The entire Du residence was silent. There was not a single person in sight.
Dead silence.
Ye Honglian stood before the main gate, her brows slightly furrowed.
This estate had once been bustling with visitors, yet now it exuded an eerie aura that defied description.
On a sudden whim, she had somehow found herself here... perhaps because of that dream, or perhaps because of the vague premonition that had lingered in her mind these past days.
The moment she pushed open the gates, she had found it strange.
Such a vast courtyard, with its carved beams and painted rafters still intact, its flowers and trees still lush, yet not a single soul was to be seen.
The gatekeepers, the servants who swept the grounds—all of them had vanished without a trace.
The autumn wind passed through the halls, sweeping up a few dead leaves with a soft rustle, making the courtyard seem all the more empty and desolate.
Ye Honglian's divine sense spread out like a tide, sweeping over the front hall, the covered corridors, the rear courtyard...
Then her entire body froze.
In the garden pavilion, the fragrance of tea curled upward in wisps.
A woman dressed in white, whiter than snow, with peach blossoms embroidered across her flowing robes—blooms so brilliant and enchanting that she seemed like something not of this world.
She leaned lazily against the railing.
One foot rested carelessly upon a stone bench, while her other hand held a celadon teacup. With her head slightly tilted back, she seemed to be saying something to the chirping birds perched on the branches.
Sunlight filtered through the upturned eaves of the pavilion, falling across her face in dappled patches.
That face...
Ye Honglian's pupils abruptly contracted.
It was bewitching to the extreme, beautiful beyond anything mortal, like