Hu Xiaotian said, "If you don't want people to know, don't do it in the first place. Your Majesty, there is no such thing as eternal life. No one lives forever. Hong Beimo was only using you. That Imperial Mausoleum hides an unspeakable secret. He merely wanted to achieve his own ends through you."
Long Xuan'en murmured, "I... I understand now..." In truth, he had understood this long ago. It was precisely what had opened the rift between him and Hong Beimo.
Hu Xiaotian said, "Hong Beimo must have realized you suspected him, so he found another partner and joined forces with them to get rid of you."
Long Xuan'en ground his teeth. "You traitorous scoundrel! I won't let you have your way!"
Hu Xiaotian knew the man Long Xuan'en was cursing certainly wasn't him. He said quietly, "Your Majesty, will you simply watch as someone steals Great Kang's realm? Are you really willing to let Hong Beimo use you for nothing?"
Long Xuan'en bit his lip. Hu Xiaotian had successfully stirred the hatred within him. His resolve hardened. "I still have something they want."
"What is it?" Hu Xiaotian asked, thinking to himself, Could it be the Seven-Star Chain?
Long Xuan'en said, "Get me out of here first. We mustn't linger here. There's a hiding place in the Directorate of Imperial Cuisine."
Night fell. Murong Zhan led fifty thousand Imperial Guards in a search of the Imperial Palace. They combed almost every corner and even dug open the old secret passage connecting the Palace Gardens Bureau, the Purple Orchid Palace, and the Library Pavilion, but found no trace of Hu Xiaotian or Long Xuan'en. The two men seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth.
Qiqi paid little heed to this. As she had said before, Xi