The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun.

“Those guards outside are useless. You two can just walk into the heavily guarded emperor’s palace like this.”

The man looked at Zhu Houzhao lying not far away and laughed triumphantly. He then took off his mask before the woman next to him could stop him.

Why did you take off your mask?

The woman frowned.

The man didn't take it seriously.

"What's there to be afraid of? Anyway, besides this dog emperor, it's just you and me here. And this dog emperor is still unconscious, so who can see him?"

The woman thought this made sense, and immediately took off her mask to reveal her true face.

The two approached Zhu Houzhao, who remained motionless.

"Humph."

The man looked at Zhu Houzhao's youthful face and sneered twice.

"That dog emperor has a good life; he was born to be an emperor."

"Stop talking nonsense and just do it."

The woman was clearly a woman of action; without saying a word, she was about to take action, so the man stopped. He then took out something that looked like a pill from his pocket and reached out to pry open Zhu Houzhao's mouth to feed it to him.

But next second.

call out!

The once quiet room was suddenly filled with the sound of wind being cut. A sword flew out from behind the curtain, piercing the man's palm with a whooshing sound. The man screamed and was pulled backward.

boom!

The sword pierced through the man's palm and embedded itself in the pillar behind him.

The sudden incident startled the woman, who instinctively looked towards the curtain not far away and found a person watching her. The person had a sword sheath hanging at his waist, but the hilt was nowhere to be seen, indicating that the attack was clearly his doing.

The room was somewhat dark, making it difficult to see the person's expression, but one could sense the coldness in their gaze.

At this moment, Zhu Houzhao, who should have been unconscious, woke up. He sprang to his feet and quickly ran behind the man before the woman could react, glancing at her at the same time.

"It's been so long waiting for you all."

Upon seeing this, the woman knew she had been tricked. Her expression hardened, and she moved swiftly towards Jiang Ning, intending to quickly eliminate him before turning her attention to Zhu Houzhao.

A gust of wind swept in, and the woman struck Jiang Ning's chest with her palm.

In the woman's imagination, there were no experts in the palace, and she could easily deal with this person.

But next second.

Before the woman's hand could hit Jiang Ning, he was kicked in the abdomen. He was then kicked backward at an even faster speed, rolling four or five times before landing face-first in the dirt.

The woman looked up at Jiang Ning with a bewildered expression.

Chapter 652: Night Interrogation

A searing pain shot through her abdomen, causing the woman's eyes to twitch uncontrollably. But what shocked and devastated her even more was how could there be such a master in the palace?

She made the first move, but before she could even touch a hair on the other person's head, she was kicked in the face. The difference between the two was so obvious that her mentality, which was usually quite high in martial arts within the sect, was a little broken, so much so that she couldn't help but ask the following question.

"who are you?"

There was no response, as if the figure disdained to answer, but the figure standing in the shadows took a step forward, revealing its true form.

The man whose hands were nailed to the pillar and the woman slumped on the ground looked on in surprise when they saw Jiang Ning's face.

"Ning Yanwang?"

The woman exclaimed in surprise, her face filled with disbelief.

How could Ning Yanwang be in the palace? How could he be protecting Zhu Houzhao?

At that moment, a commotion arose outside, and the main gate was flung open with a bang. One person rushed in first, followed by the rest of the guards, and then several eunuchs, including Gu Dayong and Liu Jin, among other high-ranking eunuchs.

Yang Yu, who was in charge, was shocked by what she saw inside the room and cried out.

"Assassins! Protect the Emperor!"

The other guards also drew their weapons, but then Zhu Houzhao's voice rang out.

"I am fine."

Zhu Houzhao also emerged.

"The two assassins have been apprehended."

Yang Yu breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Zhu Houzhao was safe and sound, and immediately knelt down.

"Your Majesty, I failed in my duty of protection and beg for punishment."

The other guards also knelt down.

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand without blaming him.

When Liu Jin, Gu Dayong, and other eunuchs saw that Zhu Houzhao was in good health, they were taken aback.

"Your Majesty, you...you've woken up?"

Liu Jin was both surprised and delighted, and Gu Dayong was so happy that he cried.

"Your Majesty, thank God, Your Majesty has finally woken up."

"I woke up a few days ago, but I deliberately didn't wake up, wanting to see which traitors would try to harm me."

Zhu Houzhao remained calm and, after saying a few words, ordered: "Take these two assassins away for interrogation and find out who is behind them."

"Your Majesty, rest assured, leave this matter to me. I guarantee I can find out who is plotting against Your Majesty."

Gu Dayong took the blame, looking at the two men with a sinister gaze.

Zhu Houzhao nodded.

"Then let's leave it to Gu Daban."

Liu Jin originally wanted to take the initiative, but Gu Dayong beat him to it, so he had no choice but to give up.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the man whose hand was pinned down hadn't done anything yet when the woman's eyes turned fierce. She was about to bite down on the poison hidden in her mouth to commit suicide. Before the others could react, Jiang Ning had already taken two steps forward and slapped her across the face in the astonished gazes of the crowd.

The woman was knocked to the ground, spitting out several bloody teeth; her jaw was dislocated from Jiang Ning's blow.

Unable to commit suicide by poison, the woman was about to slap her forehead when Jiang Ning kicked her, sending her tumbling over.

At this moment, the others also reacted, and several guards quickly stepped forward to control the woman. Gu Dayong took two steps forward, looked at her, and smiled sinisterly.

"Want to commit suicide? It won't be that easy for you to die."

Now that she was under control, the woman's eyes were filled with resentment. She couldn't help but look at Jiang Ning, her eyes full of confusion.

Why are you here?

The speaker was a man, whose face was pale and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. The Zhenwu Sword had pinned his hand to the pillar, making him unable to move. Even the slightest movement caused him excruciating pain.

"Brother Jiang, it seems they know you."

Zhu Houzhao said.

"They are members of the Five Poisons Sect."

Jiang Ning spoke up.

"The Five Poisons Sect?"

Zhu Houzhao was taken aback.

Although the two men were dressed in the dark, their accents and other details revealed them to be members of the Five Poisons Sect.

"The Five Poisons Sect is a poison-using sect based in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Most of its members are Miao people. These two are Miao people, and their leader is a Miao woman named Lan Fenghuang."

Jiang Ning offered a brief explanation, and Zhu Houzhao frowned.

"According to you, the Five Poisons Sect is based in the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan regions, so how did it end up in my capital?"

"The Five Poisons Sect is a subordinate force of the Demonic Sect. It seems that this time it is the Demonic Sect that has targeted you."

Jiang Ning offered an explanation and took two steps forward to stand in front of the man.

"Who ordered you to come to the capital this time? Is Ren Yingying here too?"

"How dare you! You even share the name of the Holy Maiden..."

Upon hearing Jiang Ning address Ren Yingying by her full name, the man instinctively spoke, but then realized that the person in front of him didn't care at all, and was even the Holy Maiden's mortal enemy, having once chased the Holy Maiden so hard that she had to flee in a sorry state. So he remained silent.

Seeing that the man remained silent, Gu Dayong quickly spoke up.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, and this hero, rest assured, this servant will definitely find out the mastermind's location from these two."

Just now, Zhu Houzhao addressed Jiang Ning as "Brother Jiang," and Gu Dayong realized that Jiang Ning was no ordinary person, so he wisely changed his attitude.

"Ah."

Zhu Houzhao nodded, but Jiang Ning said, "They were ordered to sneak into the palace today. If they haven't returned by tonight, it will definitely alert their backers. It would be best to get the results from them tonight, otherwise it will be difficult to catch them after tonight."

Zhu Houzhao also realized what was happening.

"Brother Jiang is absolutely right."

Upon hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, Gu Dayong quickly assured him.

"Your Majesty, this servant requests permission to use the Imperial Prison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It will only take two hours... no! At most one hour. This servant will definitely find out the whereabouts of their mastermind. If I fail to find out, this servant will beg for forgiveness."

"That's easy."

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said to Yang Yu, "Yang Yu, you cooperate with Gu Daban in interrogating these two people. You must find out who is behind them."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Yang Yu said in a deep voice, knowing that this was an opportunity given to him by Zhu Houzhao.

Clang!

Jiang Ning pulled back the Zhenwu Sword, and the man let out another scream, clutching his arms in agony.

“Take them away, and pierce their collarbones.”