Li Wan’Er returned to her room. With a gentle, beautiful expression, she sat before her mirror and combed her long hair, her mind still dwelling on the earlier investigation.
’He’s truly broken. To think of how magnificent he once was... how did he end up like this? Alas...’
She shook her head, trying not to dwell on it. She blew out the candle and lay down to rest, but the image of Xia Wuyang kept surfacing in her mind, keeping her from sleep for a long time.
Meanwhile, on the roof of Ciping Palace, Xia Wuyang lay perfectly still, like a fallen leaf.
His Spiritual Power, threaded through his Soul Enchantment Technique, was reading the shallow thoughts in Princess Jinping’s mind.
’The treasures she’s gotten recently... where the treasures are... the secret room under the bed... and the rockery in the back garden...’
One by one, the locations appeared in his mind. One by one, the treasures materialized in his thoughts.
He had gained a crystal-clear picture of where Princess Jinping had hidden the wealth and treasures she had recently accumulated. Through the suggestions and Illusions of the Soul Enchantment Technique, even some of the secrets she kept buried deep in her Sea of Consciousness were exposed.
Although there was a Super Grade Celestial Human protecting her in secret, they were useless before Xia Wuyang.
’Since you can’t behave yourself, don’t blame me for being impolite.’ A cold glint flashed in Xia Wuyang’s eyes. Because of the last time she had him "inspected," Xia Wuyang had already ensured her actions were completely exposed.
He didn’t expect Princess Jinping to have learned her lesson. Then again, she still didn’t even know why she had been exposed, let alone what lesson there was to be learned.
His figure flickered, moving like a phantom, and he arrived first at the study.
Following the method from Li Wan’Er’s memory, he pressed the mechanism behind the fifth book on the third shelf.
CLICK...
A section of the wall slid open soundlessly, revealing a hidden compartment three feet square.
Inside were several neatly stacked Spirit Talismans, three bottles of Elixirs, and two Top Level Mortal Artifacts.
Xia Wuyang glanced at them, swept them all up, and stored them in his Personal Space.
Next was the secret room under the bed. Lifting the bed boards revealed a cellar about ten feet deep.
The cellar was filled with gold ingots, silver ingots, and Jewelry. A rough estimate put its worth at no less than one million taels.
The most eye-catching item was a Jade Box in the center. Inside was a small, crystal-clear segment of a Stalactite, its surface glowing with a milky-white spiritual light. It was obviously no ordinary object.
’A Thousand-year-old Stalactite!’ Xia Wuyang’s eyes lit up, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing.
This was a Top Grade item among Low Level Spirit Treasures, a treasure one could only hope to encounter by chance.
It contained pure Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. A True Monarch could consume it to greatly raise their Cultivation Realm. Its properties were gentle, with almost no side effects, making it extremely rare even among Low Level Spirit Treasures.
This small piece was enough to raise his Cultivation Realm significantly. It could at least extend his first Spiritual Vein by a considerable amount.
’Oh, Jinping, Jinping, you truly are my dear sister. It hasn’t even been that long, yet you’ve managed to get your hands on another treasure like this.’ Xia Wuyang placed the Jade Box into his Personal Space, a smile playing on his lips. His last haul had been good, but this one was even better.
Finally, there was the rockery in the back garden. Deep inside it, he found a sealed iron chest. Opening it, he saw dozens of Cultivation Technique Scriptures, which shockingly included Spiritual Techniques. Many of them would be useful to him.
’She’s certainly good at hiding things.’ Xia Wuyang swept everything clean, not leaving a single thing behind.
With a flicker of his body, he vanished into the night. He didn’t take any further action against Princess Jinping; after all, she had brought him quite a few good things this time.
Although there was enmity between them, it wasn’t serious enough to be a life-or-death struggle. There was no need to be too ruthless.
Besides, he needed to let her keep working hard to prepare for his next raid. If he crippled her, she wouldn’t be able to continue gathering treasures and resources, and that would be a shame.
Meanwhile, inside Ciping Palace, Princess Jinping was still in her study poring over the *Poison Scripture*, completely unaware that everything she had accumulated recently had been plundered, with almost nothing of value left.
In her sleep, Li Wan’Er’s brow furrowed slightly as if she were having a pleasant dream. She murmured, "Your Highness, please be gentle..."
Outside the window, a light rain had begun to fall at some point, pattering down without end.
It was as if it were washing something away, and yet also as if it were concealing something.
In the depths of the Deep Palace, the undercurrents never ceased.
And some people were destined to wade ever deeper into those currents.
The weather in White Jade City was like a temperamental child. One moment, the sun blazed high in the sky; the next, dark clouds gathered, thunder rolled, and a downpour threatened to begin.
In this fickle weather, the lotuses of Taiye Pool bloomed and withered, then withered and bloomed again. Finally, a few scattered pink and white buds pushed their way up, trembling as they opened in the afternoon after a sudden shower had passed.
But within the Deep Palace, no one was in the mood to admire lotuses, especially not at a time like this.
Inside Yangxin Hall in Qianqing Palace, the atmosphere was so oppressive you could wring water from it.
Emperor Xia sat on the Throne, clutching a war report that had been rushed eight hundred li from the Southern Border. His fingertips were white from the force of his grip, a clear sign of his current emotional state.
The report bore only a single, shocking line of text, yet it was enough to shake the entire imperial court.
"On the twenty-third day of the fifth month, the Southern King led his forces in a direct assault on the Black Miao stronghold of Wuya Valley. He was led into an ambush. Casualties exceed ten thousand. The King is gravely injured. The Vanguard Camp has been annihilated. We have retreated a great distance."
BANG!
The war report was slammed onto the desk, making a harsh sound.
Emperor Xia shot to his feet, his chest heaving violently, his eyes shot with blood.
He walked to the window and stared at the old locust tree swaying in the wind and rain. A sudden wave of dizziness struck him, and he quickly grabbed the window frame to steady himself.
The Southern Barbarian Hundred Races had done this to him. Not only had his revenge failed, but he had been defeated again. It was simply outrageous.
"Your Majesty!" his Personal Eunuch hurried forward to support him.
"Get out!" Emperor Xia violently shoved him away, his voice as hoarse as a broken gong. "Issue a decree... Order the Imperial Medical Bureau to dispatch half of the Imperial Physicians skilled in treating external injuries and Poisons to the Southern Border immediately. And find a way to procure a batch of medicinal supplies to send with them!"
"Yes... Yes!" The eunuch scrambled away to deliver the order.
Emperor Xia slumped back onto the Throne, pressing his hands to his forehead. He felt a splitting headache coming on.
The Empress was deposed... Consort Ji was dead... Even his Chief Wet Nurse was dead... Much of the evidence pointed to the Southern Barbarian Hundred Races. How could he not hate them?
But the war in the Southern Border was going poorly, and the Northern Territory had fallen into a stalemate.
Although the two hundred thousand Imperial Guards had stabilized the defensive line at Iron Wall City, the Da Kuo Iron Cavalry still roamed outside the walls, launching occasional harassing raids that exhausted the defending troops.
Fighting a war on two fronts, the daily consumption of provisions, armaments, and medicinal supplies was astronomical. Moreover, the Inner Treasury and the National Treasury had been plundered, leaving behind very few resources and treasures.
For the most part, they were barely sustained by "donations" from the Celestial Treasure Pavilion and the merchants of Jiangnan, and even that was starting to fall short.
What exhausted his Heart Power even more were the enemies within the palace—the spies and masters sent by the Da Kuo and the Southern Barbarians. To this day, they were still at large in White Jade City, occasionally infiltrating the palace to cause trouble.
Although they had managed to root out a number of spies and collaborators from the Da Kuo and Southern Barbarians during this time, they had found almost no Super Grade Celestial Humans among them.

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