Many years ago, Empress Xie suffered from headaches. Initially, they weren’t severe, but gradually they became more intense. Just a few years ago, whenever her headache flared up, it was so painful that she couldn’t get out of bed, and her consciousness was also muddled. Each time she fell ill, she had to lie in bed and recuperate for ten days to half a month before recovery.
As the headaches became more severe, Empress Xie’s spirits also worsened, her plexion naturally became poorer, and her appearance began to age increasingly.
Empress Xie cared the most about her looks because her beauty was not outstanding among the harem’s concubines. Her only advantage over others was her youth. But over the years, due to the headaches, she became less youthful, losing her only advantage, which was a significant blow to her.
In earlier years, to maintain her youth, she resorted to folk remedies, consuming Purple River Car and deer fetuses. Later, she heard that consuming human placenta could better maintain youthful looks, and she spared no expense purchasing human placentas to eat.
Because she consumed so many human and animal placentas, her entire body emitted a strong bloody scent. Even Zhao Yang Palace was filled with an overwhelming smell of blood. To remove the bloody scent from her body and room, she had people light incense, particularly strong-smelling incense.
During those years, the Emperor gradually stopped visiting Zhao Yang Palace because he knew Empress Xie was consuming placenta.
Consuming various placentas did not restore Empress Xie’s former youth. As she saw no effect, she grew anxious and angry. It was then that the Divine Pill appeared. Empress Xie treated it as a life-saving medicine, and it did not disappoint her. Not only did it cure her headache, but it also made her increasingly youthful.
Seeing the increasingly youthful face in the mirror, Empress Xie was greatly delighted, unable to part from the Divine Pill for even a moment. Later, the Emperor issued a decree prohibiting the Divine Pill, but Empress Xie continued to secretly consume it.
Empress Xie didn’t care whether the Divine Pill made people insane; she only knew it could make her youthful and beautiful. To her, nothing was more important than being young.
After the Divine Pill was destroyed, Empress Xie could no longer obtain new ones, so she divided the few remaining Divine Pills into portions for consumption. Even so, they didn’t last long. Not wanting to revert to her formerly old appearance, she frantically searched for a medicine to substitute for the Divine Pill.
Prince Jing knew of Empress Xie’s dependence on the Divine Pill. If she couldn’t continue using it, she would truly go mad. To stabilize Empress Xie, Prince Jing had people create fake Divine Pills and deceived her by saying their effects were similar to the Divine Pill.
Empress Xie believed it, but the fake Divine Pill only had nourishing effects and did not alleviate headaches or make one youthful. Before the New Year, Empress Xie’s headaches flared again, more severe than before. She lay bedridden for over a month before gradually getting better.
After the New Year, Empress Xie’s spirits improved a lot, but her appearance did not regain its youth, and she looked ten years older than before using the Divine Pill. Daily she applied heavy makeup to cover the wrinkles and signs of aging on her face.
After Prince Dai and Prince Han’s rebellion failed, Empress Xie’s spirits improved a bit. Then, Noble Princess Consort Rong fell ill and died, which made Empress Xie happy, naturally improving her spirits. But after Zhao Yao left the capital with Princess Han, Empress Xie’s spirits worsened.
The reason Empress Xie hadn’t gone mad in the past few months was that she continuously drank calming soup. Her calming soup was unlike the one the Imperial Physician typically prescribed; it was brought over by Southern Wei people from foreign lands. Drinking it could make one’s mood peaceful and temper gentle for a short time.
After Zhao Yao and Xiao Siyun returned to Swamp Prefecture, Prince Wei no longer let Empress Xie drink calming soup. Empress Xie’s spirits worsened, and her temper became increasingly irritable.
Recently, Empress Xie began speaking nonsensically, especially at night, frantically shouting about seeing ghosts.
To ease Empress Xie’s mind, Prince Jing even invited the most famous Heavenly Master from the capital’s temple to the palace to exorcise ghosts. The Heavenly Master also gave Empress Xie talisman papers and magic artifacts to ward off ghosts, which calmed her for a few days. But just a few days ago, Empress Xie once again claimed she saw ghosts. She saw Xie Wan transformed into a ghost, ing to seek her life.
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