Inside a teahouse on a little street by the docks.
"Clang, clang, clang~"
"Now, that Chu Hao wielded a Twelve-Foot Coiling Dragon Steel-Point Spear..."
A traveling musician plucked a three-stringed instrument beside the tea tables.
A small desk stood in the middle of the teahouse. Behind it, an old storyteller with a goatee held a folding fan, recounting tales of the martial world with the air of an old sage.
Dressed like an ordinary girl, Zhe Yunli sat at a corner table on the second floor with a bamboo hat on her head, her legs crossed and her saber beside her. Tea and sunflower seeds lay before her as she listened intently to the story, occasionally clapping and cheering with the other patrons.
Although she was only sixteen, her roguish air rivaled that of any seasoned old hand in the teahouse. She was the only young girl there, yet somehow did not look out of place.
But most people listening to stories by the docks were idle wanderers drifting with the current, whereas Zhe Yunli was the young lady of the Sky-Pacifying Sect and the personal disciple of Xue Baijin, the greatest martial artist beneath the mountain. Such a down-to-earth manner was clearly a little inappropriate.
Just as Zhe Yunli was listening with rapt attention and the story reached an exciting part, the light before her suddenly dimmed, a figure blocking her view.
Her bamboo hat kept Zhe Yunli from seeing the person's face. She tried tilting her head to look around them, but the moment she moved, something felt wrong. Her gaze traveled up from the hem of the robe before her-the newcomer wore white robes and a gray cloak, stood about as tall as the Female Prince, had her chest bound somewhat flatter, and wore a jade face