"Zheng..."
From somewhere indistinct, the zither's notes probed softly, deep and somber echoes lingering.
After crossing the Yincongealed Spring River and arriving in the depths of the Cold Sea, following the cold current's guidance to reach the Cold Prison and successfully finding the intended cell—
The cell door stood half-open. At the entrance framed by its solid, dark-blue ice door, a somewhat familiar-looking young woman stood guard.
She had an oval face. With her eyes closed, she leaned against the ice wall and listened to the zither, two little dimples on her cheeks brimming with an intoxicated smile.
Her eyelashes were long, black, and curled; her skin was whiter than snow, delicate enough to break at a breath. She looked no older than twenty.
As he drew close, he could vaguely smell the alluring maiden fragrance wafting from her exquisitely curved body.
"Miss Dai'er."
Yue Gonghui's voice softened somewhat as he called gently.
He knew this maid. Back at the desolate mountain, when suggestions had been offered, Miss Dai'er had given the most advice—and the most pertinent advice.
In the end, she had also been the first to leave, clearly looking down on the "rewards" of spatial rings and Spirit Palaces.
For a maid to possess such "lofty integrity," asking for nothing else and helping him purely out of kindness—when Yue Gonghui thought back on it afterward, he felt ashamed of himself.
Of course, he would not investigate the maid over this, trying to learn more about her.
The only reason he knew Miss Dai'er's name was because, at their final parting, someone had called out that name.
Yue Gonghui had happened to remember it.
"Hm?"
Miss Dai'er, leaning against the ice wall, clearly had rather lacking cultivation and an urgent need to improve her awareness of danger. Only after