Bai Ying frowned deeply. "What's wrong?"
"Princess! You've finally emerged from seclusion!" Xiao Tao's voice choked with sobs, barely able to form a complete sentence, tears streaming down her dirty little face. "Something terrible has happened! The whole capital is talking about you... talking about you..."
Bai Ying reached out to support the little maid, and a gentle spiritual force steadily steadied her: "Don't rush, speak slowly."
Xiao Tao choked up as she recounted the whole ordeal.
How those people spread rumors, how the people were incited, and how the Princess's mansion was besieged...
As she spoke, the maid trembled with emotion: "They...they even tried to throw torches into the mansion, saying they wanted to burn you alive...this...In the end, His Highness the Third Prince sent people to protect the Princess's mansion, but even so, different people still came every day to throw rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs inside."
Bai Ying walked to the window and gently pushed open the window frame. In the distance, a dark mass of people was still gathered outside the mansion, and the shouts of "A life for a life, get out of the city!" could be faintly heard. Her gaze swept over the charred mansion gate, the smashed walls, and the rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs that had not yet been cleaned up on the ground.
"Princess..." Xiao Tao suddenly grabbed her sleeve, her voice full of grievance: "I saw it with my own eyes. It was the Second Miss who ambushed you first, and she was the one who summoned those demonic beasts... But now... they have spread the story like this."
Although the Third Prince also sought out those who were present at the scene to clarify things for you, your father, Lord Xia, personally came forward and said that you were the one who killed Miss Yuwei. Your mother also came forward to testify.
After all, they are your parents. Compared to the people present, the common people believed what they said without question.
What's even more terrifying is that rumors are circulating outside that you are capricious and that one day, if you're unhappy, you might slaughter the entire royal city just like you killed Miss Yuwei.
The people were all incited...
Xiao Tao spoke while crying, her whole being filled with despair.
She really didn't know what to do.
"Master and Madam, how could you treat Miss like this? You are clearly their own daughter. It was bad enough that they treated you poorly when you were in the Xia household, but now they've gone so far as to frame you like this. They're trying to kill you..."
Xiao Tao looked aggrieved.
Fortunately, the young lady is a cultivator.
“Miss, if you can’t stay in this royal city, you can always go to the Xuantian Sect. You won’t be affected by these worldly affairs there.”
The girl in front of Bai Ying gently curled up the corners of her mouth.
These things, which seemed like the end of the world to her, were nothing to Bai Ying.
"Silly girl." Bai Ying gently patted Xiao Tao's head, "Is this little thing really worth crying like this?"
She turned and walked towards the door, her flowing robes creating a gentle breeze. Xiao Tao hurriedly followed, "Miss! Those people outside..."
Bai Ying stopped at the doorway, turned around and smiled. In that instant, Xiao Tao seemed to see starlight shimmering in her eyes, as vast and deep as the starry sky.
"It's alright."
As those two words fell, Bai Ying pushed open the gates of the mansion, which had been closed for many days. Dazzling sunlight poured in, gilding her with a golden edge. In the distance, the noisy crowd suddenly fell silent for a moment, as if some invisible force had choked them.
Bai Ying walked step by step towards the crowd, each step seemingly touching the hearts of everyone present. A faint smile played on her lips, but her eyes were colder than the ice of the far north.
—
The person instigating the crowd was still talking eloquently.
"Everyone, don't be afraid. We have specially found a very powerful cultivator who is more than capable of dealing with Xia Qingdai. What we need to do now is force the royal family to make a statement and condemn this demoness."
The cultivator this person mentioned was someone Xia Mingde had found at great expense.
Given his current irreconcilable conflict with Xia Qingdai, if he wants to continue to survive in the royal city, he must drive Xia Qingdai out.
At this moment, a middle-aged cultivator in a gray robe stepped forward: "Fellow citizens, rest assured! I am Xuan Chengzi of Qingyun Temple, and I have come today to uphold justice for the people!" With a flick of his sleeve, he summoned a magical sword gleaming with a blue light. "With this sword, that demoness will surely be brought to her death!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd below was immediately filled with fervor. A few ruffians seized the opportunity to shout, "With a celestial being presiding over this, what do we have to fear?"
"Smash that witch's mansion!"
"Make her pay for her crimes in blood!"
"Yes! Get her out of the capital!"
Several thugs took the opportunity to fan the flames:
"Do you also want to be eaten by monsters one day?!"
"If such a vixen is not eliminated, the royal city will never have peace!"
The crowd grew increasingly agitated. Vegetable farmers hurled rotten vegetable leaves at the gate, while the blacksmith swung his sledgehammer and began smashing the wall. A scholar-like man raised his arm and cried out, "I beg the immortal to rid the people of this scourge! Restore peace and order to the royal city!"
Xuan Chengzi was secretly pleased. Xia Mingde's promise of gold and spiritual spring water made him accept the task without hesitation. He scanned the tightly closed gates of the princess's mansion with his divine sense, thinking, "She's just a young girl, what kind of ability could she possibly have?"
At that very moment—
With a creak, the vermilion gate slowly opened.
A white figure emerged gracefully in the morning light. She wore a simple, flowing white dress that billowed without wind; though she appeared to be an ordinary woman, she inexplicably instilled a sense of unease in everyone. The previously noisy crowd fell silent instantly, as if someone had grabbed their throat.
Xuan Chengzi narrowed his eyes, secretly alarmed. He activated his divine sense to investigate, but found that the other party's aura was as calm as an ancient well, completely unfathomable. But then he thought that the other party must have used some kind of concealment technique and was not to be feared.
Bai Ying's voice was cold and clear, and wherever her gaze fell, the people involuntarily took a half step back. "You say I murdered my own sister, do you have any evidence?"
"Evidence?" Xuan Chengzi sneered, pointing his sword at Bai Ying. "Lord Xia testified personally, and hundreds of people witnessed it firsthand. Isn't that enough?"
"Kill her!"
"That witch deserves a terrible death!"
The crowd erupted in uproar again, a cacophony of vicious curses rising and falling. Suddenly, a woman rushed forward and threw a bucket of foul-smelling black dog's blood at Bai Ying: "Die, you witch!"
Bai Ying remained unmoved, while the black dog blood evaporated out of thin air three feet away from her.
Just then, Xia Mingde suddenly pushed his way out of the crowd, looking heartbroken: "Gentlemen!" Tears streamed down his face, "Although this rebellious daughter is my own flesh and blood, I must today uphold justice and eliminate her! The scene of her cruelly harming Yuwei that day still causes me unbearable pain!"
As he spoke, he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly to the crowd: "It is my fault for failing to properly educate my daughter, which has led to this disaster! I am willing to atone with my death!" This affected performance immediately brought tears to the eyes of many people.
Bai Ying looked at the person before her, listening to his eloquent speech, yet her expression showed not a trace of panic; instead, a smile curled at the corners of her lips.
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