The Nine Realms beauty pageant was a spectacle without precedent. Beauties from all Nine Realms had gathered in the Broken Moon Realm. Once little known, the realm had produced a stunning contestant in the Semifinal Round, a beauty who outshone all others, and won the right to host the finals in one stroke. In truth, Fang Zhijin had also been doing Yun Heng and the Seal Clan a favor.
On the morning of the final round's Preliminary Round, a carriage came rumbling down the road. The immortal horse pulling it was short and thin, utterly unremarkable. The driver wore a dark gray felt hat with a rolled brim, pulled low as though he did not want anyone to see his face.
"Miss, are you sure you don't want me to accompany you?" The driver stopped the narrow carriage outside Luo Family Jewelry and spoke softly. With its scrawny horse, cramped carriage, and suspicious-looking driver, it hardly looked like the conveyance of a wealthy household. But anyone who could see through the door would have been astonished. The carriage was remarkably spacious inside, furnished with a cushioned couch, brocade stools, an incense burner, and a tea table. Silk curtains hung outside its walls, while animal pelts lined the interior. It was beautiful and warm, meticulously appointed without losing its air of grandeur.
Had a master horse judge been there, he would also have recognized that the unassuming immortal horse had a faint white line running from its hooves to its belly. It was a rare and precious Susuang from the far north, one of the Immortal Realm's Eight Steeds. Anyone else fortunate enough to own such a horse would have tended it with the utmost care and fed it the finest fodder. Using it to pull a carriage was an outrageous