Upon landing, Su Muqing flicked her sleeve, and the two of them, along with the eagle, appeared inside the space.
As soon as the eagle entered the space, it flew off to find the octopus. That scoundrel had just tried to eat the little rabbit, causing it to almost smash the little rabbit to death in front of Su Muqing.
Hmph! This time, it would teach him a good lesson!
However, after searching all around, it couldn't find him. Even the octopus had gone off to play somewhere. The eagle let out a "chirp~", as if calling out for something.
Ignoring the eagle's actions, Su Muqing raised her finger and pointed at Huo Qiyuan's silver hair, asking, "Brother Huo, do you want to conceal your hair color?"
Huo Qiyuan removed the clip from his head. Without him even reaching out to style it, his flowing silver hair cascaded down, as smooth as a starlit waterfall, shimmering with a dazzling silver light, looking incredibly beautiful.
Seeing the undisguised admiration in Su Muqing's eyes, Huo Qiyuan gently curved his lips. "No need. There's nothing to conceal. At this point, I'm not afraid of anyone knowing I'm still alive."
After the confrontations in those few cities, Emperor Rui might not know that he was the surviving Huo Qiyuan. However, he must have heard of the Silver-haired Regent of the Great Hua Dynasty, so there was no need to hide anything further!
"Alright! Then let's head straight to the imperial palace! You should be very familiar with the palace's layout, right?" Su Muqing had already tied her hair into a bun and changed into a more convenient and capable outfit.
Huo Qiyuan frowned. "I know the main areas, but I mostly went there when I was younger. After I grew up, I always stayed with my father in the military camp, so I can't really say I'm very familiar with it."
"It's okay if you don't know. The emperor usually stays in places like the imperial study, right? Let's go in and search slowly!"
"Alright, let's go!"
In the dark night, two figures reappeared at a bend in the official road. However, instead of using the wide-open city gates, they moved eerily and rapidly towards the tall city walls.
In the Emperor's sleeping quarters.
Ever since the emperor's sudden change of heart a month ago, and his return to diligent governance and care for the people, Emperor Rui felt that his sleep quality had significantly improved.
For a long time before, he couldn't sleep for entire nights. As soon as he closed his eyes, it was as if he were falling into an abyss.
Whenever he fell into dreams, he could clearly see the wisp of pale golden, dragon-like energy on him being restrained.
Then, demons and monsters surrounded him, baring their fangs and claws, as if they couldn't wait to rush forward and devour him alive.
What frightened Emperor Rui even more was seeing those people he had killed. Such as Huo Sizhun and his wife, and the more than a hundred people from the Prince Bingjian's mansion whom he had ordered beheaded.
And the countless soldiers who died in that intentionally lost battle, which was orchestrated to frame the Huo family.
And the innumerable dead people who eventually died at his hands for various other reasons.
Their vengeful souls maintained the appearance they had at the time of their death. Some were covered in wounds, some were missing limbs, some had no heads, and some were already decaying.
All sorts of horrifying appearances flashed before his eyes. But no matter how different their deaths were, they would invade Emperor Rui's dreams after he fell asleep, frightening and questioning him.
As a result, during the period when Emperor Rui neglected his duties, he hardly dared to sleep. The moment he closed his eyes, he would be startled awake and then plunge into an unknown fear.
This led to him indulging in nightly revelries, summoning over a dozen concubines, or other beauties and palace maids to accompany him in drinking and merriment every night.
Once he experienced hallucinations, he would become uncontrollably manic. Killing or injuring a few people was a common occurrence. Only in such a noisy environment, surrounded by crowds, would Emperor Rui feel safe.
Later, Emperor Rui discovered that after he started to earnestly attend to state affairs and understand the suffering of the people, he no longer fell into those terrifying nightmares.
Emperor Rui believed that it was because he had finally awakened, not only with a heart of repentance but also by taking concrete actions, that his ancestors had begun to protect him again, and the color of the dragon energy on him had become increasingly rich.
The Emperor Rui, who had finally enjoyed a few nights of peaceful sleep, was now lying on his grand dragon bed. His brows were tightly furrowed again, his forehead covered in fine cold sweat, and his mouth moved back and forth, muttering something.
Emperor Rui's head swayed from side to side, and his complexion turned extremely pale. He seemed to be struggling to break free from some restraint, his appearance looking extremely pained.
The eunuch on night duty was dozing by the bedside, his head nodding, appearing to be fast asleep, completely oblivious to the Emperor's distress on the dragon bed.
Emperor Rui was once again seized by a nightmare! After nearly a month, he was once again experiencing that suffocating sensation that made it difficult to breathe, and the powerlessness of wanting to open his eyes but being unable to.
At this moment, he was surrounded by "people"! No! They could no longer be considered people! To be precise, he was surrounded by ghosts! Emperor Rui even saw his own father among the dense, countless ghosts!
This was the first time Emperor Rui had dreamed of his father. He was terrified of the ghosts and was thinking of rushing to his late father's side for protection when he saw his most revered father looking at him with an expression of anger and disappointment. The words that followed made even the dream-bound Emperor Rui shudder with coldness.
"Rebellious son! You have disappointed me too much! I never expected that the person I entrusted with everything would turn out to be so despicable…"
What Emperor Rui feared most was not receiving recognition from the late Emperor. When he was not yet emperor, due to his mother's humble status and lack of favor, he himself was not highly regarded by the late Emperor.
Therefore, when Emperor Rui was young, he was most happy when he could receive a word of praise from his father.
But now, his father offered no praise, nor protection. He even had the feeling that his father seemed more resentful of him than those vengeful souls.
With this thought, Emperor Rui staggered back a few steps, then fell to the ground. He tightly closed his eyes, hugged his head with both arms, and covered his ears with his hands.
Escaping reality, self-protection. He thought that as long as he couldn't see or hear, he could pretend that none of it had happened.
The accusations and scoldings around him continued. Those sharp claws, dripping with blood and flesh, seemed as if they would fall upon him at any moment, scaring the man in his thirties into sobbing and trembling, not daring to look up.