Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

With nothing to do, Xu Xian went to the training ground to watch Zhang Hu and Zhao Bao practice their swordsmanship.

The two men were slashing at each other with wooden swords. Although their swordsmanship was not as good as his and Yang Xu's, it had improved a lot since they were at the Iron Gate Pass.

Zhang Hu's sword strike missed, and Zhao Bao seized the opportunity, slapping him on the backside. Zhao Bao then triumphantly shouted towards the sidelines.

"Brother Xu, what do you think of my move! Little Leopard is too slow to react."

"You're the one who's slow to react!" Zhang Hu said angrily, clutching his buttocks.

Zhao Bao saw the eight-sided sword next to Xu Xian and ran over.

"Brother Xu, you must have fought quite a few people in Qingzhou again, right? Last time you killed several Body Tempering Realm cultivators by yourself at the pastry shop, did you kill several Meridian Opening Realm cultivators again in Qingzhou this time?"

While cracking sunflower seeds, Xu Xian began to recount his battle against the Meridian Opening Realm expert... He omitted the parts where he was knocked away, coughed up blood, and nearly died, focusing instead on how he used the Holy Spirit Sword Technique to kill two Meridian Opening Realm assassins despite being injured!

Zhao Bao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and Zhang Hu also leaned over to listen intently.

...

After a while, Mo Feichang walked over from the other end of the corridor and waved to Xu Xian.

"Come here."

Xu Xian immediately stuffed the melon seeds into his pocket and followed Mo Feichang into the public room.

"Lord Mo, how will His Majesty deal with Shen Chengqian?"

"The edict to depose the crown prince will be issued tomorrow. Shen Chengqian will be sent to the White Pagoda Temple for life of confinement and will not be allowed to visit him. The White Pagoda Temple is located on a mountain thirty miles outside the city, surrounded by cliffs on both sides, with only one cable car for access. Several deposed crown princes have been imprisoned there in the history of Jingguo."

"Isn't there any punishment at all?"

  

"After all, he is my own son, not someone I picked up off the street. So naturally, I won't use torture. Deposing him from his position as crown prince and imprisoning him for life in the White Pagoda Temple is the most severe punishment for someone who has been the crown prince for over a hundred years."

Mo Feichang picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then changed the subject.

"You've worked hard these past few days, solving four major cases in just over half a year. These achievements would qualify you for a promotion to a higher rank if you were a commander or garrison commander, but you're not qualified enough. Stay in the position of centurion for now, and come tomorrow to collect your centurion badge."

Xu was stunned for a moment.

"A centurion?" He asked the fake Mo Feichang by Luoxia Lake, "Has my promotion to centurion been settled?" He made it up on the spot, just to get information out of him and see if he was really Mo Feichang.

He immediately drew his sword, pointed the tip at Mo Feichang, and shouted loudly.

"How dare they! They actually dare to impersonate the Chief Justice in the capital!"

Mo leaned back in his chair, glancing at him sideways, and remained silent for several breaths.

"Are you crazy?"

Xu Xianqian chuckled twice and sheathed the sword.

"Just trying to lighten the mood. If you don't like it, that's fine. I'll go back and rest now. Thanks, Mr. Si!"

...

Xu Xian pushed open the courtyard gate and smelled a spicy and fragrant aroma.

In the courtyard stood his usual copper pot, the red oil bubbling and boiling at the bottom. Hua Xi sat on a small stool, a plate of mutton slices of varying thickness in front of him, and was using chopsticks to pick up a slice and dip it into the pot.

There was another person sitting on the stool opposite her, Shen Weiya.

She was holding a dipping sauce dish and quietly rinsing a piece of tripe in the hot water.

Their chopsticks crossed above the copper pot; one ate with great enthusiasm, while the other ate with a heavy heart.

The tortoise lay on the stone table, a red wild grass dangling from its mouth, chewing it with a grimace.

Its mung bean eyes were bright red, and a bright teardrop clung to the corner of its eye.

Xu Xian got closer and saw that the weed was not a vegetable leaf at all, but a bright red chili pepper.

The turtle was still chewing, chewing faster and faster, until it suddenly opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue.

Hua Xi slapped the stone table and laughed so hard she almost fell over. The tortoise shrank into its shell, leaving only two tiny, beady eyes showing, with tears still streaming from the corners of its eyes.

"Your Highness, today doesn't seem to be a day for you to leave the palace, does it?"

Shen Weiya dipped the hot pot meat in the dipping sauce, put it in her mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and didn't look up.

"I've come to ask you something."

Xu Xian sat down opposite her, picked up a clean pair of chopsticks, took a slice of mutton from the pot, blew on it twice, and put it in his mouth. "Ask away."

Shen Weiya put down her chopsticks and clasped her hands on her knees.

She looked down at the thin calluses on her fingers from the sword hilt and remained silent for a long time.

The red oil in the copper pot was still bubbling. Hua Xi took the chili pepper out of the turtle's mouth and replaced it with a leaf of vegetable. The turtle gratefully took the leaf and retreated into its shell.

"Was the Crown Prince's deposition related to the case being investigated by the Investigation Department?"

Xu Xian paused for a moment, looked at her, and nodded.

"He committed grave mistakes: plotting rebellion, harming the people, and colluding with the Di Kingdom. Each of these crimes is punishable by death. The emperor did not kill him, but only deposed him from his position as crown prince, which was already an act of consideration for their father-son relationship."

"Did the message you received come from a palace eunuch, or did you guess it yourself?"

"It's all over the palace. The edict to depose the Crown Prince has been posted outside the Meridian Gate. Everyone in the Crown Prince's residence has been dismissed, and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices has been sealed off. I asked my mother, but she wouldn't say anything..."

"I went to find my master, and he told me to come directly to you. He said that no one in the Inspection Department knows more about this than you."

Shen Weiya picked up her chopsticks and slowly made circular motions on the soup noodles in the pot, the chili oil spreading and gathering again as she stirred.

"Brother Crown Prince, have you really rebelled?"

Xu Xian nodded. "He was the mastermind behind the mission case, the tax silver case, and the Qingzhou cold iron case. Every year, 20% of the cold iron was transported to the Di Kingdom by him..."

"In the dye house, he turned children from ordinary families into Gu soldiers. Those children were devoured by Gu worms, turning them into puppets without pain or fear, who could only obey the Gu master's orders."

"He killed the entire family of Governor Li Shanyu, consisting of thirty-six people, in Qingzhou because Li Shanyu had discovered evidence of his smuggling of cold iron..."

"He was also responsible for the massacre of the Marquis of Nanlong in Kang State more than ten years ago. For a vague rumor, he sent assassins to kill more than a hundred members of the Marquis of Nanlong's family and tricked the Marquis of Nanlong's only surviving son into becoming his assassin."

"When Ouyang was four years old, her whole family was killed. She was raised by Shen Chengqian for twelve years and did dirty work for him for twelve years. In the end, she discovered that the person who had been her benefactor for twelve years was the enemy who wiped out her entire family."

Shen Weiya didn't ask any more questions and focused on eating.

She picked up several slices of mutton and threw them into the pot. After they were half-cooked, she took them out, dipped them in a thick layer of sauce, and stuffed them into her mouth.

He picked up another piece of tofu with his chopsticks, and even though it was so hot he was sucking in air, he refused to spit it out.

Xu Xian didn't say anything more, he just pushed the plate of mutton towards her.

Hua Xi glanced at Xu Xian, then at Shen Weiya, and silently stuffed the vegetable leaves into her mouth, unusually quiet.

As she ate, Shen Weiya suddenly stopped eating, lowered her head, and two tears fell into the condiment dish in front of her, splashing up tiny droplets of oil.

"Brother Crown Prince is a very nice person..."

She seemed to be talking to Xu Xian, but it also seemed like she was talking to herself.

"When I was little, I made a mistake and was confined to my bedchamber by my father. I was locked in my palace for three days and not allowed to leave. My elder brother, the Crown Prince, secretly climbed in through the window after court to bring me some snacks. He was almost shot by an arrow by a guard who mistook him for an assassin..."

"Every winter he would have new cotton-padded coats made for us younger siblings. Everyone had to be measured, and they couldn't be too big or too small. One year, my cotton-padded coat was too short, and he personally went to the Imperial Clothing Bureau to scold them..."

Shen Weiya kept poking at the bowl, showing no sign of stopping.

"The palace is boring and desolate. My brothers and sisters each have their own schemes, and the smiles on their faces are all fake. Everyone wears a mask..."

"Whenever my eldest brother smiles at me, I always feel like he's calculating how much I'm worth. My third brother never even looks at people properly. Only my crown prince is truly kind to me..."

"He would make time to play with me, bring me delicious food from outside the palace, and secretly let me leave the palace to practice swordsmanship with my master..."

"As the crown prince, he's incredibly busy, yet he still remembers what time I leave the palace each month and always has someone waiting for me at the palace gate to see me off. I don't understand why things have escalated to this point..."