The Empress Has Fallen

The old female official looked at the mad gleam in the Empress's eyes, her heart trembling as she bowed her head and replied, "Yes."

At this moment, Wu Lingxiao thought this was merely another imperial favor.

Little did she know that this single glance would be the beginning of her eternal doom.

And this youth, who wept under the imperial rod yet refused to yield, would become a heart demon she could never cure for all eternity.

The Great Xia Imperial Palace, behind the Chengtian Hall.

This was the most extravagant yet most oppressive place in the entire palace: the Imperial Attendance Directorate.

Hundreds of palace servants carrying trays, incense, and brocade handkerchiefs wove through the corridors like flowing water.

In the deepest cleansing room, steam billowed, carrying a strong medicinal fragrance.

The massive white jade pool was sprinkled with snow lotus petals from the Heavenly Mountains and filled with an extremely precious spiritual liquid meant to soothe the meridians and invigorate the blood.

Splash.

The sound of water echoed as a pale, frail arm gripped the edge of the pool, trying to climb out.

"I don't want this... Let me go!"

Ye Xuan was completely naked, his wet hair plastered against his cheeks, his clear eyes filled with terror and despair. He struggled desperately, wanting to escape this place filled with a sickly sweet aroma.

"Oh, my little ancestor!"

Several robust older maids were quick to act, shoving him back into the water.

Their grip was immensely strong; to Ye Xuan, who was only at the second level of Qi Condensation, they felt like iron tongs.

"This is the body Her Majesty will enjoy tonight. If he isn't washed clean, we will all lose our heads!"

A female official with a face full of fierce flesh walked over coldly.

In her hand, she held a box of fine powder ground from deep-sea merman pearls, a tribute specifically used to polish the skin and make it as tender and smooth as a baby's.

She looked down condescendingly at Ye Xuan thrashing in the water, a disdainful sneer curving her lips:

"Save your strength. Now that you have entered this imperial palace, your life belongs to Her Majesty, and so does your body."

"Let me go..." Ye Xuan choked on a mouthful of water and coughed violently, his eyes red. "I don't want to be some concubine... I have hands and feet, I can survive on my own..."

"Survive on your own?" The female official acted as if she had heard a joke. She bent down, using her long fingernails to lift Ye Xuan's chin, forcing him to look at her:

"Look at this face of yours; this is a gift from the heavens. With your looks, as long as you serve Her Majesty well tonight, you will receive boundless wealth and honor!"

"When that time comes, you can have whatever you desire. Even those lofty holy sons of the great sects will have to kneel and kowtow when they see you."

The female official's voice was full of bewitchment: "This is a blessing that countless men beg for but cannot get. Why do you still want freedom? Can freedom feed you? Can freedom give you immortality?"

Ye Xuan was forced to tilt his head up, water droplets sliding down his slender neck.

He looked at the greedy light in the female official's eyes, his own eyes showing no wavering whatsoever, only a stubbornness bordering on foolishness.

"I don't want wealth and glory."

His voice trembled, out of cold and fear, but every word was incredibly clear:

"I only want freedom."

"I don't care for your charity, nor do I want to trade my body for immortality."

The smile in the female official's eyes gradually vanished, replaced by icy anger.

"Obstinate and foolish."

She straightened up and waved her hand: "Since you refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit, don't blame me for being ruthless. Men, cleanse his body. You must scrub him until his skin is completely red. Tonight, Her Majesty must be satisfied!"

"Yes!"

A group of sturdy maids swarmed forward.

Night fell.

Tens of thousands of palace lanterns lit up the Great Xia Imperial Palace, resembling a galaxy on earth.

Outside the bedchamber, a squad of guards dressed in red had been waiting for a long time.

Ye Xuan's body had been dried, and he was tightly wrapped in a massive brocade quilt embroidered with a dragon and phoenix auspicious pattern, looking like a gift waiting to be unwrapped.

Two strong and sturdy eunuchs hoisted him onto their shoulders, carrying him all the way toward the Empress's bedchamber, the Weiyang Palace.

The night breeze was slightly cool.

Ye Xuan was trapped inside the brocade quilt, with only his head exposed. As the eunuchs walked, he could feel himself getting closer and closer to that terrifying woman.

Fear submerged him like a tidal wave.

He did not want to go.

He did not want to become a female tyrant's plaything, nor did he want to become just another resentful concubine in the imperial harem.

"Put me down... I beg you..."

He pleaded in a low voice, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes and soaking the brocade quilt.

But the eunuchs carrying him remained expressionless and even quickened their pace.

They passed through the imperial garden and turned past a moon gate.

Ahead, the towering silhouette of the Weiyang Palace was already clearly visible. However, on one side of the palace was a massive open-air latrine used by the servants, emitting a faint, foul stench.

In the exact moment they passed by the latrine.

Ye Xuan, who had been crying and seemingly resigned to his fate, suddenly flashed a trace of resolute madness in his eyes.

"I won't go!"

He suddenly roared loudly. Summoning strength from an unknown source, he twisted his body frantically on the eunuchs' shoulders.

"Careful!" The eunuchs had not expected this frail youth to still have the strength to struggle, and they stumbled.

In this lightning-fast moment.

Ye Xuan used the momentum to roll right off the eunuchs' shoulders, his entire body still wrapped in the brocade quilt.

He did not roll onto the flat ground.

He rolled straight toward that open-air cesspool!

"No!"

Accompanied by the terrified, desperate screams of the eunuchs.

Splash!

A muffled sound rang out, kicking up countless drops of filthy black water.

This peerlessly beautiful youth, who had been scrubbed clean and prepared to be sent to the dragon bed, plunged headfirst into the filthy, foul-smelling cesspool right before everyone's eyes!

Dead silence.

The entire imperial garden fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

They had seen people resort to any means necessary to fight for favor, seen people sell their dignity for wealth and glory, and even seen people wet their pants in fear.

But they had never seen someone who would rather jump into a latrine pit than serve the Empress!

Inside the Weiyang Palace.

Red candles burned brightly, and warm incense drifted through the air.

Wu Lingxiao, having just finished bathing and changing her clothes, was leaning lazily on the dragon bed.

She wore a sheer red gauze dress, her waterfall-like black hair scattered casually, and she was toying with a jade wine cup in her hand.

Tonight, she was in a rare good mood.

That little wildcat named Ye Xuan, although a bit stubborn, truly had a pair of captivating eyes.

She had even already made up her mind that if he behaved obediently tonight, even if he just yielded slightly, she wouldn't mind giving him an official title, appointing him as a Talented Attendant or a Consort of Bright Deportment, keeping him by her side to relieve her boredom in the future.

"Your Majesty..."

At this moment, her personal female official walked in, pale-faced and trembling all over, and dropped to her knees with a thud.

"Where is he?"

Wu Lingxiao slightly raised her eyes, a smile on her lips. "Why hasn't he been brought in yet? My patience is limited."

The female official kept her head pressed firmly against the ground, her voice trembling like a leaf: "Your... Your Majesty... Master... Master Ye, he..."

"What happened to him? Is he dead?" Wu Lingxiao frowned slightly.

"N-no... not dead..." The female official swallowed hard and said with great difficulty, "On the way here... he broke free from the eunuchs and jumped... jumped into the cesspool of the latrine."

"..."

With a crack, the jade wine cup in Wu Lingxiao's hand was crushed into powder.

The smile on her face froze, replaced by a shock that surged from the depths of her soul, followed by an overwhelming sense of humiliation.

Jumping into a cesspit?

He would rather roll around in filth than climb into my imperial bed?

In his eyes, am I, the Empress of the Great Xia, even worse than foul waste?!

"Good... very good!"

Wu Lingxiao stood up abruptly. A terrifying imperial aura instantly overturned the desk in front of her, scattering a table full of delicacies across the floor.

Her chest heaved violently, killing intent boiling in her eyes as she roared through gritted teeth:

"Since he likes being dirty so much, let him be as dirty as he wants!"

"Fish him out! Wash him clean! Throw him into the Heavenly Prison!"

"Three days from now, behead him at the Meridian Gate!"

"I will let him know the price of humiliating me!"

The Heavenly Prison.

Dark, damp, and filled with the stench of rot and death.

But in the deepest part of the prison, there was a special cell.

It had been swept spotless, and a censer of incense was even lit—this was specifically ordered by Wu Lingxiao.

Ye Xuan huddled in a pile of straw in the corner.

He had been washed again, even more ruthlessly than before. His skin had been scrubbed raw, revealing shocking red streaks of blood.

Wearing a thin white prison uniform, he hugged his knees, buried his face in his arms, and sobbed softly.

During these past few days, Wu Lingxiao did not come to see him.

But her fury was omnipresent.

Every day, different female officials, eunuchs, and even famous persuaders came to the cell to threaten and bribe him.

"Young Master Ye, why bring this upon yourself? As long as you bow your head to Her Majesty and admit your mistake, even just saying one soft word, Her Majesty can spare your life."

"That's right, look at these top-grade spirit stones and this ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicine. As long as you nod, they are all yours."

"Think about those cruel tortures: death by a thousand cuts, flaying, soul extraction... aren't you afraid?"

Facing all this.

Ye Xuan only cried.

With tears and snot streaming down his face, he just shook his head.

His eyes shone when he looked at the spirit stones, clearly tempted, yet his hands tightly gripped the hem of his clothes, refusing to reach out.

He trembled all over and his teeth chattered when he heard about the tortures, but his mouth still repeated the same phrase: "I don't want to."

This contradiction of extreme weakness combined with extreme stubbornness caused everyone who tried to persuade him to return in defeat.

In the Imperial Study, Wu Lingxiao watched all this coldly through a Water Mirror spell.

Looking at this boy curled up in a ball, crying like a punching bag.

The anger in her heart gradually subsided, replaced by an unprecedented sense of irritation and curiosity.

She had killed many people.

There were hard-boned sword cultivators who would rather break than bend.

There were cowardly villains who knelt and begged for mercy.

But she had never seen anyone like Ye Xuan.

He was obviously terrified of death, obviously greedy for wealth and beauty, and obviously as weak as a puddle of mud.

But why?

Why did he absolutely refuse to bend his less-than-noble knees?

The night of the third day.

Tomorrow at noon would be the time of execution.

A light sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor of the Heavenly Prison.

Ye Xuan was so hungry he was dizzy, leaning against the corner in a daze.

Hearing the sound, he raised his head somewhat sluggishly.

He saw a woman dressed in the ordinary attire of the Imperial Weaving Bureau approaching, carrying a red-lacquered food box.

The woman's appearance was ordinary, but her posture was upright, and her eyes revealed an unconcealable sharpness.

It was precisely Wu Lingxiao in disguise.

She had sent away all the jailers, wanting only to take one last look at the man who had disgraced her before killing him.

"Time to eat."

Wu Lingxiao opened the cell door and placed the food box on the ground, her tone flat.

As soon as the food box was opened, a rich aroma of meat instantly filled the entire cell.

This was a special last meal prepared by the Imperial Kitchen, featuring braised spirit meat, steamed snow fish, and a pot of fine Nu'er Hong wine.

Ye Xuan's eyes lit up instantly.

He swallowed hard, crawled over carefully, and picked up the bowl and chopsticks like a protective little beast.

"Is... is this my last meal?"

He asked indistinctly while stuffing meat into his mouth, large tears falling into the bowl. "It's so good... boohoo... I've never eaten such delicious meat in my life..."

Watching him devour the food while crying, Wu Lingxiao found it both amusing and absurd.

She sat cross-legged opposite him, resting her chin on her hand, and asked with interest:

"Since you are afraid of dying, why don't you beg for mercy?"

"As long as you shout 'Long live Her Majesty' right now, perhaps Her Majesty's heart will soften and she will let you go."

Ye Xuan sniffled, wiped away tears and grease with his sleeve, and shook his head.

"Being afraid of death is one thing, rejecting her is another."

He sobbed, "These are two different matters."

Wu Lingxiao raised an eyebrow. "What's the difference? Once you're dead, you have nothing. Only by living is there hope."

"Besides," she added with a hint of mockery in her tone, "it's just serving in bed. For a man, giving up that little bit of flesh can be exchanged for glory and wealth. So many people line up and beg for it to no avail. Can't you just put on an act and play along?"

Ye Xuan stopped his chopsticks.

He looked at the braised meat in his bowl, his eyes suddenly becoming somewhat lonely.

"I still have my Primordial Yang body," he whispered.

Wu Lingxiao couldn't help but sneer. "Primordial Yang? With your meager Qi Condensation Level Two cultivation? Are you afraid of being used for dual cultivation? Even if you lose your Primordial Yang, it won't have much impact on your cultivation."

"It's not about cultivation."

Ye Xuan put down the bowl and looked earnestly at the unfamiliar woman in front of him.

His eyes were red and swollen, with teardrops still hanging on his eyelashes, but his gaze was so clear that Wu Lingxiao almost didn't dare to look directly at it.

"My mother died early. Before she left, she told me that my body is my own, and my heart is my own. This kind of thing must be given to the person I like the most."

Wu Lingxiao froze for a moment, then sneered. "Childish. In this world, the human heart is unpredictable. Even if you give it to the person you like the most, can you guarantee she will walk with you for a lifetime? She might turn around and abandon you."

"I know."

Ye Xuan nodded, his voice very light, yet very firm:

"The ways of the world are fickle, and human hearts change easily. I understand all of this."

"But I can only control myself. I want to be responsible for every relationship, and responsible for myself."

"As long as I have a clear conscience in that relationship, even if there is no good outcome in the end, even if she betrays me, that is the will of heaven, and I will have no regrets."

Speaking of this, he raised his head, revealing a smile that was uglier than crying, yet it carried a strange radiance:

"But if... if I were to casually give myself away just because I'm afraid of death, or for the sake of wealth, even if it's just putting on a show..."

"Then the blame would lie with me."

"I can die, I can be beheaded, thrown into a mass grave... but I cannot degrade myself."

"Because once I degrade myself, I will no longer be me."

"If even I look down on myself, then what's the point of living a long life?"

The cell fell silent.

Only the torches on the wall emitted crackling sounds as they burned.

Wu Lingxiao stared blankly at the young man before her.

In her lifetime, she had witnessed far too much deceit and far too much groveling.

For the sake of the throne, for the sake of immortality, men would turn into monsters, sell their souls, and slaughter their own fathers and brothers.

In this cruel cultivation world, "principles" and "bottom lines" were the cheapest commodities of all.

Yet now, a mere ant at the Qi Condensation realm—a piece of trash as insignificant as a speck of dust in her eyes—was laying down his life to protect such a ridiculous, trivial conviction.

Foolish.

Utterly foolish.

But... why was her heart racing so fast?

"You..." Wu Lingxiao opened her mouth, her voice unexpectedly hoarse. "You really don't know what's good for you."

She stood up, masking the complex emotions swirling in her eyes, and said coldly,

"Then hold onto your Pure Yang physique and be a ghost in the underworld."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked away.

"Hey! Sister!"

Ye Xuan's voice suddenly rang out from behind her.

Wu Lingxiao paused. She didn't look back, but a cold smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "What? Having second thoughts? It's not too late to beg for mercy."

"No..."

Ye Xuan picked up the remaining half-jug of wine from the table and waved it at her back, a genuine smile spreading across his face.

"I just wanted to say... thank you."

"To have someone keep me company and talk with me right before I die, and to eat such a delicious meal... I truly thank you."

Wu Lingxiao's pupils violently contracted.

Thank you?

He was actually thanking her?

She was the one who was going to kill him, the very source of all his suffering. And yet, he was thanking her?

An inexplicable pang of sorrow and a sudden, overwhelming impulse surged into her heart. Wu Lingxiao didn't say a word; she merely quickened her pace, practically fleeing as she rushed out of the Heavenly Prison.