Outside the gardens, at the temporary palace.
Apricot blossoms bloomed in profusion, their fragrant breeze brushing against the face.
A dark river flowed out of the gardens into low-lying terrain. Peach and apricot trees lined its banks, and a temporary palace stood among them, named the Redheart Palace. This was where Princess Qingci had come to admire the scenery.
The emperor had only one daughter, Princess Qingci, and treated her with considerable affection. He even allowed her to act as she pleased within the Southern Capital, granting her immense power.
The river surged on, and the stone path stretched into the distance.
Leading the white colt behind him, Xu Ming followed Green Skirt, the maid, along the way. Apricot blossoms flourished all along the path, interspersed with peach trees, like a wildfire that had burned for ages without dying.
The Redheart Palace stood a short distance ahead, its doors already open and its interior quiet. Green Skirt bowed beside him and said respectfully, "My lord, we have reached the temporary palace. Please enter on your own."
Xu Ming nodded slightly, handed both the white colt and the apricot branch to the maid beside him, and walked slowly toward the palace.
Princess Qingci's birth name was apparently Song Qing. She was roughly seven or eight years older than him and had already reached Foundation Establishment. Moreover, she cultivated baleful qi, and he had heard that her temperament was quite unusual.
Xu Ming was, after all, still a youth of seventeen. Though his cultivation was impressive and his talent exceptional, he had never learned how to get along with women, much less an emperor's daughter.
He reached the palace entrance and bowed. Just as he was about to speak, a woman's soft laugh drifted out from within the splendid palace, stirring the