Aurora Pavilion

"What happened?"

Ji Feiyun frowned and reached out to stop the constables who were charging forward with their heads down.

The two constables saw him and hurriedly stopped, greeting him, "Captain Ji."

Then they quickly gave a rough account of how they had found Guan Shanxue in the restaurant.

"Miss Guan seemed to have had her acupoints sealed. She couldn't move at all. We tried to help undo them, but we simply couldn't, so... we had no choice but to carry her back."

Upon hearing this, Ji Feiyun's brow furrowed even more deeply.

"What kind of acupoints are so difficult to undo?"

Then he waved a hand and instructed the two constables.

"Put her down first. Let me try."

The two constables immediately complied, setting the stretcher down on the steps in the courtyard of the yamen.

At this point, the situation drew the attention of quite a few constables from the Imperial Secret Police. Before long, several of them made their way over.

Lying on the stretcher, Guan Shanxue sensed footsteps approaching from all directions. At this moment, she even wanted to die.

Normally, thanks to having a Divine Catcher for a father, she had always come and gone freely within the Six Fans Gate Headquarters.

She possessed exceptional Martial Dao talent and had entered the Martial Dao Grandmaster Realm at a young age. Coupled with her delicate beauty and aloof temperament, who knew how many young constables in the yamen had willingly fallen beneath her pomegranate skirt.

Although Guan Shanxue held herself in high regard and did not think much of these people, she nevertheless enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention.

Yet today, her usual image would undoubtedly be shattered.

She was a dignified Martial Dao Grandmaster, having defeated every captain beneath the Ten Great Catchers of the Imperial Secret Police. Not one had been her match.

Yet she had been carried back to the Imperial Secret Police. This was the first time since the dawn of creation!

Meanwhile, Ji Feiyun glanced at Guan Shanxue. Knowing she could not speak, he did not ask anything further.

However, out of caution, he did not rashly attempt to undo her acupoints directly. Instead, he circulated his true qi and sent it into Guan Shanxue's body, examining the state of her acupoints and meridians.

Before long, Ji Feiyun's expression suddenly darkened as he said in a low voice,

"Who on earth dealt such a vicious hand? Aside from a very few acupoints vital to her life, every other acupoint in her body has been sealed!"

The two constables beside him were immediately startled upon hearing this and hurriedly asked,

"Captain Ji, then what should we do?"

Ji Feiyun pondered for a moment, then waved a hand.

"It is nothing. There are simply rather many sealed acupoints. It can still be undone with a little more time."

With that, Ji Feiyun immediately flicked several fingers in succession, sending several streams of true qi shooting into several of Guan Shanxue's key acupoints.

However, to his immense surprise, the true qi did not have the slightest effect after entering her acupoints.

That thread of qi locking Guan Shanxue's acupoints was as solid as a rock, seemingly impossible to shake.

Ji Feiyun knit his brows tightly and immediately circulated his true qi with all his strength, trying to first break through one minor acupoint.

But after dozens of breaths had passed, the result remained the same. He simply could not undo the acupoints on Guan Shanxue's body.

Ji Feiyun raised a hand to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead, his gaze shifting uncertainly.

He could not even undo a single acupoint, let alone the many acupoints within Guan Shanxue's body that had been sealed.

By now, quite a few constables from the Imperial Secret Police had gathered around. Upon seeing that it was Guan Shanxue who had met with trouble, they all revealed anxious expressions and hurriedly asked one after another,

"Captain Ji, how is it? Why is Miss Guan still lying there without moving?"

Hearing this, Ji Feiyun fell silent for a moment. Yet he could hardly admit that he could not undo even a single acupoint, words that would clearly cost him all face. He merely shook his head.

"The person who attacked Shanxue was far too vicious. To avoid injuring her, I do not dare act recklessly for the moment. I fear only an expert proficient in acupoint sealing can undo the acupoints on her body."

As soon as these words fell, the many young constables were startled. Soon, however, people began pooling their wisdom and strength to think of solutions.

Some went to seek help from other captains in the Imperial Secret Police, while others set out to find experts in Shangyang City skilled in acupoint-sealing martial arts. Naturally, some also hurried to report the matter to that Divine Catcher.

At this moment, Cang Yinyue, who had escorted Li Musheng to Aurora Pavilion, also happened to return to the Imperial Secret Police.

Her gaze passed over the crowd and fell upon Guan Shanxue, lying on a stretcher on the ground. She crossed her arms and watched with composed leisure for a while.

Seemingly sensing her gaze, Guan Shanxue's eyes widened, filled with both shock and boundless fury.

Yet after standing there for a while, Cang Yinyue left as if nothing had happened, with no intention of intervening at all.

Seeing this, Guan Shanxue anxiously tried to open her mouth and call out to her, but she could not make a sound whatsoever.

Cang Yinyue had previously asked Li Musheng, and learned that the acupoints on Guan Shanxue's body would unlock themselves after twelve hours. Clearly, this woman still had plenty of suffering ahead of her!

Shangyang City, Aurora Pavilion.

A five-story building adorned with carved beams and painted rafters on all four sides stood in the very center of Beishen District's bustling market. It was the most luxurious restaurant in the imperial capital's Beishen District.

However, the former scene of roaring crowds and guests gathering like clouds was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the place was surrounded inside and out by heavily guarded armored soldiers.

Aurora Pavilion had now been requisitioned by the Heavenly Brocade Guard, all of it used to house the "candidate" Seventh Princes from across Great Li.

After completing a series of "check-in" procedures, Li Musheng successfully entered the place as well.

The so-called procedures were naturally documents proving that Li Musheng was the Seventh Prince, though Cang Yinyue handled all of them.

Li Musheng glanced over them from the side. They seemed rather complicated; it was not as though anyone who claimed to be the Seventh Prince could stay in Aurora Pavilion.

There had to be concrete evidence showing that one might be the Seventh Prince lost among the common folk, and one had to receive the Heavenly Brocade Guard's approval before being entered into the records as a candidate.

"Ordinary people would have no way of obtaining these 'procedures.' It seems that, more or less, every person in Aurora Pavilion has some faction backing them."

Li Musheng pondered this as he followed a young eunuch in a deep azure robe toward the room assigned to him.

Aurora Pavilion had a unique architectural design. Tall buildings surrounded all four sides, with an enormous open courtyard in the middle.

Within the courtyard were artificial hills, pools, and ornamental flowers and trees. At its very center was even a vast pond blooming with red lotuses.

Every floor of Aurora Pavilion had corridors linked around all four sides. As Li Musheng followed the young eunuch along one of them, he looked down at the courtyard below and nodded lightly.

"The scenery is indeed quite good."

However, an untimely voice suddenly rang out from the corridor ahead.

"Another one has come to die."

Li Musheng looked toward the sound. It was a fair-faced young man holding a sandalwood folding fan, casually leaning against the corridor railing.

Upon hearing the man's words, the young eunuch acted as if he had heard nothing and paid him no heed, continuing onward with his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart.

But at this moment, Li Musheng suddenly stopped. He stared at the man for a while, then said,

"I think you do not have long to live!"