"He closed the mechanism from inside, so it can’t be opened," Bai Ruozhu said, then hurriedly turned to Da Gu, "Lord Da Gu, please immediately send someone to the posthouse to call my companions over, tell Yuan Licheng and Fo Lanying to come at once."

Yuan Licheng is a master of arrays, and Fo Lanying is skilled with mechanisms, with the two of them it might be possible to open the secret chamber quickly.

Da Gu did not dare to delay and immediately dispatched someone to the posthouse.

Bai Ruozhu and Jiang Yichun inquired about the situation and then helped treat the Second Prince. Fortunately, he only suffered internal injuries and was not poisoned by the poisonous insect.

"How could this happen? Father wouldn’t have such strength, how could he have pushed me so far?" The Second Prince said worriedly, "It must be that the insect master controlled him into the secret chamber. What on earth does that insect master want to do?"

Bai Ruozhu took a deep breath, "I only know he wants to control the Fusang Royal Family, but I don’t know why he made His Majesty enter the secret chamber alone."

Jiang Yichun said, "It’s possible that the poisonous insect has just hatched and is unstable, afraid of being harmed by monks chanting, so he hid in the secret chamber alone."

"If that’s the case, it’s not too difficult to handle; I hope there are no other conspiracies involved," Bai Ruozhu rubbed her temples. The enemy is hidden while we are exposed; none of them understand Song Yi that well, making this battle difficult to fight; they can only passively defend.

The two of them fumbled for a long time but couldn’t find a solution. During this time, Bai Ruozhu listened carefully, but even with her hearing, she couldn’t hear any movement inside the secret chamber.

Finally, Yuan Licheng and Fo Lanying arrived, and the two began to study the situation.

"Lanying and I discussed it for a moment, we can forcefully open it here." Yuan Licheng said, "However, forcing it open might injure the person hiding inside."

Hearing this, Da Gu immediately objected, "No, no, is there no other way?"

Bai Ruozhu glared at him and said, "At this point, do you know what will happen if we delay any longer? His Majesty is not conscious; what if he’s controlled to commit suicide? Even if he gets injured, at least we can rescue him, we can still treat him."

Da Gu didn’t know what to decide and hurriedly looked at the Second Prince.

"Force it open, we can’t let Father be trapped inside alone, I’ll take responsibility if anything happens!" the Second Prince said through gritted teeth.

Bai Ruozhu nodded secretly, the Second Prince is truly bearing the weight of responsibility now.

Yuan Licheng and Fo Lanying quickly began to break the mechanism; at this moment, others came, specifically Empress Shangzi and Empress Yazi.

Bai Ruozhu’s expression changed, she said to Da Gu, "The situation is unclear now, we can’t let anyone enter. If they’re also controlled by the poisonous insects, the chaos will be even worse."

Da Gu, not daring to be careless, hurriedly went to stop them outside.

Empress Shangzi saw Bai Ruozhu at the door and immediately showed a pleading expression, "Master Bai, I beg you, please help His Majesty, he must not be harmed!"

However, Empress Yazi was shouting, "Why are we not allowed to enter? What right does she have to stop us? I think she’s the one plotting against His Majesty! What poisonous insect? For all we know, she’s the one who released the insects, she’s plotting against His Majesty!"

If it were before, the Second Prince might have harbored some doubts due to Bai Ruozhu having placed Xiaomao on the Emperor’s forehead, but after experiencing it, he finally understood what was happening.

"Mother Empress, enough, don’t be so unreasonable here. If it weren’t for Master Bai, I too would have been controlled by the poisonous insect, others may not know, but I am well aware," the Second Prince said loudly.

But considering his mother’s reputation, he ultimately didn’t say that it was Empress Yazi who bewitched him.

Empress Yazi showed a look of surprise, unsure if she was surprised that the Second Prince was awake, or if she was taken aback by his current attitude.

"Were you fed love potions by her? How can you trust such a woman? Do you like her? What unspeakable things have you done?" Empress Yazi shouted.

Bai Ruozhu had been focusing on Yuan Licheng and Fo Lanying but she was always able to multitask; upon hearing those words, she immediately burst out and rushed in front of Empress Yazi.

She raised her hand and slapped her left and right across Empress Yazi’s face, a rapid series of slaps, had it not been for her controlling the force, Empress Yazi would have lost all her teeth.

"I don’t care if you are controlled by a poisonous insect, or it’s your own intention, if I hear you spewing nonsense again, next time it won’t just be a slap!" Bai Ruozhu’s voice was sinister.

The Second Prince was also extremely angry, is this still his mother?

Last time, rumors in Kyoto had many believing he was impotent, and this time they’re spreading rumors that he has an affair with Bai Ruozhu. If not for the belief that his mother was controlled by a poisonous insect, he would have cut off the mother-son relationship!

Jiang Yichun’s face was also grim, biting his teeth as he looked at Empress Yazi, "Get out!"

Just with that one word, carrying inner strength and a murderous aura, Empress Yazi, being an ordinary person, was directly shaken to the ground, coughing a mouthful of blood.

"It’s open!" Fo Lanying’s voice rang out, Bai Ruozhu ignored Empress Yazi and pulled Jiang Yichun as she turned and entered the secret chamber.

Da Gu and the Second Prince also followed inside. Soon everyone saw that the inside of the secret chamber was in a mess. Many royal treasures were thrown on the ground, and even an ancient porcelain had shattered.

But to everyone’s surprise, there was no sign of the Emperor in the secret chamber!

"Could there be another exit?" Fo Lanying muttered.

Bai Ruozhu pointed to a place, "There’s another mechanism here, try to open it."

That place hid the secret literature of the Fusang Royal Family; she and Jiang Yichun had gone in and seen it before for two days.

"Okay."

This time it wasn’t difficult to open, however, after the mechanism opened, the inside was the opposite of the outside, it was neat and tidy, and nobody seemed to have entered, the Emperor was not inside either.

"Could a person disappear out of thin air? I’ll search around, there might be another mechanism for an exit," Yuan Licheng said.

Bai Ruozhu walked over to the bookshelf in the inner chamber room for inspection; these books were the ones she organized last, and she believed that ordinarily, the Emperor wouldn’t be interested in flipping through them, so she remembered the order she placed them in.

She gave it a look, the books were as she last placed them, so no one seemed to have touched them.

Outside, Da Gu and the Second Prince also joined the search, but after half an hour, there were no discoveries.

"What should we do now? Where on earth did Father go?" The Second Prince intensely scratched his head, already staying up at night resulting in bloodshot eyes, and now his hair was even messier, resembling a madman.

But he had to admit, the Second Prince is a filial child.

Bai Ruozhu, too, was troubled, could the Emperor have a space and entered it, thus disappearing into thin air?

No, impossible, not everyone can have a space!

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Just realized that the scheduled updates didn’t go out on time, almost posting out of order... working hard to meet the ten thousand words target tonight~