Seeing Qi Fei’s incredible prowess, Hua Yushu stared in disbelief, then overjoyed, and turned to run away.

In his view, as long as Qi Fei was dealing with Wang Hongyu, that was enough, as it was equivalent to helping him.

Of course, Hua Yushu wouldn’t appreciate this favor. He only cared about himself, and everyone else was just a tool in his hands.

Seeing that Zuo Meihong and Gui Yingzi were unable to stop Qi Fei, Wang Hongyu summoned four more top experts at the Innate Realm, using six of the Thirteen Protectors at once. The six of them attacked together, finally managing to stop Qi Fei.

“Kill him!” After saying that, Wang Hongyu picked up the Panlong Sword and turned to leave.

Qi Fei wielded his longsword, unleashing all eighteen techniques of the Panlong Sword, and fought fiercely with the six top masters, becoming entangled with them for a time.

He is considering whether or not to use the “Sun and Moon Divine Skill”.

After Wang Hongyu was out of Qi Fei’s sight, he saw that the situation had stabilized and that Hua Yushu’s men were at a disadvantage, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw a slender and beautiful figure fighting with one of the Thirteen Protectors. Her martial arts skills had barely reached the level of a top-tier master, but in front of a supreme master, she was still no match for him, and her situation was already precarious.

Looking at Ye Ruiyun’s pretty face, full breasts, and pert buttocks, Wang Hongyu was overjoyed and thought to himself, “Although this girl is not as good as Feng Jianqing, she is still a rare beauty. I will try to trick her into my hands and see if I can make Ye Hongyi furious.”

Thinking of this, Wang Hongyu smiled slightly.

He leaped forward, brandishing his dragon-patterned sword to block Ye Ruiyun from the enemy. Turning to her with a grave expression, he said, “Miss Ye, come with me now!”

When Ye Ruiyun saw that it was Wang Hongyu who had come, her pretty face changed slightly. She said, “Aren’t you the Crown Prince who is in power? You should be arresting me! What are you doing here to help me?” Her tone was somewhat angry.

Previously in the capital, Ye Ruiyun had first met Wang Hongyu and was attracted by his cheerful temperament, and had a good impression of him. Now, seeing him send people to deal with the heroes of the martial arts world, she was extremely disappointed and gave him a cold look.

Wang Hongyu sighed, “Miss Ye, I had no choice but to do this! Anyone in my position would have no choice but to be an enemy of you martial arts practitioners. Did I have any other option?”

Ye Ruiyun remained silent. Indeed, what he said made sense.

The man standing to the side, one of the Thirteen Protectors, wore brass knuckles, had red hair, and appeared to be in his forties. Nicknamed “Blood Asura,” his hand skills were unparalleled in the martial arts world. With his sharp eyes, he clearly saw through Wang Hongyu’s intentions and laughed wildly, “Young lady of Red Leaf Manor, you’d better die! Your Highness, you’d better get out of the way, or I’ll kill you too!”

Wang Hongyu roared, “You bastard, how dare you disrespect me?”

Blood Asura sneered, “I only obey His Majesty. So what if I disrespect you?” With that, he unleashed a series of palm strikes at Wang Hongyu.

Wang Hongyu wielded the Panlong Sword, and with flashes of sword light, he blocked all of the opponent’s attacks, preventing him from harming Ye Ruiyun in the slightest.

Upon seeing this, Ye Ruiyun’s heart was thrown into turmoil, and she said, “Young Master Wang, you… you don’t need to do this for me…”

Wang Hongyu wiped the sweat from his face and said in a deep voice, “If I can’t even protect the woman I love, what kind of crown prince am I?!”

“You…” Upon hearing his words, Ye Ruiyun’s delicate body trembled, her mind in utter confusion, and she was caught in a dilemma.

Wang Hongyu noticed his expression out of the corner of her eye and knew that even if she hadn’t fallen in love with him, she had definitely forgiven him. She immediately took his hand and said, “Come with me quickly, or it will be too late!”

“Where do you think you’re going!” Blood Asura chased after the two menacingly.

Looking at the corpses lying all over the ground behind him, Ye Ruiyun said, “Young Master Wang, my mother and the others…”

Wang Hongyu sighed, “I can only save you at most, otherwise, if Father Emperor blames me, the consequences will be unpredictable!”

Ye Ruiyun added, “I need to go back and save them…”

Wang Hongyu said, “Miss Ye, you must understand that there are many experts in the palace. They can’t escape at all! How about this, you come back to the East Palace with me first. No one dares to come in there. After you are safe and sound, I will think of a way to rescue your mother, Lady Yao.”

Upon hearing this, Ye Ruiyun immediately felt relieved.

Wang Hongyu led Ye Ruiyun to the East Palace where the Crown Prince resided. As expected, Xue Xiuluo dared not pursue them any further. He snorted coldly, uttered a harsh remark, and left.

Wang Hongyu and Ye Ruiyun both breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Hongyu said, “Miss Ye, you stay here and don’t go anywhere. I’ll go out and take a look.”

“Um.”

As Ye Ruiyun watched his departing figure, she felt an overwhelming sense of kindness and warmth welled up in her heart.

When Wang Hongyu returned to the battlefield outside the prison, he found that Yao Youwei was nowhere to be seen.

Just as Wang Hongyu took Ye Ruiyun away, Yao Youwei was besieged by the combined forces of Sword Demon Wei Yimu and Gun Demon Han Zhuohao. If her swordsmanship had not reached a superb level, she would have been no match for the combined attack of these two top masters. After fighting for a while, she was still at a disadvantage.

At the same time, Yao Youwei discovered that Ye Ruiyun was missing, so she immediately left the battle and searched for her everywhere.

As the wife of the Sword Master Ye Hongyi, Yao Youwei is an extremely important figure. Capturing her would be a great achievement. Wei Yimu and Han Zhuohao would not let this opportunity pass, and the two pursued her relentlessly.

However, they did not expect that Yao Youwei was also very familiar with the routes of the palace. She wandered around and managed to shake off the two of them.

When the two chased her to the entrance of the Imperial Concubine’s Palace, Yao Youwei had completely disappeared.

Wei Yimu and Han Zhuohao looked around and saw two palace maids standing at the entrance of the Consort’s Palace. They immediately went up to them, and Han Zhuohao asked, “Have you seen anyone come here?”

The two palace maids both seemed quite clever. They shook their heads simultaneously, and one of them said, “We haven’t seen them before. Are you two looking for someone?”

Han Zhuohao said, “Are you sure you didn’t see anyone pass by? A woman, very pretty.”

“No, there really isn’t,” another palace maid replied.

“But she clearly disappeared here…”

“What happened?”

Just then, a gentle and melodious voice came from inside the Imperial Concubine’s Palace.

Immediately afterwards, a woman wearing a pale yellow palace dress, with gold hairpins and hair ornaments in her hair, and a pearl necklace around her neck, walked out. The woman’s eyes were bright and beautiful, like stars in the sky. Her face was exquisitely beautiful, with delicate features and every part of her face in perfect proportion. Coupled with her curvaceous figure, she exuded a dignified and noble air. She looked incredibly alluring, yet she also had a sense of being high above and sacred, untouchable.

It was none other than Consort Qi Tingqin, followed by a group of palace maids dressed in pale yellow palace attire.

“Your Highness, the Imperial Concubine!” Two palace maids quickly bowed to greet her.

“Your humble servants greet Your Highness, the Noble Consort!” Han Zhuohao and Wei Yimu dared not be negligent and quickly bowed their heads to pay their respects.

“No need for formalities,” Qi Tingqin said softly. “What are you doing here?”

Han Zhuohao said, “When I was tracking the wanted criminal, I couldn’t find any trace of him when I passed by the Consort’s Palace…”

Qi Tingqin raised an eyebrow: “Do you mean the wanted criminal has hidden in my Imperial Concubine’s Palace, or that I’ve hidden the wanted criminal?”

“This humble servant would not dare!”

“Then what are you still doing here?”

“Yes, this subordinate will take his leave now!”

Han Zhuohao and Wei Yimu dared not linger, for fear of offending the imperial concubine who was favored by the emperor.

After the two left, Qi Tingqin said, “Close the door.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” The two palace maids closed the gate to the Imperial Concubine’s palace.

Qi Tingqin returned to her palace, lifted the pearl curtain, and saw a stunningly beautiful woman with a graceful figure standing inside, holding a long knife. It was Yao Youwei.

Two stunningly beautiful women stepped forward, took each other’s hands, and both sighed. It turned out the two knew each other.

Qi Tingqin said, “You can’t stay here too long, or you’ll be discovered.”

Yao Youwei seemed a little anxious and said, “Ruiyun is missing. I don’t know if she’s been kidnapped. I have to find her.”

Qi Tingqin said with a solemn expression, “Tonight is too chaotic, there are people everywhere. We can only wait until things calm down tomorrow before we can think of a solution. You stay here for two days, and I will ask someone to inquire tomorrow.”

Yao Youwei nodded.

At the same time, under the cover of Yao Ye, Chen Chijiao, Ye Taixuan, Ye Jingyun and other martial arts masters rushed to the foot of a high wall, and one by one they leaped over the wall and left the palace.

The reason they were able to break through was not only because Yao Ye was highly skilled in martial arts and could hold off several top masters, but also because six other top masters were besieging Qi Fei and were tied up by him, unable to deal with them.

Otherwise, given the power within the palace, these martial arts masters would have had no chance of escaping.

Even so, thousands of people still died here, and thousands more were captured alive by the Imperial Palace Dragon Guards and Ironclad Guards and imprisoned. Among them were top-tier masters such as Hua Zun of the Taihua Sect, Lei Chihu of the Five Tiger Broken Blade Sect, Wu Donglai of the White Crane Sect, and Shi Dayin of the Iron Sword Sect.

After Yao Ye and the others escaped from the palace, they saw that everyone on the other side was seriously injured and covered in blood. They all sighed. Tonight’s battle was really too tragic!

It could even be described as a complete defeat!

Not only did they fail to rescue Hua Zhenbei, but they also died in battle right before their eyes, and nearly two thousand heroes of the martial arts world were lost, with only about a thousand escaping!

The losses are truly devastating!

At this moment, Ye Taixuan’s expression suddenly changed, and he said, “Oh no! Young Master Hua is still inside!”

After searching through the crowd for a while, they finally discovered that Hua Yushu was still in the palace. They looked at each other with expressions of helplessness and bitterness.

Not only did they fail to rescue Hua Zhenbei tonight, but they also failed to rescue his son, Hua Yushu…

I fear I will perish in the palace; I am truly ashamed.

However, asking everyone to go back to rescue people now is absolutely out of the question; it would be incredibly foolish. Having finally escaped, going back would be suicide, and most likely result in total annihilation inside.

Seeing their troubled expressions, Yao Ye stepped forward and said, “You may leave. I will save the young master!” With that, he leaped up, crossed the high wall, and disappeared from the palace in the blink of an eye.

Everyone looked ashamed. Ye Taixuan said, “The Demon Night Cult Leader is highly skilled in martial arts and is invincible below the Heavenly Rank. I believe he will be able to rescue Young Hero Hua.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” Everyone nodded, comforting each other.

Indeed, Yao Ye’s martial arts skills are in no way inferior to those of the Nine Thousand Years Old, and he is hard to match below the Heavenly Rank.

However, rescuing people in this perilous palace is no easy task.

Yao Ye was a loner with no burdens, and few people could keep him around; at most, they could only protect themselves.

However, he had received a great favor from Hua Zhenbei and had once sworn to be a servant of the Hua family for life. Now that Hua Yushu was in trouble, he naturally could not ignore it.

While Yao Ye returned to the palace, Hua Yushu escaped the vortex of the battlefield with the help of the eight guardians of Fengyun Escort Agency. Although Qi Fei blocked most of the top masters, Hua Yushu still had a very difficult time. Jiu Qiansui personally pursued him, and the eight guardians of Fengyun Escort Agency who were with Hua Yushu died at the hands of Jiu Qiansui and others in order to escort Hua Yushu away.

However, this also gave Hua Yushu a chance to escape.

However, Hua Yushu was separated from Yao Ye and the others and was unable to escape the palace with them. He was not familiar with the map of the palace and only felt that there were palaces and roads everywhere. In the darkness of night, he could not distinguish the direction at all. In a moment of panic, he fled to the West Palace complex.

If the East Palace complex was inhabited by Wang Tianlong’s son, the prince of Da Gan, then the West Palace was inhabited by Wang Tianlong’s daughter, the princess of Da Gan.

By chance, Hua Yushu arrived at a secluded courtyard in the West Palace, where there were artificial hills and streams, and exquisite pavilions hidden among the plants.

At this moment, Hua Yushu was like a stray dog. Seeing that there were no guards around, he flew up to the pavilion. After entering, he found that the room was lit by dim yellow lanterns, and a faint fragrance wafted over.

“Who goes there?” A melodious voice, as sweet as a nightingale’s, came from the inner room.

Hua Yushu held her fan, watching the newcomer warily, ready for anything.

A girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old walked out. She had exquisite features, a beautiful face, and fair skin. Her long hair was draped behind her head, and she wore a light yellow gauze nightgown that outlined her slender figure. Her breasts were already well-developed, her buttocks were pert, and her legs were exceptionally long. She carried a lantern in her hand, and her eyes were clear as water as she looked at Hua Yushu. She seemed like a fairy who had stepped out of a painting.

The woman in front of him had a facial feature that resembled Qi Tingqin’s. Her beauty was no less than Feng Jianqing’s. In particular, her temperament was elegant and refined, otherworldly and noble, far surpassing that of ordinary women.

Hua Yushu was stunned for a moment, forgetting that she was in danger.

The girl glanced at Hua Yushu’s blood-stained white robes and frowned slightly: “Are you in cahoots with those assassins who broke into the palace tonight?”

Hua Yushu instantly snapped out of his daze. He was a smart man and had already guessed that the girl in front of him was either a princess or a concubine. Seeing how calm she was, she must possess extraordinary skills. Now that he was in a precarious situation, he couldn’t risk fighting her. He had to find a way to gain her trust.

Thinking of this, Hua Yushu put on a polite and refined demeanor, bowed deeply, and said, “Miss, I mistakenly entered your boudoir. It was truly unavoidable. I hope you will punish me!”

The girl asked calmly, “What’s your name?”

“I am…” Hua Yushu took a deep breath, “Hua Yushu.”

The young woman was slightly moved: “You are Hua Yushu, the young chief镖头 (bodyguard/escort) of Fengyun镖局 (Fengyun Escort Agency)?”

“Indeed, it is I, Hua Yushu.” A surge of joy filled Hua Yushu’s heart; it seemed there was a glimmer of hope. He then asked, “And you are…?”

The girl said calmly, “Wang Wanru.”

Hua Yushu’s eyes lit up: “So it’s Princess Wanru!”

He had heard of the princess’s great reputation. She was a genius who had a photographic memory from a young age, was well-versed in books, and was proficient in all arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. It was said that several years ago she became a disciple of the famous Snow Mountain Nun and learned the martial arts of the Thousand Mountains Sect. It seemed that she had already returned after mastering her skills.

The girl sighed, turned around and said, “I hate fighting and killing the most. I don’t want to get involved in your martial arts world. I won’t kill you, and I won’t have anyone arrest you. You can leave now.”

Hua Yushu smiled bitterly and said, “My princess, there are people everywhere in the palace trying to capture me. Where do you expect me to go?”

His use of that form of address was a deliberate attempt to get closer to the other person, trying to gain their trust or even their favor.

“How dare you!” Wang Wanru’s pretty face turned cold upon hearing this. Without making any move, Hua Yushu felt a chill rush towards him!

Suddenly, giant palms the size of palm fans appeared in front of Wang Wanru, carrying a chilling aura and surging violent innate qi. Countless giant palms struck towards Hua Yushu, each with enough power to injure a top-tier expert. In an instant, Hua Yushu’s entire body was covered by the opponent’s giant palms.

“Thousand Hands Divine Palm!”

This was the legendary skill of the Snow Mountain Nun, who once dominated the martial arts world. Hua Yushu was startled. After several battles, his true energy was exhausted, so he dared not take it head-on. He kept retreating, and when his back hit the screen, Wang Wanru’s giant palm was less than an inch away from his face.

At that moment, Hua Yushu felt as if all the blood in his body had stopped flowing. Just as he thought to himself, “My life is over,” Wang Wanru’s giant hand suddenly stopped and then disappeared.

Wang Wanru remained standing in the same spot, her expression serene and her demeanor elegant. One hand was behind her back, while the other held a lantern, as if she had never made a move.

Hua Yushu took a few deep breaths and bowed, saying, “Thank you, Princess, for sparing my life.”

Wang Wanru said calmly, “I never kill, but don’t mess with me either.”

Seeing that Hua Yushu was caught between a rock and a hard place, she suddenly felt a pang of sympathy, sighed, and said, “Hua Zhenbei is dead. If I were to go so far as to kill you here as well, it would be morally reprehensible. How about this, you can stay here and hide for a day. No one will dare to come here. After a day, you can leave on your own.”

“I will never forget the princess’s great kindness!” Hua Yushu bowed again.

As Wang Wanru turned around to leave, Hua Yushu suddenly noticed a writing brush, ink, paper, inkstone, several calligraphy scrolls, and paintings on the table beside her. One of the calligraphy scrolls was not yet finished.

His eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, saying, “Ah, this ‘Huaisu Calligraphy’ is truly wonderful. It flows like clouds and water, and its power penetrates the paper. I wonder which master calligrapher it is?”

Upon hearing this, Wang Wanru stopped and turned around, saying, “You also understand calligraphy and painting?”

Hua Yushu chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t dare. I entered Haoqi Manor at a young age, and in addition to martial arts, calligraphy, painting, and music were also required courses. Hmm… I can only say that I know a little bit about them. The level of these few paintings and calligraphy works has already reached the level of a grandmaster. Even my master, Haoyun Jushi, is probably not as good as them.”

Wang Wanru’s expression finally softened. She gave a self-deprecating laugh and said, “You flatter me. How could my skill level be compared to that of the master calligrapher and painter, Haoyun Jushi?”

Hua Yushu was astonished upon hearing this, his face filled with shock as he exclaimed, “Ah… these paintings and calligraphy are actually by Her Highness the Princess? It’s truly unimaginable! How could Her Highness, at her age, possess such high attainments?! I am utterly far inferior to her…”

Wang Wanru blushed slightly and said, “It’s not as good as you say…” She was indifferent by nature and had no interest in the struggles between dynasties or even the fighting in the martial arts world. However, she was very interested in the arts of music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Unfortunately, she was in the palace and could not find a kindred spirit. Now that she saw that Hua Yushu also knew about these things, she immediately became interested.

Wang Wanru said, “You said you’ve practiced music, chess, calligraphy, and painting since you were young, why don’t you show me what you’ve got?”

Hua Yushu said, “How dare I make a fool of myself in front of the princess?”

Wang Wanru said, “Just draw what I tell you to draw.”

“Yes, yes.”

Hua Yushu dared not refuse any longer, and immediately picked up his brush and painted a picture based on Wang Wanru’s appearance, and also wrote a poem on it. He deliberately made his own skill level slightly inferior to Wang Wanru’s, not daring to surpass her.

This action indeed brought a smile to Wang Wanru’s face. In front of him, she critiqued his painting, pointing out its strengths and weaknesses. Hua Yushu nodded humbly, which gave Wang Wanru an unparalleled sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.