Over here, they were all smiles and harmony; over there, An Xuetian and the others were trapped in an icy hell.
To heal An Xuanming, An Taiyuan could only take him away first.
No sooner had he left than a group of people, having heard the commotion at the Imperial Gate, arrived from outside.
There were three people in this group.
They were Mu Dongyuan, her precious son An Tianyi, ranked seventh on the Ancient List, and a third person—a breathtaking young maiden whose mere appearance was enough to draw the entire audience's attention.
The maiden was like a dream, like drifting mist. Dressed in white, with waist-length hair and skin as smooth as congealed cream, she possessed an ethereal bearing. Like a pearl amid clouds and smoke, her beauty was crystalline and translucent, as though she did not belong to the mortal world. There was scarcely a trace of impurity anywhere upon her.
With such a pure, drifting maiden arriving alongside Mu Dongyuan and An Tianyi, even the laughter among Li Tianming's onlookers fell silent for a moment.
"Ling'er?" Madam Moyang of the Xiao Clan immediately beckoned to the girl in white, wearing a faintly ingratiating smile. Her son, Xiao Yanying, also lowered his head under immense pressure upon seeing the girl, not daring to look directly at her.
Mu Dongyuan and An Tianyi clearly already knew what had happened here, and their expressions were naturally rather calm. The girl in white, meanwhile, seemed detached from worldly affairs—neither pleased nor angry, tranquil as snow.
In the crowd, Li Tianming froze for a moment when he suddenly heard the name "Ling'er."
Of course, he knew Jiang Feiling had not come. If it were her, he would have known from far away.
He turned to look and saw that the girl