The moon sets, the sun rises, and the sky is ablaze with daylight. Under the bright autumn sun, people begin a brand new day. The matter of deposing and appointing the Crown Prince has stirred up a huge commotion, drawing the attention of the entire empire—naturally, no one cares about some overlooked consort in the depths of the harem.
But when the maids and eunuchs came in for morning greetings and duties the next day, they found that Imperial Consort Mia Wise seemed not to have slept a wink all night. She looked frozen in place, having sat upright on her bed until dawn. Outwardly, she was the picture of deathly stillness, but inside, her heart was a raging sea. The events of last night had her tangled up all the way till now, completely at a loss for what to do.
Looking out the window, Joan seemed as calm as ever, quietly secluded in meditation. But Simone couldn't shake the words Joan had said to her—they echoed in her mind. Joan said she wanted to use the last bit of her life, before her flame went out, to finally untangle the mysteries of the Egg-to-Essence Transformation technique. She wanted to distill a lifetime of martial wisdom into a single seed and scatter it across the world, to add one last spark to her dream.
She also said she wanted to master the transfer method of the Wedding Garment Divine Skill. That technique could restore innate power to its purest state, at the cost of losing thirty percent. Once Jill Young broke through her final barrier, Joan would transfer all her inner strength to her. She wanted to turn all her martial arts achievements into a diamond, a legacy for Jill Young—a final spark for her hero.
This was how she planned to burn herself up—when the final moment came, she would light a path for Jill Young, for the Carefree Sect, and for that unreachable dream.
And for these two things, Joan hoped Simone would help her.
Simone tried hard to argue and persuade her: "Do you really think she'll accept this? Passing on your power as you're dying—how could she possibly accept that?"
"She will, because it'll be my legacy. I'll tell her to carry my share forward." Joan even managed to joke: "Besides, I've got a hundred and thirty-six years' worth of power. Even after a thirty percent cut, that's still over a hundred years. If I just take all that to the grave, wouldn't that be a waste?"
Faced with this crazy plan, Simone felt completely drained. She couldn't sway Joan's resolve; in fact, she was a little shaken and moved by it. In the end, she nodded gloomily and agreed to Joan's request. As a master martial artist, she'd seen plenty of life and death, and had covered for others more times than she could count. But this time, this particular request weighed heavily on her all night.
After she returned to her own room, she just sat on her bed, dazed, for the entire night.
A flood of memories flickered through her mind, one after another with no end in sight. It wasn’t just things between her, Joan, and Jill Young—far more, it was her own past. She remembered the person who turned her from Mia Wise into Lady Simone, she remembered the moment that made her swear off love forever, she remembered that heart-wrenching betrayal that tore her to pieces.
Suddenly, she understood: ever since that incident, even though she’d worked hard and rebuilt herself from the ruins, she could never go back to who she was before. She’d learned to follow the rules of darkness, grown used to living in the shadows—like a creature of the night, she’d developed an allergy to sunlight.
Suddenly, she realized that back in the underground cavern of Flower Shifting Village, her resentment toward Big Head and Princess Embroidered Jade wasn’t really about them—it was because some part of her, not yet fully dead, was stung by the light.
Suddenly, she understood that after being thrown into this utterly unfamiliar world, she had changed. All the repression and shadows were swept away in the vastness of the Heavenly Mountain and the endless Milky Way.
Jack Young, Princess Embroidered Jade, Jill Young, Joan, Master Yideng, Grace Kwok, Gabriel Yang, Lydia Drake—one image after another, one person after another, all of them had set her heart ablaze. This painful struggle and tangled emotion had tormented her the whole night, but when the morning sun rose and the maids came in to greet her, she finally made her decision.
"I'm a born liar, aren't I? Who would ever trust a promise from me? If I help you, Mistress will hate me to death—I wouldn't dare cross her. So—" Simone sprang to her feet, her eyes blazing with resolve, her whole body shining anew: "Sorry, Mistress, you trusted the wrong person!"
Simone sprang into action.
One thought cleared a thousand doubts—her mind felt crisp and clear, her ideas suddenly lively and free.
{This time, I have to keep Joan in the dark. I need to meet with Mistress in secret and discuss everything with her. And if Mistress does anything reckless, I have to talk her down, stop her. Joan is dead set on dying now—I have to be extra careful, no slip-ups allowed. So I can't let her notice anything. I have to act just like normal, like I know nothing about any of this.}
{No, I need to go a step further—I have to act so convincingly that Joan really thinks I'm covering for her. Only then will she let down her guard.}
{Yes, that's the plan!}
{Time to put my acting skills to the test!}
A surge of energy welled up from Simone’s heart, stronger than the urge to take revenge, stronger than the thrill of treasure hunting, stronger than the pleasures of love or taming emperors. Deep down, she even felt a shiver—never before had she felt so certain that she was doing the right thing.
She felt like she was in god mode.
Then, at noon, she finally found Eunuch Chief Yvonne.
Eunuch Chief Yvonne was still in the Imperial Library. When Simone saw him bent over his desk, writing furiously, she suddenly thought how much he resembled that tiny sleepless shadow behind the window screen. Now that she considered it, Eunuch Chief Yvonne hadn’t rested in ages either.
"Mistress," Simone walked over, opened her mouth, and suddenly felt a bit nervous. "I have something to tell you."
"Hm?" Jill Young was still frowning, scribbling in her book, but after a moment she sensed something, set her pen down, and looked up at Simone. "What is it? You came all the way here in broad daylight, so it can’t be a small matter."
"It’s definitely not a small matter—it’s huge, and it’s important." Simone said solemnly, "Mistress, this is serious. Before I say anything, you have to promise me you won’t get worked up. Whatever happens, just stay calm and let me finish, okay?"
Jill Young looked at Simone for a moment, then nodded. "Go ahead."
"Alright." Simone took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for a life-or-death duel, and spoke each word with gravity: "Joan lied to you. Her energy’s been unstable lately, not because she’s about to break through, but because she’s been badly injured—she’s been poisoned, with a deadly toxin even her martial power can’t suppress…"
On the surface, Simone managed to stay calm, but inside she felt complicated, like she was delivering a death notice to a comrade’s family. She was sad and tense, terrified Jill Young would explode and rush off to confront Joan, ruining all her plans. Given Mistress’s usual temperament, that was a real possibility.
But then, something happened that took her completely by surprise.
Jill Young didn’t explode, didn’t get angry. Her expression remained perfectly steady.
She simply stood up, raised her hands, and with a crisp clap placed them on Simone’s shoulders, saying in a steady voice:
"I know."
"You…" Jill Young didn’t explode, but Simone was stunned. For a moment, she couldn’t believe her ears. After a beat, she blurted out, "You knew—?! You actually knew?!"
"I know." Jill Young nodded seriously. "Her condition, her situation, what she’s going through—I know all of it."
Simone felt like a complete fool. She stared blankly and asked, "How did you know?"
"It’s about time. Come on, walk with me—we’ll talk as we go." Jill Young led Simone out of the Imperial Library, heading toward the palace gates, talking as they walked: "Honestly, I noticed a long time ago. When we escaped from Mystic Isle, even though I was half asleep, my Prajna Skill had reached the seventh level, so I could sense some important things."
She explained, "Remember when we first entered the palace and went to greet the Empress? Before that, I chatted with Joan, hugged her and clung to her on purpose—just to check on her. Later, I rushed a thousand miles to meet with Grace Kwok and talked with her all night. From that day on, I knew everything."
As she spoke, Jill Young pulled out a scrap of cloth from her sleeve. "Look, this is the bandage Joan used on her hand. She’s never been good at little tricks and thought she’d cleaned up everything, but I’d already caught on. Plus, I confirmed things with other methods over time—so I’m about eighty percent sure what’s going on with her now."
Simone was left speechless, her mind racing. Suddenly, she realized that so many of Jill Young’s actions had a deeper meaning: "You’ve been studying maps and books day and night in the Imperial Library, you barged right into the royal treasury—was that all because…"
"To find a cure for the poison."
"Then when you said you couldn’t stay in the palace, and took down Liu An, impersonating the head eunuch—was that because…"
"To use their resources, and also for shelter." Jill Young flipped out a stone from her hand. "On Mystic Isle, I learned a lot. Like this stone—it can change someone’s fate, but it’s risky. I only dared to give it to Joan because I was in a key position."
"There’s plenty you don’t know. The day after I took over as head eunuch, people from the Skywatch Pavilion came to petition the emperor, demanding a purge of all martial women in the palace. They spouted nonsense about ‘female martial rulers’ and ‘the second coming of disaster’—I almost wanted to smack them. And this kind of thing has happened more than once. If I hadn’t impersonated Eunuch Chief Lewis and kept Jia Sidao in check, we’d never have made it this far."
Simone was completely stunned.
She mentally retraced every move Jill Young had made since entering the palace, reconsidering everything. Only then did she realize Jill Young had been acting with clear purpose all along. But Jill Young always joked and kept things casual, so no one noticed a thing. Even Simone, after all her doubts and second-guessing, never imagined this straight-shooter could hide so much.
Turns out, after all this, she was the only one who’d just found out.
Turns out, she was the only one who was late to the party.
Faced with this reality, Simone couldn’t help but take a deep breath. She held back, held back, and finally couldn’t hold back anymore: "Mistress… I really, really didn’t expect you to be so good—so good… so good at acting!"