The sky had darkened completely. It was now the night of the second day. Moonlight spilled through the carved wooden windows into the room, making everything appear hazy and soft. It only accentuated how fragile the black-haired girl looked as she lay limply inside the golden birdcage.
The girl’s hair was extremely long, long enough to cover half her thighs. She had draped it over herself like a blanket.
A cold breeze blew through the room. The girl’s long, thick eyelashes trembled slightly. Ever since Hua Yanyun had knocked her unconscious the day before, she had remained in a deep sleep. Only now were there signs of her waking.
Hua Yanyun had been extremely busy today—so busy that she hadn’t had a single moment to visit He Shu or her harem. For He Shu, this was actually good news. It meant she could sleep properly without having to deal with Hua Yanyun’s teasing and demands.
However, while ideals are plentiful, reality is harsh. He Shu had mostly been woken up by hunger.
“So it’s already night… How long was I asleep? Is this still the second day or already the third day…?”
There was only the girl in the room. Naturally, no one could answer her questions.
“It should still be the second day…”
He Shu wasn’t certain about the time. She was truly starving. Five days without food—she really felt like she couldn’t hold on much longer.
Right now, she even had the impulse to grab the cage bars and bite them, but she obviously couldn’t chew through the Jade-Smooth Profound Steel.
“If I don’t find something to eat soon… I might actually starve to death…”
He Shu muttered to herself, her eyes hollow and lifeless.
“There’s cotton inside the pillow. Cotton… maybe it’s edible.”
With that thought, she opened her mouth to bite the pillow.
At that very moment, the room door was suddenly pushed open. A long-haired girl shouted in He Shu’s direction, “Miss He! You can’t eat that!!!”
Attracted by the voice, He Shu looked up and saw a long-haired girl rushing anxiously toward her.
The long-haired girl stopped outside the cage, hands on her knees as she panted heavily. She looked at He Shu with urgent, worried eyes. The girl inside the cage looked dazed from extreme hunger.
“Miss He, I brought food. Please eat something first. The pillow really can’t be eaten.”
As she spoke, she passed two sugar-frosted dumplings through the gaps in the cage bars.
He Shu was starving. Without any hesitation, she took the dumplings and stuffed them into her mouth. After chewing a few times, she swallowed them down.
With something finally in her stomach, He Shu no longer looked like she was on death’s door. After a while, she raised her head and looked at the girl standing outside the cage, bathed in moonlight.
The girl had large, gem-like gray eyes. Her face was round and adorable, and her soft, smooth gray hair was pinned up neatly with a white jade hairpin. The hairpin gleamed with a cool luster under the moonlight.
The girl gave off the pure, lovely impression of a young maiden who had just come of age.
“Who are you? Why are you giving me food? Did Hua Yanyun send you?”
He Shu asked three questions in quick succession. Although the gray-haired girl in front of her looked innocent and harmless, she instinctively remained on guard.
Seeing He Shu’s wary expression, the gray-haired girl quickly waved her hands and spoke gently, “Please don’t be afraid, Miss He. My name is Mu Xinlian. My current cultivation is at the second layer of Foundation Establishment. I previously served as the steward of the pill room in the Hundred Herbs Garden, holding an official position of eighth rank.”
“Previously served?”
“Yes. I have now resigned from my position as pill room steward. From today onward, I will be stationed in Wanyi Tower to take care of you, Miss.”
Feeling her explanation might not have been clear enough, Mu Xinlian added, “Please don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t assigned by His Majesty to look after you. I voluntarily requested to resign and transfer positions. My official rank remains the same. I am now the head supervisor of Wanyi Tower, which basically makes me your personal maid, Miss.”
He Shu understood. Although the name sounded somewhat familiar, she still didn’t understand why Mu Xinlian would do this.
She was very familiar with the political system of the Jade Water Immortal Kingdom, so she knew that Mu Xinlian’s current position was a promotion in name only but a demotion in practice. Her future prospects for advancement had almost completely vanished.
“The pill room steward is a substantive eighth-rank position with real power. Why would you voluntarily resign from such a good job just to become someone else’s maid?”
He Shu asked the question, only to see Mu Xinlian shyly turn her head away.
Her small face flushed. She didn’t dare meet He Shu’s eyes. Instead of answering directly, she asked uncertainly in a soft voice, “Miss He… are you truly City Lord He Wanyi?”
Her heart was pounding rapidly, filled with anticipation.
He Shu looked at Mu Xinlian’s awkward behavior and answered, “I am indeed He Wanyi. But why do you ask?”
Before He Shu could finish speaking, Mu Xinlian’s joyful voice rang out, “That’s wonderful! You really are the City Lord! I… I thought I would never see you again…”
Her voice was excited, carrying a trace of tears as she poured out everything she had experienced over the years.
“City Lord, eight years ago during that beast tide that nearly destroyed the immortal city, it was you who saved me. You sent me and the other citizens into the grand protective array space for safety.”
“At that time, I was only eleven years old. Because of the beast tide, I lost all my family…”
He Shu listened to Mu Xinlian’s story and memories of that time surfaced in her mind.
Flowing Flower Immortal City was a new city with shallow foundations. When she took over, it had been established for less than a thousand years. Thanks to its favorable location, it had remained peaceful and stable. In a thousand years, it had only seen three City Lords, with an average term of three hundred years. He Shu had been the fourth.
That was three years after she had assumed the position of City Lord. As the saying goes, a new official brings three waves of change. She had only just stabilized the city when an unprecedented beast tide struck.
A near-Soul Transformation realm water flood dragon leading a million beasts assaulted the city. The grand protective array was breached in countless places. The city was filled with ruined walls and countless casualties. As the only Nascent Soul cultivator in the city, He Shu naturally could not sit idly by.
She and dozens of Golden Core cultivators fought the water flood dragon—which already showed early signs of becoming a true dragon—for three days and three nights outside the city before finally slaying it. Then she rushed back to the city without rest.
When she left, only the three Golden Core ancestors from the Ma, Zhou, and Yi families had remained to guard the city. Although the grand array was there, it was heavily damaged and could not exert its full power. The three Golden Core ancestors were blocking the three largest breaches, while the other Foundation Establishment cultivators tried to hold back the smaller swarms of beasts coming through the other gaps.
By the time He Shu returned, Old Ancestor Ma Jun of the Ma family had already died in battle. The ancestors from the Zhou and Yi families were also heavily injured. Countless low-level cultivators and mortals in the city had been killed or wounded.
He Shu opened the city’s grand array space. While clearing out the remaining beasts, she moved all the low-level cultivators and mortals into the protected space.
A day later, the beast tide finally receded. The citizens began emerging from the array space one after another. After this great battle, Flowing Flower Immortal City’s foundations had been severely damaged.
While registering the survivors, He Shu had noticed a gray-haired little girl crying nonstop. She recognized the girl—it was the daughter of the city’s liaison chief steward, Mu Pingzhi. Her name was Mu Xinlian.
At that time, still going by He Wanyi, He Shu had crouched down to meet the little girl’s eye level. She gently stroked her small head and asked softly, “Little sister, why are you crying so much?”
Mu Xinlian wiped her tears with her sleeve, sobbing continuously. “Daddy and Mommy are both dead. I don’t have a home anymore. City Lord He Wanyi, I… I don’t know what to do from now on.”
There were quite a few children like Mu Xinlian who had lost all their family. He Shu could only sigh.
She remembered Mu Pingzhi and his wife clearly. Although both were cultivators and city officials, they had always treated mortals with equality and respect. They were very well-liked in the city. Their daughter Mu Xinlian was also known by many for her gentleness and kindness.
Mu Pingzhi had always cherished and protected his precious daughter. But now both he and his wife had died fighting the beast tide, leaving behind Mu Xinlian—who had only recently stepped onto the path of cultivation—to survive alone in the world.