Consort Xiao had her back to the door, muttering something incoherently. Her fluctuating tone and eerie voice sent chills down one's spine.

"If you die today, I will die tomorrow; year after year, I will die..."

A voice like a spell came from Consort Xiao's body. Shen Mingzhuang couldn't help but shiver. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Consort Xiao suddenly screamed. The sound was so loud that it could almost pierce the sky and was deafening!

Immediately afterwards, Consort Xiao burst into laughter, "My child, you were murdered, and your mother will never let this go. Sooner or later, I will devour her flesh and drink her blood, making her kneel before your grave to atone for your sins, and for all eternity I will kneel before your grave..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she started laughing again, a truly terrifying sound. This time, Shen Mingzhuang didn't hesitate any longer and turned to leave. But Consort Xiao suddenly turned towards the door and said, "You've come? You've finally come!"

Shen Mingzhuang frowned, thinking she was talking nonsense. He turned around and glanced at her, only to find that Consort Xiao was actually speaking to him, and her face...

Shen Mingzhuang felt a surge of nausea in his chest, as if something indescribable was blocking his throat.

Consort Xiao's face was an unusual crimson, as if it had been peeled off, completely disproportionate to the color of her neck. It looked like a mask, suffocating.

In the short time it took to catch her eye, Consort Xiao quickly moved in front of her. Their eyes met, and Shen Mingzhuang subconsciously stepped back to a safe distance.

"Your Majesty the Empress."

She stared at Shen Mingzhuang, the corners of her mouth slowly turning upwards, but given her face, the smile was truly terrifying.

Shen Mingzhuang had originally planned to leave directly, regardless of what she said, but when she heard her call out "Your Majesty the Empress," she couldn't help but be stunned.

Wasn't Consort Xiao always confined to the Cold Palace? How could she recognize the Empress at a glance?

"You know me?"

Shen Mingzhuang's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for Consort Xiao to hear.

"I would recognize you even if you turned to ashes. You are a demon who has killed countless people. How could the King of Hell have spared you until today?"

Shen Mingzhuang then realized that she had mistaken her for someone else, and immediately turned around and disappeared from Xiao Shufei's sight.

But Consort Xiao's voice did not stop there. There was another scream behind her. Fortunately, she had gotten used to it and was no longer as shocked as when she first heard it.

After searching the Cold Palace again, just as Shen Mingzhuang was beginning to doubt that Liu Wenxin was really not there, she suddenly saw a figure flash past the palace wall in front of her.

Shen Mingzhuang's gaze immediately locked onto the figure, but when he chased after it, he found that no one was there. Shen Mingzhuang held his breath and focused his attention, chasing after it in the direction to his right.

The man went straight into a dilapidated side room, which seemed to be uninhabited. He ran into the room on the left with a large hole in the window and hid there.

Shen Mingzhuang sensed something at the door before slipping inside.

This place was not properly maintained; the ground was covered in thick dust, and a string of footprints remained. Shen Mingzhuang looked at the footprints, his gaze settling on the dilapidated wooden cabinet.

"Liu Wenxin, stop hiding." Shen Mingzhuang said with absolute certainty, "You killed Consort Chen, didn't you?"

"no!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenxin thought she had been discovered. Then, upon hearing Consort Chen's name, she couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward.

She had just run all the way here and was still a little out of breath.

Looking at Shen Mingzhuang, she couldn't help but squint her eyes.

Five years have passed, and this woman is still exactly the same as she was five years ago, as if nothing has changed.

"Shen Mingzhuang, I never expected you to be so lucky."

Why are you hiding here?

Shen Mingzhuang didn't follow Liu Wenxin's train of thought, but instead took the initiative to ask her why she was there.

Liu Wenxin was stunned for a moment, then suddenly shrank back. "Shen Mingzhuang, you killed my child. You owe me a life. Can't you let me go and we be even?"

"You want to leave the Cold Palace?" Shen Mingzhuang looked coldly at Liu Wenxin, without answering her question: "How did you persuade Consort Chen to hang herself? You wanted to use this to cause chaos in the Cold Palace, and then take advantage of the chaos to leave here, right?"

Liu Wenxin's breath hitched as she listened. She stared intently at Shen Mingzhuang, her deep-set eyes making her appear somewhat ferocious. "How do you know all this?"

Shen Mingzhuang glanced at Liu Wenxin with disdain. Liu Wenxin was only good at being patient and concealing herself; when it came to strategy, she was nothing special. "Do you think you can hide such a simple matter from anyone? If Consort Chen wanted to die, she wouldn't have waited until now, let alone die in your residence. You want to make this matter seem very suspicious so that you can make it as big as possible, don't you?"

Liu Wenxin took another small step back, looking at Shen Mingzhuang warily. "You said all of this yourself. I never said it."

She stared at Shen Mingzhuang, then withdrew her hand as if trying to hide something.

She was wearing a very worn-out, narrow-sleeved dress whose original color was no longer discernible, with a tattered belt around her waist. Her hair was messy and dirty, and she looked worse than a beggar on the street.

"You pretended to be insane back then, probably because you wanted to leave the palace, right?"

Shen Mingzhuang continued to ask her questions she didn't want to answer, leaving Liu Wenxin no opportunity to ask her in return.

"You thought you were crazy and would be sent out of the palace, but you never expected Jiang Wang to throw you into the Cold Palace. You've been here for five years. These five years must have been tough, right?"

As Shen Mingzhuang spoke, a cold light appeared in her eyes. Back then, she had plotted against her, which led to her being trapped in Yin Rong's encirclement. Xue Rong also lost her life because of this. Now, whenever she thinks of what happened in front of the Imperial Study five years ago, the heavy rain and the lingering smell of blood, she feels an urge to tear Liu Wenxin to pieces!

"Liu Wenxin, do you think that since you've come to this point, I won't hold it against you anymore? After all, who would kick someone when they're down?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenxin instinctively felt something was amiss. "You... what do you want to do?"

Then she said urgently, "Shen Mingzhuang, there has never been anything between me and the Emperor. That child also belonged to the guards. What's yours is yours. I just wanted to leave. What's wrong with that? No matter what, that child was lost because you pushed me. Aren't you afraid of karma?"

Shen Mingzhuang raised an eyebrow as he listened. "Don't you find your words ironic? I'm afraid of karma, but when you plotted against me to get close to the Emperor, didn't you think about karma? When you used me to kill an illegitimate child, trying to kill two birds with one stone, didn't you think about karma?"