The Fifth Prince, Xia Wushang, awoke from a deep state of Cultivation. At least, that’s what it felt like to him.
But the moment he woke up, he felt that something was wrong. Why was the Practice Room, which he had just set up, so clean again?
Looking around carefully, he was shocked to find that many of the treasures he used to aid his Cultivation had vanished. To be more precise, anything of even the slightest value was gone.
Without a second thought, Xia Wushang rushed to the spot where he kept his treasured Seven Hundred Year-Old Monkey Wine, only to find the space completely empty. There was nothing left.
The Jade Altar in the hidden compartment was gone, and even the Jade Bottles and Jade Boxes next to it, filled with rare resources, had vanished without a trace.
The entire Practice Room looked as if it had been meticulously cleaned. It was chillingly spotless.
"Wh-why is it me again? Why are you doing this to me?!"
"Guards... Guards! I’m going to kill him! I’m definitely going to kill him!"
"Damn you, thief! You’ve gone too far!"
Xia Wushang’s voice trembled with rage, fear, and terror. On the verge of a complete breakdown, he immediately began to inspect his own body. Only after finding nothing out of the ordinary did he relax slightly.
The surrounding Guards quickly arrived. The first to enter were the Second Grade Grandmaster and two Third Grade Martial Generals, but when they saw the state of the Practice Room, their faces instantly turned pale.
"Your Highness, this... this is impossible! This subordinate stood guard at the door all night without so much as blinking. Absolutely no one entered or left."
"This subordinate was also patrolling the area and saw no one suspicious. How could this have happened?"
"Could someone have snuck into the Practice Room through a tunnel? Otherwise, how could the three of us have noticed nothing?"
The three experts of the Upper Three Grades immediately began to investigate, but they soon discovered there were no tunnels in the Practice Room. Everything was exactly as it had been before Xia Wushang entered.
Seeing this, Xia Wushang suppressed his fury and checked his body again, terrified that the culprit had done something to him.
But after checking repeatedly, and even having the Second Grade Grandmaster inspect him, they found nothing. ’Could it be the culprit really just took my treasures and didn’t touch me at all?’
’Why? Were they afraid of me? Or were they afraid of the Celestial Treasure Pavilion behind me?’
"Investigate! Investigate this matter for me thoroughly!"
Xia Wushang couldn’t stop himself from smashing the Jade Table beside him. It had taken him several years of hard work to refine that Seven Hundred Year-Old Monkey Wine.
Now it was gone, along with so many other treasures. How could he possibly bear it?
The entire Gold and Silver Palace was thrown into chaos. Guards, Palace Maids, and eunuchs swarmed out, searching every suspicious corner, terrified of becoming victims of the Fifth Prince’s wrath.
The three Upper Three Grades experts looked particularly grim, especially the Second Grade Grandmaster. A theft had occurred twice while he was protecting Xia Wushang. For a Grandmaster Level expert, this was an utter and complete humiliation.
Being able to silently steal so many treasures from the Gold and Silver Palace meant that if the perpetrator wanted to, they could take Xia Wushang’s life at any moment.
If Xia Wushang were to die, he wouldn’t escape a terrible fate either.
He searched more meticulously than anyone, hoping to find any clue, no matter how small. Even if he couldn’t atone for his failure, it might at least lessen the disgrace.
"Your Highness!"
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. He stopped in the southeast corner of the Practice Room and began to inspect it closely. "There’s... something wrong here!"
Everyone immediately gathered around. The gray-robed Grandmaster had someone bring over some medicinal herbs and lit them. Soon, a strange fragrance began to rise from the ground in that spot.
"Purple Perilla Wood. This is the scent of Purple Perilla Wood."
"Within the entire Imperial Palace, only the Third Prince’s mansion has Purple Perilla Wood."
"It was someone from the Third Prince’s side! It must have been the Third Prince who sent someone to steal the treasures!"
Purple Perilla Wood was a type of sandalwood unique to the Third Prince’s mansion. It had a peculiar, elegant, and luxurious scent. Because it required a special treatment process and was extremely rare, it was likely one of a kind in the entire Dynasty.
If someone hadn’t spent a long time in the Third Prince’s palace, how could they have picked up the scent of Purple Perilla Wood and unintentionally left it behind in the Gold and Silver Palace?
Moreover, it was common knowledge that the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, and the Fifth Prince, Xia Wushang, did not get along. It was perfectly normal for one to act against the other like this.
"Xia! Wu! Chen!"
Xia Wushang spat out the name one syllable at a time, so furious he was shaking with rage. His eyes practically shot fire.
However, despite his burning anger, a sliver of doubt rose in Xia Wushang’s heart. ’They didn’t find the scent of Purple Perilla Wood last time, but they found it this time. Did the culprit really leave it behind by accident, or did someone do it on purpose to make me fight with Xia Wuchen?’
Xia Wushang forced himself to calm down, pacing back and forth as he considered the suspicious points.
’The thief managed to succeed twice without alerting a Second Grade Grandmaster. That level of Cultivation and skill is terrifying. If it really was the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, given his style, how could he possibly not have done something to me?’
’Especially this second time—I was in the Practice Room. If he had just killed me, the Third Prince Xia Wuchen’s position as Crown Prince would have been set in stone, with almost no one left to compete with him.’
’But he didn’t do that. Was he really afraid of Father Emperor, or was it the Celestial Treasure Pavilion behind me?’
’If he were truly afraid, the two of us wouldn’t have been fighting for so many years. There have been several times before when we’ve tried to kill each other.’
’But then again, besides the Third Prince, who else has this kind of ability and motive? The other Princes and Princesses either lack the strength or don’t have a strong enough intelligence network. I didn’t tell anyone about the Bone Marrow Cleansing Fruit or the Seven Hundred Year-Old Monkey Wine. Very few people close to me even knew about them.’
’Yet the thief knew exactly where they were and stole my prized treasures. It shows the strength of their intelligence network.’
’In the vast Imperial Palace, very few are capable of this, and the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, is one of them.’
"Wait... is this a setup?"
Xia Wushang muttered to himself. After deep consideration, he finally made up his mind. Regardless of whether the Third Prince was behind this or not, it was the perfect excuse.
He immediately summoned his trusted advisor and began to lay out his plan.
"Pass down my orders. Say that the thief carelessly left behind a scent at the scene of the crime, which we extracted using a special technique. And that scent is precisely the fragrance of Purple Perilla Wood."
"Therefore, the Bone Marrow Cleansing Fruit and the Seven Hundred Year-Old Monkey Wine were both stolen by the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen. Spread this news throughout the Imperial Palace as quickly as possible, and then throughout all of White Jade City."
The advisor understood. "Your Highness, are you planning to use this as a pretext to make a move?"
"Perhaps it’s not just a pretext. Perhaps it’s the truth." Xia Wushang sneered, his anger tinged with fear. "Since we have such a major discovery, how can we not use it? Immediately send word to the people at the Celestial Treasure Pavilion. Tell them to conduct a full investigation into Xia Wuchen’s assets and resources, especially the situation with the Northern Zhao Family."

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