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Compared to the north, where almost everyone knows of the Serpent Mouth Demon Cave, Capital City seems like it should be a relatively safe place to outsiders, but only those who are still in the city now know of its chill.

Since earlier this year, within Capital City, the once Confucian Temple began to transform into a series of sinister and eerie temples. It seemed there were no large-scale demon incidents in the city, yet most of the residents gradually started to feel that something was off.

The streets grew colder and colder, and the glances of some neighbors became increasingly terrifying.

Wherever you walked, it felt like you were being watched.

At night, in your home, even while lying in bed, you couldn’t help but shiver, always feeling as if there was a draft somewhere in the house.

But at night, you daren’t get up to check for drafts because deep down, you actually knew it wasn’t a draft... but something else entirely.

This oppressive terror now spread throughout the entire Capital City, and even though many residents had plenty to eat every day, they had become haggard, with eyes full of bloodshot veins.

The same situation applied within the Imperial Palace.

Those women in the harem without powerful family backing had been dying off one by one, and Siao Mingxue had no idea how much longer she could hold on...

A few days ago, she had been sleeping with Xiao Qi, Siao Mingrui.

Mingrui was very cautious; after her mother’s death, she was always as skittish as a frightened rabbit, and after getting familiar with each other, she would come to sleep next to her every night.

She would curl up, looking pitiful, and the sight had sparked a protective desire in her.

She thought that if something were to happen, she had to keep Xiao Qi safe at any cost.

Then Xiao Qi died!

It was sudden; she died right there in her own bed...

That night Xiao Qi shivered badly, trembling all over.

Summing up her courage, she decided to add some silver carbon to warm up the room; it was probably the bravest she had ever been in her life, but the result wasn’t good.

By the time she hurried back with the carbon in high spirits, Xiao Qi was dead.

The Imperial Physician said she died of cold, but how could that be possible?

Three layers of quilts, and there was a warm carbon fire in the room. Before she left, she had even made sure Xiao Qi’s feet were warmed up.

But the result...

Now, every time she closed her eyes, she could recall the sight of Xiao Qi in bed, her body pale, her eyes bulging out like those of a goldfish. That definitely wasn’t death from cold...

Her father, the Emperor, didn’t even have the interest to come and see her. The charge of preparing Xiao Qi’s body for burial was given entirely to a eunuch from start to finish.

And what about herself?

Would she one day be carried out cold by a eunuch, just like Xiao Qi?

"Your Highness? Your Highness?"

"Hmm?" Siao Mingxue snapped back to reality and looked at the palace maid who had spoken.

"Your Highness, you haven’t eaten anything all morning; this is not good. Shall I ask the Imperial Chef to bring you a bowl of fish soup?"

The palace maid seemed very concerned. Judging by her clothes, she was of a high rank.

The palace was in chaos; it was not just the ignored princesses, even news of the princes dying suddenly was not uncommon.

Those above didn’t pay much attention, and subordinates no longer took princes and princesses seriously and were quietly amassing wealth, acting like masters themselves.

Siao Mingxue knew this palace maid in front of her had connections; currently, even the consort’s chambers couldn’t get silver carbon, yet she was able to provide some for her.

Evidently, this maid was very capable, and the reason she was so eager to please was not due to Siao Mingxue’s identity as a princess.

It was because she was the future Princess Consort of the King of Qin!

"Then I’ll trouble Mother Du for the assistance," she said.

"Your Highness is too polite. It’s my duty to serve you," the other party replied respectfully, her face blossoming into a smile.

Just as Siao Mingxue thought, the palace maid indeed valued her potential title as the Princess Consort of the King of Qin. With the Imperial Palace shrouded by sinister energies and people dying every day, everyone wanted to leave that cursed place!

Everyone outside was talking about how wonderful Jiangnan was.

She longed for it too—to follow the girl and move to Jiangnan.

The gold and jewelry she had saved up over the years were more than enough for her to live well in Jiangnan.

She now somewhat regretted not resigning and returning to Jiangnan with her fellow townswomen last year.

According to the palace rules, palace maids who had not been promoted by the age of twenty-five could request to return home; she must have been out of her mind to stay.

A few months ago, when she went out of the palace for purchases, she asked a Jiangnan businessman about the news of her sister.

It turned out she had married a robust warrior from the Warrior Army and was living in Jiangnan’s best Zhaixing Tower, indulging in Hongshen Wine—a luxury even a hundred pieces of gold couldn’t buy in the Capital City. Life couldn’t be more comfortable.

Her fellow townswoman’s looks were nothing compared to her own. If she could marry a general, wouldn’t she, at least, do no worse if she went to Jiangnan?

After instructing the staff in the kitchen to warm up some chicken soup, this Madame Du personally carried the hot chicken soup over, determined not to let anyone else get ahead in courting favor with Princess Mingxue.

"Your Highness, please drink while it’s hot..."

"Mother Du..." Siao Mingxue didn’t touch the soup; instead, she looked up with a sigh: "I heard that someone from the Southern Barbarians is seeking my hand in marriage?"

"Your Highness, rest assured..." The palace maid carefully skimmed the foam off the chicken soup and passed the spoon with a beaming smile.

"With your valuable status and the public engagement to King of Qin, surely neither the Empress nor His Majesty will let that Southern Barbarian, who wishes to eat swan meat, succeed. "

"We can’t be sure about that now..." Siao Mingxue, however, responded with a bitter smile and shook her head.

"Your Highness is worrying too much..." The palace maid continued to smile and console her, but a shadow had fallen over her heart.

Jiangnan and the land of the Southern Barbarians were two entirely different concepts. The latter was said to be filled with deadly miasma and venomous insects, where people ate centipedes and ants, and even cannibalism was rumored...

She would never go to such a place!

I really don’t understand what the palace is thinking.

Now that Jiangnan is in such turmoil, even with General Yuwen’s forces encircling them, they can’t gain the upper hand, and at this time news breaks that they want to marry off someone’s fiancée to Jiangnan. Are they trying to force Jiangnan into rebellion?

As for what the Imperial Court says about fostering good relations with the Southern Barbarians, those savages who drink blood and eat raw flesh, what good is there to foster with them?

Are they after those black scorpions they present as tribute?

"It is said that the man seeking my hand in marriage is the Second Prince of Wutu Country, with immense power, commanding his own troops in Wutu Country, and forcefully taking his own mother without anyone daring to say a word. Such a person... if I were to go..."

"Your Highness mustn’t spout nonsense." The palace maid hastily interrupted her: "You must trust in His Majesty and the Empress; they wouldn’t treat you like this."

Siao Mingxue gave a bitter laugh upon hearing this, trust His Majesty and the Empress?

What is there to trust about the Emperor now? In the past, although he was cold towards his children, he at least treated them as true princes and princesses. Now that so many princes and princesses have died in the palace, has he shown any intention of caring?

As for that Empress...

Siao Mingxue shuddered, who in the palace doesn’t know what the Empress is truly like nowadays?

Even many rumors say that the deaths in the palace are all related to the Empress who somehow came back to life.

Seeing Siao Mingxue’s increasingly ugly expression, the palace maid became anxious. She did not know what the final outcome would be, but there was still the possibility that this girl would be married off to Jiangnan. She didn’t want to give up so easily.

So she quickly said, "Your Highness, even if you don’t trust the palace, you should trust the King of Qin."

"King of... Qin?" Siao Mingxue was slightly startled, suddenly remembering the weak and handsome scholar in white from two years ago, who was teased by her mother until he was blushing, making her laugh from behind the curtain.

It’s hard to believe that such a thin-skinned scholar would be the same person who now controls Jiangnan with absolute authority!

Would he... remember her?

Would he... come to marry her?

---------------------------

"Achoo!!"

In a place thousands of miles away, the white-robed scholar, who is constantly on someone’s mind, was now in tattered clothes, looking even more wretched than a beggar.

"What’s wrong with you today? You’ve been sneezing non-stop, too many people thinking about you?"

Behind Chen Qing, an even more raggedly dressed old man stood amidst a thorny jungle, making the two of them look as wild as savages.

"Nonsense, I, who possess the loyalty of millions in Jiangnan’s seven provinces, do you think I’m like you, an old...?"

Tianji: "....."

"Your personality is really the same as it was before," Tianji shook his head, "But in the beginning, the King of Qin was just like you."

"Are you saying his personality has changed a lot now?" Chen Qing sat by the fire, waiting for dawn to break.

"If you had experienced what he has, your personality would have changed too," Tianji shook his head, and then picked up a skewer. "Are you sure you don’t want some?"

"No!" Chen Qing shook his head without hesitation.

"What a prude!" the other man scoffed. "Didn’t you ever eat roasted grasshoppers as a kid?"

"I’ve never eaten grasshoppers this big..." Chen Qing glanced at the huge grasshopper on the other’s skewer, larger than a fist, feeling no desire to eat at all.

"Don’t you eat insect meat in Jiangnan?"

"But I don’t..."

Tianji: "....."

"Alright, let’s get down to business..." Chen Qing looked around. "Are you really sure we’re still on the original map? We’ve been walking for half a year and still haven’t found our way out!"

He was really worried about Jiangnan now, knowing full well that the mixed forces in Jiangnan were barely united because of him. Without him there... it could collapse at any moment.

"We’re definitely still on the original map," Tianji affirmed, "but the bad news is that we might be in the Land of Seals!"

"Land of Seals?" Chen Qing was startled; as the chief designer, how could he have not heard of such a place?

"The so-called Land of Seals..." Tianji looked at Chen Qing somberly, "is where players are sealed away!"

Chen Qing: "...."