Her hands were like tender sprouts, and her skin was as smooth as congealed cream.
Quiet like a delicate flower reflected in the water, moving like a frail willow swaying in the breeze.
Appearing as light clouds obscuring the moon, drifting like whirling snow in the wind.
One look topples a city, and another topples a nation.
— All the words used by poets and scholars across the ages to describe beauty had been bestowed upon Ling Miaomiao, the Top Oiran of the Divine Province. Yet, everyone in the world accepted it, believing not a single word was misplaced.
Toppling cities and nations was the ultimate achievement of a femme fatale, and every man believed that Ling Miaomiao could achieve it with ease.
Even Emperor Jing had once been smitten by Ling Miaomiao at first sight.
He had constantly lamented that such a woman should not have been born into this world.
In the end, he had to rely on the power of the treasure, the Mind-Clearing Bell, to sever his memories and barely manage to forget her.
This was Emperor Jing, a Super Level workaholic who had little interest in women.
If it had been any ordinary emperor, they would likely have fallen so deep they could never extricate themselves.
Today was the fifteenth of March, and the Imperial Capital had suddenly become as lively as a festival.
The streets and alleys were packed with Cultivators, their eyes all fixed in the same direction — a scene as grand and spectacular as an imperial procession.
As a High-Class Entertainer of The Exquisite Pavilion, Ling Miaomiao only ascended the terrace to play the zither and admire the moon on the fifteenth of every month.
This was the only opportunity for the Cultivators of the Divine Province to see her.
For this chance, many Cultivators had not left the Imperial Capital since the previous month’s moon-viewing ended.
Instead, they had found the best vantage points and sat down to cultivate right there, claiming their spots in advance.
To catch even a close glimpse of the beauty, the Cultivators of the Divine Province resorted to every possible means.
Countless wealthy tycoons were willing to throw away their entire fortunes just to bask in her grace for a moment.
In the end, they found that their entire net worth could only buy a single front-row seat.
Furthermore, whether they could even buy one depended entirely on luck.
“Look, look! Miaomiao is coming out!”
“Shut up! Don’t speak!”
At that moment, all the Cultivators held their breath in unison.
The first ray of Moon Radiance that night fell perfectly upon Ling Miaomiao’s face, illuminating that cold and peerless countenance.
The world went silent; no one dared to break the atmosphere of that moment.
— Except for one person who had no idea what was happening.
“Sir, excuse me, which way to the Royal Palace…”
In the crowd, a Cultivator felt a tug on the corner of his robe.
“Beat it! Don’t bother me!” he roared in fury, raising his hand to slap the person who was so oblivious to the mood.
But as his palm hung in the air, his eyes caught a glimpse of the person out of the corner of his eye.
His hand suddenly swerved and landed on the face of another Cultivator nearby.
“Which bastard hit me?”
The innocent victim flared up in anger, but when he turned his head to look…
All his rage vanished instantly. His mind went blank, and he seemed to lose the ability to speak.
More and more Cultivators noticed the situation.
The heads of the massive crowd turned like falling dominoes, all looking in that direction before freezing in place.
What kind of breathtaking beauty was this?
Every beautiful adjective that the world’s poets and scholars had racked their brains to come up with seemed shallow and cliché when applied to her.
Perhaps only the words “toppling a nation” could barely suffice, because as long as she lived, that was an inevitable reality.
She blinked her clear, innocent eyes, which held a hint of timidness within their guiltless gaze. “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong? This is my first time leaving Qingliu Mountain, so I don’t know my way around… Which way to the Royal Palace, please?”
Her voice was the pure, crisp sound of a young girl, making one instinctively want to hold her in their arms and protect her forever.
But no one answered her, for everyone who saw her had lost the power of speech.
Even Ling Miaomiao was not much better.
However, at the very least, she was the first to snap back to her senses.
“Why are you going to the Royal Palace, little sister?” Ling Miaomiao fluttered down to the young girl’s side.
This was the first time since the founding of The Exquisite Pavilion that she had left the building in front of everyone.
No one expected that the only person to receive Ling Miaomiao’s favor would not be a man, but another woman.
A woman who, by comparison, made even her seem dim.
That was right.
What was Ling Miaomiao compared to this? At this moment, a thought that made them feel ashamed sprouted in the hearts of all the Cultivators present.
Especially when the two women stood together, everyone’s gaze was drawn entirely to the unknown girl.
By comparison, Ling Miaomiao, known as the Top Oiran of the Divine Province, was made to look almost unbearable to watch!
“Ah, my Master said before he died that he had a friend in the Palace…” Seeing that someone finally acknowledged her, the girl broke into a joyful smile.
With that smile, an unknown number of Cultivators suffered cardiac arrest or fell to the ground from Qi deviation.
“The Palace is not a good place. Did your Master really tell you to go there to find his friend?” Ling Miaomiao asked with concern.
“No, my Master told me never to leave Qingliu Mountain for the rest of my life,” the girl shook her head, a heart-wrenching look of disappointment crossing her face.
“But a while ago, Master left Qingliu Mountain to buy supplies and never came back… I was worried, so I wanted to come out and look for him. He said he had a friend in the Palace, so I thought I’d go there and ask.”
Ling Miaomiao looked around and sighed softly.
“You really should have listened to your Master. Now, I’m afraid you’ll never be able to go back to Qingliu Mountain.”
“Why?” The girl was clearly worldly-wise and looked confused.
“You will find out,” Ling Miaomiao said, grabbing the girl’s hand. “Come with me first. It’s dangerous here.”
“Go with you? To a brothel?”
A voice drifted from somewhere, suddenly waking the Cultivators.
“That’s right, you can’t go with her!”
“Little girl, come with me!”
“I just came from the Palace! I’m your Master’s friend!”
“Me too! I’m actually your Master’s friend!”
The surroundings immediately erupted into a chaotic clamor.
Feeling the burning gazes of everyone around her, the girl seemed to panic for a moment.
“No! Master said all men are no good!” The girl shook her head vigorously, turned resolutely, and followed Ling Miaomiao as she flew toward The Exquisite Pavilion.
In truth, the current development was completely beyond Jiang Ke’er’s expectations.
She really didn’t know Ling Miaomiao existed here, nor did she know that it happened to be the fifteenth of the month — the day Ling Miaomiao came out to view the moon.
She had completely stolen the spotlight of the Top Oiran of the Divine Province.
Li Yuan had only arranged the identity of a secluded Cultivator from Qingliu Mountain for her.
He told her that as long as she entered the Imperial Capital, nature would take its course, and she would eventually find a way into the Palace.
She was to let everything happen naturally rather than actively participating in the Concubine selection; that way, she wouldn’t arouse the suspicion of those with ulterior motives.
For a woman like her, having the other party take the initiative to seek her out was the only way to fit her status.
It was just that the Ling Miaomiao incident was an accident. She was a bit unsure of how to proceed next.
The Exquisite Pavilion was a brothel; it clearly wasn’t a place she should be.