The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

Outside Baiyujing, the north wind blows like a knife.

That day, the wind cleaved down from the sky, tearing apart the clouds, overturning the wilderness, and swirling up the remaining snow and scorched dust.

On the open field, scorched earth lay scattered, and the embers were still warm.

Feng Yi was leading his personal guards to survey the scene.

Suddenly, a chilling aura swept in from afar.

The aura was so cold, as if it seeped from the deepest hell. Wherever it passed, the night wind froze, the grass and trees fell silent, and even the moonlight dimmed by seven-tenths.

He looked up abruptly, a chill running down his spine.

Then the dark figure tore through the night, roaring as it descended from the sky.

"His Majesty--"

He was shocked and immediately led the crowd to kneel down and pay their respects.

The shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" echoed across the wilderness, only to be torn to shreds by the fierce night wind.

It sank into the bottomless abyss without causing the slightest ripple.

Tangxi Night seemed oblivious to everything.

He didn't look at them, didn't speak, and didn't even slow down.

He simply walked toward the scorched earth.

Step by step.

The pace was slow, as slow as if they were measuring the distance between life and death.

It was so heavy, so heavy that every step felt like stepping on a knife's edge, on the tip of someone's heart.

Feng Yi knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head.

But that suffocating pressure was spreading out from the emperor layer by layer.

The oppressive force was like a mountain, an abyss, like the sky collapsing and the earth sinking, making it hard to breathe, making people want to crawl on the ground, not even daring to make a sound.

He had never seen His Majesty like this before.

I've never seen it before.

Tang Xiye stared blankly at the land burned to ashes by the heavenly fire and the huge crater left by the explosion.

His gaze suddenly froze.

It landed on the dark-clad figure kneeling on the ground.

Dusk was falling.

The bodyguard who was always by Zhizhi's side, the boy who was always like a shadow guarding her.

"Dusk falls."

He spoke, his voice deep and resonant, like ice rising from the abyss.

"What are you doing here instead of with your master?"

Mu Liang knelt on the ground, her head bowed low, her shoulders trembling violently.

"Your Majesty—"

He squeezed out those words, one by one, as if using all his strength:

"To avenge Her Highness the Princess, Mu Liang would gladly die a thousand deaths!"

He suddenly raised his head and looked at him with red eyes.

Fuyi also knelt beside him, bowing her head and touching the ground with her forehead.

They were all pleading with this noble emperor, begging him to avenge their poor princess!

They were outnumbered and outgunned, and didn't even know who was behind it.

Tangxi stood there at night.

Looking at them.

His heart sank little by little.

Sinking into a bottomless abyss.

"My beloved Zhizhi..."

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, as if he was restraining something.

Why are you here?

Mu Liang's voice was choked and hoarse:

"Her Highness...she's going to visit the Moon Weaving Pavilion."

He took a deep breath and continued:

"She only intended to take a peek from the shadows and didn't want to disturb them, which is why she arrived in the dead of night without giving any prior notice."

"Your Highness... carries a lantern to illuminate the night, and your heart is filled with warmth."

He suddenly couldn't continue speaking.

Tears welled up and rolled onto the scorched earth, instantly turning into mist and dissipating in the night wind.

"But such a good person..."

His voice was trembling uncontrollably:

"But it was burned to ashes by heavenly fire..."

After he finished speaking, all around him fell silent.

Only the night wind howled.

Tang Xiye's gaze suddenly froze.

Among the traces licked by flames, at the edge of that scorched earth, there is a string of footprints.

It's very shallow.

It's very light.

It was almost swallowed up by the night.

But it was clearly heading in one direction—the mountains and forests.

His heart skipped a beat.

It was as if something had broken at that moment.

He bent down.

My fingertips traced the trail of footprints.

The footprints were so shallow that they seemed as if a gust of wind could blow them away.

But it truly exists, like a silent testimony, telling the story of everything that happened in that moment.

She walked past here.

She walked towards the gate of life.

When the Heavenly Fire Array was first formed, it was not without flaws. The array's core was not yet stable, and the gate of life still existed. His Zhizhi had studied the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams with the old national advisor; she was knowledgeable about array formations, and she must have seen through it.

With her sharp eyesight and speed, she can definitely escape.

Why?

Why didn't she run away?

He looked in the direction of the footprints.

On the other side of the mountains and forests, faint lights could be seen.

Those lights were faint, yet they shone persistently in the deep night, like lamps that refused to go out, like hearts waiting for someone to return.

That's the direction of the Moon-Weaving Garden.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

In that instant, he suddenly understood.

The direction of the Gate of Life is the same as the direction of the Moon-Weaving Pavilion.

If she tries to escape, the heavenly fire will chase after her.

The raging flames that consume everything will follow closely in her footsteps, pouring down.

Wherever she fled, the fire spread.

She might have a chance to survive.

The Moon Pavilion could be transformed into a sea of ​​fire.

Those children.

Those children she had taken in, those homeless orphans, those children who had waited so long in the darkness for a light to shine, would die.

So she stopped.

They attempted to break through the formation.

Those footprints only showed a few steps.

Then it stopped.

Stop here.

She stood there, caught between the hope of life and the choice of death.

She glanced at the lights, but only for a moment.

Then she turned around.

She faced the flames falling from the sky.

Tangxi closed her eyes at night.

He seemed to have seen it.

I saw that snow-white figure standing in the center of the flames, the wind whipping her clothes and the firelight illuminating her features.

The flames cascaded down like a waterfall, turning the sky and earth crimson and engulfing her figure.

She stood there, like a lamp that refused to go out.

Like the lights she lit for countless people throughout her life.

"Zhizhi...my Zhizhi..."

His voice was hoarse, as if something was blocking his throat.

She could have escaped.

She could have escaped.

His weaving is always like this.

Having experienced hardship myself, I cannot bear to see others suffer.

Having struggled in darkness myself, I wanted to light a lamp for others.

But the light she lit illuminated others, yet it couldn't illuminate herself.

At that moment, he was heartbroken.

"Return to Your Majesty."

Feng Yi's voice came from behind, low and solemn.

Tang Xi opened her eyes at night and turned around.

The young marquis held a tray in his hands, on which lay a token.

He carried the tray at a distance, not daring to get too close. The aura emanating from it was too sinister, too cold, making one instinctively want to stay away.

"According to my investigation, the one who made the move this time should be the Heavenly Punishment Hall."

Feng Yi paused, then his voice deepened:

"The Heavenly Physician of Fate has always been a thorn in their side. Defying fate and saving countless lives is, in their eyes, a sin that should be eradicated."

He moved the tray forward slightly, but kept a distance.

"Look, this jade pendant was found in the ruins."

Reincarnation Pendant.

A ring-shaped black iron pendant.

The main body is a hollowed-out three-spinning wheel pattern, which converges inward into a vortex shape, as if to suck all living beings into endless reincarnation.

The body of the pendant is engraved with intricate scrolling cloud patterns, the lines of which are strange and cold.

The top, bottom, and pendant are adorned with teardrop and square sapphire crystals, like deep-sea ice crystals, shimmering with a dark luster under the moonlight.

That was a token of the Heavenly Punishment Hall.

It is the mark left by those people.

They can't come back.

Those words were like a knife, stabbing cruelly into his heart.

They can't come back.

His Zhizhi will never come back.