In her previous life, even without Mu Zhaoran taking her along, Ye Lizhi would still run away from the general’s residence not long after they left Nanrong. She would cross the southern border alone, reach Zhongzhou, and go to Tiandu Yujing where the Tiandao Palace was located. In the end, due to some unknown opportunity, she caught the attention of the Spiritual Venerable and was personally accepted into the inner sect of the Tiandao Palace.
In fact, before entering the Tiandao Palace, Mu Zhaoran and Ye Lizhi had no direct conflict at all.
To Mu Zhaoran, Ye Lizhi was just a complete stranger—someone irrelevant, someone she could never even come into contact with, let alone appear in her world.
The only reason Mu Zhaoran had people stop Ye Lizhi back then was because the journey was boring, and she kept hearing Ye Lingyan complain about her hateful half-sister, saying Ye Lizhi had stolen her things and run away from the general’s residence.
Ye Lingyan had used a small trinket gathered from the common folk—a nine-linked ring made of copper wire—to please Mu Zhaoran. In exchange, she took two Nascent Soul–level spirit guards that the Sacred Hall elders had assigned to Mu Zhaoran, asking them to help catch a “thief” in the family.
Wanting to stand up for her good sister, Mu Zhaoran agreed without thinking. She did not take the matter seriously at all.
But the system said that because she had repeatedly blocked Ye Lizhi in her previous life, Ye Lizhi faced many dangers on the way to the Tiandao Palace and was left with a weak body.
Clearly, the system placed all the blame on her.
Although Mu Zhaoran brought Ye Lizhi onto the carriage because of the system’s task, she did not think it was entirely her fault. At most, she had been deceived and misled by others.
What made her resent Ye Lizhi even more was that the two spirit guards she had sent out never returned. They had clearly met with disaster, and this became the starting point of her hatred.
With so many grudges carried over from her past life, Mu Zhaoran now disliked Ye Lingyan—and hated Ye Lizhi even more, grinding her teeth in anger. The way she looked at Ye Lizhi was extremely unfriendly, as if she wanted to swallow her whole.
Ye Lizhi became even more frightened under her gaze and tried to explain,“Please calm down, Your Highness. I—I didn’t run away today. When the young lady went out, she forgot something, so she asked me to deliver it…”
After delivering the item, she should have left immediately. But the figure coming down from the altar was far too dazzling. Hiding in the shadow of the carriage, she lingered a little longer without realizing it.
Obviously, Ye Lizhi’s explanation had nothing to do with what Mu Zhaoran was talking about.
Mu Zhaoran was not interested in how she left the residence. She dragged out an “oh,” cut her off, and continued coldly,“So you don’t want to go to the Tiandao Palace? Fine. I’ll have the carriage stop right now and let General Ye send you back. Better yet, break your legs and chain you up so you’ll never step out of the general’s residence again. How about that?”
As Mu Zhaoran imagined the scene, the corners of her lips lifted. Her mood grew strangely cheerful, and she even felt an urge to carry it out right away.
Her expression was mocking, and every word she spoke was full of malice—this was no joke.
Ye Lizhi’s flushed face slowly turned pale as she listened. Her knees gave out, and she slid down onto the carpeted floor of the carriage, bowing her head.“Please forgive me, Your Highness. I…”
She clenched her teeth and admitted,“I want to go to the Tiandao Palace!”
She did not want to spend her whole life trapped in the cold general’s residence, inside those square high walls. Her father ignored her, the main wife hated her, and whenever Ye Lingyan was unhappy, she would come and trouble her. Every day, Ye Lizhi lived in fear, walking on thin ice—treated worse than the servants.
Even today, being able to leave that fortress-like residence just once had cost her great effort to find such an opportunity.
If she were sent back now by the Saintess, she truly might never leave the general’s residence again for the rest of her life.
Perhaps because Mu Zhaoran’s inner malice flared too openly, the mark of sin on her soul suddenly heated up. Sharp pain spread from her soul to her body, making her collapse onto the couch, curling up weakly.
The cruel thought in her mind was instantly crushed by the pain.
Clutching her clothes, Mu Zhaoran gasped for breath and muttered in surrender,“Alright, alright, I was wrong. I’ll reflect on it.”
Hearing her unclear words and painful breathing, Ye Lizhi wanted to look up, but she was afraid of angering her again. She stayed bowed on the floor, not daring to move.
Cold sweat beaded on Mu Zhaoran’s forehead. She randomly grabbed a string of prayer beads and threw it at Ye Lizhi, urging,“Get up! Since I let you on the carriage, I’ll make sure you safely enter Tiandu.”
The reddish agate beads hit Ye Lizhi’s shoulder and slid down. She hurriedly caught them and held them out respectfully.“Thank you, Your Highness. I will surely repay your kindness in the future.”
As the pain in her soul eased, Mu Zhaoran felt completely drained. She weakly pushed Ye Lizhi’s hands away in disgust.“You touched it. It’s dirty. I don’t want it.”
Ye Lizhi’s long eyelashes trembled. Tears shimmered in her eyes, like fragile glass shattered by those words.
Not knowing what to do, she held the beads for a moment, then took out a cotton handkerchief from her sleeve—washed countless times—and carefully wiped each bead. Holding them through the cloth, she offered them again.
This was the first time Mu Zhaoran truly felt the punishment of the soul mark. Already irritated, she grew even more impatient with the person before her. She swung her sleeve again, knocking Ye Lizhi’s hands aside and shouted,“I said I don’t want it!”
This time, she used more force. Her sleeve accidentally struck Ye Lizhi’s face, and the gold embroidery left a red mark on her cheek.
Mu Zhaoran froze, thinking another punishment would follow. She quickly pulled her sleeve back and explained in panic,“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
When the soul mark did not react, she finally relaxed. But then she felt embarrassed by her hurried explanation and snapped angrily,“Right now. Immediately. Throw it away!”
Ye Lizhi had long been abused in the general’s residence. Once, in the dead of winter, she was falsely accused of stealing a single pastry from the main wife’s table and was slapped more than twenty times, then forced to kneel in the snow all night.
The wounds on her face turned into frostbite. They only healed after spring arrived, and the red marks took years to fully fade.
So the hit from Mu Zhaoran’s sleeve meant little to her. What truly hurt was the thought of throwing away the agate beads.
Such finely crafted beads were worth a year’s food for an ordinary family. She could not bear to discard them, but she did not dare disobey. After hesitating and seeing that the Saintess was truly angry, she obeyed, opened the window, and threw them out.
After that, she retreated to the corner again, lowered her head, and apologized softly,“Please calm your anger, Your Highness.”
Calm down? Calm down my foot, Mu Zhaoran thought. Just looking at Ye Lizhi’s pitiful, obedient act filled her with rage. Ye Lizhi was skilled at pretending to be weak. In her past life, she had used this very appearance to charm countless people.
Even Mu Yinyi—that bastard—had been completely bewitched, willing to betray his own blood-related sister for her.
If only she could slash that innocent-looking face and ruin it—then how would she pretend to be pitiful?
Mu Zhaoran stared at her, dark thoughts bubbling up again, until the mark on her soul heated once more. The pain spread like worms gnawing at her bones. She let out a miserable groan and begged,“I’m wrong, I’m wrong. I won’t think about it anymore. I won’t think about anything…”
Ye Lizhi cautiously raised her head a little. In such a short time, this was the second time she had heard the Saintess murmuring as if begging forgiveness—from someone she could not see.
The Saintess covered her eyes, as if she didn’t even want to look at Ye Lizhi. A soft, kitten-like whimper came from her nose, and her body trembled lightly. The layers of her gorgeous robes wrapped tightly around her, as though they could crush her at any moment.
“Your Highness…” Ye Lizhi leaned toward her worriedly and reached out to help her. Remembering how the Saintess had shown disgust toward her earlier, she hesitated and pulled her fingers back, then asked softly, “Are you alright, Your Highness? Should I call a physician to take a look?”
“Shut up!” Mu Zhaoran said through clenched teeth, turning over to face the inside.
She finally understood how that cursed mark of sin worked. She could not have evil thoughts—especially evil thoughts aimed at Ye Lizhi. Yet all she felt toward Ye Lizhi was malice.
Was this what the system meant by “loving each other”?
Mu Zhaoran let out a mocking laugh, but the curve of her lips fell again as pain surged through her soul. She could only think of something else to distract herself, trying hard to remove “Ye Lizhi” from her mind.
Just then, noise came from outside. The carriage shook, and its speed clearly slowed.
Ye Rong’s loud voice sounded from outside the carriage.“Saintess, the Crown Prince has chased after us on horseback. He probably wants to properly say goodbye. Should we stop and wait for him?”
Mu Zhaoran’s fingers tightened around the cushion. After a brief silence, she turned over, glanced at Ye Lizhi, and said loudly,“Don’t stop. There’s nothing to say goodbye about. Speed up and leave at once. Don’t delay important matters.”
Ye Rong disliked dragging things out as well. Her answer suited him, so he raised his hand and ordered the convoy to continue forward, sending two men back to persuade the Crown Prince to return.
The sound of the wheels grew faster. Strong wind rushed past the window, and even the howling wind could not fully drown out the crying shouts from behind, mixed with sobs:“Elder sister! Elder sister! Wait for me! Elder sister, I still have something to say—”
Mu Zhaoran leaned against the soft couch, her face expressionless as the cries grew farther and weaker, until they disappeared completely.
Ye Rong rode alongside the carriage the whole time. Seeing that she did not even open the window once, he said with unclear meaning,“The Crown Prince was shouting until his voice was hoarse, nearly falling from his horse. Compared to that, the Yaoguang Saintess is calm and steady—truly admirable.”
The pain in Mu Zhaoran’s soul had already faded without her noticing, but the betrayal she once suffered was carved into her bones and could never be forgotten. She replied coldly,“As the Saintess, I know what is important and what is not. Avoiding emotional decisions—isn’t that only proper?”
Ye Rong turned his head in surprise toward the carriage. Through the hanging curtains, he could faintly see her figure leaning inside. He had not expected such mature words to come from this willful young princess.
He had heard that just yesterday, she was making a scene in the palace, unwilling to go to the Tiandao Palace, unwilling to become a Saintess, and unwilling to bear the Saintess’s duties. In just one day, had she really figured it out? Or was she only putting on an act?
Ye Rong’s thick brows furrowed slightly. His gaze grew dark as he looked ahead, and he said with satisfaction,“If so, the Saintess will surely live up to His Majesty’s expectations and bring back a new Chengti Mirror for Nanrong.”
Mu Zhaoran raised her eyes and stared firmly at the scene outside the window, answering decisively,“Of course.”
This time, she would never again give him the chance to rebel and force his way into the palace under the banner of “heaven’s will.”