Qin Chang Ge smiled as she looked at him – Grand Priest, your confidence is high, but your actions don’t seem to match? You’ve occupied the only life gate of this great formation, your Little Reds are embracing you on both sides, you hide behind those dazzling mirrors spouting nonsense – actually, you could say all this nonsense after capturing us. Why don’t you capture us then?

Her eyes rolled several times. When Qin Chang Ge saw clearly what was beneath Yin Li’s feet, she almost wanted to throw back her head and laugh loudly.

That… Grand Priest, you’re not a three-year-old child, so how could you wet the bed?

She smiled and flicked her fingers.

Beside her, Xiao Jue, who never let her leave his sight, looked toward the ground with telepathic understanding. When his gaze touched that puddle of water, he was first slightly stunned, then his eyes brightened greatly.

And Qin Chang Ge was already smiling as she patted her clothes, suddenly raising a cloud of dust.

The Little Reds immediately became restless and agitated.

Xiao Jue suddenly shot out like an arrow.

Before his body arrived, sword light had already filled the spacious room. Brilliant white light pillars rose up, stretching straight toward the ceiling like a long dragon, causing those floating light networks to drift everywhere. At the same time, Qin Chang Ge backhanded and smashed the mirror behind her with a snap.

When the mirror shattered, light scattered, and millions of fragments flew in all directions. Grand Priest Yin, who had been standing opposite them all along, suddenly disappeared.

But Qin Chang Ge was completely unmoved, immediately looking down at the ground.

Southwest corner.

No one there.

But suddenly there was an additional footprint with a water mark on the ground.

With an “as expected” smile, Qin Chang Ge leaped up and flew toward the south like an angry eagle.

The light suddenly dimmed.

The mirrors, Little Reds, Grand Priest, Fei Huan, Xiao Jue – all suddenly vanished.

Overhead was no longer the blazing reflected light of mirrors, but had suddenly changed to a palace ceiling with flying phoenixes and coiling dragons, red-crowned with golden algae.

That ceiling looked somewhat familiar – twelve golden beauties in dancing poses clustered around a pearl of the realm, looking down with disdain in cloud-piercing divine bearing.

Her heart thundered, and for a moment she was actually stunned.

This was Chang Le Palace from three years ago.

Green screens and golden cases, brocade carpets and jade couches. Behind the couch, layers of feather silk fell like dreams. One handful would yield a hand full of pearls from the distant sea. When wind passed, the sound of bamboo colliding was delicate and scattered, swirling brilliant light that flickered uncertainly like fireflies. In the purple-gold enamel mountain and river tripod, dragon brain incense gave off a subtle fragrance. A small palace maid used a golden poker to stir those dark green incense blocks. In the misty fragrant air came a lazy yawn.

…As if it were all a dream.

Yet she truly touched those smooth and lustrous pearls, smelled that deep and secluded fragrance. In the swaying pearl light, her expression was dazed. She wanted to speak but didn’t know where to begin, when she saw the light at the palace entrance dim as someone slowly walked in.

The small palace maid rubbed her eyes and looked around. Her gaze passed right through her as if seeing nothing at all, then suddenly became somewhat panicked, dropped the golden poker, and hurriedly went forward to greet the visitor.

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

She suddenly turned around.

…At the palace entrance, a woman in silk robes stood against the light with coiled hair and pearl hairpins. Her dress was light and airy with sashes that seemed ready to fly. Behind her, the brocade palace lanterns cast deep and colorful light, illuminating a pair of beautiful eyes with flowing glances, her bearing bright and ethereal like a flying swan in the sky.

She smiled and slightly raised her hand, saying: “Is Rong’er asleep?”

The small palace maid answered softly: “Yes… the Crown Prince has been sleeping for about a quarter hour.”

The woman in silk nodded and glided into the palace. The thick and soft brocade carpet swallowed her footsteps, making no sound at all. Everything was so quiet, as if trapped in a nightmare.

She walked past Qin Chang Ge with no abnormality and entered the inner palace.

Night pearls glittered brilliantly on walls smeared with spices and pepper mud. The gentle illumination without smoke lit the space behind the silk curtains. On the phoenix couch inlaid with emeralds, a small child was sleeping peacefully and sweetly.

That mother, the most noble in the world, stopped before the couch.

Everything was so magnificent, peaceful, tender, and tranquil.

Everything was so coldly sinister, eerie, gloomy, and nightmarish.

Qin Chang Ge felt a chill throughout her body. Deep in her heart, it was as if millions of thunderbolts exploded, shocking her almost to speechlessness.

…Was this crossing through time again?

…Had she returned to three years ago?

…Then, did she have a chance to save herself and erase all that blood, tears, tragedy, pain, and hardship that followed?

Qin Chang Ge suddenly looked back at the gold-decorated dressing table behind her. There, the deadly killing mechanism that could take a life was hidden in some unknown corner, waiting coldly.

She rushed over and tried to pull the middle drawer of the dressing table.

Her hand passed transparently through the dressing table.

…

Behind her.

The crystal curtain tinkled melodiously. Behind the silk curtains, the smiling mother was about to gently bend down.

Qin Chang Ge rushed over again with great force.

Don’t!!!

Don’t hold Rong’er!

She shouted out loud, feeling that her voice was sharp and loud enough to pierce the heavens, yet the woman seemed not to hear and bent down to hold the delicate child who had awakened and was crying.

“Snap!”

Golden light flashed, and the tragedy happened again before the very eyes of the person involved.

She watched herself with her own eyes – falling into the trap, saving her child, being killed.

…That long blade flying from the dressing table passed through her transparent body and then pierced into the back of the woman in silk.

Qin Chang Ge slowly reached out her hand…

The blood was bright red, so red it was fierce and tragic, flaunting like blazing demonic fire, rising endlessly…

In the end… she could do nothing.

She couldn’t save herself, couldn’t prevent the tragedy, couldn’t stop Rong’er from growing up in a motherless environment, couldn’t prevent Fei Huan’s limbs from being disabled and martial arts from being crippled.

She could do nothing…

What use are you?

Suddenly a great sound seemed to ring from the heavens, or was it the cry of self-denial and doubt bursting from deep within her own heart? What use are you, what use are you, what use are you?

With a thunderous sound, something writhed and stumbled in the depths of her heart trying to emerge. A small figure pressed close and asked: Who are you, who are you, who are you?

That shadow pried open her heart… peered out at the outside world. She smiled and gave her a thin and delicate profile, saying I’m called Ming Shuang, a woman from Yunzhou. When fortune tellers read my fate years ago, they said I came to repay a debt, and in this life my status would be unspeakably noble… Father exhausted the family fortune to send me to the palace… hehe…

Then who am I?

Aren’t you Ming Shuang?

…Colorless and bewildering, heaven and earth turned upside down. Those gold, red, emerald, purple, crimson, white, black, and blue wove into pieces of brilliant brocade that came crashing down over her head. Before her eyes was chaos and darkness. She suddenly felt her fingers go weak, and all her martial arts and vital energy vanished in an instant as if they had never existed. In that desperate struggling and tearing, something whispered seductively in her ear over and over… You actually died long ago, died long ago, died long ago… That’s why you can’t save yourself, can’t save anyone… Ming Shuang, Ming Shuang, why lend your body to someone else?… Ming Shuang, Ming Shuang, you’re actually just a dead person… Why are you still standing here?… Go back to where you should go… Go back to where you should go…

Go back to where I should go.

…

“Creak.”

The doors of Chang Le Palace opened again.

The opening door drew out ribbons of sunlight. Beneath the ribbon, that long shadow was deeply and darkly cast on the golden brick floor by a ray of sunlight, gradually approaching.

She stood in her own messy corpse and pool of blood, slowly looking back.

――――――――――

Heaven and earth suddenly dimmed.

Xiao Jue, who was in mid-flight, looked back in bewilderment.

With a thud, his legs went soft and he suddenly fell.

He fell into brocade quilts and jade curtains.

Everything before his eyes was unclear and chaotic. The fragrance was so intense it made one want to be permanently intoxicated. From somewhere unknown came powder-white arms that encircled his neck.

He instinctively tried to struggle but suddenly found his whole body weak and limp, the strength in all his limbs gone to who knows where.

He was greatly alarmed – had he been affected by Yin Li’s intoxicating incense just now? He hadn’t felt anything wrong.

Where was this? What about that mirror room from before?

…Red lips, full and lustrous, soft and fragrant, came toward him. A section of romantic fragrance, a section of amorous pleasure, so vivid and fragrant, so soft and flowing, wrapping around him.

Wanting to draw him in.

Skin like moonlight, skin like waves, skin like cream, like jade, like dreams, like bright pearls, like flower petals, like all the most beautiful things in the world.

Yet he struggled with his whole body covered in cold sweat.

Suddenly someone lightly knocked on the jade curtain hook beside the bed, smiling softly.

“Your Majesty, how does this taste?”

He tore at the sticky, clinging, slippery, greasy brocade quilts, his face full of amazement as he looked back.

――――――――――

Heaven and earth suddenly dimmed.

Before his eyes, a roaring fierce fire suddenly erupted with a whoosh.

The fierce fire swept through Chu Fei Huan’s body like a fire dragon, passing through his chest and rushing toward those pillared halls and jade steps, vermillion walls and cinnabar terraces. Ten thousand palace chambers became earth in an instant…

He touched his chest in surprise – no burning pain, no beating strength, nothing at all.

Turning around, he saw ahead on the ground a man whose back looked very familiar, kneeling before a female corpse, gently taking a piece of mutton-fat jade pendant from her waist.

The man’s fingers slowly caressed that jade pendant that no longer carried its owner’s body warmth, bit by bit touching over that smooth carving. The two characters “Chang Le” protruded clearly and distinctly, yet in this raging fire they seemed like a huge mockery.

Chang Le, Chang Le – from now on, no more joy.

The man treasured the jade pendant as he hung it at his own waist, then gently stood up. As he turned, his face flashed momentarily.

Standing in a corner, he was stunned…

Wasn’t that himself?

Oh… so I’m already dead?

He looked with melancholy at his own fingers passing through those flames, feeling neither panic nor fear. He had foreseen this moment for a long time… only with some slight pain he thought of… Where is Chang Ge? If I die, will she be sad?

Will she cry?

That single teardrop from the Youzhou incident fell on his heart, yet like fierce fire it burned endlessly, scorching him with pain until he could barely breathe, night after night branding deep marks that could never heal.

He didn’t want to see her cry or sigh – those expressions didn’t belong to her, who was always calm, composed, and looked down upon the world.

In his memory, she was forever graceful as a startled swan. In a single glance, her eyes would flow with expression – a woman white as a bird leaping through reed flowers toward him, entering the cold pool of his heart both fiercely and tenderly.

Chang Ge… I only hope that in this life your fortune will be as if heaven’s favor never ends.

Even if such love requires taking away all my life’s good fortune in exchange.

If possible, I would rather sacrifice all the happiness of this life and add it to your life’s destiny, in exchange for smooth sailing and peaceful times from now on.

But I would never want to become your burden or sin.

In the raging fire that burned his broken body, he smiled.

No matter what, in this life and this world, Xiao Jue would never fail her again, would he?

During these days of cold observation, the unease and doubts in his heart were gradually worn away. Xiao Jue still loved her – he loved her so much. Those eyes were sincere and passionate; no one could fake such feelings. Although such love burned brilliantly and magnificently, increasingly highlighting his own powerlessness and paleness by comparison, although such love lay across his vision like knives and swords cutting to his heart, deep in his heart he was joyful. How wonderful – she wasn’t lonely, she had someone who loved her with such full force. Then in the future, even if he left, she would never fall into coldness and solitude.

Chang Ge, I will depart on a long journey – no need to see me off.

Chang Ge, if there is a next life, would you be willing to meet me again?

…

In a trance, the scenery changed to deep blue water. Under the bridge I was crossing, the water was cold as ice. Warm blood merged in and immediately dispersed. His consciousness gradually died away, and the movement of his lower limbs became heavy and sluggish.

Vaguely he heard cracking sounds as white jade pieces fell in profusion, landing on the sand and gravel at the bridge’s bottom. Seen from afar, they looked like drops of tears or twinkling starlight, flickering on and off.

He smiled bitterly and touched his waist – Rong Xiaotian’s palm strike earlier had hit right on his jade pendant. The jade pendant shattered, but he gained half a life… Chang Ge, even in death you could still save me, so why couldn’t I save you?

The water rippled like a huge crystal, gradually solidifying to surround him.

“Crack!”

The water waves suddenly stood up like a wall, instantly transforming into the walls of Longevity Palace – deep red and bright yellow, standing straight before his eyes.

…The moon passed over the palace walls, flower shadows swayed. In the wind was the clear fragrance of tuberose. These worldly romantic affairs never cared whether one was in a desolate place. The Longevity Palace without a master didn’t affect those flowers blooming magnificently in colorful skirts and fragrant wind.

He passed through a half-withered flower and saw that blue-robed man in the palace, thoughtfully looking at a wall in the inner palace.

What had he been doing then? Oh… Rong’er had secretly run off to Youzhou. Chang Ge and he had come looking for him. Now Chang Ge had gone to Dragon Seal Palace to find Xiao Jue, while he stayed at the secret passage of Longevity Palace to wait.

…The man drove his wheelchair, slowly moving toward that wall.

He clenched his fingers, his palms full of cold sweat… Forget it… don’t look, don’t look…

“Boom!”

Among the gorgeous flowers of Longevity Palace, he suddenly looked back.

――――――――――

Boom!

Rong Xiaotian, filled with killing intent, suddenly split the ground with his sword.

He didn’t know what had happened. In his eyes, he only saw Qin Chang Ge shatter the mirror and then stand there in a daze, Xiao Jue’s sword reach halfway before he suddenly fell with a thud and struggled among the snake group, and Chu Fei Huan on Qi Fan’s back suddenly break into cold sweat with trembling hands that grabbed Qi Fan’s throat. Qi Fan was caught off guard by the strangling and immediately couldn’t breathe.

Rong Xiaotian, being half a person of Thousand Absolute Gate, immediately knew they were all controlled by the formation. Although he didn’t know what kind of formation could make several great masters all fall into it unknowingly, the situation was dangerous and couldn’t wait – Yin Li was coldly drifting toward Qin Chang Ge, the snake group was hissing and entangling endlessly. Although Xiao Jue was a master and his instinctive struggling had kept him safe for the moment, it definitely couldn’t last long. As for Qi Fan – he was about to be strangled to death by the pained-looking Chu Fei Huan.

The danger of this moment allowed no hesitation!

Rong Xiaotian treated a dead horse like a living horse, caring about nothing else, and immediately struck with his sword boldly!

He couldn’t hit the mirrors – Qin Chang Ge’s shattering mirrors had resulted in being trapped. He couldn’t touch the snake group – one look showed those things were unrelated to the formation. Then all that remained was this seven-star ground.

Sword light rose, striking toward: the Big Dipper!

“Crack!”

The ground split, a straight crack running across the seven-star diagram, directly splitting the Big Dipper star in half.

The light network filling the room suddenly contracted!

Qin Chang Ge awoke with a start, her eyes brightening. With one look she saw Yin Li’s withered yellow face had already pressed close to her own!