After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

As Xiang An wandered around the palace, he noticed that there were an unusually large number of guards and eunuchs patrolling today. They were roughly searching the palace, seemingly looking for someone or something, and many of them had an unconcealable sense of panic on their faces.

Did Xiang Xin lose something? Or did an assassin infiltrate her ranks?

Xiang An only glanced at it, without stopping. She had no time to stop and join in the fun.

An hour later, they finally found the Star Gazing Tower.

The building was still the same building, and the crane was still the same crane. The difference was that two rows of black-armored imperial guards stood neatly outside the building, and no eunuchs or palace maids dared to approach within dozens of meters.

Without time to think, Xiang An quickly floated into the Star Gazing Tower. The smell of blood was overwhelming. The floor was paved with several small lotus-patterned tiles that formed three huge lotus flowers, and the countless lotus-patterned grooves were filled with scarlet blood.

One by one, the women, each holding their ripped-open bellies with one hand and gripping the floor tiles with the other, crawled forward desperately, tears and snot streaming down their faces. They lay sprawled on the ground, groaning in agony, the flesh on their bellies curling and blooming like bright red flowers, their intestines, livers, and other internal organs hanging precariously from their skin.

The cut open abdomen didn't kill them immediately; it was the massive bleeding that ultimately caused their deaths.

Blood lotus blooms, a living hell on earth.

Amidst the wailing and lamentation, the faint, kitten-like cries stood out. The cries seemed to originate in the next room, where women crawling laboriously on their hands and feet were all heading towards the same room.

Instantly, a terrifying thought washed over him like a bucket of cold water in the dead of winter, freezing him so that his hands and feet became stiff. So, this was the scene that Fu Qingbai saw when he entered the Star Gazing Tower first.

Meanwhile, in the next room separated by a wall, there was a large table with various ritual implements and infants of different shapes and sizes. The faint cries of the children added a chilling and eerie feeling to the dimly lit room.

Ling Xiaozhi, now dressed in a white robe, held an iron pestle, his face tense and serious, as he hammered something into the medicine ladle.

In the corner, Master Xuanqing was bound hand and foot to a chair, a piece of cotton cloth stuffed in his mouth, whimpering incessantly. Beads of sweat on his forehead and slightly bulging veins confirmed that he had not stopped struggling.

"Why bother?"

As soon as Xiang An stepped into the room, she heard Ling Xiaozi say this, and she paused in her steps.

Ling Xiaozi, who was hammering away, put down his pestle, leaned against the table, and let the candlelight illuminate half of his face. He smiled slightly and said, "Tell His Majesty whereabouts Fu Qingbai, and His Majesty will release you. Why are you struggling?"

Master Xuanqing sobbed and shook his head desperately—"I don't know, I don't know, I really don't know."

"Shake your head? Don't know?" Ling Xiaozi lowered his head and dusted off the non-existent dust on his sleeve, a smile on his lips. "Yuan Kong went there the night Fu Qingbai was imprisoned."

Master Xuanqing's struggling hands and feet paused, and then his twisting movements became even more frantic.

“Xuanqing, we are both Taoists. Although we are not under the same master, we are ultimately of the same origin. I have no intention of making things difficult for your disciple, my nephew.”

Ling Xiaozi casually picked up a damp cloth from the table and slowly wiped his fingers one by one. "But you are the only Taoist priest who claims to be able to see Princess Miankang. If you don't cooperate with me and make things difficult for me under His Majesty, then you are forcing me to make things difficult for my nephew."

Master Xuanqing was filled with bitterness. Ever since Xiang Xin imprisoned him in the Star Gazing Tower, he had known the young emperor's ruthlessness and was determined to devote himself to cultivation and no longer concern himself with palace affairs. However, he had witnessed Fu Qingbai lose both arms and was seriously injured, fearing that he would never see the sun rise again.

Feeling that he should at least let Yuan Kong repay the kindness of his savior, he sent Yuan Kong to check on Fu Qingbai so that he could see him off in his final days and not die alone.

It was only because he was soft-hearted for a moment, and after Yuan Kong returned, he never inquired whether Fu Qingbai was alive or dead.

A few days ago, rumors circulated in the palace that Fu Qingbai had injured the eunuch on duty and had taken Princess Miankang to hide in some corner of the palace. The young emperor was furious when he heard this and ordered that the entire palace be searched for. However, they found him the next hour and kept interrogating him about Fu Qingbai's whereabouts.

Even if he knew, he wouldn't say it. Xiang Xin's cruelty is common knowledge. He and Yuan Kong were already on the royal list. If they lived, they would be under the emperor's control; if they died, their souls would return to the imperial mausoleum. Their fate was sealed the moment they stepped into the palace. Why drag innocent lives into this mess?

He only wished that Fu Qingbai had truly escaped the palace, and hoped that the young emperor would quickly punish Yuan Kong, who was still only a five-year-old child.

Seeing his reaction, Ling Xiaozi showed no anger whatsoever. Instead, a deep smile appeared on his lips: "Since that's the case, don't blame me. Rest assured, I will make sure you are reincarnated safely."

As soon as he finished speaking, he clapped his hands lightly, and the guards outside the door immediately reacted. Xiang An took a step forward to block him, but it was to no avail. The guards passed through her as if they were air and went out the door.

"Xuanqing! Xuanqing!" Xiang An floated to Daoist Xuanqing's side and said urgently, "What should we do now? What can I do? What...can I do?"

As she watched her hands pass through the ropes binding Daoist Xuanqing time and time again, Xiang An felt a deep bitterness and helplessness. There was nothing she could do; she couldn't do anything at all.

Air can provide oxygen, wind can rustle leaves, and it can create natural disasters like tornadoes, but she is of no use.

The worst thing a person can do is to be so utterly worthless that they don't even deserve to be called a piece of trash.

"Mysterious Purity! Mysterious Purity!"

Xiang An paced anxiously around Master Xuanqing, but he remained unmoved, not even sparing her a glance. After a while, Xiang An sensed something was amiss, and then she suddenly remembered what the system had told her—

[...The system has been fixed...]

...Could this be referring to the fact that Master Xuanqing can see her malfunction?

"System, you son of a bitch!"

Xiang An really couldn't help but curse at the system that kept malfunctioning.

Now no one in this world can see her anymore; she has become the only remaining soul in the world.

The guard left quickly and returned just as fast. Yuan Kong was like a little chick in his hands; he could easily lift him up with one hand, his short limbs completely suspended in the air, with no foothold.

Upon seeing Master Xuanqing on the chair, Yuan Kongfang, who was being held hostage, immediately stopped struggling and his round eyes filled with tears. Master Xuanqing, however, closed his eyes and dared not look at him for long.

The wet handkerchief in Ling Xiaozi's hand had been replaced by a dagger at some point. His slender fingers casually played with the hilt, the thin blade constantly turning in his hand, reflecting a cold and sharp light.