Chapter 10 Outside Cining Palace, a sea of ​​people.

Cining Palace was the residence where the Empresses Dowager of successive dynasties lived.

Its grand scale and luxurious decorations were second only to the Emperor's Qianqing Palace.

The glazed tiles shimmered with golden light under the moon, and the white marble railings were carved with intricate patterns of phoenixes among peonies, showcasing the owner's nobility at every turn.

However, when Liu Sheng and his group stepped into the vicinity of Cining Palace, what they felt was not magnificence, but a bone-chilling cold and oppression.

The air seemed permeated with a faint, lingering scent of blood.

The palace maids and eunuchs of Cining Palace hurried to and fro, but not a single person dared to speak loudly.

When they saw Liu Sheng and the other new eunuchs, their eyes were filled with undisguised pity and sympathy; then, as if avoiding a plague, they quickly lowered their heads and began whispering to one another.

They looked like they were watching a group of death row prisoners about to be sent to the chopping block.

Head Eunuch Wang Defu led the twelve of them to a side hall outside the main sleeping quarters and stopped.

"You all wait here."

He pointed to the open space in front of the side hall and spoke coldly.

"The Empress Dowager wants to see you one by one. Remember, be smart for me. If anyone displeases the Empress Dowager, watch your heads."

After saying that, he walked into the brightly lit sleeping quarters without looking back.

Liu Sheng and the eleven other eunuchs were assigned to an area, standing quietly and waiting to be summoned.

The doors to the sleeping quarters were tightly shut, but through the heavy door panels, the faint sound of miserable screams and the 'thwack, thwack' of whipping could still be heard.

The sound made one's scalp tingle.

The faces of the remaining eleven eunuchs had turned as white as paper. A few of the more cowardly ones had teeth chattering so hard they made a 'clack-clack' sound.

Suddenly, the door to the sleeping quarters was opened from the inside.

Head Eunuch Wang Defu walked out. His face was expressionless as he simply tilted his chin toward the two guards standing watch outside.

From inside came a woman's cold, indifferent command, devoid of any emotion.

"Kill him."

As soon as she finished speaking, a blood-covered young eunuch, whipped beyond recognition, was dragged out like a dead dog.

Vague pleas escaped his mouth, and his eyes were filled with despair and terror.

However, no one paid him any mind.

Under the gaze of Liu Sheng and everyone else, a guard expressionlessly drew his waist saber.

A cold light flashed.

*Puchi!*

A fine head soared into the air, tumbled twice, and fell heavily to the ground.

Warm blood erupted from the neck like a fountain, splashing all over the ground.

The head that had rolled onto the ground still had its eyes wide open, as if unable to believe it had died just like that.

"Ah!"

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids had never seen such a bloody scene; they let out screams of terror, and a few with weaker mental fortitude simply rolled their eyes and fainted.

The eleven eunuchs who had come with Liu Sheng were even more scared out of their wits, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Following that, Head Eunuch Wang Defu's cold voice rang out again.

"Next."

He randomly pointed at another one of the remaining eleven eunuchs.

The young eunuch who was pointed at felt his legs go weak and he collapsed directly onto the ground. A foul-smelling liquid quickly spread across his crotch; he had actually been scared into wetting himself.

Two guards stepped forward, ignoring his cries for mercy as they hoisted him up by his arms and dragged him into the sleeping quarters.

Soon, the same sounds of whipping and miserable wailing rang out once more.

Before long, this eunuch was also dragged out and had his head chopped off with a single stroke.

And so it repeated.

Three eunuchs were called in one after another, and not one survived.

Three bloody heads were lined up on the open ground in front of the side hall, silently testifying to the horror of this palace.

The shadow of death loomed over everyone's hearts like a dark cloud.

The remaining eight eunuchs had completely broken down.

They knelt on the ground, incessantly kowtowing and begging for mercy. Cries, screams, and the sound of vomiting mixed together in a scene of utter chaos.

Liu Sheng stood there, his face also somewhat pale.

Although he wasn't afraid of killing, this scene of treating human life like grass and ants still caused him intense discomfort and anger.

He finally understood that this wasn't about serving someone at all.

This was being sent to his death.

The Empress Dowager was using an extremely cruel method to select the toy she wanted.

He couldn't just sit and wait for death like this.

He had to figure out exactly what was happening inside before it was his turn.

His gaze quickly scanned his surroundings.

Soon, he locked onto a young palace maid carrying a water basin, who was about to take a detour along a side path.

The young palace maid didn't look very old, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Her face was full of terror, clearly shaken by the scene before her.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, Liu Sheng quietly slipped out of the line and flashed in front of the young palace maid in a few steps.

The young palace maid was startled by Liu Sheng's sudden appearance, and the water basin in her hands fell to the ground with a 'clang'.

"You... what do you want?"

She backed away in fear, her voice trembling.

Liu Sheng fished out a small piece of silver from his robe and stuffed it into her hand without a word.

The silver felt warm in her hand and carried significant weight.

The young palace maid froze.

"Don't be afraid, I just want to ask you a few questions."

Liu Sheng lowered his voice, asking in as gentle a tone as possible.

"What exactly is going on? The Empress Dowager..."

The young palace maid clutched the silver in her hand, glanced at the three bloody heads not far away, and then looked at Liu Sheng's handsome yet tense face. Finally, she couldn't help but speak up tremulously.

"The Empress Dowager... she has a strange illness."

The young palace maid's voice was extremely low and carried a sob, as if she were speaking of a forbidden topic.

"Ever since the Emperor ascended the throne six months ago, the Empress Dowager has never smiled again."

"Her temper has become worse and worse; she beats and scolds the palace servants at the slightest provocation. In the entire Cining Palace, almost every day someone is beaten to death."

As the young palace maid spoke, her body trembled uncontrollably.

"The imperial physicians tried everything but couldn't find the cause. Later, some cursed person came up with a rotten idea, saying that if the Empress Dowager could be made to smile again, the illness would naturally be cured."

"And so, this current rule came to be."

She glanced at the eunuchs who were still kowtowing and begging for mercy, her eyes full of sympathy.

"Every half month, Chief Manager Wang will scout a group of young eunuchs like you from all over the palace."

"Whoever can go in and use all their skills to make the Empress Dowager laugh will receive a heavy reward. I heard the last person who succeeded was directly promoted to a seventh-rank Manager Eunuch."

"But if you can't..."

She didn't continue, only glancing toward the three heads on the ground that had died with their eyes open.

The meaning was already more than obvious.

Liu Sheng's heart sank.

Make the Empress Dowager laugh?

This was simply the most difficult task in the world.

One could only imagine the depth of the knot in the heart and the weight of the resentment of a woman who hadn't smiled in half a year.

Trying to make her laugh in this situation was no different from performing acrobatics in front of the King of Hell; one slip-up would result in being smashed to pieces.

Just as he was pondering a strategy—

"Next!"

Head Eunuch Wang Defu's cold voice, like a life-ending curse, drifted out from the hall once more.

This time, his gaze bypassed the few eunuchs who had already collapsed in fear and fell directly on Liu Sheng, the only one still standing.

In an instant, everyone's gaze focused on Liu Sheng.

The eunuchs who were still crying and begging for mercy looked at him as if he were a scapegoat, even with a hint of relief.

The whispering palace maids noticed that Liu Sheng was handsome, with a sturdy and upright build—completely different from the other weak and wretched eunuchs, possessing quite a bit of masculine vigor. A trace of regret appeared in their eyes.

Such a handsome young man was about to have his head separated from his body.

What a pity.

Liu Sheng took a deep breath.

He could feel countless gazes pricking him like needles.

There was pity, sympathy, and schadenfreude.

But far from feeling a trace of fear, a wave of unprecedented fighting spirit ignited in his chest instead.

A sharp glint, unnoticeable to others, flashed in his eyes.

A crisis.

A massive crisis.

But at the same time, it was an excellent opportunity to soar to the heavens in a single bound!

What others saw as the Hall of the King of Hell, he saw as the Dragon Gate leading to the pinnacle of power.

As long as he leaped over it, from then on, the sea would be wide for the fish to leap and the sky high for the bird to fly.

He hadn't come to this world to be a servant at the mercy of others for his entire life.

He wanted to stand at the highest point and hold everyone's destiny in his own hands.

And the scene before him was the first step.

The most crucial step.

He adjusted his slightly oversized eunuch uniform, smoothing out the wrinkles on his lapel.

Then, under the shocked or puzzled gazes of everyone, he straightened his back, a composed smile even gracing his face.

He ignored Head Eunuch Wang Defu and didn't look at the heads on the ground.

Looking straight ahead, he walked step by step, steadily toward the sleeping quarters' gate that seemed capable of devouring everything.

His back was as upright as a pine tree.

His steps were firm and powerful.

He didn't look like someone about to meet his death at all; instead, he looked like a lead actor about to step onto his own stage.

Everyone was stunned.

Even Head Eunuch Wang Defu, standing at the door and seeing Liu Sheng's extraordinary appearance, felt a flash of surprise in his sinister eyes.

Liu Sheng walked to the entrance of the sleeping quarters, stopped, and spoke clearly to the inside.

"Your servant Liu Sheng is here to serve the Empress Dowager."

His voice was loud, steady, and full of resonance, sounding exceptionally clear in the silent courtyard.

After speaking, he didn't wait for any response, pushed open the heavy vermilion gates, and strode inside.