Did the Seventh Prince attend court today?

Before Lin's scissors could strike, Meng Tianhong shot out a poisoned needle from his sleeve.

However, the expected poison needle piercing the body and causing Lin to collapse from poisoning did not occur. Instead, there were two sharp clanging sounds, as if the poison needle had struck a piece of metal, without even piercing Lin's skin, and it fell straight to the ground.

Meng Tianhong was stunned.

His actions enraged Lin. Before he could react, Lin roared and swung her iron-like arm, sending him crashing into the wall like a kite with a broken string, before he rolled to the ground.

"Mother!" Qin Rongrong cried out, trying to rush over to check his injuries, but Lin grabbed her by the throat.

The hand locked around her throat was colder than ice. All color drained from Qin Rongrong's face as she trembled and choked out a plea for help: "Mother... dear, Rongrong is so scared..."

Meng Tianhong coughed up blood and pleaded urgently, "Don't hurt her! I'll do anything you ask if you'll let her go! You came back like this, surely it wasn't just to reclaim Madam Qin's position?!"

Lin stiffly turned her neck, her constricted pupils slowly rotating, as if she were thinking.

Seeing this, Meng Tianhong seized the opportunity to leap up and forcefully knock her to the ground. He then took the opportunity to snatch Qin Rongrong from her hands and patted her to comfort her, saying, "It's alright, it's alright, Mother is here."

Qin Rongrong cried uncontrollably, clinging tightly to him, sobbing, "Mother, she's so scary... she's not even human!"

"Although she seemed fine during the day, I once caught her killing someone and drinking blood in the middle of the night. The missing servants in the house must have been killed by her, sob sob sob..."

Meng Tianhong felt a chill run down his spine.

He had only guessed at first, but now he was certain that the Lin family member in front of him was indeed a corpse gu.

The secret arts of the Southern Frontier record that one can refine a Gu (a type of poisonous insect) from the flesh of a recently deceased person. If successful, it can make the Gu invulnerable to weapons and incredibly strong. The refined Corpse Gu is no different from an ordinary person during the day, but becomes cruel and bloodthirsty at night. It needs to drink fresh blood every day to keep its flesh from decaying.

This forbidden technique was so cruel, bloody, and extremely harmful that it had long been lost, but for some reason it has suddenly reappeared in the world.

As she pondered, a cracking sound rang out; it was Lin, who had been knocked down, slowly standing up.

Lightning illuminated her bloodless face. She straightened her twisted arm expressionlessly, and ten long, black fingernails instantly sprouted from her pale, bluish-white hands, each one incredibly sharp and gleaming coldly.

"Die! They all deserve to die!"

She roared and lunged at the two of them.

Meng Tianhong pulled Qin Rongrong behind him and engaged Lin Shi in a fierce battle.

Unfortunately, he still had Gu poison in his body, and his body had already been hollowed out by the Gu poison, making him no match for Lin Shi.

Soon, he was unable to dodge in time, and Lin's claws left five deep and long claw marks on his shoulder, with black blood gushing from the wounds.

"Oh no! It's poisonous!" Meng Tianhong exclaimed, his head spinning.

Seeing Lin's vicious claws strike again, Qin Rongrong cried out in alarm, "Mother, be careful!"

However, Meng Tianhong was powerless to dodge. At the critical moment, Qin Tan rushed into the woodshed with a wooden stick and hit Lin Shi hard on the back.

The wooden stick broke with a snap, temporarily halting Lin's actions.

Panting heavily, Qin Tan ignored the bloody hole in her shoulder, put one arm around Meng Tianhong, pulled Qin Rongrong with the other, and quickly left the woodshed.

As soon as the three of them stepped out, Qin Tan's son, Qin Zhouzhou, slammed the door shut and stood against it, saying, "Father, you take Mother away first; I'll stop her!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a series of loud bangs echoed as the door was slammed shut.

Qin Zhouzhou, her young face flushed red from the effort, leaned against the door and urged, "Hurry up!"

Qin Rongrong clenched her trembling hands and rushed forward to help her younger brother hold the door shut, crying, "Let's go!"

The siblings' bodies, along with the door panel, were knocked so hard they were on the verge of collapse.

Meng Tianhong was heartbroken. Qin Tan gritted her teeth and forcefully pulled him away quickly.

The hurried footsteps were drowned out by the sound of rain. The two ran to the back door in the rain, Qin Tan opened the door and pushed Meng Tianhong out.

Meng Tianhong gripped the door crack, his eyes red as he pleaded, "I won't leave, Qin Lang, I can't abandon you and the two children..."

Qin Tan brushed his eyes aside and said in a trembling voice, "Go find the Seventh Prince, get the antidote, and return to Nanzhao. Between you and me... just consider it a dream."

The rain was pouring down, and Meng Tianhong couldn't tell if the rain on his face was rain or tears. He could only stand there dumbfounded as the man pried open his fingers and watched helplessly as the vermilion door closed.

After regaining his senses, Meng Tianhong stubbornly pounded on the heavy door, crying and pleading, "Qin Lang! Open the door! Qin Lang! Please, open the door! I won't leave, I don't want to leave you!"

Qin Tan covered her eyes, slid weakly to the ground, and sobbed, "Hong'er, she is my wife. Now that she's back, no matter what she's become, I should fulfill my responsibilities."

"We are not destined to be together in this life, but I hope that after you seize power in Nanzhao, you will remember our past friendship and not become enemies with Dayong."

After saying that, he wiped his eyes with his sleeve, hardened his heart and stopped listening to the cries outside the door, got up and ran towards the woodshed.

Hearing the departing footsteps, Meng Tianhong was overcome with grief and cried out in a hoarse voice, "Qin Lang!"

He then coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed in the heavy rain.

He was already at his limit, and he was injured and poisoned in the fight with the Lin family. It was already the limit that he could hold on until now.

In the darkness, the secret guards sent by Emperor Wulong to monitor the Qin family emerged from a corner and took away the unconscious Meng Tianhong.

The news reached the palace that very night.

Inside the Phoenix Palace's sleeping quarters, Emperor Wulong, after listening to the report from his secret guards, sighed deeply and said, "Back then, when he hesitated, I guessed he still cared about his first wife. I just never imagined that someone who had been dead for over ten years would actually come back to life. This whole thing is too bizarre!"

The Empress frowned and said, "I'm afraid she's not human. Judging from the descriptions of the secret guards, that Lin woman seems like a monster. If we let this go unchecked, I'm afraid disaster will strike."

"There's nothing we can do about it!" Emperor Wulong shrugged. "The person was brought back by the Princess Consort of Duan, and she was originally Qin Tan's wife. She seemed perfectly fine during the day. Who would have thought she would kill and suck blood? Nobody would believe it if this got out!"

He rubbed his temples and sighed, "We can only wait for Xiao Qi to come back and see what's going on."

The Queen patted his shoulder reassuringly.

As dawn broke and the rain stopped, the Qin residence returned to its usual tranquility, with only fallen petals and withered leaves on the ground telling the story of the thrilling night before.

Lin was awakened by the chirping of birds. She sat up, propping herself up on her hand, and looked around before her gaze fell on the exhausted Qin Tan. She asked blankly, "Husband, how did you get hurt? And why do Rongrong and Zhouzhou look so pale?"

After Meng Tianhong escaped last night, Madam Lin did not make any further moves. She wandered around the mansion like a ghost, carrying scissors.

Qin Tan was worried that she would harm the servants, so he ignored the cut on his shoulder from the scissors and followed closely behind her until Lin fainted after the rooster crowed. Only then did he hurriedly take her back to her room.

Qin Rongrong and Qin Zhouzhou were worried about their father and stayed in the room. Qin Rongrong was so frightened that she cried all night, and the tear stains on her face were still wet.

Upon hearing this, Qin Tan managed a weak smile, but before she could speak, she fainted due to excessive blood loss.

The Qin residence was thrown into chaos.