In the end, Mu Zhaoran was still sent to the judgment platform by her own blood brother—the one who chose righteousness over family.
The platform stood before the gates of the Nanrong royal palace. The vast square was packed with people as far as the eye could see—Nanrong’s citizens who had come to witness the execution of a demon. Many waved banners and shouted slogans like, “Purge the evil and restore purity to Nanrong!”
On the surrounding stands sat not only cultivators from the Heavenly Dao Palace, but also distinguished clans and immortal heirs from across the Nine Provinces.
Among them, Mu Zhaoran recognized many familiar faces—former fellow disciples who had once trained with her in the Heavenly Dao Palace. Now, they had all become figures of authority in their respective sects and families. Only she had fallen so low, reduced to a criminal awaiting execution on the judgment platform.
The one presiding over her trial was the same man who, just three days ago, had personally promised her that once the Gu King Yanluo was destroyed, he would cast aside all past grudges with her, cleanse their former sins, and begin anew together.
From then on, they would live side by side, never to part, growing old together.
If, at this point, she still could not understand that every promise Yun Xiaoyang had spoken was nothing more than a ploy to use her against Yanluo, then she would truly be a fool.
Mu Zhaoran’s face was wrapped in a layer of gray cloth, hiding the features said to be dangerously bewitching. Only a pair of eyes filled with hatred were left exposed.
She stared fixedly at the people on the stands and let out a hoarse, resentful roar from beneath the cloth.“Yun Xiaoyang—you deceived me! All of you deceived me!”
Her fury won no sympathy. Instead, it only made her look all the more pathetic.
Under the gaze of the crowd, she was dragged forward, shoved and pushed step by step toward the blood-soaked platform.
No one knew how many demons and heretics had already been executed there. Streams of blood had gathered into rivulets, flowing down from the highest tier of stone. The ascending steps were completely stained crimson; every step produced a wet, slapping sound beneath her feet.
Her shoes were soaked through with blood, and the hem of her dress was dyed a dark red.
As she reached the final step, someone shoved her hard. She stumbled forward several paces and fell to her knees on the platform.
Her vision was a wash of red. The heavy stench of blood seeped through the gray cloth covering her face and flooded her senses, making her stomach churn violently—she nearly retched.
She struggled to rise, only to be forced back down into the pool of blood by an overwhelming force.
“Mu Zhaoran,” Yun Xiaoyang’s voice rang out, cold as ice, each word like a blade cutting to the bone.“During your time at the Heavenly Dao Palace, your heart was already corrupt. You harmed your fellow disciples. Even after being punished, you showed no repentance and instead colluded with demons, bringing calamity upon the world. Your crimes are too numerous to record. Today, I, together with the hundred immortal sects, answering the request of the Nanrong king and its countless people, will execute you and Yanluo here, purge all evil, uphold the Heavenly Dao, and comfort the hearts of the people.”
Uphold the Heavenly Dao. Comfort the hearts of the people.
As his voice fell, thunderous cheers erupted from all sides, like a tidal wave that threatened to swallow heaven and earth alike. Mu Zhaoran’s feeble, unwilling cries were utterly drowned beneath it.
She lifted her head and glanced toward the sky, where dark clouds churned overhead. Beneath that sky, everyone was celebrating her death.
There would be no one left who wished to save her.
This was the home and the nation she had once saved at all costs—yet now, all of it cast her aside like worn-out shoes.
Powerless to resist, Mu Zhaoran was dragged by the force pressing down on her shoulders to the edge of the judgment platform. Beyond the blood-soaked stone steps stood a massive cauldron, three zhang wide. Inside it seethed countless snakes, insects, rats, and vermin, boiling with frenzy as fresh blood dripped down from above.
Mu Zhaoran was not unfamiliar with this cauldron. It was the Gu King Yanluo’s magical artifact—a square tripod that contained a small inner world, used to breed the terrifying gu insects that struck fear into all who heard of them.
But now, the cauldron’s master had been pierced through by a longsword and nailed inside it without dignity. His body and limbs had been gnawed into bloody white bones by the very gu insects he had painstakingly raised.
Mu Zhaoran saw the densely writhing gu crawling over him, burrowing in and out of the scraps of remaining flesh. In her daze, she almost seemed to hear the crunching sounds of skin tearing and bones being chewed.
Just as Mu Yinyi had said, he was not quite dead yet. There was still a faint breath left in him, his chest—pierced through by the sword—rising and falling weakly.
The thin silver mask that Yanluo usually wore was nowhere to be found, revealing a horribly disfigured face. Old scars were torn open again by the gu, blood pouring freely, making his features even more grotesque and terrifying.
Even his once-clear eyes were now shot through with blood.
Mu Zhaoran had always known his face was ugly and had despised the gu inseparably bound to his body. Yet no matter how much she loathed Yanluo, she could not deny that his eyes had once been exceptionally beautiful.
Long at the corners, thick-lashed, his pupils lighter than most—washed in a layer of silvery gray, clear and cold like a bright moon.
Looking only at those eyes, one might easily mistake him for a pure and noble immortal lord, rather than a demon who toyed with poisonous gu.
But now, the light in those eyes had faded completely. His pupils were dilated, his gaze clouded—moonlight buried beneath dust, utterly stripped of its brilliance.
Mu Zhaoran could only endure one glance before turning away in agony. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his hand—reduced to bone—still clenched tightly around a tassel.
She froze for a moment, then finally broke down sobbing.“I’m sorry… please don’t blame me, don’t blame me…”
That tassel had been the first gift she had ever主动ly given him. She had spent many days weaving it, even cutting off a lock of her own hair to braid into the dark green fringe, racking her brain to find an excuse to give it to him.
Yanluo had examined the tassel carefully for a long time—and during that time, Mu Zhaoran had been tense beyond measure.
She knew that anything tied to one’s life-bound magical artifact had to be treated with utmost caution. Even inspecting every single strand of fringe would have been reasonable.
But guilt weighed on her heart. Afraid he might truly discover something, she pretended to be annoyed and reached out to snatch it back, snapping angrily,“If you’re worried this tassel has something wrong with it, then give it back to me! I’d rather throw it to the wild dogs outside the palace than give it to you!”
Yanluo raised his hand to avoid her grasp. From the dark green fringe, he plucked out a strand of black hair.“So last night, when you slept beside me and refused to let your hair down—was it because you cut off a lock to use here?”
Mu Zhaoran brushed her hair behind her ear.“If you don’t want it, then give it back.”
Yanluo said nothing more. Beneath his mask, his eyes curved slightly, a fleeting trace of a smile passing through them. Before her, he took out his life-bound gu-controlling artifact—the Mingyou Zither.
The zither was jet black, its strings silver-white. Seven tuning pegs bore tassels matching the instrument’s body. Yanluo untied the old black tassel from the middle peg and replaced it with the one she had given him.
“One is enough. Don’t ruin your hair by cutting it,” he said softly. “It’s most beautiful when it stays on you. I prefer seeing you with your hair loose, brushing it from your shoulders.”
He only inspected the silk cord of the tassel—not the hair woven into it.
That strand of hair had been soaked in medicinal essence sent by Yun Xiaoyang, a substance specially designed to counter his gu.
The Mingyou Zither’s strings were made from silver-soul spider silk. Once the spider residing within the instrument died, the strings would snap, leaving it unable to command gu insects. In a battle between great cultivators, the destruction of a life-bound artifact was fatal.
It could be said that she had personally sent him to his death.
Mu Zhaoran stared at the tassel soaked in blood, tangled with his finger bones. Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes, dripping down and falling into his lifeless pupils.
The lashes of those eyes trembled faintly.
A light breeze brushed past her ears, as if carrying a faint, distant melody—but before she could make it out, a cold voice cut through everything:
“Carry out the execution—”
At the command, the roaring cheers fell abruptly silent.
Mu Zhaoran’s body was suddenly flung into the air, hurled from the judgment platform and smashed into the gu cauldron below.
The densely packed gu surged like black clouds, scattering in alarm—only to swarm back instantly, drawn by the scent of fresh flesh.
Mu Zhaoran stared in terror, her body stiff, almost unable to move.
Just as the gu were about to engulf her, a mass of black shadow burst out from her chest, rapidly expanding to envelop her entire body, shielding her from the insects.
“Wutuan!” A flicker of joy flashed across her face—only for a piercing sword cry to ring out, followed by a shrill, anguished cat’s scream. The darkness before her eyes was cleaved in two by sword light, stripped from her body and dissolved in blazing golden radiance.
Mu Zhaoran trembled as she reached out, grasping desperately at the fading shadow, tears pouring endlessly down her face.“Wutuan… Wutuan…”
The last thing that had tried to protect her was gone.
The Fengtian Sword hovered above the gu cauldron, its cold light gleaming. Yun Xiaoyang’s voice drifted down from above:
“Mu Zhaoran, today, no one will save you.”
She scrambled up from the ground in a miserable state, only to see several black poisonous moths flutter into view. Their wings shed shimmering scales that sparkled with brilliant, colorful light—beautiful at first glance.
But the moment the powder touched her skin, searing pain exploded.
Mu Zhaoran watched helplessly as blood-red blisters spread across the back of her hand. She screamed in agony, wrapping her sleeves around herself as she staggered back, flailing wildly.“Get away! Don’t come near me! Don’t come near me!”
Retreating in blind panic, she slipped on something slick beneath her feet and crashed heavily to the ground.
A snake emerged from beneath her skirt, hissing as it coiled around her ankle.
Screaming, Mu Zhaoran kicked it away—but she could not escape the countless gu swarming toward her: spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and countless unrecognizable horrors.
They rustled and surged like a tide, crawling in through her hem, sleeves, and collar.
Pain and itching wracked her body, her skin burning as if on fire. She desperately slapped at the insects and stumbled to the edge of the cauldron, clinging to the inner wall and trying to climb out.
Just as she was about to escape the sea of insects at the bottom, a sword cry rang out. The suspended Fengtian Sword shot toward her, knocking her back into the cauldron once more.
When she fell, her right hand pressed against something and was stung viciously. She lifted it to see her palm already blackened, poison spreading along her meridians and creeping up her arm.
Her limbs went numb. Struggling to her feet again, she clawed helplessly at the cauldron wall. Her crimson-painted nails were scraped off by the carved snake patterns, flaking away one by one.
Yet compared to the agony of being devoured by insects, this pain meant nothing.
During the struggle, the gray cloth covering her face loosened. That once heart-stirring face was no longer beautiful.
Blood streamed down her face in rivulets. Her entire body was soaked in blood, and she could no longer tell where it was coming from.
The stench drew even more gu. Her vision was filled with crawling shadows. Her skin rotted, and she could almost feel the insects wriggling beneath it.
Finally, she collapsed, utterly broken, sobbing and begging:“I was wrong—I was really wrong! Whatever crime it is, I’ll admit it! Please let me go! Let me out… Yun Xiaoyang, Ah Yin, Ah Yin, save me—I was wrong…”
On the stands, Mu Yinyi finally showed a trace of hesitation.
He turned to look at Yun Xiaoyang beside him, who was controlling his sword technique with a cold expression. His lips moved as he spoke:“Sword Venerable… my elder sister has always hated insects. Even Yanluo never allowed them near her. If punishment is necessary, could it be changed—”
But the plea died in his throat when he saw a figure step out from behind the curtain at the side of the stands.
The newcomer wore white robes and a white gauze veil. Her figure was slender and fragile, as if even a breeze could knock her over.
Before Mu Yinyi could step toward her, Yun Xiaoyang had already turned and gone to her, gently supporting her arm.
The sword venerable, whose face had moments ago been cold as frost, now seemed like spring itself—his expression softened, his voice gentle.“Lizhi, why did you come out?”
Ye Lizhi walked slowly to the front of the stand, lifted the white veil, and looked down at the person curled up in the gu cauldron below. Taking a deep breath, she curved her lips into a satisfied smile and asked loudly:
“Mu Zhaoran—when I begged you for mercy again and again back then, did you ever think of sparing me?”
The figure in the cauldron shuddered violently and looked up in shock. That familiar white-clad silhouette, backlit by the sky, crashed into her vision.
“Ye Lizhi?” Mu Zhaoran blinked hard, suspecting it was a hallucination brought on by the gu’s torment. She stared for a long time, then suddenly let out a strange laugh, shaking her head repeatedly.“No… impossible. Ye Lizhi has been dead for years. Four years ago, on the Mid-Autumn night, I pried her mouth open with my own hands and poured Soul-Scattering Soup down her throat. It’s a poison with no cure—how could you possibly still be alive?!”
She clearly refused to accept the reality before her.
Ye Lizhi turned her head slightly and cast a gentle glance at Mu Yinyi.“Thankfully, Young Master Mu showed mercy. He secretly replaced the incurable poison and helped me fake my death, allowing me to escape your torment and reclaim this life.”
Mu Zhaoran’s eyes widened, her pupils trembling violently. Her panicked gaze swept across the stands until it finally locked onto the figure standing not far away.
Mu Yinyi stood slightly to the side. From the moment Ye Lizhi appeared, all his attention seemed to fall upon her. The affection in his eyes was impossible to hide. Even Yun Xiaoyang felt displeased by that gaze and gave a warning cough.
Only then did Mu Yinyi abruptly come back to himself. He hastily lowered his brows and eyes, clasped his hands, and said,“Miss Ye possesses the grace of one touched by heaven and bears the common people in her heart. Back then, she came to Nanrong solely to save its citizens, yet was imprisoned and captured instead. As the ruler of Nanrong, how could I aid evil and stand by while an innocent person died unjustly?”
Seeing this, how could Mu Zhaoran still fail to understand?
Her dearest younger brother had betrayed her far earlier than she had ever realized.
Mu Zhaoran lowered her head and looked at her palm, rotting beneath the poison of insects.
She was the princess of Nanrong. Born into splendor, she had wanted for nothing. Only after entering the Heavenly Dao Palace had she tasted, for the first time, the bitterness of yearning for what she could not have.
And so, jealousy took root.
She devoted herself to comparison, to obstruction, trampling all notions of propriety and dignity underfoot, forcing herself upon the gaze of a man who had never loved her.
She had envied all her life, fought and clawed all her life—only to end with a body steeped in infamy and empty hands, having gained nothing at all.
Mu Zhaoran cried one moment and laughed the next, as if she had completely lost her mind. But when her fingers brushed the decaying skin on her face and the flesh slipping away, she jolted awake as if returning from the brink of death. Terror flooded her expression, and her body began to tremble violently.
She lifted her head to look at Ye Lizhi and, for the first time, begged her in utter humility—casting aside all dignity and the pride she had once clung to.
“Ye Lizhi, you’ve won. You’ve won completely. The whole world praises you for having a heart as bright as the moon, for your generosity and grace—unlike me, born vicious and despicable. Even my own brother admires you and despises me. Now that you have everything you wanted, spare me. Please… don’t let me die like this.”
“Everything I wanted?” Ye Lizhi gave a bleak smile. The cold wind lifted her veil, revealing a sorrow-stricken face beneath. Her eyes were red with tears, yet held none of a victor’s joy. She only raised a hand to rest upon her lower abdomen and asked in a broken voice,“My home, my child—I have lost everything. Is that what you call getting everything I wanted? Mu Zhaoran, how dare you forget—you killed my child.”
Mu Zhaoran froze, murmuring,“I didn’t know you were pregnant then…”
Ye Lizhi sneered.“If you had known, would you have spared me?”
Of course not.
Back then, jealousy had already driven her mad. Had she known Ye Lizhi was carrying Yun Xiaoyang’s child, she would not have spared her—she would have tortured her even more cruelly.
Mu Zhaoran understood now. They would never let her live. Yun Xiaoyang and Ye Lizhi wanted to see her suffer—to watch her die in the most painful, disgraceful way possible. The more wretched her end, the more it pleased them.
She gave up begging. She stopped swatting at the gu crawling over her body.
There were too many creatures in the cauldron. Wave after wave surged over her, quickly engulfing her completely. Her body collapsed faster and faster. The pain grew so intense that she gradually lost all sensation.
Mu Zhaoran glanced around, then crawled toward the other person inside the cauldron, dragging a vivid trail of blood behind her.
Using her last bit of strength, she collapsed against Yanluo’s shattered chest, reaching out to grasp the tassel—and, along with it, the skeletal hand clutching it.
Tears of regret mixed with blood, falling one after another into the hollow of his chest.“I’m sorry…”
Her life—foolish, vicious, absurd—had driven away those who loved her and delighted her enemies. With her own hands, she had killed the only person in this world who had ever stood by her side.
This ending was likely the justice the world had long wished upon her.
The last glimmer of light vanished from Mu Zhaoran’s eyes, and she fell into complete darkness.
She had thought that, at the moment of death, one would see the scenes of one’s life flash by—but instead, drifting through her consciousness were lines of text, fluttering down like snowflakes.
【This vicious female supporting character is finally gone. I was almost sickened to death by her. But honestly, dying like this is way too easy on her—she wasn’t tortured nearly enough. Even those “chasing-wife crematorium” scammer male leads aren’t as disgusting as her.】
【That’s it? Seriously? Can you make it any more stifling? The female lead was abused by this vicious side character for half the book! She even caused the female lead to miscarry and lose her ability to have children! And you only tortured her for two chapters?】
【The male lead ascends to Sword Venerable, gains supreme status in the Heavenly Dao Palace, becomes the great hero who saved Nanrong, and receives the faith of the people. The female lead looks like she won, but actually gained nothing—she was abused for an entire book and ends up as the male lead’s official wife, his sweet little accessory. Congratulations, I guess.】
【Someone said earlier that you’re the female side character’s real mother—and wow, you live up to it. The male lead flirted insincerely with her for over ten chapters just to get revenge, which was already gross enough. And Yanluo, this beautiful, powerful, tragic villain, actually loved her wholeheartedly and even died for her? Wow, did you really think we’d praise that as some heaven-shaking love? Take a look yourself—what exactly about this side character deserves to be loved?】
【So annoying. Your male lead is already Sword Venerable, yet he still needs to seduce the female side character and drug her to kill the villain? Is that not low? And the side character too—after having her cultivation destroyed and being expelled from the Heavenly Dao Palace, suffering so much, I thought she’d grow smarter. Instead, the male lead beckons once and she runs back again. What kind of love-brained nonsense is this?】
【I’ve read novels for years, and Mu Zhaoran is genuinely the dumbest, most IQ-debuffed character I’ve ever seen. A princess of a nation, yet her brain is filled with nothing but female rivalry. Her entire life revolves around marrying the male lead. Why insist on writing this kind of vicious female side character? You can’t even write her well—she’s just disgusting.】
【You write the male supporting character as someone forced into darkness, the female side character’s brother as someone helplessly choosing the light, and the comment section is full of people defending them. But when it comes to the female side character, she’s reduced to a brainless, vicious tool and everyone just curses her? Dial back that internalized misogyny. Don’t delete comments—I’ll just repost them.】
【Author, if you don’t write vicious female side characters, can you even write at all? What era are we in, still doing this ancient abuse-of-women trope? A perfectly good premise ruined into trash. Give me my money back.】
【For future readers: warning. The female lead is extremely saintly, the female side character is brainlessly vicious, and half the book is just female rivalry over a man. There’s no real plot afterward. Strongly advise against reading if you don’t want high blood pressure.】
【Why insist on writing female-versus-female conflict? Can’t the female lead and female side character support each other and grow together? This kind of dog-blood plot exists just to provoke arguments. Author, I wish you’d transmigrate into your own characters.】
【I’m sick of vicious female side characters competing over men. Is no one going to stop you garbage authors already?】
【Who is born vicious, really? You wrote her this way. So who’s the real villain here? Would it kill you authors to write a genuinely good female side character?】
【Am I the only one who wants to see both Zhizhi and Zhaoran live well as girls?】
【+1】
【+2】
【+10086】
Mu Zhaoran stared blankly as the words drifted down from above, like a snowfall of ink—each character a black snowflake.
One by one, they fell upon her, covering her, melting into her body.
When the snow finally settled, all the fragments converged into a single, clear voice.
“Ding. System has confirmed the first target for reformation.”