She pushed open a hidden door.
Chu Zhaohua stepped inside first.
Wu Qingyuan held Chu Youning's hand, and mother and daughter followed her, step by step.
It was a small secret chamber, sparsely furnished.
A complete topographical map of the Yu Kingdom hung across the entire wall opposite the hidden door, with every commandery, county, and city marked on it.
Chu Youning noticed at once that the places marked in red were all the Evil Incense production sites they had destroyed along their journey.
Numerous portraits hung on the walls to either side, each labeled with details of the person's various identities.
"System, quick, quick, quick! Scan all of these."
The people in those portraits were all from countries bordering the Yu Kingdom. Chu Youning felt it was necessary to record them all; there was no telling where they might come in handy later.
[Of course, Host.]
The System obediently began scanning.
"Zhaohua... where did you get so many portraits of people from the four kingdoms?"
As Wu Qingyuan spoke, she could barely keep her voice from trembling.
Strategists from other nations, ministers of military affairs, princes, nobles, generals, and chancellors...
Portraits like these were far from easy to obtain.
Chu Zhaohua did not answer her.
She gazed steadily at the map of the Yu Kingdom's territory for a long time, seemingly lost in her memories.
"After the kingdoms failed in their attack on the Yu Kingdom all those years ago, they ceased hostilities and spent years recuperating. Eight years ago, the Marquis of Martial Peace from the Flourishing Kingdom approached me. He wanted to use my hatred of the imperial family to make me cooperate with him..."
"The people of the Flourishing Kingdom are treacherous beyond measure. Cooperating with them is nothing less than bargaining with a