Denghuangtai

The gray-robed man beside him whispered, "His jaw was just removed by Marquis Yin'an."

Yun Zheng was stunned and looked up at the gray-robed man.

The gray-robed man walked up to the assassin, grabbed the assassin's chin, and there was another "crack" sound.

As the voice faded, the assassin's pleas for mercy followed.

"Grand Minister, spare my life! Grand Minister, spare my life!" The assassin had half of his teeth pulled out, and his speech was slurred and unclear.

Yun Zheng held the iron block up in front of the assassin. "I'll give you one more chance. Will you confess or not?"

"Grand Marshal!" The assassin cried out, the iron block was inches away, its scorching heat searing his face, the skin that had just been burned still burning painfully.

"Please, just give me a quick death."

"Quickly?" Yun Zheng's lips curled into a smile, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent. "You won't confess anything, yet you only ask for a quick death? Do you really think I'm a kind and compassionate person?"

"I had no choice. Grand Minister, I have an eighty-year-old mother to care for and a three-year-old child to raise..."

"I'm getting old."

Before the assassin could finish pleading for mercy, Yun Zheng interrupted him. The assassin was stunned for a moment, not understanding what Yun Zheng meant by "getting old."

Yun Zheng coldly said, "Your line is outdated. Let me give you a wake-up call. Think of something else to say."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yun Zheng stretched out the hand holding the fire tongs and pressed the iron block directly onto the assassin's face. A heart-wrenching scream was heard, accompanied by the sizzling sound of flesh being burned open.

The assassin's wailing stopped abruptly halfway through; he closed his eyes and fainted.

Seeing this, the man in the gray robe picked up a bucket and started splashing water on the assassin's face.

"No need for that," Yun Zheng interrupted. "Untie him and drag him over there." He pointed to the large wok.

The gray-robed man understood immediately, quickly untied the man, and dragged him to the large cauldron in the center of the hall. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, as he approached, he accidentally placed the assassin's hand on the cauldron.

The assassin opened his eyes with a scream, clutching his scalded hand, jumping and hopping around, blowing on his blistered palm. But after only a few moments, he was pinned down by the gray-robed man.

"It's freezing cold in winter, Feng Xing, wash his hands first to warm them up," Yun Zheng instructed the gray-robed man.

Upon hearing this, Feng Xing immediately grabbed the assassin's arm.

Another heart-wrenching wail followed. By the time Fengxing grabbed the assassin's arm and pulled his hands out of the water, they were completely red, with blisters popping up one after another.

Before the assassin could recover, Yun Zheng's icy voice rang out again, "Look at me, in this cold weather, just washing my hands isn't enough. I should take a hot bath. Feng Xing, make your move."

Feng Xing responded and immediately grabbed the assassin's arm, lifting him up from the ground.

The assassin's feet had barely left the ground when he panicked, struggling and shouting, "It was the second young master of the Ban family! He ordered me to do this!"

Upon hearing the assassin's instructions, Feng Xing stopped what he was doing, lifted the person into the air, and looked at Yun Zheng. Seeing that Yun Zheng's eyelids twitched, he then put the assassin down on the ground.

With no one holding him hostage, the assassin's legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground.

Yun Zheng grabbed the leather whip he had set aside. "Take him to the residence of the General of the Five Offices."

After speaking, he opened the door and walked out first.

Li Ji, who was waiting outside the door, wanted to go forward and curry favor, but he was frightened away by the cold and murderous aura emanating from Yun Zheng. He hid in the corner and watched Yun Zheng walk with the wind and disappear around the corner in the blink of an eye.

Feng Xing, dragging the assassin along, hurriedly followed.

"Someone's going to be in trouble," Li Ji thought gleefully, shrinking back.

"My lord, it's getting late. Would you like to return to your residence and rest some more?" asked the attendant beside Li Ji.

Li Ji rolled his eyes at the other person and said irritably, "Go back what? Those damned idiots can think about going back to the manor when they wake up. Go, clean up the cell next to that 'living father'."

"Which living father?"

"Which one?" Li Ji slapped the back of his head hard, gritting his teeth and cursing, "Which one did you say? The one who almost got killed tonight! I'll go keep watch over her."

In the stillness of the night, the servant at the gate of the General of the Five Offices' residence was dozing off in his chair when suddenly the sound of rapid hoofbeats broke the silence. Disturbed from his sleep, the servant muttered a curse, turned over, changed direction, and went back to sleep.

Outside the gate, the sound of horses' hooves abruptly stopped, followed by a loud thud as someone pounded on the yellow gate of the General of the Five Offices' residence.

The servant cursed and stormed out of the gatehouse. Such a late-night knock seemed ill-intentioned, and the servant dared not open the door without permission. He went to the back room and woke up everyone else who was sleeping, then sent a younger servant to the second gate to report.

The knocking continued unabated. The servants and maids of the manor stood in the courtyard, each holding a stick, their eyes fixed on the gate.

The knocking suddenly stopped, and just as everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, they saw a man in a gray robe leap down from the courtyard wall.

The gray-robed man was Feng Xing, who had rescued Pei Qingyan from the assassins and cooperated with Yun Zheng in interrogating them.

As his name suggests, Feng Xing acted swiftly and decisively. Before the servants could react, he had already removed the bolt from the main gate, leaving it wide open, where Yun Zheng stood quietly.

Seeing this, the servants finally reacted and attacked Yun Zheng with wooden sticks.

The guards behind Yun Zheng immediately rushed forward and wrestled with the servants of the General of the Fifth Rank's residence. In order not to arouse the palace's suspicion, the servants in the General of the Fifth Rank's residence were all ordinary peasants who had not practiced martial arts.

These people were no match for Yun Zheng's guards. In just a few moves, they were all knocked down and unable to move.

"lead the way."

Feng Xing grabbed a servant, held a knife to his neck, and threatened him.

The servant had no chance to refuse. Trembling, he led Yun Zheng and the others straight to the main courtyard.

The erotic atmosphere in the main house of the courtyard was just beginning, when the couple's arousal was abruptly interrupted by the hoarse voice of the old woman at the second gate. Before they could even put on their clothes and get out of bed, Yun Zheng had already stormed in with his men.

"Bang!"

The assassin who tried to kill Pei Qingyan was treated like a piece of junk and smashed directly against the door of the main house.

"Which bastard is trying to cause trouble?"

Ban Qing quickly pulled on his trousers, draped his outer robe over himself, and opened the door while cursing.

As soon as the door opened, the assassin plunged into the room. By the light of the candles in the corridor, Ban Qing saw the man's appearance clearly and was immediately startled, tightening his grip on the door.

"The servants in the General's residence are ignorant and have gotten lost, so I have come here to escort them."

As he descended the steps, Yun Zheng spoke indifferently, but the coldness in his eyes deepened.

Ban Qing composed himself, feigning ignorance and frowning, "I don't know this person, nor is he a servant of my household. Grand Minister, could you have mistaken him for someone else?"

"You don't know him?" Yun Zheng asked with a half-smile. "He confessed that everything he did today was at your behest."

Ban Qing secretly glared at the assassin, cursing him inwardly for being a coward with no backbone.

While he thought this to himself, outwardly, to appease Yun Zheng, he pretended to know nothing and not want to get involved in the trouble, saying, "Whatever he does is none of my business."

Seeing Ban Qing so hastily trying to distance himself from the situation, Yun Zheng sneered, his eyes flashing with coldness.

"You say it has nothing to do with you, but he says you ordered it. Since you each have your own version of events..." Yun Zheng deliberately dragged out his words, gave Ban Qing a meaningful look, and smiled, "Then I'll have no choice but to take you both to the imperial prison. Guards!"

He raised his voice and proclaimed loudly, "Take down General Wu Guan Zhong Jiang!"

The words had barely left his lips when a shrill female voice rang out, "Who dares!"