Chapter 36：Dropping Pretenses

As the two figures emerged from the cold palace, one was pure white, the other was fine ebony.

A signal firework rose towards the slowly darkening sky and exploded.

A resounding bang echoed throughout the royal grounds. From the looks of it, it was from the Sacred Sky hall. It was a symbol for those waiting outside the royal palace.

The two shared a look and flew to opposite directions.

Xia Lian Bei went towards the palace gates. Yin Hua Lei dashed back to the Sacred Sky palace.

She arrived in no time and the scene she came to was not far from her expectations.

The inviolable residence of the Emperor became a battleground for two princes.

The third prince Xia Yu Sheng was duking it out with the ninth prince Xia Yu Heng. Sparks flew everywhere as their swords met.

Meanwhile, the eldest prince was tending to his mother who received a stab wound.

Yin Hua Lei could only guess that Xia Yu Heng with his righteous cause spoke out against the third prince and it ended this way.

She also saw the corpses of imperial guards all over the place and the figures clad in black standing on the side, watching with cynical eyes.

Her father and grandfather were the only ones standing straight among the crowd of cowering royalties and officials.

None of the doctors wanted to help the eldest prince who was earlier accused of treason. But it looked like Duke Yin threatened one of the imperial physicians to tend to the noble imperial consort.

She sighed.

The Empress and Imperial Consort Fa were staring hatefully at each other.

Only Bai Chen Rong saw her arrival.

Yin Hua Lei threw a scornful smirk to which Bai Chen Rong felt her heart chill.

The princess then unhurriedly folded her sleeves and took off her gloves.

These gloves were only for decoration and unfit for gripping weapons.

Ducking, she pulled two swords from nearby dead imperial guards.

The two princes only saw a flash of a plum-colored dress and a few black feathers.

None of them were able to parry her sudden attacks as she looked like she flew out of nowhere.

Yin Hua Lei coiled her swords around the princes' blades and twisted them.

She turned on the spot making them both lose their grip.

Xia Yu Sheng was the first to let go of his weapon. If he didn't, his wrist might pop.

Yin Hua Lei took advantage of this and kneed his stomach even in close proximity.

This one kick carried her full weight while aimed at a single focal point.

The third prince found himself stumbling backwards and unable to avoid the fall.

His attacker who by now, he discovered to be Gao Le princess was also falling towards his direction but Yin Hua Lei braced herself and flicked her wrist.

"Aaaaaah!" Xia Yu Sheng's bloodcurdling scream echoed.

It turned out Gao Le princess used her sword to support her weight and stabbed it on the third prince's thigh to avoid falling.

Xia Yu Sheng's vision darkened due to immense pain and he kept on flailing about. His teeth almost shattered as he gritted them to avoid screaming his lungs out.

But Yin Hua Lei was insensitive to his suffering and drove the blade even further, twisting it in the process.

Squish! Puchi!

The sounds of flesh being torn and bones crushing were heard.

"Sheng'er!" The Empress was horrified but hesitated to run to her son.

The reason of her hesitation which was the Gao Le princess, only impassively turned her back.

"Head Physician, can't you see the third prince is injured?" Yin Hua Lei's voice was eeriely calm.

It was as though the person who stabbed the third prince was unrelated to her.

But as she spoke, she was already brandishing her sword against Xia Yu Heng.

Chang wang felt every attack against him grow heavier. It was as if he was fighting against a bull and not a woman.

The shock his wrist experienced each time he parried was nowhere near the increasing alarm in his mind.

Was Yin Hua Lei... When did she... Or was she always this way?

His sword-wielding hand felt numb and he couldn't keep his grip anymore.

Clang!

The weapon dropped to the ground after some dozen strikes from the Gao Le princess.

Before he knew it, Yin Hua Lei was not in front of him anymore. The last thing he saw were emotionless pitch-black orbs.

He suddenly recalled the times when those eyes looked at him in silent adoration. Were those memories even real?

"No! Stop, Yin Hua Lei!" Chang wangfei, Bai Chen Rong panicked.

As if on cue, Gao Le princess stopped her sword once it slightly pierced the ninth prince's neck.

Droplets of blood trickled down Xia Yu Heng's throat when Yin Hua Lei dropped her blade.

But even before Chang wang could breathe properly again, the princess behind him hit the back of his legs, making him fall to his knees.

All the pairs of eyes in the room witnessed how the Gao Le princess twisted Xia Yu Heng's dominant arm.

They all heard the pop as his bones cracked.

"Omff!" The ninth prince desperately swallowed his anguish and refused to scream.

"Ah'Heng!" Bai Chen Rong ran to her husband.

The Gao Le princess only scoffed and went back to her aloof elegant self.

Turning to her terrified audience, "The Emperor's whole team of imperial physicians are luckily present. You have a lot on your plate now."

When the doctors heard this, they felt their souls almost leave their bodies.

"Ninth brother and third brother have the gall to cause a ruckus in this sacred hall. Aren't you afraid of heavenly retribution?"

These words sounded reasonable but coming from someone who abruptly came and attacked, wasn't it too ironic?

Gao Le princess stood in the middle of the hall where some corpses were still untouched and blood carelessly flowed and clung to the hem of her dress.

She was reminiscent of a menacing flower blooming in such a gruesome scene.

Even the old generals who looked at her were fraught with fright as her gestures showed that she was insensitive to the violence and death all around her.

Furthermore, the skills she showed weren't something a lady of boudoir should have learned.

To keen eyes, those moves were uncannily similar to what the Xiu exhibited earlier.

Seeing as no one was still speaking and the imperial physicians were now busy, Yin Hua Lei prompted. "Da Xia's two dignified princes wounded themselves for the throne. Anyone else who has big ambitions?"

"Yin Hua Lei! Your savage actions, do you think you'll be left unpunished?!" Empress Yi An shrieked.

Her earlier ethereal palace dress was now tainted with the blood of her son.

Yin Hua Lei only looked at the mother of the nation with quiet mocking in her phoenix eyes.

"Empress, even if this princess killed all of you here, my actions are still justified. After staging such an intricate play in order to put your son on the throne, what do you think will be your punishment?"

She had grown tired of watching them act. Moreover, these people already crossed Yin Hua Lei's borderline. They dared to hurt her daughter. They weren't aware, yes, but it didn't make her any less angry.

So she had no qualms tearing down all of their masks.

"Yin Hua Lei, how dare you?!"

Bai Chen Rong's large and lovely eyes were full of hatred. It was as if Gao Le princess already killed her husband.

Upon seeing the Chang wangfei's self-righteous anger, Yin Hua Lei was indignant.

She let out a sardonic laugh and went towards the other woman.

Bai Chen Rong watched as Yin Hua Lei approached her.

It was as if the world was in slow motion but she felt like she was submerged in cold water. Her limbs failed to obey the command of her brain.

Yin Hua Lei came like a black angel of death.

"You should ask yourself that question. Chen Rong, this princess can list your offenses. Not only did you help your mother-in-law fool the Empress to kill the Emperor! But you just have to involve this princess' daughter! If I, Yin Hua Lei, don't kill you and everyone else involved in your great scheme here today, it will be considered the greatest amnesty ever!"

"Xiao Lei!" Yin Fang Qi reprimanded but it was too late.

Bai Chen Rong was too stupefied to speak.

"Yo-your daughter...?" The Empress who was fuming in anger doubted what she heard.

Everyone else in the room stared at the Gao Le princess.

Why were there too much revelation happening in the same day?

First, the Emperor suddenly died.

The main culprit was the eldest prince and his mother.

But then when the imperial edict was about to be announced, the ninth prince suddenly accused the third prince and a fight broke out.

Now, Gao Le princess stated all the truth hidden from plain sight.

Who fooled who to kill who.

And now, what daughter was she talking about?

Yin Hua Lei raised her chin, she stared at the three most poisonous women inside this room. Empress Yi An, Imperial Consort Fa and Bai Chen Rong.

The indifference in her eyes was replaced with a chilling fury directed at these three.

"Empress even used the tenth princess to keep my daughter hostage. How can you forget? And who introduced a gu master to the Empress, this princess probably shouldn't ask. You could have played among yourselves but why must you force this princess to make a move?"

Yin Hua Lei raised her hand and abruptly clamped her fingers around Bai Chen Rong's neck.

"You're really forcing this princess to be the villainess..."

Bai Chen Rong was unable to move. Instead of a soft slender hand, what she felt on her throat was a rough calloused palm.

Looking at the woman in front of her who had inky black eyes, Bai Chen Rong realized why Gao Le princess always wore gloves.

But she had no time to think further as her wind pipe was soon blocked.

"Chen Rong, I even kindly gave you a warning before. But instead of being happy with your married life, you insisted to run after your wildest dreams. Plotting against the dragon, just how powerful do you think you are? Do you think you've hidden yourselves too deep? The consequences of such actions, are you willing to shoulder? If I retaliate, can you even handle it?"

Bai Chen Rong's pupils dilated as these words were thrown at her face. Did it mean Gao Le princess know from the start?

Yin Hua Lei struggled to forget her grudge against Bai Chen Rong and even saved their lives at one point. It was also to let them see that they weren't the only ones who was hiding a powerful force. But they chose to be blind and went on with their plans.

As Gao Le princess was thinking how to deal with all these people, a large ruckus was heard from outside.

It was a repetitive rhythm of thousands of feet marching at the same time. The next to be heard was the loud drums of war.

As of the moment, the capital was probably being conquered by the third prince's army. But she knew that Xia Yu Heng's forces were also there.

This new group approaching though...

Yin Hua Lei's lips curved in a graceful arc.

But all the other concerned people in the room had pale faces. Especially the brothers Xia Yu Heng and Xia Yu Sheng.

Just when the tension kept increasing, the hurried steps of a eunuch was heard.

The eunuch halted when he saw the gore inside the hall but he steeled his resolve to report.

Yin Hua Lei let Bai Chen Rong go.