Green Mountain

Jingyang Palace.

The nuns stood at the high threshold and looked back, their eyes full of reluctance.

Clear sky, white clouds, gentle breeze.

Good times are too short, like a spring dream.

Going out today, they followed behind the ceremonial procession. Even the smell of scattered cow dung by the official road felt novel and endearing, but the incense smell in Jingyang Palace now felt nauseating for the first time.

Du Miao stared blankly at the sky outside, "Will we have another chance to go out in the future?"

One of the nuns whispered, "Next time, it might be when we're carried out of the palace."

Upon hearing this, Du Miao pulled out the hairpin from her hair, letting her gray hair fall behind her, and walked away dejectedly to the back hall.

As Zhu Lingyun walked inside, someone called her, "Xuan Yun."

She turned her head to look.

Xuan Zhen stood in the shadow of the side hall, his face unclear, "I heard that when you all returned to the palace, you were detained at the Scarf Bureau, stripped by the palace maids and checked three times, but your sister was directly taken to Kunning Palace by the Empress?"

Zhu Lingyun replied coldly, "Don't think you can drive a wedge between my sister and me, I will never listen to you again. Now that my sister is favored by the Empress, I'm no longer afraid of you."

Xuan Zhen chuckled lightly in the shadows, "Do you really think a trip to the Ancestor Silkworm Altar can cleanse you of your Heart Demon? Do you really think you're a good person, just a spoiled little girl favored by your parents and sister? If you could truly hold fast to your original intention, how could I drive a wedge between you? Let me ask you, when your sister went to Kunning Palace, did she bring you along?"

Zhu Lingyun's expression froze.

Holding a horsetail whisk, Xuan Zhen's voice carried a hint of nostalgia, "You've never been to Kunning Palace, have you? I went there when I was young. In the summer, ice is placed in the four corners of the palace, making the hall as cool as autumn; in winter, floor dragons are burned, and walking barefoot on the green gold bricks offered from the imperial kiln in Suzhou, the floor is warm. There is an endless abundance of fruits and vegetables, and even in winter, you can eat the produce grown in the hot spring caves..."

Zhu Lingyun said angrily, "What's the point of telling me all this, I'm not interested!"

Xuan Zhen smiled, "Do you think, after you burned Bai Li's green words, she will forgive you?"

Zhu Lingyun stepped forward a few steps, shouting sharply, "Don't slander me, it was clearly you who burned it."

Xuan Zhen laughed out loud, "In her eyes, does it make a difference?"

She slowly walked out of the shadow of the side hall, and Zhu Lingyun finally saw her half-swollen, rotten face, like a ghost crawling out of the ground.

Yuan Jin's slap had shockingly crushed the vitality from half of Xuan Zhen's face.

Zhu Lingyun, terrified, stepped back a few steps and stumbled to the ground, "Don't come over."

Xuan Zhen came to stand in front of Zhu Lingyun, looking down at her, "Do you think just because your sister has wormed her way into the Empress's favor, you'll also live a good life with her? No, only she will have the good life. Soon, you'll find yourself growing further apart from her until one day, like a lump of dog feces, she discards you."

Zhu Lingyun screamed hysterically, "No, my sister would never!"

Xuan Zhen leaned down, pressing her decayed cheek close to Zhu Lingyun's face, "Then let's see if after she comes back tonight, she will bring you a good life. But you have another choice, just now a eunuch promised, as long as you and I tarnish her reputation, we'll have a chance to leave the palace."

"Leave the palace?" Zhu Lingyun was suspicious, "Can she really let me leave the palace? I don't believe she can clear my father's name."

Xuan Zhen's undamaged half of the face curved into a smile, "Living people naturally can't leave, but the dead can."

Zhu Lingyun shivered, "I don't want to die."

Xuan Zhen said softly, "Imperial Concubine Xue has a way to make us feign death, and then the bribed eunuchs will bury us. Then, you and I will escape the palace, going our separate ways, hiding our names with the money given by Imperial Concubine Xue."

Zhu Lingyun stubbornly asked, "Why is Imperial Concubine Xue doing this? She's targeting the Empress, what's the point of targeting my sister?"

Xuan Zhen smiled, "Today, everyone believes your sister is favored by the heavens, which is why she can help the Empress avert danger. But what if your sister wasn't favored by the heavens, but instead used Witchcraft to achieve the nine throws of yin and yang? Then today's nine throws of yin and yang would be invalid."

Zhu Lingyun glanced fearfully at the statue of the Three Pure Ones, "Aren't you afraid of the anger of the Three Pure Ones for doing this?"

"The Three Pure Ones?" Xuan Zhen suddenly turned, staring fixedly at the statue, "When have they ever cared about this world? If they can truly distinguish right from wrong, why would they see me innocently trapped here? What wrong did I commit? I served cautiously in the harem, flattering this one and that one, but when the late Emperor passed, I was to be buried with him, why?"

Xuan Zhen looked down at Zhu Lingyun with a vicious gaze, "Do you want to be like me, exiled to this mire at eighteen, seeing death from the very start? I initially thought that if I focused on cultivating and behaved obediently, I could leave. But I later realized that no one cared about my goodness or badness, or whether I could leave. Xuan Yun, do you also want to stay here, growing gray and wrinkled, counting the days until death?"

Zhu Lingyun was too scared to speak.

Xuan Zhen turned and walked deeper into the side hall, "I'm not forcing you, tonight you can choose for yourself. If it works, we're out of here; if not, you'll rot here with me."

Zhu Lingyun suddenly asked, "Then what about my sister?"

Xuan Zhen laughed and said, "She has the Empress's protection here, so naturally, nothing will happen. But do you have the Empress's protection? Remember, the opportunity is only tonight."

...

...

At 9 to 11 PM that night.

Two palace maids carried bright lanterns, guiding Bai Li back to Jingyang Palace.

Bai Li held a basket in her hand and courteously bowed to the two maids, "Thank you, sisters."