Chapter 39: Cornered Beast!

A flash of hesitation flickered across Hou Junji’s eyes. Yet, realizing he had few choices left, his resolve hardened once more. He looked at the most trusted confidant who had followed him the longest—a man both sharp and ruthless—and spat through clenched teeth, word by word: "You, change into night attire and take the secret passage!"

"Go and find out for the Commander by whatever means necessary what has transpired inside the Taiji Palace!"

"Especially whether the Crown Prince is alive or dead!"

"And what the Emperor's reaction has been!"

"Find out everything, and return to report!" Hou Junji’s tone grew chillingly grim. "If... if the Crown Prince has been captured, or if there are signs of the Emperor's wrath of thunder..."

The candle flame within the secret chamber flickered violently, as if reacting to the sudden surge of intense killing intent emanating from Hou Junji, twisting his shadow into that of a huge, ferocious, trapped beast.

The Crown Prince's rashness was like the final fuse being lit, driving this once-meritorious Duke of Chen, now trapped in a desperate abyss, toward a final, reckless madness!

Hou Junji slowly drew the blade hidden in the recesses of the secret room—a sword that had accompanied him through years of campaigns and tasted countless drops of blood. His voice seemed to rise from the netherworld: "...Then this lord."

"Will have no choice but to... let the fish die and the net break!"

"Understood, Grand Commander!" Hou Jiu cupped his fists in a salute, accepted the military order without another word, and turned to leave!

In the secret chamber, only Hou Junji remained, leaning against the cold stone wall, breathing heavily.

Amidst the flickering candlelight, Hou Junji’s shadow was cast upon the stone wall.

At times it swelled into a ferocious beast, and at times it shrank into a humble prisoner.

Hou Junji slowly closed his eyes. But the darkness brought him no peace; instead, it became a breeding ground for countless terrifying visions. The Crown Prince’s face, etched with paranoia and madness, distorted in the dark. He could vividly picture Li Chengqian wearing those dazzling black ceremonial robes, like a madman who had lost everything at the gambling table, waving a frail sword, shouting alongside a mere few dozen men as he charged toward the towering, heavily guarded gates of the Taiji Palace!

And above the palace gates, sabers and halberds formed a forest reflecting a blinding, bone-chilling light...

The Emperor sat high upon the throne, his majestic and calm countenance shrouded in the dark clouds of an impending thunderous wrath...

A flash of blade light!

Blood splattered!

The Crown Prince’s head...

"No!" Hou Junji thrust his calloused, trembling hands desperately toward the hallucination!

As if trying to salvage... his last remaining hope!

Yet in an instant, the illusion shattered just like his last hope...

Though Hou Junji had forced himself to remain calm and methodically arranged his contingency plans just moments before, he knew very well in his heart that this was merely arranging his final affairs for his family, for all those who trusted him, followed him, and entrusted him with their lives—including himself.

Deep down, he knew everything was over... and thoroughly so!

The Crown Prince's reckless storming of the palace, regardless of whether he lived or died, meant that the secretive bond between them had been violently and bloodily severed, perhaps even exposed to the glaring light of day!

The Emperor... that sovereign who had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, who had killed his brothers and possessed a mind deeper than the ocean...

Would he believe that the Crown Prince had acted out of sheer desperation?

Or would he immediately suspect that someone had instigated and coordinated this from behind the scenes?

The Hundred Riders!

Those shadows clinging like maggots to bones, pervasive and inescapable!

Right now, they were probably like sharks smelling blood, swarming out in full force!

Time!

What he lacked most right now was time!

How much information could Hou Jiu bring back, and how long could he himself stall?

The Emperor's wrathful decree could descend like thunder at any moment!

Perhaps it would be the confiscation of his estate, perhaps his arrest in chains...

Or perhaps, the bestowal of a cup of poisoned wine or a strip of white silk, or even...

The execution of his entire clan, death by a thousand cuts!

Despair, like a chilling tide, attempted to submerge Hou Junji once more.

Yet he clawed fiercely at the cold stone wall, his fingernails scraping harsh sounds against the hard surface, leaving behind bloody gouges.

"I cannot sit here and await my doom!"

"Never!" Hou Junji, the trapped beast, was still struggling fiercely!

The frantic instinct for survival and the urge for mutual destruction collided violently within his mind!

He pressed his hand tightly against the saber at his waist, as if that cold touch were his only remaining anchor.

Just then... the candle burned out!

The entire secret chamber instantly plunged into a dead silence!

Who knew how much time had passed...

Just as the Duke of Chen's estate outside the secret chamber descended into utter chaos, gradually transforming into a fortified stronghold bristling with spikes...

"Click... clack..."

From the iron door in the corner of the secret chamber came a very faint yet exceptionally clear tapping sound.

Three long knocks, two short!

Hou Junji’s heart was seized as if by a ruthless hand, its beating abruptly halting!

Plunged in darkness, he abruptly straightened his almost collapsed spine, his bloodshot eyes staring fixedly into the shadows of the iron door, his hands trembling involuntarily as they reached out toward the hidden mechanism in a dying struggle.

With a soft click, the iron door slowly slid open...

Hou Jiu, having returned as swiftly as a ghost, slipped inside, his movements still agile!

However, the tight night attire he wore was already more than half-soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to his frame and outlining the rapid heaving of his chest.

His face was stained with dust and cobwebs, his lips pressed tightly together, and though his eyes strained to suppress it, they still betrayed a vast... joy?

Joy?

Hou Junji lunged forward like a drowning man grasping a final driftwood, his bloodshot eyes locked onto Hou Jiu’s face!

"How is it?" he asked hoarsely and urgently, "How fares the Crown Prince?"

"The palace... has news from the palace?!"

"Reporting to the Grand Commander!" Hou Jiu immediately dropped to one knee, his voice exceptionally hurried with excitement, yet carrying an almost unbelievable ecstasy: "The palace... the palace is sealed like an iron bucket, not even a drop of water could get in!"

"Not a single bit of news... could be gathered!"

Hou Junji’s heart sank sharply, and he almost roared aloud.

Yet Hou Jiu’s immediate next words exploded like a thunderclap in his ear: "But Grand Commander, His Highness the Crown Prince is safe; he has come out of the palace!"

"Your subordinate saw it with his own eyes... in a hidden compartment of an abandoned drainage ditch outside the palace gates!" Hou Jiu's voice suddenly rose, repeating with the exhilaration of having survived a catastrophe, "Your subordinate saw it clearly, beyond a doubt!"

"Just half an hour ago!"

"The Xuanwu Gate, heavily guarded by the Profound Armor Army... suddenly opened again!"

"The Crown Prince exited the palace alone on horseback. Though his pale face... his expression was somewhat spirited!"

"Moreover, the guards of the Eastern Palace who had been waiting outside the palace gates for a long time swarmed forward immediately to protect him, so there can be no mistake, Grand Commander!"

"Boom!" Hou Junji felt a surge of scalding heat rush straight to the top of his head, instantly igniting his frozen blood!

A violent shock made stars dance before his eyes, and he staggered underfoot as if heavily intoxicated, his complexion instantly flushing crimson!