In the face of national duty, personal feelings must take a back seat.
Qi Huan actively wrapped her arms around his lean waist, giving him a sweet smile before swiftly pulling out a silver needle and quickly sedating him.
Fearing one needle might not be enough to knock out Li Shuchen, she made sure to use two.
Li Shuchen had let his guard down around her and didn't expect her sneak attack. The potent sedative quickly took effect...
After he fell unconscious, Qi Huan stumbled under his weight, then used her spatial ability to transfer him onto the bed.
She then removed his shoes and socks, carefully tucking him in.
"Shu, I'm sorry. You've had bloodshot eyes these past few days. I wanted you to get a good rest."
"When you wake up, I'll be back."
With those words, she walked out of the tent.
The evening breeze blew toward her, bringing a slight chill.
Hearing her footsteps, Yan Qing immediately stood up straight and came over: "My lady, please get ready to go!"
"Like before, give the necklace artifact to your servant. I'll carry you as we set off, and call for you when we arrive."
Now with her high martial arts skills and excellent lightness technique, a night raid of twenty miles was no challenge for Yan Qing.
In the pitch-black night, her eyes sparkled brightly as she tilted her head and smiled cheerfully.
Qi Huan took off her necklace and solemnly placed it in Yan Qing's palm.
"The artifact has been upgraded. You can't see it, but you should be able to feel it."
"When we reach the outskirts of the Liang Capital, find a place where the defenses are lax. Use all your strength to throw the necklace inside. Tell me before you throw it, and I'll bring you in with me."
"The necklace is invisible. The soldiers won't be able to see us, but we can see them. We'll time it right and then come out."
"After that, we'll sneak into the palace and first find out where the gunpowder is located."
...
After giving the initial instructions, Qi Huan entered the spatial realm.
Once she had organized all the weapons and hidden tools, she heard Yan Qing's countdown from outside: "Three, two, one, go!"
In an instant, she pulled Yan Qing into the space.
"My lady, this artifact is so magical! We can see the outside scene so clearly!"
"...However, the soldiers of South Liang are too uncivilized. We almost fell into a pile of excrement."
At the same time, the sound of the necklace falling to the ground startled the patrolling soldiers, but there was nothing on the ground except a pile of feces...
The soldiers, fearing their commander would assign them to clean it up, deliberately avoided the area.
After they left, Yan Qing silently appeared, felt for the necklace on the ground, then threw it again with all her might before being pulled back into the spatial realm.
This cycle repeated over and over. With the combined efforts of the skilled Yan Qing and the spatial necklace, they managed to sneak into the imperial palace.
Unfortunately, both the Old Emperor and the Crown Prince were sound asleep. Not a single person was burning the midnight oil!
They weren't able to eavesdrop on any crucial information.
In the end, Yan Qing placed the necklace in the Imperial Study.
*
The next day.
When Qi Huan woke up, she suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice.
"Your son has failed in his duties. Please punish me, Father Emperor."
"Li Shuchen is treacherous and cunning. He deliberately let my troops out to collect provisions, but when the supplies were almost here, he sent soldiers to intercept them..."
"That's why the provisions have been delayed."
As he finished speaking, Qi Huan finally remembered who he was - Li Yuanxiu.
How did he suddenly become the prince of an enemy country?
At this moment, the Old Emperor's authoritative voice rang out, tinged with anger.
"Now that the enemy is at our gates and the Liang Capital has been besieged for months, you dare to tell me that provisions can't be brought in?"
"Son-in-law, you have greatly disappointed me!"
"Of course, if you hadn't said you would provide all the military supplies, and claimed that the deposed emperor had thrown Li Country into chaos, and that the Jin Kingdom had tied up most of Li Country's forces, how would I have rashly decided to wage war against Li Country?"
"I trusted your advice, and now look where we've ended up!"
The Old Emperor closed his eyes wearily, massaging his throbbing temples.
In the hall.
Li Yuanxiu kowtowed repeatedly, begging for forgiveness.
He clenched his fists tightly. Even now, he still couldn't understand where Li Shuchen got his military funds from? Where did he get provisions? Where did he get medical supplies?
In fact, their military supplies were even more abundant than his own, with weapons so advanced it left one in awe... Most crucially, Li Shuchen commanded troops like a god, always able to defeat larger forces with smaller ones.
He had driven them back step by step, all the way to the capital of South Liang.
But he didn't care about the rise or fall of Liang. He just wanted Li Shuchen dead!
He only wanted to avenge his father, brothers, and the hundreds of lives from the Mansion of Prince Shun!
Seeing his silence, the Old Emperor berated him a few more times before gradually softening his tone.
"Son-in-law, you need to think of more ways to solve the provisions issue."
"The food stores in the city are almost depleted. Some civilians are even eating tree bark. If this continues, Liang might have to follow in Western Jin dynasty's footsteps and eat 'two-legged sheep'..."
The Old Emperor felt somewhat desperate.
At this point, stubborn resistance had lost its meaning.
But he was truly unwilling, preferring to fight to the death until the very end.
He hoped that in the cities Li Shuchen had conquered, there were still many people unwilling to see their country perish. Perhaps they would rise up in rebellion, perhaps they would bring troops to the rescue...
And so, clinging to this last shred of hope, the Old Emperor endured day after day.
Hearing his sighs, Li Yuanxiu quickly consoled him:
"Father Emperor, please don't worry. General Zhao intercepted so much gunpowder from Li Country that it will last us a long time. We will surely hold out until reinforcements arrive from other provinces."
Hearing him mention gunpowder, the Old Emperor instructed: "The weather is dry. Keep a close eye on the gunpowder to prevent it from catching fire and exploding, lest we harm our own people."
"Yes!"
"...This residence of mine was originally used for summer retreats. It has many plants and a lake, making it slightly cooler than other places. Additionally, General Zhao has arranged for people to guard it day and night. There definitely won't be any problems."
Just as he finished speaking, a needle suddenly struck between his eyebrows.
The Old Emperor rubbed his eyes as the eunuchs cried out in alarm to protect the emperor...
In the next moment, the emperor also suddenly collapsed.
However, the place where he was struck was his buttocks.
Qi Huan didn't do it on purpose.
It was just that Li Yuanxiu was kneeling on the ground, so she could hit him between the eyebrows.
While the Old Emperor was standing, so the shot just happened to hit his bottom.
Qi Huan experienced the joy Nanny Rong felt when stabbing people, and gave Li Yuanxiu, who wasn't quite dead yet, another needle.
This needle struck his mouth.
Not only because he had just called Shu treacherous and cunning, but also because he had instigated conflict between two countries for his personal vendetta.
In the chaos, the eunuchs kicked the invisible necklace under the imperial desk. After most people had left, Yan Qing quietly emerged and knocked out two young eunuchs inside the palace.
She quickly changed into their clothes and went out, hunching her back and pretending to urgently summon the imperial physician, while actually circling to the palace wall, throwing the necklace out, then following Qi Huan out of the palace to inquire about Li Yuanxiu's private residence.
After finding the explosives, Qi Huan stored most of them in her spatial realm and directly ignited the rest.
Li Yuanxiu was wealthy, owning the entire street of mansions with no commoners nearby.
There were many soldiers guarding this place, so she simply helped Shu deal with some of them from the inside.
After stealthily accomplishing her mission, Qi Huan was about to return the way she came when she suddenly received a warning from the System.
"Beep beep—"
"Warning to the host: The Liang monarch has just died from poison. For killing an emperor, 10,000 points will be deducted, and the spatial realm will be locked for 10 days!"
Qi Huan: ?
"Why didn't you say this earlier?"
"The host is the only one among all the hosts this System has guided who has actually killed an emperor... So this System just found out."
"Shutdown countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, seven, eight, seven, six—"
The System tried its best to buy time for the host, allowing her to take out more hidden weapons.
In the end, the System Management Bureau emptied its little treasure chest...
