No longer willing to be captured without a fight, the few remaining black-clad assassins drew their daggers, ready to commit suicide!

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

The dark guards arrived, snatching away the daggers in the blink of an eye, foiling the assassins' plans.

As the sword light flashed, the black-clad figures who were still putting up a stubborn resistance gradually fell one by one.

Jiang Chen watched the chaotic battlefield with eyes as cold as ice that could freeze a person to death.

The Court of Cautious Punishments and the Imperial Prison – these two places were the most heavily guarded in the entire palace, yet they had been attacked one after the other, and without any warning!

These assassins must have been lurking in the palace for a long time, or the situation tonight wouldn't have been so sudden!

Thinking of this, a hint of killing intent appeared in Jiang Chen's eyes: "Mei Ruoying, you better hope I don't find any evidence against you. If you really are the mastermind behind all this... then don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Half an hour later.

The fire was extinguished.

The imperial palace was under strict investigation, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

A total of twenty-six assassins participated in the night attack. Twenty of them died in battle, and only six were captured. Jiang Chen immediately ordered that these six be closely guarded.

After investigation, it was discovered that all twenty-six assassins were actually eunuchs!

Feng Jin was shocked and immediately led people to investigate, confirming that these twenty-six were sweeping eunuchs from the harem, responsible for cleaning the palace roads.

These twenty-six had entered the palace six years ago and had been performing sweeping duties for five years!

In other words, for the past five years, Jiang Chen had been in daily contact with these treacherous assassins!

As a result, Jiang Chen's face turned ashen, and he felt a wave of lingering fear!

He had thought that the two palace-wide investigations had cleared out all the dangerous elements, but he never expected that the enemy's spies had been planted so deep and had been plotting for so long!

Hall of Diligent Governance.

Jiang Chen sat behind his imperial desk, looking down at the assassins below who had already undergone a round of torture.

To prevent these assassins from harming the emperor, their martial arts had been crippled, and their limbs had been broken, rendering them completely harmless.

"Speak, who sent you here? As long as you confess, I can spare you, and even bestow wealth and honor upon you," Jiang Chen said majestically.

The six assassins exchanged glances, not showing any intention of speaking.

Jiang Chen frowned, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes: "You won't speak? Do you think I can't do anything to you?!"

The six assassins trembled, hearing the threat in the emperor's tone.

But they had already resigned themselves to death, and since they weren't afraid of death, how could they fear threats?

Immediately, the six remained silent, gritting their teeth.

Jiang Chen could see what they were thinking, and a disdainful arc appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Death? What does death even matter?

There are far too many things in this world that are more terrifying than death!

Giving the six a meaningful glance, Jiang Chen said lightly, "Feng Jin, summon the jailers from the Imperial Prison. Make sure to pry open these assassins' mouths!"

Feng Jin obeyed, glaring hatefully at the black-clad men. He waved his hand, ordering people to take them away.

The fact that so many assassins were lurking in the imperial palace was undoubtedly a dereliction of duty on the part of Feng Jin, the Grand Eunuch. Although His Majesty had not pursued the matter, indicating that he should make up for it in the future, Feng Jin felt extremely ashamed.

He wished he could flay these black-clad men alive with his own hands to wash away the shame.

Driven by anger, Feng Jin was even more efficient, and results were achieved in a short time.

Among the six black-clad assassins, the youngest one couldn't hold on any longer and was willing to confess.

Feng Jin was overjoyed and immediately brought the black-clad man who had turned against them before Jiang Chen.

"Your Majesty, this assassin is called Xiao Qinzi, and he says he has a clue to present!" Feng Jin said respectfully.

Hearing this, Jiang Chen turned his gaze downwards, examining the assassin who had confessed first.

He had delicate features and looked to be in his early twenties. At this moment, his eyes were filled with horror, and he was trembling uncontrollably, seemingly not yet recovered from the interrogation just now.

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze and said indifferently, "Who ordered you to come?"

Xiao Qinzi's face was pale, and he said in a low voice, "This lowly one doesn't know either. I only received a message from above, telling us to set a fire at night and take advantage of the chaos to kill Xu Changqing."

A gleam of light flashed in Jiang Chen's eyes as he pressed, "The person 'above'? Who is he?!"

Xiao Qinzi was the youngest of the assassins, and he had been frightened out of his wits by the brutal torture he had just undergone. He didn't dare to hide anything and said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, this lowly one doesn't know who the person 'above' is. This lowly one only knows that he is also in the palace."

"He gave us instructions through orders, never meeting with us in person."

Jiang Chen frowned: "Since you have never met the person who gave the orders, how can you be sure that he is in the palace?"

"You have been lurking in this harem for so long. You must have special channels to transmit information. If he is so inclined, it would not be difficult for him to remotely command you from outside the palace."

As he spoke, Jiang Chen's voice turned cold: "You are so certain that this person is in the palace, you must know something. Quickly confess!"

A look of horror flashed in Xiao Qinzi's eyes.

He never expected that the emperor could deduce so much information from just a few words.

Immediately, he explained like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube, "Your Majesty, this lowly one has no intention of concealing anything!"

"Before entering the palace, this lowly one was an orphan. Later, I was adopted by a mysterious manor lord. In his manor, there were many children like this lowly one."

"Before entering the palace, the manor lord instructed us that someone in the palace would come to lead us and assign us tasks, so this lowly one can be sure that the person 'above' is in the palace!"

Hearing this, Jiang Chen was shocked!

Adopting orphans from a young age, training them, and then sending them into the palace through various channels – what was the purpose of this?!

"Your martial arts were also taught by this manor lord?" Jiang Chen pressed.

Xiao Qinzi nodded quickly: "Yes, the manor lord trained us and taught us martial arts. The only requirement was that we obey orders and lie dormant. If anyone disobeyed, they would be executed by others in the palace."

A look of contemplation appeared on Jiang Chen's face.

If Xiao Qinzi wasn't lying, then this organization lurking in the imperial palace shouldn't have been established recently. The internal structure was also very rigorous. Someone outside provided and trained assassins, and a leader was lurking in the imperial palace.

Could this organization have been established by Mei Wen Shi and Mei Ruoying?

Jiang Chen pondered, but he couldn't be sure.

He looked at the trembling Xiao Qinzi and asked again, "In the entire imperial palace, how many more black-clad men like you are lurking?"

Xiao Qinzi recalled, shaking his head after a long while: "This, this lowly one doesn't know… maybe there are many, maybe not many."

"Although we were all trained by the manor lord, we lost contact with each other after entering the palace and don't know the situation of the others."

Jiang Chen stared at him, not finding any traces of lying.

Immediately, he said, "Then how did you contact each other?"

"What method did the so-called 'person above' use to notify you of each action?"

At this moment, Xiao Qinzi was relieved and had no intention of hiding anything.

From the moment he revealed the existence of the manor, he knew that he had no other choice.

If he couldn't satisfy the emperor and gain protection, this traitor would definitely lose his life at the hands of the manor lord!