It's uncertain whether the palace maid who had left earlier was going to report or whether the palace maid expert who died by his hand was staging a diversion. However, Fan Xian knew that this fight, even though he had prevented the palace maid expert from making any noise, would surely alert the real experts in the palace. Therefore, he didn't bother dealing with the corpse on the ground. He tapped the stone floor with his toe, and his whole body transformed into a sharp arrow, rushing towards the palace wall he had planned to reach.

The palace wall remained so high. Fan Xian was somewhat annoyed by his own speed. Just as he finally managed to climb to the top of the wall, he heard a buzzing sound behind his head, as if the air behind him began to tremble and shake.

He turned back in astonishment, and then saw on the corner tower of the palace city in the far distance, a great general was drawing his bow and aiming at him.

In the night sky, an arrow, like a soul-devouring divine object, flew towards his face!

A moment ago, the arrow was on the horizon; a moment later, the arrow was before his eyes.

The arrow seemed to carry a vengeful spirit, arrogant and invincible. Fan Xian roared, and the black cloth on his face was shattered into pieces by the roar. The nameless, overbearing true energy that he had silently cultivated for sixteen years surged wildly and violently into his hands at this moment of life and death.

His two fists struck each other horizontally, hitting the arrow shaft precisely!

In that brief moment, the violent true energy contained in his fists clashed with the powerful force attached to the arrow. The arrow shaft shattered into powder, and the arrow narrowly grazed Fan Xian's hair, piercing far into the night sky!

A loud bang resounded throughout the night sky of the imperial city, startling those who were asleep and terrifying those who were awake, like a thunderclap striking the palace wall.

This arrow was too powerful and fierce, completely unlike something a mortal could shoot. After blocking it with his fists, Fan Xian's true energy was completely exhausted, and he fell powerlessly from the palace wall. His black clothes fluttered in the night wind, looking very miserable.

Yan Xiaoyi, the imperial palace grand commander on the distant corner tower of the palace wall, watched the assassin fall from the palace wall, his eyes narrowed slightly, revealing an extremely powerful look. He coldly said, "He's not dead. Go and capture him."

"Yes!" The subordinate guards acknowledged the order and left.

Beneath the palace wall, Fan Xian, dressed in all black night clothes, fell powerlessly. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he forcibly twisted his body, supporting himself on the ground with one knee, one foot, and one hand. A muffled sound echoed as he collided with the ground, and the powerful recoil force caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood, wetting the remaining fragments of black cloth on his face. Then, he roared and ran into the woods outside the palace wall, disappearing into the darkness of Kyoto in the instant before the guards at the corner of the city appeared.

---

The next day, in an inconspicuous small room near the imperial city. Eunuch Hong seemed to be in poor spirits, sitting in the main seat with his eyes half-closed. Two generals below were also closing their eyes to rest, and no one seemed willing to speak.

After a long time, Vice Commander Gong Dian, who had been resting at home last night, said softly, "His Majesty is shocked."

Yan Xiaoyi, the imperial palace grand commander who shot Fan Xian down from the wall last night, slowly opened his eyes and said coldly, "One of the Princess Royal's personal palace maids died, and the Princess Royal is very angry."

After the two spoke, Eunuch Hong slowly opened his eyes, and said in a somewhat aged voice, "Yesterday, I fell for a feint. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is very unhappy."

"Who was it?" Gong Dian asked matter-of-factly. In his mind, even if it was a feint, there was no way to escape being targeted by a peerless expert like Hong Gonggong, who still possessed the might of a tiger despite his illness.

"I don't know." Eunuch Hong smiled slightly. "The level he displayed was only between the middle and upper ranks of the ninth grade, but he was very familiar with the architecture of Kyoto, especially in the darkness. He led me around Kyoto for a whole circle, and in the end, I still lost him. This person... is very remarkable."

For Hong Gonggong to say someone was remarkable, that person must truly be remarkable.

Yan Xiaoyi was thirty-five years old this year, the peak of his energy and momentum. As the grand commander of the palace guards, he had to take on the responsibility of the entire palace's security. He glanced coldly at Eunuch Hong and said, "Where did Gonggong last track him to?"

"An alley not far from the Dongyi City delegation."

Gong Dian said, "The results of today's investigation are out. Hong Gonggong's chopsticks pierced the first assassin's clothes. After comparison by the Overwatch Council, it was confirmed that they were made of Tianxiang silk."

Yan Xiaoyi began to close his eyes to rest. Gong Dian continued, "The Overwatch Council found out that the Dongyi City delegation had ordered a batch of clothes from Tianxiang silk some time ago, and they didn't use the delegation's name, but asked someone to help them order." Eunuch Hong asked softly, "What is Vice Commander trying to say?"

Gong Dian smiled and said, "Why would they order clothes under someone else's name? It's obvious that they were worried about some subtle traces being caught by us. Judging from all the clues, the first assassin should be from Dongyi City. The only one who could have a middle ninth-grade level is Yun Zhilan, the chief disciple of Sigu Jian, who has been extremely quiet in Kyoto these days."

Yan Xiaoyi suddenly opened his eyes and said, "It's not Yun Zhilan. If the people of Dongyi City wanted to sneak into the palace, why would they buy new clothes? They could just knock out a pedestrian on the street and strip him of his clothes. Yun Zhilan is this kind of straightforward person."

Eunuch Hong nodded: "Although that ninth-grade expert concealed his sword intent, he was still following Sigu Jian's path, so I was very interested. If it wasn't Yun Zhilan, could it be that someone else from Dongyi City came, and dared to disobey Yun Zhilan's orders?"

"Framing is very likely." Gong Dian frowned slightly upon hearing their remarks: "It's too coincidental, so it's possible that someone is framing Yun Zhilan."

"How many people in Dongyi City are likely to inherit Sigu Jian's mantle?"

"Three ninth-grade experts, including Yun Zhilan."

"Then the other two are suspects."

"Let's talk about the night traveler who was shot down from the city wall by the grand commander in the end. I heard that the grand commander's arrow shook the entire palace, but unfortunately, it didn't kill the opponent." From the tone of his voice, it seemed that Eunuch Hong and this grand commander of the palace guard did not get along very well.

Yan Xiaoyi looked down on this eunuch at all, but knew that the other party was truly the most powerful and unfathomable person in the palace. He snorted coldly and said, "The second assassin was also a ninth-grade figure, although only a lower ninth-grade. But if I could kill him with one arrow, wouldn't I have become one of the Four Grandmasters?"

"Another ninth-grade?" Gong Dian was filled with shock. He himself had been lingering in the upper eighth-grade realm for his entire life, and had always found it difficult to make any progress. Hearing that there were actually two ninth-grade experts who sneaked into the palace last night, he couldn't help but feel a lot of complex emotions.

"There are only seven ninth-grade experts in the entire Qing Kingdom, and only four in Kyoto. How can there be so many ninth-grade experts in this world?" Eunuch Hong said lightly, obviously not believing Yan Da-tongling's judgment, and thought that the other party was shirking responsibility for himself.

Gong Dian was most afraid of this kind of scene every time, and quickly said, "His Majesty has a strict decree, ordering us to close the case within ten days. I will immediately transfer people from the Overwatch Council to investigate the situation in various palaces, and first determine clearly why the other party would take such a big risk to sneak into the palace."

Yan Xiaoyi shook his head and said, "I don't know why the latter person did it, but the former person must be related to Dongyi City. So start with the Dongyi delegation and see why that batch of clothes was ordered. It's best to find out where each piece of clothing went."

Just as he was preparing for the investigation, a small eunuch ran in hastily and announced the Holy Edict. The events of last night were all to be investigated by Ye Zhong, the Kyoto garrison commander. The palace guards would remain as usual and must not publicize the matter.

After the little eunuch left, the three palace protectors in the room looked at each other. Yan Xiaoyi slowly closed his eyes, knowing that His Majesty had begun to suspect one of the three of them. Eunuch Hong walked out with his hands behind his back, his face calm.

In the following days, the search for the assassin in Kyoto was fruitless.

---

The Emperor's edict actually relieved the siege for Fan Xian, the true infiltrator. In this plan, there were no major mistakes in any aspect, but forcing Wu Zhu to wear that new brown clothing was a bit presumptuous, and instead revealed a flaw.

Fan Xian secretly found out that Dongyi City ordered this batch of clothes from Tianxiang Silk because the son of the Dongyi City Lord liked the retro style of Kyoto clothes, so he ordered a batch. As for why they ordered anonymously, it was actually for a very simple reason - the young master of Dongyi City, a hub of merchants from all over the world, actually envied the clothing of the southern Qing Kingdom. If this matter were to spread, he would probably be scolded to death by those merchants in Dongyi City who had always been very daring.

Of course, the main reason why Fan Xian used this trick was that he didn't believe that Uncle Wu Zhu could perfectly simulate Sigu Jian's sword intent. If he had known that Wu Zhu was so powerful to this perverted degree, Fan Xian would have used the framing plan even more perfectly.

But the ending was not bad. At least the palace was still suspecting the other two ninth-grade experts in Dongyi City, and the Overwatch Council had also begun to confirm where Sigu Jian's other two disciples were on the day when the enemy came to the palace.

No one would associate it with Fan Xian. Because on the night when the enemy came to the palace, all the high officials of Qing Kingdom Kyoto were watching him drink a thousand cups of wine and compose a hundred poems in the hall, making the Northern Qi master Zhuang Mohan vomit blood and wish he could turn white overnight. In the end, he was so drunk that he fell at the feet of the Emperor.

This was the misconception of human thinking, not only thinking that Fan Xian, after being drunk, could not possibly get out of bed, but also that people were used to the idea that after a person did something very shocking, it was impossible to do another thing immediately.

There could be no second climax after a climax; there always had to be a refractory period.