun family.

Qin Shubao withdrew his foot and looked expressionlessly at the unconscious Changsun Chong.

"His Majesty's decree—he was spared his life out of consideration for Empress Zhangsun. If there is a next time—"

He didn't finish speaking.

There's no need to finish speaking.

Changsun Wuji knelt on the ground, his forehead hitting the bluestone slab.

"Your subject...accepts the decree."

The voice was so hoarse it didn't sound like it came from a human mouth.

Qin Shubao led his men away from the Changsun residence.

Five hundred men were left to continue guarding the outer perimeter.

The gates of the Changsun residence were closed again.

The entire mansion was completely silent.

The servants huddled in their own corners, even walking on tiptoe.

Changsun Chong was carried back to his room.

Both legs were swollen like winter melons, and the knees were completely deformed.

The doctor took a look and shook his head.

The bone is broken, not fractured.

Even if Hua Tuo were alive today, these legs wouldn't be able to support him.

From this moment on, Changsun Chong became a complete cripple.

Changsun Wuji sat in his study all day.

I haven't eaten.

I didn't drink any water.

I didn't see anyone.

He was thinking about something.

From elixirs to mirrors, from salt to thunder.

Every time the Changsun family clashed with the princess's residence, they lost.

And they kept losing worse and worse.

For the first time, I lost face.

The second time, they lost the salt industry.

The third time, they lost the family's secret service and the eldest son's legs.

Every time he thought he had reached his bottom line, the other party would use an even more unbelievable method to push the line down another level.

He began to feel real fear.

It wasn't out of fear of Li Shimin.

It was the fear of that indescribable power in the princess's bedchamber.

That kind of thing doesn't belong to this world.

Ganlu Temple.

After dealing with the affairs of the Changsun family, Li Shimin sat alone on the throne for a long time.

Politics, powerful clans, and the salt industry—these matters have all come to a temporary end.

But one thing kept lingering in his mind, refusing to leave.

Li Junxian's secret report.

In addition to the assassin's situation, the secret report also mentioned a detail.

A detail that Li Shimin could not ignore.

"...Deep within the sleeping quarters, there is an invisible barrier. Behind the barrier, one can vaguely see a person with short hair and strange attire. This person sits calmly, holding a black object, seemingly someone who wields heavenly lightning..."

Short hair.

Outlandish clothing.

Black objects.

Thunder.

Li Shimin chewed over these words in his mind countless times.

He had previously chosen not to investigate further.

Although the story of "an immortal entering a dream" is full of loopholes, it at least gave him a way out—he could pretend not to know the truth and just enjoy the benefits bestowed by the immortal.

But it's different now.

The assassination attempt made him realize that the entity behind the screen had deeply intervened in the power structure of the Tang Dynasty.

The elixir saved the princess's life.

The fairy mirror prevented the forced marriage.

Salt destroyed the economic lifeline of powerful clans.

The heavenly lightning crushed the Changsun family's secret forces.

Every single time, it came from that sleeping quarters.

He, the mighty Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, knew nothing about the person behind the scenes.

This made him feel like he had a thorn in his side.

It's not fear.

Well, there are also things to be wary of.

But more than anything, it was curiosity.

And an emperor's instinct toward unknown forces: to control them, or at least to understand them.

Li Shimin stood up.

"Zhao Dequan".

"Your servant is here."

"Step back. Tonight, everyone must leave within a hundred paces of the Ganlu Palace. No one may approach without my decree."

Zhao Dequan was taken aback, but having served Li Shimin for many years, he knew that this tone meant he absolutely could not ask any more questions.

"Yes."

He bowed as he left the palace gate, quickly retreating with all the eunuchs and maids.

Li Shimin stood alone in the empty Ganlu Hall.

He walked to the wall and took down the Emperor's Sword that was hanging there.

The scabbard is inlaid with gold and gemstones, while the blade is made of refined steel.

This sword has been with him since he raised his army in Taiyuan, slashing the necks of Turks and drinking the blood of Wang Shichong.

He hung the sword at his waist and strode out of the Ganlu Hall.

The imperial city was empty and silent in the dead of night.

The moonlight shone on the glazed tiles, giving them a cold glow.