The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhaolin immediately reprimanded, "Useless! You're making things so difficult for a child. What's the point of me spending money to support you? Go and catch that child. Otherwise, I'll lose a layer of protection."

"Guards, I'm packing to go to the palace. Hide this girl in a secret room, and whatever you do, don't let anyone find her. Otherwise, she'll be coming to see the King of Hell with me!"

Just as he finished speaking, a scream suddenly rang out. He looked up abruptly and saw a servant rushing towards them. The servant's eyes were covered with countless white insects.

Chu Zhaolin was startled and quickly grabbed a guard beside him to shield him. The guard was also startled and instinctively drew his sword, slashing the man to the ground. When Chu Zhaolin looked again, the man on the ground was already a skeleton.

His eyes were instantly filled with fear, and he retreated in panic, helplessly watching himself surrounded by a swarm of insects. Then, a man with black hair and a long robe, exuding an imposing aura, appeared before him.

"Do you like it? This is my big gift to congratulate you on successfully angering me. You are the first person I have ever used to deal with this situation."

Chu Zhaolin looked fearful and said, "Who are you? Why do you have such vicious methods? Let me tell you, I am the current Crown Prince. If you offend me, you will definitely suffer the consequences in the future."

Lu Nianzhe sneered, his eyes full of mockery: "Easy to eat? You should be worried about whether you have a future. My little darlings, this is the first time they've tasted something so delicious, and they're still craving more. Tell me, should I give them a little treat right now?"

Chu Zhaolin hurriedly said, "No, please don't, brother. We have no grudges or enemies. There's no need for us to get to this point. If you let me go, you'll follow me and you'll surely rise to great heights and have a bright future."

Lu Nianzhe shook his head slightly, looked down at the cluster of insects gathered on the ground, and after a long while, said, "But you hurt the most important person to me. Do you think I would agree to this?"

As he spoke, he stepped forward, grabbed the man's collar, and said coldly, "Where is the woman you captured? If you don't tell me, I'll kill you right now."

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhaolin felt a renewed sense of hope. He quickly said, "The backyard, in the secret room there. I brought her back and put her in the secret room. I haven't touched a single hair on her head. I'll take you there now."

As he spoke, he looked down at the insects at his feet with fear. Lu Nianzhe waved his hand, and the insects orderly made way for him. Chu Zhaolin breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes darting around. Lu Nianzhe warned, "Don't try to run away. Before you have that thought, wait until you step out of this door and see the scenery outside."

Chu Zhaolin chuckled, took two steps toward the door, then froze, his pupils contracting, and sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.

The entire courtyard was covered with flying insects, and the guards who had been in the courtyard were now just skeletons exposed in the air.

Lu Nianzhe walked up, patted him on the shoulder, and sneered, "What do you think of my masterpiece? I suppose you've never seen anything like this before. After all, it's something I came up with recently and created on a whim. It's a new type of Gu worm."

"Perfect timing. Today's the opportunity for a trial, and it seems to have gone fairly well. You're obedient and well-behaved, but you're a bit too greedy. I'm afraid there aren't enough people in this yard to fill their teeth. You'd better hurry, otherwise, once I'm done with my mood, I might just throw you to them as an extra meal."

Chu Zhaolin nodded hurriedly, taking his first step as if weighed down by a thousand pounds. Heaven knows he would encounter such a ruthless character, a heretic who knew the lost art of witchcraft. Qilin Pavilion was indeed a place not to be trifled with. How could he have been so bold?

Feeling like crying but unable to, he forced himself not to look at the flying insects swarming towards him right under his nose. His steps were stiff but his movements were swift as he arrived at the exit of the secret room, next to the artificial hill.

He skillfully activated the mechanism and said to Lu Nianzhe, "She's inside; she's absolutely safe."

Without wasting words, Lu Nianzhe summoned dozens of flying insects that swarmed in, then pushed Chu Zhaolin down and followed him.

However, after going down there, not only Lu Nianzhe, but also Chu Zhaolin went crazy.

At this moment, the secret room was empty except for the two of them; there was no sign of Shangguan Ruxing at all.

"That's impossible. How could it be empty? I clearly ordered it to be delivered here."

Lu Nianzhe kept a cold face, forcibly suppressing his anger that was about to erupt. Chu Zhaolin was so frightened that he took a step back and shrank back, saying, "Brother, really, I'm not lying to you. Please don't kill me. I'll ask my father to give you ten thousand taels of gold. Please, don't touch me."

Lu Nianzhe had no time to listen to his nonsense. He stretched out his hand, and a swarm of flying insects rushed towards Chu Zhaolin.

Chu Zhaolin screamed in terror, thinking he was about to be eaten, when a person appeared in front of him and said to Lu Nianzhe, "Nianzhe, put away your demonic possessions."

Lu Nianzhe squinted at the person in front of him and said, "Uncle, move aside."

Bai Jianan frowned and said unhappily, "I told you not to touch these things, and I won't say anything if you don't listen to my advice, but you can't use these things to kill people."

"He kidnapped Ruxing, and his fate is still unknown. How can you expect me to release him?"

Lu Nianzhe's eyes were bloodshot, his face full of resentment. He looked at Chu Zhaolin as if he were a dead man and said, "In this life, no one can hurt Ruxing, no one can."

Bai Jianan coldly said, "But you are hurting her right now, using your love as an excuse to handle things in such a cruel way. Look at yourself now, are you still the Lu Nianzhe that Ruxing likes?"

Lu Nianzhe was taken aback when he heard this. After a moment, Bai Jianan walked to his side and said, "Take back all your stupid things. Don't let me see them."

Lu Nianzhe nodded dejectedly, and with a wave of his hand, countless flying insects disappeared into his sleeve in an instant. No one knew how he did it. Bai Jianan ignored him, grabbed the nearly unconscious Chu Zhaolin, and leaped away from the secret room. Lu Nianzhe followed closely behind.

Upon arriving on the ground, Chu Tianyi was already there. As soon as Bai Jianan and the others appeared, he said, "You actually keep people like this? Have you forgotten the lesson you learned back then?"

Bai Jianan snorted coldly, threw Chu Zhaolin to the ground, and said disdainfully, "What kind of person did I raise? He's still better than you, isn't he? You raised a perfectly good person into a beast, doing things worse than pigs and dogs."

Chu Tian frowned: "I will deal with Zhao Lin's mistake, but you shouldn't keep him around. The witchcraft has long since disappeared and should not continue to exist."

Bai Jianan snapped impatiently, "Mind your own business! I've never listened to anyone in my life. Do you really think you're the emperor and I should bow down to you? Pshaw! My daughter's life is still hanging in the balance. Do you really think I'm a pushover?"

Seeing that Bai Jianan remained unmoved by either soft or hard tactics, Chu Tian suddenly drew his long sword from his waist. Bai Jianan narrowed his eyes: "You're going to make a move?"

Chu Tian said, "If I kill the people behind you, I will deal with my own son."

Bai Jianan sneered: "You think you can beat me? What if I protect you today?"

As he spoke, he said to Lu Nianzhe behind him, "Go find Ruxing. Your bugs should be able to find where she is."

Knowing he had made a huge mistake, Lu Nianzhe nodded apologetically to Bai Jianan and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

Chu Tianyi stepped forward to stop him, but Bai Jianan blocked his move with one move, saying, "Back then you were my scoundrel, and today you will not kill the person I am protecting in front of me. Chu Tianyi, don't be so shameless. He is not someone you can mess with."

Chu Tian remained unfazed, continuing to fight as he said, "Even if we can't move him, we have to move him. We can't let him wreak havoc on the world. Bai Jianan, where is your righteousness from back then? Has it all been eaten by dogs all these years? Your witchcraft almost cost Jian Yue her life."

"But the witchcraft also saved Jian Yue. You don't know the situation, so don't think you are righteous and dare to do what others don't. Your self-righteousness will be the most important reason for your failure."

Since they couldn't agree on anything, the two ended up fighting. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chu Zhaolin secretly slipped away and arrived at the palace in the blink of an eye.

"Mother, Mother, when will you finally come to your senses? You told me to take action against the Qilin Pavilion, and now this has caused a huge mess. Mother, please give me some advice on what to do, otherwise, once Father is defeated, the Qilin Pavilion will storm into the palace."

Chu Zhaolin burst into He Xinle's bedroom, panting. He Xinle was clutching a dagger, secretly grieving. She knew she had truly gone mad, which was why she had given up her good life with Chu Tianyi and caused so much trouble.

When Chu Zhaolin came looking for her, she was taken aback at first, then sighed, "Son, I was wrong. We must not touch the Qilin Pavilion, otherwise, our empire will be in danger."

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhaolin became even more furious: "If you had said this earlier, it would have been better. But what are we going to do now? The girl I brought back has disappeared, and they want to kill me."

He Xinle was taken aback: "Who did you bring back?"

After Chu Zhaolin finished explaining the situation, He Xinle finally came to his senses and stood up abruptly, saying, "Bai Jianan and Shangguan Jianyue are known for being vengeful. Now, we're probably on the verge of a dead end. But where did your men go?"

Chu Zhaolin paced back and forth anxiously: "How should I know? Those people were all taken over from you, and I trusted and relied on them. How could I have imagined that they would stalk me today? Who is it? If I find out, I will skin them alive."

He Xinle remained silent for a moment, then her hands suddenly trembled. She looked up and walked towards the outside, but the guards stopped her, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive us. His Majesty has ordered that Your Majesty must not leave this place until you have fully recovered."

He Xinle said, "The Emperor is in danger, and you won't let me go? Get out of my way!"

The guards exchanged hesitant glances. Chu Zhaolin stepped forward, shoving them aside and yelling, "What kind of time is this? If anything happens to Father, I'll have you all buried with him! Get out of the way! What are we going to do there? Father can't even beat the leader of the Qilin Pavilion, what use are we?"

He Xinle walked away without looking back, saying, "No, we're going to find Chang Le. Besides you, the only person I can command is Chang Le."