The news of Li Qiulan and Zhou Feng's betrothal ultimately could not be concealed for long.
More precisely, she had never intended to deliberately hide it from the start.
This marriage alliance was, by nature, an open and honorable union of two powers. There was no need to keep it under wraps, much less fear the gossip of others.
The moment the betrothal was settled and Zhou Feng was arranged to reside in her estate, Li Qiulan intentionally or otherwise let the news slip out. She neither suppressed the rumors nor formally announced it, allowing the news to quietly spread through Nine Void Mountain's upper circles and cultivator community.
Before half a day had passed, one stone had stirred a thousand waves.
The entire circle of Nine Void Mountain's younger generation instantly exploded.
The first to be swept up in furious indignation were the Aristocratic Clan prodigies and Sect Faction elites who had long pursued and admired Li Qiulan.
In everyone's eyes, Li Qiulan possessed peerless beauty, held authority in her hands, and had a deeply rooted master's lineage. She was one of Nine Void Mountain's most outstanding favored daughters of heaven.
Countless scions of Aristocratic Clans had secretly been convinced that only someone of their own illustrious background and exceptional talent was worthy of matching her and winning the beauty's hand.
They competed and measured themselves against one another, none willing to yield to another, all silently waiting for the right moment to seek their chance and marry Li Qiulan.
Yet no one had expected that the one to pluck this dazzling pearl in the end would not be any renowned genius, but an unknown nobody of humble birth—a mere low-ranking clerk of the Tax Gu Division.
The enormous disparity left every suitor with a fierce sense of unresolved