"Central Plains Emperor, we have no blood feud between us. Why make such a fuss?"

"If you're willing to let me go this time, I'll surrender immediately and be at your disposal, how about it?" The Gu Master from beyond the borders' tone revealed a hint of flattery.

These past few days since he entered the capital, he hadn't just been killing people.

Occasionally, he inquired about the court's movements, knowing that the current emperor cherished talent and had been recruiting extraordinary people.

He felt that with his skill in poison, even if he couldn't get an official position, protecting his life wouldn't be a problem. As long as he had a chance to breathe, he could find a way out for himself.

Jiang Chen sneered upon hearing this, "My court doesn't take in trash!"

"Confess the whereabouts of the girls, and I'll leave you with a complete corpse!"

The Gu Master from beyond the borders' expression stiffened, and he gritted his teeth. "Since I'm going to die anyway, why should I grant your wish?"

"Unless you let me go, forget about it!"

A fierce glint flashed in Jiang Chen's eyes, "Don't push your luck. If you anger me, I'll send you to see King Yama right now."

As he spoke, his long saber was already drawn, directly piercing the Gu Master from beyond the borders' left arm.

"Ah!"

"You dog, dog emperor, your little tricks won't scare me."

"If you have the guts, cut my neck, but if anything happens to me, you can forget about finding those women in this lifetime!"

The Gu Master from beyond the borders' face was twisted in pain, but his eyes flickered with a fierce light, refusing to yield.

This troublesome situation made Jiang Chen frown.

At this time, the imperial guards who had been searching the courtyard for a long time had not yet found anything.

Worried about the safety of the abducted women, Jiang Chen sheathed his saber and pretended to compromise. "Alright, I won't kill you."

"But the condition is that you cooperate and don't play any tricks."

A flash of ecstasy appeared in the Gu Master from beyond the borders' eyes. He had bet right!

But out of caution, he didn't agree immediately and said warily, "I want you to swear by the imperial ancestors that you will never kill me!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was instantly furious.

Xu Mu's eyes spat fire as he rushed forward and said, "You traitor, how dare you insult the imperial majesty, you deserve to die!"

As he spoke, he drew his saber.

The Gu Master from beyond the borders trembled in shock and said sternly, "Are you going to attack me? Don't you want to know the whereabouts of those women?"

"Central Plains Emperor, control your men. If anything happens to me, they will all have to be buried with me!"

Jiang Chen's face was displeased. He hated being threatened the most, but now he was forced to compromise by the situation.

It wasn't entirely because of those abducted women. Part of the reason was that he wanted to find out the real culprit behind the scenes and the whole story of Consort Shu's poisoning last time.

Immediately stopping Xu Mu, he nodded and said, "Alright, I now swear in the name of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong that as long as you cooperate honestly, I will not attack you."

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, you must not!"

Xu Mu, Su Wen, Feng Jin, and others had ugly expressions and could not accept this.

But Jiang Chen didn't care. He was a modern person and didn't care about these false reputations.

Suppressing his trusted ministers with a look, Jiang Chen said indifferently, "Can you tell me now?"

Having obtained the oath, the Gu Master from beyond the borders felt a little relieved and said readily, "I have a bell on me. Take it and put it in the hidden compartment of the bedroom, and you can open the entrance to the tunnel."

"The people are inside. Just move them out."

Move them out?

An ominous premonition surged in Jiang Chen's heart. He said coldly, "You better not be lying to me. If you play any more tricks, I don't care what value you have left. I'll just kill you on the spot!"

The words with hidden meaning made the Gu Master from beyond the borders' heart tremble.

Could it be... that this emperor knew the inside story of his trip to the imperial capital? That's why he came to him so quickly?

His experienced eyes flickered, but Jiang Chen didn't have time to pay attention at this time. He directly took people to the bedroom to prepare to save people.

Lives were at stake. The sooner the case was closed, the sooner these women's families could feel at ease.

The accompanying dark guards and imperial guards did not dare to let Jiang Chen take risks and sent a small elite team to explore the way ahead.

*Ka-da!*

The silver bell was embedded in the hidden compartment.

The wall hanging a painting on the side of the room suddenly rotated inward, revealing a narrow secret passage that could accommodate two people walking side by side. No sound was made during the process.

Looking at the dark secret passage, the elite team went down to explore the way first.

After a while, Xu Mu returned, his face extremely ugly. He clenched his fists and said, "Your Majesty, we found them."

"But, but you'd better not go down. Inside..." He hesitated to speak, gritting his teeth and saying, "This dog is really inhuman!"

Jiang Chen frowned and walked towards the secret passage, not paying attention to Xu Mu's obstruction at all.

As the dignified Son of Heaven, if he was frightened by a secret passage, wouldn't he be laughed at?

Behind him, a large number of imperial guards also followed in.

But the scene they saw made this group of battle-hardened men shudder and feel nauseous!

This was a narrow space similar to a cellar, damp and dark, filled with the stench of insects in the air.

And those girls who had been abducted by the Gu Master from beyond the borders were hung in mid-air, their clothes scattered, and their exposed skin was covered with holes gnawed out by Gu worms.

Dense and oozing pus.

From time to time, slender larvae would protrude their feet from their skin, causing the girls to cry out in pain weakly.

This was no different from hell on earth!

Jiang Chen stood on the spot, looking at this tragic scene. His brain was blank for a moment.

"Your Majesty, this Gu Master abducted a total of twelve women. The four hanging there have had their bodies eaten empty and cannot be saved."

"The remaining eight women with milder symptoms have been taken to the ground and are being treated by imperial physicians to drive out the worms."

Seeing that Jiang Chen was not in the right state, Xu Mu carefully opened his mouth, euphemistically saying that they had still saved most of the women's lives.

But Jiang Chen's face was still ugly, and he said heavily, "I know. Call the best imperial physicians in the palace and make sure to cure these women."

"Also, keep it a secret, don't leak their news, and then compensate their families with some gold and silver."

After saying that, Jiang Chen strode out of the tunnel.

His rapid footsteps carried a chilling aura of killing!

But when he stepped onto the ground and appeared in front of the Gu Master from beyond the borders again, that aura of killing was deeply buried, and no one could detect it.

"Central Plains Emperor, you've saved the people. When will you let me leave?" The Gu Master from beyond the borders' tone was urgent, urging repeatedly.

He knew what the feeding room was like. Anyone with a sense of justice would definitely want to kill him quickly, so he had to sneak away quickly.

If he delayed for too long, what if the emperor changed his mind? Wouldn't he be dumbfounded?

Jiang Chen saw through his thoughts but didn't expose them. He said indifferently, "Are you the one who provided the poison to the Mei family?"

Hearing this, the Gu Master from beyond the borders' eyes flickered, "I've sold so many poisons that I can't remember my customers' names..."

Jiang Chen directly drew his saber and pressed it against his throat. "Tell the truth, or die?!"

The Gu Master from beyond the borders froze, a hint of fear appearing in his eyes.