The Ninth Princess stood behind Xiao Lin, looking mockingly at Su Su. She loved nothing more than seeing Ye Xi Wu make a fool of herself in front of her sixth imperial brother.
Su Su felt quite frustrated. Hadn't it been agreed that the Ninth Princess would bear the consequences of the competition?
Someone as untrustworthy as the Ninth Princess would have been killed and robbed of their treasures ten thousand times over by powerful cultivators in the cultivation world.
Chun Tao was deeply worried.
Third Miss Ye usually cared most about Sixth Prince's opinion. Every time Sixth Prince spoke coldly to her, Third Miss would be driven mad with anger.
It had only been recently that Third Miss had become more amiable. Who knew if she wouldn't fly into a rage again upon returning?
Chun Tao secretly glanced at Third Miss, but didn't see any trace of sorrow or pain on her face.
Su Su quickly adjusted her mindset. Five hundred years ago, Senior Brother didn't know her yet, so it was understandable that he would protect his own sister.
Having crossed five hundred years of time and space to see someone who had already fallen, Su Su felt she should be happy instead.
Senior Brother had died protecting the sect - he was a hero.
After some thought, Su Su said to Xiao Lin: "Whether Your Highness believes me or not, I did not provoke the Ninth Princess. This is the imperial palace, and I was summoned by the Empress Dowager. It's not as if I came here specifically to block the Ninth Princess's way and bully her."
Xiao Lin was taken aback and couldn't help but look at Su Su.
In the past, the Third Miss of the Ye family would always look at him with infatuated, longing eyes. When she did wrong, she would refuse to admit her mistakes, acting ruthlessly and viciously.
In his memory, Ye Xi Wu had always worn an ugly, twisted expression.
Xiao Lin naturally knew she was madly infatuated with him, but every time he saw her, he couldn't help feeling disgusted.
Today was completely different. Her eyes were very bright.
Her brow was calm and composed, her padded jacket was pink and white, and her boots left small footprints in the snow.
The previous malice and resentment were gone, allowing him to see clearly that Third Miss Ye's appearance wasn't detestable at all.
Her eyes reflected the white snow, her cheeks were soft, actually showing a hint of innocence.
Hearing her defense, Xiao Lin looked at the Ninth Princess: "Zhao Yu, were you the one who challenged Third Miss Ye to a competition?"
A flash of guilt appeared in the Ninth Princess's eyes as she tugged on Xiao Lin's sleeve: "Imperial Brother..."
Xiao Lin understood everything now. He had an upright character and was a true gentleman. Since his sister had started the trouble, he naturally wouldn't blame Su Su anymore.
"This prince was unaware earlier. Please forgive me, Third Miss," he said to Su Su.
Su Su didn't expect Xiao Lin to apologize and quickly shook her head.
Senior Brother was the second best person in the world, second only to Father. She could blame anyone but Senior Brother.
In Su Su's view, the original host might have had a bad personality, but her taste was impeccable. Her Senior Brother was noble and magnanimous, upright and candid. It was just a pity he had fallen too early.
Xiao Lin's previous dislike for the original host wasn't without reason. For one, the original host truly didn't do decent things, and secondly, the original host would stubbornly refuse to admit her mistakes even when she did bad things.
Although Xiao Lin had apologized, his impression of Su Su hadn't actually improved.
After all, that day when his wife Ye Bingshang fell into the water, it was undoubtedly Third Miss Ye's doing. So he merely gave Su Su a slight nod without even looking at her, then turned and left.
The Ninth Princess never expected that Ye Xi Wu, who would usually only throw tantrums, would today calmly explain things to her imperial brother without making a scene.
Seeing that her imperial brother wouldn't help her scold Su Su, she stamped her foot and ran off.
"Imperial Brother, wait for me."
Once the Xiao siblings had left, Su Su turned around and saw Chun Tao grinning foolishly.
Su Su couldn't help but ask: "What are you smiling about?"Chun Tao instinctively replied, "This is the first time the Sixth Prince has ever softened his attitude toward our young lady."
General Ye commanded a powerful army, so even the emperor wouldn't lightly move against the third young lady.
But the noble and upright Sixth Prince never concealed his dislike for the third young lady. Every previous encounter had ended with him coldly reprimanding her with a stern face.
The most severe incident occurred back when the eldest young lady hadn't yet married. When the third young lady tried to slap the eldest young lady, the Sixth Prince directly shoved her aside.
That time, the third young lady was so furious she smashed everything breakable in her room.
Hearing Chun Tao say this, Su Su also felt like laughing.
This silly girl Chun Tao was truly carefree. Had Princess Jiu's whip actually landed earlier, Chun Tao would have been disfigured.
Yet this young girl was still thinking about her young lady's complicated relationship with the Sixth Prince.
Both were already married to others—there was no possibility left.
Just because Xiao Lin calmly said "please understand," Chun Tao could become this happy.
Just how detested had the original host been?
Thinking of how her senior brother had gently styled her hair in childhood, and how he rarely disliked anyone—yet now he held such aversion toward her current body—Su Su felt despair about the impression she now made on others.
The Empress Dowager kept Su Su for a while before letting her leave.
As General Ye had said, the Empress Dowager appeared very kind and tolerant.
But Su Su didn't think so. The Empress Dowager must have known about Princess Jiu challenging Su Su, yet she hadn't mentioned a word of it.
Su Su suspected that Princess Jiu's visit might have been tacitly approved by the Empress Dowager.
After all, if Princess Jiu had succeeded, Su Su would now be covered in whip marks and utterly humiliated. Then the Empress Dowager could play the good person by offering a few comforting words.
Su Su thought to herself: It seems the Ye family's prominence has attracted envy, and the royal family is already dissatisfied with them.
Sometimes when others show you tolerance, it isn't out of affection but fear.
There used to be frequent wars, and the Xiao royal family needed General Ye, the "God of War." But in recent years, the country has been peaceful and stable. With the emperor securely on his throne, he's inevitably grown dissatisfied with subjects who could threaten him.
Although Su Su hadn't experienced worldly affairs and was naive about mortal rules, she could still understand this logic.
She just didn't know what General Ye thought about it.
On her way back to the palace, Su Su suddenly remembered something.
She asked the eunuch leading the way, "Do you know where Tantai Jin used to live?"
The eunuch, already aware of the Ye family's third young lady's temper, had been keeping his head bowed while guiding her. Startled by Su Su's question, he quickly replied, "The Hostage Prince previously lived in the Cold Palace."
"The Cold Palace? Could you take me to see it?"
The eunuch looked somewhat hesitant.
Remembering her father's teaching that she needed to understand human relationships in the mortal world, Su Su took off a hairpin and handed it to him. "Thank you for your trouble, sir."
The eunuch hastily said, "I couldn't possibly, I couldn't possibly." He'd be lucky if this general's daughter didn't whip him.
Su Su said, "It's fine, please take it."
After a brief internal struggle, the eunuch accepted the hairpin and led Su Su to the location.
Soon, Su Su saw a dilapidated palace.
"This is where the Hostage Prince lived before. Miss Ye, this servant still needs to return to duty. The Cold Palace is desolate—please don't linger here too long." Having accepted Su Su's gift, he couldn't help offering a kind reminder.
Su Su nodded. "Thank you."
The eunuch departed.This was Chun Tao's first time visiting the Cold Palace. Looking at the courtyard overgrown with weeds as tall as three fingers, she recalled the rumors of frequent hauntings in the Cold Palace and couldn't help shivering. "Miss, why are we coming to the Cold Palace?"
As Su Su entered, she also sensed a chilling yin energy.
But in her current mortal body, she couldn't see anything.
"If you're afraid, wait for me outside. I'll be out soon," Su Su said to Chun Tao.
Chun Tao quickly shook her head. "I'll follow you, miss."
The third young lady held an extremely noble status. If anything happened to her or she got injured, Chun Tao would lose her life too.
Seeing Chun Tao's insistence, Su Su didn't say more and lifted her skirt to step into the Cold Palace.
She wanted to understand Tantai Jin's past.
Throughout tens of thousands of years, only two natural-born Demon Gods possessing the Evil Bone had appeared in the world.
When the first Demon God emerged, countless ancient Gods fell, sacrificing their ten-thousand-year cultivation. Even Divine Artifacts shattered one by one before it could be destroyed.
Many years later, the second Demon God, Tantai Jin, appeared suddenly.
But by this time, Cultivators were no longer as powerful as their predecessors. Over tens of thousands of years, very few Immortal Venerables had ascended to become Gods.
Coupled with the absence of Divine Artifacts, they had no means to deal with Tantai Jin.
Possessing the Evil Bone meant being a natural-born Demigod soul. Since ancient times, the Gods had been extremely wary of this. The Demon God before Tantai Jin had essentially wiped out the ancient divine beings.
Without sufficient references, the cultivation world had no understanding of how the Demon King was born, why he was so powerful, or where his weakness lay.
When the cultivation world could no longer withstand the demon army's attacks, someone finally proposed using the Divine Artifact "Mirror of the Past" to find a solution.
The Immortal Venerables exhausted tremendous effort to retrieve the fragments of the "Mirror of the Past" and painstakingly repaired it.
However, the damaged mirror could only vaguely reveal the final clue - the Demon King's original form five hundred years ago was named Tantai Jin, a fragile mortal.
His weakness and the reason for his fall couldn't be reflected in the mirror.
Moreover, the Evil Bone couldn't be destroyed by annihilating the physical body and soul. Once Tantai Jin's physical body died, it would reform eighteen years later, only becoming more powerful.
Simply put, killing him only made him stronger.
The Immortal Venerables: "..."
The elders were deeply troubled. Seeing the cultivation world on the verge of collapse, they gritted their teeth and decided to sacrifice nearly ten thousand years of cultivation to reverse the situation.
After divination selected the candidate, they sent Su Su back five hundred years, hoping she could extract Tantai Jin's Evil Bone and completely destroy him.
Without the Evil Bone, the Demon King would become fragile and vulnerable, never able to absorb the world's resentment and evil energy to revive again.
This was the final solution.
They made it sound so perfect.
Before departing, Su Su seriously asked her father: "How should I extract and destroy the Evil Bone?"
The green-robed sect leader coughed. "Daughter, you'll have to figure it out yourself. Understand his past, find what he fears most. The jade bracelet your mother left should be able to help you then."
His words were essentially useless. So how exactly was she supposed to do it?
Since the Immortal Sect was unreliable, Su Su had to find her own way through trial and error.
Su Su thought uncertainly that to understand someone's past, visiting places they had lived should provide plenty of information.
In the center of the Cold Palace stood only a well.
Su Su walked over and crouched to look inside. At first glance, she saw several bleached white bones at the bottom.
It was a dry well, who knew how old.
So Tantai Jin used to live among piles of corpses.
Su Su quickly said to Chun Tao behind her: "Don't come over here."
Chun Tao didn't understand why but obediently nodded.Su Su found several stones and set up a reincarnation array by the well, hoping to help dissipate their lingering resentment and allow them to be reborn sooner.
Without any spiritual power, this was all she could do.
Chun Tao felt the place was eerie everywhere. She couldn't imagine how the hostage prince had grown up in such a place.
The more frightened Chun Tao became, the more she couldn't help looking around.
"Miss, it seems there's a sound coming from that room?" Chun Tao said in a trembling voice.
Su Su turned and walked toward that room.
"Miss..."
"It's alright."
Su Su pushed the door open, and dust fell in cascades. The room was filled with spiderwebs, and Su Su coughed several times from the dust.
An old woman was crouched in the corner, her eyes vacant, hugging herself and rocking back and forth.
Su Su was stunned, not expecting anyone to be here.
She walked over, but the old woman showed no awareness of her presence.
Su Su caught a sour smell coming from the old woman.
"Grandma, why are you here?"
The old woman showed no reaction, as if she hadn't heard anything.
Seeing it was a living person, Chun Tao breathed a sigh of relief and said uncertainly, "Miss, I heard that when the hostage prince was sent to the Zhou Kingdom as a hostage, he was only six years old, and there was a wet nurse who came with him to take care of him."
But a young prince's wet nurse would have been at most in her twenties when she arrived. Now, after just fourteen short years, how could she have become so haggard, looking like a sixty-year-old woman, and gone mad?
Su Su was also taken aback—this was actually Tantai Jin's wet nurse?
In the turbulent world five hundred years later, she had seen similarly pitiful elderly people. But this world clearly didn't have the Demon King yet, so how could someone end up like this?
This vaguely made her feel like she was still in that terrible, chaotic world.
Su Su didn't speak, but carefully removed the spider silk from the old woman's hair.
Chun Tao said uneasily, "Miss..."
"Let's go out."
Logically, the person who knew Tantai Jin best should be this old woman, but she had already lost her sanity.
Su Su sat in the sedan chair without hurrying back. She summoned a palace maid: "Could you bring me a matron who oversees the cold palace?"
When the sun was high in the sky, a matron in purple clothes walked over through the thick snow and bowed to Su Su.
Su Su asked, "Why did Tantai Jin's wet nurse go mad?"
Following the same pattern, she gave the matron a gold hairpin.
That evil thing must have spared no one, not even his own wet nurse.
The matron happily accepted the gold hairpin. She couldn't get much profit in the cold palace, and Su Su was generous. For a moment, the matron wished she could spill everything, since Tantai Jin's affairs weren't exactly secrets anyway: "Thank you for your reward, Miss Ye. This old servant actually knows a thing or two about this matter. The hostage and that Liu woman came to the cold palace fourteen years ago."
"At that time, the hostage was such a tender-looking child. The cold palace is a filthy place—many of the palace guards and eunuchs have those kinds of preferences..."
Chun Tao's face turned red then pale.
"Liu protected the hostage, but she herself suffered. They had no status in the palace to begin with. This old servant heard that when they had no food to eat or clothes to wear in winter, Liu would also..."
"That's enough," Chun Tao couldn't help interrupting. These words made her heart race with fear—how could the young lady be allowed to hear such things?
"Let her speak. Tell me about Tantai Jin."
"Oh, Miss Ye, this old servant doesn't know much about the hostage prince. The young princes loved to play rough when they were children and enjoyed calling the hostage to be their playmate. Occasionally when this old servant saw the hostage, there wasn't a single good spot on his body."She spoke in veiled terms, but in truth, the matron had witnessed several instances where they treated the Hostage like an animal, subjecting him to humiliation.
At this point, the matron abruptly fell silent.
She suddenly remembered the relationship between the person before her and the one who had once been in the Cold Palace.
Feeling somewhat awkward, the matron wondered what Miss Ye's attitude toward the Hostage might be. She had only shared a few lighter truths—surely that wouldn’t cause any trouble.
Su Su pressed her lips together, her heart growing heavy. She hadn’t expected that Liu-shi’s condition wasn’t caused by Tantai Jin.
Vividly, the image of the young man’s exquisitely handsome face surfaced in her mind, along with the cold, gloomy look in his eyes.
No wonder he remained silent even when beaten or forced to kneel in punishment, like a wooden puppet. To him, such treatment was probably commonplace.
"After Tantai Jin left the palace, who has been taking care of Liu-shi?"
The matron was skilled at reading expressions. After weighing her words and seeing that Third Miss Ye seemed to harbor no ill intent, she told the truth.
"They say that before the Hostage left the palace, he gave some silver to Matron Zhao from the Laundry Bureau, asking her to bring meals to Liu-shi."
But with that meager amount of money, Matron Zhao would, at best, occasionally toss Liu-shi a steamed bun as if feeding a dog.
Su Su called out, "Chun Tao."
She took a pouch from Chun Tao, retrieved several gold ingots, and handed them to the matron. "When you have time, please look after Liu-shi. Get her some new clothes and help her wash up. Make sure she eats better. If I see that Liu-shi is well cared for the next time I enter the palace, I will reward you handsomely. Don’t tell anyone about this."
The purple-clad matron grinned from ear to ear as she accepted the heavy gold ingots. "Miss Ye, you flatter me. I understand your instructions perfectly."
After the matron had walked away, Chun Tao’s eyes sparkled as she whispered, "Miss, do you sympathize with His Highness the Hostage?"
Su Su put on a stern face. "Nonsense! How could I sympathize with Tantai Jin? I merely admire Liu-shi’s bravery in protecting her master. She shouldn’t have ended up like this."
Even if she were to pity a tiny ant, she could never pity Tantai Jin.
Chun Tao covered her mouth and laughed.
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