Chapter 521: At Their Disposal

Chapter 521: Chapter 521: At Their Disposal

Tuo Ye froze.

Xiuxiu said bluntly, "She sent someone late at night on some trumped-up pretext, claiming she wanted to discuss something with me. I thought it was strange from the start, but I never imagined she orchestrated it all for you to see, just to sow suspicion in your mind!"

Tuo Ye sneered. "Do you think I’ll believe you? If that were true, then why didn’t that Jade Ring react to my blood?"

Xiuxiu was so frustrated he could have cried, but no tears came. Tuo Ye’s stupidity was going to be the death of him.

The Great Sun King had arranged for this impulsive Third Prince to come to Cangyun Country specifically to temper his character.

Who would have thought he would be so easily turned against his own people by Shen Ningning.

"Third Prince! You’re making me frantic! That Jade Ring is a fake! If we didn’t do this, how could we use it as a pretext to stir up trouble in Cangyun Country?"

The jade had been coated with a powder to make it react to blood.

Tuo Ye faltered. "But the Heart Transmission Jade is a supreme treasure of our Changliu Country. Could it be... that its power has always been a fraud?"

Xiuxiu was exasperated. Beads of blood oozed from the wounds covering his body.

"Your Highness can’t possibly believe there are so many heaven-sent treasures in the world, can you?"

Tuo Ye’s resolve began to waver. Behind him, the Hidden Guards and the elite soldiers were slaughtering each other, locked in a bloody melee.

Xiuxiu said quickly, "Third Prince, you can lower your hand now. Why would I ever harm you?"

Just as he tried to get up, Tuo Ye’s expression suddenly turned murderous.

The dagger was once again at Xiuxiu’s throat.

"Before I came out, Shen Ningning told me that a cunning old fox like you would try every trick to talk his way out of this, just to buy time and save your own skin. I won’t trust you again."

Xiuxiu’s eyes went wide. Tuo Ye slit his throat without hesitation, and blood gushed forth.

Tuo Ye stood up and looked down coldly as Xiuxiu struggled in his death throes.

’Shen Ningning was right after all. An eloquent envoy like Xiuxiu is the most skilled at deception.’

Xiuxiu murmured, "I... I am an adviser bestowed by the Great Sun King himself... to die like this... Third Prince, you... you are truly better at ruining things than achieving..."

His voice trailed into silence, and Xiuxiu died, his eyes wide with indignation.

Tuo Ye sneered.

The moment he turned, an arrow shot from the shadows and pierced through his abdomen.

His eyes flew open in shock as he saw myriad arrows falling from the forest like rain!

One after another, they struck him.

The Crown Prince’s personal guard, who had been lying in ambush nearby, turned the clearing into a bloody Purgatory.

When the rain of arrows ceased, a radiant figure emerged from the trees and walked to Tuo Ye’s side.

Bristling with arrows, Tuo Ye coughed up blood and looked at Shen Ningning through a blurry gaze.

"Princess Funing, Xiuxiu said you deceived me... You didn’t deceive me, did you?"

Shen Ningning’s fair, moon-white face was imbued with a serene beauty.

Her red lips parted, her voice seeming to carry a magical quality.

"Did I not tell you I would let you take revenge on Xiuxiu with your own hands? And look, you succeeded, didn’t you?"

Tuo Ye managed a weak smile, reaching out a trembling, blood-stained hand to grab her orange skirt.

However, before he could even touch Shen Ningning, a white boot embroidered with a dragon soaring through the clouds stomped on his wrist.

Tuo Ye looked up to see Mo Lingwei, dressed in a Purple Gold Python Robe and wearing a Jade Crown.

He stood protectively, shielding Shen Ningning with his body.

"Don’t touch her," Mo Lingwei said coldly.

The last thing Tuo Ye saw before he died was Mo Lingwei leading Shen Ningning away by the hand.

In that final moment, he might have realized that Shen Ningning had indeed deceived him.

But her methods had been so subtle that he was already on his way to see King Yan before he had time to think through the truth of the matter.

This chess match of deep cunning made Shen Ningning famous throughout the land.

Of the more than three hundred men Xiuxiu had brought, the wounded were all captured, and the dead were left behind.

Most importantly, Shen Ningning had designed the entire affair to make them slaughter each other.

The Emperor hadn’t even had time to react. By the time the news reached him, the young girl had already presented him with this enormous gift.

Tuo Ye’s body was returned to Changliu Country.

Out of a sliver of pity, Shen Ningning sent him off in a coffin of golden silk nanmu. She also had special dry ice, treated in the Immortal Realm, placed inside to ensure Tuo Ye’s features would remain preserved upon his return to Changliu Country.

It was a fact that she had used Tuo Ye, but she felt no remorse. In her position, her enemies would have been even more ruthless.

Qi Xiuwei was the second person instrumental to her success whom Shen Ningning had to thank.

If the two young women hadn’t agreed to coordinate their efforts, one on the inside and one on the out, putting on an act for the people from Changliu Country, the matter likely would not have proceeded so smoothly.

Xiuxiu was indeed clever. He had even realized at the very end that Qi Xiuwei and Shen Ningning were setting a trap for him.

But for all his plotting and scheming, he never could have predicted that Tuo Ye would be so easily turned against him.

After half a month of relentless, round-the-clock interrogations by the Ministry of Justice, Xiuxiu’s surviving attendants finally confessed the entire plot from start to finish.

Their mission had been to steal the secret formula for gunpowder and seize the opportunity to destabilize Cangyun Country, which had only just begun to recover from the shadow of recent natural disasters.

What was most surprising, however, was that the search for the Tenth Princess was not a lie.

Years ago, when the Great Sun King was still a prince, he had visited Cangyun Country and fathered a daughter with a local woman.

Due to the sensitive nature of his identity, he did not take the woman or their child with him when he departed.

During Xie Ming’an’s interrogation, another earth-shattering secret was uncovered.

The Tenth Princess whom the Great Sun King had left behind in Cangyun Country was none other than Su Zhirou.

Princess Consort Qi and King Shu, who were having an illicit affair, had conspired with Changliu Country for power. As part of their scheme, Princess Consort Qi had placed the Great Sun King’s daughter with King Shu to be raised as his adopted daughter.

To avoid suspicion, King Shu deliberately arranged for the then-Princess Shu to stumble upon Su Zhirou, who was seemingly about to freeze to death by the roadside.

The kind-hearted Princess Shu took Su Zhirou into her manor.

Now, with her true parentage revealed, Su Zhirou’s identity was confirmed by six of Xiuxiu’s most trusted aides.

As it turned out, Xiuxiu and his men had known who the real Tenth Princess was from the moment they arrived in Cangyun Country!

They had simply been forced to conceal Su Zhirou’s identity for the sake of their plan.

And Su Zhirou herself only just learned that the person who had been secretly visiting her chambers to help solve her troubles was, in fact, a Hidden Guard from Changliu Country.

The news sent the entire country into an uproar.

Lady Shu never could have imagined that the adopted daughter she had cared for so devotedly was just another part of the conspiracy left behind by Princess Consort Qi and King Shu.

Even in death, King Shu was still finding ways to ruin her life!

The instant Su Zhirou learned she was a princess of Changliu Country, she immediately tried to flee the Capital City.

But she was intercepted and captured by Jiang Zhi and her men.

When she was hauled before the Emperor, Shen Ningning and Mo Lingwei were seated on either side of him.

Forced to her knees, Su Zhirou cried, "They were the ones who did everything! Although I am a princess of Changliu Country, I never knew my own identity, so I took no part in their plans..."

As she spoke, she raised her tear-filled eyes to Shen Ningning.

"Besides, since I am a princess, you can’t simply dispose of me as you wish! Otherwise... otherwise, my father, the King, will not let this matter rest!"

A hysterical glint flashed in Su Zhirou’s eyes.

’I am a true princess. Shen Ningning is, at best, one by title only.’

However, Mo Lingwei produced a letter and tossed it down in front of Su Zhirou.

"This letter was delivered by a messenger from the Great Sun King. He says he has no such daughter."

Su Zhirou trembled, unable to believe what she had just heard.

Shen Ningning’s expression was placid, her red lips pursed slightly.

’Changliu Country’s plan had been exposed. They don’t want to start a war, so of course they would sacrifice Su Zhirou to appease the Cangyun Emperor’s anger.’

’Su Zhirou was now completely at their mercy.’