Ye Xuan Enters the Palace

The next day, exactly at noon.

Dark clouds gathered heavily over the execution ground.

Ye Xuan was bound tightly and forced to kneel on the execution block.

The sharp executioner's blade gleamed with a bloodthirsty light in the freezing wind.

The executioner took a large gulp of wine and sprayed it across the blade.

"The hour has come—execute!"

Following the supervising official's order, the token fell to the ground.

Ye Xuan closed his eyes, his entire body trembling as tears streamed down his face.

"Mother... I'm coming to find you... Although I'm dying a miserable death, I didn't bring shame to you..."

He muttered silently in his heart, waiting for that final, agonizing pain.

The executioner raised the massive blade high, and it howled as it swung down.

"The imperial edict has arrived!"

A shrill scream pierced the sky.

"Stay your blade!"

The great blade stopped a mere three inches above Ye Xuan's neck, its freezing aura severing a few strands of his hair.

An old eunuch ran up to the execution platform, panting heavily, holding a bright yellow imperial edict in his hands:

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees:"

"The sinner Ye Xuan, despite his great disrespect, is pardoned of his death sentence in consideration of his youth, ignorance, and... and his considerable backbone."

Hearing that his death sentence was pardoned, Ye Xuan went weak all over and nearly collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily for air.

But the old eunuch's next words left him stunned.

"However, while the death penalty may be avoided, a living punishment cannot be escaped."

"Effective immediately, Ye Xuan is hereby titled—Concubine Ye, and bestowed residence in the Changmen Palace. He is not to leave without an edict, nor is he to see the Emperor without an edict, and he shall remain chaste for Us... for the rest of his life."

"Respect this!"

Changmen Palace.

This was the most remote and desolate palace in the Great Xia Imperial Palace.

The plaster on the walls was peeling, weeds grew wildly, and even the crows couldn't be bothered to rest here.

When Ye Xuan, clutching a simple bundle, was thrown into this cold palace, he did not feel desolate.

On the contrary, looking at these drafty walls, he felt incredibly at ease.

Here, there was no terrifying Female Emperor, no old maids forcing him to bathe, and no nauseating perfumes.

Here, there was the scent of freedom.

"Cough, cough..."

Just as Ye Xuan was about to tidy up the dust-covered bed, a violent fit of coughing came from the corner.

Startled, Ye Xuan turned to look.

In the dark corner, an old man in tattered clothes was curled up.

The old man was nothing but skin and bones, his hair white and unkempt. He tightly gripped a broom in his hand, staring at Ye Xuan with a wary and fierce gaze.

"Who are you?" the old man asked, his voice hoarse and his eyes fierce. "This is my territory, get out!"

Ye Xuan paused for a moment, then revealed his signature, carefree smile.

He pulled half an uneaten steamed bun from his robes—one he had secretly hidden on the way—and handed it over.

"Don't be afraid, old man."

"My name is Ye Xuan. I'm the new concubine."

"We'll be neighbors from now on. Here, have this steamed bun."

The old man looked at the bun, then at Ye Xuan's eyes, which were so clean they held not a trace of impurity.

His fierce gaze gradually softened, turning into astonishment and doubt.

He snatched the bun and devoured it ravenously, mumbling indistinctly:

"A fool... a fool has come..."

"Entering this man-eating palace and still able to smile... If you're not a fool, what are you..."

This old man had no name; everyone in the palace called him Old Fu.

He was the only living creature in this Changmen Palace, and also the only person in this world who would truly care for Ye Xuan.

Watching Old Fu eat so ravenously, Ye Xuan smiled even more happily.

Little did he know that the figure sitting on the dragon throne was currently staring intently at him through a water mirror.

Wu Lingxiao watched him bustle about in the dilapidated cold palace, watched him pat the dirty old man's back, and watched the relaxed smile brimming on his face—a smile he had never once shown to her.

"Ye Xuan..."

Inside the imperial study, Wu Lingxiao whispered the name, rolling it over her tongue. The possessiveness in her eyes did not diminish; instead, it grew wildly like weeds.

"Do you think you've escaped?"

"I want to see just how long a stubborn bone like you can last in that cage."

In the early morning, the first ray of sunlight shone through the broken window lattice onto the floor.

Ye Xuan sat cross-legged on a hard wooden bed that only had three legs. His eyes were tightly closed, his hands forming seals, and a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of spiritual energy curled around his body.

"Phew..."

After a long time, he exhaled a breath of impure air and opened his eyes, his face full of excitement.

"Great! Even though it's just a tiny, imperceptible thread, I can feel the spiritual energy in my dantian growing just a little bit more! At this rate, in another... hmm, eighty years, I'll be able to reach the Foundation Establishment stage!"

Hearing this, Uncle Fu, who was sweeping nearby, almost dropped his broom.

The old man rolled his eyes and looked at this optimistic fool, unable to resist dealing a blow to his confidence:

"Eighty years? Kid Ye, you have a mixed five-element spiritual root. That's universally acknowledged as a trash physique in the cultivation world. Let alone eighty years, even if you were given eight hundred years in a cold palace with such thin spiritual energy, you still wouldn't reach Foundation Establishment."

Uncle Fu leaned on his broom and sighed, his eyes complex as he looked at Ye Xuan's face—a face whose brilliance could not be hidden even by coarse linen clothes:

"Why do you make things so hard for yourself? That face of yours is a meal ticket gifted by the heavens. As long as you're willing to yield, go shed a couple of tears in front of the Female Emperor, even if you don't serve her in bed, just acting coquettishly would make all the top-tier resources of this immortal dynasty yours."

"When the time comes, Marrow Cleansing Pills, Spirit Gathering Arrays, and even legendary heavenly treasures—what wouldn't you be able to get? Why must you stay here, gnawing on dry steamed buns, cultivating toward a dead end?"

Ye Xuan jumped off the bed, pulled out the other half of last night's hard steamed bun from his robes, and took a bite as if gnawing on a rock, yet he smiled carelessly:

"Uncle Fu, you don't understand."

"Living off a woman comes with a price. If I eat her food, I have to obey her words and throw my dignity on the ground like a footcloth for her to trample on."

He struggled to swallow the hard, dry bun, patting his chest to help it go down, but his eyes were startlingly bright:

"I might be trash, but I'm cultivating my own path to immortality. Even if I remain in the Qi Refining stage for my entire life, as long as this cultivation was built bit by bit by myself, I feel at peace."

"Besides..."

Ye Xuan waved his fist and declared confidently, "Who says I can't do it? What if one day I have an epiphany and ascend in broad daylight? When that time comes, I'll smash these palace gates open with one punch and take you out to live a life of luxury!"

Uncle Fu looked at his ignorant and boastful appearance, wanting to curse him for being stupid. But when the words reached his lips, they turned into a long, helpless sigh.

"Silly kid... The grand array of this imperial palace is an ancient immortal formation. Even Almighty experts at the Tribulation Transcendence stage can't break out, let alone a little ant at the second level of Qi Refining like you... Sigh."

Ye Xuan, however, didn't care about any of that.

He was like a resilient blade of grass growing in the cracks of a stone. Even without sunlight or rain, he could find his own joy.

He would spend half the day chasing butterflies in the courtyard, dance with joy over discovering a newly bloomed wildflower in the corner of the wall, and collect a basin of rootless rainwater on rainy days to happily brew a pot of nonexistent "spiritual tea."

This cheap yet pure happiness was an unimaginable luxury to someone who had spent a lifetime scheming and fighting in the imperial palace.

Inside the Imperial Study.

A massive water mirror floated in mid-air. The image displayed within was none other than Ye Xuan in the Changmen Palace, looking completely carefree and as happy as an immortal.

Snap!

The vermilion brush in Wu Lingxiao's hand was snapped in two.

She stared fixatedly at the brightly smiling youth in the image. Her chest heaved violently as a nameless, wicked fury rushed straight to her head.

Why?

Why was it that she, who sat upon the throne of the world and possessed all within the Four Seas, had to face exhausting state affairs and hypocritical faces every single day, living in such utter weariness?

Meanwhile, this prisoner who had nothing, this cripple who should be weeping bitterly and regretting his past, could actually smile so happily?

His happiness was like a resounding slap, striking viciously across Wu Lingxiao's face.

"He is provoking me... he must be provoking me!"

Wu Lingxiao gritted her teeth, a trace of morbid stubbornness flashing in the depths of her eyes.

"You want to live a peaceful life? I will absolutely not let you have your way!"

"Men, relay my decree!"

"I want to see if you can still smile when I actually stand before you and force you to serve me in bed!"