The real heiress is a fortune teller; her divinations are worth a fortune, and the whole internet is

Slightly heavy footsteps came from outside the cell.

The celestial maiden's ears twitched slightly. She moved her injured body to sit up, leaning against the cold wall to make herself look less disheveled.

Xiao Chen's hand, which he wanted to reach out and help, passed through the celestial maiden's body and fell limply; he was powerless to do anything now.

The cell door opened, and Sima Chong's exquisite boots stepped onto the straw, somewhat out of place with the surrounding environment.

"Is Your Majesty finding your stay here comfortable?" Sima Chong asked leisurely, sitting on a sandalwood chair brought by his subordinate. "His Majesty's coffin has been buried in the imperial mausoleum, and the tomb was sealed today."

The celestial maiden's eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she had breathed a sigh of relief.

"You are sentenced to be executed in the autumn," Sima Chong said, toying with the folding fan in his hand, as if he had thought of something. "Tell me, why did you have to assassinate His Majesty? If this happens, your Heavenly Maiden Clan will probably be wiped out."

"Hmph," the Heavenly Maiden sneered, "Sima Chong, you underestimate my people. Since we have made this decision, we are not afraid of death. You think that by fabricating the story that Yunlan is my lover, you can sow discord between me and His Majesty, stimulate the evil spirit within His Majesty, and allow the evil spirit to completely control His Majesty's body."

It's a pity you failed. You never expected me to kill His Majesty without any regard for the consequences. You wanted him to be infamous for eternity and be cursed by the world? Dream on. Now that he's dead, he'll still be a benevolent and virtuous monarch.

And you will never be as good as him.

Sima Chong's expression froze for a moment, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the folding fan. "As expected of a celestial maiden, she's truly resolute. But watching your own uncle die before your eyes must be hard for you, right?"

"Xiao Chen killed your uncle, so it's quite surprising that you still care about him like this."

Xiao Chen's pupils dilated suddenly as he remembered the young man he had ordered to be beaten to death—that was A-Wu's uncle.

Why didn't he listen to Ah Wu's explanation? Why was he blinded by anger?

Even if he could find Awu a thousand years later, how would he face her?

Gu Qingfeng patted his shoulder to comfort him, "Don't blame yourself too much. You were probably influenced by evil spirits at the time, it wasn't your intention."

Xiao Chen was not comforted; instead, he became even more upset.

The celestial maiden stared intently at Sima Chong before her. "Is Yunlan really dead?"

Sima Chong paused, "Of course, who dares disobey His Majesty's order?"

The celestial maiden seemed to have heard a funny joke, and a low laugh escaped her dry throat. "It seems that Yunlan doesn't trust you much either, he didn't even tell you about his everlasting lamp."

"What?"

"When Yunlan was born, his grandmother asked a respected elder in the clan to perform a divination for him. It was predicted that he would die as soon as he went down the mountain and die young. In order to protect this child, his grandmother never let him go down the mountain and made a lamp for Yunlan to burn forever."

The eternal lamp was intertwined with Yunlan's fate; if Yunlan died, the lamp would go out. But on Jade Mountain, Yunlan's eternal lamp was still burning; he had not died.

The celestial maiden's eyes held a hint of mockery. "Where did you hide him?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen felt a huge weight lifted from his heart; it was good that the person was still alive.

Sima Chong remained silent for a moment, then raised his hand without saying anything and said, "Come out."

In the darkness, a man dressed as a eunuch emerged, his face unremarkable, one that even the celestial maiden had never seen before.

Huo Dongjun whispered, "He's the leader of the tomb raiders."

"Who is he?" Xiao Chen had no recollection of him.

"He's the bad guy who coerced us into opening your coffin," Gu Qingfeng gestured around his neck, "He even used a collar that could shock people to electrocute us."

Xiao Chen immediately realized that this was a piece of trash just like Sima Chong.

Look how wronged our young master Gu is.

[Huh? I haven't seen Lu Wenli and Shui Liuli for so long, where are they?]

[Were you injured after falling?]

[Everyone else has been dragged into this, is it possible that they were dragged into it too?]

Sima Chong tapped his palm with his folding fan with great interest. "My lady, my ally has performed quite well. Without him, I really wouldn't have been able to wipe you all out in one fell swoop."

As a reward, I allow him to take the elixir of immortality, which may require the help of a celestial maiden.

The eunuch who looked exactly like the leader took out one of the jade pendants with two fish on it, grabbed a short knife, and came up to cut off the celestial maiden's wings.

"What are you doing?!" Xiao Chen lunged forward, but could only fall helplessly to the ground; his body was virtual.

The eunuch failed to cut off the celestial maiden's wings as he had hoped, because her wings were already gone.

Sima Chong was taken aback, then stood up and demanded, "Where are your wings?"

The celestial maiden appeared disheveled, yet her expression remained remarkably calm. "Guess."

Sima Chong's brow furrowed. "You handed them over to Nan Sheng, the only Yushan tribesman we haven't captured."

The celestial maiden remained silent, but Sima Chong already understood. He sneered, "You are quite devoted to Xiao Chen, using your own divine blood and half of the jade pendant to revive him."

Do you think he'll be grateful for everything you did after he's resurrected? He'll probably hate you to death.

Chang Xi sighed, "The Heavenly Maiden is truly clever. The evil spirit merges with Xiao Chen's body. Only by killing Xiao Chen can the evil spirit be killed. Then, Xiao Chen is resurrected using the Pisces Jade Pendant and divine blood. This way, Xiao Chen will not only not die, but will also be able to reign as the Heavenly Emperor for a long time."

Unfortunately, in this flawless plan, only the celestial maiden herself was sacrificed.

There was nothing Xiao Chen didn't understand; he understood it all.

Chang Xi patted him on the shoulder, "Calm down, boss. The Pisces Jade Pendant can only be activated with the blood from the base of a celestial maiden's wings. Don't you know that the Empress Dowager is also a celestial maiden?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? How could the Empress Dowager be a celestial maiden?" Xiao Chen's relationship with the Empress Dowager was not good; they were practically strangers.

It was impossible for them to know the Empress Dowager's true identity.

Sima Chong lost interest and got up to leave.

Although the eunuch was unwilling, he remained rational. Since this celestial maiden was not suitable, he would find a new one. With so many people in the clan, there was no fear of not finding a suitable one.

The celestial maiden could not see them, but she could see the red flames.

The red flames fell and gently settled beside her.

The celestial maiden, weakened by the loss of her wings and the torture she had endured, twitched her fingertips slightly. "You've come. Please go and check if my uncle is safe, okay?"

Red Flame flapped its wings twice and flew away.

Sima Chong's residence is truly magnificent.

[It's like a prince's palace.]

【Huh? Is Sima Chong's room this big?】

[There's also a secret room!]

Sima Chong walked straight into the bedroom, closed the door, and saw a meal that a maid had just brought on the table.

He carried his meal and moved a stack of ancient books on the bookshelf. The bookshelf moved in response, revealing a hidden door.

Red flames flew in through the window and quietly followed Sima Chong into the secret room.

The secret room was large, and it didn't look like a place to imprison prisoners. It was more like a room for entertaining guests. The room was bright and warm, and not a trace of cold air could get in from outside.