As soon as the prince closes the door of the hall, he let out a deep sigh. He clearly lost his composure there. He's just hoping that it won't arise Eunuch Xu's suspicion. Well, he wants him to be aware of his feelings towards him but this is just too sudden. Also, he doesn't think that this is the right time to know about it.
They are still facing a lot of problems and dealing with still unsolved mysteries. This is a hard time for all of them, especially Eunuch Xu whose never been in the cultivation world. Confessing to him right now would most probably make him more emotionally unstable. He will tell him eventually, for sure... but not now.
Speaking of problems, he has a task to carry out while almost everyone is away from the imperial palace. Well, there are still people who remained inside the palace walls such as servants and guards patrolling the area.
Since everyone here, except for Eunuch Xu, knows that the emperor has departed, he must not be seen by those passersby.
He swiftly moves from building to building until he gets into the part near the grand empress dowager's hall.
Just as expected, she brought her personal servants with her and no one is left in her hall. This made it easier for the prince to sneak inside her grandmother's hall. He slides the door open and sees nothing strange inside.
After his eyes wander in the four corners of the hall and confirmed no threats, he steps inside and slowly closes the door.
"Your highness? Empress Xue Chi, are you here? Your highness?" He calls out but received no response.
He thought, perhaps she didn't hide the empress here. Or is she really hiding the empress?
Since he's already here and he rarely gets a chance like this, he thought, he better look for any suspicious things here that could be used against her. Also, the spirit herb Yueguang Hua might be in here too.
He looked in her cabinet, under the bed, anywhere where she possibly could have kept such a rare herb but still found nothing. However, Prince Yin Wenyan didn't give up yet.
As he is searching around, he noticed that this hall is actually small. It's even much smaller than the empress' hall. He finds it strange. By hierarchy of authority, the grand empress dowager is at a higher level than the empress. Why would a superior agree to have a smaller place than an inferior? This made him think that there must be a secret room or passageway towards a secret room just like what they have in the Lotus Hall.
Escape routes aren't uncommon in the imperial palace after all. Every emperor of every generation has their own escape route. It's just it remained hidden.
He starts knocking on the wooden wall from all sides of the hall. As he knocks on the wall, he noticed that one side of the hall's wall sounds differently when knocked onto. It sounds like there's a hollow space behind it. He tried pushing the wall but nothing happened.
He put his lips closer to the disguised partition. He calls out once again, "Your highness? Are you here?" But still, he only got silence as a response.
There's a big chance that the empress isn't here since he got no response from all the callings he made all this time. However, he just can't ignore the fact that the hall of the grand empress dowager is strange. Since he's already here, and they rarely get a chance like this, why not seize the opportunity? She must be hiding something, and for some reason, he has the urge to discover it all. Whatever he will find out in her hall might be of any help when the time comes that they're ready to take all the authority over the imperial palace.
There's no use pushing it forward. No matter how much force he applies, the wall won't just move even a mere centimeter. He decided to draw his sword from its scabbard and planned to just slash his way across the wall. But when he tried pushing it sideways, the wall moves like a sliding door. There's indeed a hidden room behind this wooden wall!
At first, he can't see anything inside because of how dark it is. There are no fenestrations that resulted from the lack of natural light from the outside. He only got to see more when he pushes the huge wall sideways which allows the light from the hall to penetrate the hidden room.
This secret room seems a little wider than he had expected. Despite the amount of light that entered the darkness, he still can't see the other side of the room. Good thing, he found a candle when he was searching around. He quickly ignited a flame on the candle to make use of it as a light source.
As he is exploring the hidden room, the first thing he sees is a small altar with two memorial tablets on it. Based on the characters written on each of the tablets, he learned that it was dedicated to his dead father, the previous emperor, and his grandfather, the grand empress dowager's late husband.
There's even a couple of incense sticks that are about to turn into complete ashes. It seems the grand empress dowager burned the incense before she left to attend the annual ceremony for good harvests.
Prince Yin Wenyan thought it's not something very suspicious after all. This is just more like a prayer room. The grand empress dowager is being too secretive at things like this that even made him suspicious of her. The prince felt bad about doubting the old empress and even invaded her privacy.
He bows three times in front of these memorial tablets to pay his respects. Although he didn't see them when they're still alive, or maybe he saw them but he's too young to remember, they're still his and his sibling's ascendants.
After doing so, he stared at those for a while then decided to leave the hall. He doesn't think there's anything wrong here. He started to doubt their accusation, that they actually wronged their grandmother so much.
When he turned his back to the altar to leave, he noticed something on one of the corners of the secret room. He noticed a figure that looks like a body of a woman lying on a chaise lounge.
"Your highness? Your highness, is that you?" The prince calls out but still got no response.
He even tried to light that direction with the candle in his hand but still, he couldn't get a clear view from his post. And so, he decided to walk closer to it.
As he steps forward, his vision starts to get clearer. The closer he gets, the more he sees what is unexpected. He's only just three steps away from the chaise lounge when he halted. His face got a complicated expression. His hand starts to tremble and his knees feel weak. The prince isn't certain if it's just the room is too quiet or his heartbeat and heavy breathing sounded louder. But would he still have the chance to think about it when he sees his mother?
Yes, Prince Yin Wenyan is certain. He can't be wrong with this one. This woman lying motionlessly, and their painting as infants with their mother at his sister's headquarters have the same face.
The prince fell on his knees. His lips trembled as he utters the name he never had the chance to call, "M... Mother..."
His face becomes even more complicated the more he stares at the cold and pale body of his mother. Except for the fact that her blood had long gone from her body, she still looks alive and just has a light nap.
"Mother, how... why...?"
A lot of questions arise in his mind. First of all, why is his mother here? Second, no matter how he looks at her, she's just a cold empty container, why is her mother not buried or reduced to ashes? Why is she kept in this dark room?
They're told that their mother died because of a severe illness. They told them that they couldn't do anything about it because her condition is unknown and that it was beyond remedy.
If it's really an illness, why is she kept in here unburied for almost three decades? Are they not afraid that the illness is contagious? 
Prince Yin Wenyan also noticed the bruises on her that are about to fade away.
"What exactly happened?"
Only by then did he notice the presence of the spirit herb YueguangHua. The flower originally has five petals but the one he found has only four. Beside the herb is a pile of withered YuegyuangHua. That's when he realized that whoever is behind this, most probably the grand empress dowager, has been using this rare spirit herb to preserve her mother's body.
His disbelief got replaced with pure hatred. The gentleness in his face has now faded without any hint left. He didn't shed a tear or feel sad about it. All he feels right now is resentment. Bitterness dominated his heart. His bright eyes are blinded by revenge.
Whatever the reason as to why his mother's body got treated miserably is unacceptable. There will never be a valid reason for all of these.
In front of her mother's body, right here and now, he swears to make the person responsible for this pay for everything that's been done to her. The word mercy is now meaningless to him. He will make sure that this person will suffer twice as her mother and the three of them have been through.
He closes his eyes and breathes deeply. He tries to control his impulsive feelings. Justice shall be served to those who are treated badly. Vengeance shall come to those who are ill-intended.
For now, he has to suppress the stream of emotions if he wants the culprit to get what this person deserves. He slowly opens his eyes again to stare at his mother. He saw her sister, Princess Yin Xiulan, on her. They look alike, too much resemblance.
"Mother." He calls out.
How happy would he be if he's able to call her that while she's alive? He wonders how would it feel to have someone to call 'mother'. Perhaps it's a feeling that he'll never get tired of.
"I now set you free. Forgive me for coming this late but from now on, no one can harm your body. Please rest in peace and leave your worries. I'll take this from here."
He took the flower from her side. He stares at her for a while before slowly stepping backward. He's leaving the hidden room but he refuses to break his gaze on his mother. The moment the spirit herb got apart from her for about a couple of meters, her body reacted to it. Without a supply of spiritual energy, her body was immediately reduced to ashes.
Prince Yin Wenyan saw it with his own eyes. He felt a sudden pain deep inside his chest. Perhaps, it's the child part of him that's crying, longing for his mother's warm embrace. But there's nothing that can be done with that. What happened in the past can't be changed but the future can by starting to make the move in the present.
Even though it pains him, he finally turns his back to leave the secret room. He slides the wooden wall back to where it originally was.
With the rare spirit herb, Yueguang Hua in his hand, he left the grand empress dowager's hall as nothing happened.
He tightens his grip on the herb. No one can take this away from him for the second time. If anyone dares to do so, he will cut that person's throat with his own blade. Cut it slowly, until that person begs him to just end that poor and lowly life. Cut it slowly, until that person's blood drains and die of blood loss.