Approaching the Praying Place, the Capital City bustles with prosperity.
The llow autumn hues extend from Yintai Temple to Qian Deng Temple, enveloping the journey. Pedestrians retreat into painted boats and carved buildings, lowering the skies above the Capital City.
"Min Ning, let go in first and see what’s happening. Be extrely careful."
"Mm... I’ll leave it to you."
After a brief exchange, Chen Yi, astride a tall steed, arrived outside Baihua Building.
From a distance, Baihua Building appeared to be built beside a tranquil canal, with stone bridges, willow trees, and scholars with maidens strolling nearby. As dusk settled, the evening painted a serene picture—a fine night, perhaps. Painted boats drifted along the waters, while the flower lanterns of courtesan houses overlapped and shimred. Though night had yet to fall, the Capital City was already bustling with lights and revelry, flower maids and entertainers occasionally passing by with lanterns or oil lamps, jesting with patrons on the roads.
Yet, where it should have been lively, Baihua Building was shrouded in an unusual silence. The intricately carved plaque above seed deliberately ignored. From afar, Chen Yi could sense an array set up there.
The clamor of the Capital City was separated from Baihua Building, transforming this street of flowers and willows into a land of quiet cultivation.
A ripple stirred in his heart. Suddenly, Chen Yi looked up and saw a white-robed female crown leaning against the window rail. Her beauty was striking, and as she smiled gently, it felt akin to Siddhartha Gautama’s gesture with the lotus flower. Though her figure vanished in a fleeting instant, it remained a breathtaking glimpse.
Chen Yi squinted his eyes slightly, dismounted, and walked towards Baihua Building, his blade sheathed at his waist.
Upon entering the building, he spotted the brothel keeper, her face ashen, repeatedly glancing upstairs, as if overco with unease.
Seeing Chen Yi, the brothel keeper’s expression beca flustered, as though wanting to block his path. Just then, a secret transmission sounded:
"Let him co up."
Chen Yi heard it too. He frowned slightly and rested his hand on the hilt of his blade.
Since being killed by Yin Tingxue, Chen Yi had never felt this tense.
But now, a faint mist seed to stir his Heart Lake, as if a fine drizzle began descending upon it.
Chen Yi ascended the stairs step by step, approaching the room where the white-robed female crown waited. Muffled notes of a zither—a rendition of Ji Kang’s "Guangling San"—could be heard from afar. The lody quavered, seemingly mournful.
Standing at the door, Chen Yi took a deep breath before pushing it open. He then saw the white-robed female crown, seated and brewing tea.
At this mont, his tension heightened.
He hadn’t seen her before...
Chen Yi was slightly bewildered, scouring his mories, only to confirm he truly hadn’t t her.
Across all archive points and monts in ti, he had no recollection of this woman.
For the first ti, the typically astute Chen Yi, who excelled at leveraging his knowledge of the ga to maintain dominance, found himself at a loss.
Draped in a simple white daoist robe, ethereal like a Goddess, the woman’s tea brewing techniques were modest yet characterized by grace, with an unblemished deanor from head to toe. Chen Yi instinctively felt how perfectly she matched the atmosphere of Qian Deng Temple in the Capital City. Her deanor as she finished brewing tea carried an unparalleled elegance that lingered.
As Chen Yi stepped inside, the zither notes abruptly paused. Min Ming’s slender hand shuddered slightly, turning in surprise to look at him.
Chen Yi sent her a glance, signaling her to stay calm. Min Ming instantly understood, her trembling fingertips resuming the zither lody.
"May I ask the Immortal’s dao title... and why you seek my elder sister?"
Chen Yi stared at the white-robed female crown as she brewed tea.
Yin Weiyin slightly pushed the tea bowl forward and smiled:
"I’m here to find you, Min Yuechi."
Min Ming’s fingers stiffened montarily but quickly returned to their natural state.
Chen Yi slowly took a seat, picked up the tea bowl, and tested it with a silver needle before drinking.
Yin Weiyin gazed intently at him. Only after he had finished drinking did she speak:
"The prophecy says you are both dragon and phoenix. Yet now that I see you, there seems to be so discrepancy."
Chen Yi’s grip tightened slightly around the tea bowl.
"But it’s no matter."
As the zither lody ceased, the white-robed female crown glanced sideways at Min Ming and said,
"’Guangling San’ was composed by Ji Kang, a man indifferent to fa and fortune. Facing death, he sought no clency and played the zither resolutely, embodying the spirit of hidden transcendence. Upon death, he beca the Ghost Emperor. Min Miss, your zither skills are exquisite, not a single note missed. However, it’s a sha that you lack Ji Kang’s resolute spirit, weighed down instead by apprehension and fear."
Min Ming, tense and bitter, replied:
"Immortal Yin, I am but a re courtesan. The zither tunes I excel in are lancholic and filled with sorrow—how could I possibly fathom Ji Kang’s state of mind?"
Immortal Yin... a national surna?
Chen Yi caught onto sothing.
Upon hearing Min Ming’s reply, Yin Weiyin turned her face aside, saying:
"Enough, enough. Perhaps I’ve been too harsh."
Finally, she fixed her gaze back onto Chen Yi and spoke decisively:
"Min Yuechi, I’ve co to see you today because you possess the destiny of the Dao. Will you follow up the mountain to cultivate?"
Chen Yi squinted.
In other words, this woman wanted to take Min Ning away?
In "Heavenly Realm," Min Ning ascended to the top ten of the martial rankings by the age of twenty. Later, when the gates of heaven fractured, she soared with her sword into ascension. Her prowess was certainly not without cause.
Perhaps the opportunity was brought to her by this very woman before him.
"Immortal Yin, I must refuse this matter."
Chen Yi, acting on behalf of Min Ning, firmly declined:
"For one, I cannot bear to leave my elder sister behind, nor do I have the strength to abandon my duty to restore the Min family. Soone like , entwined in earthly bonds, can never truly sever them."
Seeing Chen Yi decline so resolutely on her behalf, Min Ming froze in slight bewildernt. Her heart montarily panicked, afraid the white-robed female crown might suddenly act out.
However, Yin Weiyin’s expression remained unchanged, her smile poised as she continued sitting in composed serenity.
"Epheral fungi."
"What?"
"Cicadas."
The white-robed female crown added.
Chen Yi instantly understood—she was likening him to epheral creatures, ignorant of moon phases and seasons.
Just as Chen Yi prepared to respond, Yin Weiyin serenely said:
"No matter.
Many remain this way until they behold the mountain’s splendor. What immortals can perceive, ordinary folk cannot.
Min Yuechi, you have destiny within the Dao, so I shall make an exception this ti and let you witness the moon phases, let you see the seasons."
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