Chapter 1

In 738, the twenty-ninth year of Yongzhao, after early summer had passed, Luoyang stood empty.

The crystal-clear waters of the Gu River flowed slowly past Shangyang Palace as always, only to turn bloodred before reaching Duan Gate.

“Your Highness.” An armored soldier approached with a saber in hand and lowered his voice. “Men have been dispatched to guard all four palace gates. Not a single place has been overlooked.”

The woman addressed as “Your Highness” had already shed her armor and changed into a light goose-yellow robe. Her raven hair was arranged in cloudlike coils, with loose tresses falling from them and a ribbon binding it in place. A golden maple-leaf hairpin adorned her hair. Her expression remained calm and impassive; only after hearing the soldier’s report did she lower her eyes slightly.

Two years ago, she had been a hostage prince in this imperial city and had narrowly escaped, fleeing for her life the entire way. Upon returning to her homeland of Eastern Yue, she immediately drew a map of Luoyang. In a mere two years, she had repaid kindness with betrayal, contacting the other kingdoms and joining forces with them to drench this once incomparably prosperous city in blood.

Now, everyone who ought to be killed had been killed, and everyone who ought to be released had been released.

She blinked slowly, stepped through Yingtian Gate—which she had passed through countless times in the past—and headed straight for Mingtang Hall.

The candle flames inside Mingtang Hall flickered.

“Mother… Sisters…”

Inside the hall, a young woman dressed in ornate pale pink robes wore a pearl crown upon her head, its beads gleaming with a gentle luster in the candlelight. She knelt with her head bowed as tears fell one after another. The gilded phoenix pendant hanging beside her temple swayed continuously with her sobs, making her an unbearably pitiful sight.

Some of her older sisters knelt beside her, holding her and wiping away her tears, while others stood silently to one side, their eyes red as they sighed without a word.

The victor became king, while the defeated became outlaws. That was an indisputable truth.

But their youngest sister was innocent and guileless. She was only twenty-three, yet now she had to depart this world with them.

“Fortunately, that Xue Lanjing still retains a shred of humanity. Trading the lives of the few of us for the safety of every commoner in Luoyang means… at least our deaths will not be in vain.”

“Sister! How does she have even the slightest trace of humanity left?! Fifth Sister grew up by her side, studying and practicing calligraphy with her, yet yesterday she held Fifth Sister at knifepoint and imprisoned her here as well! In the past, Fifth Sister always thought of her and treated her with leniency out of softheartedness, but today, she will not even spare Fifth Sister! Heaven truly has no eyes, allowing us to meet such an end!”

The person who had been quietly sobbing instantly went still upon hearing this.

“Enough.” At the sound of the solemn voice, the Queen of Yongzhao turned and approached. She gazed at the Fifth Princess with tenderness and gently caressed her face. “Qile, you and Xue Yun share a deep bond. When she comes here, you should—”

“No.” Before her mother could finish, Princess Qile said hoarsely, “Mother, Sisters, I will live and die with all of you. I will never cling to life alone.”

The moment she finished speaking, Xue Lanjing entered Mingtang Hall. Her gaze swept across everyone before settling upon Princess Qile, the only one who refused to turn her head. After a moment, she turned back and gently closed the doors.

“Arsenic.” Xue Lanjing set down two porcelain medicine bottles. Without saying anything more, she walked to the window and stood silently with her back to them.

Silence filled the hall for a time. Then someone suddenly shouted, “Xue Lanjing, our Qile—”

“Sister.” The extremely faint yet perfectly clear voice cut her off, making Xue Lanjing, who stood beside the window, purse her lips.

A moment later, muffled thuds sounded one after another as bodies fell inside the hall. A golden hairpin struck the floor tiles with a piercing clang.

The following morning, Li You lay ​bailiantales.com​weakly upon a bed when her brows suddenly knitted. After two muffled coughs, her eyelashes trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The familiar yet strangely foreign ceiling belonged to Jixian Hall behind Mingtang Hall. The unreal sound of birdsong came through the window, their crisp chirping filling the air.

Li You propped herself up and saw a plate of her favorite sesame cakes on the table. She blinked, feeling as though an entire lifetime had passed.

“The arsenic actually failed to kill you.” Someone slowly emerged from the shadows. It was Xue Lanjing, the very person who had made them drink the poison yesterday. Her hair was arranged in a high bun, adorned with a golden cicada and jade-leaf hairpin. “As expected of Princess Qile, blessed by such extraordinary fortune.”

Li You’s limbs went numb. She shrank back in terror as though she had seen a ghost.

Xue Lanjing stopped with a smile. “Rest assured. Since you survived, I suppose it must be Heaven’s will. I will not kill you.”

Li You’s lips trembled helplessly, and her voice came out rough and strained. “Mother…”

“Dead.” Xue Lanjing’s smile disappeared as she flicked her sleeve and turned away. “Those sisters of yours are all dead as well.”

Li You’s vision went black as the world spun around her. A bone-deep chill consumed her insides. She unauthorized copybit down hard on her lower lip, forcibly suppressing her grief as she turned her head away.

But her stifled, broken whimpers still reached Xue Lanjing’s ears. Lightly rubbing her fingertips together, Xue Lanjing said in an indifferent tone, “I personally prepared that arsenic. There was no excessive suffering after drinking it. They simply stopped breathing within half an incense stick.”

“Good…” Li You’s voice shook so violently that she could barely speak. “In that case, grant me another dose.”

“There is none left,” Xue Lanjing said blandly. “It was a rare substance to begin with.”

“Then grant me a dagger.”

Xue Lanjing turned around, fixing her gaze squarely on Li You’s face as she said mockingly, “The Fifth Princess has enjoyed every luxury since childhood and has never been able to bear even the slightest sight of blood. Now you wish to take up a blade and kill yourself? Can you truly bring yourself to do it?”

Li You’s face went deathly pale. She lowered her head in a daze, then suddenly realized that she was no longer wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Trembling, she raised the pale blue sleeve of her robe and stared at it without blinking for a long while, no one knew what she was thinking.

Unmoved, Xue Lanjing said flatly, “Fifth Princess, you have the gentlest nature of anyone in this palace. If the one who had been fortunate enough to survive were your mother or any of your sisters, they would surely feign compliance and pretend to negotiate with me. Even if they were powerless to overturn the situation, they would at least make me pay half my life. But what will you do?”

Li You said nothing and let her sleeve fall.

Xue Lanjing could dress her words up however she liked, but the clothes Li You now wore had clearly been tailored precisely to fit her. From that alone, Li You knew that every path to death had been sealed off—why? What did Xue Lanjing intend to do? Was she planning to take her back to the palace of Eastern Yue and torture her slowly? Or did she intend to use Li You as bait to trick her second sister into returning to the royal capital of Luoyang?

Li You silently clenched her fingers and braced one hand against the edge of the bed, just about to move.

“…!” A silver longsword silently came to rest against the side of her neck.

Coldness filled Xue Lanjing’s eyes as she said sharply, “Li Shuangqing, stay here quietly and obediently leave with me between five and seven tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I will kill you.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Li You instead leaned toward the blade.

Xue Lanjing’s brows drew together. She raised a hand and forcefully shoved Li You by the shoulder, then swept the silver sword aside. The blade sliced through the air with a faint hum. Losing her balance, Li You fell to the floor with a thud.

“Weren’t you going to kill me?” Li You laughed softly. Raising her eyes, she met Xue Lanjing’s complicated gaze and demanded, word by word, “Senior Sister? Elder Sister? Xue Yun? Xue Lanjing? Or should I respectfully address you as Princess Pingning? You keep refusing to strike. Could it be that you still cherish the affection we once shared and cannot bear to do it?”

Xue Lanjing remained silent. She turned the hilt of her sword, her expression growing cold. After a long while, a playful smile once again curled her lips. “The Fifth Princess stolen contentthinks far too highly of herself. I am truly impressed.”

That night, Li You sat alone inside Jixian Hall with her hands and feet bound. Gazing through the window at the bleak moonlight, she wished only for her second sister’s safety.

Before dawn the following day, the vast imperial city lay silent.

The moment Xue Lanjing stepped into Jixian Hall, Li You abruptly lunged forward and rammed into her with all her strength. Xue Lanjing staggered no more than half a step before regaining her footing. Bracing one hand against the doorframe, she frowned coldly and watched Li You’s panicked figure flee.

It was a good thing that she still possessed the will to live.

With a cold laugh, Xue Lanjing slowly followed.

She wanted to see just where Li You could possibly escape when she had already reached the end of the road.

…

“Stop!”

In 2026, at Hengdian World Studios in Jinhua City.

Dressed in a ragged blue robe, Xue Chiying shouted sternly. Her wire rig lifted her into the air, and she raised her longsword high, just about to deliver her next line.

“Cut—”

The wire rig slowly lowered her.

A group of people hurried past her, rushing to check on the lead actor, who appeared to have been scratched by a sharp roof tile.

Hiss. Xue Chiying stood alone off to one side and shook the arm she seemed to have twisted just now, wincing in pain.

She had only received the notice for this chase scene between an immortal and a mortal last night. She had taken a high-speed train from Shanghai early that morning, and her pay for the job was not even enough to cover her round-trip transportation costs. Still, it was a major production where she would appear on camera, and lunch was included.

Once filming wrapped, Xue Chiying bowed to everyone around her, changed out of [bailiantales.com]her costume, and put on a white short-sleeved shirt and light-colored jeans. Smiling brightly, she collected her boxed lunch, then sat on a large rock by the roadside and began eating, still wearing her makeup and styled hair.

Her phone rang.

Her cheeks puffed out as she chewed. Leaning her upper body slightly to one side, she pulled the phone from her pocket.

“Hello, Lanlan? Mm, I just finished filming. How are things on your end? Really?” She swallowed her rice and wiped her mouth with a tissue. “I don’t have much work lined up lately. I’m still auditioning for Green Trees, but I haven’t heard anything.”

After finishing her call with her friend, Xue Chiying forced herself to eat a few more mouthfuls of rice on the principle that food should not be wasted.

The boxed lunches provided to the extras today were completely bland, and the rice was undercooked. In the end, she truly could not eat any more. When she closed the container and placed it in the recycling bin, Xue Chiying pressed her palms together and sincerely apologized to the large green bin.

The weather was clear. As she walked toward the exit of the film studio, a light breeze rose, carrying the fresh scent of soil and grass.

Ding-dong.

WeChat chimed.

Xue Chiying instinctively stopped and picked up her phone to look. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she gripped the phone tightly as she glanced around, looking as though she wanted to share her joy with someone but did not know whom to turn to. After all, she was currently in a secluded corner of the imperial avenue on the Qin Palace set, an area normally closed to the public. Only because she had an actor’s pass and knew the staff was she barely allowed to use this route as a shortcut.

She stared at the towering gray city wall to her right. Unable to resist, she walked over, placed her palm against it, and said softly, “I got a new job. There’s no one here, so I’ll share the news with you—”

Bang!

The sound of something heavy hitting the ground suddenly came from her left.

Xue Chiying looked over in confusion.

A red banner left hanging high above by the previous production swayed gently in the wind. Beneath it, a young woman in ancient costume lay facedown on the blue-gray stone-paved road.

Xue Chiying blinked and remained frozen for a long moment before hesitantly looking up. There was no film crew anywhere nearby, nor was there a camera crane.

“Oh my God…” Coming back to her senses, Xue Chiying hurriedly ran over. The meager first-aid knowledge she possessed about falls from great heights left her unsure whether she should touch the woman or keep her hands off. She could only scurry around like an ant on a hot pan, flustered and incoherent. “You… You…”

No, wait. She had to dial 120!

Xue Chiying picked up her phone. At the same time, the young woman who had fallen from above regained consciousness and looked ready to push herself upright. Xue Chiying stopped dialing and quickly thrust out a hand, motioning from a distance as she cried, “Don’t, don’t, don’t! You absolutely mustn’t move around!”

Li You’s mind was a haze, and she could not make out what the person in front of her was saying. The instant she raised her eyes, terror appeared on her face.

With the phone pressed to her ear, Xue Chiying frowned and bit her lip. The signal was always unbelievably terrible whenever there was an emergency, and now she could not even get through to 120. She was about to turn back and call for help when her gaze inadvertently swept over the woman who had just fallen. Her face was perfectly clean—there were no bruises or bloodstains, not even any dirt or dust.

Wait. Could they really be filming something?

Suspicious, Xue Chiying lowered the phone after failing to get through and cautiously moved a little closer. She saw the other woman very obviously shrink back as she approached, but there truly was not the slightest sign on her face or body that she had just fallen from above.

Xue Chiying could not help raising a hand and pinching the arm of her sunglasses, gradually lowering them to reveal a pair of beautiful smiling eyes that everyone praised on sight. They curved into an exceptionally warm and approachable arc.

“You… No, wait… young lady, where did you fall from?”