The hall within the palace was rather cold. The Empress used a pair of scissors to trim the flowers by her windows. As soon as she had snipped off some flowers, a serving maid rushed in and shouted loudly, "Empress, something bad has happened. Butler Li and several other serving maids had been beaten to death."

"Kw.a.n.g" The scissors cut her fingers as they fell through her hands and onto the floor. Blood dripped onto the flowers and stained the petals a bright red.

Side Chambers

Several guards stood still as a needle as they braved the strong winds that crashed against them. The weather was extremely cold, to the point it hurt their bones. Pei Zi Yun walked in front, as the lady receptionist followed close by. Snow fell gently on his outer coat.

"Dao Master!" When the guards saw Pei Zi Yun, they bowed as he walked into the palace. Several lanterns were scattered across the chambers, since the weather outside was cold. However, it was warm enough within the chambers to just wear a single layer.

Pei Zi Yun was led by a young serving girl into the chambers. At this point, the Grand Princess was waiting for him. She was dressed in a set of thin robes, and her hair hung loosely down her clothes.

Pei Zi Yun laughed. Regardless of which era it was, women were all vain.

"Are we clear who the traitors are yet?" The Grand Princess asked.

"We’ve already discovered the moles." Pei Zi Yun replied. The female minister who had followed Pei Zi Yun walked towards the Grand Princess and whispered into her ears. This female minister was sent by the Grand Princess after all.

When the Grand Princess heard the details, she was so surprised that she stood up, "The Empress is among those being suspected? She is the Crown Prince’s Empress, and will be the future Empress of the nation. How could this be?"

Pei Zi Yun then said to the Grand Princess, "The Empress herself is not a problem. As what you mentioned earlier, she is after all the Empress. If something happens to the Crown Prince, she will be no better off."

"However, the Empress has failed to give the Crown Prince a son after a long time. Additionally, the Crown Prince is not in a good position now. Many people from outside might try to use these facts to their advantage."

"You’re right. The Crown Prince is a stubborn man as well. Regardless of what happens, she is his Empress. What reason can there be for them not to be close? There’s no way to conduct further search on this matter, even if there were, it would not be certain. I shall speak with the Crown Prince." The Grand Princess spoke regretfully.

"I already know this." The Crown Prince pushed open the door, and entered along with his Concubine. The winds from outside blew in ferociously. Everyone present bowed deeply upon his entrance.

"Continue speaking, I wish to hear as well." The Crown Prince said after a pause.

The Grand Princess then changed the conversation topic, "Your plan on luring the snakes out of their cave was rather good. It solves many problems. At least King Lu will find it hard to attain information within the Crown Prince Palace from now on."

"This plan was actually devised by the Grand Princess. If the Grand Princess didn’t send help, it wouldn’t be this easy. These traitors have been lingering for way too long within the Crown Prince’s Palace and have strong ties to many other people within. It would be extremely hard to weed them out." Pei Zi Yun laughed before he continued, "However, this is just luring the snakes out from the Crown Prince’s Palace. There are still other snakes outside, but it’s a very sensitive topic that involves politics."

These words were directed at the Concubine, for they were not allowed to partic.i.p.ate in politics. Although the Crown Prince has yet to ascend the throne, the rules are the same.

As soon as the Concubine heard the word politics, she stood up and told the Crown Prince, "Crown Prince, Concubines are not allowed to partic.i.p.ate in politics. I shall take my leave."

Seeing that the Concubine was extremely aware of the situation, the Grand Princess nodded her head in approval. At this point, the Crown Prince pulled the Concubine’s hand, "The weather outside is cold, and you are an intelligent woman. Listen to this idea with me. Besides, if you were to freeze outside, my heart would ache for you. Also, you’re bearing the dragon child in your belly. Listen to me, I shan’t blame you for being around."

The Crown Prince spoke warmly and gently as he held onto her hands, refusing to let go. The Concubine struggled as she wanted to stand up, but was dragged back to her seat by the Crown Prince.

"Listen to me, be good." The Crown Prince spoke to her, as she relented and relaxed in her seat.

When the Grand Princess saw that the Crown Prince refused to let the Concubine leave, she frowned. The Crown Prince then turned to look at Pei Zi Yun and asked, "This matter generally involves politics? Tell me more, let me understand what you mean."

Pei Zi Yun then stood up, "This requires the Crown Prince to take some risks."

"Could it be that we are to use the same methods? That was a good plan. Carry on." The Crown Prince waved his hands, as his face seemed rather content. He had a genius for a counsellor, a beauty in his arms, he waved his hands as if he could move the mountains, and everything was calm and steady. This was a good feeling, the Crown Prince thought to himself.

"Crown Prince, during the Lantern Festival, are you able to represent the Emperor in addressing and thanking the commoners?" Pei Zi Yun asked.

"That’s not a problem. That’s right, Emperor Father’s health isn’t very good. I wish to share the burden with him." The Crown Prince spoke confidently.

"What if the Crown Prince comes under attack by an a.s.sa.s.sin? Would there be a huge problem?" As soon as Pei Zi Yun said this, the three of them were stumped.

The Grand Princess hurriedly stood up and shouted, "No way."

The Crown Prince frowned as well, "What you mean to say, is that we should intentionally let me come under attack? Who would this lure out? I feel that this might alert the snake in the gra.s.s more than anything else. King Lu will see that this is a trap, and won’t leave his hole."

"Crown Prince, Grand Princess, listen to my explanation. The attempt on your life is just the first step." Pei Zi Yun spoke slowly.

"What?" The Crown Prince frowned once again.

The Concubine squeezed onto the Crown Prince’s hands before he finally snapped out of it. This was just a suggestion, whether he uses or not is up to the Crown Prince. "Tell me in detail."

"The Crown Prince has several guards protecting him at all times, and we shall arrange for the a.s.sa.s.sins ourselves. Besides, even if the a.s.sa.s.sins were chosen by us, it’s impossible for them to come within 20 steps of the Crown Prince."

"This is just precautionary, for they won’t harm the Crown Prince."

"In actual fact, the luring the snake out of his hole plan, has no intention of killing. It has another effect, to cause some activities and disturbances." Pei Zi Yun spoke plainly.

"What’s the meaning behind all this? I cannot see how we can lure the snake out." The Grand Princess spoke as if extremely surprised by Pei Zi Yun’s suggestion.

"Of course, there’s a way. Crown Prince, Grand Princess, is there a way that you can send this to your generals?" Pei Zi Yun then walked to the table and wrote something down.

"King Lu’s Orders: Urgent matter, requires you to send several dozen soldiers to flank the Crown Prince’s left and right in order to ensure his safety."

When Pei Zi Yun finished writing, he handed them this slip of paper. Seeing this, the Crown Prince was taken aback. He didn’t understand the meaning behind this. After reading it another time, a look of suspicion was on his face.

The Grand Princess had to stand up to take a look at the words, and was stumped when she saw what was written. The Concubine seemed to have some opinion, but since she refrained from being involved, she chose not to speak, and pretended to be uninterested before the Grand Princess.

Seeing that the Crown Prince didn’t understand, Pei Zi Yun started to explain, "During the Lantern Festival, King Lu must be present along with the Emperor. Since I’ve killed so many black robed soldiers, we can use their outfits and deliver this message to the great generals of the nation. We shall see who reacts to this. If the Crown Prince, Grand Princess, and King Lu are all together in the presence of other people, this will work even better!"

"Send troops? I’m sure the generals will not do something as taboo as this." The Crown Prince spoke gravely.

"Of course, they will not directly activate their soldiers, for that would be too obvious. But what about their personal soldiers as well the soldiers guard their homes? That’s the meaning of this order. It’s very possible that someone will react accordingly. We can then see who’s close to King Lu and who isn’t. The hidden snakes behind King Lu will easily be drawn out."

"Besides, during the Lantern Festival, the generals will have a hard time finding King Lu to confirm this. Right at the most important moment, some people will hesitate, some will back down. However as long as one or two follow the order, we will succeed."

"Regardless of what his heart feels, as long as he acts, it’s either to ensure the safety of the Crown Prince or that he’s a henchman belonging to King Lu. If the Crown Prince came under attack, and the generals would only need a piece of paper from King Lu before they would deploy their troops, what does this mean?" Pei Zi Yun said blandly as he started to draw a picture.

"Since matters have reached such a stage, regardless of whether the slip of paper was authentic or not, regardless of who was the person who wrote it, deploying an army at such a time is a very severe matter. This would also expose King Lu’s true strength." The Grand Princess finally understood as she looked at Pei Zi Yun, "Even if King Lu was innocent, just by this alone, my Emperor Brother will not be able to stand it. The rest of the officials will not as well."

Pei Zi Yun laughed but didn’t speak immediately. He had learnt this from an Emperor himself. One of the Emperors in history suspected the Crown Prince of disloyalty. He thus forged an order and requested for the Crown Prince’s armies to be deployed. At last, several soldiers had obeyed the order, they were apprehended by the Emperor. At last, the Crown Prince was killed.

If the Emperor chose to do something like that, n.o.body could ever prevent or stop it.

"However, despite the fact that the Emperor would be shocked, he wouldn’t necessarily believe it. I’m sure King Lu will not be entirely defeated just by this alone. However, even though this note wasn’t written by King Lu, as long as the generals acted out just because this slip of paper and these several words, the Emperor would be astonished. The officials would even be more worried. This show of strength wouldn’t just be a problem for the Emperor."

"King Lu would probably be demoted down to a Canton Prince until the matter is resolved. But this alone can buy us some time?"

"As for those generals who responded, they would at least lose their ranks and might even be sentenced to death right?" Pei Zi Yun spoke under the watchful glances of everyone. "This plan of luring the snakes out requires the person to be ruthless, for there shall be some collateral damage. But once everyone takes a step back to think about it, they will understand."

"Pus must not be allowed to fester under the skin, it has to be forced out. If you don’t force it out now, when the critical time comes, all King Lu has to do is wave his hand and all the generals will rally to him. When that happens, it will be too late. Even if everyone accepts that you are the rightful heir to the throne, so what? When King Lu commands a large army to invade the entire Palace, everything will be chaotic. Should that happen, not just the Crown Prince, but even the Emperor wouldn’t have a good ending. If things get worse, the entire world will be thrown into pandemonium."

"If we squeeze the pus out now, King Lu’s military might will be plucked out immediately."

"Besides, if the generals were not directly under King Lu and this of paper was handed to them, even if they don’t say anything in order to preserve themselves, they wouldn’t respond to it. Thus, no innocent parties will be killed."

"As long as a general obeys the piece of paper, we will get rid of him. If there are some of King Lu’s men that didn’t show up, will King Lu still be able to trust them after this, since this was supposed to be a critical moment? Also, will they feel like King Lu still trusts them?"

"Yes, we know that this piece of paper is a fake. But they wouldn’t know it then. The way they react would be a test of their true reactions. If King Lu didn’t have any ulterior ploys, why would they ever suspect that the Crown Prince was in danger and thus feel the need to deploy armies?"

"With both sides doubting each other, King Lu would have no way of controlling the army any longer."

"Since King Lu will no longer have any fire power, he will then be your good brother and a good son to the Emperor. This is the best way to preserve the Crown Prince’s safety."

"Your heart will be clear, you shall be able to answer to the Emperor, to the heavens, to society, and to your ancestors."

Hearing Pei Zi Yun’s words, Crown Prince couldn’t help but let his mouth dangle wide open. He watched attentively as Pei Zi Yun spoke and drew a picture. The drawing was of a vicious tiger descending the mountains. This tiger had an immense killing aura. Several men were watched the tiger with astonished looks.

The Crown Prince then understood as he turned around and shouted, "Amazing. This drawing is too lifelike. When a ferocious fierce tiger leaves the mountain, someone has to die. Luring a snake out of a cave, is too fantastic!"

As he spoke, he nodded his head. His fists were curled into a ball as his face was flushed red from excitement. He then spoke, "Alright. That’s how we shall do it."

"If things succeed, I shall personally ensure you become a True Sovereign!" The Crown Prince spoke loudly. Hearing these words, the Grand Princess revealed a worried expression.