What Lady Yu, Tu Gang, and the others didn’t know was that just across from the Jile Pavilion, separated by a stretch of rooftops and shrouded in the shadows of another three-story building, a pair of cold eyes, burning with rage, were fixed on their location.
Song Yuyan was dressed in a dark green martial arts uniform that blended almost perfectly with the night. She lay flat against the roof tiles, her aura suppressed to its absolute limit, not a trace of it leaking out.
The evening breeze rustled the loose strands of hair by her cheeks, carrying with it the faint sounds of arguing and haggling from across the way.
Her five senses were sharp and her hearing was excellent. Despite the distance and the barrier of a closed window, she could still make out intermittent words like "Eastern Palace," "women," "valuables," and "shares." A little deduction was all it took to figure out what they were up to.
As the newly established Qinhuai Building’s founder, facing her old rival Yixiang Building, Song Yuyan had originally planned to sneak in and see if she could "borrow" some resources and treasures to help her own establishment grow.
Furthermore, while traveling through White Jade City recently, she had heard whispers that the Yixiang Building was plotting against the Eastern Palace, so she had intended to use this opportunity to investigate.
She never expected to stumble upon such explosive news the moment she arrived. Yixiang Building was indeed plotting against the Eastern Palace, and they were even targeting its concubines and Palace Maids—among whom were some of her former sisters. Even Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion was involved.
Her heart sank, bit by bit, only to be set ablaze by a growing fire of rage.
Yixiang Building!
Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion!
Those scum were secretly plotting to carve up the innocent women of the Eastern Palace.
Not only were they going to plunder their wealth, but they were also going to push them into a living hell, turning them into tools for these men to make money and vent their lust. They were worse than beasts.
Song Yuyan’s nails dug deep into her palms, nearly breaking the skin.
She had heard rumors before that the Yixiang Building and Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion were in secret contact, possibly planning something big, but she couldn’t confirm it.
She had only recently rebuilt the Qinhuai Building, and her intelligence network hadn’t fully recovered. However, she always kept a close watch on the every move of her old rival and sworn enemy, Yixiang Building, which was how she’d received these tips. She just hadn’t expected them to be true.
After the anger came a profound sense of powerlessness and helplessness.
’What can I do? I’m still too weak.’
In the private room across the way, there was at least one Super Grade Late Stage Celestial Human, Tu Gang, along with several Second Grade Grandmasters and First Grade Grandmasters from Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion and Yixiang Building.
And although she had broken through to the Super Grade Realm with the help of a mysterious expert, she had done so only recently. Her Foundation was not yet stable. Facing a Prince’s Chief Steward like Tu Gang—a man who had clawed his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—whose Cultivation Realm was also much higher than hers, her chances of victory were slim to none.
’Charging in recklessly would just be suicide.’
As for reporting it to the authorities... Zheng Zhicang’s Shadow Guards, Sun Wuyang’s Divine Capture Sect... she didn’t trust anyone right now. She also didn’t know that these forces were already under Xia Wuyang’s command.
At this moment, Song Yuyan even suspected the Shadow Guards and the Divine Capture Sect might also be involved in this filthy business.
’Should I inform His Highness? He’s in no position to protect himself right now, so what could he do? And I have no way of contacting that mysterious expert.’
"Do I... do I really have to just watch helplessly as this all happens?" Song Yuyan bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with resentment and anguish.
She thought back many years, to the feud between the Qinhuai Building and the Yixiang Building. The two sides had torn away all pretenses long ago.
Backed by the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, Yixiang Building had frequently suppressed, framed, and even maimed the sisters of the Qinhuai Building, especially after the Crown Prince lost power.
Hong Shao’s leg injury, and those young girls who were sold to the lowest-class brothels... One by one, each bloody debt was clearly etched in her heart.
Now, they were stretching their venomous claws toward the Eastern Palace, toward the Crown Prince’s concubines, and toward the more than a thousand stunningly beautiful Palace Maids.
New hatred piled on top of old grudges, burning like a toxic flame in Song Yuyan’s heart, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
She forced herself to calm down, her mind racing.
’A direct confrontation won’t work. I have to outsmart them.’
Perhaps she could find a way to sabotage their plan, disrupt their preparations, or leak the information to certain factions in the palace who were at odds with Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion, getting them involved as well.
Or perhaps... Her gaze fell upon the brilliantly lit main building of Yixiang Building. A cold glint flashed in her eyes, followed by a wave of monstrous hatred.
’Since you want to target the women of the Eastern Palace, since you want to profit from this filthy business, then I’ll let you have a taste of what it means to lose everything in a sea of flames!’
The June night wind, still carrying the lingering summer heat and the unique, cloyingly sweet scent of perfume from Fengyue Street, swept stickily across Song Yuyan’s face. Her rage was already a roaring blaze.
The sounds of arguing continued to drift out intermittently, slithering into her ears like a viper’s hissing tongue: "Eastern Palace... women... valuables... shares..."
Every word was like a poisoned needle stabbing into her heart, making it harder and harder for her to control herself.
She could almost see the greed hidden behind Lady Yu’s fawning smile, the calculation gleaming in Qian Tong’s small eyes, the cruelty floating on Zhao Wu’s sinister face, and the cold indifference in the gaze of that Prince’s Chief Steward, Tu Gang—a ruthlessness that treated human life as worthless as weeds.
New hatred and old grudges churned in her chest like boiling magma.
Just as she was overcome with emotion, on the verge of recklessly charging out to set the entire Yixiang Building ablaze...
Suddenly, everything changed!
In the bustling main hall of Yixiang Building, the clamorous noise was abruptly choked, as if an invisible hand had seized it by the throat, causing a moment of eerie silence.
A figure appeared without any warning in the center of Yixiang Building’s ground-floor hall, as if peeled directly from the deepest shadows of the night. It was as if he had teleported there.
The newcomer was of average height, neither particularly tall nor particularly short.
He wore an unremarkable, coarse, grayish-brown Cloak. The hood was pulled down very low, obscuring most of his face, revealing only a stern jawline and thin, tightly pressed lips. Nothing else was visible.
He held a saber in his hand. The scabbard was made of plain black sharkskin, completely unadorned and simple, the kind most commonly used by street fighters. The blade itself looked ordinary as well.
He just stood there quietly, a stark contrast to the splendid, hedonistic surroundings filled with music and dancing. Like a common mortal who had stumbled into a celestial paradise, his presence was intensely jarring.
And yet, the moment he appeared, the temperature in the entire hall seemed to plummet by several degrees, and it was still dropping.
An indescribable, icy, and murderous aura spread out from him in silence, gradually engulfing the entire Yixiang Building.
A few patrons and hostesses nearby felt a sudden, inexplicable chill. A cold shiver ran through them, sobering them up slightly, and they looked with surprise at this uninvited guest.
"Hey! Where did you crawl out from? Don’t you know the rules? If you want a girl, go over there and register with the Male Prostitute. Don’t stand here blocking the way!" A burly Hospital Guard captain with a scowl on his face cursed as he walked up, reaching out to teach the man a lesson.

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