The Villain Princess survived the Imperial Riot

Chloe took a step back, as if she could predict the future, and avoided Logan's sharp knife exactly. Every time she took a step back, Logan took a step forward. Just when the middle-aged man was pursuing the victory and thought that he could cut the adventurer's throat with the next knife, he suddenly stumbled and found that something was stuck to his feet.

He looked down and saw a white thing, either a spider web or mycelium, wrapped around his ankle. It seemed to have life and was climbing up his shin. The huge force twisted the muscles into a deformed knot, and even the bones were broken with a teeth-grinding cutting sound.

"Are you a moth cultivator?" Logan asked subconsciously.

The path of primordial love, also the root of the moth, is the path of the wilderness and the natural way of living things, the way of flowers, birds, insects, fish, as well as mountains, rivers, and forests. Accepting the moth's infusion of secret cultivation, listening to the guidance of instinct and need, is the most primal yearning at the beginning of life, and is primordial love.

Secret cultivators may also cultivate multiple fields concurrently, for example, the Inquisitor has integrated the enlightenment of the Radiant Lamp, and the High Knight has accepted the continuation of the Ruddy Skin, but their basic color will not fade because of this.

Whatever source of inspiration you receive will deeply mark you.

“There will be no reward for answering correctly.”

Chloe smiled warmly, and suddenly two bare hands emerged from under her hunting jacket, piercing Logan's heart like a razor.

"A spider moth is a spider moth."

Hestia sighed, and blew off the head of a thug. While absorbing his spiritual energy, she used the "Judgment and Punishment" to detain the next person.

Four arms? Who are you looking down on?

The new lawn mower can handle eleven sisters at the same time with ease!

Hestia also knew that Chloe's strength might not be as strong as it would be in the future, but it was not as simple as it seemed. She remembered that each of the spider moth's arms was engraved with secret techniques that could change the situation in an instant.

The "black hand" of this stronghold is too weak and has no desire to fight.

"what?"

Chloe discovered that after she cut open Logan's chest, there was no blood, but dark, shadowy foam.

"The art of death substitution. He changed his position through the shadows." Hestia reminded.

"shadow?"

Chloe looked around the tavern. The brilliant candles illuminated almost every corner, their light bouncing off objects without losing any of its brightness. In this situation, how could there be any shadows?

"Why not ask them?"

Hestia smiled as she looked at the seven Shadow Guardians still present. They were just ordinary fighters. Even after undergoing the ritual infusion, their combat proficiency couldn't match that of the military-trained Celestial Dragons.

Moreover, within seven steps, the gun was accurate and fast.

"She has no bullets left, kill her!" A shadow servant suddenly roared.

The shadow servants who had been hesitating and hiding behind the table and pillars were surrounded from all directions again.

Hestia threw away the revolver and pulled out the two spare percussion pistols from her waist.

"Boom, boom."

The two men fell to the ground in response. Seeing this, the other shadow servants immediately lay down and retreated into the blind spot again.

The person who screamed the loudest immediately fled out the door.

"Boom!"

The door was kicked open, and the howling wind screamed miserably. The shadow servant stared at the giant man at the door... no, a giant woman, who was more than two meters tall and could already reach the top of the door frame.

"High Knight!"

Shadow Servant knew that this was a life-and-death situation, and at the critical moment he burst out with extraordinary strength. He screamed, pulled out his mace, and smashed it hard on the giant woman's forehead!

"when!"

With a loud bang, the shadow servant was bounced back into the tavern by the recoil of strength beyond his physical body, smashing the bar to pieces, but the giant woman's forehead did not even have a scratch on her scalp.

The giant woman was holding a human head in her hand, attached to a body with broken bones. It was a female dwarf with a beard tied into a flower.

The dwarf looked at Hestia with pleading eyes, and said with a weak voice: "Save..."

Sir Glenn, who had been huddled in the corner, trembled. Only then did he hear clearly that the shrill screams outside were not the sound of the wind, but...

The music played by the Iron Army on the bodies of the victims.

Clara, the giant woman—the Knight Commander among the High Knights—ripped open the door frame and stepped into the tavern. She said respectfully, "Your Highness, the Iron Army has blocked all exits from this alley. Not even a fly can escape. However, we engaged in a firefight with a dozen secret cultivators of unknown origin, and we were unable to capture any alive."

As Clara paused, Hestia suddenly discovered that countless spirits were madly pouring into the Witch Book, making it impossible for her to tell the specific source.

"what?"

Hestia was a little confused.

Can someone who was not executed by her own hands also popcorn?

But soon, Hestia calmed down and found that there was no mark of the secret technique in her consciousness.

This means that the deaths of the dozen or so secret practitioners were not counted as his own.

Is it because it exceeds the scope of the Witch Book, or is there something else?

However, this was a pleasant surprise, allowing Hestia to gain some understanding of how to use the Witch's Book. With spiritual energy as her nourishment, she could use the secret arts almost infinitely without worrying about any cost or consumption.

"No, no, no! How is this possible! You butchers!"

Behind the bar, the bartender had been cold for who knows how long due to excessive blood loss, and the shadow waiter was shouting hysterically, and his voice sounded familiar to Chloe.

He crawled out of the ruins, his body covered with thorns, and under his damaged skin, there was another face hidden - Logan.

Being called a butcher by the Black Hand guild's scum, it seemed he was genuinely frightened by the commotion in the Wine Alley. He knew he was finished, all the power he had accumulated in the guild vanished in the blink of an eye at the Imperial Iron Army's fingertips.

"It seems your death-substitution technique won't get you far." Hestia smiled sarcastically.

The light did illuminate the tavern, but it could not illuminate the inside of those skins, nor the filthy hearts of these people.

The Shadow Servant is obviously Logan's servant. It is not uncommon to sign a contract with these servants and use some kind of shadow replacement technique.

As for Clara...

She wasn't truly made of steel; it was simply that "order" solidified her physical state, transforming her into an unbreakable law, known as a blood lock. This meant that unless the mystical arts or powers exceeded her defenses, no one could truly harm her.

A high knight in combat readiness is more difficult to break through than an armored knight. If an ordinary secret cultivator encounters one, he can only run away.

Logan had some understanding of the High Knight, but obviously not enough, otherwise he would not have swung the hammer but turned and ran away.

"Clara, did you kill everyone in the alley?" Hestia suddenly asked.

"No, there were at least one or two thousand people in the black market, most of them low-ranking adventurers who surrendered immediately. We only dealt with those who resisted." Clara gently picked up the half-dead female dwarf. "We spared the leader of this small group for interrogation. However, if Your Highness finds it troublesome, you can execute him on the spot."

"Forget it." Hestia shook her head. "Put him in jail first. We'll decide what to do with him after this matter is resolved."

Just that one blow by Tie Juntu had already caused the spiritual energy stored in her Witch Book to exceed the limit, so there was no point in killing more people.

She remembered that when she killed the Inquisitor and absorbed his secret technique, the boundary of the Witch Book seemed to have expanded a bit...

An idea suddenly occurred to the princess. She glanced at Logan with a smile, then looked at Sir Glenn: "You have a close relationship with the Black Hand Guild?"

"Unjust! Unjust, Your Highness!" Sir Glenn disregarded his dignity as he crawled over, bowing repeatedly. "I am utterly loyal to the Empire. To collect sufficient taxes and contribute to the Empire's great cause of conquering the world, I even volunteered to come to such a vile and dangerous place! Even if the previous tax collectors have met their end, I will show these tax-evading gangsters the glory of the Empire and that there are still loyal tax collectors who are not afraid of threats!"

Logan had broken bones all over his body, but he could still hold on. However, after hearing Glenn's slander, he didn't care about his own life or death and wanted to go to court.

"You fart!"

However, just as he was about to retaliate, a mouthful of old blood spurted out three to five meters away. He pointed at Sir Glenn, shook twice, and suddenly fainted, unconscious.

Volume 23: Dreamer: . Smoke Bomb

The Iron Army's operation was as powerful as thunder. In less than half an hour, they cleared out the black market in Thorny Pig Wine Alley. Their efficiency was more than ten times higher than that of the police station and the procuratorate.

Clara said that not many people were killed, but when Hestia walked out of the tavern, she saw the knights and attendants of the Iron Guard carrying the mutilated corpses one by one onto the corpse cart, and the whole street was filled with a strong smell of blood.

Those who managed to survive in the black market were tied up in groups with iron chains like dead dogs and put on horse-drawn carriages.

Originally, these people should have been taken to the police station for interrogation first, but taking care of hundreds of prisoners is a technical job, so Hestia simply asked Clara to take the prisoners to the Yunling Forest Prison controlled by the Prosecution Office - a semi-militarized fortress that specializes in detaining cultists, serious criminals and political prisoners.

Although the Inquisition may not be as loyal as the High Knight, and there are probably quite a few inquisitors who are in the same boat, they are at least much better than the noble lords in the Governor's Office who are just sitting there doing nothing.

As an agency directly under the empire, the Inquisition often interferes with local provinces because of criminal issues, and there has always been considerable power conflicts between them. This time, Sir Glenn is on the side of the Governor's Office. If he is handed over to the Inquisition for custody, at least there will be no situation of "being shot in the back and committing suicide out of fear of punishment".

"Hi."

Hestia couldn't help but sigh as she watched the prisoners being taken away in carts.

With such a big commotion, the mastermind behind the Flesh Alchemy will definitely hide deeper after hearing the news.

Although we don't want to alert the enemy, it is extremely difficult to find out the mastermind behind the scenes quietly.

Regardless, as long as she could obtain valuable clues from the Black Hand Guild, everything would be worth it. Furthermore, absorbing the spiritual energy of hundreds of people was a significant gain. Hestia felt that if she expended all her spiritual energy now, she could detain at least a hundred people simultaneously.

Of course, for spiritually profound mystics and arcane sorcerers, apprentice-level mystic arts are still not enough to achieve victory.

"Your Highness."

After Tiejun had taken care of everything, Iyana finally arrived.

"Why so late?"

"I intercepted a smuggling operation in the sewers. It seems that noble bureaucrats from the Governor's Office are involved..."

"I already know that, but what are the contraband you're talking about?"

"It's a bottled potion for injection. I'm not sure if it's the healing potion Miss Rousseau mentioned, but from what the smugglers said, this potion is somewhat addictive and can affect a person's mind unconsciously."

"Can I take some samples?" Chloe asked.

"Whatever you want." Hestia shrugged, "But I want results as soon as possible."

"Tomorrow at the latest. I also want to ask the people from the Black Hand Guild some questions later."

"Is this my favorite part of the torture?" Hestia said with a cunning and cruel smile. "I also want to interrogate the prisoner."

Hestia's smile suddenly reminded Chloe of the stereotyped executioners in dramas, where a curled-up corner of their mouth meant someone was going to die.

Although she didn't think the Sixth Princess of the Empire had the strength to defeat her, Chloe felt a sense of fear for no reason.

Especially when she thought of her declaration in the evening that she would brand the sisters in the tower and turn them into slaves, she couldn't help but be vigilant.