Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Before Chenghua Hall, four palace maids stood anxiously at the entrance, craning their necks to look around.

The Crown Princess was supposed to be confined to her quarters…

If the Crown Prince found out she had sneaked out, everyone in the hall would likely be implicated.

Amid their mounting worry, one sharp-eyed palace maid was the first to spot the Crown Princess.

“It’s Her Highness the Crown Princess!”

Another looked over and said in confusion, “And Steward Wang is with her. Who is that beside him?”

“Seems like… not someone from the palace.”

After whispering among themselves for a moment, the two hurried forward to greet them.

“Greetings, Chief Steward.”

“Your Highness, why did you go out?”

After paying their respects, the palace maids moved closer, intending to support the Crown Princess and show they were doing their duty, only to be shoved away by her.

“Get lost. Don’t touch me!”

Her attitude was cold and harsh. The palace maids retreated awkwardly. Hearing the commotion, Lin Ruyi, the female official in charge of Chenghua Hall, immediately came out to receive them.

“What brings Steward Wang here all of a sudden?”

Faced with the Crown Princess sneaking out and even bringing two people back with her, Lin Ruyi’s eyes were filled with vigilance and suspicion.

In the current Eastern Palace, the Crown Princess existed in name only. The Crown Prince alone had the final say in everything.

As for Steward Wang, though he was the chief steward of the inner court, he had no real authority. Unless he had been assigned some errand, he generally would not come to Chenghua Hall.

Before Steward Wang could speak, Xia Ximo, standing beside him, acted as if no one else were present and walked straight into the hall.

Lin Ruyi was slightly startled and snapped, “Stop right there!”

Her shout carried plenty of force. Who would have thought that this “young servant” would not even slow down, striding all the way to the hall doors in one breath?

“How dare you! Quickly-”

Lin Ruyi was just about to order the palace maids to stop her when Tang Yuelang suddenly raised her hand and slapped her across the face.

“I am standing right here. Since when is it your place to speak?”

The crisp slap struck Lin Ruyi senseless.

After all, ever since the Crown Princess had “fallen out of favor,” jumped into the lake, and ceased to be valued by the Crown Prince, Tang Yuelang had spent most of her days seeming as though she had lost her mind.

And Lin Ruyi had always been the type to curry favor with the powerful.

Privately, she felt that since the Crown Princess debased herself so thoroughly, her deposition was only a matter of time. She was not worth serving with any real devotion.

Now, after being slapped out of nowhere, Lin Ruyi seemed to come to her senses at once and hurriedly knelt to beg for mercy.

“This servant spoke out of turn. Please punish me, Her Highness the Crown Princess!”

Tang Yuelang swept her with a cold glance. Without another word, she walked into the palace hall on her own.

Seeing this, Steward Wang hurriedly followed.

Up ahead, when Xia Ximo heard the sound of the slap, her steps paused ever so slightly.

Realizing she did not need to intervene, she entered the hall without looking back.

The moment she stepped inside, a chilling Yin energy seeped through the air. It seemed the ghost had indeed remained here.

Xia Ximo stroked the pearl hairpin in her hand and asked, “Where is the pearl you mentioned?”

The Vengeful Spirit within the hairpin replied, “Right in front of the dressing table. Although I had Miss throw it away several times, in the end, it would always somehow find its way back on its own.”

Once something like this latched on, it could not simply be thrown away.

Moreover, by now, it could already be considered half of “Tang Yuelang.”

Xia Ximo understood. She walked to the dressing table and saw a rather conspicuous redwood box mixed among the cosmetics and jewelry cases, emanating a cold, sinister Baleful Qi.

After she opened it, a pearl lay inside.

Only, it was different from the few she had seen before.

The interior of this pearl was still a lustrous white, but its surface was tinged with a faint blood-red sheen. It looked exceedingly wicked.

Although Lantern Spirit Wuyou was afraid, it could not suppress its curiosity and emerged to investigate.

But after taking just one look, it quickly shrank back again and said, “There is indeed a wisp of Yin Soul being nurtured inside, but it seems far more ferocious than the previous ones…”
Xia Ximo gave a cold snort. “It killed so many people and absorbed so much resentment. Of course it’s vicious.”

At the sound of her voice, the Yin Soul inside the bead seemed to sense something and trembled faintly.

Just then, Tang Yuelang and Steward Wang entered the bedchamber one after the other behind her.

In an instant, a wisp of black energy surged out of the bead and shot straight toward Tang Yuelang.

The black energy sank into the space between her brows. Tang Yuelang’s back went rigid at once. A moment later, a strange, sinister smile surfaced on her face.

Before anyone could react, she turned and ran out of Chenghua Hall, even knocking a palace maid at the entrance to the ground.

Without a second thought, Xia Ximo chased after her.

The possessed Tang Yuelang sprinted like the wind. In almost the blink of an eye, her figure vanished into Qianqiu Garden.

Once inside the garden, her soul power seemed to surge even higher. Not only could she shift positions in an instant, she could even control the Yin Soul entities within the garden.

Xia Ximo had only just steadied herself when she heard wind whistling past her ear. Out of the corner of her eye, she immediately caught sight of several black shadows closing in from every direction.

Just as Linglong had said, these Yin Soul entities were all people whose hearts had once been gouged out. Though their resentment was overwhelming, they had long since forgotten who had harmed them.

And now, they were even being used by the Vengeful Ghost who had killed them.

Xia Ximo glanced at “Tang Yuelang” not far away and said coldly, “If you announce your name now and obediently come out of her body, I can let you die a little more comfortably.”

Hearing such shameless arrogance from her, “Tang Yuelang” lifted her empty eyes and stared at Xia Ximo coldly.

The Yin Soul entities around them lunged forward one after another, trying to restrain Xia Ximo.

However, before they could even get close, they were intimidated by the “Ghost King Soul Power” radiating from her body.

There was no Yin Soul entity in the world that did not fear the Lord of the Underworld.

The fifty percent soul power granted to her by the Earth Lord still carried the aura of Red Lotus Karmic Fire. It was truly perfect for frightening these mindless Yin Soul entities.

“Tang Yuelang” sensed that the aura on Xia Ximo’s body was unusual and instinctively tried to flee as well.

But in the next second, a terrifying suppressive force followed right on its heels.

It turned back in horror, only to see a hand sweeping over it. Xia Ximo actually ripped it straight out of “Tang Yuelang’s” body.

At the moment of contact, the Vengeful Ghost, now reduced to a shadow, could feel the Extreme Yin Body before it. Greed immediately welled up within it.

It instantly circled behind Xia Ximo…

Inside the lamp, Wuyou sensed something was wrong and shouted, “Don’t let it take advantage of an opening!”

But Xia Ximo merely curled her lips coldly. “That’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for.”

–

Ren Fengjue came out of the Crown Prince’s Yongqing Study and swept his gaze around, but he did not see Xia Ximo anywhere.

He summoned an attendant and asked about her, only to learn that she had walked off without leaving any instructions.

Lord Ren was already used to this sort of behavior.

He asked a few gate guards along the way as well, and after learning which direction she had gone, he roughly guessed that she had headed to the inner garden.

Thus, Ren Fengjue made his way toward Qianqiu Garden.

He had just stepped out through a side gate when a familiar figure walked toward him.

He looked closely and saw that it was Xia Ximo, so he stopped at once and waited for her to approach.

Unexpectedly, Xia Ximo merely lifted her eyes and glanced at him, as if she did not know him at all, then brushed right past him.

“…”

Lord Ren was sharp enough to notice at once that something was wrong. Seeing that Xia Ximo was heading toward Yongqing Study, he immediately turned back and followed her.

For some reason, her pace was astonishingly fast. By the time Ren Fengjue returned to the entrance of the study, her figure had disappeared again.

Yongqing Study had only one entrance and exit.

Which meant…

After a brief hesitation, Ren Fengjue stepped directly into the study without waiting for the attendant to announce him.