Water Moon Mirror Splendor (5)

Zhu Yaoyao and Shen Yuxi had traveled through the dense forest for less than half a day when they spotted an imposing estate with upturned eaves standing quietly in a clearing amid the woods.

The bronze rings on its vermilion-lacquered gates had been polished to a brilliant shine, utterly at odds with the surrounding wildness of tangled vines and moss-covered ground. It was like an exquisitely painted portrait of a court beauty forcibly embedded in the wilderness—delicate, yet unsettlingly strange.

"Having come from so far away, you two must be weary from the journey. Why not come inside for a brief rest and have some hot tea to ease your fatigue?"

A voice as crisp as an oriole's song came from before the gates. A woman in white stood prettily beside the steps, graceful in figure and slender at the waist, her beauty utterly beyond the ordinary. Upon seeing them, she smiled brightly. When the corners of her lips lifted, shallow dimples appeared; when her eyes shifted, they carried a thousand charms.

—There was something wrong no matter how one looked at her.

Yet Zhu Yaoyao had taken only one glance at the woman before her heart jolted. The spiritual energy flowing around this woman was exceedingly peculiar. Others might not recognize what it meant, but Zhu Yaoyao did. That aura felt remarkably similar to the secret art aura recorded in the Hehuan Secret Record of her sect!

Since Zhu Yaoyao had come for that secret art, now that she had finally caught a clue, she naturally could not simply turn and leave. She immediately suppressed her excitement and eagerly began conversing with the woman.

Shen Yuxi, meanwhile, retained his habitual indifferent expression. When his gaze fell upon the woman in white, there was not the slightest trace of amazement