Chapter 1329: New Grudge, Old Hatred

“The Golden Crow royal family’s members are tough, and they have the Golden Crow Sacred Fire, as well as other heaven-defying skills, granting them powerful regenerative abilities,” the Second Empress explained.

“Even though you smashed apart his lower body, he has the Golden Crow Sacred Fire. Together with the help of the Fiend Emperor’s will, he has already begun to gradually recover. When I paid him a visit, that…” She hesitated in the middle of her sentence, only finding the words after a long time. “...part was already starting to grow again.”

Zu An’s jaw looked as if it were about to drop to the ground. He asked, “That thing can even be regrown after being smashed like that? Then doesn’t that mean you can never beat him to death? Why isn’t he freaking dying?!”

The Second Empress said with pursed lips, “Of course, it is not limitless regeneration; there is definitely a limit. He almost reached the limit of what he could endure this time. Furthermore, with the Fiend Emperor’s help, he was able to regrow that lost part, but it is still far inferior to before. It is only to the point where it is still barely usable. He will definitely hate you to the bitter end.”

Zu An sighed in relief. That was more like it. After all, if nothing had happened to the Golden Crow Crown Prince at all, he himself would probably just explode from anger.

“It is about time to go. The sky is starting to brighten, so I will bring the two of you out of the palace,” the Second Empress said as she got up.

Zu An asked seriously, “What if we end up being discovered? We won’t have anywhere to run off to in that case.”

“The Golden Crow Guards did not find anyone even after looking around all night. Now should be when they are the most exhausted, and also the most relaxed,” the Second Empress explained. Afterward, she put on a proud and dignified expression as she continued, “Furthermore, who would dare to examine this empress’ personal carriage?”

Zu An’s expression turned strange. Weren’t even your own chambers investigated by the Golden Crow Guards? They almost lifted your covers.

Still, since she had confidence, he chose to trust her. After all, this was the palace, watched over by the Fiend Emperor. He just couldn't feel at ease being inside.

Then, the Second Empress called over a carriage, precisely the one Zu An had seen outside the city gates previously. She activated a mechanism, and a space that was large enough for someone to hide in opened up. It was a bit too small for two people, but Qiao Xueying was petite enough that they were just barely able to fit.

“You actually had this kind of space under your carriage?” Zu An asked, his expression somewhat strange. He wanted to say something, but then stopped.

“Do you think I use this to smuggle things in and out of the palace or something? Hmph, do you think the Fiend Emperor is just there for decoration?” The Second Empress shot him a look and said, “I only had this space in preparation for the unexpected. I did not expect to actually need to use it.”

When she saw Zu An fall silent, the Second Empress remarked with a chuckle, “What, a grown man like you is unwilling to let a woman like me sit on top of you?”

Zu An was actually listening to Snow’s ki transmission; she was warning him to be careful. The Second Empress was known for being beautiful yet inwardly sinister, like a snake. There could be some kind of trap inside the carriage. As such, he secretly checked to see if there were any mechanisms in that space; otherwise, they could be headed to their own doom.

Fortunately, apart from some formations on the walls that blocked energy from leaking out, there wasn’t anything else. As such, he said with a smile, “Who knows just how many men there are in this world who want to be sat on by your highness…”

He trailed off, stunned. He didn’t have any such intentions, and yet it had sounded as if he did.

The Second Empress’ cheeks also heated up. She realized that her own words had contained several implications. She said with a lovely smile, “Brat, you are daring, as expected. You even dare to take advantage of this empress?”

Qiao Xueying secretly pinched him. This guy even dares to mess around with this treacherous woman. Is he not scared that she’ll just swallow him up?

The Second Empress noticed her jealous action and was a bit surprised. These two have an even better relationship than I thought!

Then, the Second Empress took the two of them out toward the city gates on the main street. They could hear palace personnel paying their respects from time to time. Sure enough, no one came to investigate them.

When they reached the palace gate, however, they were still stopped. A general asked, “Your highness, where are you going?”

Zu An was alarmed. This person sounded like the Left Guard General Ma Tian he had met when he entered the palace.

“Does this empress need to report to General Ma about where I go?” the Second Empress replied. Her voice was still charming, but her tone was extremely cold.

“This humble one does not dare!” Ma Tian replied somewhat hesitantly. “Your highness, there was an assassin that caused trouble in the palace, so I fear that it might not be too safe to leave the palace right now.”

“This empress’ cultivation is more than enough. Furthermore, we are in the Fiend King Court, and the Fiend Emperor is still here. Who would dare to do anything to me?” The Second Empress felt a bit guilty even as she spoke. She had had her movements sealed and had been forced to listen to their activity all night, leaving her entire body feeling extremely sticky and uncomfortable. I am definitely going to wash myself properly once they are sent out of the palace.

Ma Tian cursed inwardly when he heard that. Hadn’t that assassin even attacked the crown prince?

“What, does General Ma want to come into my carriage to check?” the Second Empress snapped with a hint of anger

“This humble one does not dare. I was only worried about your highness’ safety,” Ma Tian said. He remembered how the previous night, that blockhead Niu Dao had barged into the Second Empress’ chambers, and yet hadn’t found a thing in the end. Forget about the Second Empress’ revenge, once the Fiend Emperor was finished with what he needed to take care of, he wouldn’t let the general go either. How could he follow in Niu Dao’s disastrous footsteps? While moving out of the way, he said, “I will respectfully see off your highness!”

The Second Empress harrumphed. She waved her hand, gesturing for the carriage to continue. When they left the imperial palace, she found a quiet place to let Zu An and Snow out and said, “Make sure to be careful. I hope you are not dead when I come looking for you in the future.”

Zu An smiled and said, “Thank you for saving us, your highness. We will meet again if fate wills it.”

The Second Empress nodded. Then, she pulled Qiao Xueying over, instructing her on how to deal with the imperial palace’s questioning. Afterward, she left.

Zu An sent Qiao Xueying back to the Elf Manor according to the method Second Empress had explained to him, deliberately making it so that many people saw her return. Of course, he definitely couldn’t show himself.

Along the way, Zu An had told her his current identity and that he was temporarily staying at the Snake Race’s residence. Snow was incredibly jealous, because there were just too many rumors in the fiend races about the Medusa Queen.

Only when Zu An said that Yan Xuehen was also there did she feel at ease. She thought to herself, With Chuyan’s master there, this guy probably won’t act wantonly. She returned to the Elf King Manor happily.

…

While some people were feeling happy over the recent developments, inside the imperial prison, Director Heichi Ran had been imprisoned. There wasn’t a piece of flesh on him that was unharmed, and he couldn't even open his eyes anymore. He could only mumble indistinctly, “I was wrongly accused…”

“You still aren’t going to tell the truth?” The Golden Crow Crown Prince snapped, his face pale. It was clear that though he had managed to recover through the Golden Crow Sacred Fire, the process had still taken a lot out of him. He yelled, “Help me get a castration for this bastard!”

The jailer had a shocked expression. Only then did the Golden Crow Crown Prince realize that he had let his anger confuse himself. “Ah, no! Help him get a castration for me!”

The jailer was speechless, practically about to cry. Just who are we castrating?

Fortunately, the grandmaster Elder Wu stopped him and said, “Crown prince, please do not act too rashly. In this old one’s opinion, I suspect that the one from yesterday was not Heichi Ran.”

“Who else would it be, if not him? I saw him with my own two eyes!” the Golden Crow Crown Prince replied. He thought to himself, I finally managed to set up that situation yesterday, and I was about to obtain Princess Snow, and yet this bastard took her away!

Princess Snow had been drugged, so what would have happened over the evening went without saying.

This guy actually dares to double-cross his patron? He dares touch my woman?

Elder Wu explained, “Crown prince, please reconsider. Even though Heichi Ran’s cultivation is not low, how could he a match for your respected self? Furthermore, I even fought against that assassin last night myself. With Heichi Ran’s cultivation, he would definitely be unable to take a blow from me.”

The Golden Crow Crown Prince had been taking out his anger on Heichi Ran all night, and was already feeling considerably better. He finally recovered a bit of his intellect and asked, “Then who else could it be if not him? That assassin looked exactly the same as him. Even his teeth were completely identical!”

Elder Wu explained, “That person might have an extremely profound appearance-changing technique, allowing him to impersonate Heichi Ran. Right, Left Guard General Ma Tian reported something worth investigating. He mentioned that yesterday, when he entered the palace, ‘Heichi Ran’ said that he had been called by the crown prince. He even took out the Golden Crow Token that belongs exclusively to you. How can something like that be faked?”

The Golden Crow Crown Prince was furious. He snapped, “Get me everyone who has the crown prince’s token and interrogate them properly! This crown prince must find that person. Only if I skin him alive and tear out his bones will I be able to get rid of this hatred!”

Elder Wu hesitated, then asked, “Crown prince, have you forgotten that when we were in the Snake race territory, we gave one out at that time?”

The Golden Crow Crown Prince’s face darkened. “Are you talking about that hateful human?”

“Indeed. Only he would be so familiar with your skills, and would not fear your Golden Crow Sacred Fire. If it were anyone else, even if they launched a surprise attack, they might not have been able to seriously injure you so quickly,” Elder Wu said. “Furthermore, I heard that the Snake race’s people recently arrived at the Fiend King Court.”

“So it was actually him? Good! This is the perfect time to get my revenge!” the Golden Crow Crown Prince cried, smashing the table next to him to pieces. “Men, arrest everyone from the Snake race right now!”