Little Mistress

On the Mishui Riverbank, two little girls practiced swordsmanship, at an age like flowers in bloom—beautiful and carefree.

Ning Chen stood on the painted boat, watching the riverbank as glimmers of light flickered in his eyes.

When he had been as old as Yin'er, he had only just entered the palace, hadn't he?

Great Xia had been at the height of its glory then, invincible beneath the heavens.

Back then, Changsun had presided over the realm as its empress, while Qing Ling had been in the bloom of youth. Ever since he had entered the palace, neither of them had spared him a beating.

Back then, Fan Lingyue's edge had only begun to show. Great Xia, invincible for a thousand years, had almost fallen from its altar of greatness overnight, crushed so hard by a single woman that it could scarcely breathe.

She had been the most dazzling woman of that era, her radiance nearly eclipsing everyone else's.

If she had not possessed the Seven Absolutes Body, if she could have held on for another half year, if... There were no ifs in this world. Yet that woman's brilliance was beyond all doubt.

That night in Falling Moon City, the sight of three tribulations descending together remained vivid even now. From ancient times until today, the only one to survive three tribulations in succession beneath the heavens had been Fan Lingyue.

Perhaps she had been too perfect, so even Heaven had grown jealous and refused to let her live past twenty-two. That should have been only the beginning of a person's most glorious life.

Time had passed so quickly. Everything still seemed to lie before his eyes.

A gentle breeze brushed over the lake. A fallen leaf drifted from afar and landed upon the water, gone forever.

On the riverbank,