Step by step, he drew closer and closer.
Lying on the ground, Wen Shuyu swallowed hard, inexplicably feeling a chill run down her neck.
She forced an awkward laugh: “Brother Crown Prince, there’s no need for you to come help me up. You’re truly too kind, really. Just stay where you are and don’t move!”
She waved her hands frantically, trying to block the approaching figure: “Don’t come any closer! Go back!”
Yet the person before her continued to advance step by step.
On the verge of tears, she pleaded: “Since your spiritual power has been restored, you should return to the Eastern Palace early. Actually, today’s incident was all a misunderstanding. I heard from the imperial physician that for someone like you who temporarily lost their spiritual power, receiving a shock could help you recover. See, I tied you up and brought you to the brothel to give you that shock, and didn’t you recover?”
“No need to thank me. Helping you is my duty.”
“You should go. Don’t worry about me, really.”
Just as icy fingers lifted her chin, Wen Shuyu, who had been chattering nonstop, immediately fell silent and couldn’t help but shrink back.
It’s fine, right? It should be fine. Someone as gentle-tempered as Xiao Jingchen surely wouldn’t kill her, right?
Sensing those distinct, bony fingers about to land on the back of her neck.
Before Xiao Jingchen could speak, Wen Shuyu threw her arms around his leg: “I was wrong, Brother Crown Prince, truly I was wrong. I’ll definitely mend my ways and turn over a new leaf from now on. Could you please let go of my neck?”
Xiao Jingchen let her cling to him, his thumb gently stroking the back of her neck, wiping away the tea stains that had splashed there when his spiritual power erupted earlier. Softly, he uttered two words:
“Dirty.”
“What?” Wen Shuyu looked up, realizing he was cleaning the tea stains that had splashed on her.
While Wen Shuyu was still stunned.
Xiao Jingchen had already released her, speaking to her eyes word by word: “Wen Shuyu, just this once, never again. Do not provoke me anymore. Otherwise, next time, I won’t let you off so easily. Understood?”
His voice was too pleasant, too gentle—soft words that carried no threat at all.
Xiao Jingchen left.
As for his words, Wen Shuyu scratched her ear, letting them go in one ear and out the other.
Good heavens, how could there be someone so saintly? This time, she had gone all out—drugging him, tying him up, even attempting to force herself on him. Yet, he let her off unscathed and even helped wipe away the dirt that had splashed on her.
Provoke him? She definitely had to provoke him again, and on a much larger scale.
If one wondered why she had never given up over these three years, it was precisely because Xiao Jingchen never got angry, his temper was too good, which was why she dared to go so far this time.
Just like today’s incident—it didn’t even touch his bottom line, proving that this man had no bottom line.
Well then, she wouldn’t hold back.
…
Half an hour later, at the teahouse.
Everyone was in an uproar: “Heavens! Have you all heard? It’s all over Yingchun Tower—that empty-headed vase Wen Shuyu, she’s utterly shameless!”
“She used some method to get the Crown Prince into the brothel. With her character, she must have wanted to force herself on him!”
Someone nearby chimed in: “I heard, I heard! They say the Crown Prince was so angry he grabbed Wen Shuyu by the back of her neck on the spot. The door was shattered, and the madam and others only caught a glimpse before hiding in fear!”
“For three years, she’s been pestering the Crown Prince relentlessly, and that’s not enough!”
“But this time, she actually dared to defile the Crown Prince, who is as lofty and unattainable as the bright moon in my heart. She is utterly delusional and despicable to the extreme!”
Many onlookers, never ones to shy away from drama, chimed in: “After all that talk, since she went so far this time and acted so outrageously, wasn’t she strangled to death by the Crown Prince in a fit of rage?”
Someone retorted: “Die? What nonsense! The Crown Prince is kind-hearted—how could he take her life?”
“Besides, the current Empress is Wen Shuyu’s maternal aunt, though not the Crown Prince’s birth mother. She would definitely protect Wen Shuyu!”
“Heavens, she can defile the Crown Prince and get away with it? Why don’t I have such good fortune as Wen Shuyu? She was personally bestowed the title of Yunshu County Princess by the Emperor, her father is the current Prime Minister and one of the top martial masters.”
“Her mother died saving the Empress Dowager, the Empress is her aunt, the Emperor is her uncle, and even her maidservants are all at the Golden Core stage—experts specially sought out by Prime Minister Wen to protect her.”
Beside them, someone indignantly added: “Exactly! In our Xiao Kingdom, where spiritual power reigns supreme, how does a useless waste like Wen Shuyu—who has no spiritual power and can’t even achieve Foundation Establishment—have such incredible luck?”
“Still, let’s be fair—haven’t you noticed? Even though Wen Shuyu is a waste, she is truly beautiful, undoubtedly the number one beauty in the capital. I feel that in this vast capital, only she could stand beside the Crown Prince without being overshadowed in appearance—each has their own unique charm.”
“What are you saying? How dare you pair such a waste with the exceptionally talented Crown Prince? Have you lost your mind?”
Others began to pray: “Heavenly Dao above, I wish that Wen Shuyu stays far away from the Crown Prince for the rest of her life and never dares to taint the transcendent Crown Prince again. Please, I beg you.”
The crowd chattered and argued, creating a noisy, chaotic scene.
In an unnoticed corner, invisible to mortal eyes, a small qilin beast glowing with golden light sat on a table, sipping tea with a small cloth bag on its back.
The little beast clenched its tiny paws, its face full of melancholy: “Heavenly Dao, where exactly are you?”
By all accounts, it had been a thousand years. A millennium ago, after the Heavenly Dao perished, its soul should have reincarnated ten times. In this lifetime, its three souls and seven spirits should be complete, its memories restored, and it should return to the heavenly realm.
During the God-Demon War a thousand years ago, both the gods and the demons were annihilated. The Heavenly Dao and the world-annihilating Demon Venerable, who had broken free from the Heavenly Dao’s laws, perished together. Even it, an ancient divine beast, was severely injured and fell into a deep slumber.
The Divine Ladder collapsed, and since then, no one in the world could ascend to godhood.
After awakening, it immediately descended to the mortal realm to search for traces of the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao, who cares deeply for the world, would surely repair the Divine Ladder upon regaining its memories, preventing the imbalance of order in the Three Realms.
Having just arrived in the mortal realm, the little beast listened to the crowd’s chatter and scratched its small head: “Wen Shuyu? Is this person so famous in the capital? She even kidnaps people to brothels? The Heavenly Dao despises such lecherous and despicable people the most.”
“No, I must find the Heavenly Dao quickly.”
The little beast took its small cloth bag off its back, emptied its contents onto the table, and began rummaging through them. After digging around for a while, it finally pulled out a compass glowing with spiritual power.
It bit its finger and dripped spiritual blood into it. The compass emitted a dazzling light, spun once, and stopped. The direction indicated by the spiritual power was unmistakably—the imperial palace.
The little qilin beast’s eyes lit up, found it.
“Heavenly Dao! I’m here!”
The little beast slung its small cloth bag back on, kicked its little legs and ran toward the palace, remembering to leave a few top-grade spirit stones on the table as payment for the tea before leaving.
The Heavenly Dao had said that mortals work hard for their money, so one shouldn’t eat and drink without paying.
The little beast remembered it all.
The palace.
Wen Shuyu had just finished being scolded in turn by the Empress Dowager and the Empress, repeatedly promising that she would never offend again and would certainly mend her ways, before she was finally released.
At this moment, she was about to return to the Prime Minister’s residence. As she passed by the Hall of Mental Cultivation, she happened to catch sight of Xiao Jingchen in the distance.
What a coincidence.
Their eyes met.
Wen Shuyu’s lustful thoughts stirred once more, her hands itching as she gazed at the collar of his robe, feeling a restless urge…