Feverish with Internal Heat, Corrupting the Inner Palace in Depravity

Normally speaking, let alone the Crown Princess, even the Crown Prince's concubines and consorts were constantly attended by palace maids, leaving almost no opportunity for solitude, let alone within the massive chambers of the Crown Princess herself.

Beads of cold sweat seeped onto the Crown Prince's forehead as he met the many suspicious gazes fixed upon him, panic gripping his heart.

"Father, Your Son's wife has always disliked having many people around. Perhaps she was simply acting on a whim at the time and dismissed her attendants," the Crown Prince argued.

"Very well. The main purpose of summoning you all today is to investigate the cause of the Crown Princess and the others' deaths. You may all freely express your opinions. Guard, bring in the corpse of one of the Crown Prince's consorts for the ministers to examine."

A female corpse dressed in palace attire was carried into the hall. Everyone who saw it was shocked and marvelled at the sight, and the realization that even the dignified Crown Princess of the great Dafeng Dynasty had suffered such a tragic fate made it all the more terrifying.

"Master Shen, you have always been well-versed in unorthodox secret arts. What do you suppose was the cause of this woman's death?" the Emperor asked, turning to look at a peculiar-looking Daoist master standing to his left.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this woman should have had her Yin essence completely drained by an evil cultivator to practice dark arts, which is why her complexion remains crimson."

"Oh? I also suspect this is largely the case. I wonder if Master Shen has any method to track down this evil cultivator?"

The latter pondered for a moment before shaking his head and saying:

"Your Majesty, since this evil cultivator practices such vicious arts, he must find it difficult to suppress the scorching fire within his body, and thus requires female Yin essence to harmonize it. If we can trap and seal all suspicious individuals, within three days, this person will certainly go mad from the unbearable inner heat. Aside from this, your subject cannot think of any other tracking method at the moment."

"That's right, Father! Since that evil cultivator was able to sneak into the Crown Prince's palace to commit violence, he might well be hiding within the palace itself. Why not seal the palace gates right now, and the evil cultivator will naturally expose himself!" Prince Ying proposed, cupping his fists.

"Very well. Guards, deploy three hundred imperial guards to seal the Eastern Palace for three days. Send the consorts and maids outside the palace temporarily, and let everyone else remain within," the Emperor said, rising and walking outward.

"Respectfully send off Your Majesty."
"Respectfully send off Father."
...
"Hehe, Elder Brother Crown Prince, I am afraid you will be wronged and forced to wait quietly in the palace for three days. We shall take our leave now," the Third Prince smiled.

"Third Brother, what do you mean by that? If you have something to say, speak plainly, don't beat around the bush!" the Crown Prince rebuked angrily.

"Nothing at all, I am merely concerned for Your Imperial Highness. A life without women to accompany you must be terribly dull,呵呵."

With that, he glanced at the First Prince, the corners of his mouth curving upward.

Everyone else cast sidelong glances, secretly thinking that the Third Prince's words seemed to carry a deeper meaning.

Especially the First Prince, whose heart trembled, guessing that the former's glance just now seemed to imply he knew something.

Han Chong left along with the various princes and high officials. He cast a thoughtful glance at the Crown Prince, vaguely noticing that ever since entering the hall, the flushed complexion on the Crown Prince's face from yesterday had completely vanished—truly bizarre.
...
"Blood Venom, what is to be done? Now there is not a single woman left in the palace. Let alone three days, this Crown Prince won't even survive tonight!"

After everyone had departed, the Crown Prince asked the man with three moles beside him with a distressed expression.

"Your Highness, this subordinate feels that recently, the scorching fire within your body seems to have grown increasingly fierce, which is indeed rather strange."

"What? What are you trying to say?" the Crown Prince asked, frowning.

"You are the revered Crown Prince of the current dynasty, blessed with the imperial fortune of the realm. Logically, you should be immune to all poisons and invulnerable to all arts, yet your body contains an inexplicable inner fire. That in itself is highly suspicious. Recently, it has even shown a trend of worsening, which is truly baffling!"

"Are you saying someone poisoned me?"

"Indeed. Aside from this explanation, what other possibility is there? Today, Your Highness's older and younger brothers were all sneering and kicking you while you were down."

"Hmph, this group of traitors cannot bear to see me favored by Father, and they have coveted the position of Crown Prince for a long time. For the past forty years, I have walked on thin ice, trembling with fear and remaining constantly cautious. Yet even I had no inkling of it—what poison in this world could possibly invade my dragon body?"

"Hehe, the vast and boundless world is full of wonders. As long as one is determined, they can always find strange poisons and bizarre curses."

"Blood Venom, my life is now in grave danger. You must assist me with all your might! When I ascend the throne in the future, I will appoint you as the Protector of the State, and gold, silver, and beauties will be yours to take!"

"Hehe, even if Your Highness didn't say it, this subordinate would not stand idly by. The only strategy for now is to advance by retreating—confess to the Emperor about the violations of the Crown Princess and the others, state clearly about the poison of the scorching fire within your body, and beg the Emperor to personally dispatch high ministers to investigate!"

"This... will this work?"

"There is no other way."

"Very well, I shall enter the palace now to plead guilty, and afterwards, I will surely get to the bottom of this matter."

The Crown Prince stepped out of the Eastern Palace gates and, escorted by the Imperial Guard general guarding the Eastern Palace, headed toward the Northern Palace Imperial Garden, passing by the Taiye Pool toward the direction of the Taiji Hall.

However, as they reached the side of the Taiye Pool, they happened to encounter a palace beauty frolicking by the pool, attended by several maids.

The Crown Prince suddenly felt the inner fire within his body surge upwards like an explosion. His eyes turned bloodred, and all reason vanished.

No longer able to restrain himself, he pounced toward the imperial consort!

Let alone the crowd of palace maids and guards, even the Imperial Guard general by his side was no match for the Crown Prince; attempting to block him slightly, he was sent flying backward by a blast of energy. In broad daylight, they could only watch helplessly as the Crown Prince committed bestial acts against the imperial consort.

Imperial guards arrived successively, standing at a loss, while others covertly hid and fled, terrified of being discovered.

The commotion here soon alerted the top powerhouses of the palace, who came flying from four directions, led notably by four individuals.

They were dressed in azure, red, white, and gray robes respectively—two men and two women—with the four mythological beasts, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird, embroidered on their chests.

Upon seeing that it was actually the Crown Prince committing violence in broad daylight, the four of them were also greatly astonished. Wielding their respective spiritual lights, they formed a four-colored trapping formation to suppress the Crown Prince, thereby stopping him.

Immediately exchanging glances, they suddenly turned and began a massive slaughter of the guards and palace maids in all directions. Sword qi crisscrossed, and spiritual lights splashed everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, within a radius of a hundred zhang, all guards and palace maids were brutally massacred to the last, and even that Imperial Guard general was slain!

They then escorted the Crown Prince toward the Taiji Hall. Although the latter resisted in every possible way, his strength proved insufficient. Upon entering the hall, he was finally forced to obediently kneel and pay respects to the Emperor.

The Emperor was already trembling all over with rage. That imperial consort was none other than Lady Li, the most favored imperial concubine whose beauty eclipsed the entire rear palace.

He never expected that this unfilial son would dare to commit such a bestial act in broad daylight—he was simply worse than a beast!

"Father, spare my life! Your son was framed by villains who planted a strange poison in me, causing me to lose self-control; otherwise, I would never have been so shameless!"

"Unfilial son! Occupying the position of heir to the throne, you think not of making progress day after day, indulging instead in petty and disgraceful deeds, bullying your brothers and officials! As if that were not enough, you have now taken to practicing evil arts, harming hundreds of commoner women—did you think I was completely unaware of it? What is even more hateful is that you actually lost your mind to the point of sparing not even the Crown Princess, and now came to the palace to violate Lady Li! You are utterly detestable to both gods and men! Guards, Ming, the Crown Prince, has severely failed my expectations and possesses a base moral character. Strip him of his status, reduce him to a commoner, and confine him to the Clan Court for all eternity, never to emerge!"

"As you command." The four supreme powerhouses exchanged glances, bowed in obedience, and escorted the Crown Prince, vanishing from the hall in an instant.

"Puff!" A mouthful of stagnant blood spewed forth. The Emperor's face turned as pale as gold paper, and he nearly fainted.

Although the four experts had slaughtered most of the witnesses, a few slipped through the net. As the saying goes, you cannot wrap fire in paper, and by the next day, the matter became known to all the princes, who secretly rejoiced.

The First Prince even wept tears of joy; he had finally pulled the Crown Prince down from his perch within his lifetime.