After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Zhu Cuiwei glanced at the cold-faced commander kneeling on the ground and said indifferently:

"Commander Shang, the woman you cursed at at the Ning residence the other day, her face is indeed bruised, and her life has been rather unfortunate. Yet you still made her cry, I heard her eyes were swollen and red from crying. Hmm, Commander Shang, you are truly rather heartless... Commander Shang may not know,"

Zhu Cuiwei's eyes gradually turned cold as she spoke.

"That unfortunate woman, unfortunately, is my sister."

"Bang!"

Without thinking, Shang Jiuyang instinctively slammed his head against the ground!

"Your Majesty, I deserve to die!"

After Shang Jiuyang instinctively kowtowed to beg for forgiveness, his pupils contracted sharply as he stared at the ground! A chill ran down his spine!

Only after the pain shot through his forehead and his heart pounded did he begin to curse Liu Xinghan in his mind: Damn it! What a scoundrel!

Zhu Cuiwei said calmly, "Commander Shang, if you have less than five heads under your blade today, you will enter the palace tomorrow and spend the rest of your life serving my poor sister."

Upon entering the palace… Shang Jiuyang, mouth agape and trembling, exhaled a breath and solemnly said, “Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty! If I do not cut off ten heads of the traitors for Your Majesty today, I will commit suicide by the river to atone for my sins!”

Zhu Cui smiled and nodded, "Okay."

Shang Jiuyang was filled with indignation, but on the surface he appeared righteous and awe-inspiring. Liu Xinghan lashed his whip at him, telling him to "mount," and he hurriedly got up and mounted his horse.

At this time.

Several riders galloped over from afar.

A "hissing" sound rang out.

Xu Tong, a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, hurriedly dismounted and bowed:

"Your Highness, Vice Commissioner Qin has found the thieves' trail and mobilized the navy to blockade the waters. Vice Commissioner Qin is leading her men towards the Xiaobai River area. Vice Commissioner Qin said that if the thieves escape tonight and the son-in-law cannot be rescued, she will offer her head! Please rest assured, Your Highness!" Xu Tong was still unaware that Prince Xin had ascended the throne and still addressed him as "Your Highness".

Zhu Cuiwei nodded and said, "Okay."

She raised her riding whip.

Just as they were about to gallop away.

About ten feet ahead.

A group of about ten Imperial Guards appeared to be returning from an inspection.

A tall, imposing man wearing a black gauze hat, a black flying fish robe, and a copper hammer at his waist suddenly stepped out from the ranks.

The man's eyes gleamed with excitement as he waved sharply at Zhu Cuiwei:

"sister in law!"

……

……

Night fell.

Along the official road about twenty miles west of Nanjing, torches were lit in the woods.

Flames shot into the sky in an instant.

Li Erlai raised his knife and held it to the neck of a man wearing a red turban.

The young pig butcher from Lijia Village, who had followed his father around slaughtering pigs since childhood, looked tired and said:

"Tell me, where have you taken my elder brother?"

The firelight flickered.

The light from a dozen torches shone on the pockmarked boy's face, which was covered in blood on his left cheek. Only his voice could be heard in the room; everyone else remained silent.

A dozen or so thieves from the Heavenly Principle Sect were tied up, made to kneel on the ground, their faces pale.

The blood on the pockmarked boy's face was from when he had just cut off the head of a thief in front of everyone; the scene was gruesome and terrifying.

Li Erlai's eyes were bloodshot, and the blade of the sharp knife in his hand was already embedded in the neck of the man kneeling on the ground, drawing a line of blood.

The man from the Tianli Sect knelt on the ground, staring up at the pockmarked boy. Even with his usual courage, he was terrified at this moment!

"No, no, I don't know..." The man from the Heavenly Principle Sect stammered, looking at the blood-stained, pockmarked face.

Li Erlai said, "You won't tell me either?" He pressed down on the man's head.

"I'm not refusing to tell!" the man screamed.

"I don't know! I don't know!" The man felt a chill run through him, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Li Erlai frowned and said, "What's the difference between not knowing and not saying anything?"

But seeing that the man was saying "I don't know" to some extent, he simply pressed down on his head and, in front of more than ten members of the Heavenly Principle Sect kneeling on the ground, slit his throat and bled him out using the method of slaughtering a pig.

The members of the Heavenly Principle Sect trembled like leaves.

"Bang!"

Li Erlai loosened his grip on the corpse, then flicked his knife, splattering drops of hot blood onto the faces, bodies, hair, and eyes of the dozen or so thieves, making their faces even paler.

With this one body added, there are now four corpses lying on the ground.

There was no torture; there was only one question, and if you didn't answer, you were killed. The third corpse was even beheaded.

Li Erlai was covered in sweat, his eyes looking somewhat blank and at a loss.

One of the Imperial Guards, his eyes somewhat unfocused, approached, holding a torch, and said, "Brother Erlai, it seems these people don't know anything about this."

The Heavenly Principles Cult is a tightly organized group, and it is common for certain information to be known only to the upper echelons. Arresting some lower-level henchmen is not very useful, and those upper echelons are all incredibly stubborn. They interrogated them for a long time without getting any results. The Li Erlai brothers were so eager to find Young Master Ning that they couldn't control their murderous intent.

Li Erlai took the bamboo tube handed to him by the servant Du Gui, poured a mouthful of water into his mouth, swallowed it, nodded and said, "Then I won't ask anymore, just kill them all."

The members of the Heavenly Principle Sect felt a chill run through their bodies, and their faces turned ashen.

The Imperial Guard was also taken aback; this man had such a strong desire to kill!

He gave a wry smile and said, "Brother Erlai, let me take these people back and interrogate them more carefully. They don't know Young Master Ning's whereabouts, so maybe I can find out the location of their branch altars."

Li Erlai remained silent for a moment.

After an afternoon of fighting, Du Gui, Wang Xiao, and their servants all sustained some injuries. Xie Er was the most seriously injured, having been slashed in the shoulder by a member of the Heavenly Principle Sect. The knife went deep into the bone, but fortunately, the young man was tough and stabbed the villain to death. He has now been sent back to the capital.

Seeing Erlai's appearance, Du Gui and the others felt both respect and fear.

Li Erlai raised his head and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the Imperial Guard: "Thank you for your understanding, Brother Chen Bao. These thieves are all in your care." Chen Bao and the Heavenly Principle Sect thieves all breathed a sigh of relief. The latter was so happy that he cried tears of joy, feeling as if he had survived a calamity.

Li Erlai took out a piece of white gauze and wiped his sharp knife, his heart filled with turmoil and unease.

They followed Zhang Zhuzi closely, but unexpectedly, Zhang Zhuzi led them in circles. Da Hei, along with Chen Bao and Lü Jin, were the first team to follow Zhang Zhuzi. After Da Hei realized that Zhang Zhuzi was leading them in circles, he knew that they had been discovered.

Just as they were thinking it was a waste of time and were about to capture Zhang Zhuzi and the other two, they left the city. Dahei sent Lü Jin back to say that they were probably setting up an ambush.

Shangguan Xiu, the commander of the Imperial Guard, led them to devise a plan to counterattack the ambush.

They traveled more than twenty miles out of the city.

They were indeed ambushed, but fortunately, Brother Shangguan Xiu ordered him to lead the Ning family servants and the guards of the Tang Prince's mansion to circle around from the left, and ordered Pang Ting, the centurion, to circle around from the right. They managed to break through the ambush and capture all the thieves.