Hearing what the Empress Dowager said, the surrounding Palace Attendants and Imperial Physicians turned pale with fear. They bowed their heads, not daring to utter a sound; not a single person spoke.
A chill settled in Xia Wuyang’s heart, but his face appropriately displayed a mixture of alarm and sorrow. He lowered his head and spoke in a deep voice, "Empress Dowager, you speak too harshly. I am useless and cannot ease your worries. I only pray for Your Majesty’s health and a swift recovery."
The Empress Dowager suddenly sneered, her laugh dry and grating. "Health? Since this palace was plagued by Gu Insects and things went missing, there hasn’t been a single day of peace! They even dare to steal from my Cining Palace! They even dare to frighten me! And the Emperor? The Imperial Court? What are they good for? What’s the use in keeping them around?"
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became. Her breathing grew rapid, and she coughed repeatedly. "COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... A bunch of trash! All of them, trash! Not a single competent one among them. They can’t even catch a thief! They can’t even give me a single day of peace! Oh, late Emperor, look... just look at what the Harem of Great Xia has become! How can anyone even live here anymore?"
This tirade, seemingly complaining about lax palace security and the Emperor’s incompetence, was actually a thinly veiled attack. Every word dripped with redirected anger and loathing for the Crown Prince, whom she saw as the greatest source of instability in the palace. At least in her eyes, the fact that Xia Wuyang hadn’t died yet and still occupied the Crown Prince’s position made him the biggest destabilizing factor.
She might not have known exactly who was responsible, but she blamed it all on the unrest in the palace. And wasn’t one of the root causes of this unrest this old piece of trash who occupied the Crown Prince’s seat but served no real purpose?
Xia Wuyang kept his head down, hiding the fleeting mockery and coldness in his eyes. ’It feels unfair, but on second thought, I *was* the one behind it all. There’s nothing to feel wronged about.’
’But this Empress Dowager... she really hasn’t changed a bit.’
’Caustic, selfish, snobbish... She blames everyone else for her misfortunes and is an expert at shirking her own responsibilities.’
’Back when Empress Mother Luo Jin was alive, she suffered countless open and hidden attacks, cold words, and sarcastic remarks from this woman. She even dared to strike my mother.’
’Now that I, her grandson, am here, I get the same treatment. She’ll go to her grave without an ounce of remorse.’
He offered a few more perfunctory, meaningless words of comfort. Seeing that the Empress Dowager had closed her eyes in exhaustion and was ignoring him, he left without another word.
As he walked out of the main hall of Cining Palace, he could still faintly hear the Empress Dowager’s intermittent, yet still sharp and grating voice, apparently complaining to her personal Nanny: "I thought he wouldn’t survive the summer, but he actually made it this long. Instead, it’s me... COUGH COUGH... who’s been cursed by him! It’s clear my time is short. What a jinx! He should have died long ago."
Xia Wuyang didn’t break his stride. The feigned sadness on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold indifference. The corner of his mouth curved into a mocking arc.
Andrew followed behind him and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, please calm your anger. The Empress Dowager is old and her illness has muddled her mind. That’s why she’s spouting such nonsense."
Xia Wuyang shook his head gently, his voice as flat and placid as still water. "Anger? Why should I care about the ramblings of a dying woman? There’s no need to."
He raised his head and glanced at the roof of Cining Palace, which looked even more oppressive under the gloomy sky.
"She did remind me, though. There are indeed too many unlucky things in this palace that should be dead but aren’t. It’s time for a proper cleanup..."
His voice was low, and Andrew didn’t hear him clearly. After saying this, Xia Wuyang didn’t look back. He started walking slowly toward Wenhua Hall with a gait that seemed unsteady but was in fact firm. Nearby, Palace Attendants were still mocking him, gossiping about how decrepit and lecherous the elder Crown Prince was.
Behind him, the shadows of Cining Palace deepened. The strange mixture of medicinal scents and sandalwood seemed to transform into an invisible hand, choking the throat of the palace and the throats of the Palace Attendants within.
At the end of the seventh month, a brief coolness finally graced White Jade City after successive thunderstorms, and many Palace Attendants couldn’t resist coming out to enjoy it.
The water level in Taiye Pool hadn’t yet returned to normal, but the rainwater collected in the hollows reflected the lead-gray sky. An occasional dragonfly would dip down, sending ripples across the surface, making the scenery beautiful once more.
At the base of the palace walls, stubborn new green shoots sprouted from the roots of scorched-yellow weeds, unfurling their leaves in the damp air as life began to return.
The drone of the cicadas had thinned, replaced by the rising and falling chirps of crickets and katydids in the grass. The sounds only served to make the post-rain Imperial City seem even more silent and profound, concealing who knew how much filth.
Yet beneath this tranquility, washed clean by the rain, a secret and malevolent undercurrent was seeping through the palace walls, preparing to stir up a storm.
Xuan Nu Palace!
It was once a force to be reckoned with in the Great Xia Martial World. With a heritage spanning over a thousand years, it consistently ranked among the top ten, its power even surpassing that of the Vajra Sect.
Its Palace Master, the Bing Qing Fairy, enjoyed a grand reputation in the Jianghu for being "of jade bone and ice skin, untouched by worldly dust." Her very nickname was a testament to her fame and status.
She was always seen in a plain white gauze robe, her face veiled by a light scarf, giving her an exquisite and dreamlike appearance. Only her limpid autumn-water eyes were visible, and her gaze was as cool and aloof as a Celestial Snow Lotus. When she spoke, her voice was ethereal and otherworldly, as if she did not partake of mortal food.
Whenever people in the Jianghu spoke of her, they would praise her as noble and transcendent, as picturesque as a painting. To countless young talents, she was the unattainable bright moon in their hearts. Who knew how many had been utterly captivated by her.
But with the exposé by that mysterious expert, everyone learned what a rotten and filthy core was wrapped beneath that "ice-pure, jade-clean" exterior.
According to the revealed information, deep within Xuan Nu Palace lay a Jade Warm Pavilion, unknown to outsiders.
There, aphrodisiac Warm Fragrance burned year-round. Brocade curtains hung low over floors covered with the softest animal furs and fine silks. All manner of rare delicacies were also available.
Here, the Bing Qing Fairy’s true face was laid bare, subverting the imagination of all her admirers.
She was not a Practitioner of pure heart and few desires, but a woman of deep lust and an extreme need for control. And she had more than one such Warm Pavilion.
Using the resources and power of Xuan Nu Palace, she secretly sought out and kept a large number of handsome, able-bodied young men as concubines, many of whom were disciples from Renowned Sects.
These men were either lured or forcibly abducted and imprisoned in the Jade Warm Pavilion. They became cultivation cauldrons for her Evil Technique of Gathering and Replenishing, as well as playthings to relieve her loneliness and satisfy her private desires. There was no telling how many handsome young men had been savaged and destroyed there.
She reveled in the thrill and sense of power that this double life gave her. On one hand, she maintained the image of a lofty, pure, and flawless Fairy in the Jianghu, accepting the adoration and offerings of the masses, as well as the feeling of being pursued. On the other hand, she secretly indulged in debauchery, toying with and manipulating the bodies and minds of those men, watching them struggle between lust and despair.
This extreme contrast gave her a twisted sense of pleasure, one she found increasingly impossible to resist.
This continued until they coveted Yun Liyue’s Sword Control Skill and made a move against her, only to be counter-attacked and exposed by that mysterious expert, bringing the crimes of Xuan Nu Palace to light.

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