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Chapter 71: The Reveal

Once blademasters reached seventh rank, they could begin to learn how to glide on their swords, albeit only after fulfilling harsh criteria. In particular, blademasters needed both a specialized technique for controlling the sword as well as a high-grade sword with which they had developed a sympathetic resonance. As a result, both talent and wealth were needed to develop this rare skill.

Although there were quite a number of seventh-rank blademasters on the Chenyuan continent, only a privileged few were capable of gliding, let alone true flight.

Li Qianhan brought Yun Ruoyan up soaring into the skies, and the duo arrived even before the thirty-person party that Yun Ruoyan had been with.

From afar, Yun Ruoyan could see a long chain of red clouds by the edge of the sky. The crimson sun was slowly disappearing underneath the cloud cover, and she couldn’t help but gasp at the marvellous sight. “How beautiful!”

“Naturally.” Li Qianhan let go of Yun Ruoyan; the two had landed amidst a patch of flowers. “Except for the Minghuang mountain, the royal palace is the only place where you’ll find such large swathes of phoenix orchids.”

Only then did Yun Ruoyan realize that what she’d mistaken as clouds before were instead fields of orchids.

“Come, I’ll take you to the garden where the flower-viewing party’s hosted.”

By this time, the scions of the aristocracy had entered the garden and naturally separated into small groups.

The moonstones inlaid on the garden trails were slowly becoming brighter and brighter under the darkening sky, illuminating the gardens with an ethereal light.

By the time Yun Ruoyan turned around again, Li Qianhan had already vanished.

“Ruoyan, come sit here!” Yi Qianying motioned to Yun Ruoyan. She turned all around her and saw that the tables by each patch of flowers had since filled up with people.

Yun Ruoyao was sitting with a girl that Yun Ruoyan didn’t recognize, and the two were chatting happily. The only seat available was next to Yi Qianying, and beside this seat was none other than Pei Ziao.

Yun Ruoyan’s head began to hurt. Why is it always the two of you?! I need to find some way to resolve this curse!

She sat down, her features impassive despite her mental outburst. There was a bouquet of flowers in all colors at the center of each table. Naturally, she reached out for the bouquet and began to admire it.

As she did so, she turned to inspect the scions of the nobility, scattered all around her. Most of them were unfamiliar; she only recalled seeing a rare few within the imperial territory.

Yi Qianying glanced askance at Yun Ruoyan, and an almost imperceptible malice skirted over her large, expressive eyes.

Yun Ruoyan’s bouquet contained a flower that no other bouquet had: a purple flower bud, one that Yi Qianying had discovered by accident while she was searching for ingredients for concocting beast-attracting or beast-repelling powders.

It had no smell of its own, but would immediately release a particularly potent aphrodisiac when combined with other flower fragrances. One small magical beast was known to use the property of this flower to find mates.

“Sister, look at how pretty this flower is!”

Yun Ruoyan was daydreaming when a white, slender arm suddenly appeared in front of her. Yi Qianying’s rather loose garments revealed her jade-white arm, and a flowery, sickly sweet scent engulfed Yun Ruoyan as she did so.

Subconsciously, Yun Ruoyan began holding her breath, but she still ended up breathing in some of the overwhelming fragrance.

Yi Qianying plucked the small, purple bud out of the bouquet and cupped it in her hands. She smiled brightly, as if it were the prettiest thing she had seen all day. “Ruoyan, I’ve never seen such a beautiful flower bud! Would you give it to me?”

Yun Ruoyan’s intuition was pinging. She didn’t respond, and Yi Qianying murmured a ‘Thanks!’ before keeping it.

At this time, the bustling garden suddenly became silent. Someone whispered, “It’s the Slaughtering King, the Slaughtering King’s here!”

The crowd all looked toward the entrance of the garden. Meanwhile, however, Yun Ruoyan noticed a lone purple petal from the flower bud that Yi Qianying had just taken away. Calmly, she tore it to pieces before dropping it into Yi Qianying’s tea.

“Sister, look! It’s the Slaughtering King himself!” Yi Qianying motioned excitedly at Yun Ruoyan, her eyes fixed on the figure in the distance.

When Yun Ruoyan raised her head, she found that two people had entered: Li Mo and Li Qianhan walked in as a duo, both wearing ink-black robes.

Li Qianhan had a purple-gold crown on his head and a jade-colored belt. Li Mo’s attire was even simpler: his robe was unadorned, and his long, black hair was draped casually over his shoulders. A third of his distinguished face was hidden behind his hair, and his eyes seemed to gleam in the shadows.

That pair of eyes made Yun Ruoyan think of the magical beasts she’d seen in the imperial territory, and her heart thumped.

Yun Ruoyan wasn’t the only one who was affected; the whole garden and its bustling atmosphere seemed to have evaporated all of a sudden.

Almost everyone present had grown up on the tales of the Slaughtering King. Now, shrouded in shadow, this legendary figure was right in front of their faces. The garden was so quiet that one couldn’t even hear the sound of breathing.

Noticing Yun Ruoyan’s gaze, Li Qianhan looked toward her and blinked mischievously a few times, causing the crowd to divert its attention to her.

“Who’s that girl? The third prince actually blinked at her!”

Someone else murmured softly, “She looks a little unfamiliar, but given how pretty she is, she’s probably the young miss of some big family.”

“Definitely—she has a phoenix orchid gauze patch! I searched all over the capital for one, but I had to settle for a sakura blossom one instead.”

Yi Qianying sat even straighter and announced pridefully, “This is my cousin, the second daughter of the Yun family, Yun Ruoyan.”

“What? She’s that

“Don’t they all say that the second daughter of the Yuns is hideous? Was that all a lie?!”

“The rumors don’t seem to be very credible…”

“Yun Ruoyan!” Right then, the girl sitting opposite Yun Ruoyao suddenly stood up and looked towards Yun Ruoyan. “I heard that your cultivation’s gotten better. Today, in front of the Slaughtering King, I want to challenge you!”

Yun Ruoyan hesitated for a moment. The girl was dressed elaborately, and although her face and voice sounded somewhat familiar, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t recall where she’d seen her before.

“Dare you accept my challenge?” Not having received a response, the girl called out again.

Li Mo had already settled in his seat. He’d poured himself a glass of wine and was slowly imbibing it, as if interested in the scene developing in front of him.

Yun Ruoyan smiled and stood up. “How would you like to compete, Miss?” She had heard of all sorts of matches being held at the flower-viewing party. Most of them, however, only started after the presence of the empress, and she hadn’t anticipated that the timeline would be shifted ahead in light of Li Mo’s presence.

Because almost everyone was dressed in formalwear, tests of pure martial ability were difficult. Instead, the challenges were often somewhat creative.

The two girls moved to an empty clearing, a thin willow branch in their hands. Li Qianhan stood in the middle of both parties, his cupped hands full of flower petals. As he announced the start of the match, he threw the petals up into the air.

The two combatants had to infuse their spiritual energy into the willow branches to make them hard, then use the branch to skewer as many of the falling petals as they could. The party who skewered more petals would be the winner.

Instantly, the soft willow branch in Yun Ruoyan’s hand turned perfectly straight. She was just about to reach out and skewer the petals when a sudden gust of heat emerged from her body. That gust of heat rapidly spread throughout her body, and her thoughts quickly became clouded. It was difficult for her to focus, and the willow branch in her hand turned soft once more.

Suddenly, Yun Ruoyan turned around to look at Yi Qianying, who was sipping her tea as she smiled.

The girl who was challenging her clearly wasn’t weak. With sword qi surrounding her willow branch, she deftly skewered over ten petals in a stunning show of technique, and the crowd cheered all around her.

“I admit defeat!” Yun Ruoyan suddenly called out. She tossed the willow branch in her hand away before turning to leave.

“Hey! Surrendering without even trying to compete?!”

Yun Ruoyan, who had already turned around, felt a gust of air swiftly approach her. She tilted her head slightly, and the willow branch in the other girl’s hands thrust toward her face.

“Ah!” Murmurs from the crowd sprang up. “Her face is so frightening!”

“It looks like the rumors are true: the second daughter of the Yun family is truly hideous and disfigured.”

“...”

“As I thought, you’re still that ugly girl from the past.” The girl plucked the gauze patch off her willow stick and stepped forward, taunting, “Well? Come and get it!”

As if she hadn’t heard the tittering all around her, Yun Ruoyan ignored the girl’s provocations. Without even turning around, she said coolly, “If you like it, you can keep it.”

Amidst the crowd’s gaze, she walked down the small path to the garden’s entrance.

She tried very hard not to stagger or stumble, but her body was already raging inside. The heat left her mouth parched, her tongue dry.

Given her past life, she knew quite well what this sensation represented, but her head was getting fuzzier and fuzzier. In desperation, she bit her tongue: the pain and taste of blood cleared her head up a little, but it was only a temporary measure.

What was she to do?

“What’s wrong with you?!” A hand reached out and grasped her shoulder.

Yun Ruoyan turned and rushed into his embrace, just like a drowning man reaching out for driftwood.

“You’ve been drugged!” Li Mo felt a bundle of warmth coming from her body. “...and with an aphrodisiac, no less.”

“I…” Yun Ruoyan felt her limbs go weak, her body filled with a discomfort she couldn’t quite express. “Like fire roasting me from within, hot…”

She felt as if she was about to melt. She needed ice, a whole basin of water, to quench the flames.

“Quick! Water…!”

Like a soft vine, Yun Ruoyan was desperately trying to latch onto Li Mo’s statuesque body.

Her face was flushed, her hair scattered. The collar of her gown revealed a patch of pink skin, the same color as a phoenix orchid’s petal.

Li Mo couldn’t help but raise his brows. He murmured by Yun Ruoyan’s ear, “This isn’t an appropriate place to quench your fire.”

Draping a long arm around Yun Ruoyan’s slender waist, he soared up into the air with Yun Ruoyan in tow.

In her delirium, Yun Ruoyan felt as though she had somehow floated into the clouds, that the fire in her heart was spreading all throughout the sky.

Li Mo leaned down and saw Yun Ruoyan’s face turn redder and redder. He couldn’t help but frown once more: now wasn’t the time to engage in sexual relations with her, and he needed to find an antidote rapidly.

Yun Ruoyan’s arms dug into his robes.

“If you keep trying something like this and I can’t control my urges, we’ll both fall from the skies.” As he said this, icy-cold breath landed on Yun Ruoyan’s face, and she instinctively sought out that refreshing feeling once more.

“Mm…”

The Slaughtering King, man of legends, was forcefully kissed by the first time tonight.

“...Let go.” Having to focus on both keeping them in the air and on making sure that Yun Ruoyan didn’t fall from his grip, Li Mo didn’t have the ability to break free from Yun Ruoyan’s harassment.

While he was distracted, Yun Ruoyan had deftly removed his inky gown and thrown it into the distance. Like an unmoored boat, it slowly drifted into a patch of phoenix orchids.

“You…” That final act had broken Li Mo’s concentration entirely, and the two of them began to fall from the skies. Fortunately, they landed in one of the larger ponds situated in the gardens, making a huge splash as they did so.

In the pond, the two bodies tangled with each other as if they were two squirming fishes.

As the water brushed against her face, the fake birthmark on her right cheek slowly faded away. Her appearance, prettier than even a petal from a phoenix orchid, began to emerge in front of Li Mo’s eyes.

Li Mo’s eyes widened, and his dark pupils slowly frosted over...