Following Xuan Yuan Qingli's instructions, Feng Fei went out for a stroll and met several familiar palace maids.
She happily told them that good fortune had smiled upon them; the Fifth Prince, who had been unconscious for a day, had awakened.
Not far away, a young eunuch who had been secretly watching Xuan Yuan Qingli saw this and quickly ran to a magnificent palace, reporting to an eleven or twelve-year-old boy, "Your Highness, good news! The Fifth Prince has awakened!"
The boy was none other than the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng.
His appearance was fairly decent, but unfortunately, his sinister and lewd expression ruined his overall demeanor, giving him a very uncomfortable air.
"Hmph, that bastard's life is pretty lucky; he didn't die even after all that,"
Xue Beng muttered, secretly relieved.
No matter how much he despised that bastard, he was still his father's child.
If he had really killed him, although his father certainly wouldn't make him pay with his life, he might still be scolded.
"It's good that he's alive now. If I'm in a bad mood later, I can go and beat him up to vent my anger.
He's a ready-made punching bag. Living is more valuable than dying."
Xue Beng's eyes darted around, and he remembered the little maid named Feng Fei.
She was really pretty; he hadn't noticed her before.
As his mood relaxed, his evil thoughts began to take over again, and he became more and more itchy.
In the morning, because he mistakenly thought he had killed Xuan Yuan Qing Li, Xue Beng had panicked and left in a hurry, without thinking about rescuing her.
Now, he had no more scruples.
"Come, let's go see my 'fifth brother.' He survived a great ordeal, and as his older brother, I must comfort him."
Xue Beng immediately led the little eunuch and walked quickly towards where Xuan Yuan Qing Li lived. Soon, they arrived at a dilapidated corner of the Cold Palace, where there was a drafty room that looked dark, damp, and cold in the twilight.
The door was tightly shut when the young eunuch stepped forward and kicked it open with a bang, shouting arrogantly, "Fifth Prince, the Fourth Prince has graced us with his presence! Why aren't you coming out to greet him?"
There was no response from inside. Feeling slighted, the young eunuch yelled, "Fifth Prince, why aren't you coming out to greet the Fourth Prince? Do you have a death wish?"
From inside came Feng Fei's timid voice: "Fourth Prince, the Fifth Prince's injuries haven't healed, he can't get up, and he can't greet you."
Xue Beng grinned lewdly: "Good that he can't get up, then I'll definitely help my good brother take care of his little beauty.
Hmm, I'll be right next to him, and I'll do Feng Fei right in front of him, that'll be exciting!"
He looked at the little eunuch, "What's this called? It's called... you know, being a... present criminal, right? Haha!"
The little eunuch nodded and bowed, his smile humble yet lewd: "Your Highness, you are truly learned and talented, this servant admires you!"
Xue Beng laughed heartily, his face full of excitement as he rushed into the room.
Suddenly, a gust of wind and sand squinted his eyes, a sharp pain shot through them, tears streamed down his face, and everything went dark.
Bang!
Then something struck him hard on the head.
Just as Xue Beng was about to scream, a dirty rag was stuffed into his mouth, and he was hit hard on the head several more times before collapsing to the ground.
"You..."
The little eunuch slowed down a few steps. When he entered, Xue Beng had already collapsed.
He was momentarily stunned.
In that moment of hesitation, he saw Feng Fei wave her hand and throw a handful of sand at him.
He instinctively closed his eyes. The sand hit his face like a knife, instantly turning his face into a bloody mess.
The little eunuch couldn't help but want to scream, but as soon as he opened his mouth, it was stuffed full of sand, and he couldn't make a sound.
The next moment, a sharp pain shot through his neck. He waved his hands and cried out, but no sound came out.
A few seconds later, he collapsed to the ground, dead.
Xuan Yuan Qingli gasped for breath. This was the first time she had killed someone in both her lives.
Besides the instinctive tension and fear, there was also a sense of cathartic pleasure.
"Your Highness, what do we do now?"
Feng Fei threw the broken half of the table leg she was holding to the ground as if it were burning her hand.
It was with this table leg that she had struck Xue Beng's head, knocking him unconscious.
"Tie him up first."
Xuan Yuan Qingli walked over and closed the door.
He was too young and lacked strength, and having just killed someone, his limbs were a little weak, so he directed Feng Fei to act.
Although Feng Fei was only a little over ten years old, she was a Soul Master.
Despite only having level ten Soul Power, her physical strength was still much stronger than that of ordinary people her age.
With the enhancement of Soul Power, even a grown man might not be as strong as her.
"Oh!"
Feng Fei lowered her head, feeling that His Highness had changed a lot since waking up, even daring to kill someone.
She was also an accomplice; those puffs of flying sand were transformed from her martial spirit.
Caught off guard, the pampered Fourth Prince was knocked to the ground without any resistance.
Feng Fei tightly bound Xue Beng like a dumpling with rope. Xuan Yuan Qing Li touched Xue Beng's body, finally focusing her gaze on the longevity lock he wore on his chest.
She yanked it off and tossed it to Feng Fei.
"Use your soul power to check if it's a soul tool."
Feng Fei quickly caught the longevity lock. Sensing it with her soul power, she saw a dimensional space and exclaimed happily, "Your Highness, it's a storage soul tool.
It contains ten cubic meters and many gold soul coins." Xuan Yuan
Qing Li asked, "Is there a token representing his identity?"
Feng Fei wiped her hand and took out a golden rectangular token.
"I don't know if this is it; I don't have any other tokens."
Xuan Yuan Qing Li looked at the token.
One side of the token was engraved with an exquisite and elegant swan, and the other side had the Douluo script characters 'Xue Beng' on it.
"That should be it."
With the token in hand, Xuan Yuan Qingli didn't delay any longer.
She glanced at Xue Beng, picked up the cleaver stuck in the eunuch's corpse, and with a swift stroke, chopped off the source of Xue Beng's evil, the blood instantly staining the ground red.
Xue Beng was jolted awake from his unconsciousness by the pain.
His mouth opened wide, but because it was stuffed with a dirty rag, he couldn't make a sound.
His eyes were wide open, filled with pain and fear.
During his violent struggle, the thick rope wrapped around him showed signs of snapping.
Xuan Yuan Qingli wasn't surprised. Xue Beng was, after all, a first-ring Soul Master.
With the boost of Soul Power, his strength far surpassed that of an ordinary adult.
Under intense pain, his potential was not to be underestimated.
Xuan Yuan Qingli sneered and said to Feng Fei, "Hit him!"
"Ah!"
Feng Fei was stunned for a moment, then reacted, quickly picking up a table leg from the ground, gritting her teeth, and striking Xue Beng's head with all her might.
A faint cracking sound could be heard.
Xue Beng's face was covered in blood, convulsing violently, his eyes filled with pain, pleading, and fear.
Xuan Yuan Qing Li remained unmoved: "Hit him again!"
Feng Fei's delicate body trembled, her face pale, but she dared not disobey the prince's order.
She closed her eyes and repeatedly struck Xue Beng's head.
After a few blows, Xue Beng fainted again, barely breathing.
Xuan Yuan Qing Li took a deep breath and said to Feng Fei, "Get me a set of your smaller clothes."
Feng Fei was confused, but quickly found a smaller set of outer garments.
Xuan Yuan Qing Li put on the palace maid's outer garment, casually tousled her long hair, and looked in the mirror.
A face with exquisite features and delicate features appeared before her.
Because of her young age, it was not easy to tell if she was male or female.
Dressed in women's clothing, she looked like an extremely beautiful little palace maid.
"Your Highness, you..."
Feng Fei was somewhat bewildered. The prince was actually wearing her clothes. How could this be?
Xuan Yuan Qingli ignored her, hid the longevity lock, and peeked through a crack in the door.
It was quiet outside; the Cold Palace was generally deserted, especially since this was the most desolate and dilapidated part of it.
"Let's go!"
he called to Feng Fei, locking the door behind him before leaving.
He then casually walked towards the palace gate.
The palace walls were dozens of meters high, too high for Xuan Yuan Qingli to climb over, so he had to exit through the palace gate.
Xuan Yuan Qingli had Feng Fei lead the way, quickly making his way towards the palace gate.
Along the way, he encountered some palace maids and eunuchs, most of whom showed little reaction.
Those who came to question him were intimidated by his token, Xue Beng.
Xue Beng, a powerful figure in the capital, never treated palace maids and eunuchs as human beings.
Despite his young age, he had already executed many.
Apart from a select few, no one in the palace was unafraid of him, so seeing Xue Beng's token, no one dared to cause trouble. It wasn't
until he reached the palace gate that the guards stopped him.
(End of Chapter)