The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"Your Majesty, shall we throw away this old swaddling clothes?"

The maid, Kui'er, spoke in a very low voice, her head bowed, not daring to look at the person in front of her.

News of Xiyin's poisoning spread today, and she is now very worried.

She had heard how ruthless His Majesty the Sea Emperor was.

There were traitors in this hall before.

Each one died slowly and painfully.

She heard all those screams, those pleas for mercy, and those nights that finally fell into deathly silence; she remembered them all, hiding them in her deepest fears.

Xingyu didn't look at her.

He simply lowered his eyes, gazing at the faded old swaddling clothes.

That was something from twenty years ago.

The edges of the silk gauze were worn into shreds, and the original moon-white color had turned yellowish with age.

Like a time that can never be returned to.

"The spies from Fengxiao Pavilion dare to be so audacious as to come before me and act so presumptuously."

His voice was flat, but it carried a chilling coldness.

"Truly—they're courting death."

The moment the words left her lips, Bai Duo had already silently closed the inner hall door.

The door was heavy, and it made a dull thud when it closed.

Like a closed gate, it shut out everything outside, so that the following scene would not disturb Xiyin.

Xingyu raised her hand.

The soft sword at his waist was suddenly drawn.

The sword, like a pool of autumn water, traced a cold arc in the dim light as it fell toward Kui'er.

"Your Majesty, you are innocent!"

Kui'er knelt down on the ground, crying.

The cries were heart-wrenching, the tears streamed down her face, and she looked exactly like the gentle and respectful little maid she used to be.

"This servant knows nothing, this servant is innocent..."

Her head hit the ground with a loud thud.

One blow after another, and blood quickly seeped from her forehead.

However, Xingyu's sword did not stop.

The sword light was like a shooting star, aimed straight for her throat.

Just as the sword tip was about to pierce the skin.

Kui'er suddenly leaped backward.

That retreat was as swift as a ghost and as light as a flying catkin.

She raised her head, the gentleness in her eyes vanished, replaced by a near-mad brightness.

The light was like a fire rising from the abyss, burning fiercely.

"Hehe, I didn't expect His Majesty to find out."

She smiled.

That smile was completely different from before.

It wasn't docility, nor fear, but a kind of exhilaration that came from finally being able to shed the pretense.

"But it's too late."

"Her Majesty—she's beyond cure, hahaha!"

She laughed, and her laughter was exceptionally unrestrained.

"Follow my way, offer my sincerity."

She recited each word with utmost devotion.

There was no fear in that voice, only an almost fanatical certainty.

"Beneath the nine heavens, all lives are sacrificed."

The spies who were sent here by the Seven Elders to infiltrate this place must have some real skills.

Kui'er had always appeared harmless.

She took care of Xiyin with all her heart and never dared to be negligent in the slightest.

In those years, no one doubted her.

If Tang Xixue hadn't discovered the clues in the medicinal soup, no one would have imagined that the soup served to Xiyin every day contained a deadly poison.

Day after day, year after year.

The poison seeped into Xiyin's bones and blood little by little.

Xingyu didn't pursue it.

He simply stood there, watching the figure fleeing outwards.

"You are the ones who are hopelessly insane."

His voice was cold.

"Bai Duo, go and clean it up."

Bai Duo has already accepted the order and left.

The Heavenly Star Guards are out there to surround and intercept them; that spy won't escape.

Silence returned to the hall.

Only Xingyu remained.

He stood there, looking down at the old swaddling clothes in his hands.

After a long while, he bent down.

Gently pick up the swaddled baby that has fallen to the ground.

"His Majesty."

Bai Duo had returned sometime earlier and was standing behind him.

His voice carried a mixture of cautious admiration and barely concealed confusion.

"How do you know that Kui'er is a spy for Fengxiao Pavilion?"

He thought about it for a long time, but still couldn't figure out how His Majesty saw through it.

That maidservant had served him for so many years without ever revealing any flaws.

Xingyu did not turn back.

He simply used his long, slender hands to gently cradle the old swaddling clothes.

"I do not know."

His voice was as calm as a stagnant pool, without the slightest ripple.

"However, it is better to kill the innocent than to let the guilty go free."

Bai Duo was stunned.

He stared at that retreating figure and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

What does that mean?

This means that if there is even the slightest suspicion, there will be no room for complacency.

This means that the spy was already dead from the moment he was suspected.

He glanced at his emperor in alarm.

Sure enough, he's not a good person!

The Seven Killing Star, which even the Seven Elders of Zonglan Terrace feared so much that they couldn't sleep at night, was truly terrifying.

When the Seven Killings star enters one's destiny, one is destined for killing and destruction.

He is the mortal enemy of cults and the gravedigger of Fengxiao Pavilion.

Whenever he encountered an evil god statue, he would smash it with his own hands.

Stop killing with killing, replace violence with violence.

He risked his own life to protect the safety of countless people.

Protecting the safety of my younger sister.

Bai Duo dared not say anything more, but bowed his head in even greater reverence and responded.

"Take the other maidservant away as well and interrogate her thoroughly."

Xingyu's voice came softly, without any emotion.

Bai Duo accepted the order and silently withdrew.

The hall fell completely silent.

Xingyu stood there alone, holding the old swaddling clothes in her hands.

That was something he had wrapped up for his sister twenty years ago.

The edges are worn and the color has turned white.

It feels light and soft in my hand, like holding a cloud that is about to dissipate.

He knew how his subordinates would handle this kind of thing.

It was casually tossed into the sea, left to drift to who-knows-where, eventually sinking to the dark depths of the ocean, never to be remembered again.

But in the end, he couldn't bear to part with it.

He took the swaddled baby and walked to the pool next to him.

Wash it yourself.

His movements were very light and careful.

I was afraid that if I used too much force, I would tear the already tattered fabric even more.

The rippling water gently washed away the dust from the old cloth.

He washed very slowly.

It's like washing a rare treasure.

Suddenly, his fingers touched something hard.

He paused slightly, then gently opened the inner layer of the swaddling clothes.

Inside was a pearl bracelet.

The bracelet was made of extremely fine silver wire, and each pearl was small, round and full, with a faint moonlight luster.

They are strung together in a staggered pattern, like stars falling into the sea.

What stunned Xingyu the most was the weaving technique.

So clumsy, so cautious.

He wove it himself.

He remembered.

That was before Little Pearl was born. He sat alone under the lamp, picked out the best pearls, and strung them together one by one.

He wanted to wait until she was a little older so she could wear it on her wrist.

How old was he back then?

He was just a teenager, clumsily weaving the most complex patterns, spending a lot of time and effort, but still stubbornly finishing them.

In the rush of their escape, they somehow lost the baby in its swaddling clothes.

He hid there for twenty years.

Twenty years have passed like water, flowing through my fingertips, across my brows, through countless days and nights.

He thought he had lost it long ago.

He thought those clumsy intentions had long since sunk to the bottom of the sea.

It turns out it had always been there.

I've always been here, hidden in my swaddling clothes, held by my mother day and night.

He carefully picked up the bracelet.

Just then, a faint, icy blue-purple halo flickered weakly on the bracelet.

The light was extremely faint.

It was as faint as a firefly in the night, as faint as a glimmer of light in a dream, so faint that one might almost think it was an illusion.

It only lasted a moment before falling silent again.

Xingyu stared at the bracelet for a long time.

Then I rinsed it gently with water, dried it, and put it away close to my body.

The moment the bracelet touched his skin, a very faint warmth emanated from it.

It's very light.

So light it's almost imperceptible.

But he felt that, in that instant, something gently touched his heart.

It was like a tiny hand, across twenty years, gently touching him from afar.

Like the longing he had personally woven into his heart many years ago, it has finally received a response.

He continued washing the old swaddling clothes.

It was washed very carefully and slowly.

After washing, wring it dry and hang it to dry.

The tattered swaddling clothes hung there, swaying gently in the wind.