CHAPTER 349: CHAPTER 349: THE EMPEROR

Chen Muxue saw the prison guard’s face full of disbelief, and she herself began to wonder if she had made a mistake. Could it be that her ability to water plants had nothing to do with cultivation or spiritual power?

She recalled her previous experiences using it and felt that perhaps this wasn’t impossible...

Chen Muxue scratched her head. To verify if it was the problem with the lock, she walked to the cell door, reached out her hand, grabbed the lock, and yanked—

With a crack, the lock broke open, and the special spirit stone embedded in the middle fell to the ground, looking utterly ordinary.

Amidst surprise and fear, the prison guard’s hair stood on end from Chen Muxue’s actions, and he held a short stick defensively to his chest: "What are you doing?! Don’t move recklessly!"

Chen Muxue looked at the broken lock on the ground, feeling quite speechless: "This... could you have fetched the wrong one? How about bringing a better one?"

The prison guard thought he had misheard for a moment. Where had he ever heard of a prisoner requesting a change of lock? It was fortunate they hadn’t immediately caused chaos in the Heavenly Prison upon escaping...

Indeed, this group had walked into the Heavenly Prison willingly, and from the looks of it, had a few screws loose.

The prison guard was slightly relieved and, with a vigilant look, stared at Chen Muxue: "You behave yourself! I’ll be back soon, but don’t get up to anything. Let me tell you, we have experts stationed behind!"

Chen Muxue, upon hearing this, looked behind him: "There’s no one there?"

"Are you... are you teasing me?!" The prison guard’s face turned blue and red in anger.

Chen Muxue laughed heartily and waved her hand: "No, no, you go quickly."

Seeing the prison guard hurrying to fetch a new lock, Chen Muxue shrugged and walked out.

"Wretched maid!" That thin and haggard woman saw Chen Muxue and rushed over, clawing wildly. Chen Muxue stood aside watching her go mad.

After watching for a while, Chen Muxue rubbed her chin and said: "You’re pretending, aren’t you?"

The thin woman had no reaction and continued to shout "wretched maid" while reaching out her Nine Yin White Bone Claw, trying to grab Chen Muxue.

"So it’s actually real..." Chen Muxue felt slightly awkward. She had always read novels about those mad concubines in the cold palace and thought she could expose one herself.

Finding it uninteresting, Chen Muxue put the madwoman out of her mind and quickly jogged to find others.

Was she really supposed to hunker down in the Heavenly Prison waiting for the Fifth Prince’s next move? No way! This Fifth Prince was surprisingly confident, trusting that the lock could trap them.

In Yangxin Hall, the Fifth Prince knelt respectfully before the thinly framed man in a golden dragon robe. The man’s sunken black eyes revealed his body in a state of exhaustion. He was the current Emperor, whose appearance was far removed from his once wise and mighty image. Perhaps this was one reason he hadn’t attended court for a long time.

Though the Emperor looked frail in every aspect, his spirit seemed eerily strong. Despite his sickly appearance, he was highly spirited, and the eyes in his sunken sockets shone with a strangely bright light.

"Did the people Second Prince brought truly have the capability to cure the Crown Prince?" asked the Emperor slowly.

The Fifth Prince bowed his head but couldn’t help looking up: "According to spies from the Eastern Palace, before I arrived, the Crown Prince indeed showed signs of improvement and even sat up by himself to eat a whole bowl of porridge."

The Emperor nodded: "Have you kept an eye on those people?"

"All of them are imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison."

"Good. Bring them to me to have a look."