Chapter Ninety-Nine: Held Within One's Palm

Fate is a mischievous child.

When you feel you cannot go on, it offers a glimmer of hope...

When you think you have found a safe haven, it is likely to deal you a fatal blow next...

The news that came tonight left Feng Jinye nearly breathless...

The prophecy "The Hundred-Year Goddess from Weishao" spread rapidly throughout Yue City. Feng Jinye did not ponder the conspiracy behind it, nor did he consider what would follow...

All he could think of was Weishao Qianyu.

Feng Jinye hoped the prophecy was spread by Weishao Qianyu, hoped she hated him, even hoped she was taking revenge on him—because that would mean she was still alive.

At this moment, Weishao Qianyu was completely unaware of the turmoil raging within Yue City...

Having been nurtured for over half a month, her wounds were mostly healed, and in the Twilight Pavilion, she was relatively at ease...

Only that a place in her heart was empty, and the smile on her face had vanished.

Weishao Qianyu did not know that anyone entering the Twilight Pavilion would be fed with poisonous Gu...

Huangfu Chen, radiating an icy aura, arrived at the loft where Weishao Qianyu stayed. His first words were: "I want to marry you."

Weishao Qianyu smiled faintly without a trace of emotion: "How will you marry me?"

"I will make arrangements," Huangfu Chen replied. Weishao Qianyu sensed a hint of anger emanating from him.

"And by what identity will you marry me?" Her calmness was chilling. "The legitimate eldest son of the Marquis Qinbo’s mansion? Or the young master of the Twilight Pavilion?"

Huangfu Chen pursed his lips. He knew Weishao Qianyu could undoubtedly see through his identity as the young master of the Twilight Pavilion, but hearing such cold indifference from her stung deeply.

"Heh, I marry you as the legitimate eldest son of the Marquis Qinbo’s mansion. Do you intend to return and divorce Feng Jinye?" Huangfu Chen sneered.

Weishao Qianyu also sneered coldly: "Divorce is impossible! But I can return and annul my marriage to Feng Jinye..."

Huangfu Chen burst into laughter.

"If I don’t marry you, you’ll be fed the Gu..." Huangfu Chen said.

"Give me Yun Ming’s antidote. Feed me the Gu or marry me, it’s up to you!" Weishao Qianyu retorted.

Huangfu Chen frowned and stared intently at her.

After a long pause, he left with a single sentence: "There is no antidote. Go ahead and be fed the Gu."

Outside the door, Lu Yanran frowned deeply, overhearing their conversation, utterly shocked...

Weishao Qianyu asked Lu Yanran, "If fed the Gu, can one leave the Twilight Pavilion?"

Feng Qingxuan shook her head: "You must accept a mission to leave."

Weishao Qianyu sneered: "Then let’s see if there’s any mission to kill the War King, kill the War King’s wife, or kill Mianyin I can take on."

Lu Yanran was speechless.

At Qinfeng Garden...

The enchantress appeared beneath the maple tree: "Are you Feng Jinye?"

Feng Jinye paused, casting a sideways glance at the enchantress but said nothing...

"I’ve heard about the girl’s final moments," the enchantress said calmly, yet she pronounced the word "death" with heavy emphasis.

If anyone were to speak to Feng Jinye, it would be the enchantress, an elder.

Feng Jinye reacted, glaring angrily at her...

"Unexpectedly, the mighty War King would stoop to drinking poison to quench his thirst," the enchantress said plainly, yet each word was loaded.

Feng Jinye ignored her.

But it was not really drinking poison to quench thirst—he knew the Weishao Qianyu who came daily to Qinfeng Garden was a fake...

As soon as the person appeared, Feng Jinye knew it was a counterfeit, knew it was Dong Nuan, but was too lazy to expose it...

Moreover, the real Weishao Qianyu would never cook porridge or prepare meals.

And she would never come to see him; Feng Jinye was well aware that in the past, only he would go to appease her...

"You may leave now," Feng Jinye said impatiently.

The enchantress thought Feng Jinye was unwilling to expose his poisoned state...

"Qianyu loved beauty; she must want you to remember her at her best. You shouldn’t be so utterly defeated. When you meet again in the underworld, let her regret having loved you!" The enchantress spoke earnestly.

With a crash, Feng Jinye smashed a wine bottle at her feet...

"She is not dead. I will find her!" Feng Jinye roared.

The enchantress smiled lightly: "So you knew all along. That day, she was taken away because the person could save her?"

Feng Jinye remained silent.

"Do you know one must be fed Gu poison to enter the Twilight Pavilion?" The enchantress smiled again: "And you also know the poison can be cured!"

"So who are you trying to fool by acting half-dead these days?" The enchantress was so frustrated she wanted to grab Feng Jinye’s ear.

Her tone, like that of an elder, made Feng Jinye uncomfortable, so he retorted: "My affairs are none of your concern."

But the enchantress laughed...

"Even if fed Gu poison in the Twilight Pavilion, one must complete assassination missions to leave..."

After saying this, the enchantress turned and disappeared. As long as Weishao Qianyu lived, there was no need for anyone to worry about Feng Jinye...

Within the palace, Yun Shuo was about to fall asleep when a shadow slipped out of a secret chamber. Yun Shuo picked up someone and carried them inside.

In a daze, Yun Shuo called out: "Auntie..."

This person was the aunt of Yun Ming and Yun Shuo, rumored to have died by blood-for-blood retribution after assassinating the previous emperor—the Empress Dowager...

If Huangfu Chen were here, he would recognize this as the woman who lost her temper at him in the Twilight Pavilion that day...

The Empress Dowager smiled kindly: "Shuo’er, have you been well lately?"

Yun Shuo shook his head; he was not well. Consumed by madness, he wanted to avenge his brother but had let Feng Jinye escape...

"Thank you for your efforts, Shuo’er. It’s all because of your aunt’s failure. The War King’s power is great. Your aunt had no choice but to save the prince..." The Empress Dowager spoke with deep sorrow.

She had told Yun Shuo that Feng Jinye sought to ascend the throne and thus killed Yun Ming. He then intended to eliminate the Empress Dowager and the emperor. The Empress Dowager feigned death with the emperor and handed the kingdom to Yun Shuo to secretly oppose Feng Jinye...

She even granted Yun Shuo absolute power to act recklessly to avenge his brother...

When Yun Shuo learned Feng Jinye had killed Yun Ming, his rage blinded him, and the Empress Dowager seized the opportunity to manipulate him...

Three days later, Qu Jun arrived outside Guanlin City with thirty thousand troops...

Suddenly, panic gripped the people of Guanlin City...

Had Weishao Qianyu been there, she would surely have realized how naïve it was to think Lu Yanran and Rui’er should have returned to Guanlin City together back then...

For the entire realm belongs to the king, and all the land’s shores belong to his subjects.

The Lu family of the Duke of Lu’s mansion never imagined that one day the army of Liyue would surround Guanlin City...

Lu Liyuan furrowed his brows: The young emperor is so reckless—does no one stop him?

Standing atop the city wall, Lu Liyuan watched Qu Jun swagger about, holding a glaring imperial edict...

An adjutant shouted: "The imperial edict has arrived! Guanlin City’s commander, open the gates to welcome the edict!"

Lu Liyuan nearly laughed out loud atop the city wall...

What was there to say? Should he call Qu Jun too naïve? Or the emperor too incompetent?

Did Qu Jun really think just holding an edict would grant him free passage?

The adjutant shouted for half a day, but the city gates remained tightly shut without the slightest movement...

Qu Jun was overly confident, expecting the Lu family to bow respectfully upon seeing the edict, never imagining such resistance...

Qu Jun had been a mere imperial city guard before, only promoted to commander after his brother stepped down. He barely knew how to lead the city guards, let alone conduct a campaign...

After half a day baking under the scorching sun with his troops, Qu Jun finally lost patience: "Why won’t they open the gates?"

The soldiers had grown impatient as well. One said, "You look less like you’re here to announce an edict and more like you're demanding we open the gates so your thirty thousand troops can seize Guanlin City!"

Who would hand over Guanlin City to such a fool?

Qu Jun suddenly realized the truth and ordered his thirty thousand troops to retreat a hundred miles...

Lu Liyuan finally laughed heartily on the city wall...

"Commander Qu, even if they open the gates now, would you dare enter?" the adjutant suddenly asked.

A chill ran down Qu Jun’s spine...

"Just declare the edict directly..." a soldier complained.

"You do it!" Qu Jun felt utterly humiliated.

The adjutant’s throat was hoarse from shouting, and with no choice but to obey a superior’s rank, he announced: "By imperial decree, Lu Qianyu and Lu Yanran of the Duke of Lu’s mansion are colluding with the Twilight Pavilion, which is confirmed to be the remnants of the former Western Yan Kingdom. The Duke of Lu’s mansion is suspected of treason. The imperial city guard commander Qu Jun is ordered to bring all members of the Lu family back to Yue City for trial."

Lu Liyuan’s expression changed drastically. They had only left Yue City less than a month ago, and such a major incident had already occurred. He wondered what had become of the War King’s mansion and those two girls.

In less than half a day, news of the Duke of Lu’s mansion’s alleged treason spread throughout every street and alley of Guanlin City...

At first, most citizens were skeptical, but after a day of rumors fermenting, the claim that the Duke of Lu’s mansion was traitorous gained credibility...

Lu Liyuan frowned deeply. It seemed both the young emperor and Qu Jun were not foolish; someone must have infiltrated Guanlin City to help spread the rumors...

Now, even Lu Yanran, known as the merciless "Phantom Twin Spirits" assassin Mianyin, was exposed...

The Duke of Lu’s mansion was shrouded in gloom. Lu Guogong and Lu Liyuan realized that the true connection with the Twilight Pavilion lay with the Western Marquis’s mansion...

That day, inside the Twilight Pavilion, Weishao Qianyu was fed Gu poison, which would flare up once a month...

Weishao Qianyu took the place of the enchantress and reformed the "Phantom Twin Spirits" with Mianyin...

Thinking back, it was almost laughable—Weishao Qianyu had never imagined that one day she would become a true assassin when she attempted to kill Feng Jinye...

At the top floor of the Twilight Pavilion, a woman dressed in black appeared: "When will you succeed?"

Huangfu Chen remained silent, his face impassive.

The woman appeared to be in her early twenties, and no one would guess she was the Pavilion Master of the Twilight Pavilion—Huangfu Chen’s mother, Xuanyuan Ran.

Xuanyuan Ran was from the Xuanyuan family, Feng Jinye’s maternal aunt and the elder sister of Feng Jinye’s mother, the Princess of Yuan.

She was also the only person in this world who fully understood the prophecy shared between the Weishao and Xuanyuan families, manipulating everyone like puppets in her palm...