This Useless Piece of Junk.

Outside Prince Qin's manor.

Chu Lu was furious. He first ordered his subordinates to surround Prince Qin's manor, ensuring no one could escape, then entered alone, sword in hand.

He had already decided that if the other party complied and cooperated obediently, he would grant them a quick death. If they refused, he would have them torn apart by five horses.

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

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

"Oh," Chu Lu replied dismissively.

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

"Alright."

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

Chu Lu: "Don't worry, I'll kill her entire family."

"Chu Lu ahhhhhh!" Xu Liniang shrieked.

"Hiss hiss hiss." Chu Lu gasped, his head ringing.

"Chu Lu, please," Xu Liniang pleaded. "Prince Qin has always been very good to me. If you kill her like this, I won't be able to sleep soundly ever again. Please, at least spare her life, no, at least give her a chance!"

"Fine," Chu Lu considered that when helping others, he should also consider their feelings, otherwise, the favor would be diminished. He said, "As long as Prince Qin cooperates obediently, admits her mistakes, and severs ties with Liu Jinli, I'll let her off the hook. But if she remains stubborn..."

"I understand, I understand," Xu Liniang nodded repeatedly. "Then I won't object to whatever you do."

"Very good," Chu Lu finally nodded with satisfaction.

Upon entering the manor, a servant immediately greeted him, bowing and scraping, saying, "Long live the Emperor."

"Less nonsense, where is Prince Qin?" Chu Lu asked.

"The old prince is gravely ill and cannot come out to receive you. We beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty. She is waiting in the main hall. This servant will lead you there."

Chu Lu said nothing and followed the servant. They soon arrived at the main hall and saw Prince Qin.

Prince Qin was clearly playing along, wrapped in a thick quilt. Several bowls of medicine were on the table, and her face, seemingly powdered, looked quite pale.

Seeing Chu Lu, she slowly got up, appearing to struggle, and attempted to bow to him.

"Enough, stop pretending," Chu Lu, eager to settle things with Liu Jinli, had no interest in wasting time with her. "Hand over the Heir's wife."

Prince Qin immediately sneered, "Your Majesty arrives so suddenly and demands the Heir's wife without a word. Did you damage your brain during last night's massacre? Are you trying to be like those dissolute nobles who forcibly take..."

Thump. A muffled sound suddenly echoed.

The table with the medicine was split in two and fell to the ground. The medicine bowls shattered, fragments and liquid splashing everywhere.

Chu Lu, holding his sword, looked at Prince Qin and said, "This sword was meant for your neck. It's thanks to my kindness that you're still alive. But if you keep yapping... I can only say I have a kind heart, but not an abundance of it."

Prince Qin looked at the mess on the floor, her face turning ashen.

Chu Lu's ferocity, decisiveness, and straightforward methods were beyond her expectations.

She had expected a verbal sparring match upon meeting, a back-and-forth.

Subtle jabs, veiled insults, overt praise hiding criticism, at least for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, after which Chu Lu would be cornered and speechless.

Then he would either wisely leave or become enraged.

If the latter, she would then launch into a tirade, making him blush with shame and flee.

But she hadn't expected that after only a few words, Chu Lu would already be drawing his sword to threaten her.

"Good! Good! Your Majesty has such a hasty temper! But you are not worthy of beheading me!" Prince Qin decisively changed her strategy, preparing to use her trump card. She pulled something out from under her quilt and threw it forward heavily, saying, "Open your eyes and see, what is this!"

Chu Lu looked over. It was an iron artifact, its edges adorned with exquisite patterns and decorations. In the center, engraved in vermilion ink, were dense characters.

"Imperial Decree Tablet?" Chu Lu uttered its name.

"That's right, it's an Imperial Decree Tablet, and it was given to me by your mother herself!" Prince Qin said triumphantly. "With this tablet, capital punishment can be waived. Your mother promised this personally! Do you still dare to kill me? Huh!"

Chu Lu's expression turned strange. "So this is your confidence?"

"Exactly!"

Chu Lu looked at the Imperial Decree Tablet, then at Prince Qin, his expression becoming increasingly subtle. "Alright, I understand."

He lowered his sword.

Seeing this, Prince Qin's face grew even more smug. "That's right! Go back to your palace obediently. My foundation is not something you, a mere... Huh? What are you doing?"

Chu Lu snatched the Imperial Decree Tablet, looked at Prince Qin with a blank expression, and then swung it hard.

The Imperial Decree Tablet was made of fine iron and was already heavy. The one Prince Qin held, bestowed by the late Emperor, was particularly exquisite and larger, making it even heavier.

With one swing from Chu Lu, Prince Qin's eyes spun, her ears buzzed, as if she were inside a struck gong.

With another swing, Prince Qin's nose was askew, bleeding profusely, as if an oil and sauce shop had opened, with salty, sour, and spicy ingredients tumbling out.

Chu Lu swung again, Prince Qin's eyes split open, her pupils bulging, as if a silk shop had opened, with red, black, and purple fabrics bursting forth.

As he struck, he also cursed, "This trick again, this trick again!"

"Does your female fiction section have any new tricks?"

"I've broken the Imperial Sword, what's a broken Imperial Decree Tablet to me?"

"Ahhh! Your Highness! Stop, you stop!"

The servants of the prince's mansion, who had been observing from the shadows, could no longer hold back when they saw this scene and rushed forward.

Chu Lu, seeing this, was not flustered at all.

He threw the Imperial Decree Tablet aside and picked up his long sword again, as it wasn't very handy for hitting people.

Then he met the group of tall, strong servants.

With a sharp weapon in hand and a cultivation technique at his disposal, even though the prince's servants were numerous, how could they possibly be Chu Lu's match?

Thump, heads rolled, splash, blood flowed.

Chu Lu moved forward as he killed, his momentum immense.

The commotion even reached the inner chambers of the prince's mansion.

The Heir's face turned pale and he said, "It's over, the Emperor is breaking in!"

"Husband." At this moment, another soft voice rang out.

Beside the Heir stood a beautiful woman.

Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall, her skin like fine jade, and her face was full of delicate weakness. She was Liu Jinli, the illegitimate daughter of the Liu family.

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

"The most pressing matter is to escape," the Heir said. "Don't be afraid, my dear wife, your husband will never let that Emperor capture you!"

Bang!

Just as the Heir finished speaking, a loud bang echoed, and the door was kicked open heavily.

The two were startled and turned to see Chu Lu, covered in blood, walking in.

His cold eyes and the thick smell of blood made him look like a demon crawling out of hell, causing their hearts to skip a beat.

Chu Lu sized up the two, his gaze landing on Liu Jinli. Judging by her extravagant attire, he guessed her identity.

"You are Liu Jinli?" Chu Lu asked.

Liu Jinli's face turned ashen, and she shielded the Heir in front of her.

The Heir, looking at Chu Lu's blood-stained face, felt a surge of intense unease.

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

Chu Lu then looked at her and said, "You are the Heir?"

The Heir ignored him, shouting loudly, "My mother she..."

Gurgle.

The long sword pierced the Heir's throat. He looked shocked, then fell to the ground, dead.

He then looked back at Liu Jinli and saw her trembling violently, her face dazed. When she noticed Chu Lu's gaze, she suddenly sat down with a thud.

"That's it?" Chu Lu raised an eyebrow. "You were so arrogant in your letter, but you're like this when we meet? Didn't you say you'd make me understand who I can't afford to offend?"

"I, I, I..." Liu Jinli stammered, unable to speak clearly.

Seeing her pathetic state, Chu Lu lost interest in provoking her.

It wasn't convenient to interrogate her in the prince's mansion, so he dragged Liu Jinli outside, handed her over to his subordinates, and took her back to the Imperial Prison. He also threw everyone else in the mansion into prison.

Because the questions were important, Chu Lu had everyone else leave, intending to interrogate her himself.

Locked in the cell, Liu Jinli huddled 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 repeated truthfully by the Empress. 'Has it always been this way, so is it right?' and 'All people are born equal,' I heard it all. So I'll get straight to the point. Don't play dumb with me anymore. This way, I save time, and you avoid punishment. It's better for everyone, understand?"

Liu Jinli nodded fearfully.

"Very good," Chu Lu said. "Then I'll be direct. Are you a transmigrator?"

"Huh?" Liu Jinli blinked. "Trans...migrator? What... what is that?"

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

He then casually picked up a torture device and introduced it to Liu Jinli: "This is called a joint cracker, one of the gentler torture devices. See these three wooden rods? If you don't tell me the truth, I'll use them to clamp your wrists and tighten the ropes. Every inch tighter, you'll feel like your bones are about to be crushed. If you think that's nothing, then there's this too..."

Tiger bench, chili water, finger vise, nose pliers, nail board...

With each torture device Chu Lu introduced, Liu Jinli's face turned paler. By the end, she looked as if she was 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 about to cry.

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

"That, that, that..." Liu Jinli stammered, looking hesitant.

"It seems you won't give up until you reach the Yellow River," Chu Lu stood up. "Then I'll give you a taste of torture first."

"Ahhh! No! Don't!" Seeing Chu Lu about to break in and act, Liu Jinli retreated repeatedly, her emotions collapsing instantly. "I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"Wouldn't it have been easier to do that earlier? How did you know all this?"

"My maid, Cuihua, told me," Liu Jinli said softly.

"Maid." Chu Lu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly recalled a statement from the Empress.

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

"Explain it clearly," Chu Lu pressed. "What's that maid's background? How did she find out? Why did she tell you all this?"

"This... Cuihua's background is very ordinary. She's from a rural family that couldn't afford to keep their daughter, so they sold her to the manor. She was always slow with her work and seemed a bit foolish, so nobody really liked her. It's just that I'm a concubine-born daughter with no status, so I had no choice but to take her in."

"Her sudden change happened after she got caught in a heavy rain and fell gravely ill. She had no money for medicine and was on the verge of death, so I ordered people to roll her up in her bedding and throw her into the woodshed to die. But unexpectedly, she suddenly got better."

"After that, Cuihua was like a different person. She became quick with her hands and feet, and much smarter. One night, she even found me and asked about my future plans."

She said I'm just an unfavored shunu of the Liu family. In the future, I'd either marry a useless minor official as a main wife or become a concubine to someone else. Watching all my sisters prosper and attain noble status, would I be content?

"Of course, I wasn't content. So she said she had a way to help me enjoy a lifetime of glory. She claimed that she learned these methods from a celestial being she dreamt of while she was sick. She said that because of her humble origins, she couldn't use these methods herself, so she wanted to help me, hoping I would help her in return when the time came."

Chu Lu's brow furrowed. He thought: Resurrection after a serious illness? Becoming a different person? And a celestial being in a dream? That's right, this Cuihua must be a transmigrator!

"Since you married into Prince Qin's manor, Cuihua, as your maid, should have followed you, right?" Chu Lu said immediately. "Coincidentally, just in case, I've rounded up all the servants in Prince Qin's manor. Come with me and tell me which one is Cuihua."

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

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Cuihua did come with me as part of my dowry and stayed by my side. But yesterday, when she saw you, the Emperor, charging through the city with your army, she left a letter, gave me a few instructions, and then left," Liu Jinli said. "She left a total of two letters. The first one has already been entrusted to someone to deliver to you, Your Majesty."

"She said that if Your Majesty was smart enough, after reading the first letter, you wouldn't make things difficult for Prince Qin's manor. But if Your Majesty refused to let it go, and if Prince Qin's manor faced disaster, then the second letter should be handed over, which would at least ensure my safety." Liu Jinli took out a letter from her bosom. "Your Majesty, this is the letter."

Chu Lu was stunned and took the letter with surprise.