The Prince Consort Has Guts!

The letter was written in the same neat, tiny script.

"If Your Majesty sees this letter, it means you did not heed my advice. How disappointing. I thought you would be a little smarter. Since you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, I have no other choice.

I want both the throne beneath you and the head on your shoulders!"

"And Liu Jinli—you had better keep her alive. That way, I can let you die a quicker death. If you do not... well, it does not really matter. That stupid fucking feudal woman orders me around all day, telling me to do this and that. Fuck, she is driving me insane."

"Heh. Hahahaha!" Chu Lu laughed in fury. He shredded the letter in his hand and said, "Good! Arrogant enough! I like it!"

Someone that arrogant must feel amazing to chop down!

Chu Lu looked at Liu Jinli and had no intention of killing her.

The reason was not that he could not determine whether Cuihua's message truly meant to use his hand to kill Liu Jinli, or whether it was merely provoking his contrarian streak with a goading tactic. It was because Liu Jinli still had some use left in her.

"Do you know where Cuihua went after leaving?" Chu Lu asked.

"Yes." Liu Jinli nodded. "Before she left, she said she was going to the Prince Consort's residence."

"The Prince Consort's residence?"

"Yes, Prince Consort Tang's residence."

At that moment, Xu Liniang explained it to Chu Lu in his mind.

"She meant Prince Consort Tang Zhiyin. She came from a poor family, took part in the imperial examinations, and earned a place on the list. Later, because she was handsome, my elder sister took a liking to her and chose her as Prince Consort. Her residence is not in the imperial capital, but in Linyang. It is neither particularly far nor particularly close—riding there would still take five or six days."

"Is this Prince Consort close with Prince Qin's residence?" Chu Lu asked inwardly.

"Nothing special."

Chu Lu frowned slightly, sensing something out of place.

He looked back at Liu Jinli. "Did she really tell you that? That she was going to the Prince Consort's residence?"

"Really, really!" Liu Jinli nodded again and again, terrified that Chu Lu would not believe her.

"Did she say why she was going?"

"No..."

"She could not possibly go somewhere she was completely unfamiliar with for no reason, could she?" Chu Lu asked again. "Did you have any dealings with the Prince Consort?"

"Well, I do not know. But..." Liu Jinli hesitated.

"But what? Speak if you have something to say. Are you dawdling because you want punishment?"

Liu Jinli jolted and hurriedly said, "No, no! I am just not sure. Cuihua would sometimes leave by herself for a while. Whenever I asked where she had gone, she would not tell me, so I do not know whether she had any dealings with her."

"Is that so..."

Chu Lu narrowed his eyes, but did not continue the interrogation. Instead, he handed the matter over to others and left.

"Chu Lu, are we going to the Prince Consort's residence now?" Xu Liniang said. "My elder sister is a softhearted person, and the Prince Consort is obedient too. They definitely will not be as unyielding as Aunt. When the time comes, you can be more patient..."

"Do not rush. We might not go."

"Ah?"

"It is too strange," Chu Lu said. "Since Cuihua had already guessed that I might go to Prince Qin's residence, why would she deliberately tell Liu Jinli where she was going? Would that not be leaving me a clue?"

"Eh? So she was lying?" Xu Liniang asked.

"She could have been lying. Or perhaps she guessed we would not believe it, so it was true instead. Either way, we need to investigate further." Chu Lu said, "She left in such a hurry that she must have left some traces behind. Have someone interrogate the residence's servants first and see whether there are any clues."

"Mm."

After all the upheaval until now, and after uncovering one unexpected truth after another,

even Chu Lu felt a trace of fatigue. Besides, there was no need to personally handle something like interrogating servants. He could simply leave it to others.

So, after giving a few instructions, he returned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation and lay down in a reclining chair. Chu Lu had intended to close his eyes for a while, but he could not sleep, so he simply opened the Chat Group.

While Chu Lu had been killing people, Xu Liniang in his mind had not been idle. She had livestreamed everything in the Chat Group, so the group members all knew the course of events well. They were currently discussing it fervently.

Hua Honglian: "A classic river of blood... Even realm differences cannot stop Chu Lu."

Luo Qingdie: "It is not too bad, right? At least fewer people died than on my side?"

Zhu Shanlin: "I calculated it. Assuming there are three hundred officials attending morning court each time, and assuming every official has an average of twenty people in her household counting parents, family, and servants... Whew! Chu Lu killed six thousand people in one day! That is not a small number."

Liu Ruyue: "Bai Qi reborn!"

Chu Lu: "..."

Chu Lu: "Was it really that many? It did not feel like I killed that many."

The moment Chu Lu spoke, everyone replied in a rush, saying that he had finally come online.

Zhu Shanlin: "Chu Lu, Chu Lu, what does 'came from another world' mean? Why did you ask that?"

Chu Lu was startled instinctively, then realized that Xu Liniang had probably livestreamed the details of his interrogation of Liu Jinli too.

So he answered, "Simply put, I suspect that Cuihua, like me, came to this world from another world for some reason. That is why I asked whether she came from another world."

Zhu Shanlin: "Huh? So that was it. But how did you notice?"

Before Chu Lu could answer, Luo Qingdie said, "Because her personality suddenly changed drastically, right? So he guessed that someone had taken over her body. After all, that is what Chu Lu did, so of course he would make that connection."

Zhu Shanlin: "I see!"

Hua Honglian: "But if that is the case, could there be another Chat Group and another World-Crossing Talisman?"

Luo Qingdie: "Eh, eh, eh."

Zhu Shanlin: "It sounds a little unbelievable, but it does not seem impossible."

Liu Ruyue: "Shocking!"

Hua Honglian: "Then Xu Liniang, should we not have killed her? Maybe we could have become friends."

Xu Liniang: "Whether she gets killed is not up to me..."

Seeing that they had misunderstood, Chu Lu did not clarify.

There was nothing wrong with keeping a few secrets of his own, was there?

As for the subsequent discussion, Chu Lu said, "It is not up to me either. This is a mission issued by the Chat Group. Besides, there is no need to rush. We do not even know where she is yet."

Hua Honglian: "That is true. The most urgent matter is finding her first."

Afterward, they became excited again and heatedly discussed how to find Cuihua.

Unfortunately, their suggestions were utterly ridiculous, so Chu Lu simply treated them as a collection of jokes.

An hour passed like that before the interrogation of the residence's servants finally ended, and someone submitted the testimonies.

Chu Lu had rested enough as well. He closed the Chat Group and picked up the testimonies.

Among them was a portrait based on verbal descriptions. Chu Lu glanced at it and found that the woman was unexpectedly delicate and beautiful. As expected of a Female Fiction heroine.

He then read the testimonies.

The statements were extremely detailed, describing all sorts of Cuihua's daily affairs in the residence with great care. Between the lines, the image of a clever, resourceful, and somewhat mysterious woman emerged... more or less.

After all, Chu Lu was not entirely sure whether deliberately splashing water on a stone bridge to make it slippery when a smug pregnant concubine crossed it, causing her to fall and miscarry, just to deal with that concubine, counted as clever...

But he did not care. He flipped to the most crucial section of the testimonies—the part concerning Cuihua's whereabouts.

Chu Lu's brows immediately drew together.

There was no mention of it. The testimonies did not mention it.

When most people heard the question, they seemed completely baffled. They had not even known Cuihua had left.

After some thought, Chu Lu guessed that Cuihua had probably slipped away secretly in the middle of the night.

At that time, he had been conducting a great purge in the city. Everyone had hidden indoors, too afraid to leave, while the soldiers originally guarding the city gates had been reassigned to monitor the officials' residences. That gave her an opening, and no one noticed her departure.

"This is troublesome." Chu Lu had a headache.

Without solid evidence, he could only grit his teeth and go take a look.

But the question was, who would go?

Should Chu Lu go personally? But if this was a scheme to lure the tiger away from its mountain, then the imperial capital would be left vulnerable after he departed.

But if he sent someone else... the other party might be someone from another world. If these female fiction natives under him went over, they would most likely be toyed with until they spun in circles.

What if he sent a letter and had the Prince Consort come to the imperial capital herself?

That was not reliable either. Even if the Prince Consort agreed, a round trip would take more than ten days. And she might not be able to catch Cuihua. If she refused, it would simply be wasted time.

In war, speed was paramount. When Cuihua's purpose remained unclear, the more time they wasted, the more dangerous it would become.

Chu Lu pondered for a moment, then ultimately decided to go himself.

If he had not fallen into a trap, that would be best of all.

And if he had, it did not matter. It would be a good chance to see what trick she was playing.

In any case, Chu Lu was confident that no matter what Cuihua tried, he could cut off her head with a single stroke of his sword.

No matter what, personal strength was Chu Lu's greatest source of confidence and support.

Leaving the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Chu Lu ordered his subordinates to find a reliable general and temporarily assemble a force to accompany him to the Prince Consort's residence.

Since not every Imperial Guard had followed him through a full day and night of killing, finding a group of soldiers still in good spirits was not difficult.

After taking stock of their numbers, Chu Lu left the imperial city and headed straight for Linyang.

In truth, traveling alone would have been much faster and more efficient for Chu Lu.

People needed sleep, horses needed sleep, but Chu Lu did not. He could endure three to five days without sleeping now.

The main reason he brought this troop of soldiers was to reassure the people in the imperial capital.

Otherwise, if the emperor left the imperial capital alone without a word, the city would immediately be thrown into turmoil, with rumors sprouting like weeds after rain.

In fact, when Su Muyun woke up the next day and discovered that Chu Lu was gone, her hands and feet went icy cold with fright.

When Minister Zhao attended morning court and found no one on the imperial throne, she nearly fainted.

Had Xiao Lizi not explained the situation in time, they would have gone mad.

Even so, they were half-mad already, all declaring that they wanted to go out and chase after Chu Lu.

It was only because Xiao Lizi clung to them for dear life and made them trust Chu Lu that the disturbance finally settled.

Two days later, as the sun was about to set, the army stopped and made camp on the spot.

As emperor, Chu Lu naturally did not need to do anything himself. Before long, a tent conspicuously several sizes larger than the others had been set up.

The soldiers secretly glanced at Chu Lu, their eyes filled with amazement.

Of course, they were not amazed by his treatment, but by his stamina.

After two days of high-intensity forced marching over uneven roads, even the horses were so tired they were nearly foaming at the mouth, let alone them. Every one of them felt as though her entire skeleton had fallen apart.

Yet Chu Lu, who by all rights should have been the pampered emperor, showed no sign of fatigue whatsoever. Whenever they stopped, there was even a hint of dissatisfaction on his face.

This made the soldiers admire him all the more.

By the time camp had been set up and dinner finished, night had already fallen.

Most of the soldiers entered their tents to rest, while a small number patrolled the surroundings.

Chu Lu was also sleeping lightly inside his tent.

At midnight, the moon shone bright and the stars were sparse. The surroundings were silent, broken only now and then by the chirping of insects.

Suddenly, a patrolling soldier frowned.

She vaguely heard something—the crunch of leaves beneath feet, the scrape of branches being pushed aside. Someone was moving through the forest and approaching!

The soldiers were horrified and immediately returned to sound the alarm.

The piercing horn blast spread throughout the camp, and everyone woke at once.

The enemies lurking in the darkness realized they had been exposed and no longer concealed themselves, surging out like a tide.

"Enemy attack! Follow me and engage!" a general shouted.

Chu Lu stood to one side, watching the scene before him without rushing to act.

The situation was too chaotic. A huge crowd had gathered together in a dark mass, and they could not even tell where the enemy was.

Although Chu Lu could fight, he did not understand troop formations or battlefield strategy at all, so he would not be much help at this moment.

It was better to watch honestly and leave everything to his generals.

And though Chu Lu did not even know the Imperial Guard general's name, she clearly had some skill. The situation quickly became clear, and they began to counterattack.

Only once Chu Lu saw that things had settled down did he enter the fray with sword in hand and begin a slaughter.

His strength was overwhelming. On the battlefield, none could match him. He easily tore through the enemy lines, then charged in and out seven times, killing without pause.

Under Chu Lu's lead, the soldiers' morale soared as well, and they swept through the enemy as if entering uninhabited land.

Very soon, this sudden ambush battle came to an end.

Most of the enemies had been killed, while the several leaders were all captured alive.

Inside the tent,

Chu Lu looked curiously at the several leaders bound hand and foot before him.

They dressed like bandits, but bandits would never have the nerve to attack an army that was obviously not to be trifled with.

"Who are you people?" Chu Lu said. "Do not be stubborn. You are already prisoners beneath the steps. Confess honestly, and you might still have a better ending."

One leader replied in a muffled voice, "We are subordinates of the Prince Consort. Under her orders, we came to ambush and kill His Majesty passing through here."

The moment Chu Lu heard that, his expression became extraordinarily vivid.

What the hell is this person talking about?

"You are Tang's Prince Consort's subordinates?" Chu Lu pressed. "You, all of you, that whole crowd out there too?"

The leader nodded.

Chu Lu: "???"

Holy shit, is Tang Zhiyin really that formidable? As a Prince Consort, she actually dared to raise a private army? And she dared to ambush me! And these people have guts too. Told to kill the emperor, and they really came! Wait, could this group be the trap Cuihua prepared?