At this moment, Zhao Heng's expression had completely darkened, completely losing his previous composure.

Yu Wantang stood in the center of the grand hall, the blood staining her dark robes having dried into a dark brown.

"Why are you not scolding anymore?" She paused, a hint of a smile curving her lips as her gaze swept casually over the crowd. "I wonder if you esteemed ministers would like such deep favor?"

Those righteous rebukes from just moments ago were now silenced as if someone had choked them by the throat, and everyone fell completely silent.

With the two imperial edicts thrown out, the voices that had just been filled with righteous indignation completely vanished.

They did not dare look at Yu Wantang, nor did they dare look at the person on the dragon throne. Some lowered their heads to look at the tips of their boots, some stared blankly at the two blood-stained yellow silks on the ground, and some were wiping sweat, their foreheads already scrubbed bright red.

Zhao Heng sat on the dragon throne, shock, anger, and panic churning in the depths of his eyes. Forcefully maintaining the majesty of the Son of Heaven, he abruptly slammed his hand on the imperial desk and sharply rebuked, "Audacious! Yu Wantang, how dare you forge an imperial edict, lead troops to storm the palace, and slaughter court ministers? Do you truly believe We cannot deal with you?!"

His angry reprimand exploded like a thunderclap, shocking the air throughout the entire hall.

"Your Majesty is right! The Yu Family has committed treason, forged an imperial edict, and deserves to die a thousand deaths!"

"We implore Your Majesty to issue an edict to execute the entire Yu Family to straighten the court's discipline!"

"Rebels are in power and throwing the court into chaos. This subject begs Your Majesty to severely punish them!"

"..."

The rising and falling echoes of agreement sounded, but they did not even last two seconds before being interrupted by Yu Wantang's low chuckle.

"Forged?" She raised an eyebrow, her tone full of mockery. "The imperial edict was personally delivered to the Generals Mansion by Eunuch Li. Unfortunately, he is already dead and cannot come to testify for Your Majesty."

Holding her long saber that was still dripping with blood, she moved her gaze away from the imperial desk and onto Head Eunuch Wang Dequan, who was standing bow-backed beside Zhao Heng.

Both imperial edicts had been personally handed by him to Li Zhongquan. At this moment, locked in by Yu Wantang's icy gaze, his legs went soft, and with a thud, he collapsed to his knees, pressing his forehead tightly against the golden brick floor without even daring to raise his head.

"Head Eunuch Wang." Yu Wantang walked up to him, the tip of her blade gently lifting his chin, forcing him to look up. "His Majesty says this imperial edict is fake. You tell me, are these two imperial edicts real or fake?"

Head Eunuch Wang Dequan was so frightened that his tears and snot flowed together, his lips trembling, unable to say a single word.

Fake? Did he dare say that? That would be the crime of deceiving the emperor.

Real? He dared not say that even more! Admitting in front of all the civil and military officials that the emperor was faithless and intended to slaughter the entire Generals Mansion meant his little life would be forfeit right here on the spot.

A trace of mockery flashed across Yu Wantang's eyes. "It seems Head Eunuch Wang dares not speak. Understandable, eating the royal family's food, how could one dare dismantle their master's stage."

As her words fell, her wrist sank, a flash of blade-light swept past, and a jet of blood spurted from Head Eunuch Wang Dequan's neck.

His eyes widened, his mouth opened and closed, and his body slumped limply to the ground, twitching twice before going completely still.

"Yu Wantang!" Zhao Heng flew into a rage, abruptly standing up. The hem of his dragon robe brushed past the imperial desk, the flickering candlelight casting a mottled, ashen expression over his face. "You dare touch My people!"

Yu Wantang put away her saber, flicked the blood droplets from the blade, and looked at Zhao Heng. "Eunuch Wang forged an imperial edict, confused the public, and intended to frame the loyal and upright; he deserves a capital crime. This subject's daughter is merely helping Your Majesty clear out the sycophants."

Zhao Heng's Adam's apple rolled violently, and the veins on his forehead throbbed. He wanted to retort, but Head Eunuch Wang Dequan was dead—there was no dead to confront, no evidence left. His face alternated between green and white as he was about to erupt.

Just at this moment, someone stepped forward—Censor Li.

This Censor Li had always considered himself upright and observant of propriety in the court, and every other word from his mouth was about the great righteousness between ruler and subject. He first bowed toward the direction of the dragon throne, then turned around with the resolve of facing death unflinchingly.

"Lady Yu." His voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet grand hall. "Thunder and rain, dew and frost, are all imperial favors. If the ruler wants the subject to die, the subject must die. If His Majesty wants this old subject to die, this old subject will have not a single word of complaint. This is the duty of being a subject!"

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, his tone rising by several degrees. "The Yu Family has enjoyed imperial grace for generations, yet now you lead troops to storm the palace, commit treason, and slaughter court ministers. If this is not a rebellious traitor, what is it?! What you all have done today will surely leave a stench for ten thousand years!"

"Such a good sense of duty, such a great imperial favor." Yu Wantang replied indifferently, the smile not reaching the depths of her eyes. "Since Censor Li is so steadfast in his duty and wholeheartedly devoted to his ruler, then I shall grant your wish."

The blade-light was like lightning, too fast for anyone to trace its trajectory, and only a soft sizzle of a sharp blade piercing flesh could be heard.

Censor Li's eyes widened round, his face filled with utter disbelief. He lowered his head, staring blankly at the long saber piercing through his chest as fresh blood continuously gushed from his mouth, staining the lapels of his chest red.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but before he could get a single word out, his body stiffened, and he instantly lost his breath.

Killed with a single strike.

The officials throughout the hall were completely frightened silly, each of them as silent as cicadas in winter, not even daring to breathe loudly. Some even instinctively covered their mouths, terrified that making the slightest sound would invite disaster upon themselves.

Yu Wantang pulled out the long saber, letting the fresh blood drip down the blade, blooming scarlet flowers across the bluestone floor.

Carrying the saber, she walked slowly toward the center of the hall, her icy gaze sweeping over the crowd, her voice as cold as ice: "Which few of you were just calling me a rebellious traitor? Step forward."

As her words fell, the few officials who had jumped around the most enthusiastically instantly turned pale. This woman simply did not play by the rules; she genuinely dared to kill.

"Little sister, you rest." Yu Zeyun strode forward with his long saber on his shoulder. "There's no need for you to dirty your hands with such trivial matters."

Having been pointed at by these people and called a rebellious traitor just moments ago, he had long been holding back a belly full of fire. At this moment, his gaze swept across, precisely locking onto the three officials who had shouted the loudest: Director Qian of the Ministry of Revenue, Vice Minister Zhao of the Ministry of War, and Censor Sun of the Censorate.

Yu Zeyun took a step forward, holding his long saber horizontally before him, the tip of the blade pointing past the faces of the three men one by one.

"You lot, weren't you quite good at scolding? Continue then."

Scared out of their wits, the three men all collapsed to the ground, desperately kowtowing and begging for mercy. They kowtowed until their foreheads broke, blood streaming down their brows, while continuously shouting in their mouths: "Commandant Yu, spare our lives! This villain knows his mistake! This villain's heart was covered in lard!"

Censor Sun even directly grabbed Yu Zeyun's boots, crying with a mix of snot and tears: "Commandant Yu! This subordinate was temporarily confused! This subordinate has an eighty-year-old mother at home..."

"Spare your lives?" Yu Zeyun looked down at Censor Sun, who was clutching his boots, and let out a sneer. "When you were scolding the Yu Family just now, wasn't it quite satisfying?"

Soon, three miserable screams rang out one after another. In the blink of an eye, all three men fell in a pool of blood. Director Qian lay flat on his back, his chest pierced completely through.

The few people who had been shouting arrogantly just moments before twitched once, and then fell completely still.

Inside the hall, blood flowed like rivers, blindingly red, and the stench of blood was thick enough to make one vomit. Several corpses lay sprawled haphazardly across the ground, and beside each one pooled a puddle of dark red blood that was slowly expanding.

A few timid civil officials could no longer hold on; their legs went soft and they collapsed sitting on the ground, their official hats rolling away, their hair buns disheveled, trembling all over like chaff in a sifter.