Raven of the Inner Palace

The Raven Consort is a special consort who does not perform nighttime duties. Though she accepts all requests including death curses, exorcisms, and finding lost items, it is said that misfortune befalls those who meet her. Despite living in the inner palace, she is a mysterious entity nobody knows much about. The emperor Xia Gaojun enters Ye Ming Palace where the Raven Consort resides. There he encounters Liu Shouxue, a beautiful young girl dressed all in black.

Huaniang, the high-ranking inner palace consort who lives at Yuanqian Palace, comes to Ye Ming Palace. She wants to know why her flower whistle will not blow. Flower whistles are hung from the eaves of buildings at the end of winter to mourn those who passed away the previous year. Allegedly the dead return on winds announcing the coming of spring to blow the whistles. Huaniang is concerned that her whistle has not blown since she lost her lover Ou Xuanyou. Shouxue complies with her request and attempts to summon the soul of Ou Xuanyou so she can speak to him.

Two ghosts from Gaoujuns past continue to haunt him, as Shouxue and the eunuch Wei Qing investigate the cause. The answer may lie in the depths of the red-light district...

Shouxue must solve the mystery of the ghost that appears beneath the willow tree, and the two ghosts that appear in the emperors chambers.

Court lady An Huilan comes to make a request. She claims she can hear the voice of a dead consort coming from within the water. Xi Wanlin, the Magpie Consort during Yandis reign, drowned herself in the lake on the day the emperor was to visit her. The voice within the water is allegedly hers. Huilan asks Shouxue to save Wanlin, but Shouxue realizes there is more to the story than what Huilan is telling her.

Xue Yuyong warns Shouxue against getting too close to Gaojun, and Shouxue sends Wen Ying to Quechao Palace to investigate the Magpie Consort.

Gaojun orders Wei Qing to investigate Xiao Yue, and he discovers he had an accomplice within the palace.