Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

“My mother is a devout follower of the Moon Worship Cult… a believer in the Moon River Goddess… the future of the Moonlit Royal Family cannot fall into the hands of those who let wolves into the house… my mother said I must become a queen, an empress…”

You want to be the empress, so it doesn't matter who the emperor is, right?

Chu Mingkong understood somewhat: the Moon Worship Cult valued local power and needed purity, therefore rejecting the plan to bring in the eldest prince through marriage and instead poisoning him.

He asked, "Did your mother force you?"

"It was... my mother who forced me to do it."

Shangguan Rong felt something was off about the question:

"Who poisoned Princess Yongzhen?"

This time, the remnant soul of the favored concubine remained silent, indicating that she was unaware of the matter.

Shangguan Rong shook her head at the female Taoist disciple, indicating that she had no further questions, and then said to Chu Mingkong:

"Following this line of thought, if the Moon Worship Cult poisoned the eldest prince, then Princess Yongzhen, who was already suspected of seizing power, would become even more suspicious. As the eldest prince's widow, with the backing of the Heavenly Pole Royal Family, she would be highly suspected of seizing power, and then the hatred would be directed at her, causing the Moonlit Clan to reject any external assistance in the future."

The goatee-bearded strategist felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. Normally, he might have praised the woman who had asked the question, hoping to recruit her to their side for advice. But now, his mind was filled with the current situation:

"And then another group poisoned Princess Yongzhen, trying to make Lord Cao hate us?"

Shangguan Rong remained silent. There were too many suspects involved in poisoning Yongzhen's people; almost any faction could gain some benefit from doing so.

Even the Tianji royal family, the other side of the marriage alliance, could poison Yongzhen themselves. With their own eldest princess dead, they have even more reason to send troops.

Previously, they were merely reinforcements, but now they can march in openly and legitimately.

Chu Mingkong wasn't actually that concerned about the situation on the eldest prince's side; his focus was on Yongzhen's side.

However, since the Moon Worship Cult intends to use the death of the eldest prince to implicate Yongzhen, it can be considered an indirect debt.

But there's still no follow-up on the poisoning of Yongzhen. Who exactly did it? Is it just being left as a mystery?

If such matters are not investigated and clarified immediately upon occurrence, they will only become increasingly difficult to uncover later, unless someone brazenly comes forward and admits it.

Chu Mingkong felt annoyed. He really didn't want to suffer this injustice in silence, so he snapped and asked:

"What about the other two princes? Where did they go? Why haven't we heard from them yet?"

After a while, the person who had gone out earlier finally brought back the message, saying:

"Both princes are out enjoying themselves and are not in the Moonlit Realm. They cannot return in time..."

It's probably not that they didn't want to come back; after such a major incident, they didn't even want to come back to see it.

Suddenly, a message arrived. Chu Mingkong was about to find a place to hide and read the message, but fearing that Shangguan Rong might also be poisoned right under his nose, he turned back, pulled her out of the room, and went to the corridor.

"What are you doing?" Shangguan Rong asked, puzzled.

"I'm afraid something might happen to you. From now until you leave the Crescent Moon Kingdom, you should stay by my side at all times. Don't feel constrained."

Shangguan Rong disliked being told what to do, but Chu Mingkong's unreasonable and forceful manner made it hard for her to dislike him.

“…Mm.” She lowered her head and nodded.

Chu Mingkong forced a smile and then took out the note to check the message.

[Qingse: Has something happened inside the Moon Palace?]

Chu Mingkong was stunned. How long had it been since the incident, and Qingse already had news? Wasn't their intelligence network a little too fast?

[Chu Mingkong: Yes, although I'm curious how you found out, I'm more interested in knowing some information about Yongzhen's situation. Who orchestrated this?]

[Qingse: The mastermind behind all of this hasn't been found yet, but I can give you a clue. Remember the Immortal Treasure Pavilion in the Crescent Moon Kingdom that I mentioned before?]

[Chu Mingkong: I remember, Pavilion Master Amaterasu, his wife is one of your product clients, is her name Nida?]

[Qingse: Not my product customer, but your jade dildo customer...]

Someone was just investigating the nightgown issue, and Nida told me that the artisans who could forge the patterns on royal nightgowns were most likely her subordinates. Her family makes these kinds of garment patterns, exclusively for important figures; it's a monopolistic craft in the Crescent Moon Kingdom. Nida just found out that one of the artisans quit her job a few days ago, and she's now looking for that person. She just told me they've caught them and are questioning them to avoid implicating her.

Chu Mingkong waited patiently in the corridor, hoping that news from the other side would arrive soon, and also told Shangguan Rong about the situation.

When the message arrived again on the note, Chu Mingkong glanced at the words "identity" mentioned on it and replied to Qingse with "thank you".

[Chu Mingkong: Please also give my thanks to Mrs. Nida.]

[Qingse: No problem. She just said she'd like to make friends with you sometime, and also see what the real thing looks like...]

Shangguan Rong stood next to Chu Mingkong, frowning as she asked:

"Mingkong, what does 'real thing' mean?"

"..." Chu Mingkong paused for a moment: "They probably want to see my great sword, the divine weapon of the Asura King. Who wouldn't want to see it?"

Back in the eldest prince's room, while he was out for a short while, more and more members of the Yuejing royal family gathered around, some silent, some wailing.

Chu Mingkong's appearance drew the attention of his confidants, who hoped he could bring new information.

This is strange. He is clearly an outsider. The goatee-bearded strategist and the one-eyed swordsman who know the inside story know even more clearly that he is the secret lover of the princess who is to be married off. He and the eldest prince should have an incompatible relationship. Yet now he has become the backbone of this place.

Chu Mingkong said coldly:

"Bring the Second Prince and that guy named Mamon to me. If your Moonlit Clan has any means of long-distance communication, tell them to come back immediately. No matter how far away they are, don't make me go find them myself."

If they can't provide an explanation, and if no one can be found to take their place, then they will be the ones to die!

Chapter 224 Sending it is useless

The second prince is still in Moonlit City, not out indulging in pleasure outside Moonlit territory as he had sent word.

He was indeed involved in the plot to poison Princess Yongzhen. Initially, he had no intention of seizing power, because becoming Emperor Yueqi would not have a significant impact on his life.

Would he be happier after becoming the Moon Emperor? No, it's just that the Second Prince was swayed by Ma Meng's eloquence.

Such an arrogant person as him sometimes can't handle flattery. He gets carried away after a few compliments and says that if such a supreme and noble status were given to a mediocre person like the eldest prince, he would rely on his position to boss the second prince around and interfere in his life.

Amidst flattery and alarmist rhetoric, Mamun pointed out a clear path for the second prince: to plot against Princess Yongzhen and use her admirer to eliminate the eldest prince—a classic case of using someone else to do one's dirty work.

In this way, it would be difficult for others to suspect the second prince, because in normal thinking, the one who seizes power should be the eldest prince who is poisoned, so who would have thought that it was the eldest princess who was poisoned?

If the eldest prince dies, wouldn't the succession to the throne fall to him?

But unexpectedly, some damned people secretly killed the eldest prince!

Hidden in the underground chamber, the second prince listened to the intelligence reports continuously delivered by his trusted confidants, his face filled with rage:

"Which idiot is going against me! I, the prince, am going to kill Princess Tianji, so why did someone have to kill my brother instead! Is this an attempt to harm me?!"

A trusted confidant entered the secret chamber and brought new information to the second prince; the confidant's face was ashen.

"Second Prince, Princess Tianji's relative surnamed Cao has threatened that you and Ma Meng must get out and see him immediately."

The secret chamber was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Apart from the old king and the third prince, who would argue with the second prince, no one dared to speak to him like that.

"Insolence! Who does he think he is, an outsider? How dare he order me to go see him in my Moon Wheel Palace? Why shouldn't he be the one to come see me, the prince?!"

The confidant added, "That thief surnamed Cao also said that even if you don't go to see him, he can come looking for you..."

The thought that even the one-eyed swordsman Zahak had to give that person a wide berth made the second prince's teeth ache.

"Forget it..." The second prince backed down. After pondering for a long time, he said to his confidant, "Let Ansila handle this matter. It's just a woman who died. Isn't my wife more noble than a princess? Why make such a fuss over saving face? If we apologize in private and give her enough face, she'll still be kicked out."

Ansila is a renowned beauty in the Moonlit Territory. Although she does not have noble blood, her commoner background and the fact that she was chosen by the royal family with her charming face and sexy figure is enough to demonstrate her outstanding beauty.

Unfortunately, the Crescent Kingdom is in chaos, with no one in any region willing to submit to anyone else, making it difficult to establish an official ranking of who is the most beautiful and who is the second most beautiful, unlike in the Celestial Empire.

However, among private intelligence brokers, Ansila's beauty is more than enough to rank her among the top five in the Crescent Kingdom.

This beauty was originally intended to be the eldest prince's concubine, but after the eldest prince cultivated his character, he only wanted his childhood sweetheart and politely declined the beauty offered by his family. He then let the second prince accept her as his wife.

------------

Chu Mingkong did not linger in the eldest prince's room any longer. Now, his identity had inexplicably changed from "the eldest prince's VIP" to "a close friend seeking the truth behind the eldest prince's death."

That's strange.

If the Second Prince really did leave the Moonlit Territory to have some fun outside, then just standing around waiting for results won't get us anywhere.

Chu Mingkong spoke with the eldest prince's confidants and then returned to Yongzhen's "ward" to stay. Some people who didn't know what was going on wondered why he went to the eldest princess's room, but the goatee-bearded strategist and the one-eyed swordsman dispelled their doubts and explained that "Cao" was a relative of the eldest princess. Now that the eldest princess was poisoned in a foreign land and her life was uncertain, he just wanted to stay with her.

Those people stopped paying attention.

Inside the room, Chu Mingkong glanced at the "critically ill" doll princess, then tightly embraced the real Yongzhen, her delicate body nestled in his arms, filling his nostrils with fragrance.

"No matter what happens tomorrow, whether those two princes come or not, I will take you away from here and head to Kunlun Mountain first. This place is too unsuitable."

Sensing the true meaning in Chu Mingkong's words, Yongzhen unbuttoned her clothes, embraced Chu Mingkong's head, and stroked Chu Mingkong's cheek with her bodice, which was stretched into a graceful shape by her high breasts.

"It was my doll that was poisoned, not my real body. I just spent a long time explaining to my mother about spitting blood on the paper. You saw with your own eyes that I'm fine, so how come you can't tell the difference?" The graceful princess looked down at Chu Mingkong with a smile.

Chu Mingkong felt a strange sense of familiarity as Yongzhen washed his face like this. He recalled how "Yongzhen" under Madam Zhen's control had hugged him in the same way. It was hard to soothe his heart with such an embrace.

A woman's soft heart is like a warm harbor.

“It’s different for you, but it’s the same for me. I don’t accept you being hurt in front of me.”

"When you were messing with me with that thing of yours, you weren't as tender as you're saying now, that you can bully me but no one else is allowed to, right?"

After Yongzhen finished speaking with a slightly disdainful tone, she met the gaze of the man who was looking up into her soft, white bosom. The man's resolute expression crumbled at Yongzhen's words, and he felt extremely embarrassed.

"It's different. I just wanted to get closer to you, Yongzhen, not to bully you..." he explained, forcing himself to speak.

"When I told you it hurt, why didn't you stop? Why didn't you get any smaller? It's getting even tighter!"

Chu Mingkong sensed that Yongzhen's speaking style had changed somewhat under Jin Yu's influence. Yongzhen's move was a bit sudden, and Chu Mingkong couldn't catch it, so he could only continue to bury himself in her warm fragrance.

Yongzhen held his head, marveling at the novelty of it all:

"After suffering such a huge loss, you just left like that? This isn't like you. Back in the capital, Jin Yu and his brothers offended you a little, and now they're all gone. But here in a foreign land, how come you've suddenly become so refined and courteous?"

Chu Mingkong truly hadn't expected the word "refined and cultured" to be used to describe him. He said to Yongzhen, "You're a bit taller, you want to eat grapes," before explaining:

"I've already decided to be a magnanimous person who doesn't hold grudges overnight. Once I've delivered you to Madam Zhen, I'll immediately come back here to settle this score. I won't let it linger overnight, lest I hold onto it."

"What a magnanimous person! Mingkong, how dare you say such a thing!"

Yongzhen chuckled and playfully slapped his head. Sensing his restless desire to "make medicine," Yongzhen suddenly asked a fatal question.

"Mingkong, when my mother controlled my body before, you liked it when she held you like this, didn't you?"

"..."