As Yun Tian walked, his steps suddenly stopped. Amid the mist ahead, a slender figure caught his eye-someone was bathing in the stream. Before he could react, the figure willed a plain dress into existence around her body and turned toward his hiding place.
The instant their eyes met, Yun Tian saw her clearly. Her ink-black hair cascaded like a waterfall, loosely gathered behind her head with a silver ribbon. She wore a plain dress and not a trace of makeup, yet nothing could conceal her breathtaking beauty. A faint melancholy lingered between her slightly furrowed brows. She brushed aside a willow branch hanging over her shoulder, her fingertips slender as jade, her bearing graceful as bamboo, like an immortal maiden stepping out of an ink-wash painting.
"Who's there? Come out!"
Her cool voice carried a note of wariness. A faint spiritual glow had already gathered in her palm, ready to strike.
"Don't attack."
Yun Tian stepped slowly out from behind the tree, his expression calm.
Once she saw him clearly, surprise flashed in her eyes. "You?"
"Oh? You know me?" Yun Tian raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I do!" Her willow-leaf brows rose sharply, anger creeping into her voice. "You're the one who's been leading my three successors of Nuwa around by the nose!"
"Hey, don't go throwing accusations around." Yun Tian spread his hands helplessly. "What do you mean, leading them around? Our feelings are mutual."
"Hmph! Mutual feelings?" She sneered. "You appeared out of nowhere, without a single clue to your origins. Those girls have been innocent since childhood. You clearly tricked them into going with you!"
"Looks like you know quite a bit about me." Yun Tian looked her up and down, then suddenly smiled. "You must be Nuwa, the one who created the divine beasts?"