Marquis of Yong Ning thought no more and expressed his gratitude with Fifth Prince Tuoba Rui. When Tuoba Rui stood up, he even gave Li Chang Le a glance of complicated feelings. If it wasn’t for what happened between her and Tuoba Zhen …… Tuoba Rui would have risk his life to marry her as his main consort.

Li Wei Yang chanced upon his wronged expression and tried suppressing her smile as she lowered her head. Tuoba Rui, oh, Tuoba Rui, such a rare hopeless sentimental. It’s only that she didn’t know if he saw Li Chang Le’s ruined appearance, would he lose all colors on his face.

With what just happened, everyone’s expression showed awkwardness and their smile was too forced. Even the Empress and the concubines felt uneasy, the Emperor calmly said: “Wasn’t song and dance arranged?”

The Empress busily spoke: “Bring in the music and start the dance to liven up the atmosphere.” She was speaking to the eunuchs but her voice felt dry which evidently showed how she still hasn’t left her astonishment behind.

The dance performance was meticulously prepared by the Department of Music. Consort Lian also took the time to choreographed for the Emperor. The dancers were all beauties with bodies like willows, appearances like flowers, and moves ethereally beautiful. If this dance was performed on an average day, everyone would enjoy it but now everyone was absent-minded. Their mind was still fixated on the scene when Able Consort Wu was still sitting above them and then the next moment, she was suddenly given the death sentence.

The wrath of the Emperor really made one terrifyingly cold!

Ninth Princess is a young girl after all so she didn’t have much thoughts and thus, she immediately calmed down as she earnestly watched the performance. But Li Wei Yang who was by her side was still waiting and even showed a bit of anxiousness. She had prepared for a long time and was waiting for today. If everything went smoothly, it would be possible to topple the Jiangs! They’ve found a suitable woman to enter the palace and then have Zhou Tian Shou being favored by the Emperor. Afterwards, she quietly waited to let the Jiangs believe she didn’t have any plans. Everything was set up for this moment! An effective opportunity! An opportunity that can topple the Jiangs!

The dance performance was soon over, the Emperor smilingly said: “The young girl leading the group danced very well, send her over, I want to reward her.”

The eunuch immediately summoned the young girl over. The crowd didn’t notice earlier since she was far away but now that she was this close to them, they realized how alluring her appearance is. Even though her appearance was incomparable to Consort Lian, she was still a beauty no doubt. The young girl strolled forth and with a glance, the Emperor was delighted and rewarded her a jade ornament. He was thinking of letting this young girl serve him tonight but his face didn’t show his thoughts and only waved his hand to signal for her retreat.

Suddenly, this young girl loudly voiced: “Reporting to Your Majesty, your maid has something to petition.”

The Emperor was stunned, followed along by the Empress and others.

“What is it?” The Emperor replied with his conditioned response.

The young girl raised her head and the gentle expression originally on her face vanished like pulling out a sword. She showed a cold air, making everyone focused on her. She waved her hand and the jade ornament originally in her hand was thrown out, carrying a whistling sound. Her right hand which was hidden in her sleeve was revealed to be holding onto a dagger. The jade ornament hit a eunuch behind the Emperor and right at this moment, the dagger in the young girl’s hand had quickly been aimed towards the Emperor.

Amongst the quick attack, the leader of his royal guards had already responded. He shouted and rushed to meet the girl’s attack with the dagger ward off by him. The young girl suddenly emitted a whistling sound which turned the dagger into a sword after the activation of a mechanism. She charged forward, passing the guard and towards the Emperor! The Emperor quickly grabbed a palace maid on his right and the sword went right into the palace maid’s waist. The palace maid, who was originally in good condition, was immediately gushing with blood, entering the netherworld.

This interaction happened in an instant that many people within the hall didn’t have time to react.

Watching how the palace maid dreadfully died, the people finally reacted. There was an actual assassin here! Momentarily, no one knew who let out a shriek.

“Protect the Emperor!”

The exhausting sounds of shriek pierced through ears.

The entire hall was chaotic like a bowl of congee.

“Incompetent ruler, hand over your life!”

As the young girl acted, ten of the dancers who were waiting for their reward simultaneously rushed to the inner hall to assist the young girl. The remaining dancers stayed behind guarding the door and were prepared to obstruct the path of the guards sent to save the Emperor in order to help their peer fight some time.

Seventh Prince Tuoba Yu flew over but two of the assassins blocked him. As he landed, he was actually held onto by one of the dancers. Right at this moment, the young girl swerved her sword around and went for the Emperor. Her force was stronger this time and much faster that her sword soon met the Emperor’s eyes.

“Ding dong ……” With that sound, the direction of the flying sword was pushed a degree sideward as it slipped past the Emperor’s neck. The Emperor fretfully looked over and in this life-threatening moment, Consort Lian who was originally hiding and trembling behind the throne risked her life and threw a few bowls towards the young girl’s sword. As for Consort Lian, she suddenly rushed forth and pulled onto the assassin’s left and plaintively cried: “Your Majesty, run!”

The Emperor shockingly stared at Consort Lian.

The young girl didn’t even glance at Consort Lian once and kicked her aside. She picked up her sword and made another attempt: “Incompetent ruler. We, the Murongs, have already pledged our allegiance to you. You’ve reneged on your words, destroyed the surrender letter, ruined the agreement, and annihilated my country, hand over your life!”

The consorts were all in utter confusion even when a few of the assassins hadn’t even reach the Emperor’s throne yet. The door was guarded by the assassins and everyone within the hall were running for their lives. The assassins didn’t care who was who and just killed whoever they see. Within the hall, shrill cries were continuously heard as the chaos continued. It was difficult to differentiate the master and the servants; everyone was crawling and weeping louding for help. At this critical moment, Li Min De had already reached Li Wei Yang’s side. He didn’t have any weapons on him so he shielded Li Wei Yang and Ninth Princess as they walked towards the south side of the hall. They didn’t encounter any assassins but Ninth Princess almost tripped because of her bewildered palace maid. Li Wei Yang quickly helped her up and the three watched the anxious situation in the hall with each of their expressions changing ……

Li Wei Yang and Li Min De looked each other in the eyes and from their expressions, both saw astonishment, their plan has changed! The original plan wasn’t like this! Damn! Why did this young girl take out her sword, why did she say those words! Li Wei Yang subconsciously looked towards Consort Lian and incidentally encounter her apologetic expression! Li Wei Yang finally understood everything, it’s she who changed the plan!

Tuoba Yu and Tuoba Zhen were held behind by the assassins and didn’t have a chance to approach the Emperor. Seeing the reflection of the sword, the Emperor frightfully crawled away. Right at this moment, a long sword pierced through the chest of the young girl. Her sword, which was held up in mid-air, didn’t land onto the Emperor’s head. Soon afterwards, she dropped and landed in front of the throne, being half a step away from the Emperor. The Emperor astonishingly looked at the person who saved him and it was Jiang Nan.

As Li Wei Yang watched this scene, her heart slowly sank.

Consort Lian bit her lips with her expression kept on shifting. She didn’t even dare to look at Li Wei Yang’s eyes since after all, she went against what they’ve decided and changed their plan! But now, she still have a chance --- so what if Jiang Nan saved the Emperor, it wasn’t enough to blur out the Jiangs’ sins!

Yet Li Wei Yang let out a deep sigh. Li Min De patted her hand as if he completely understood the disappointment she felt. Li Min De whispered: “Let’s watch what happens first.”

Li Wei Yang nodded. She turned around to a frightened Ninth Princess so she gently calmed her down.

Soon, the imperial guards sent as aid arrived. Per the palace rules, the guards at the banquet should retreat and as a result were arranged to guard the doors. Once the sounds of killing were heard, everyone knew and quickly tried to rush outside the hall but the palace door was narrow. The imperial guards had the advantage of size but was stopped by the eunuchs and maids rushing to escape. They were left with no choice but to kill everyone that ran out from the hall and didn’t care who they killed! The scene was soon under control and in the end, the hall was left in a scattered condition with the ten assassins on the ground. Each person had countless wounds with their tight-fitted dancing clothes shredded and bodies drenched in blood. The originally intact and glamorous tables were broken apart, the silver candlelights were thrown onto the ground of debris and blood, making the sight horrifying. The Empress and Virtuous Consort Zhang crawled up with expressions of fear from survivors of a catastrophe. The palace maids ran to help them up. Consort Rou began vomiting as the terrifying scene had made her lose state of mind.

All of the subjects and the female attendees also crawled all of their hiding spaces with expressions of extreme shock. Jiang Xu was fighting with his fists yet still killed a few assassins. The sword in Jiang Nan’s hand came from the assassins they’ve killed.

The Emperor’s wrath was easy to understand. Since his ascension, nothing like this has ever happened before. Never has an Emperor had a sword pointed towards their nose and encounter this murderous predicament!

The entire hall was blocked off. Everyone who was here to attend the banquet was not allowed to leave. Even if there is someone that needed medical attention, under the Emperor’s order, the hall was locked up for a thorough investigation. All of the assassins have died and even if some survived, they’ve all taken poison beforehand. So before the imperial guards captured them, they’ve already died and didn’t leave behind a survivor. But everyone still needed to go through a detailed questioning in the palace hall. The dancers were recruited among the people so there must be evidence left behind. As a result, the Emperor angrily ordered Jing Zhao Yin and Ministry of Punishment official to immediately investigate. On the side, Consort Lian momentarily kneeled and choked with sobs: “This dance was choreographed by me, I didn’t know they hid a malicious intent, I am at fault!” Her face portrayed her as a weeping beauty that she seems so fragile and no one dared to suspect that she had any relations to the assassins.

The Emperor recalled the chaotic scene earlier. She is merely a woman but she rushed forward and grabbed onto the assassin’s leg. This already showed her undoubtable loyalty to him. He was moved and helped her up, he said: “If it wasn’t for my beloved consort, I would have been a corpse now, what were you at fault for!” Choreographing the dance didn’t mean participating in the assassination. The Empress and Virtuous Consort Zhang were so terrified that they crouched up on the side as they shook with fear. They’ve been raised comfortably so they’ve never seen this gory scene of fighting. They’ve only frightfully watched the scene and the usual loyal words they’ve spoken were all forgotten that they didn’t even rush up to save the Emperor. Contrarily, it made Consort Lian seemed more unique. Now the Empress and the others couldn’t say much because who told them to leave the Emperor behind and only cared for their own lives. This is a crime after all but the Emperor didn’t punish them so it was already having mercy on them!

The Empress showed an extremely unbearable expression. The concubines all had their heads down. No one dared to utter a sound. Amongst them, out of the four favored lower-ranked consorts, two died and all the higher-ranked consorts were fine. Watching the situation, the Emperor rebuked them for not being his human shields so he was very unhappy. Even the Crown Prince and Fifth Prince kept their silence. Just then, they were held behind by the assassins and didn’t have a chance to save the Emperor. As his sons, they’ve clearly neglected their duties. But who would have guessed something like this would happen. It had been peaceful for many years, no one could have imagined this scene!

“Your Majesty, based off the assassin’s words, it seems like this has something to do with the Murong family.” Tuoba Yu frowned on the side. He heard the assassin said these words and from those words, this was the real reason behind the assassination attempt.

The Murongs …… the Emperor’s brows were tightly knitted. Murong was a small country to the south of Da Li. He ordered the attack and assigned the Jiangs as the leading general. Because the Murongs rather die than surrender, the country was defeated and families were lost. None of the Murong royalties survived. They return for revenge was a possibility …… but why did the girl say the Murongs were killed after their surrender? The Emperor’s expression slowly sank. Perhaps there was another reason behind the annihilation of the Murongs? Or did someone tampered in between? Thinking how he was being kept in the dark by his own people, he felt as if he was being deceived.

Li Wei Yang watched Consort Lian and noticed bliss in her eyes that she involuntarily sighed. She and Consort Lian both have mutual enemies, the Jiangs. As long as they sincerely worked together, their revenge would have been close at hand. But, Consort Lian was too impatient for revenge and actually changed the plan they’ve agreed on. From the young girl drawing out her sword to the appearance of the group of assassins, Li Wei Yang already knew that the plan was forcefully changed. Boundless fear appeared on her face as if she was shocked but she started to feel more anxious. Consort Lian, oh, Consort Lian, if you followed our plan then we could have delivered a deadly blow to the Jiangs but why must you be impatient!