Chapter 51 - A Strange Sound in the Night, Cloud Prayer Palace Is Not Clean?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Seeing the empress’s reaction, Lin Ran’s eyes flickered. “Do you know this saber?”

The empress nodded subconsciously. Then, as if she had suddenly woken up, she adjusted her expression and said softly, “I roughly know what’s going on. I will continue to investigate this matter. You stay out of it.”

Lin Ran rolled his eyes. “What do you mean? If I was weaker, I would be the one lying here now. You want me to stay out of it?”

“I know you’re unwilling, but this matter can’t be rushed.”

The empress looked straight at Lin Ran with an unprecedented solemn expression. “Currently, King Zhao’s accomplices are still out there in the world. This matter must not be spread. Do your job first.”

Lin Ran looked at the empress’s serious expression and couldn’t help but feel a little strange. Even when King Zhao rebelled and the empress was in danger, she did not look so serious.

What could be more serious than King Zhao’s rebellion?

Lin Ran quickly recalled what the empress had said and suddenly had a guess. Then, he smiled. “I already know who the mastermind is!”

The empress narrowed her eyes. “How did you know?”

Lin Ran revealed a faint smile, but he did not answer the empress’s question directly. Instead, he analyzed, “This assassin sneaked into the palace and disguised as your consort. She definitely needs someone from the palace to cooperate with her. Otherwise, it’s impossible for her to have come thus far.”

“Previously, when you were searching for King Zhao’s collaborators in the palace, you didn’t find anyone related to this assassin. This means that the other party has been hiding for a long time. Perhaps even King Zhao doesn’t know. Am I right?”

The empress’s eyes flickered. “Continue.”

Lin Ran continued to analyze, “To be able to spend a few years nurturing such an assassin and set up this trap, be it manpower, material resources, or financial resources, it’s not something an ordinary person can do. In the entire Heavenly Saint Dynasty, only a few vassals have the ability.”

“And you just said that ‘internal affairs must be taken care of before taking care of the external affairs’. If I’m not wrong, this ‘internal affairs’ doesn’t refer to the palace or the capital.”

The empress looked at Lin Ran with a faint smile. “So you’re guessing that some vassals set all of this up?”

“If not for this saber, I might really think that it was done by a vassal.”

Lin Ran chuckled and pointed at the drawing of the saber. “The Heavenly Saint Dynasty advocates the Sword Dao. There are very few martial artists who use sabers. The style of this saber is strange. If it’s really a weapon of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, I must have heard of it since I’ve been guarding Mount Sword for so many years.”

The empress lowered her eyes and Lin Ran knew that he had guessed correctly. He took a deep breath and said firmly, “The mastermind behind this assassination is the Great Yong Dynasty!”

“Sigh… you’re indeed smarter than I thought.”

Lin Ran looked not particularly surprised. Although this answer was a little shocking, it was the most reasonable answer.

The war between the Heavenly Saint Dynasty and the Great Yong Dynasty had been going on for a long time. Sending a few assassins and spies to each other was not uncommon. Moreover, the timing of this assassination was very ingenious.

Right now, King Zhao’s rebellion had just been suppressed. To the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, it was a critical period for them to rest and recover.

If the empress was assassinated at this moment, the Heavenly Saint Dynasty would be leaderless. If the Great Yong Dynasty sent troops south, it would definitely be effortless to take down the dynasty.

“The Great Yong Dynasty is really sinister!”

Lin Ran sneered, and a trace of killing intent flashed across his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll go to the north now and bring back the emperor of the Great Yong Dynasty!”

“No!”

The empress hurriedly stopped Lin Ran and said with a serious expression, “There’s an agreement between the dynasties that those above the Grandmaster Realm are not allowed to participate in the war!”

Lin Ran was speechless. “This kind of agreement is to fool children. When the country is on the verge of destruction, who cares about such things?”

“I care!”

The empress said in a low voice with a dignified expression, “No matter what, those who break the agreement will become the target of public criticism. At that time, many foreign powers will send their masters to attack us with righteous cause.”

Lin Ran nodded thoughtfully. “Got it. Whoever makes the first move is not in the right.”

The empress rolled her eyes. “This is not a matter of being right or not. Once a war starts, the people will die first. So what if we win?”

Only then did Lin Ran completely understand. He looked at the empress with heartache. “So you have to think about this every day. It seems that it’s not easy for you to be the emperor.”

“As the emperor, I have to be responsible for the people of the world!”

The empress let out a long sigh. Her gaze landed on the assassin’s corpse and she could not help but look worried. “We’ve found this assassin, but where did the real Consort Rong go? Could it be that this assassin has been Consort Rong all along?”

Lin Ran said firmly without hesitation, “She and Consort Rong are two different people.”

The empress raised her eyebrows. “How can you be so sure?”

“Well…”

Lin Ran hesitated for a long time and didn’t know how to put it. He only raised his hand and pointed at his chest.

The empress instantly understood and a blush appeared on her face. She cleared her throat and pretended to be calm. “The most important thing now is to find Consort Rong. If anything happens to her, I’m afraid it will affect General Guo, who is still in the north.”

Lin Ran nodded in agreement. “They are probably afraid of General Guo and wanted to use this to dishearten him and bring him down.”

“That’s true, General Guo…”

Just as the empress was about to say something, a rustling sound suddenly came from somewhere.

The voice sounded like nails scratching on a wooden board. If one listened carefully, it sounded like a person talking, but they could not tell what it was.

Lin Ran’s expression changed slightly. He swallowed and asked softly, “Your Majesty, didn’t you say that the noise in the Cloud Prayer Palace was just an excuse for Consort Rong to get you to come over?”

The empress’s expression was solemn. “I was just guessing! Ever since Consort Rong entered the palace, this is the first time I’ve come to the Cloud Prayer Palace. Didn’t you hear the noise last time you came?”

“I was too busy to care about it.”

As soon as Lin Ran finished speaking, he felt that something was wrong. He turned around and realized that the empress was indeed staring at him strangely.

At this moment, the strange sound was heard again. Lin Ran listened carefully and pointed at the bed. “Over there!”

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Ran had already flashed to the bed like a ghost. The Yin Yang Sword flashed in his hand and slashed out sword energy. In the blink of an eye, the carved wooden bed was cut into pieces. All the cuts were extremely clean!

The wood was scattered, but there was nothing under the bed.

Just as Lin Ran was feeling strange, the noise sounded again!