Chapter 2336: Here It Comes, Here It Comes

She had lurked in the Heavenly Palace for five or six years, walking on thin ice every single day. Back then, the Nine Nether Emperor had said the Heavenly Palace was the number one place under heaven for hiding filth and corruption, and those words were not wrong in the slightest — she finally had firsthand experience of it.

Compared to it, the former Bo Kingdom's court was truly a case of the lesser wizard seeing the greater wizard.

Over these years, she watched the pure and innocent maids around her disappear under unclear circumstances one by one — some of them especially lovely, pure as a blank sheet of paper when they first entered the Heavenly Palace.

Even Mei Wuniang, after staying in the Heavenly Palace long enough, felt heartsick.

Now, escorting Aunt Zeng's remains back to her hometown — perhaps this was a good chance for her to leave the Heavenly Palace?

The moment she thought of being able to leave the Heavenly Palace, even her breathing became much smoother.

But then she thought again: if "Tong Yiyi" went missing while escorting Aunt Zeng's remains, how would the Heavenly Palace react?

Lu Yongyan and Old Capital Master Yun had just finished handing over so many secrets, Aunt Zeng had heard it all clearly on the spot, and then her trusted maid who was sending her off vanished?

Put in Lu Yongyan's shoes, at this juncture he would also have to be suspicious — had this Tong Yiyi grasped some secret, prompting her to flee secretly?

To be on the safe side, would the Heavenly Palace move the Hidden God Lord to a different hiding place?

Leaving aside whether such a transfer would be difficult, if the Heavenly Palace really did that, what value would the secrets she had risked her life to obtain still have?

But if she went back, in the future when the Nine Nether Emperor sent people to investigate or destroy the Hidden God Lord's hiding place, the Heavenly Palace would likewise suspect which link had leaked.

At that time, as Aunt Zeng's subordinate maid, she would likewise be unable to escape the consequences.

What was to be done?

Mei Wuniang closed her eyes, but in truth she could not sleep all night, until the east turned white.

……

Three days later, the journey was peaceful and uneventful all the way.

Mei Wuniang also let out a breath of relief; her process of gathering intelligence appeared not to have alerted anyone.

As expected, no matter who it is, they will grow slack.

In four more days, she would be able to complete this mission.

This afternoon, the procession was about to reach Bu County. The coffin escort had been traveling on the official road between city and countryside the whole way, and this stretch was all prosperous areas, relatively safe.

But further ahead lay a forest; it was said half a year ago more than a dozen monsters emerged here and devoured a merchant caravan.

The mountain road was deathly quiet, only the coffin escort walking. A quarter-hour ago it was still blazing sun; some strange wind blew the clouds over, and that bit of skylight simply could not penetrate the gloom of the mountain hollow.

Rustling tree sounds everywhere.

Mei Wuniang looked at the sky; this kind of overcast comes fast and goes fast too — perhaps after a sudden downpour, the sky would clear again.

Even so, the funeral procession quickened its pace; as long as they crossed this mountain they could settle in a village town, eat some hot soup, and wash off the tree seeds, dust, and mud on their bodies.

Escorting the deceased home — there's nothing to rush about with this kind of thing. Aunt Zeng wouldn't urge them on anyway.

Another gust of strong wind blew past, and seven or eight arrows whistled out from the side.

"Enemy attack!"

Two arrows were knocked away by the escorting guards, one nailed into the coffin. The maid beside Mei Wuniang also let out a miserable cry:

Hit by an arrow.

Mei Wuniang thought to herself, it's finally come.

Thirty-odd masked men lunged from the forest, drawing sabers silently and attacking.

The two sides clashed with a clang of metal on metal.

These dozens of men all had cultivation and their martial skills were also superb. Looking at Mei Wuniang's side, there were only six guards; the rest were porters and maids — how could they be a match?

In less than a quarter-hour, the battle was over.

Although Mei Wuniang had cultivation, she had already devised a countermeasure; she only used four or five parts of her ability to protect herself, then was captured as a matter of course.

The other side knew her identity well, pointing at her:

"Keep only this one."

Swish-swish, a few saber strokes, and all the captives were slaughtered. The leader pointed at the coffin: "Go take a look."

A subordinate opened the coffin lid, glanced twice, even reached in to probe a few times, then reported:

"Indeed it is Aunt Zeng."

The leader then walked to Mei Wuniang's side and squatted down, reaching out to tear off her face veil, revealing a fair face, about thirty-some years old, with an aquiline nose.

"Tong Yiyi?"

Mei Wuniang leaned against a large rock, her whole body trembling uncontrollably, and said in a concentrated voice: "Who are you, how dare you ambush the Heavenly Palace's procession!"

"Sending only these few weaklings to escort you, the Heavenly Palace doesn't value you all that much either." The leader smiled. "You look like a smart girl; as long as you answer obediently, I won't harm your life."

This woman's brows and eyes were gentle; at first glance she was not stunning, but the more closely one looked the more beautiful she became, like a wild Rosa laevigata flower blooming quietly in the mountains — fragile, yet with a touch of stubbornness.

The leader had a heart of iron, but seeing her he also felt killing her just like that would be a bit of a pity.

Mei Wuniang heard this and looked at the corpses covering the ground.

This talk might fool a child, that's about it.

The other side wiped out the entire procession, would they spare her alone? Besides, the leader's face had been seen by her — afterward, could they not silence her?

But she didn't want to suffer torture either, so she stammered: "Y-you, what do you want to ask?"

"Sensible." The leader said gently, "How did Aunt Zeng die?"

"I didn't see it with my own eyes." Mei Wuniang deliberately slowed her speech, recounting everything that happened in the Heavenly Palace on the day Capital Master Yun was replaced, then said, "Every word I said is true, not a single false character — I can swear a blood oath to heaven!"

"Oh, so you don't know why Aunt Zeng was killed?"

Mei Wuniang shook her head like a rattle drum: "If I knew, I would have followed in Aunt Zeng's footsteps long ago — how would the Heavenly Palace still send me down the mountain on business?"

This reasoning was indeed very sound; the leader thought for a moment, then dismissed it lightly: "Then you're of no use either."

"Wait!" Mei Wuniang hurriedly stopped him. She shouldn't have spoken so convincingly — this one time she persuaded them, and they immediately wanted to kill to silence her.

Since the Heavenly God had fixed his gaze on her, shouldn't there also be people secretly tailing her? She had even deliberately slowed her speech to stall for time — why hadn't reinforcements appeared yet?

Those people — they simply didn't care about her life or death at all, did they?

In that case, she must find a way to force them out!

She glanced up at the sky, seeing the clouds about to disperse, and said: "Since you know my name, you should know I am a first-class maidservant by Zeng Auntie's side. Although Zeng Auntie's cause of death is unknown, I still know many secrets of the Heavenly Palace."

Her words were spoken softly and slowly.

"Secrets of the Heavenly Palace?" The killing intent in the leader's eyes indeed eased a little. "Good, then I ask you: do you know who the central figure is among the Heavenly Palace's spies stationed in Mou State?"

Like the spies exchanged between Bei Jia and Mou State, they are not operating alone, but as one or several teams. Then the soul figure in the team responsible for receiving orders, making plans, and coordinating arrangements is called the "central hub." As long as this person is captured, the entire team can be effectively destroyed.

He came to capture Tong Yiyi, besides wanting to find out the cause of Zeng Auntie's death, another major reason is that this maidservant has long stayed in the Heavenly Palace, subtly influenced, and must have some understanding of its internal affairs.