First annul the engagement, then sever ties with the empress; the empress reigns supreme.

"Of course." Yao Duzhong didn't want Gu Junxi to suffer like this. Although he hadn't spent much time with this junior sister, she was almost a full twelve years younger than him, and he genuinely treated her like his own daughter.

It's because he's unmarried and has no children.

"Then I'll have to trouble Valley Master Yao." Mu Lingye's furrowed brows relaxed a little, and then Yao Duzhong used acupuncture to suppress the Gu poison in Gu Junxi's body.

Murong Yuan took the opportunity to pull Mu Lingye to the side.

"I need to go out for a bit," Murong Yuan said.

Mu Lingye glanced at Murong Yuan and had already guessed his thoughts.

During his time away from the capital, Murong Yuan had been handling matters both inside and outside the Crown Prince's residence. To put it simply, without Murong Yuan, the Crown Prince's residence would fall apart.

Mu Lingye was very grateful to Murong Yuan and understood his thoughts and feelings: "You're going to find Su Li, right? Go quickly, don't delay. You must rescue her."

This is not only for Su Li, but also for Gu Junxi, and even more so for Ning Hanshuang.

"Yes." Murong Yuan nodded heavily. Logically speaking, he should have gone long ago. It was only because of the logistical arrangements that he had been delayed until now. Hopefully, he could get there in time.

After Murong Yuan left, Yao Duzhong had already finished administering acupuncture to Gu Junxi. Next, Yao Duzhong was to go to the palace to administer acupuncture to Emperor Sheng to remove the Gu worms.

Mu Lingye was reluctant to leave Gu Junxi, but said to Yao Duzhong in a low voice, "Please go to the palace first, Master Yao. I will come with Axi after she wakes up."

“Okay.” Yao Duzhong nodded in agreement. He liked Mu Lingye’s attitude towards Gu Junxi. His junior sister deserved to be loved and cared for by her husband like this.

As for whether Mu Lingye is filial or not, it can only be said that you reap what you sow.

If Emperor Sheng had been even a little bit nicer to Mu Lingye from the beginning...

Don't say it's good, just be less critical.

If Mu Lingye is not filial, people will point fingers at him.

But now, anyone with a brain wouldn't say a word against Mu Lingye.

After the siege of the palace, it appeared to have returned to normal.

The bodies had already been cleared away, and the injured were either sent home or sent to the Imperial Hospital.

The only difference from usual was that there were many more guards in the palace than before.

They searched and patrolled back and forth with swords and knives, determined to find Qingyanzi, Wei Ming, Xiaoyue'er, and Mulingxuan.

The palace gates were strictly guarded and so tightly that not even a fly could be let out.

Therefore, it's completely untrue that Qingyanzi and his group left through the palace gate. Thus, Qingyanzi and his group are still inside the palace.

We searched everywhere, but couldn't find any trace of them.

The fact that the armored guards and imperial guards couldn't be found only meant that there were some secrets they didn't know. If Gu Junxi were awake, she would definitely know where to find Qingyanzi and the others.

If Xu Decai hadn't been trying to protect himself and had stayed out of both sides, he could have found them by taking the initiative.

Because they were not somewhere else at this time, but had all retreated into the Phoenix Palace.

Wei Ming, who was leading the way, opened the door to the secret passage in Fengyi Palace with ease and went inside first.

Then Qingyanzi carried Xiaoyue'er inside. Xiaoyue'er had been drugged by Qingyanzi and had fainted. Now, being held by Qingyanzi, she was like an inanimate object, at his mercy.

"Wait a minute, where does this secret passage lead? How do you know there's a secret passage here?" Mu Lingxuan frowned in confusion as he noticed Wei Ming's familiarity with every part of the palace.

Previously, it was Wei Ming who led them to evade all the searches.

It's normal for Wei Ming, as the head of the Eastern Depot, to be familiar with the palace, but it's strange that he's more familiar with it than the prince who was born in the palace.

Moreover, he had always been quite curious about Wei Ming, especially after learning that Xiao Yue'er was also related to Wei Ming by blood.

What could possibly be the reason that Wei Ming, a eunuch, was so determined to support his descendants to ascend the throne?

"This secret passage leads to the eastern suburbs outside the city. If you want to live, come with us. If you want to die, stay behind. As for why we know about this secret passage, you don't need to know." Wei Ming turned his head, his eyes venomous, shooting straight at Mu Lingxuan.

Knowing he couldn't defeat Wei Ming and Qing Yanzi alone, Mu Lingxuan chose to keep quiet after weighing the options.

The three of them walked through a long, dark passage and finally arrived at the eastern suburbs outside the city.

Qingyanzi placed Xiaoyue'er, whom he was holding, into Wei Ming's arms: "Brother, I need to go back to the manor to get some important things."

"Be careful, I'll be waiting for you at the usual place." Wei Ming knew how important the Gu poison cultivated by Qing Yanzi in the Imperial Preceptor's mansion was to Qing Yanzi, and those things were also their life-saving capital, so they could not give them up.

"Okay." Qingyanzi turned and disappeared into the night.

As soon as Qingyanzi left, Wei Ming's venomous gaze shot towards Mu Lingxuan: "Your Highness, what about you?"

"I have nowhere else to go now, and I want to go with you." Mu Lingxuan expressed his thoughts directly.

Wei Ming shook his head in refusal, primarily because he didn't trust Mu Lingxuan: "Prince Xuan, you are a member of the royal family, and you are not one of us. It's not appropriate to force yourselves to be together now. Please leave."

"But if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this desperate situation. If I leave now, wouldn't I just be waiting for Mu Lingye to come and catch me? Since you were the ones who dragged me into this mess in the first place, you have to take responsibility to the end." Mu Lingxuan was unwilling to leave.

Wei Ming narrowed his eyes. Having said all that, he no longer needed to give Mu Lingxuan any face.

"Mu Lingxuan, don't make yourself sound so wronged. You already know that Xiaoyue'er isn't your son, yet you still won't expose it."

It's simply because you had your own ulterior motives. Our cooperation, in the end, was just a matter of each getting what they wanted. Now that the plan has failed, we're going our separate ways. Don't follow me anymore, or I won't be polite.

After saying that, Wei Ming, carrying Xiao Yue'er, stepped off the ground and flew away.

There are too many things to do; we need to take it one step at a time. First, we need to resolve the issues within the palace, then we can deal with the matters outside.

Although Qingyanzi's plan failed, Mu Lingye has not yet had time to settle accounts with the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion, so the mansion is currently quiet and looks no different from usual.

However, even before Mu Lingye had a chance to settle scores, some people were already looking to settle scores with themselves.

A woman dressed in a blue Taoist robe rushed into the Imperial Preceptor's residence from outside the gate.

She leaped to the top of the tallest artificial hill in the garden, used her inner strength to place her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, and shouted.

"Sisters, that evil Taoist Qingyanzi has been defeated! The Crown Prince led his men into the palace. That evil Taoist is now dead and we are free!"

As soon as these words were spoken, nearly thirty or forty women dressed in blue Taoist robes ran out of the mansion.