Yujing City.
As the core of the Central Region's Spirit Refining Realm, neither the Holy Emperor battle in the Qilin Realm nor the Central Origin Realm had affected this place in the slightest.
Shielded by the city-protecting grand array, the spirit cultivators within the city only felt faint tremors from time to time.
Yet without leaving the city, all they could see were some dark, hazy silhouettes in the distant sky. They could not tell whether the heavens had fallen or giants had descended.
Outside the city, the earth shook and mountains swayed; within the city, the realm was at peace and the people lived in safety.
The queue to enter the city stretched from dawn to dusk.
When the setting sun sank behind the mountains and rose again in the east, the Golden Osmanthus lining the roads still carried its fragrance throughout the city beneath the morning sun.
The osmanthus fragrance drifted for ten thousand miles, slipping through the cries of street vendors, skimming beneath the playful footsteps of children, lingering at the noses of spirit cultivators seated cross-legged in meditation...
The fragrance drifted into Everjoy Street, into Quiet Osmanthus Pavilion, and amid the finger-guessing games, wine drinking, laughter, and merriment of elegant scholars and refined gentlemen, it drifted up to the third floor.
Bang.
The door shut.
Aunt Xiang landed beside the bed.
She retrieved a ring from beneath the pillow and put it away. Before she even had time to remove her makeup, she formed a communication bead. "Dongdong, Meier, A Yao, come see me on the third floor at once."
After a pause, as though recalling something, she added:
"Bring Yingying and Sparrow too."
A few greetings and acknowledgments came through the communication bead. Aunt Xiang cut it off, then casually crushed the bead.
A white