Fairy Beneath the Moon

"There is—the Demon Sect's Blood Prison Cart." The corners of Jiang Youfei's lips curled slightly, as if she were smiling yet not smiling.

"What about anything else? Do you have one from the Dao Sect?" Li Qingxian asked.

"I can use Sleeve Containing Heaven and Earth, if you are not afraid of tumbling around and vomiting inside my sleeve," Jiang Youfei said.

Li Qingxian glanced at Jiang Youfei's wide sleeve, then at her fair, tender arm.

"Forget it. I'd better take the sedan chair. Uncle Zhou, if anything happens to me, remember to bury me with my parents!"

"Don't worry. I'll dig your grave myself."

"Uncle Zhou, you are forever handsome and sweet-tongued!" Li Qingxian said irritably.

"Answer the summons at once, swift as the law commands!" Jiang Youfei stretched out a hand and beckoned. The White-Flower Red Sedan rapidly shrank until it was palm-sized, then vanished into her sleeve.

Zhou Chunfeng looked at the slender, petite Jiang Youfei and sighed. "Be extremely careful."

Jiang Youfei bent her knees slightly and gave a salute before turning to leave.

"Zhou Hen, I'll have to trouble you," Zhou Chunfeng said.

Zhou Hen clasped his fists to Zhou Chunfeng, then turned and followed behind Jiang Youfei.

Once outside, Jiang Youfei brushed a hand across her face. A white veil covered it, leaving only her eyes exposed.

After leaving the Night Guard Yamen, Jiang Youfei lightly tapped the ground with her little white shoe. Her body arched toward the rooftops like a graceful white swan.

She touched down on a rooftop once, then drifted lightly through the air. After floating several hundred meters, she tapped another roof and flew toward the southern city gate.

Above the lights of countless homes and the rolling sea of roof tiles, beneath the bright moon and night sky, Jiang Youfei's white robes fluttered as though an immortal maiden were treading the waves.

Zhou Hen followed some distance behind, periodically sweeping his gaze across the Divine Capital.

Curious onlookers climbed walls and rooftops, crying out that a fairy beneath the moon had descended upon the capital.

The occasional midnight traveler leaping across the city stopped after a few bounds, gazing from afar at the fairy beneath the moon, who seemed to ride the wind.

A brazen expert shouted, "Which fairy has arrived in the Divine Capital?"

Zhou Hen called out, "The Night Guard Department is conducting official business. All unrelated persons, withdraw."

The rooftops instantly fell silent.

The two left through the southern city gate and employed their lightness skills, racing more than twenty li before reaching Jade Abyss Mountain and ascending to Azure Firmament Abbey, hidden amid the forest.

They entered through a side gate, passed the front gate's main hall plaza, the second courtyard's Court of the Gods, the third courtyard's Court of Miscellaneous Affairs, and the fourth courtyard's training grounds, then entered the innermost rear residence.

Walls, trees, and paths divided the rear residence into several small courtyards. After walking for some time, the two entered one of them, and the view suddenly opened up.

A gray-black stone cliff stood before them. A bright white waterfall more than a zhang wide plunged into a dark round pool, splashing noisily.

A small red-lacquered pavilion stood by the pool, bearing a plaque that read, "Jadefall Pavilion."

Beside it stood a two-story building with red walls and green tiles, lanterns hanging high.

Two female Daoists in dark blue robes hurried over from the entrance.

"The Holy Maiden has returned." One was a girl of fifteen or sixteen, the other a Daoist nun in her thirties or forties. Both wore broad smiles.

Zhou Hen stopped at the entrance to the little courtyard.

"Fang, Xiaoya, this is General Zhou Hen," Jiang Youfei introduced.

"Greetings, General Zhou." The two women's gazes fell upon Zhou Hen's Elephant-Head Bright-Copper Breastplate, and they became exceedingly respectful. It was the battle uniform of a Principal Fifth Rank military officer.

Jiang Youfei said, "General Zhou holds a Fifth Rank official post, but his cultivation was long ago set at Fourth Rank. You must not slight him."

"Yes."

"Also, a... nephew of Uncle Zhou will be staying here tonight." As she spoke, Jiang Youfei tossed out the White-Flower Red Sedan, which landed on the ground and expanded.

"I was suffocating in there!" Li Qingxian pushed aside the sedan's door curtain and stepped out. "It was red all over inside and pitch-black outside. I am never riding that thing again."

"This is Li Qingxian, of the Night Guard," Jiang Youfei said casually.

"Greetings, Little Mister Li." The two female Daoists examined Li Qingxian together, surprise showing on their faces. Ever since Jiang Youfei had moved in here, no man had ever stayed within.

"Fang, arrange lodging for General Zhou and bring him an Azure Firmament Token," Jiang Youfei instructed.

"Yes." Ling led Zhou Hen away.

"Holy Maiden, would you like to wash up?" Xiaoya asked with a grin.

The tension in Jiang Youfei's lovely face eased. "Tonight, you and Ling will rest outside. Qingxian and I have important matters to discuss."

"Oh... then Xiaoya shall take her leave." Xiaoya kept looking the two of them over as she departed, her face full of curiosity.

Li Qingxian looked around at the waterfall, round pool, pavilion, and flower beds, then smiled. "Sister Youfei really knows how to pick a place. The scenery at Jadefall Pavilion is peerless—I would not trade it for an entire capital city."

"Come upstairs and change your appearance." Jiang Youfei moved with lotus steps, her white skirt swaying as she headed toward the small building.

Li Qingxian followed behind Jiang Youfei into the main hall on the first floor. They ascended the winding staircase to the second floor and entered a room.

The sitting room was elegant and refined, dominated by white, blue, and gray. A red carpet covered the floor, a sandalwood couch sat at its center, and smoke curled from an incense burner. Behind it hung a painting of searching for plum blossoms in snow, depicting a slender little girl raising a jade-like hand, her fingertips touching a flower bud.

One side held a bookshelf, the other an antique display rack. Porcelain and jade filled the room in dazzling array, yet everything was neat and orderly.

At a single glance, Li Qingxian could tell that the furnishings here far surpassed those of Chunfeng Residence.

A beaded curtain hung over the side door, obscuring the inner bedchamber. Only a glimpse of goose-yellow cloud-patterned bed curtains could be seen, layer upon layer, sumptuous and regal, utterly at odds with the sitting room's simple, elegant palette.

Li Qingxian was surprised. Inspecting violations of rank regulations was one of the Night Guard's principal duties. Unless granted permission by the imperial court, commoners were forbidden from using colors such as goose-yellow, bright yellow, brilliant yellow, and black. Could those goose-yellow bed curtains have been bestowed by the Empress Dowager?

"You..." Jiang Youfei hesitated for a moment before saying, "Come into my bedchamber with me. Do not touch anything at random. I will alter your appearance at the dressing table."

"Alright." Li Qingxian followed the white-robed girl as she lifted the beaded curtain. Amid a rustling clatter, he entered the bedchamber.

A faint fragrance washed over him.

"Sister Youfei, what perfume do you use? It smells so good." Li Qingxian sniffed.

"Perhaps it is rouge or face powder."

"This fragrance does not smell like those vulgar things. It is very special." Li Qingxian looked around.

Jiang Youfei sighed. "No wonder Uncle Zhou cannot do anything about you. This is a bedchamber. Even if you are still young, you must not touch things at random."

"Oh." Li Qingxian thought that, for a seasoned old lecher, he was already being remarkably un-lecherous.

"Sit down." Jiang Youfei pointed at the round stool before the dressing mirror.

Li Qingxian sat down. Jiang Youfei tossed her right hand, and a night-luminous pearl appeared out of thin air, hanging high overhead and blazing with light, illuminating the entire room.

Li Qingxian narrowed his eyes, taking quite a while to adjust.

"Sit up straight. Without my permission, you are not allowed to move or speak!" Jiang Youfei looked down imperiously at the seated Li Qingxian, her expression cool and aloof.

Li Qingxian looked up at Jiang Youfei's small, fair face and smiled happily.

Jiang Youfei sighed inwardly. What an improper fool of a boy.

She took out a thin mask as translucent as white paper. "This is an Illusion-Skin Mask. It will seep beneath your skin. At first, it will feel like needle pricks, but that will soon fade."

Li Qingxian said nothing, merely gazing at Jiang Youfei with sparkling eyes. No wonder she was called the Enchanting City Fairy. From afar, she was peerless; up close, she did not have the slightest flaw.

"Raise your head," Jiang Youfei said.

Li Qingxian tilted his head back. Jiang Youfei bent down and placed the facial-mask-like Illusion-Skin Mask over his face, first smoothing it down bit by bit with her fingers, then carefully arranging its edges.