tillness of the night they could also smell a faint delicate fragrance, deep from the palace courtyard. Unexpectedly they saw a wooded hill place inside the palace.

Huang Rong sniffed at this fragrance; she knew there must be a flower garden nearby. She thought in the imperial palace garden there must be many wonderful flowers and excellent plants. While she was there, certainly she could not pass this rare opportunity to take a look. Therefore, she pulled Guo Jing’s hand; following the flower fragrance they looked for the garden.

Gradually the sound of water intensified. Two people walked around flower-strewn path and saw pine and bamboo trees covering the deep blue sky above; with beautiful hills quietly stood on the background. Huang Rong was secretly impressed of this place. Even though the arrangement was inferior to the Peach Blossom Island, the flowers and trees were exquisitely beautiful.

They walked several ‘zhang’s further and saw a sheet of water like a silver waterfall coming out from the side of a hill; the water came down to a pond, and in turn, a stream of water coming out of the pond so that it would not overflow. There were countless red lotuses strewn across the surface of the pond. Right in front of the pond there was a hall dense with flowers; just above the entrance was written ‘cui han tang’ [jade-green cold hall] three characters.

Huang Rong walked to the front of the hall. She saw under the porch were some the steps going up surrounded with all kinds of flowers: ‘mo li’ [jasmine], ‘su xin’ [fragrant vegetable], ‘she xiang teng’ [musk deer fragrant rattan], ‘shu jin’ [vermillion hibiscus], ‘yu gui’ [jade cassia], ‘hong jiao’ [red banana]; all kinds of fragrant plants that bloom in summer. Towards the back of the hall orchids and other scented plants were hung. The sweet smelling incense was burning, filling the hall and attacking their nostrils.

On the table inside the hall there were several bowls of lotus root, sweet melon, loquat, and all kinds of wild fruits from the forest. Several round fans were strewn on the chairs. Looked like this hall was where the emperor enjoyed the cool evening breeze before going to bed.

Guo Jing sighed, “This emperor really knows how to enjoy life,” he said.

Huang Rong laughed, “You can be one now,” she said, pulling Guo Jing to sit on a couch. She offered the bowl of fruits and knelt down. “Long live master, please enjoy some fresh fruits,” she said.

Guo Jing smiled and picked up a loquat, “Please rise,” he said.

Huang Rong laughed, “Emperor never says ‘please’, that is too polite,” she said.

While two people were talking and laughing in low voice suddenly they heard someone shout out from a distant, “Who’s there?” They were startled and leaped out, hiding behind a fake hill. They heard some heavy footsteps; two men came loudly shouting to see. Guo Jing and Huang Rong listened to these people and knew their martial art skills were low and there was nothing to worry about. The guards brandished their sabers, rushing toward the front of the hall. They looked around but did not see anything out of ordinary.

“You saw a ghost,” one guard said, laughing.

The other one was also laughing, “I am seeing things these past few days,” he said. They walked away talking and laughing.

Huang Rong was amused inwardly, she pulled Guo Jing’s hand to go out, but suddenly heard those two guards grunts, ‘hey, hey’. Although the noise was deep and muffled, they knew it was the sound of one’s exhaling because their acupoints were sealed. Guo Jing and Huang Rong both thought, “Is it Big Brother Zhou who got bored and came out to play?”

They heard someone speak in a low voice, “According to the imperial palace map, the building next to the waterfall is the ‘cui han tang’; we are going there.” This voice belonged to Wanyan Honglie.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were very shocked; they grabbed each other’s hand and hid even deeper behind the fake hill, did not dare to make any noise. Under the glimmering sparse starlight they saw shadows moving in front of the hall; they vaguely recognized that other than Wanyan Honglie there were Ouyang Feng, Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian, Venerable Lingzhi, Liang Ziweng and Hou Tonghai.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were puzzled, “What are these people doing in the imperial palace?” they thought, “Could it be they also want to steal some food from the imperial kitchen?”

They heard Wanyan Honglie spoke again, still in low voice, “Little Prince had carefully examined the secret letter Yue Fei left behind; also examined the documents from two dynasties’ emperors Gao Zong and Xiao Zong. I concluded that the Wumu Legacy is hidden fifteen steps east of the ‘cui han tang’.”

Everybody’s eyes automatically followed the direction of his hand; fifteen steps east of the hall was the waterfall, nothing else. Wanyan Honglie said, “How the book could be hidden in the waterfall, Little Prince found it hard to guess, but according to the documents, this is the correct place.”

Sha Tongtian was known as the ‘gui men long wang’ [dragon king of Gui Men (demon sect/devil’s gate)]; his water skill was excellent. “I’ll go to take a look at the waterfall,” he said. Without waiting further he stepped forward and jumped into the water. Not long afterward he reemerged from the water. Everybody rushed forward to welcome him, only to listen to him saying, “The Prince can really see clearly; behind the waterfall there is a cave with closed iron door.”

Wanyan Honglie was ecstatic, “The Wumu Legacy must be inside the cave,” he said, “I am afraid I’ll have to inconvenience gentlemen to open that iron gate.”

Everybody unsheathed their precious sabers and sharp blades, complying with his request, everybody wanted to render meritorious service; they raced to the waterfall. Ouyang Feng only laughed coldly, he merely stood by Wanyan Honglie’s side; he felt his reputation was different, he was not willing to fetch the book together with the others.

Sha Tongtian was the first to duck under the water stream; suddenly a gust of wind assaulting his face. He just came in to take a look and saw nothing; how could he guess an enemy would suddenly attack him? Hurriedly he avoided the attack, but his left wrist was suddenly grabbed by the enemy and he was pushed hard. Against its master’s wish his body flew out and hit Liang Ziweng hard. Luckily both men’s martial art skills were quite high and they were not injured.

Everybody was taken by surprise. In the meantime Sha Tongtian had entered the waterfall again; this time he was ready, he lifted both palms in front of his face, and sure enough, from behind the waterfall a fist came flying out. He used his left hand to parry while launched a counterattack with his right. All this time he has not seen clearly who the enemy was.

Liang Ziweng had also jumped into the waterfall. Suddenly a stick came sweeping close to the ground. Liang Ziweng tried to evade, but he was too late; the lower part of his leg were squarely hit, he could not maintain his stand and fell backward. His chest was hit by the waterfall, while his leg was again hit by the stick; against its master’s wish his body fell outside the waterfall.

By this time Sha Tongtian was also pushed outside the waterfall by a swift and fierce palm. Three-headed dragon Hou Tonghai did not think about what kind of martial art skill his martial brother had, and what kind of skill he had; if his martial brother was easily defeated, how could he hope to achieve success? Relying on his superb water skill, his ability to open his eyes and see underwater, he charged into the waterfall.

Looking at the adverse situation Peng Lianhu rushed forward to join the battle, but suddenly a dark and rather shiny shadow flew above his head. ‘Bang!’ that shadow fell to the ground; and then he heard Hou Tonghai cried out loudly out of pain. Quickly Peng Lianhu came over and said in a low voice, “Hou Xiong [brother Hou], be quiet! What happened?”

“His granny!” Hou Tonghai cursed, “My butts are broken into four pieces from the fall.”

Peng Lianhu was confounded and amused at the same time, “Is there such a thing?” he whispered. He stretched his hand to trace Hou Tonghai’s buttocks, seemingly to see if they were still two pieces; but he saw nothing was injured. He knew something was amiss, so he did not want to rashly face the danger. “Who’s inside?” he asked.

From pain Hou Tonghai became angry, “How would I know?” he snapped, “As soon as I went in I was thrown back outside. That bastard scoundrel!”

Under the star light they saw Venerable Lingzhi’s red robe fluttered; he entered the waterfall in big strides. Amidst the gurgling water they could hear his loud shouts in Tibetan; looked like he was fighting an intense battle with the man inside.

Everybody looked at each other in surprise. Sha Tongtian and Liang Ziweng were thrown outside; but in the darkness they vaguely saw behind the curtain of water there were one man and one woman. The man was barehanded, and the woman had a stick in her hand. By this time they heard Venerable Lingzhi’s loud roar; it looked like he had suffered hardship as well.

Wanyan Honglie knitted his brows, “Why is this Venerable so reckless? He called out earth shatteringly loud; if the palace guards hear and come over, how can we get the book?” he said.

He had just finished speaking when they saw Venerable Lingzhi’s red kasaya fly out from the waterfall and float on the red lotus pond, followed by two clanking noise; two copper cymbals that he used as weapons also flew out of the waterfall. Peng Lianhu was afraid the cymbals would make loud noise if they fell to the ground, thus alerting the palace guards; so he stretched out his hands and caught the cymbals. They heard from the waterfall loud shouts, which nobody could understand, of Tibetan curse words; followed by a huge body flying out of the water.

Luckily Venerable Lingzhi’s martial art was different from Hou Tonghai’s; he fell backward, but was able to land steadily, his buttocks were not injured at all. He cursed aloud, “It’s the boy and the girl we met at the boat.”

When Guo Jing and Huang Rong were hiding behind the fake hill, they heard Wanyan Honglie’s order to the people to come into the cave and steal the book. They thought if the Wumu Legacy were obtained by him, the Jin army could follow Yue Wumu’s military strategy to invade the south; then it would be disastrous. They realized that Ouyang Feng was around and that they were not his match, but if they did not bravely step forward, how could they bear it if the common people of the world suffer a disaster?

At first Huang Rong wanted to find a way to scare these people away, but Guo Jing saw the situation was critical; they did not have time to hesitate. Immediately he pulled Huang Rong’s hand and slipped behind the waterfall. They were hoping for an opportunity to set up an ambush and attack Ouyang Feng by surprise. Luckily the waterfall’s rumbling noise was so loud that nobody noticed their movements.

Two people did all they can to repel Sha Tongtian and the others. They were pleasantly surprised with the result; did not expect the Manual’s ‘changing muscles forging bones’ to be that marvelous. Huang Rong’s ‘dog-beating stick’ had infinite variations, almost fantastical, that even men of Sha Tongtian and Venerable Lingzhi’s caliber were thrown into confusion and helplessness. Guo Jing would take advantage of the situation to send out his palm, as a result they managed to throw everybody out of the waterfall.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong knew that as Sha Tongtian and the others were defeated, Ouyang Feng would go into action; and that they absolutely could not fight against him. “Let us get out of here quick!” Huang Rong said, “We have to raise the alarm, let the palace guards come over and prevent these people to act further.”

“That’s right!” Guo Jing said, “You go out and raise the alarm. I am staying here to guard.”

“You must not fight the Old Poison,” Huang Rong said.

“Yes. Now go! Go!” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong just about to go out through the hole behind the waterfall when suddenly they heard a loud grunt; a great burst of energy came through the waterfall from the outside. Two people did not dare to block, they leaped sideways to evade. With a loud sound the Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance energy penetrated the waterfall and hit the iron gate. The water splashed everywhere, the momentum was astonishing.

Although Huang Rong managed to leap sideways, but her back was still hit by the Toad Stance’s lateral force; she felt her blood was rushing and her vision blurred. She tried to focus her attention and then dashing outside and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Seize the assassin! Seize the assassin!” She ran away while repeatedly shouting.

As she shouted, the palace guards all around ‘cui han tang’ were startled awake; immediately there came shouting everywhere, raising the alarm. Huang Rong jumped up the roof, picked up the roof tiles and ‘Bing! Bing! Bang! Bang!” threw the tiles randomly.

“Kill this little girl first, then we’ll talk,” Peng Lianhu cursed. Launching his lightness kungfu he gave a chase. Liang Ziweng jumped to the left, trying to surround her.

Wanyan Honglie was still calm, he said to Yang Kang, “Kang’er, go with Mr. Ouyang to get the book.”

By that time Ouyang Feng had already squatted on the ground in front of the waterfall. With another grunt he sent another burst of energy and the double iron gate on the cave mouth flew in. He was about to enter the cave when suddenly from the side a shadow came attacking. Before the person even arrived, his palm had already come; launching the dangerous stance of ‘fei long zai tian’ [dragon flies to the sky]. Although in that dark cave he could not clearly see that person’s appearance, as soon as he saw the stance he knew it must be Guo Jing. He was delighted, “That Nine Yin Manual is exceptionally difficult to understand, I only understand two out of ten sentences. If I can capture this kid today, I can force him to explain it.” He leaned sideways to evade the attack then swiftly stretched out his hand trying to snatch Guo Jing’s back.

Guo Jing determined that no matter what he had to do guard the entrance, he could not let the enemy enter. As long as he could hold for a moment, the palace guards would come over; although this group of traitors’ martial arts was high, eventually they have to run away. He was slightly puzzled to see Ouyang Feng did not try to kill him but just want to capture him. His left hand swept the attacking hand away and his right hand counterattacked with the Vacant Fist technique. Even though in term of strength this technique was inferior to the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms, using Vacant Fist his palms were floating with tricky movements.

“Good!” Ouyang Feng exclaimed. He dropped his shoulder and withdrew his hand; trying to catch Guo Jing’s right arm. His hand did not carry the gust of wind that came with his swift and ferocious force.

When he was on the desolate island Ouyang Feng studied the Manual Guo Jing wrote, the more he practiced it the more he felt something was wrong. It never crossed his mind that the Manual in his hand was scrambled to the point of intelligible; he thought that the Manual carried a very deep and profound meaning, which could not be deciphered in a short period of time. Later on he heard Hong Qigong mumbling some gibberish on the raft; he thought that was the key to understanding the Manual. Every time he met Guo Jing he noticed that his martial art was always progressing, he was startled yet delighted at the same time: startled that if this kid’s skill made this kind of advancement, then the power contained in the Manual was truly something to be feared; delighted because the Manual was in his hand; by strengthening his own background, his advancement in the future would be limitless.

Previously on the raft he fought a life and death battle against two enemies; this time he felt that he had gained an upper hand, he wanted to fight leisurely. He thought he would be able to tear apart the manual by watching Guo Jing’s every single move. He did not care whether the Wumu Legacy could be stolen or not; in his heart the only important matter right now was the martial art in the Manual.

By now the light from the lanterns all around had made the ‘cui han tang’ bright as daylight as more and more palace guards arrived. Wanyan Honglie saw Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang had entered the water curtain for a very long time without coming back out, while the palace guards had gathered around them. He was getting increasingly anxious; fortunately the guards’ attention was absorbed by Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng on the roof chasing after Huang Rong, oblivious that there was a bigger fight going on inside the waterfall. He realized, however, that sooner or later the guards’ would detect their presence there. He stomped his feet and waved his hands incessantly, while urgently called out, “Quick! Quick!”

“Don’t worry Prince, little monk will go in again,” Venerable Lingzhi said. Shaking his left palm in front of his body he entered the waterfall again. By now the light outside had penetrated the water curtain. He was able to see Ouyang Feng exchanged stances against Guo Jing in front of the cave entrance; while Yang Kang on the side was trying to get into the cave. But how could he pass through these two people’s ferocious gust of winds from their palms?

Venerable Lingzhi watched for several stances and he could not endure it anymore; he thought presently the situation was very urgent, but this Ouyang Feng was leisurely sparring martial art in here with this kid; truly he was a bastard. “Mr. Ouyang, let me help you!” he shouted.

“Don’t go near me!” Ouyang Feng replied.

Venerable Lingzhi thought, “In a situation like this you still flaunt yourself as a hero; displaying your reputation as a grandmaster of a martial art school?” He bent his knees and attacked Guo Jing’s left side; his ‘da shou yin’ [big hand stamp/imprint] slapped Guo Jing’s ‘tai yang’ [sun] acupoint.

Ouyang Feng was angry; his right hand stretched out to grab the back of Lingzhi’s neck and flung him out. As his neck was grabbed, Venerable Lingzhi was very angry, he shouted a series of most obscene cuss words he could think of; unfortunately he was using Tibetan, so naturally Ouyang Feng did not understand a word he was saying. All he heard was “Ba ni mi hong …” half a sentence because water started to get into his mouth that his curse was drown. What happened was: he fell backward with his face facing the sky, so when he fell into the pond water started filling up his mouth.

Wanyan Honglie saw Venerable Lingzhi came out and fell like he was mounting the clouds and riding the mist, and then he heard a loud clamoring noise as the big flower pot in front of the ‘cui han tang’ was crushed; he groaned inwardly. He also saw the palace guards came in succession, busily he tucked his robe and went inside the waterfall.

Although he had learned martial arts, his skill was only so-so; as soon as he was inside the waterfall he stepped on slippery floor and fell down. Yang Kang rushed forward to hold him up. It took a while for Wanyan Honglie to scan the cave, looking at what was going on. “Mr. Ouyang, can you expel this youngster?” he called out. He knew that no matter how he begged or entreated, Ouyang Feng might not necessarily pay any attention to him; hence he resorted to subtlety by asking if Ouyang Feng was capable of expelling Guo Jing. It was called ‘dispatching a general is not as good as inciting a general’.

Sure enough, as soon as Ouyang Feng heard that, he replied, “Why not?” He squatted and produced a loud grunt, sending his Toad Stance energy forward through his palms. This one push was backed by his lifelong cultivation of energy, even if Hong Qigong or Huang Yaoshi were here, they would not be able to resist this attack head on, how could Guo Jing block?

Ouyang Feng had just exchanged some stances with Guo Jing, compelling him to use the Vacant Fist technique. He noticed that Guo Jing’s movement was subtle with marvelous variations, in his heart he was secretly pleased, thinking this must be the Nine Yin Manual’s martial art. He wanted to watch Guo Jing to use up this technique so that he could steal as much as he could. Unfortunately Wanyan Honglie barged in and questioned his ability. He still thought that Guo Jing would be useful, and he knew the ferociousness of his own strength, therefore, voluntarily he withdrew his push.

Unexpectedly Guo Jing had determined to guard the Wumu Legacy with his life, he knew that if he evade to the side, the cave entrance would be defenseless and the Wumu Legacy would fall into the enemy’s hand. Although there were numerous palace guards outside, how could they defend against Ouyang Feng and the others? He knew this incoming force was ferocious, he could not block, and he could not evade; so his feet kicked and he jumped about four feet upward to escape the attack and then landed back in front of the entrance. He heard a loud noise behind his back, sand and rocks fell down since Ouyang Feng’s force hit the cave wall.

“Good!” Ouyang Feng called out, and with an exceptional speed sent out the second attack. The previous force had not diminished when the next force had arrived.

Guo Jing felt a sudden gust of wind blowing to his upper body, he groaned inwardly; and launched both of his palms forward using the ‘zhen jing bai li’ [shocking a hundred ‘li’s] immediately. It was one of the most powerful moves of the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms. This time he blocked hard with hard. In an instant both of them stayed motionless. Guo Jing realized his strength was not a match of the enemy’s, he knew he would suffer defeat, but there was no other way.

Wanyan Honglie saw these two men were fighting, leaping and eluding, one rose up the other fell down; and suddenly they were stiff like corpses, not even a finger was stirred, they did not even seem to breathe; he was greatly astonished. A short moment later sweats started to drip from Guo Jing’s body. Ouyang Feng knew that if this fight continued his opponent would suffer serious injury; he had a mind of yielding for half a stance, but as soon as he let down his power his chest tightened because the opponent’s power come pressing in. If not of his profound strength he would certainly be injured.

Ouyang Feng was startled; he had never expected that in such a young age Guo Jing’s strength could be so fierce. He took a deep breath and counterattacked immediately, pushing the incoming force back out. If only he added a little bit strength to his push, he would be able to overthrow Guo Jing easily. But this time both parties palm strength was equal; if he wanted to score victory he would have to inflict heavy injury to his opponent. It would not be difficult if he really wanted to kill Guo Jing, but this kid was the key to understanding the Manual; how could he destroy his own resource? Therefore, he wanted to wait for Guo Jing’s strength to be depleted and then he would capture him.

Not too long afterwards it became obvious that as one’s strength declined, the other’s increased; but Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang who watched from the side did not know how much longer this condition would last; they became very anxious. Actually two people were in this deadlock for only a short time, but because the light from the outside was getting brighter and the noise getting louder, in Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang’s mind they have been motionless for a very long time.

Suddenly a loud noise was heard, two palace guards came barging into the waterfall. Yang Kang swiftly pounced forward. With ‘ta, ta’ sound both of his hands penetrated the guards body. It was the deathly ‘jiu yin bai zhua gong’ [nine yin white claw power]. A whiff of reeking blood smell attacked everybody’s nostrils; those guards died instantly. Yang Kang then drew a dagger from his boot and jumped to stab Guo Jing’s waist.

Guo Jing was resisting Ouyang Feng’s palm with all his strength; how could he avoid this incoming stab? He knew if he moved even a little bit he would die violently under the Western Poison’s Toad Stance; therefore, even when he knew the dagger would penetrate his body soon, he was forced to ignore it. Suddenly he felt a severe pain on his waist; his breath was immediately shut. Instinctively he swung his fist and hit Yang Kang’s hand.

By this time the martial art levels between these two was very far apart; Guo Jing’s fist struck Yang Kang’s bone like it was about to crack. Hastily Yang Kang withdrew his hand that the dagger only went halfway into Guo Jing’s waist.

Right at that moment the Toad Stance’s force came surging into Guo Jing’s chest. He made a noiseless grunt, bent his body and tumbled down.

Realizing that in the end he still inflicted injury, Ouyang Feng waved his hand and shook his head. “What a pity! What a pity!” he called out. He was dejected but knew that this kid could not be revived, so there was no reason why he should linger around; he had to get the Wumu Legacy. He stared at Yang Kang angrily, he thought, “This kid has spoiled my big business.” He turned around and entered the cave in big strides. Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang followed behind.

By that time there were a lot of palace guards gathered around the place. Without turning his body Ouyang Feng grabbed backward and one by one he flung the guards away, until finally no guard was able to enter the cave anymore.

Yang Kang lighted up his torch to see the cave situation; he saw thick dust everywhere, a sign that nobody had ever entered in for a very long time. There was a stone table in the middle of the cave, and a stone box on top of it, measuring about two feet square. The box was sealed closed. Other that this, no other object could be seen inside the cave. Yang Kang brought his torch closer to take a look. The writing on the seal looked very old, the characters were not recognizable.

“The book must be inside this box,” Wanyan Honglie called out.

Yang Kang was delighted, he held out his hand to take the box. Ouyang Feng’s left arm gently pushed his shoulder away. Yang Kang staggered back several steps before he fell down. He was startled, but saw Ouyang Feng took the box.

“Great work accomplished, everybody draws back!” Wanyan Honglie called out.

With Ouyang Feng on the front leading the way, three people went out the cave. Yang Kang saw Guo Jing with his body full of blood was lying motionless among several guards on the cave entrance; he felt a slight remorse and muttered under his breath, “You don’t know good from bad, always meddle in other people’s business. You can’t blame me in spite of our sworn brotherhood.” Remembering his dagger was still in Guo Jing’s body he stooped down to pick it up, but then suddenly a shadow appeared from outside. “Brother Jing, where are you?” the shadow called out.

Yang Kang recognized Huang Rong’s voice; he was startled and without taking his dagger out he jumped over Guo Jing’s body and ran outside the water curtain to follow Ouyang Feng and the others.

Previously Huang Rong was rushing to the east and running to the west with Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng chasing after her on the rooftop. Not long afterwards the palace guards started to gather around the area. Peng and Liang were scared, they did not dare to chase Huang Rong much longer and so they went back to join Sha Tongtian and the others waiting for Wanyan Honglie by the waterfall side. They killed several other guards outside the cave until Ouyang Feng went out.

Huang Rong was concerned about Guo Jing, she went back inside the cave and called out several times without answer. She started to get nervous, so she lighted up her flint only to see Guo Jing with his body soaked in blood was lying next to her own foot. Huang Rong was scared to death, her hands trembled, her flint fell down and the fire went out.

Outside the cave the guards were still shouting loudly, calling each other to capture the assassin. More than a dozen guards were grabbed and tossed away by Ouyang Feng with broken necks; nobody dare to even go near them anymore. But palace guards carried a heavy responsibility; presently there was an assassin in the palace, if they did not shout loudly and appear bold by not running away, how could they show their loyalties?

Huang Rong stooped down to hold Guo Jing, she felt his hand was still warm, she felt relieved. She called out several times without getting any answer; she decided to carry him on her back and quietly slipped away from the waterfall toward the back of the fake hill.

By that time the area around the ‘cui han tang’ was bright as daylight from the lanterns. Guards from other parts of the palace had heard the news and came over in abundance. Even though Huang Rong’s movement was quick it was impossible to avoid being seen by several guards. They shouted loudly and came to chase her. Huang Rong silently cursed, “You are a bunch of scumbags, you don’t pursue after the bad people but chase after the good people.”

She gritted her teeth and flew away. Several guards with higher martial arts managed to get close to her, forcing her to launch several steel needles. “Aiyo!” she heard several guards cry out and fell down. The rest of the guards did not dare to pursue and could only helplessly look at her leaping over the palace wall and disappear without a trace.

These people were so noisy that the whole palace was frightened; in the dark of the night nobody knew if it was a coup, somebody was trying to usurp the emperor’s throne, or some government officers incited a rebellion. The palace guards, the imperial army, all armed force personnel were alarmed; but not a single high-ranking military officer knew what was going on for sure. They were confused for the re