Jade of Another World

Lin Ning curled up behind the carved canopy bed in the Jade Pavilion, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the lips bitten by Nangong Jin. A sliver of cold moonlight slanted in from the window, casting flickering light on the bronze mirror on the dressing table, now shattered into a spiderweb pattern, mirroring her heart, riddled with wounds.

"Xuanyuan Che..." she whispered, pulling a blood-stained black iron dagger from under her pillow. The character "Ning" was still engraved on the blade—he had carved it for her with his last breath. She remembered his words in Nanzhao when he shielded her from an assassin: "Ning'er, my life has long been yours."

But now, thinking back, with the torches flickering in the dungeon, was the deep affection in his eyes as illusory as the moonlight? Lin Ning suddenly plunged the dagger into the bedding, the cotton wadding scattering like snowflakes. Wasn't she also a pawn on his chessboard of revenge? Just like Ouyang Qingchuan always advised her, "You'll be home soon," yet he carved the Great Yu Star Track into the jade pendant.

"Nangong Jin!" she suddenly screamed into the void, the luminous pearl on her hairpin shattering in response. The emperor who had gently embraced her during her nightmares, the man who had personally made osmanthus cakes for her birthday, could now be saying "Ning'er is my life" while simultaneously injecting the life souls of 100,000 astrologers into the core of the jade pendant. Making her forever unable to leave this place, unable to leave this prison-like deep palace.

Lin Ning walked barefoot to the table and spread out the star map left by Ouyang. The ink, still wet, suddenly seeped blood, winding its way through the star trails to form Nangong Jin's dragon pattern. She finally understood: Xuan Yuanche's sincerity was laced with hatred, Ouyang's concern concealed an imperial decree, and Nangong Jin's deep affection... was nothing but poisoned honey.

“I’m such a fool.” She laughed as she tossed the star chart into the charcoal brazier, the flames licking at her hypocritical sweet words. As the last ash rose, Lin Ning took out half a bloodstained jade pendant from her sleeve—a fragment of the real world she had brought back from a rift in spacetime.

"Since you've all been lying to me..." She pressed the jade shard against her carotid artery; the icy touch brought her back to her senses. The watchman's gong sounded outside the window, the midnight drumbeat sending shivers down her spine. Lin Ning suddenly chuckled softly, tucking the jade shard into her undergarment.

"Then let me repay my calamity with your sincerity." She straightened her hair in front of the bronze mirror, and the reflection suddenly became her dying self. Lin Ning pressed her fingertips against the mirror, the overlap of reality and illusion causing her pupils to tremble. She looked closely, and it was Lin Ning, the Lin Ning who had appeared in her dreams. She herself, occupying this body, hadn't lived this life properly for her, and even now, she wanted to end her life. It turned out that everything was just the most terrifying lie—that she had always believed she had a choice.

"Nangong Jin, you want me to be trapped in this Great Yu Dynasty forever..." She turned to look in the direction of the Taiji Palace, concealing the poisoned silver shuttle in her hair. "Then I'll show you just how sharp the fangs of a trapped beast can be."

As the night deepened and the dew grew heavy, Lin Ning tucked the blood-stained handkerchief into the incense burner. In the rising smoke, she seemed to see the phantoms of three men intertwining in the firelight—Xuan Yuanche holding a sword protectively before her, Ouyang Qingchuan smiling as he offered her a jade pendant, and Nangong Jin opening his arms to embrace her. And she stood between them, weaving all tenderness and deception into this millennia-long scheme.

Lin Ning suddenly sat up on the couch. The morning light slanted through the carved window lattice and fell on the letter, making the character "一" (one) appear and disappear. Her fingertips traced the Xuan paper, feeling the deliberately heavy strokes of Yi Zhu's brush—it was their agreed-upon code, meaning the situation was extremely critical.

"Someone come here!" She threw back the brocade quilt and stepped barefoot, waking the maid who was guarding the corridor. "Go to the imperial kitchen and fetch the rose and poria cocos paste I ordered yesterday. It must be freshly steamed." After the maid hurriedly left, Lin Ning immediately rushed to the desk. It turned out that Yi Zhu had rescued Ouyang Qingchuan, who was being chased.

Lin Ning abruptly ripped off the curtain, using the white gauze to wrap around her waist as a rope. As she leaped onto the windowsill, she heard footsteps coming from the corridor and decisively tore down the hanging parrot stand. Amidst the fluttering of colorful feathers, she used the momentum to leap towards the glazed roof of the adjacent side hall, her silver hair cutting through the morning mist, leaving an icy blue trail on the tiles.

"Miss Lin!" The city guard's shout came from behind. Lin Ning walked quickly along the palace wall, suddenly throwing out a silver needle. She took the opportunity to slip into a dark alley, but bumped into Yizhu at the corner.

"Shh—" Yi Zhu covered her mouth and dragged her into a shop piled with sacrificial items. In a dark corner, Ouyang Qingchuan was curled up behind Qingci, half of his pale calf showing under his Taoist robe, with barbed iron chains wrapped around his ankle.

“He was poisoned by the Soul-Devouring Poison.” Yi Zhu lifted Ouyang’s sleeve, revealing the winding purple lines on his arm. “When I found him in the mass grave, he was still chanting ‘Xuanji Star Orbit.’”

Lin Ning trembled as she touched Ouyang's burning forehead. He suddenly opened his eyes, and his pupils reflected Nangong Jin's face. "Miss Lin..." His voice was hoarse, like rusty chains, "The star trail at the core of the jade pendant... is fake..."

Before the words were even finished, the warehouse roof suddenly collapsed. Lin Ning rolled to a corner with Ouyang in his arms and saw Nangong Jin standing in the moonlight, his dragon-patterned soft armor dappled with flying, swirling water droplets. As he raised his hand, the iron chains around Ouyang's ankles suddenly tightened, pulling the three of them towards the Taiji Hall.

"Ning'er, guess when I found out?" Nangong Jin's laughter mingled with the sound of metal scraping against metal. "From the moment you first dreamed of me in the modern hospital, this game across time and space had already begun..."

In the Taiji Hall, the bronze animal-head incense burner emitted wisps of smoke. Nangong Jin sat upright on the Nine-Dragon Sandalwood Chair, his fingertips gently caressing the broken jade pendants embedded in the imperial desk. He pieced together all the fragments of the jade pendant, some still bearing traces of his blood. Lin Ning, her hands bound, knelt before the white marble steps. The silver shuttle in her hair had long been taken, only the hidden peacock gall powder remained under her fingernails.

Lin Ning looked up at the emperor on the dragon throne, a cold smile playing on his lips: "Your Majesty's scheme of catching a turtle in a jar is quite ingenious."

Lin Ning suddenly coughed violently, and black blood stained the brocade skirt that Nangong Jin had just bestowed upon her.

Nangong Jin stood up nervously, quickly walked down the steps, and helped Lin Ning. Lin Ning turned away, refusing to look at him.

Nangong Jin chuckled: "Ning'er, do you know who poisoned Ouyang Qingchuan with the Soul-Devouring Poison?" "It was his most respected master—my imperial uncle, the former head of the Imperial Observatory."

Ouyang Qingchuan was dragged into the hall, his ankles, exposed beneath his Taoist robe, were a bloody mess. He suddenly let out a beast-like roar, his pupils flashing with the reflections of Nangong Jin and Lin Ning.

Ouyang rushed over, grabbed Lin Ning's skirt, and scratched until blood seeped from under her fingernails: "Star Orbit... fake... the core of the Jade Pendant is hidden in..." Before he could finish speaking, the silver bell around her neck suddenly rang, and she collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Lin Ning suddenly bit Nangong Jin's fingertip, "You even criticize your own royal uncle!" Taking advantage of his pain and retreat, she sprinkled peacock gall powder onto the incense burner.

The blue smoke suddenly turned blood red, and the roar of a strange beast suddenly came from outside the hall. The twelve bronze cauldrons simultaneously spewed out purple flames, outlining the trajectory of the Twenty-Eight Mansions on the white marble floor.