Princess Zhaoling 9

Yang Yunchun sent men to accompany Li Lianhua and his companions, and they solved the Cailian Manor bride murder case. Yang Yunchun then reopened the case, which the Hundred Rivers Courtyard had once ruled an accident, and announced the results to the world.

That made the Inspection Bureau's move to establish a presence in the Hundred Rivers Courtyard at the sword appreciation gathering even more impossible to dispute.

Zhaoling had seized the tomb robbers who damaged the First-Rank Tomb, using the opportunity to let the Inspection Bureau suppress the Hundred Rivers Courtyard in one stroke and wipe away the humiliation the imperial offices had suffered when the Sigu Sect suppressed them more than a decade ago.

The emperor was delighted. Despite opposition from some of his ministers, he formally appointed Zhaoling vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review and placed her in charge of it.

Zhaoling had met Feng Qing once beforehand and told him Li Xiangyi's true identity. After all, with Li Lianhua's name once again resounding throughout the jianghu, Feng Qing would discover the clues sooner or later.

It was better to tell him in advance to show her sincerity. She also asked Feng Qing to protect Li Lianhua and gave him a list of court officials, so he could use Shan Gudao to eliminate them all.

Besides those who had vehemently opposed Zhaoling holding office at court and whom she later discovered had been bought off by the imperial clan, her blacklist also included some whose many misdeeds had recently been uncovered by Wu Di, her trusted subordinate in the Inspection Bureau.

Zhaoling's position was still unstable, and she could not yet deal with negligent officials on a large scale for fear of provoking a backlash at court. It was better to let Feng Qing use Shan Gudao to deal with some of them, leaving only one or two guilty of the most heinous crimes for Zhaoling to handle and build up her own prestige.

After Zhaoling took on the additional post of vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, she did not, as its officials had feared, immediately begin seizing power without regard for right or wrong.

While Shan Gudao's ambitions and schemes stirred up fresh turmoil in the jianghu, Zhaoling turned a deaf ear to the world outside and devoted herself to studying Great Xi's criminal law, reading old case files every day.

Once she had learned enough about the people within the Court of Judicial Review and knew its operations inside and out, she sent every old case in which offenders had been treated too leniently or judgments had been mistaken or arbitrary back to the Ministry of Punishments for retrial.

As the emperor's only daughter, Zhaoling treated everyone equally, whether the offender was the son of a powerful court minister or a descendant of the imperial clan. The law showed no favoritism.

Though some at court muttered that Zhaoling was cold-blooded, more changed their opinion of her. At the very least, she did an excellent job of being fair and impartial.

In truth, despite her several reincarnations and what seemed like several instances of plotting and scheming, most of the time Zhaoling only appeared to have calculated every move without fail because her repeated reincarnations had given her knowledge of more secrets, and because she was well versed in the use of poisons.

Because she had been sealed away, Zhaoling actually loathed plotting and scheming, and had little liking for people full of cunning. Both before and after her Devil Bone was discovered, she had mostly taken the open and upright path, relying on force to break through obstacles.

When Zhaoling was still the Kunlun Sect's favored daughter of heaven, she had reached such heights at such a young age that even her fiancé could not match her natural talent and comprehension.

Perhaps Zhaoling had been too outstanding and too forceful in her conduct back then. She had always sought only to act with a clear conscience, without considering anyone's pride. As a result, she had not realized that being so outstanding and forceful had placed too much pressure on those around her.

So when she fell from grace, everyone around her could hardly wait to drop stones on her while she was down a well.

It was also because her circumstances were so similar to Li Xiangyi's that, when she first came to this world and saw him, she had been unable to control her emotions and had been invaded by Devil Qi.

They really were a little too alike.

But Zhaoling, who had severed the root of her emotions and practiced the Devil Cultivation Method, could no longer trust anyone. Compared with plots, tricks, and the calculations of the human heart, she had more faith in strength. Through her many transmigrations, she had never once forgotten her ultimate goal: to accumulate power for the Chaos Pearl, cultivate the Heavenly Devil Instruction, and make herself stronger.

Thus, even though Zhaoling intended to become emperor in this life, she relied only on her status and the secrets she knew to gain control of some forces first, then used the advantages of her bloodline and her formidable martial arts to sweep everything before her.

Zhaoling's methods were simple and crude, and most of the shrewd, calculating ministers soon saw through her. Unfortunately for them, even seeing through her left them powerless against her.

Most people making their way at court had broken the law or flouted regulations to some extent. But the emperor valued balance and could not sweep up most of his ministers in one net, so he could only keep it out of sight and out of mind.

Zhaoling, however, was different. She feared no rumors or slander, and whenever anyone offended her, she found evidence of their crimes by various means and dealt with them all. As for plots, assassinations, and sneak attacks, she was utterly unafraid, relying on her status as the emperor's only daughter and her formidable martial strength.

Thus, when Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing investigated Nanyin together, discovered that Shan Gudao was alive and of Nanyin's imperial bloodline, and that he intended to use the Mother Worm to control everyone and overturn the realm, they secretly entered the imperial palace with Yang Yunchun's help and began searching for the Tower of Ultimate Bliss.

By then, Zhaoling had gained complete control of the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Punishments, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Censorate, and had the support of more than half the court. The emperor and his ministers also knew of Zhaoling's ambition: she did not want to become the mother of an emperor, but the emperor herself.

Yet the emperor had been very pleased with everything Zhaoling had done during this time. Though she was a woman, if he passed the throne to her, then the realm for all generations to come would remain in their branch of the family.

Since Zhaoling could stand on her own, the emperor felt more gratified than surprised.

Zhaoling now had some foundation at court and could prepare to deal with Shan Gudao, gaining herself more political capital.

Just as Zhaoling was considering how to deal with Shan Gudao, Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing entered the Tower of Ultimate Bliss and obtained the Mother Worm before Shan Gudao could.

As for how Shan Gudao had managed to find the imperial palace without the Child Chong, were Feng Qing and Li Lianhua not still there?

Shan Gudao both envied and resented Li Xiangyi's abilities, but he also believed in them. Having failed with the Luomo Ding, he sent men to follow Li Lianhua and ultimately followed the vine to the melon, finding the imperial palace.

In particular, Zhaoling and Feng Qing were working together from within and without, throwing the doors wide open for Shan Gudao.

Before leaving, Li Lianhua looked at the bare wall in puzzlement. Some of the markings on this wall seem to have been deliberately erased. Judging by the traces, it should have happened not long ago. Since someone entered the Tower of Ultimate Bliss before us, why didn't they take the Mother Worm?

For some reason, he suddenly thought of Princess Zhaoling, whose formidable name was now known far and wide.

Did she know about Shan Gudao's plot in advance?

What secret was once carved on this wall that was even more important than the Mother Worm, so important that the person who came here first would rather reveal their presence than leave it intact?

Unfortunately, Li Lianhua had not expected Shan Gudao's infiltration of the court to run so deep. No sooner had he emerged with the Mother Worm through the Tower of Bliss's secret passage than the emperor surrounded him with Xuanyuan Xiao and others. The Mother Worm, which he had obtained with such difficulty, was seized by Xuanyuan Xiao just like that.

Because they could not reveal what the Mother Worm did for fear of endless trouble later, Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing still had no way to argue their case and could only rely on their martial arts to escape the manhunt. Of course, their successful escape from the palace also owed something to the help of Zhaoling's subordinates.

Having escaped the palace with a maid's help, Li Lianhua asked her in puzzlement, "With something so serious happening in the palace, why hasn't Princess Zhaoling appeared?"