The First Lackey Under The Empress

The setting sun of spring hung on the upturned eaves of the palace, casting its light on Xiao Ran's indifferent face.

“The Cold Palace…”

Xiao Ran wasn't particularly surprised that her "aunt" had been banished to the Cold Palace. Back then, during the Xuanmen Coup, the Xiao family had plotted rebellion and faced clan-wide execution.

In comparison, the fact that her aunt, as a "Consort," had been spared her life was already a good outcome. It was even less likely to expect that she would retain a life of luxury.

However, having this expectation in her heart was one thing; witnessing the dilapidated and desolate Cold Palace, seemingly forgotten in a corner of the entire imperial palace, was another.

Xiao Ran took a deep breath, choosing not to sever the iron chains on the gate. Instead, she leaped over the Cold Palace's wall and landed in the courtyard.

The Cold Palace's courtyard was as desolate and dilapidated as ever.

Unlike when Zhao D'an had last visited, only the green tinge on the ground, and the budding sprouts and flower buds on the trees in the courtyard, were different.

Xiao Ran didn't say a word. Her cloth boots stepped on the uneven, dilapidated stone slab ground covered with dust and small stones, and she walked towards the most prominent main building.

Rounding the corner of the house, her footsteps suddenly halted, her gaze landing on a woman's figure under the eaves.

The foolish and dazed Consort Xiao, dressed in a plain palace maid's dress, was sitting alone on the steps under the eaves.

She held her legs together, using the gap between her thighs to hold a peach blossom. She was staring at the peach blossom with a dazed expression, using her somewhat dirty hands to pluck the petals one by one.

With each petal she plucked, she muttered words:

“Come back.”

“Won't come back.”

“Come back.”

“Won't come back.”

…

She was extremely focused, not even noticing Xiao Ran, a large living person, approaching.

The steps beside her were already covered with peach blossom petals, as well as branches that she had broken and plucked bare.

Xiao Ran stared blankly at the woman's haggard and dull face, messy hair, and loose-fitting dress that didn't suit her.

She tried to compare the woman before her with the graceful and luxurious Consort from her memories, who had been showered with love and affection, but no matter what, she couldn't overlap the two images.

“Aunt…?”

Xiao Ran's eyes first clouded with mist, then filled with tears, and she called out the long-unspoken title, almost choking on her words.

At this moment, Consort Xiao finally plucked the last peach blossom petal:

“Come back.”

Then, the foolish woman smiled, turned her head to look at the uninvited guest Xiao Ran, and said happily:

“He will come back, he will come back again…”

Xiao Ran walked closer and slowly squatted down, placing the scabbard in her hand on the ground.

She called out softly, “Aunt, don't you recognize me anymore?”

Consort Xiao said happily, “He will come back again…”

Xiao Ran paused, and tentatively asked, “Who is he?”

“Jian Wen… My child…” Consort Xiao spoke like a robot, triggered by a keyword, muttering like a sleepwalker:

“I dreamed of him, he came back…”

Then her expression fell again: “But he left again, the dream is over…”

Xiao Ran's heart sank. She reached out, wiped away her tears, turned Consort Xiao's shoulders towards herself, and said with red eyes:

“Aunt, who turned you into this? Was it that Xu Zhenguan? Or who?”

Consort Xiao, immersed in her own world, didn't answer her, but struggled like a child, but failed. She was immediately terrified:

“Let go of me… Don't hit me… Don't hit me…”

During the struggle, the collar of her loose palace maid's dress was pulled open, revealing faint, dark red marks on her dirty body.

Xiao Ran's expression changed, and she forcefully pulled down half of her upper garment, seeing on the woman's back, which should have been as smooth and beautiful as mutton jade but was now thin and rough, were streaks of red marks.

With Xiao Ran's eyesight, she could tell at a glance that someone had left them by beating her with thin bamboo poles or similar wooden sticks.

Her face quickly turned gloomy, her eyes almost spitting fire:

“Aunt, who hit you? Tell me, tell me.”

Consort Xiao only struggled. Suddenly, a “bang bang” knocking sound came from outside the Cold Palace, someone was approaching the gate.

“She's coming… She's coming…”

Consort Xiao showed a look of fear, trembling as if in response.

She struggled to run, but seemed afraid to do so.

Xiao Ran's sharp gaze swept towards the locked gate, hearing the sound of unlocking.

Then the door opened, and an older palace maid with a sinister face, wide eye spacing, and extremely narrow eyebrows, walked in carrying a food box.

Judging from the clothes on her body, she was a member of the "Shangshan Bureau," a palace servant, seemingly the lowest-ranking servant in the palace responsible for delivering food to Consort Xiao.

When the palace maid saw Xiao Ran, she was obviously stunned, then her eyes widened, and she took a few steps back, about to shout:

“There's a thief…”

The next second, a sword pressed against her throat.

The Green Mountain heroine wearing a bamboo hat had cold eyes:

“If you dare to shout, I dare to kill you and throw away your body.”

The palace maid was sweating profusely, her legs trembling, and she heard this audacious "assassin" suddenly ask: “Who allowed you to beat Consort Xiao?”

The palace maid was shocked and subconsciously passed the blame:

“It wasn't me who wanted to hit her, it was the female official above who ordered it… A few days ago, His Majesty came here, and then ordered to punish the female official in charge of the Cold Palace… So…”

She didn't know the origin of this assassin. Fearing death, she blurted out everything like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

The 'above' she mentioned was actually just a low-level female official in the vast palace slave system, a small figure who couldn't even meet Mo Chou.

Last time Zhao D'an and Xu Zhenguan came here, seeing that Consort Xiao's clothes and residence were too poor, the Empress casually instructed the people around her to improve them a little, and then didn't pay attention to it anymore.

And the Empress's words, after being conveyed through layers of palace people, became punishment when it reached the bottom.

The punished servants held resentment, thinking that the crazy Consort Xiao had complained to the Empress, so they beat her in retaliation.

This palace maid also enjoyed it, with her lowly status, the joy in her heart was indescribable when beating the former Consort.

Only at this moment did she clear herself completely.

Xiao Ran listened quietly, as if she believed it. She sheathed her sword, relaxed her expression slightly, handed the food box to the hungry and frightened Xiao Gui Fei, and said softly:

“Eat slowly, I'll take care of it.”

Then she gestured for the older palace maid to walk out of the Cold Palace, and waited until the Cold Palace door was closed.

Xiao Ran calmly asked the palace maid to say the name of the female official who ordered the beating, as well as her location and residence.

“Not bad, I like obedient people.”

Xiao Ran reached out and patted the palace maid's shoulder, smiling:

“You should know what to do, right?”

The mean palace maid's eyes rolled, and she quickly said: “I haven't seen you today.”

“Let's go.” Xiao Ran said with a smile.

The palace maid was relieved and hurried away along the narrow, empty alley outside the Cold Palace.

It was just unknown whether it was from fright or the unseasonal cold weather, the older palace maid only felt cold all over and her feet were numb.

With her mere mortal vision, she naturally didn't know that when Xiao Ran patted her shoulder just now, streams of mellow qi had already entered the palace maid's meridians, and within a few breaths, it had severed the qi and blood of her internal organs.

In about six hours, the palace maid would die suddenly, and outsiders would not be able to detect the problem.

Xiao Ran's smile slowly faded. After the palace maid ran far away, she unhurriedly, holding her scabbard and wearing her bamboo hat, chased towards the end of the alley.

Of course, she didn't believe the address that the palace maid had given, so she prepared to follow her there and use similar methods to kill everyone involved in this incident, and prevent the news from spreading.

…

…

The setting sun had already sunk to the corner of the horizon.

Blood-red rays of light slanted into the alley, cutting the mottled red palace walls into two distinct parts.

The heroine Xiao Ran stopped suddenly in the alley.

“What ruthless methods. A dignified high-achieving disciple of Green Mountain, a martial artist with perfect divine chapters, making things difficult for such a small person, I'm afraid it can't be considered the methods of a reputable sect.”

A casual voice floated down from overhead.

Xiao Ran suddenly raised her head, her pupils shrinking into a small dot.

She saw a young man squatting on the glazed tiles of the high palace wall on one side. His face was illuminated by the light of the setting sun, showing a bronze color.

“It's you!?” Xiao Ran gripped her scabbard.

Zhao D'an, who was squatting on the wall with an old-fashioned air, smiled and squinted:

“Miss Xiao still recognizes this official, fortunately. I didn't have the chance to say too much this morning in the martial arts field, but I didn't expect to run into you at this time.”

Xiao Ran was on guard as if facing a great enemy:

“You're following me?!”

No… It's my people following you, I only came over after getting the news… Well, the method of converging one's aura with the sunset learned from Lao Xu is really advanced. I've been squatting on the wall and looking into the distance for a while, but I haven't been discovered…

Zhao D'an muttered to himself, a pair of dimples smiling on his face:

“Miss, what you said is not right. As a Grand Inner Palace Attendant, this official has the duty to patrol the imperial palace. It's you… It seems that you did something out of line just now.”

Seeing that there was only him nearby, Xiao Ran calmed down and retorted:

“Out of line? If you cared about the status of that servant, why didn't you take action just now, but watched coldly from the sidelines? Now you've come to uphold justice.”

“No no no…”

Zhao Du'an slowly stood up, leaped down from the wall, and blocked the female knight's path, stretching his body, his joints cracking.

"This official is not a good person, nor do I care to uphold justice. It's just that you, miss, are not resting in the imperial city, but secretly sneaking into the harem... Heh, come with me?"

Xiao Ran sneered, "What if I refuse?"

"Then it will be out of your hands."

Zhao Du'an sighed softly, and then, without warning, his spine expanded like a great dragon, a burst of energy like popping copper beans, surging from his tailbone to the fist of his outstretched right arm, crackling.

As his body suddenly closed the distance, his fierce fist hammered towards the female knight's full chest!

Without a word, they exchanged blows!

Xiao Ran was expressionless, and not at all surprised. The moment Zhao Du'an threw his punch, her slender and light figure leaned back slightly, her cloth boots left the ground, and she retreated violently like a swaying willow!

Seemingly slow, but actually extremely fast.

One person punched, the other retreated.

In the blink of an eye, they had chased several yards, and Xiao Ran was rapidly approaching a palace wall behind her, the shadow reflected on the wall about to overlap with her.

Xiao Ran twisted her body in mid-air in a way that almost defied the laws of physics, flipping in a circle, her boots stomping hard on the palace wall.

She shot towards Zhao Du'an like a cannonball, and at the same time, the dark scabbard of the thin sword in her hand slipped off.

"Buzz—"

The soft sword, which was extremely suitable for a small-framed woman, was drawn, and the extremely flexible blade bent and vibrated, making a strange sound.

The snow-bright blade, like a crescent moon, bent into a dangerous arc that was almost a semicircle, and then rebounded swiftly.

The sharp tip of the sword stabbed straight at Zhao Du'an's fist.

Zhao Du'an raised his eyebrows, stopped his attack in mid-stride, and a faint cyan lotus mark appeared between his eyebrows. Wisps of energy around him condensed into a virtual golden bell, covering his body.

It rotated with a rumbling sound.

"Ding!"

The soft sword pierced the rotating golden bell shield, sparking a string of sparks.

After the power of this sword was weakened by the Buddhist golden bell shield, they canceled each other out, and Zhao Du'an's left fist struck out again.

Xiao Ran shook her wrist, and the soft sword, like a giant python, followed Zhao Du'an's straight punch and wrapped around his arm, using softness to overcome strength.

The flexible toughness was like a rope, binding his arm and suddenly tightening, trying to strangle his arm into mincemeat.

And the rosy light flowing on the surface of his arm cast his flesh into gold, indestructible.

"Demon Sealing Mantra!"

Zhao Du'an shouted in a low voice, his right hand forming a hand seal, and a "卍" character stretched into ropes, entangling and chasing towards Xiao Ran.

"Are you from the royal family or a Shaolin Temple martial monk? What is all this mess?"

The Green Mountain female knight frowned, and while cursing inwardly, she decisively discarded her long sword and retreated violently, a dagger slipping from her sleeve, forcibly cutting off the entangled ropes one by one.

The remaining soft sword, however, was like a maggot attached to a bone, still firmly imprisoning half of Zhao Du'an's arm. He raised his eyebrows, and golden crow throwing knives also slipped from his right sleeve.

He twisted his wrist, never missing!

"Go!"

The early spring air made a sharp whistling sound. Within a hundred steps, the golden crow throwing knife was no less powerful than a Taoist flying sword, almost leaving afterimages, and only a ripple was reflected in the setting sun.

However, the ever-successful throwing knife was struck on the side by the dagger in Xiao Ran's hand as it approached her.

If the picture were slowed down at this moment, one could clearly see a strand of hair scattered on Xiao Ran's temples slowly passing across the corner of her eyes and her delicate nose.

This woman, who for some reason had been sent to the East Sea to study since childhood and could only return home a few times a year, captured the trajectory of the flying knife with incredible speed at this moment, and gently bumped the dagger against the weakest position of the flying knife.

"Ding!"

The picture suddenly returned to normal speed.

The throwing knife that had left an afterimage was turned around by Xiao Ran, like a fly, and brushed past her side a foot away, rolled up a torrent, and slammed into the old palace wall with a "poof", embedding itself in the wall crevice.

Zhao Du'an tried to recall it, but found that the energy in the flying knife had been scattered by this collision.

The setting sun slowly sank into the horizon, and shadows were about to envelop the two people confronting each other in the alley.

At this moment, Zhao Du'an had almost exhausted all his means except for those hidden cards that were inconvenient to expose, while Xiao Ran had solved them all with exquisite martial arts from beginning to end.

"A little stronger than the rumors, but still vulnerable."

Xiao Ran held the silver dagger, and under the bamboo hat, her beautiful face was full of disdain:

"If you can unleash that slash from daytime, I will surrender."

Green Mountain is indeed the martial arts mecca of the martial arts world. A disciple in the Divine Seal Realm has such a solid and profound martial art, so what kind of strongman would the Martial Immortal Champion be? I'm afraid that even a single move or half a stance would be enough for the world's martial artists to study hard for a lifetime.

Zhao Du'an was secretly surprised, and had a clear understanding of the martial power of this descendant of the Xiao family.

Strong.

Very strong.

Compared with Tang Zhao, who was also a female martial artist in the Divine Seal Realm, she was more than one level stronger.

Of course, this does not mean that the daughter of the Duke of Tang is inferior, but that the two are good at different directions. Tang Zhao's strength lies in the battlefield, with military talent as the main focus, and a large spear is also a skill on horseback in the midst of thousands of troops.

And this Xiao family girl is proficient in martial arts, like that Qi Ye, both of whom have tempered a certain level of martial arts skills to the limit of the current realm.

"Heh, if you want this official to slash you, then this official will slash you. Wouldn't that be very embarrassing?" Zhao Du'an stubbornly retorted.

Xiao Ran's eyes were condescending, holding the dagger, and approaching him:

"If you block me again, what will be unloaded will not just be your flying knife."

"Dare you touch me?" Zhao Du'an "blustered".

The corners of Xiao Ran's lips slowly rose, and she said:

"The next fifteen days from today will be the time for the imperial palace's offerings to spar with my Green Mountain lineage. It wouldn't be against the rules to have some injuries during sparring."

The corners of Zhao Du'an's mouth also翘起, slowly retreating a few steps, and said lightly:

"That's right, since that's the case, then come out, everyone."

Xiao Ran was stunned, and then her pupils shook. She only saw a group of offering eunuchs leaping up from the high palace walls on both sides of the narrow alley.

At a glance, there were as many as dozens of people.

They jumped into the alley at the same time. In an instant, dozens of imperial guards protected Zhao Du'an behind them and surrounded Xiao Ran.

The two eunuchs at the head were Tang Jinzhong, who was in the Worldly Realm, and Song Jinxi, who looked like a monkey.

"Your Excellency, should we capture this thief immediately?"

Song Jinxi put on a flattering smile and asked for instructions.

Zhao Du'an was calm, nodded slightly, and made eye contact with Xiao Ran, who was full of shock and whose eyes were filled with "how can people be so shameless", across the dense crowd.

He smiled and said: "Miss Xiao said that the next fifteen days are all about sparring, so this official led the Martial Arts Hall to spar with Miss Xiao, which is very reasonable, right?"

"You... you..." Xiao Ran's face turned pale with anger.

Faced with a group of eunuchs approaching, she suddenly felt very powerless.

After a moment of silence.

With a "clang", she dropped the dagger on the ground and surrendered calmly.

Since she definitely couldn't win, it was better than being beaten up by this group of castrated men in the name of sparring.

Very smart... Zhao Du'an looked disappointed, removed the soft sword wrapped around his arm, and waved his hand:

"Take her back to the Martial Arts Hall and imprison her. Hmph, sneaking into the harem, do you really think our imperial guards are just eating dry food?"

A group of eunuchs stepped forward with grinning faces and took Xiao Ran away.

Tang Jinzhong, who was taciturn and was vaguely the number one person under Eunuch Hai of the Martial Arts Hall, said in a low voice:

"Your Excellency, that palace maid was knocked unconscious by us and left nearby, what do you think..."

Zhao Du'an put his hands behind his back and said indifferently in the gradually darkening sky:

"Lock her up and let her fend for herself. Hmph, if I hadn't arranged for someone to keep an eye on Consort Xiao, I really wouldn't have thought that this group of inconspicuous palace maids would do so many bad things. Consort Xiao is not the first, nor will she be the last.

Tell Consort Mo about this completely. The Six Bureaus are under her jurisdiction, and we shouldn't overstep our authority. Let her worry about how to rectify it."

"Yes." Tang Jinzhong nodded.

This Worldly Realm imperial guard was as docile as a lackey in front of Zhao Du'an.

"By the way, send someone to the imperial city again and tell Chai Keqiao that her senior sister has been captured by this official. If she wants someone, come and redeem her in person, otherwise... let Xiao Ran spend the night in the Martial Arts Hall."

"Understood."

—

Recommend two books, a masterpiece of family cultivation in the mortal stream, "Qinghe Immortal Clan"; and the new book by our reader group's female administrator: "I'm Running a Resort Island in the Marine Apocalypse World".

Those who are interested can go and check it out.