Even though it's in the middle of a chilly night, droplets of sweat are forming on the Empress Dowagers' forehead.
She's hiding in a dark corner while she's concentrating the flow of her spiritual energy in her body. There's one more thing that she needs to do before this night ends. The empress dowager is trying to recreate one of the most dangerous weapons that her clan made: the Crimson Javelin.
The weapon does not look too different from a normal javelin, except that it has the same color as blood, and it's very deadly. Once injured with this weapon, the victim tends to die in a short time. A poison will quickly circulate in the victim's body and when it reaches the heart, it will immediately turn the organ into an iron (literally), making it an agonizing death due to lack of oxygen. There's no remedy made for it.
The javelin doesn't look special in terms of its physical form at all. In fact, it's just a long shaft with a sharp-pointed end. The main difference between it and the normal ones is its component, and of course the method of forging.
To create the Crimson Javelin, the forger has to be a cultivator that mastered the dark arts of the Liaodong Xue Sect. It will greatly consume an amount of spiritual energy so the forger will temporarily feel very weak after the process. Forging this weapon is prone to qi deviation as well. If not enough knowledge and experience could damage the spiritual core of the forger and could cause permanently disabling the use of spiritual powers, and even lead to death if not treated well.
Aside from that, the forger will need to sacrifice his own blood. The more blood used, the longer the shaft will be. Its durability level will depend on the amount of blood that the forger will use too. It's because more iron will be added to it. And this iron in the blood is the main component for the hardening of the weapon. To create at least a meter, and a so-so-durable javelin, about a liter and a half to two liters, will be consumed.
The empress dowager knows the consequences very well but she doesn't mind using even three liters of her blood. Whether she'll die in because of blood loss or qi deviation... whether she'll win against those three or not, it doesn't matter anymore if she'll live after all of these. What matters to her the most is that she'll be able to take the dynasty down with her.
The empress dowager actually knows that what she's doing is morally wrong. She knows that she's the villain here. However, she's once an empress too, a formidable one. She didn't ascend to the throne just to act like a damsel in distress when things go south.
She's aware that no one's going to rescue her.
This Empress Dowager once had her own hero but he got killed in the hands of the person she trusted her fate into. And besides, she spent half of her lifetime bottling in this resentment inside her heart. It would such be a waste if she stops here.
Truth to be told, she actually knows that if Ye Feng sees her like this... if he can talk to her, he'll most probably allow her to do this evil plan of hers. Unfortunately, hatred and sorrow blinded her. Her heart had long turned into a stone. The world hates her, why can't she hate the world in return?
The little ball of faint red glow in between her palms slowly stretches into an oval, and eventually forms into a small stick. Just as she's starting to form the javelin, the empress dowager coughed a mouthful of blood. Her chest hurts. It's tightening like it's being clutched by a hand. However, she can't stop just because she's hurting. She endured so much for a long period of time. Another pain or two won't bother her anymore.
She continues to forge the weapon. Her face slowly loses its colors and is slowly turning into an ashen pale one.
The shaft isn't even half a meter long yet but the empress dowager starts to feel a little dizzy. She hasn't tried forging a weapon before so she didn't know doing so will be harder than she expected. She may not try it before but she has the knowledge on how to do it so her chance of success isn't lower than 50%.
She doesn't feel well but the thoughts she carved in her mind dominate her.
"Ye Feng, my dear teacher, and friend... I will avenge your death. I will drag this dynasty down with me."
On the other side of the imperial palace, Sect Leader Zhao is having a hard time keeping the barrier up. He's been holding this huge barrier for some time now, and creating such consumes his energy and spiritual powers. There are a lot of bloodthirsty monsters that are held captive at the moment. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of these creatures that are aggressively running around and biting more victims, which causes them to multiply.
With all the palace servants, soldiers, the high-ranking officials, and even the guests that attended the wedding ceremony that didn't take place... there's no end to this mess! And as of the moment, only Princess Yin Xiulan and Sect Elder Wang are trying to gather them all and isolate these berserkers to the barrier that the sect leader has made. In a span of an incense stick, Zhao Yangguang has to expand the barrier to fit the captives inside. Just like him, the princess and the sect leader are starting to get exhausted as well.
Out of nowhere, the formation that expands throughout the imperial palaces acted strangely. The faint glow on the ground shines even brighter. With this, the bloodthirsty creatures get even violent and aggrieved. It's like in an instant, they gained more strength. They even start to fight back against Princess Yin Xiulan and Sect Elder Wang.
Now, this put them at a greater disadvantage, especially to Sect Leader Zhao. He needs to keep up the prison while putting another barrier for himself at the same time for protection. Charging an attack would be too much for him to handle so he can't do anything but go defensive.
"Shizun!" The princess called out for the sect leader in a loud voice. "Can you still keep it up? Should we change our tactics?"
"I can keep this up for some more time... I think."
To be honest with himself, his arms are already slightly trembling. It's been a long time since he last used too much of his spiritual energy after all. Perhaps it was when before their sect fell out of glory. Good thing, he's still practicing meditation even though they're not officially a sect anymore. If not, maybe he already exhausted himself some time ago. Looking at the situation, it's not that hard to tell that they really are in a pinch.
"But we're not getting anywhere. We're totally outnumbered. We are just exhausting ourselves!"
Wang Junjie grabs the nearest opponent and throws it towards the barrier before he kicks the approaching one.
"What should we do? We can't hurt them." The sect elder said after he threw a live person and sent him flying for a few meters, and kicking one of them. Well, at least he didn't kill any.
The sect leader yells back. "We need to destroy the source of the yin energy that is activating this huge array!" This formation must have a weakness. There must be a way to deactivate this spell of dark arts.
The sect elder looks around. There's only him, the sect leader, and their former disciple that's taking their side. "But it's only the three of us here and our hands are full with these berserkers. Who can look for it?"
"I think I know where it started." The princess remembered what the empress said back at the empress dowager's hall. She mentioned something like 'it started' and 'it can't be stopped now'. And that array she made when they saw her. Was it to activate this bigger array?
In a low but still audible voice, she said. "But I don't think this could be stopped."
"What? Why? Then... then there is no end to this?!"
Zhao Yangguang just added another layer of his barrier in their prison since it looks like it's going to crack sooner or later. This is draining his spiritual energy faster than earlier. If this goes on, he's afraid that he won't be able to hold it still until daybreak.
Princess Yin Xiulan scratches her cheek with her forefinger. "We can wait until they die of thirst."
Just by thinking about it, Zhao Yangguang feels like he wants to cry. "Will we even last that long? We might get killed here! Or perhaps we die out of exhaustion!"
"Xiulan, go to where do you think this all began." Wang Junjie is rather calm despite the situation they are in. He barely changes his indifferent facial expression even he's put into a critical moment. "Think of a way to end this even though it can't be stopped anymore."
Her highness also wants to go to the empress' location. However, she's hesitant to leave while the other two are struggling here. "But what about you and shizun?"
"We'll try to last as long as we can." As harsh as usual, Wang Junjie throws a bloodthirsty monster after another. "Now go!"
"Alright. Please take care, shifu, shizun." Princess Yin Xiulan clasps her hands before she hopped into the nearest roof eve and leaps from one place to another, heading towards the hall where she left the empress and the others.
When she arrived at the hall, what greeted her is the smiling Empress Dowager. She's holding a long shaft with a sharp-pointed end.
The thing that her highness didn't know is that the empress dowager came back to her hall to strengthen the core of the huge formation with a little bit of her spiritual powers. This caused the sudden increase of the berserkers' strength and aggressiveness.
"Good evening, your highness." The empress dowager greets the princess just like how she usually does. "It seems you are enjoying yourself outside just now. Why are you here?"
"You...!" Her pair of phoenix eyes filled with rage. This woman is the main culprit for all this mess!
She looks around, searching for the beau she left here lately, and even told him not to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, only the empress and her unconscious brother remained when she got back.
Finding not even his shadow, the space between her eyebrows got wrinkles. "Where's Xu Zhengming?!"
Xu Zhengming. The empress dowager heard this name from the emperor himself as well. With this, she can't help but feel suspicious. There must be something about Eunuch Xu that makes him a little special to these triplets.
"Xu Zhengming again... Just who is he in your lives? Isn't he just a eunuch? A mere lowly servant. Why do you seem to care so much about him?" And then the empress dowager realized something. "Or is it the rumors about his majesty and his personal eunuch are true?"
The rumors about Eunuch Xu and his majesty are so widespread that it reached the empress dowager and even the grand empress dowager's ear.
Some of the most popular among these rumors are: Eunuch Xu seduced his majesty; The emperor's newly hired eunuch captured his majesty's heart. And the emperor favors him more than he favors the empress or any other member of his harem. The empress dowager always thought that it's a silly rumor. Now that the matter is brought up, was it actually true?
Princess Yin Xiulan will always be Princess Yin Xiulan. She may be a supporter of her brother and Xu Zhengming's pairing, however, she's not friendly to anyone who could possibly support them too. Especially if it's the empress dowager.
And besides, what would she tell her brother, Emperor Yin Wenyan, if she really lost him?
"Enough with the talk. Where is he?"
Feeling wronged, the empress dowager sternly declines the accusation. "I don't know! Why are you asking me that?"
What makes the princess think that she's after some lowly servant?
But now that she thought about it, she remembers an important detail that is linked with this Eunuch Xu. Didn't he become a bloodthirsty monster too? That night when she planned to kill the three of them one by one. She could have successfully done that if this eunuch didn't get in the way.
"Did he..." Princess Yin Xiulan kind of get it now. That silly bride-to-be of his brother actually did the opposite of what he's told. "Xu Zhengming... you're really dead to me later."
But in this case, maybe he really did the right decision. It might be worse to stay here with this mess' mastermind.
The empress dowager charges with the Crimson Javelin, aiming for one of the princess' vital points.
"Watch out!" Empress Xue Chi managed to yell but it's not that loud. Fortunately, it still caught the princess' attention. All thanks to that, she dodged the attack in time. Even a split-second delay will result in irreversible damage.
The empress also warned Princess Yin Xiulan. "Don't let that... injure you even... a small cut. Very poisonous..."
The blood of the Xue Clan may not be flowing in her veins but she knows about the Crimson Javelin.
In the history of their clan, only two were made. Only two Xue Sect cultivators dared to create the said weapon, and one of them died not long after the forging. Due to its risks, the clan decided to put this forging method on the list of forbidden spells.
The empress dowager actually dared to make a third one.
Although she succeeded in forging it, she's already weakened. Her complexion is paler than usual.
"Ah-Chi..." She calls out to the empress without looking back at her. Her voice is sweet as usual but the emphasis she put hits different. "You just revealed my secret. How mean of you."
"Are you still going to deny that you're doing this out of your free will, and use the name of the grand empress dowager?" Princess Yin Xiulan interrogated. She'll make sure that the empress dowager won't be having an easy way out of this mess this time around.
"Whatever happened in the past, it was mainly the grand empress dowager's plan. You can ask the Empress for confirmation." Surprisingly, the empress dowager is straightforward in this matter.
The time they were summoned in the Pavilion of Literary Glory, she tried to cover up for the grand empress dowager. And now, she's doing the exact opposite. Something's off, and they have yet to figure it out.
The princess asked once again, "And what about the current trouble?"
"Yes. This is out of my free will this time." The empress dowager said in her usual tone, even giving the princes a smile.
This woman, she's always been wearing masks all these years. Her actions are unpredictable. Who knows what's going on in her mind.
She then made several hand seals, concentrating her remaining spiritual energy. "I summon you. Come forth, Experiment 43. Ye Feng!"
Princess Yin Xiulan tightens her grasp on her fan. She could only whisper to herself as she keeps her guards up. "This isn't good."