Jin Seyu’s fingertips dug deep into the quilt.
A smile like the first thaw of ice and snow bloomed on Jiu Fang Ji’s cold, peerless face, the cinnabar mole at the corner of his eye tinged with a seductive hue.
He leaned down and bit open the silk ribbon at her waist, the jade belt hook falling to the ground with a crisp sound.
“Isn’t this good?” the man murmured in a husky whisper.
Jin Seyu’s eyes were filled with his large, pale chest muscles. Dazed, she nodded—truly, beauty could lead one astray.
She couldn’t help but recall that rainy night a year ago.
Poisoned and fleeing for her life, she had no idea where she had teleported to.
As the poison took effect, her meridians felt as if they were being gnawed by ten thousand ants, her spiritual power dissipating like steaming white mist.
Just as she curled up in pain, ripples suddenly spread across the barrier outside the cave.
Sensing something amiss in this place, Jiu Fang Wu arrived under the moonlight, the Eastern pearls adorning his jade crown illuminating his clear, exquisite features.
At that moment, she had unhesitatingly pounced on this unexpectedly intruding immortal lord.
“Xiao Yu, what are you thinking about?” Jiu Fang Ji had awakened at some point, his fingertips hooking a strand of her hair and twirling it around.
Seeing the woman distracted, his gaze darkened as he flipped over, pressing her into the brocade quilt.
…Five days later.
With many clan affairs to attend to, Jiu Fang Wu sometimes had no choice but to step out to resolve them.
Seizing his absence, Jin Seyu immediately formed a hand seal to cleanse herself. Facing the water mirror, she tied her dark hair into a flying immortal chignon.
“All that has happened here is but a fleeting dream.”
To prevent the array from being traced back to its source, she flashed to the cave where they had first met. Concentrating her innate essence blood at her fingertips, she drew a teleportation array diagram on the ground.
Back then, in her hurried escape, she had fallen into the void turbulence. The array had teleported her randomly, and for the past year, she had stayed in the man’s bedchamber. Without even a servant around, Jin Seyu still had no idea where this place was.
As the array’s runes lit up with dazzling brilliance, her figure vanished into the spatial rift.
At the same moment, Jiu Fang Ji, who was in the midst of a meeting, suddenly felt a pang in his heart.
By the time he rushed back to Yuchen Palace, only the gradually fading warmth and fragrance remained in the empty, silent bedchamber. On the table lay a storage ring, filled with countless spirit stones.
“Xiao Yu—”
Jiu Fang Ji clenched the storage ring, his gentle, scholarly demeanor shattering as his eyes filled with gloom.
She actually ran away?!
A sudden, metallic sweetness surged up his throat.
“Ancestor!”
The elders who had rushed over upon hearing the news were horrified to find the ever-cold and indifferent Jiu Fang Wu collapsed unconscious on the ground.
One hour later.
“Ancestor, you’ve finally awakened.”
As soon as Jiu Fang Wu opened his eyes, he was surrounded by various elders, their expressions strangely varied.
The physician who had lost the rock-paper-scissors match steeled himself and said, “Ancestor, perhaps you should… check your abdomen.”
“Fortunately, there’s no mishap.”
Jin Seyu probed her lower abdomen with spiritual power—it was empty, bringing her peace of mind.
Relieved, she lifted her gaze.
Her vision pierced through the thin morning mist, landing ahead.
There, suspended amidst the sea of mist and spiritual mountains, was a vast complex of structures, their glazed tiles reflecting the rising morning sun.
Radiating with iridescent splendor, countless pavilions and towers adorned the scene. This was none other than the foremost sect reigning over Lingyu and renowned across the realms—the First Immortal Manor.
This world was vast and boundless, divided into three domains.
The three domains were the human realm, the demon domain, and Lingyu, where she now stood—the domain richest in spiritual energy.
And the First Immortal Manor was situated at the heart of Lingyu, vastly different from other conventional sects.
Its inner sect was dedicated solely to nurturing the carefully selected future pillars of various clans and noble families—a cradle of elites and power.
The outer sect, however, embraced all, accepting those rootless and adrift yet holding the potential to defy fate—the scattered cultivators. It belonged to no fixed faction, standing as an entity of its own.
“Halt! Who are you? The manor is currently holding its once-every-five-years grand competition. Outsiders are strictly forbidden from trespassing. Leave at once!”
At the mountain gate, a gatekeeping disciple in gray-blue robes shouted sternly, his face youthful but his eyes feigning severity.
He was new and had never seen a woman of such extraordinary grace and beauty before.
“Even… even if you’re beautiful, you can’t enter!”
The disciple’s cheeks flushed slightly, his words stumbling involuntarily.
Jin Seyu nodded earnestly in agreement: “I also think I’m beautiful.”
The two disciples: “…”
“Look clearly.” A warm, translucent jade token materialized out of thin air.
Upon the token, the characters “Jin Se” appeared ancient and profound.
The other, older gatekeeping disciple was instantly stunned by the token’s radiance and aura. By the time he regained his senses,
Jin Seyu’s slender figure had already passed them and stepped onto the thousand-step “Dengyun Stairs” leading to the academy, disappearing after a few flashes into the mist-shrouded end of the staircase.
“Oh no, this is bad!” The older disciple suddenly slapped his thigh, his face turning pale. “That was Jin Seyu, who disappeared a year ago!”
He hastily wrote a message, and the talisman transformed into a streak of light, heading straight for the viewing platform where the elders were gathered.
Unfortunately, this was the most intense final phase of the Immortal Manor Grand Competition. All the elders’ attention was focused on the fierce battles between their own prized disciples on the arena.
With spiritual power surging and auras mingling chaotically, no one noticed the message talisman immediately.
On the highest viewing platform, Fang Nan Xu leaned lazily against a jade chair, seemingly uninterested in the thrilling duels taking place on the arena below.
He turned his head and whispered to the exquisitely made-up and lavishly dressed Jin Tong beside him: “The deadline for the first round is approaching. Could it be that Jin Seyu has already died out there?”
Jin Tong lightly traced the rim of her teacup with her fingertip, a flicker of obscure light passing through her eyes. After a moment of contemplation, she said: “No.
As a direct descendant, her soul fate lamp is enshrined in the deepest part of the ancestral hall. If the lamp were extinguished, according to clan rules, I, as her younger sister, would have to return to the clan immediately to preside over the ‘Jisong Fuguan’ ritual, sending her soul back to heaven and earth.”
When she uttered the words “direct descendant,” her tone involuntarily carried a trace of barely concealed resentment and jealousy.
It just so happened that she was a branch descendant, her status as different from that of a direct descendant as clouds from mud. Even her surname could only bear the single character “Jin,” not the compound surname “Jin Se” that symbolized supreme glory.
Fang Nan Xu was well aware that Jin Tong desired to ascend to that highest position of honor. He comforted her: “Third Miss, rest assured. A year has passed. Even if Jin Seyu was fortunate enough not to die, the ‘Zui Xian Huan’ love poison is extremely potent. If she hasn’t resolved it, she will surely perish from its burning effects.
If she sought someone to resolve it… hmph, with her primordial yin lost, her spiritual root is bound to be tainted and damaged. It’s only a matter of time before her cultivation is completely ruined.
Set your mind at ease. The position of the next head of the Jin Clan will ultimately be yours.”
“I hope it turns out as you say.” Jin Tong responded verbally, but a thread of unease persistently lingered in her heart.
After that night, she had dispatched numerous agents, turning the entire Lingyu upside down, yet she could never find any trace of Jin Seyu, as if she had truly vanished completely from the mortal world.
The clan had granted her and Jin Seyu a trial to compete fairly for the position of clan head. The first round lasted one year, and exactly five days remained until the final deadline.
It must be known that for a branch descendant to compete on equal footing with a direct descendant for the position of clan head was, in the Jin Clan’s long history,
almost an unprecedented event. It was only due to Jin Tong’s exceptional talent that she had fought for this opportunity.
She absolutely could not let all her efforts go to waste at this critical moment.
Just as Jin Tong was lost in thought, her trusted attendant rushed through the screen behind the viewing terrace with a panicked expression, arriving at her side: “Third Miss, that person has returned!”
“What?!” Jin Tong abruptly rose from the jade chair, causing the teacups on the table to clatter.
Fang Nanxu’s face instantly darkened. “Impossible, absolutely impossible!”
How could it be such a coincidence that the person they had just spoken of would appear now?
The two of them were positioned at the best spot on the viewing terrace, already drawing attention.
Now, standing up abruptly at the same time with drastically changed expressions, they immediately attracted many curious glances from those around them.
“Senior Brother Fang and Senior Sister Jin Tong are so agitated—could it be they’ve finally decided to reveal their secret affair?”