Chapter 118: Extra: The Profound Tower

Langxuan Palace, Nine-Layer Tower.

A wisp of celestial light filtered down from the square crystal at the tower's peak. The faint, thin radiance spilled onto the woman sitting cross-legged in meditation. Her dark robes were still, as if years of time had flowed past her.

The sun set behind pale clouds, the moonlight had yet to brighten, and another day's time had passed. Inside the Profound Tower, the space gradually dissolved into pure darkness, drowning the woman's picturesque features without a trace. Not until the final glimmer of light faded did those ink-dyed eyes slowly open.

A point of light suddenly bloomed from her fingertips. In the darkness, it was a butterfly of flowing gold and silver. The butterfly's light was crystalline; one became two, two became four, fluttering to land upon her dark sleeves. A patch of clear light splashed down, illuminating this silent space with a faint, shimmering glow.

Zi Rao raised her head to look at the high tower ceiling. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the firmament beyond the darkness. A faint, graceful arc lifted at the corners of her lips, like a subtle trace of a smile. She was waiting for something—perhaps falling flowers brought by a breeze, or moonlight half-hidden by drifting clouds.

That square crystal was stained with a light dusting of snow. One day, one year; winter nights have snow.

The faint butterfly flames reflected in her pupils, flickering and shimmering. She remembered that year she had just learned the Flame Butterfly heart method. Langxuan Palace had also been filled with such light snow on the steps, also such a cold winter day. The snow-light flowed down the long jade steps like shattered glass strewn across the ground.

"Mother!"

At that time, she was just ten years old. The young girl, filled with excitement, had come flying out of the great hall, her crisp laughter trailing behind her as she headed toward the purple-clad woman walking slowly along the snowy steps, wanting to take her hand. However, beneath the shadows of the magnificent hall, that charming purple figure shifted with the wind, brushing past her fingertips. The woman turned, bringing with her a cold, indifferent gaze.

The girl, having missed her mark, stood still, looking at her mother a step away with some surprise.

"Mother, look, I've learned a new technique."

She raised her pitch-black eyes and reached out to her mother, her fingertips supporting the bright butterfly flame. The woman on the jade steps paused and looked back. Her gaze swept over the girl's features and landed on the beautiful fluorescence in the shadows of her sleeves. Suddenly, a cold ripple stirred in her eyes, and she flicked her sleeves and walked away.

In an instant, the accompanying attendants all walked away, leaving only the girl's slender figure on the white jade steps, the clear light at her fingertips like a lonely, beautiful star.

Extra: The Profound Tower. She watched her mother's back disappear into the depths of the great hall, her eyes filled with disappointment and confusion. Then, she hummed softly and turned to head outside the palace grounds.

Every palace servant she encountered along the way retreated, bowing their heads and addressing her as "Nine Princess." She paused slightly before them, but none dared to raise their heads. Thus, she looked at them with disdain and continued walking, no longer stopping for anyone.

She followed the flying bridge over the Imperial Lake, passed the Changming Palace beside the Hot Spring Sea, and reached a patch of emerald forest growing amidst the clouds, looking like beautiful jade left by the pond in the light snow. She slowed her pace as she entered the forest, passing through the elegant bamboo and clear breeze, but she did not see the person she wanted to see, and her heart felt a slight disappointment.

"Zi Rao." Suddenly, a light, faint laugh came from behind her.

She turned in surprise and ran toward the white-clad youth standing under the sparse trees, smiling. "Zi Hao, I've mastered the technique you taught me!"

"Oh? Is it the Flame Butterfly?"

His eyes held a faint smile, a gentle warmth, just like the way she had first seen him here.

She always remembered that day. He was alone in the forest, playing the zither. The white clothes and ice strings held a remoteness and loneliness she did not understand. She stood in the snow, listening quietly, walking step by step into his clear eyes. Her heart felt inexplicably at peace.

Later, she learned he was her royal brother and the crown prince of the royal clan. He called the Phoenix Empress of Chonghua Palace "Mother." In the entire Imperial Capital, it seemed only he did not fear her, nor did he avoid her. He was willing to listen to her speak, watch her dance, accompany her in practicing calligraphy, and teach her chess. No matter what others thought, he never refused her.

"Is it pretty?" The butterfly flames danced beneath her fluttering sleeves. The girl dancing in the wind had laughter that stained the youth's cold brows. She spun before him, her fingertips splashing with fine, beautiful clear light. Her dark-colored robes swirled in layers, following her light, graceful posture, like a lonely lotus blooming in the center of a snowy lake, finally coming to rest in his pupils.

Standing tall and upright in the depths of that quietude was this flower of peerless beauty in the mortal world. She had already read the answer in his eyes.

She had seen her own reflection through the gazes of many people. They marveled or avoided her, feared her or respected her. Everyone existed far away within these golden palaces and jade towers, like smoke and clouds unrelated to the thousands of years. Even her mother seemed the same. She felt like a special existence to everyone, yet among the masses, there was one person who was different in her heart.

Once, in the shadows of the emerald forest, they had exchanged a single glance, and she knew she had found that person. Just like a bird flying in the sky, she folded her wings and found a warm home.

Mists drifted lightly by the Hot Spring Sea, and the faint cloud colors, like his smile, painted her shimmering pupils. She held the clear, flickering fluorescence with her fingertips and walked toward him step by step. "I'll tell you a secret." Under his focused gaze, she pursed her lips slightly and leaned toward his ear. "Zi Hao, actually, when you smile, you look even better than Father King."

Beneath the Profound Tower, the charming woman smiled slightly. Her fingertips traced the cold profound stone, bit by bit, as if outlining his handsome brows, his long eyes, and the gentle trace of a smile at his lips. His features were so clear, his gaze etched into her heart through the years, just like that year at the palace banquet. She had worn flowing red silk, combed her hair into the "Looking for Immortals" double buns, and sat at the side of the golden, treasure-filled hall watching him. Opposite her, the youth in white robes and magnificent attire was elegant and cold. When she looked over across the golden steps and jade curtains, his gaze was focused.

At that time, she quietly raised her eyes. A clear, beautiful plum blossom flashed beneath her sleeves, her slender fingers delicate and red, dotting the youth's ink-jade pupils.

A moment later, he rose, excused himself from the banquet citing illness, and after receiving permission, walked away from her side with composure, a faint, elusive smile melting into her crafty gaze. Shortly after, she also slipped out of the banquet, following the winding corridors toward the depths of the palace grounds, her sleeves trailing light all the way.

He turned back with a smile at the end of the long corridor. She drifted into his pupils like moonlight. "Zi Hao, the plum blossoms in Liuyun Palace have opened."

Light snow glistened, dotted with specks of light red.

The glass lantern in her hand illuminated the jade trees and precious forest. She and he walked through the snow, falling plum blossoms landing on their sleeves, his white clothes stained with charming crimson. The night was pure darkness, a light breeze lifted the powdery snow, sprinkling it finely onto the surface of her thin silk umbrella. Between their fingertips was a bright world.

"Do you like plum blossoms?" he asked with a faint smile under the shimmering lantern light.

She tugged at his sleeve, glancing sideways and speaking coquettishly, "Zi Hao, I'll play chess with you tomorrow. Will you help me paint a plum blossom branch?"

"If you win against me, I will paint it for you," he said, raising his brows slightly and speaking in a calm voice.

"And what if I lose?" she pressed.

He only smiled and did not answer, simply raising his hand gently to pin a touch of crimson into her hair.

Beyond the flower forest was the boundless Imperial Lake. She set the glass lantern flame adrift by the lake, and he accompanied her in the shadows of the plum forest, watching the falling flowers. The sky and earth were filled with silent, light snow. The flame light flowing between her fingers illuminated the gentleness he showed no one else. The flute melody turning lightly at his lips melted the light snow and melted the plum fragrance.

That night, the jade garden was filled with snow. She watched the moonlight, leaning on the jade couch, unable to sleep. The flowing flute melody drifted through the moonlit night and into her heart, the depths of the moonlight shimmering with rippling light.

So she pulled her robes and rose, stepping out quietly into the moonlight. The lamps in Changming Palace were not yet extinguished. In the snowy night, she seemed to see his distinct face under the lamp.

She could not help but feel joyful, walking past layers of lamps along the silent, water-like great hall, but in the end, she did not see his figure. There was only an unfinished plum blossom painting on the desk, the dots of falling crimson like blood.

She sensed his aura and turned past the golden curtains and cloud pillars, heading toward the depths. On the jade couch in the depths of the sleeping quarters, the youth's pale face had lost the warm color it had in the plum blossom shadows, yet there were bloodstains at his lips that shocked her.

The moonlight shone faintly into the curtains, like his bloodless complexion. His deeply furrowed brows were no longer gentle, and the scorching heat on his body frightened her. She held his hand and called to him anxiously, but he did not smile at her as he usually did. Amidst his disheveled white clothes, threads of pain crushed the moonlight.

The sleeping quarters were as warm as spring, yet he only shivered with cold, as if enduring both raging fire and icy currents, yet he refused to let out a single groan. Only the tightness of his fingers on the quilt conveyed extreme pain, and it also tightly squeezed her heart.

"Zi Hao, Zi Hao..." She reached out to embrace him, as if separated by a world of ice and snow, the chill bone-deep. In that instant, he called her name in a low voice. In his delirium, there was a warm, soft plum fragrance in his embrace. That touch of crimson drifted from his clothes onto her tossing dark hair.

The curtain shadows were silent, the moonlight like threads. The vast great hall was devoid of human sound, save for the gentle warmth in her embrace, which dispelled the cold long night and smoothed his slightly furrowed brows. His breath, her lips; his sleeves, her hair. The moonlight gradually faded, and the dark-robed girl fell into a deep sleep in the white-clad youth's arms. The night covered their brows, like plum blossoms opening and snow falling in a single evening, the dream stained with rouge.

She woke in the morning, feeling the familiar aura beside her, faintly carrying a cold, slightly bitter medicinal scent. She raised her eyes, and beneath the shadows of her long lashes, she saw him looking down at her. His deep, shallow eyes held a faint weariness, but also a slightly moving warmth.

She remembered the side of the jade pool, that touch of crystalline glass, the inextinguishable lantern flame.

"Zi Hao." She called him softly, and he finally responded, his voice slightly hoarse but pleasant to hear. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his cheek. That jade-like temperature was reassuring. She pressed against his chest and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go.

When she pressed him on why the imperial physician's medicine could not improve his condition, he leaned in the depths of the swirling incense in the sleeping hall, his clear eyes showing for the first time traces she could not read.

Outside the hall, an announcement of the Empress's arrival suddenly came. He raised his brows and lashes slightly, looking toward the cold snow before the hall, and a moment later, with a humble, jade-like smile, he rose to welcome her.

She followed behind him, watching the woman in red robes and gorgeous makeup approach from the dazzling celestial light. Her blood-colored cloud sleeves raised dust, and the crimson at the corners of her eyes unreservedly flaunted her pride and beauty.

He called her "Mother," his expression clear and harmonious. The woman's gaze passed over his smile and landed on the graceful girl a step away. In an instant, time changed, and the wind rose and snow fell.

She looked straight into those eyes, never lowering her gaze, a feeling she could not describe rising in her heart. It was as if she had suddenly remembered her mother; it was not the first time she had seen such an expression. But the Empress had already withdrawn her gaze, smiling and asking about the Crown Prince's condition. He also answered with a smile, and beneath his gentle expression, the pain of those nights of tossing and turning seemed to have never existed.

The attendants of Chonghua Palace offered a medicine cup, delivering it right to the Crown Prince. She momentarily forgot everything else and stepped forward quickly to take it for him. That strange medicinal bitterness stained the incense, slightly thick and lingering endlessly. She suddenly remembered the taste of a medicinal herb—the flower was called Manzhu, and it was highly poisonous if consumed.

She raised her eyes in shock, her palm trembling slightly, opening her mouth to speak, but his hand covered her suddenly cold fingertips, suddenly gripping them tightly.

The force was so urgent that it felt as if one more bit of pressure would shatter the jade cup containing the terrible truth, and it also forcefully blocked the shock in her eyes. She saw a flash of warning in his eyes—a trace of fear she had never seen before.

The words on her lips could not be spoken. She watched helplessly as he drank the full cup of poison, watched him bow and thank the Empress, and watched those blood-stained phoenix robes disappear into the snow outside the hall.

"Zi Hao..." After everyone had left, she called him in a trembling voice, filled with shock, anger, pain, and injury. She finally understood the answer to that question: why the imperial physicians were helpless. A cup of poison in the morning from Chonghua Palace, a cup of antidote at night—it sustained the life of the Yong Dynasty's Crown Prince, controlling these thousands of palaces and all the people under heaven.

Last night, he had wanted to use another method to replace the antidote, enduring the agony of the night, but today he had to repeat that bone-deep pain, playing the role of the respectful and filial Crown Prince before the masses. She watched his increasingly thin figure, as if the most precious thing in her heart was being shredded bit by bit and burned in a fire. Such pain and injury gave birth to hatred; she hated that snake-and-scorpion-like woman, and she hated that magnificent, luxurious palace.

But his finger pressed against her lips. He shook his head slightly in her eyes and whispered, "Zi Rao, know nothing, say nothing."

The clear, charming eyes before her reflected his snow-like face. All the waves were gently frozen by this whisper, save for a single clear tear that slowly fell, sliding past her crimson lips and staining his slightly cool fingertips.

She threw herself into his arms and suddenly bit his shoulder hard. His body trembled slightly, her tears cooling through his clothes, and she whispered, "Does it hurt?"

"Mm." He reached out to brush the hair on her shoulder, hearing her say word by word in his ear: "I will not allow others to make you hurt. If that woman makes you hurt, in the future, I will make her pay you back tenfold."

The next day, the Empress summoned her to Chonghua Palace. She faced that beautiful, glamorous face without saying a word—she did not sit, did not speak, did not drink, did not eat. Her piercing eyes stared straight at the hall, causing the hands beneath the phoenix robes that held the power of life and death to snap their fingernail guards. When the news reached Changming Palace, the youth's gentle brows locked silently, and deep hidden worries drowned his clear eyes.

At that time, she did not understand the reason for his worry, until that night of the palace coup, when the raging fire stained her sleeves red, breaking the bottomless silence in his eyes. That woman stepped over the blood-like fallen flowers of Langxuan Palace and walked toward her, personally handing her a long sword with dazzling, flowing light. "Kill her, and I will spare your life."

She saw her mother standing before the sword light, smiling coldly. That familiar yet strange gaze tore through her heart. Her hand gripped the sword hilt tightly, and amidst the firelight, she turned and flew her sleeves, stabbing the sword toward the Empress's heart.

A sword of cold light parted the separation of fate. When she saw him again, it was before the Yao Guang Terrace.

Below the steps, the officials prostrated themselves. White robes like snow were drowned in the sky-filling white mourning banners. Only the phoenix robes high above the masses remained eye-catching, like a fire rushing to the sky.

She was accused of being an enchantress of the Witch Clan, and man-eating flames were lit around her. The Empress's furious gaze seemed to want to crush her into ash, but she faced it coldly with the most contemptuous attitude. But when he appeared before the Empress's phoenix throne, his face was so pale it was heart-wrenching. She looked at him in shock across the raging fire; the expression that had not changed even under torture finally shattered. From his weak smile, she saw the cruel traces of the poison taking effect.

The Empress's shocked and angry gaze could not withstand the youth's calm and determined stare. The guards were ordered to drag her off the high platform, and a sky-filling downpour poured down at that moment, the cold light of heaven and earth blurring his handsome figure.

Under that woman's ruthless gaze, he walked through the rain curtain and personally opened the Profound Tower's stone door, sending her into the endless darkness. Before the deep, long corridor, she and he brushed past each other. His gaze swept over her tears, and between light and darkness, he said softly, "Zi Rao, even if heaven and earth are destroyed, I will protect you in peace for a lifetime."

With that one sentence, she was willing to walk into the bottomless abyss.

The Nine-Layer Profound Tower was cast into a cold cage. She raised her head and stared in this deathly silence without any sound. Moonlight finally flooded the sky, spilling onto her dark robes through the shadow of the crystal. Outside the heavy stone doors, a drifting flute melody faintly sounded, accompanying the moonlight and flower shadows as it flowed into her heart like water, clear even through the deep darkness.

She smiled lightly, reaching out to touch the cool stone wall of the Profound Tower, as if feeling the temperature of his embrace. In the lingering flute melody, she could hear his joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. She knew he was there, not far from her side, accompanying her.

The butterfly flames at her fingertips illuminated the darkness. The technique he taught her was the only light in her long wait. Thousands of falling flowers covered the deep palace; it was the memory of the mortal world in her and his dreams, stained with snow.

Seven years of darkness, thousands of nights—this uninterrupted flute sound accompanied her, inextinguishable. Beneath the Nine-Layer Tower, she drew a board on the cold ground with stone, bit by bit, recalling his thoughts and tracing his smile. In the emerald bamboo forest, every moonlit night would always have a lingering flute melody, day by day, telling of flowers blooming and falling, and the vast seas changing.

One life, one world; one person, one heart. So close yet worlds apart, trapped by one heart—their world had never changed.

"Zi Hao..."

She looked through the silent crystal at the deep night sky, whispering softly. The moonlight was like his gaze, such gentle coldness, focused only on one person.

"Even if heaven and earth are destroyed, I only wish for you to be safe and sound."

(End of chapter)