We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

An hour ago.

Qin Wangfu.

After sending Li Lin to the Eastern Palace, Li Zhang rode his horse back to his temporary residence in the imperial capital.

He dismounted and casually threw the reins to the guards who came towards him.

The bad things that happened in recent days have made him upset.

"Your Majesty—you are back!"

As soon as I stepped into the mansion, a delicate call instantly wrapped around me like a spider silk soaked in honey.

The visitor had her hair tied up high in a bun, her curvy figure was naturally charming, and the makeup on her face was exquisite and impeccable.

A pair of bright eyes were looking at Li Zhang with affection and a hint of grievance.

It was the Qin King's concubine Liu Rumei.

"I have been waiting for you for a long time. I specially asked the kitchen to prepare your favorite ginseng and pigeon soup and keep it warm in the warm cage..." Liu Rumei stretched out her delicate hand painted with nail polish and was about to take Li Zhang's arm. Her voice was so soft that water could drip out of it.

However, Li Zhang's mind was now preoccupied with the suffocating situation in the imperial capital. How could he have any romantic thoughts at all?

Liu Rumei's seductive skills might arouse his interest on ordinary days, but at this moment he only felt disgusted.

The King of Qin frowned suddenly and brushed away Liu Rumei's outstretched hand with considerable force without any concealment.

"Stop making noise and do your thing!"

His voice was low and contained a suppressed anger.

Without even looking at Liu Rumei's instantly frozen smile, he walked straight past her and strode towards the inner courtyard.

Seeing that their prince was in a bad mood, the servants and maids were so scared that they immediately bowed their heads and saluted, not daring to breathe.

Liu Rumei is not the Qin prince's principal wife. The principal wife, Xiao, comes from the Xiao family in Jiangnan, a noble family with a history of a hundred years. She was the principal wife chosen by Emperor Qing himself for the Qin prince.

Xiao came from a prominent family, had a gentle temperament, was dignified and polite, and managed the entire Qin Palace in perfect order. She and the Qin King also got along very well with each other.

Until a wealthy businessman in Qin offered his concubine's daughter, Liu Rumei, to the King of Qin.

The King of Qin only took one look at this charming beauty from afar and was immediately captivated by her. He was determined to take her into the harem and make her a concubine.

Xiao was not a jealous person, so she agreed.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Concubine Liu entered the palace, she began to rely on the prince's special favor to suppress and exclude the Xiao family everywhere, and her methods were extremely cruel and vicious.

This forced Xiao, who was originally in charge of household affairs, to become disheartened and retreat to a corner, becoming useless.

Now, this huge Qin Palace is already under the control of Liu Rumei.

As for Xiao, she was just a princess in title.

Being ignored in public like this, Liu Rumei felt a surge of evil fire rising from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head!

My face felt hot, as if I had been slapped in public.

The maids and servants standing around with their hands hanging down all kept their heads down, their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts.

But Liu Rumei felt that there must be a gloating sneer hidden under their drooping eyelids.

She didn't dare to get angry with the King of Qin, or even show any dissatisfaction.

Because she knew very well that everything she had now was due to the favor of the King of Qin.

The King of Qin was the towering tree on which she depended for survival. She could only depend on him, flatter him, carefully try to figure out his thoughts, and do everything in her power to please him.

But this evil fire must go somewhere.

Liu Rumei slowly turned around, and the remaining charm on her face disappeared completely in an instant.

Those beautiful almond-shaped eyes, now filled with poison, swept coldly over the row of maids standing at the bottom of the stairs.

His gaze finally locked onto a little maidservant who was holding a copper basin and trembling slightly.

The maid was only thirteen or fourteen years old, with a childish face. She was so frightened that her face turned pale and she accidentally shook the water out of the basin.

"Bitch!" Liu Rumei's voice suddenly rose. "You can't even hold a basin steady! What's the use of your paws? Did the palace's rice feed the dogs? They only raised such a clueless, clumsy loser like you!"

The little maidservant was so frightened that she fell to her knees with a plop, and the copper basin fell, spilling water all over the floor.

"Princess, please spare my life! I know I was wrong! I will never dare to do it again!" The little maid kowtowed so hard that her forehead instantly bled from the cold bluestone slab.

"Spare my life?" Liu Rumei's lips curled up cruelly, and she slowly walked down the stairs. "I am unhappy today, and you, a fool with no eyes, bumped into me! Drag me away..."

No one dared to breathe, and looked at Liu Rumei with lowered eyebrows.

But she suddenly raised her voice:

"Be beaten to death! Let all the servants in the mansion see what happens when you don't serve your master wholeheartedly!"

"Princess, please spare me! Please spare me!" The little maidservant cried out in a shrill voice, her heart breaking.

Two burly servants immediately stepped forward and roughly lifted up the limp little maidservant as if she were a chicken.

No matter how she cried and struggled, she was dragged straight to the execution site in the backyard.

The shrill cries for mercy and the dull sound of a stick hitting flesh rang out at the same time, then gradually faded away under Liu Rumei's cold gaze, and finally returned to dead silence.

The air around them seemed to freeze. All the servants were silent, their heads lowered even lower, and they even breathed cautiously.

Liu Rumei breathed a long sigh of relief, as if the anger in her chest had dissipated a little with the death of the little maid.

She adjusted her temples, and a reserved smile reappeared on her face. Then she turned around and walked in the direction Li Zhang had left.

. . . . . .

There was only a single lamp lit in the study of Prince Qin's mansion.

Li Zhang stood with his back to the door in front of the window with his hands behind his back, looking out at the dark night.

Liu Rumei pushed the door open and walked in, approaching cautiously with a gentle and worried expression: "Your Highness..."

Li Zhang didn't look back, but just waved his hand irritably, signaling her to be quiet.

The death of the crown prince, the indifference of his father, and Li Lin who was tricked by him into entering the palace, these scenes were like cold vines wrapped around his heart, tightening more and more.

He subconsciously whispered: "Alas, Lao Si..."

Li Zhang really hated Li Che and Li Lin, but he also had his own way of doing things, and plotting against Li Lin together with Prince Jin was not something he wanted to do.

But he still did it. Although he was unwilling to admit it in his heart, Li Zhang knew very well that he was scared.

I was afraid of my father, the emperor who sat on the throne without a trace of emotion and was like a political machine.

Neither he nor the Prince of Jin wanted to sit on the fateful throne of Crown Prince, so they could only trick the fourth child, who knew nothing, into taking the position.

Liu Rumei's heart skipped a beat. She didn't understand why King Qin suddenly mentioned the annoying King Yan, but she keenly caught a hint of hesitation in his tone, even... guilt?

This made her extremely uneasy.

She immediately suppressed her suspicions and comforted him in a gentler voice, "Your Highness, you care about your brothers and sisters, and that's kindness. But the current situation is treacherous, and Your Highness is the prince His Majesty relies on the most. You must not let the words of others distract you..."

Just as Liu Rumei was racking her brains trying to appease Li Zhang.

"There's an assassin! Protect the emperor, quickly protect him!!!"

The shrill and sharp warning sound pierced the silent night sky of the Qin Palace like a steel needle.

Immediately afterwards, there was the sound of weapons clashing, the roar of the guards, and... the dull sound of sharp weapons entering flesh!

The sound came from far away, like a surging tide, and instantly hit the courtyard where the study was located!

In the chaos, Li Zhang heard the guard leader's angry roar: "Hold on! Hold on!"

"Damn it, what are these bastards running for?! Come back, you bastards!"

The King of Qin was mean and ungrateful, and he was not at all good to his subordinates.

The guards of the palace who were treated harshly had no loyalty at all. Faced with the fierce assassins sent by the King of Shu, they only put up a few symbolic resistances before fleeing like birds and beasts.

boom--

The door of the study was suddenly slammed open by a huge force!

A guard, covered in blood and with his helmet askew, stumbled in, his face filled with terror.

"Your Highness, hurry up! There are... a large number of black-clad warriors coming in... They are extremely fierce! Brothers... we can't hold on any longer!"

Before he could finish his words, a pitch-black crossbow arrow shot in from outside the door like a poisonous snake, and with a "puff" sound, it accurately pierced the guard's throat!

The guard's eyes widened as he fell heavily to the ground, and blood instantly dyed the smooth floor red.

Li Zhang's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle tip.

Although his skills were not as good as Li Lin and Li Che, he had learned martial arts from a master martial artist and his reaction was quite quick.

With a clang, he pulled out the sword hanging on the wall and pointed the tip of the sword at the dark door.

Almost at the same time as the guard fell to the ground, several dark shadows rushed in from the door and window like ghosts!

They were dressed in tight night clothes, with black scarves covering their faces, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.

They all held short blades in their hands, moved swiftly and ruthlessly, and rushed straight towards Li Zhang in the house!

"court death!"

Li Zhang roared like an enraged lion!

He was already tall and strong, and at this critical moment of life and death, he burst out with amazing fighting power.

The long sword in his hand turned into a streak of cold light, and with a sharp sound of breaking through the wind, it pierced straight into the assassin who was rushing in the front.

when--

Amid the clanging of metal, the assassin obviously did not expect Li Zhang's sword to be so powerful, and he hastily raised his hand to block it.

A huge force came, and the assassin's mouth shook violently, and the short blade almost flew out of his hand.

Li Zhang shook his wrist, and the long sword in his hand twisted and lifted.

scoff-

With a teeth-grinding sound of tearing cloth, the assassin's right arm and the short blade were severed at the shoulder, and blood spurted out like a fountain!

Li Zhang did not stop, but dodged the poisonous blade that was stabbed from the side by another assassin. He swept the sword back and accurately wiped the assassin's neck.

In an instant, the two assassins were killed.

Li Zhang's body was also splattered with warm blood, and the violent aura on his body made the death-ready warriors stunned.

However, the number of assassins was large and they were fearless!

They swarmed forward one after another like maggots on the tarsal bones.

Although Li Zhang is brave, he cannot defeat four people with just two fists.

Moreover, the study room was limited in space, making it difficult to move around. His python robe was cut in several places, and the blade even grazed his ribs, causing a burning pain.

The assassins cooperated well with each other, and Li Zhang's sword power was gradually suppressed, and danger began to arise!