In fact, for a long time, this has been his imperial palace.
The emperor sat at the head, feeling somewhat proud and somewhat sentimental.
"I spent a lot of money," he said. "Money is truly a great thing. With money, even though I'm hiding in Shandong like a ghost, I can still know what the emperor ate today and which concubine he favored."
Money.
"The money from De Sheng Chang?" Miss Jun asked.
"Wrong," the emperor said somewhat displeased. "It's the money I gave them. If I hadn't given them this opportunity, where would they have gotten the money?"
Miss Jun fell silent for a moment.
In other words, it was with this money that Prince Qi opened the gates of the imperial palace, and it was because of this money that the path to her father's death was paved.
So, was her rebirth in the Fang Family meant for her to take revenge, was it justice given to her?
However, she saved the Fang Family, this broken ship, and thus it became useful to her.
This money took her father's life, and this money brought her back to seek justice for her father.
Indeed, money truly is a great thing.
Her silence did not stop the emperor from speaking.
"But this imperial palace is not mine," he said unhappily. "Because I'm not the one living here."
Saying that, he laughed again.
"But fortunately, now I am living here."
He looked at Miss Jun, who was surrounded, and pinched his chin.
"I really can't understand why you are so stupid. When I wasn't living here, you could do whatever you wanted. Now that I'm living here, you still want to assassinate me."
He pointed at the Qingshan Army in front of Miss Jun, full of mockery.
"Do you think having these people would really make you invincible? Would really allow you to rebel?"
"Even if His Majesty is not in the palace, the palace is still under His Majesty's control," Yuan Bao proudly added from the side. "To think of assassinating His Majesty, you're really dreaming."
Miss Jun shook her head.
"This time, I really didn't come to assassinate you," she said.
Because the last assassination attempt showed her that it was useless.
"There's no meaning in assassinating you," she continued, looking at the emperor. "Moreover, you're not worthy. Using this method against you is an insult to us. To deal with someone like you, all we need to do is to stand up. Now I've stood up, Prince Huai has also stood up, and in the future, more people will stand up."
The emperor sneered, his expression somewhat ashamed and angry.
"It's truly ridiculous. What if you stand up?" he said. "If you die now, with such a reputation, do you think that brat you recommend will have a good end?"
Miss Jun nodded.
"Yes," she said. "So I cannot die. Although I don't intend to assassinate you, I won't let you kill me again."
As she spoke, she undid the belt from her waist, which was originally intricately carved, and in an instant, it became taut and transformed into a sword sheath.
Seeing the sword sheath, the emperor squinted his eyes hard.
"Indeed, you are accomplices," he said.
Miss Jun raised the sword sheath and drew out the long sword.
No, they were not accomplices; it was still her.
"You have preparation, and so do I. So let's see who lives and who dies this time," Miss Jun said.
Last time, she was alone, unprepared; there was no safety beforehand and no thorough planning afterward; she came as if throwing herself into flames.
This time, she was not alone; she had prepared troops and garnered fame for Prince Huai, arranged for afterward, so this time when she threw herself into flames, it might not just be courting death.
At least, she could take him down with her.
"Remove armor," she said.
With her words, the Qingshan Army surrounding her pulled off their military robes with one hand, revealing a piece of shield armor beneath the cotton armor worn by all soldiers.
Simultaneously, the soldiers gathered toward Miss Jun, either crouching or standing; in a blink, each one with only a small piece of shield armor on their chest gathered around her, enclosing her like an exoskeleton.
Unbelievable!
The emperor's face turned iron blue.
"Kill her," he commanded, retreating backward.
The bows in the palace were never heavy arrows, as this was the imperial palace; the Imperial Guards were close guards but also a measure against the emperor's defenses, so many of their weapons were decorative and with clear divisions. Those who held swords couldn't hold bows. The Qingshan Army that came in as Imperial Guards naturally followed this, unloading their most sophisticated killing tools, carrying only the ordinary swords and spears.
But nothing in the world is absolute, so a group of eunuchs suddenly had heavy crossbows that only the military could use, while the Qingshan Army, without advanced killing tools, hid shield armor.
"Protect His Majesty!"
Yuan Bao shouted sharply, standing in front of the emperor.
Groups of eunuchs flooded to shield them from the front.
The heavy crossbow in front with layers of eunuchs behind made the grand hall narrow yet seemingly separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.
The buzzing of the heavy arrows and the clanging resounded immediately.
Someone fell, and immediately another picked up his shield to fill the gap, with the shield-wrapped Qingshan Army like a rolling stone heading toward the emperor.
Even with shield protection, under the heavy crossbow, those falling increased.
But the formation only continued to shrink and never scattered.
Crossbows were only suitable for long-distance attacks; their opportunity lay in bridging the distance.
Miss Jun kept her gaze fixed on the front, and so did everyone else, focusing solely on the increasingly close emperor.
In their eyes was only the emperor's presence, ignoring the heavy rain of arrows from all directions and the eunuchs with weapons glaring ahead, moving with resolve unto death.
With a crunching sound, a eunuch's bow fell to the ground, creating some laxness in the crossbow's attack.
With a crunching sound, the shield formation lowered as if a piece fell away, and someone rolled closer to a eunuch holding a crossbow.
The eunuch widened his eyes as a long sword suddenly enlarged before his eyes from below.
With a squelch, the long sword pierced straight through the throat, the person being hit and rolled violently onto the ground.
Screams rang in succession, more shields breaking away from the lineup, charging into the layers of eunuchs.
These worthless beings!
To think they managed to break through.
The emperor, surrounded from behind, turned pale.
Yuan Bao no longer dared to linger.
"Go, go quickly," he shrieked.
Just retreat behind the screen and use the secret door to leave, the distance wasn't far.
But the next moment, there was a buzzing, a long sword flew in, piercing through a eunuch in front.
Yuan Bao turned in horror to see in the chaotic battle, Miss Jun had somehow already rushed to their front.
The long sword being thrown, her hands were not empty but clutching unfolded, fan-like silver hairpins.
The emperor was slightly dazed, finding the silver hairpins somewhat familiar. It seemed like it was part of the Phoenix Crown she wore on her head earlier.
The originally radiant Jewel-like silver wings now transformed into chilling lethal weapons.
Playing pitch-pot doesn't have to just win money.
"Actually, learning bow and arrows or not doesn't matter. You, delicate and charming like a branch of gold, would you openly kill someone?" The man squatting on a stone said, swinging a wooden stick, and with a sly smile added, "Learning pitch-pot, you can covertly, sneakily harm people."
Such graceful pitch-pot, being said like this, made learning it seem unpleasant.
But now, it seemed he was right; this is truly exhilarating.
She didn't need to actually get close to the emperor, just carve out a path, seize the opportunity when there's a breather.
This was also the only opportunity.
She could throw blindly, could throw across screens, and never miss a shot; her silver hairpins were coated with deadly poison, so, let him die.
Miss Jun flung the silver hairpins in her hands viciously.
This time, she could finally kill him.
Amidst a chorus of screams, in the next moment, an iron umbrella appeared from the side, blocking the flying silver hairpins.
Among the chaos, the sound of the silver hairpins clattering was crystal clear.
Miss Jun stood still, her heart fell like the silver hairpins, watching the man standing under the umbrella.
"This time, I made it in time," Lu Yunqi said, closing the iron umbrella, resting it behind him.