"This can't be."
Lin Fan muttered, putting down the tools in his hand. He wondered if he should go find Zhen Le and see what had happened to her, why she had become like this.
If she encountered trouble, she could come to him.
He would definitely help her solve it.
After thinking for a while, he decided to go find Zhen Le. There was no harm in asking.
Putting down his things, he walked towards the door. For the first time, he wanted to leave the deep palace. He had been living here for a long time and had grown accustomed to it. Even if he continued to stay, he wouldn't feel bored.
Stepping out of the door, there was no one around. The long corridor seemed very quiet, with a sense of deep seclusion.
As he walked, a eunuch blocked his path.
"Please go back," the eunuch said, standing in front of Lin Fan, neither servile nor overbearing.
Lin Fan asked, "Are you...?"
"Please go back, don't make things difficult for me," the eunuch said, almost on the verge of tears. His task was to watch Lin Fan and prevent him from leaving. If he failed, he would pay the price.
He naturally understood how painful it was for anyone to live within a fixed area, unable to leave. They could even go mad. But this was the deep palace, where countless people suffered tragic fates.
He was definitely not the most tragic one, just one of many.
Lin Fan looked at him, seeing a trace of unease in the eunuch's eyes. He realized the eunuch was blocking him because of a task, otherwise, he would be punished. This reminded Lin Fan of his own task.
Although he didn't quite understand it, he had always been serious about his task, as if it were something he needed to accomplish in his life.
"Alright."
Lin Fan nodded, not wanting to make things difficult for the eunuch. He turned around and walked back towards his room.
Watching Lin Fan's retreating figure, the eunuch breathed a sigh of relief. He felt the task was truly arduous, but there was nothing he could do. If he didn't perform well, the consequences would be dire.
Currently, the ones supporting the various princes in the imperial court were the Three Masters and the Three Dukes.
They each supported the prince they favored. Now, the First Prince's death had caused the game to collapse, completely disrupting their rhythm.
Master Wuchen, known as the Grandmaster of the Martial World, had divined that the decline of the Great Yuan Dynasty's fortune was closely related to the First Prince's death.
The crown prince had been murdered.
Although it hadn't struck at the root, it was a major event for the Great Yuan Dynasty.
A demonic being was harming the dynasty's fortune.
A call went out for experts to protect the crown prince and prevent the villain from harming the other princes.
Many people thought the villain's goal was likely to eliminate all the crown princes and cause the Great Yuan Dynasty to collapse.
There was another thought, one that everyone harbored but dared not speak: the struggle for the throne.
But this was a taboo topic. Anyone who dared to speak carelessly risked inviting disaster.
Several months later, another shocking event erupted in the Great Yuan Dynasty.
The Third Prince was found dead.
Because the villain hadn't appeared for such a long time, most people assumed they didn't intend to harm the other princes and only had a grudge against the First Prince.
Many princes relaxed their vigilance. What did their brother's death have to do with them? They hadn't provoked anyone outside, so who would bother them for no reason?
But just like that, the Third Prince was found dead in his study, his death identical to the First Prince's. Then, someone spread the news that both the First and Third Princes had died at the hands of the inheritor of the Nine Nether Divine Scripture.
The nation was shocked! The martial world was shaken!
Was this a catastrophe for the martial world, a catastrophe for the Great Yuan?
What was most unacceptable was that, until now, no one knew who had cultivated the Nine Nether Divine Scripture or where they were hiding.
West Palace Courtyard!
"You little wretch, did you think you could escape my grasp?" Consort Xian glared at the grown-up Zhen Le, gnashing her teeth. She longed to, as she had in the past, trample Zhen Le underfoot and subject her to endless humiliation.
She never expected Zhen Le to win the emperor's favor and rise above the other children, making it impossible for her to harm her.
Zhen Le smiled at Consort Xian, the mother who had subjected her to so much humiliation in her childhood.
"What's with that look?" Consort Xian roared. In the past, the surrounding servants would have rushed forward to seize Zhen Le, but now, they wouldn't dare even if given ten times the courage.
A princess favored by the emperor was not someone they could afford to offend. They could only stand there obediently, praying that Princess Zhen Le wouldn't remember their past deeds.
At this moment, when Zhen Le saw Consort Xian, the image that surfaced in her mind was how to kill her.
Dismemberment? Torture?
No…
She couldn't think about it. If she kept thinking about it, she would want to kill Consort Xian right now. She still had things to do. It wasn't worth disrupting her plans for someone already dead.
"Hehe!"
A silent laugh.
Then she turned and left.
When Consort Xian saw Zhen Le's departing smile, her heart trembled violently, and she shivered as if she had seen something terrifying.
She shook off the thoughts in her mind. How could she think like that?
Back in her room, Zhen Le lit incense for Cui Rong's spirit tablet and said in a low voice, "I still need to kill. It's not enough yet. You were right. If I were a man, I wouldn't be bullied. But now I'm telling you, it doesn't matter whether I'm a man or a woman."
"I will kill all the princes of the Great Yuan Dynasty."
"Killing is the only way to solve problems."
After saying these words, black mist churned in Zhen Le's eyes.
The Nine Nether Divine Scripture had greatly influenced her, but it had also granted her unimaginable power. The Golden Leaf suppressed the evil nature of the Nine Nether Divine Scripture, but deep down, Zhen Le's heart was already filled with hatred.
Her tragic childhood experiences had already twisted her heart even before she obtained the Nine Nether Divine Scripture.
The Golden Leaf's effect neutralized her temperament.
In the following months, major events happened again.
The Fourth Prince was found dead!
The Fifth Prince was found dead!
The methods were equally domineering, equally evil. Because the target was always within the imperial city, the protectors were certain that the villain was hiding within the palace.
But who it was... remained a mystery.
The princes were terrified, feeling that they would be next.
After several princes were killed, the Emperor was furious and issued a death order to find the murderer. He also summoned martial arts experts to protect the remaining princes.
Ordinary experts were indeed powerful, but the villain they faced now cultivated the terrifying demonic art of the Nine Nether Divine Scripture. How could ordinary experts be a match?
No one could have imagined that the culprit behind all this was Zhen Le.
Because Zhen Le was inconspicuous and a woman, she couldn't inherit the throne. Moreover, no one would think she had such abilities.
To everyone, the villain was like a nightmare, haunting their minds. But finding them was as difficult as ascending to heaven. They were all waiting for the villain's next move.
The princes who could inherit the throne were all protected by renowned martial artists. Even hermits living in seclusion in the mountains were invited by the imperial court to come out of retirement. Everyone believed that it was impossible to harm a prince under the watchful eyes of these masters.
Winter arrived.
Snow blanketed the deep palace, a vast expanse of white as far as the eye could see.
In the courtyard, Lin Fan spread his arms, letting the snowflakes fall on him. It felt good, experiencing nature while enjoying the slight chill of the snowflakes as they landed on his body.
Refreshed and comfortable.
"Let's build some snowmen."
Lin Fan got to work, piling the snow together, thinking of Lao Zhang, Xiao Bao, Mu Qing, Qing Lian, and others as he built one snowman after another.
Building snowmen was a lot of fun.
He was happy to see lifelike snowmen born from his hands.
Finally, he built one that resembled Zhen Le. That little girl hadn't come to eat with him for a long time, and he missed her a little. Maybe she had been busy.
"Hehe, perfect!"
Lin Fan was quite confident in his craftsmanship.
Of course, he hadn't built many snowmen.
Even when he was in the Qingshan Mental Hospital, he rarely did, because Lao Zhang was afraid of the cold, so he could only stay indoors with him.
"Huh?"
Lin Fan looked towards the entrance, his face brightening. "Zhen Le..."
Standing in the distance was indeed Zhen Le. She had concealed her aura, blending in with the surroundings as if she were one with the world, making no sound.
She just wanted to watch quietly, then leave.
She didn't expect to be discovered by Lin Fan.
For Lin Fan, even though he was blind, he could tell who was coming just by their scent.
"Come and build a snowman with me! I just made one of you. See if it looks like you. It's been a while, and you've grown up, so I made it look like you when you were little," Lin Fan said with a smile.
Hearing these words, Zhen Le suddenly felt the urge to cry. She waved to Lin Fan and quietly left.
Lin Fan wanted to chase after her and ask if something was wrong.
But he stopped.
He shook his head. Maybe she really had something to do.
In the distance, Zhen Le hid in a deserted place, muttering to herself, "Don't worry, it won't be long now. Things will change. I will control everything. Then no one will be able to bully us."
She had always considered Lin Fan to be a pitiful person like herself.
And now she had power.
She had the ability to take back everything.
She didn't want to involve Lin Fan in this matter. It was too dangerous. Sometimes, even she felt hopeless, but the breath in her heart supported her.
Thinking of the humiliation she had suffered, of Cui Rong being chopped up and fed to the dogs, she secretly vowed to make everyone who had bullied her pay the price. As for those who stood in her way, they all had to die.
No one could stop her path of revenge.
Three years later.
All the princes in the imperial court capable of contending for the throne had been killed. Even with the protection of numerous experts, they all died tragically in the places they were supposed to be safe.
This was the terror of the Nine Nether Divine Scripture.
Strange, evil, terrifying, with numerous methods, impossible to defend against, a terrifying power that could never be underestimated.
Because the crown princes had been exterminated, those less-favored princes were all eager to try, feeling that their opportunity had come. Although there was danger, the opportunity was rare.
But the terrifying reality made them afraid.
The newly appointed crown princes didn't live for long before they died tragically in their rooms.
This scared the other princes so much that they didn't dare to become crown princes.
They just wanted to live.
But for Zhen Le, it was as if this had reminded her of something. Her target shifted to those remaining princes.
The imperial princes were truly exterminated.
The Emperor, from initial indifference to later vomiting blood and fainting, felt that the villain wanted him to have no descendants, to completely sever his bloodline.