Chapter 324: Chapter 222: Bloodshed at the Drunken Flower, the Imperial Capital Night Watcher Organization, Gongyang Hu’s Shock

Lu Mingyuan clasped his hands behind his back and smiled faintly. "This man is colluding with the White Lotus Ancient Sect and speaking on behalf of the Evil Cult. He’s highly suspicious. Throw him in prison to await sentencing."

"Yes!"

"And her? The Imperial Capital’s number one Courtesan?"

Yun Qinghe pushed the deathly pale Su Yujing forward, a playful smirk on her face. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Throw her in prison."

Lu Mingyuan didn’t spare her a glance, waving his hand dismissively.

With a look of utter astonishment, Yun Qinghe tossed Su Yujing to the Shadow Warriors.

’I’m saved...’

The thought reached Lu Mingyuan’s ears.

"Reporting, Your Highness, there are still many remnants deep inside the Drunken Flower Tower!"

Hong Wan emerged from a pavilion, sending a voice transmission to Lu Mingyuan.

"Kill your way inside."

Lu Mingyuan replied coolly.

Just then, Luo Ying reminded him, "The White Lotus Ancient Sect isn’t full of pushovers. They have powerful experts, especially those Honored Guest Elders. The White Lotus Sect Leader himself is a peak expert of the Twelfth Realm."

Lu Mingyuan smiled. "I’m aware."

"Just go on and kill your way inside."

...

Dusk began to fall over the Imperial Capital as the sun went down.

The inside of the brothel was in chaos, but everything outside was serene.

An elegant Confucian Scholar stood shoulder to shoulder with a tall man in Golden Battle Armor, both facing the Drunken Flower Tower.

"Old Chi, it’s time to go in."

The Imperial Expert, Blood Qilin Chi Ming Red, said to the young man beside him, "Rakshasa, one of the men you’ve hunted is in there."

"I already knew."

Chi Ming Red mused for a moment, then said, "Have you noticed? It seems the Crown Prince is using us."

The Thousand-Scheme Jade-faced Rakshasa, Zhong Yuli, replied coolly, "All I know is that protecting the Crown Prince’s life and keeping him from harm is the duty the Holy Emperor has given us."

"We are not Night Watchers. The Imperial Experts of the Dragon Guardian Pavilion serve whoever is the Great Yan Emperor. So what if we’re being used? The command is everything," Zhong Yuli said, his tone dead serious.

Chi Ming Red had no objection to this. He nodded slightly and said, "The Night Watchers... It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of them."

Compared to the Dragon Guardian Pavilion, the Night Watchers of Great Yan were the Holy Emperor’s true confidants.

The ten Imperial Experts had guarded the Royal Family for generations, maintaining the rule of the Great Yan Dynasty.

But the Night Watchers were loyal to His Majesty, and to him alone.

No one knew who its members were.

「The sun set completely.」

The aura of an ancient corpse giant quickly swept through the Twelve Jade Maidens’ Districts. A stench of decay filled the air, and furious roars echoed intermittently.

At the same time, a grand illusion of a white lotus bloomed deep within the Drunken Flower Tower, its aura formidable.

In the blink of an eye, Chi Ming Red and Zhong Yuli vanished from the rooftops, speeding toward the depths of the Drunken Flower Tower.

It wasn’t just them. Following Lu Mingyuan’s lead, the Three Academy Cultivators and the Bright Lamp Bureau of the entire Imperial Capital sprang into action.

Just as everyone’s attention was focused on the White Lotus Ancient Sect...

「Meanwhile, in the prison.」

A dejected, goatee-bearded Confucian Scholar in tattered green robes leaned listlessly against the prison door, which was forged from thousand-year-old cold iron. His eyes were like dead embers.

His eyes held a deep longing for bygone days.

In his former days, he had been so illustrious, the top Staff Officer in Prince Jin’s Mansion. There was no one who met him who didn’t treat him with the utmost politeness.

But now, he could only endure endless torment, branded as one of Prince Jin’s partisans, barely clinging to life within the Imperial Capital Prison.

It was, one had to admit, a true irony.

Just then, the sound of frantic footsteps broke the deathly silence of the prison.

A tall Imperial Guard held up a torch, unlocked the cell door, and said in a cold voice:

"Gongyang Hu, someone is here to see you."

Gongyang Hu summoned what little energy he had, weakly lifting his head to look past the torchlight.

"You are..."

"His Highness, Prince Chongwen?"

Lu Yunqing, a man of gentle bearing, stood draped in a large cyan mink cloak over a dark cyan Python Robe. His expression was now one of utter indifference.

"Tell me everything you know."

"Perhaps I can let you keep your life."

At these words, a look of shock and confusion appeared on Gongyang Hu’s face.

This was followed by a flicker of realization, and then, a sense of relief.

...