Meng Anli looked toward the girl she had immobilized. The girl's anxious eyes rolled wildly.
She raised her hand.
Meng Ying let out a heavy sigh of relief and ran over to them.
"By the time I arrived, she had already stopped breathing. I lay on top of her and wept bitterly, but she suddenly sat up and asked where this was. Was they filming a show? Why were we all dressed in..."
Meng Ying thought for a moment. "Ancient costumes! Yes, that was what she called them."
Meng Anli's expression changed slightly. "Borrowing a corpse to return to life?"
Empress Chu's face turned pale inch by inch as well. Her hands and feet trembled uncontrollably as she asked Meng Ying.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Meng Ying said guiltily, "She was already foolish and simple-minded. Sometimes she would babble nonsense, so I didn't take it seriously."
Empress Chu clutched her chest and parted her lips with difficulty. "Has my Shiwan already gone?"
Meng Ying said sorrowfully, "Though Shiwan was foolish and simple-minded, she was very kind. On rainy days, she would hold umbrellas over frogs, help ants move house, and secretly give me the osmanthus cakes she had hidden away. She wouldn't become so bad just because she became smarter."
Meng Anli found it somewhat strange. "Why do you believe what I say so readily? Aren't you worried that I'm deceiving you?"
Empress Chu and Meng Ying exchanged a look.
Meng Ying explained, "After she woke up, during the palace banquet, she drugged the Fifth Princess, who had pushed her into the water, and ruined her reputation entirely. When Father investigated, he found the remaining drug in my room.
"She said that I had done it in a moment of desperation to avenge her. Father had me hung up and beaten, and I couldn't get out of bed for half a year."
Thinking of those darkest days, Empress Chu's eyes were filled with grief as well.
"I felt that although she was taking revenge, her methods were too ruthless, and she even harmed her own elder sister. But Ying'er pleaded for her, saying she was willing to protect her younger sister, so I merely punished her with confinement for the time being.
"By the time I had settled Ying'er and went looking for her, she had already taken the token and secretly fled the palace."
Meng Anli understood. No wonder they believed her—so Meng Shiwan had framed her own sister before.
Still, Empress Chu had exceeded her expectations. She approved of Meng Shiwan's revenge? She merely felt that Meng Shiwan had been too ruthless and had harmed her elder sister.
Then she remembered that, among so many concubines in the palace, Empress Chu had managed to live so comfortably in the Cold Palace. It was impossible for her to have no means at all.
It was good that she had methods.
Meng Anli spoke directly. "The purpose of my visit is to take you to the Heavenly Realm and send you to Meng Mingde's side. You can work with me from within and without. Are you willing?"
Meng Ying grabbed Empress Chu's hand.
Meng Anli had thought she would persuade Empress Chu to stay.
Yet she said, "Mother, I've seen all the pain you've endured these years. Now that a fairy is helping you, if you want to go, don't hesitate any longer."
Tears fell from Empress Chu's beautiful eyes. "Ying'er, good child, let me think about it."
Meng Anli gave her three days.
She was about to hurry back to cultivate when the Communication Mirror rang.
Meng Anli answered it. It was Lu Zhiyuan.
He lowered his voice. "Anli, I just saw Meng Liangmiao looking for the Crown Prince. He said Meng Shiwan had developed some... novel and powerful contraption. The Crown Prince was persuaded and is planning to go with him to Qilian Mountain after work."
A novel contraption?
A stabbing pain pierced Meng Anli's head. Before she died, the Crown Prince seemed to have said something—something about Meng Shiwan being special.
But it hurt too much.
For the moment, she could not remember.
"Anli, do you want to come to the Heavenly Realm and stop the Crown Prince? I have a bad feeling about him meeting Meng Shiwan."
Lu Zhiyuan's words brought her back to herself.
Meng Anli considered it. "Then I'll go to Qilian Mountain first and see what strange contraption Meng Shiwan has created."
"Alright."
Meng Anli put away the Communication Mirror, pondered for a moment, then returned to the Cold Palace.
Before Empress Chu could speak, she said, "I'm going to Qilian Mountain to find Meng Shiwan. Is there anything you want me to bring her?"
Empress Chu's expression was complicated. That was no longer her Shiwan.
But...
Those things had all been sewn by her own hand, stitch by stitch.
She went into the hall and took several sets of clothes from the bottom of a chest. "I made all of these myself. Help me give them to her. If..."
Empress Chu paused. "Let it be a clean break. I won't make anything for her again in the future."
Meng Anli did not ask further. She wrapped them in a bundle and flew toward Qilian Mountain.
Crossing the Yellow River westward, passing over the Gobi Desert and oases, she arrived at a mountain range overflowing with spiritual energy.
It was the Qilian Mountain Range.
On the highest peak of the Qilian Mountain Range stood an academy—Qilian Academy.
Meng Anli landed outside the academy. The gates were tightly shut, and the deep toll of a bell drifted from within.
Meng Anli's peach-blossom eyes shifted slightly as she transformed into Meng Ying's appearance.
She walked to a large vat nearby and looked at her reflection, nodding in satisfaction.
Mm! She looked exactly like Meng Ying.
"Master's Transformation Techniques are both simple and useful."
"Simple?!" In Qin Zhai at Xuantian Academy, Yuan Tuo nearly jumped up. "It took me three months to learn it!"
"She learned it in one night." Yun Jing lightly pinched the little lion's cheek, his lips curling upward.
Yuan Tuo doubted himself. "Am I stupid?"
Yun Jing raised a brow slightly. "Mm-hm."
"But Master said I was very intelligent and had great comprehension back then."
Yun Jing's brows relaxed. "You don't think so now?"
Yuan Tuo: "..."
He understood. A smarter Anli had appeared.
He looked toward Anli in the mirror, his mood brightening. His little sister was truly amazing.
Yun Jing reminded him blandly, "It's time for class."
"Oh..." Yuan Tuo left reluctantly.
He wanted to watch too. He wanted to know what Anli was going to do.
Seeing his dragging footsteps, Yun Jing's mood grew pleasant.
He picked up a bunch of grapes and was about to eat one when he thought of Meng Anli's little face scrunching up from the sourness of mortal grapes. He could not help but smile.
He put down the grapes and picked up a peach from the side.
Forget it, he would save the grapes for her.
Meng Anli made herself look travel-worn, then conjured several pairs of ruined shoes and stuffed them into her bundle. She also transformed the shoes on her feet until they were tattered, her exposed toes chafed and bleeding.
After all, as a mortal, it was impossible for her to arrive unscathed.
After checking that there were no problems, she finally knocked on the gates.
Before you continue