The Benevolent Emperor and The Never-Ending Treacherous Schemes

An odd group of imperial guards appeared by the northern gate of the Forbidden City. They were dressed in all black. They didn't resemble orthodox troops at all. To the contrary, they looked like a group of wanderers from the pugilistic world.

The group numbered around two-hundred. Judging from the structure of their formation, it appears they were separated into ten-man squads, therefore a total of twenty small squads.

They were the orange prince's private military. By the looks of things, they were already lying in wait within the palace long ago. Their appearance was far too sudden, not to mention their odd attire. Even those from inside and outside of the imperial city as well as those behind the thick palace walls of the palace had no idea how a large group like that entered. But here they were inside.

They had received orders to chase down the emperor's whereabouts.

Initially, they weren't sure where the emperor was hiding. However, the help-signal the emperor sent into the sky gave them direction not long after they commenced their search.

And thus, two-hundred men who were like blood-thirsty wolves split up into twenty teams, spreading their web out as they commenced their search. In case they ran into imperial guards who would stop them to question them, they all had a token on them that would allow them free-passage without limits within the imperial city grounds.

The private military group cautiously searched every suspicious clue, every path and every location they deemed suspicious.

One of the small teams was most proficient.

The leader of that small team, who was also the leader of the entire group, was a man who looked tall and strong. He had a strong back and was muscular like his frame was made from iron. With one glance, you could see that he possessed the appearance of a formidable general on the battlefield.

Few people knew his name, since even he himself rarely used it to the point he almost forgot it. Those who know him these days refer to him as Zhong Yi.

Zhong Yi of Mystery.

He was in charge of finding the emperor for this revolt.

Half-an-hour had passed since the operation in the flying fish pavilion began. No matter where the emperor showed up now, it could have a huge effect on the outcome of the overall operation, so he had to search with all his effort.

As they sped through the imperial city, they suddenly heard someone shout: "Stop!"

Zhong Yi and the rest of the group stood still. They turned around to see a patrol unit comprised of about twenty imperial guards. The imperial martial arts tournament was held at the flying fish pavilion today while they were on patrol and didn't get to watch it, so they felt unlucky and therefore tried to hide their anger. They never thought they'd run into this group of nobodies so they were eager to vent.

"Who are you people? How dare you run around in the imperial city grounds?" The leader of the imperial guards noticed that they had weapons on their back and exclaimed: "Oh my, you even brought weapons? Bringing weapons into the imperial city without permission… how many heads do you have?!"

Zhong Yi didn't want to cause extra problems for himself so he followed the rules and showed the token: "We are from the orange prince's manor and are here on orders to pursue a criminal."

"Oh? The orange prince's manor?" The leader seemed to somewhat fear the orange prince's name so he revealed an odd look and continued: "Even so, you can't just run around in the imperial city. Don't do that next time."

Zhong Yi saluted them the way you would in the pugilistic world with a hand clasped over a fist:

"Thank you sir."

The leader of the imperial guards gave him a glare and said: "Go on."

Zhong Yi ran past the group of imperial guards. Zhong Yi suddenly raised an eyebrow when he passed by the group of imperial guards. He turned his head around to look at one of the men among them. While he was in a disguise, there was no mistaking it was him.

Zhong Yi suddenly spun around and shouted: "Wait." He emitted his formidable qi with his shout, creating an echo in the empty palace walls, and the result was apparent.

The leader of the imperial guards stood in place. A layer of cold sweat formed on his forehead as he asked with struggled to speak: "What is it?"

Zhong Yi ignored him completely. He just looked at one particular person. He quickly spotted two people who wore clothes that didn't fit them and looked around forty or fifty. It was him. He stood out from the group. His comrade gave him a signal.

He found their main target!

Plan number two. Start.

Zhong Yi tried his best to supress his excitement and emotions. He chuckled apathetically and said: "Hiding a tree in a forest. How smart of you to come up with a plan like this, using a passive strategy to erase suspicion. Unfortunately for you, you can't hide from my eyes."

One of them looked very handsome. He had the eyebrows of a middle-aged man and revealed his majestic aura. He was confident he was