Chapter 32: She Would Never Do Something So Spineless!

Ji Yin had thought that the Ninth Princess would at least stand her ground against Consort Chu. A princess and a consort—surely their ranks should be comparable? Yet, the Ninth Princess immediately spun around, grabbed her hand, and whispered, “Ji Yin, let’s run!” Ji Yin’s eye twitched. This little girl was clearly trying to get her killed! Not only was she forbidden from entering the inner palace, but now she’d been dragged in, and the princess couldn’t even handle a single consort. Run? She refused to do anything so cowardly!

“Master, there’s a soul force fluctuation—very strong!” the voice of the Demon Cauldron suddenly sounded in her mind. Ji Yin sensed it, too, though it wasn’t quite like Ji Yun’s—his was as vast and tranquil as mountains and seas. This surge, however, had a hint of dominance to it. It was also distinct from Lord Ji’s strength, which was of a level she could not even fathom.

“I was invited here by the Ninth Princess. Why are you trying to arrest me?” Ji Yin not only refused to flee but even stayed behind to question her adversary.

“By the emperor’s decree, I am charged with overseeing the affairs of the inner palace. Forcibly trespassing here is a capital crime! If I do not punish you today, would I not be ignoring the laws of Chiyu Palace?” The consort’s words were perfectly justified—a sentence of death, no less!

Did everyone from the Chu family want her dead the moment they saw her?

“Seems to me you’re just settling a personal score,” Ji Yin deliberately provoked her, already having spotted the distant figure approaching at a measured pace. Judging by his attire, it could only be the Emperor of Chiyu, Beiming Yu.

“Settling a personal score?” Chu Fenglian’s lips curled into a cold smile. Yes, she was settling a score—so what?

“Just the other day, Chu Ming was shouting in the street that he’d tell his sister to kill me. And aren’t you his sister?”

“Don’t you dare slander me! I’m acting according to palace law!”

“I am an Awakened now. Even if I am to be executed, the order must come from the emperor himself. If you’re so eager for my death, why not report it to His Majesty and let him decide?”

“His Majesty is busy with state affairs. Such a trivial matter I can handle myself!”

“Oh, I see. So you mean that as long as the emperor is preoccupied, you’re the one in charge. Nothing needs to be reported to him—you can decide everything? Even though the Awakened are the emperor’s most valued, you can still kill them at will as long as he’s busy? Consort Chu, is that what you mean?”

Chu Fenglian was so entangled in Ji Yin’s words that she was utterly confused, hastily shaking her head. “No! Of course that’s not what I mean.”

“If that’s not what you mean, then by what right do you execute me?”

Chu Fenglian’s mind was in chaos; she had been completely ensnared by Ji Yin’s argument.

She wanted Ji Yin dead—because Ji Yin had brought calamity upon the Chu family. She could not let herself fall for Ji Yin’s tricks!

“I will execute you today!”

“How dare you!” Beiming Yu’s voice thundered from behind Chu Fenglian.

She was so startled her very soul nearly fled her body. She turned at once and bowed deeply. “Your Majesty!”

“I was not aware that you possessed such authority,” Beiming Yu said, his anger barely concealed.

Chu Fenglian’s face drained of all color. She hurried to explain, “Your Majesty, I had no such intention. I was merely upholding palace law. Ji Yin is the son of an outside official, and moreover, a man—he trespassed in the inner palace and should be punished according to palace law.”

“If you are so well-versed in the palace rules, then kneel here and recite them three hundred times. Then tell me, what law should be used to punish Ji Yin?”

Three hundred times? Kneeling? Chu Fenglian’s face turned ashen as death.