Outside the rear hall, Princess Yongchun was jumping and chasing butterflies in the courtyard.

Inside the rear hall, Zhu Lingyun was hiding under the quilt, shivering.

In the corner of the side hall, Bai Li remained silent, quietly protecting the steamed bun in her arms, enduring the fists and feet that rained down on her. It was very painful, but someone had told her that as long as someone was human, they would get tired, even officials were the same.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Xuan Su, with her ample body, stopped, panting.

She said fiercely, “I remember you being quite obedient before, and it’s your first offense, so I’ll let you off this time. If there’s a next time, it won’t be just a light beating. You clean up all the food and dishes on the ground for me. If I come in the evening and see the ground is still greasy and dirty, I’ll beat you again.”

The Taoist nuns walked away cleanly. Bai Li leaned against the wall, struggling to stand up.

Standing up pulled at her wounds, and she gasped in pain.

She lifted both hands, cautiously tying her hair neatly. Only then did she slowly move, cleaning up the food and dishes on the ground.

Bai Li came out of the side hall, and Zhu Lingyun rushed out of the rear hall, crying as she looked at her, “Sister, are you alright? Don’t resist them, they’ll beat you to death.”

Princess Yongchun in the courtyard suddenly said, “They won’t beat her to death, they won’t beat her to death.”

Bai Li looked at her. “Why?”

Princess Yongchun laughed foolishly. “The moment we stepped into Jingyang Palace, we already died! We are just the relics of the past left in this world. Having died once, we won’t die a second time!”

Bai Li was slightly startled. She walked over to Princess Yongchun, helped her re-tie her messy hair, and softly asked, “Are you hungry? I have a steamed bun here.”

Princess Yongchun lowered her head, looking at the butterfly that had landed on her fingernail.

She lifted her hand, bringing the butterfly to Bai Li. “Look, Brother Zhuoyuan has come to see me! Quick, say hello to Brother Zhuoyuan!”

Bai Li said “En,” and smiled, waving at the butterfly. “I have long admired you!”

Princess Yongchun laughed crazily. “He flew back from Lingnan to see me, isn’t that impressive?”

“Very impressive.” Bai Li took a steamed bun from her arms, put it in Princess Yongchun’s hand, and gave the other steamed bun to Zhu Lingyun. “Eat.”

Zhu Lingyun secretly looked at her. “Sister, are you alright?”

Bai Li smiled. “I’m fine.”

She helped Zhu Lingyun tie her hair too. “Don’t let your hair be messy, otherwise they’ll think we’ve given up.”

Bai Li returned to the rear hall and sat quietly on the communal bed, watching the daylight gradually dim. First, the orange-red sunset shone on the golden roof, then the night covered the earth.

At You hour, the Qipan Street outside the palace ban was as bright as day.

The palace lamps in front of Daming Gate were hung high. Wine shops and tea houses had red gauze lanterns hanging from their eaves. Bookshops had green lanterns suspended from their eaves. People selling late-night snacks carried white paper lanterns.

For a time, the firelight swayed like stars. This was the origin of the name “lantern market” for Qipan Street.

Meanwhile, in Jingyang Palace, it was already time to extinguish the lamps.

Xuan Su sat on the edge of the communal bed and looked at Bai Li sideways. “Still not going to fetch water for washing feet?”

Bai Li sat motionless.

Xuan Su pulled out a ruler from under her pillow and laughed coldly. “It seems you’ve really grown a rebellious bone. Today, I must pull out the rebellious bone from your body!”

Bai Li nodded. “No need, I’ll go now.”

She turned and went to the side room. When she came back, she was carrying a basin of boiling hot water and poured it towards Xuan Su’s head.

Xuan Su was startled and hurriedly pulled a Taoist nun in front of her to block it.

Even so, her two arms were still burned by the scalding hot water.

The splashed Taoist nun shrieked in alarm, in unbearable pain.

Xuan Su let out a pig-killing shriek. She saw the skin on her own hands turning red, and the fiery hot feeling drilling into her heart. “Crazy, they’re all damn crazy. Beat her for me, beat her fiercely.”

As the words fell, Bai Li had already hidden in the corner of the rear hall and squatted down, letting them beat and kick her. Seeing this, Xuan Su shrieked, “Drag her out for me.”

A group of Taoist nuns dragged Bai Li out from the corner. She could only curl up, protecting her vital organs and head. At some point, she felt that one of her ribs must have broken! But someone had told her that if bones were broken but not inserted into the heart or lungs, they weren’t too obstructive, at least better than a broken leg or a broken arm!

Amidst the fists and kicks, Xuan Su turned her head to look at Zhu Lingyun, then lowered her head to look at Bai Li at her feet and taunted, “You’re certainly willing to protect her, but has she protected you?”

Bai Li bit her teeth and didn’t speak.

She didn’t know when, but Bai Li fainted.

Someone carefully said, “Beaten to death?”

Xuan Su was startled but pretended to be calm. “If she’s dead, she’s dead. It’s not like people haven’t died in our Jingyang Palace. It’s not like she’s the only one… Alright, stop beating. Go fetch medicine and ointment for me.”

When Bai Li woke up again, she was already lying on the communal bed.

The candles in the rear hall were already extinguished, and the smell of golden wound medicine permeated the air.

In the darkness, she heard a low sobbing sound. Turning her head, she saw that Zhu Lingyun was lying beside her, wiping away tears.

Zhu Lingyun choked out, “Sister, I’m so useless, I didn’t dare help you just now!”

Bai Li took a deep breath. She felt that when air entered her chest cavity, it opened up, and a heart-wrenching pain began to transmit from the place where her bone was broken.

She exhaled with difficulty and said softly, “It’s nothing, fear is a common human emotion!”

Zhu Lingyun quickly said, “Sister, I won’t cause you any more trouble. Starting tomorrow, I will definitely recite Taoist scriptures well and do my work well. I won’t be delicate anymore!”

Bai Li didn’t speak.

Zhu Lingyun said again, “Sister, let’s not resist them. Let’s just submit a little. They’ll really beat you to death!”

Bai Li still didn’t speak.

In the long silence, Zhu Lingyun asked softly, “Sister, do you think someone will save us? The Liu family is also gone, and the Empress Dowager, I don’t know why, has never come to Jingyang Palace… Are you and your brother acquainted with a Jianghu knife expert named Liang Gou’er? And Father initially helped so many Jianghu heroes, won’t they find a way to rehabilitate Father?”

Bai Li endured the pain and said, “Probably not.”

Zhu Lingyun asked in confusion, “Why?”

Bai Li softly said, “Lingyun, there is no more Jianghu!”

Zhu Lingyun asked, “Are you and your brother also acquainted with that apprentice from the big medical hall? What was his name? It seemed to be Chen Ji? If he enters the Imperial Medical Bureau in the capital later, won’t he have an opportunity to come to Jingyang Palace to help us?”

When Bai Li heard that name, she was suddenly startled.

She felt as if someone had punched her in the heart. That kind of pain was like it was engraved on her heart, every beat a pang of pain!

Bai Li softly said, “Lingyun, we can only rely on ourselves!”

Zhu Lingyun pleaded, “Sister, then don’t resist them. Let’s just live well in this Yang Palace!”

Bai Li looked at the dome and beams of the rear hall. “Lingyun, either we live to get out, or we die here. There are only these two choices, and I’m not afraid!”

Saying that, she struggled to support her body, drew out a chopstick she had hidden at noon from her sleeve, broke it with a little force from both hands, leaving a sharp wooden point.

The next moment, enduring the bone-piercing pain in her ribs, she held the half chopstick and rushed towards Xuan Su, stepping over the dozen or so Taoist nuns on the communal bed.

Cries of pain came from the communal bed. The Taoist nun who was stepped on in the belly curled up like a shrimp. Xuan Su vaguely opened her eyes, but saw Bai Li’s figure approaching with big strides. She said in a panic, “You…”

Bai Li suddenly pounced down, and the half chopstick in her hand stabbed down fiercely, directly into Xuan Su’s right eye!

But the chopstick, which should have penetrated the skull, was blocked by Xuan Su’s hands and couldn’t stab further down!

Bai Li jumped off the communal bed, pulled open the vermilion main door of the rear hall, and ran wildly towards the outside with bare feet!

Under the moonlight, she stepped on the ice-cold green bricks on the ground, fleeing through the main hall of Jingyang Palace!

But this time, no one was leading her with reins, passing through the narrow one-line sky!

Just as Bai Li was about to step over the threshold of the main hall, the side hall door suddenly opened, and a Taoist scripture flew out, hitting her calf without deviation.

Bai Li fell to the ground, the new wounds and old wounds together causing heart-wrenching pain!

She lay on the ground, turning her body to look at the half-opened door.

Zhenren Xuan Zhen, holding a whisk in her hand, leisurely walked out from inside the door and stood beside her.

Only then did Xuan Su and the others chase over.

When they saw Xuan Zhen, their faces suddenly changed, and they all knelt on the ground. “We did not intend to disturb your pure cultivation, Zhenren. Please forgive us.”

Xuan Zhen lowered her head, quietly looking at Bai Li who couldn’t crawl up on the ground. She said with a sympathetic expression, “The Saint said, ‘To the good, I am good. To the not-good, I am also good.’ This means that we should treat good people well, and we should also treat evil people well! Xuan Su’s handling was unfair, not treating people with goodness, not repaying grievances with virtue. She should break the evil in her heart and see herself clearly!”

Xuan Zhen said calmly, “Slap your mouth!”

For a time, Xuan Su disregarded the fresh blood all over her face, enduring the pain and slapping her ears until both her cheeks were swollen before she dared to stop, blood splattering.

Xuan Zhen looked at the traces of blood splattered on the green bricks and said indifferently, “Bring the dirt to the front of the Three Pure Dao Ancestors and slap your mouth again!”

Xuan Su bit her teeth and slapped her ears again. Suddenly, she lowered her head and spit out a mouthful of blood into her palm. A back molar was mixed in the bloody water!

She subconsciously looked up at Xuan Zhen, seeing her icy cold expression, and quickly swallowed the tooth with the blood!

At this time, Xuan Zhen no longer made things difficult for her. She turned her head to look at Bai Li. “Junzhu has repeatedly refused to change, and there is great evil in her heart. It seems that there is an evil root from an outer demon entering her body. It should be pulled out for her!”

Xuan Su trembled, asking with an unclear voice, “When? How will it be pulled out?”

In the middle of the main hall, in front of the statue of the Three Pure Dao Ancestors, Xuan Zhen said indifferently, “The one who covers the mouth and tongue is the doorway to going in and out, the root of right and wrong! Pull out the tongue!”

Xuan Su stopped and subconsciously turned her head to look at the statue of the Three Pure Dao Ancestors.

Xuan Zhen looked at her. “What is it?”

Xuan Su quickly said, “We will now pull out the evil root of the outer demon for her.”

Xuan Zhen turned her body and walked towards the side hall, saying without looking back, “Xuan Su, this is the last time. If there is a next time, you know the result!”

“I know.” Xuan Su got up and wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve, ordering people to drag Bai Li towards the rear hall. However, just at this moment, someone outside Jingyang Palace sighed, “How lively.”

Xuan Zhen suddenly stopped in front of the side hall door. Xuan Su suddenly turned back to look, and saw a woman in black, with her hands behind her back, stepping lightly into Jingyang Palace!

She looked at Bai Li on the ground and exclaimed, “How did Jingyang Palace become like this? Do any of you have even a little bit of the appearance of cultivating your heart and nature?”

Xuan Su was startled. “Jiao Tu!”

Jiao Tu smiled and stepped into the great hall, casually taking out a silver needle from her sleeve and stabbing it in front of Xuan Su’s chest. Xuan Su cried out and fell to the ground, twitching nonstop!

Xuan Zhen turned around and softly asked, “The Twelve Zodiacs have arrived in great numbers, forgive my lack of welcoming. But the matters inside my Jingyang Palace do not seem to be under the management of the Twelve Zodiacs, do they?”

Jiao Tu didn’t explain that she was no longer one of the Twelve Zodiacs. She just pretended to be surprised and said, “Is the fearsome reputation of my secret office not great enough? Who gave you the courage to speak to me like this?”

Saying that, she took out more than ten silver needles from her sleeve and flicked them towards all the Taoist nuns.

In an instant, everyone fell to the ground, sweating profusely from the pain!

Xuan Zhen frowned. “What are you doing?”

Jiao Tu smiled. “Someone entrusted me to come and nurse Junzhu Bai Li a bit. I received his benefits and was promoted one level, so naturally, I have to wholeheartedly do things for him!”

Bai Li was startled.

Jiao Tu leaned against the door frame and looked down at Bai Li with interest.

“Hmm?” She saw that Bai Li was still holding half a blood-stained chopstick in her hand, as if she was seeing Chen Ji on that night, holding a piece of blood-stained broken porcelain. “You two are quite alike.”

Xuan Zhen frowned. “Do you know what kind of place my Jingyang Palace is? In front of the Three Pure Dao Ancestors, how dare you act so wantonly here?”

Jiao Tu ignored her, lifted her head, and looked at the Three Pure Dao Ancestors inside the main hall. “Let me think about what kind of place Jingyang Palace is… Well, this is a harmful place. Xuan Zhen, that year you escaped here with the help of the Empress Dowager so you wouldn’t be buried with the former emperor, and you suffered a lot! Princess Yongchun loved but couldn’t have, and was locked here and forced into a madwoman! Xuan Su was just banished here because she accidentally broke something a noble consort loved. Logically, everyone here should rely on each other, so why are you even more severe when harming others?”

Xuan Zhen said calmly, “Everyone in Jingyang Palace are women without virtue. I am just disciplining them!”

Jiao Tu smiled. “Xuan Zhen, I am not a reasonable person and never argue with people! You just need to remember one thing, not a single hair of Junzhu Bai Li can be missing in your Jingyang Palace, otherwise I will find a way to make you all into human records. Do you understand? If you are not convinced, try saying a single word now!”

Xuan Zhen was silent and didn’t speak.

Jiao Tu no longer paid attention to her, but squatted down in front of Bai Li and said with a smile, “Junzhu Bai Li is really beautiful. It’s too pitiful to stay and suffer in a place like this!”

Bai Li hesitated for two breaths and asked softly, “Why are you helping me?”

Jiao Tu thought for a moment, then said teasingly, “I have no connection with Junzhu, so of course, I wouldn’t help you just because I sympathize with you!”

Bai Li softly said, “Chen Ji!”

Jiao Tu chuckled. “Although that boy says he’s heartless, how can he escape a woman’s eyes? I also thought he betrayed Prince Jing before, but now that I think about it, perhaps there’s another hidden story! I’ve seen a lot of deceit on Mount Wunian, so occasionally seeing something beautiful like this also feels fresh. Junzhu, live well. I also want to see if he can save you out!”

Bai Li was silent and didn’t speak.

At this time, Xuan Su and the others stopped their pain. Xuan Zhen glanced at them sideways. “Go to the rear hall!”

Jiao Tu pointed at the group of Taoist nuns and asked Bai Li with interest, “Who bullied you the most fiercely? I’ll help you break one of her arms, a small punishment!”

Xuan Su’s face changed, and she subconsciously retreated backward. “Zhenren, save me.”

But Xuan Zhen held her whisk and didn’t say a word.

Jiao Tu looked at Xuan Su and laughed. “It seems it was you!”

Xuan Su exclaimed, “Junzhu, you and I have no great enmity of life and death.”

Bai Li silently looked towards the vermilion palace walls outside Jingyang Hall. Behind her, Xuan Su’s wailing sound rang out again.