Xia Jiuyou said nothing. She took out a zither adorned with a dragon and phoenix in auspicious harmony, its strings made of dragon-pattern black gold and its body of phoenix blood scarlet gold. Originally only three palms in size, the ancient zither expanded in her hands until it reached normal size and hovered in the air. As her slender, jade-like fingers plucked its strings with the fluid grace of drifting clouds and flowing water, notes rippled out and resounded across the heavens, turning into a shower of flowers dancing through the sky. Those beautiful notes had taken physical form, their petals crystalline and wafting fragrance. Reality mingled with illusion, illusion with reality, making this place seem like a dream.
The zither music entwined with the flute, lingering and tender, like lotus roots severed yet still joined by their fibers. It was like the wind atop a lofty mountain, melodious and far-reaching, painting a scene of towering grandeur; then like the water murmuring beside a stream, clear and burbling, revealing the vast sweep of flowing currents. At times, it was gentle as silk, softly caressing the soul, sweet and lilting, steeped in lingering tenderness.
Jiang Tingting was utterly speechless. This woman, her best friend, had first become her young stepmother, and now, right before her eyes, she was letting a red apricot branch stray over the garden wall, seducing a beautiful immortal maiden. Seeing the two of them acting as though kindred spirits were impossible to find and parting was unbearable left a bitter taste in her heart.
"Dad, your charm is unmatched by any man in the world. But I bet you never imagined that one day, a woman like a banished immortal would appear and make your woman stray in her heart!"
Over the years, Jiang Tingting had visited