This Piece of Junk Was Useless

Outside Prince Qin's residence.

Chu Lu strode in with murderous momentum. He first ordered his men to surround Prince Qin's residence on all sides, ensuring that no one could escape, then entered alone with a sword in hand.

He had already made up his mind. If they obediently cooperated, he would let them die quickly. If they refused, then they would be torn apart by five horses.

Just then, Xu Liniang's voice rang out in his mind.

"Chu Lu, that... Prince Qin is my aunt," Xu Liniang said.

"Oh." Chu Lu answered her perfunctorily.

"No, Chu Lu!" Xu Liniang panicked. "Prince Qin is my aunt! My mother's younger sister! She watched me grow up!"

"Fine."

"Chu Lu! Don't kill her!" Xu Liniang shouted anxiously.

Chu Lu said, "Mm, I'll kill her whole family."

"Chu Lu, ahhhhh!" Xu Liniang screamed.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss." Chu Lu immediately sucked in a breath, his head buzzing from the shock of it.

"Chu Lu, please." Xu Liniang pleaded. "Prince Qin has always been good to me. If you kill her just like that, I'll never sleep peacefully again. Please, at least leave her a way to live. No, at least give her a chance!"

"Fine." Chu Lu thought that since he was helping someone, he ought to consider her feelings a little. Otherwise, even a fine favor would lose much of its value. Thus, he said, "As long as Prince Qin cooperates honestly, admits her mistakes, and cuts ties with Liu Jinli, I'll spare her. But if she remains stubbornly obsessed..."

"I understand, I understand." Xu Liniang nodded repeatedly. "Whatever you do then, I won't object."

"Very good." Only then did Chu Lu nod in satisfaction.

Once inside the residence, a servant immediately came forward, bowing and scraping. "Long live Your Majesty."

"Cut the crap. Where's Prince Qin?" Chu Lu asked.

"The old princess is seriously ill and cannot come out to receive Your Majesty. We beg Your Majesty's forgiveness. She is waiting in the main hall now. This servant will take you there at once."

Chu Lu said nothing and followed the servant onward. Before long, he arrived at the main hall and saw Prince Qin.

Prince Qin was clearly determined to put on a full performance. She was wrapped in a thick quilt, with several bowls of medicine on the table before her. Her face seemed to have been powdered pale, and she looked rather wan.

The moment she saw Chu Lu, she slowly rose to her feet as though doing so took great effort, apparently intending to salute him.

"Enough. Stop pretending." Chu Lu was eager to settle accounts with Liu Jinli and had no interest in wasting words with her. "Hand over the Heir's wife."

Prince Qin immediately gave a cold laugh. "Your Majesty arrives without warning and demands the Heir's wife without a word of explanation. Did last night's massacre scramble your brains? Are you planning to imitate those wastrel young masters who forcibly seize common—"

Thud! A muffled crash suddenly rang out.

The table bearing the medicine had been cleaved into two and collapsed to the floor. The medicine bowls shattered, and fragments and medicinal broth splashed everywhere.

Chu Lu gripped his sword and looked at Prince Qin. "That strike should have landed on your neck. You're still alive only because I'm kindhearted. But if you keep yapping... all I can say is that I have kindness, but not much."

Prince Qin looked at the mess covering the floor, and her face immediately turned livid.

Chu Lu's savagery, decisiveness, and blunt methods had far exceeded her expectations.

She had thought that when the two met, they would first exchange verbal thrusts and parries for several rounds.

There would be needles hidden in cotton, meanings buried within meanings, open praise masking secret mockery. At the very least, they would talk for the time it took to burn an incense stick, before Chu Lu was left retreating again and again beneath her retorts, speechless.

After that, he would either leave sensibly or fly into a rage out of humiliation.

If it was the latter, she would seize the chance to unleash a stream of abuse, scolding him until he was red-faced and ear-burning, fleeing in shame.

Yet she had not expected that after only a few exchanges, Chu Lu would already draw his blade to threaten her.

"Good! Good! Your Majesty certainly has a fierce temper! But you are not worthy of taking my head!" Prince Qin decisively changed tactics and prepared to use the trump card she had kept at the bottom of her chest. She pulled something from beneath her quilt and slammed it heavily onto the table. "Open your eyes wide and see what this is!"

Chu Lu looked over. It was an iron object forged from refined steel. Its edges were covered in exquisite patterns and ornaments, while its center bore densely packed writing engraved in vermilion.

"An Imperial Decree Tablet?" Chu Lu named the object.

"That's right! It is an Imperial Decree Tablet, one personally given to me by your mother!" Prince Qin said smugly. "With this tablet, one may be pardoned from a capital crime. Your mother personally promised it! Do you still dare kill me? Hah?!"

Chu Lu's expression turned strange. "So this is what you're relying on?"

"That's right!"

Chu Lu looked at the Imperial Decree Tablet, then at Prince Qin. The expression on his face grew increasingly subtle. "Fine. I understand."

He lowered the sword in his hand.

Prince Qin's face grew even more smug at the sight. "That's more like it! Go crawl obediently back to your Imperial Palace. My foundations are not something a tiny little—hm? What are you doing?"

Chu Lu snatched away the Imperial Decree Tablet, stared expressionlessly at Prince Qin, then swung it at her with all his strength.

The Imperial Decree Tablet was forged from refined steel and was already quite heavy. The one in Prince Qin's hands had been bestowed by the late emperor, and it was especially exquisite and large, making it even heavier.

With that one swing, stars flashed before Prince Qin's eyes and her ears rang, as if she were standing inside a great bell that had just been struck.

Chu Lu swung again. Prince Qin's nose was knocked half crooked, blood streaming down her face, as though an oil-and-sauce shop had opened inside her—salty, sour, and spicy things all came pouring out at once.

Chu Lu swung a third time. The corners of Prince Qin's eyes split open, her dark pupils nearly bursting out, as though a silk shop had opened within her—red, black, and purple colors all bloomed forth.

He beat her while cursing, "The same old routine, the same old routine!"

"Can't you women's novels come up with something new?"

"I already broke an Imperial Sword. What the hell is your lousy Imperial Decree Tablet supposed to be?"

"Ahhh! Your Highness! Stop! Stop right now!"

The servants of the prince's residence, who had been secretly watching, could no longer hold themselves back and rushed forward one after another.

Chu Lu remained entirely unflustered.

He tossed the Imperial Decree Tablet aside and picked up his sword again. After all, that thing was not convenient for beating people.

Then he charged toward those tall, burly servants.

With a sharp weapon in hand and cultivation techniques in his body, how could the numerous servants of the prince's residence possibly be Chu Lu's match?

Thud, thud, thud—heads hit the ground. Splash, splash, splash—blood flowed freely.

Chu Lu slaughtered his way inward, making a tremendous commotion.

The noise even reached the inner chambers of the residence.

The Heir's face went pale. "It's over. The emperor has fought his way in!"

"Husband." At that moment, another soft, delicate voice sounded.

Beside the Heir stood a beautiful woman.

Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall, her skin was like mutton-fat jade, and her face was delicate and frail. She was none other than Liu Jinli, the Liu Family's concubine-born daughter.

Liu Jinli said, "Husband, what should we do?"

"Our most urgent task is to flee first." The Heir said, "Wife, do not fear. I will never let that emperor capture you!"

Bang!

Just as the Heir finished speaking, a great crash rang out. The door was kicked open with tremendous force.

The two jumped in fright and turned their heads, only to see Chu Lu walk in, his entire body stained with blood.

His icy gaze and the thick stench of blood made him seem like a vicious ghost that had crawled out of hell, frightening both of them so badly their hearts seemed to stop for half a beat.

Chu Lu examined them, his gaze settling on Liu Jinli. Judging from her lavish attire, he guessed her identity.

"You're Liu Jinli?" Chu Lu asked.

Liu Jinli's face turned deathly pale, and she hid the Heir behind her.

The Heir looked at Chu Lu's blood-smeared face, and a powerful unease shot straight to her head.

She shouted, "Where's my mother? What happened to my mother? What did you do to my mother?!"

Only then did Chu Lu look at her. "You're the Heir?"

The Heir turned a deaf ear and shouted, "My mother, she..."

Squelch.

The sword pierced through the Heir's throat. Her face showed shock, and then she fell dead to the ground.

Chu Lu looked at Liu Jinli again and found her legs trembling, her face dazed. When she noticed his gaze, she dropped to the floor with a thud.

"That's it?" Chu Lu raised a brow. "You acted so arrogant in that letter. Why are you acting like this after seeing me? Didn't you say you would make me understand what kind of person I couldn't afford to provoke?"

"I, I, I..." Liu Jinli trembled so badly she could not even speak clearly.

Seeing her act like such a useless fool, Chu Lu immediately lost interest in provoking her.

The prince's residence was not a suitable place for interrogation. So he dragged Liu Jinli outside, handed her to his subordinates, and took her back to the Imperial Prison. He also threw everyone else in the residence into prison along the way.

Since the questions he needed to ask were important, Chu Lu had everyone else leave and prepared to interrogate her personally.

Locked inside the prison cell, Liu Jinli curled herself into a ball like a frightened rabbit.

Chu Lu looked at her and said, "I already know about your conspiracy with the Empress. The things you said back then were also repeated truthfully by the Empress. Things like, 'If it has always been so, does that make it right?' and 'All people are born equal.' I heard them all. So I'll get straight to the point. Don't play dumb with me anymore. It saves me time and spares you punishment. It benefits everyone. Understand?"

Liu Jinli nodded fearfully.

"Good." Chu Lu said, "Then I'll ask directly. Did you transmigrate here?"

"Huh?" Liu Jinli froze. "Trans... migrate? Wh-what is that?"

Chu Lu frowned and sighed. "I told you not to play dumb."

Then he casually picked up a torture instrument and introduced it to Liu Jinli. "This is called a finger press. It's one of the mildest torture instruments. See these three wooden rods? If you still refuse to confess honestly, I'll clamp them around your wrists and tighten the rope. With every fraction tighter, you'll suffer as though your bones are being ground to pieces. And if you think that's nothing, then there's this..."

Tiger bench, chili water, finger shackles, nose pincers, nail board...

With every torture instrument Chu Lu introduced, Liu Jinli's face grew another shade paler. By the end, she looked as though she were about to ascend to heaven.

"Are you going to talk now?" Chu Lu asked.

"I-I-I really don't know what transmigration is!" Liu Jinli was nearly crying.

"Then how do you know those things?" Chu Lu asked again.

"That was, that was, that was..." Liu Jinli stammered, looking utterly undecided.

"Looks like you won't shed tears until you see the coffin." Chu Lu rose to his feet. "Then let's give you a taste of torture first."

"Ahhh! No! No!" Seeing that Chu Lu truly meant to come in and act, Liu Jinli scrambled backward in fright, her emotions collapsing instantly. "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

"Wouldn't it have been better if you'd done this earlier? How exactly did you learn those things?"

"It-it was my maid Cuihua who told me," Liu Jinli said softly.

"Your maid?" Chu Lu froze, then suddenly recalled one line from the Empress's testimony.

—At first, she only came to greet me, with a foolish-looking maid behind her.

"Explain it clearly." Chu Lu pressed. "What is that maid's background? Where did she learn those things? Why did she tell you?"

"This... Cuihua's background is very ordinary. She came from a farming family in the countryside that could not afford to raise a daughter, so they sold her into the residence. She was always slow and clumsy at work, and she looked foolish too. No one really liked her. Only because I was a low-status concubine-born daughter did I have no choice but to take her in."

"She suddenly changed after one day when she was caught in a heavy rain and fell ill. She was terribly sick, but had no money to buy medicine. In the end, she was barely alive, so I ordered someone to roll up her bedding and throw her into the woodshed to wait for death. But unexpectedly, she suddenly recovered."

"After that, Cuihua seemed like an entirely different person. Her hands and feet became quick, and she became clever too. One night, she even came to ask me what plans I had for the future."

"She said I was merely an unfavored concubine-born daughter of the Liu Family. In the future, I would either marry down to become the legal wife of some useless minor official, or become someone else's concubine, watching all my sisters rise like a dragon and soar like a phoenix, each gaining lofty status and honor. Could I truly accept that?"

"Of course I could not. So she said she had a way to let me enjoy wealth and glory for a lifetime. She said she had dreamed of an immortal while she was sick, and that immortal had taught her those methods. She herself was lowborn and could not use such methods, so she wanted to help me, hoping that once I succeeded, I could pull her up as well."

Chu Lu knitted his brows tightly. Coming back from the brink of death after a serious illness? Becoming like an entirely different person? An immortal in a dream? That's right. This Cuihua is a transmigrator!

"Since you married into Prince Qin's residence, Cuihua should have gone with you as your maid, right?" Chu Lu immediately said. "Perfect. To be safe, I had all the servants from Prince Qin's residence arrested. Come with me and point out which one is Cuihua."

"Um... Cuihua isn't at Prince Qin's residence now."

"Hm? What did you say?"

"Cuihua did come with me as part of my dowry at first, and she always remained by my side. But yesterday, when she saw Your Majesty leading troops through the city like a rampaging bull, she left behind letters, gave me a few instructions, and then departed." Liu Jinli said, "She left two letters in total. The first has already been delivered to Your Majesty through someone."

"She said that if Your Majesty was clever enough, then after reading the first letter, you would not make things difficult for Prince Qin's residence. But if Your Majesty refused to let the matter rest, and if Prince Qin's residence met with disaster, then I should hand over the second letter. At the very least, it could protect my safety." Liu Jinli took a letter from her clothes. "Your Majesty, this is the letter."

Chu Lu froze and accepted the letter in surprise.