The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

The room was deathly silent.

Only the faint crackling of burning charcoal and the distant sounds of music and laughter drifting from the plum grove outside the window made the silence here all the more suffocating.

The strategist Yan Ci stood by the screen, holding a fan, gazing at the two figures kneeling side by side below the steps.

One moon shines white and serene like bamboo in the snow, the other a fiery red, burning like a prairie fire.

His lips twitched almost imperceptibly, and he silently lit three incense sticks for the two of them in his heart.

Sure enough, meeting a love rival is exceptionally...exciting.

General Feng's direct attack was truly earth-shattering and awe-inspiring.

Just then, a figure in black slipped silently into the pavilion like a ghost, knelt on one knee beside Yan Ci, and handed him a wax pill.

Yan Ci crushed the wax pellet with his fingertips and unfolded the paper strip inside. The moment his gaze swept over the ink stains, his eyebrows shot up sharply.

He walked quickly to the emperor's side and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

His voice was extremely low, yet every word was as clear as an icicle falling to the ground:

"Hidden Dragon Guard's urgent report—His Highness and Emperor Xingze Si Xingzhou are currently in the dense forest behind the mountain... having a private meeting."

"Click—"

Spiderweb-like cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the carved rosewood table.

Tang Xiye slowly withdrew her hand from the table.

The veins on the back of his hand, with its distinct knuckles, were bulging, and his knuckles were bluish-white from exertion, yet his expression remained eerily calm.

He looked down at the deep crack, about an inch deep, that he had pressed into the table with his own hands, and a faint smile even appeared on his lips.

"Private meeting...?"

He repeated the two words softly, as if savoring the taste of some deadly poison.

The next instant, the black gold cloak billowed up like a raging wave.

"Get lost."

Two words, imbued with raging fury and piercing cold, struck the two kneeling figures.

Tangxi Ye rose and rose, her dragon-patterned wide sleeves sweeping the teacups off the table.

The precious celadon porcelain shattered on the carpet with a dull thud, like bones cracking.

He didn't glance at the two of them again, and stepped out of Shuying Pavilion. The corner of his black and gold robe swept across the threshold, bringing with it a biting wind that seemed to drain all the warmth from the room.

Yan Ci followed closely behind, and as he passed Pei Yanchuan and Feng Zhuo, he lowered his voice and quickly dropped a sentence:

"Aren't you leaving yet? Are you waiting for His Majesty to come back and deal with you?"

Before the words were even finished, the person had already disappeared at the end of the corridor outside the door.

Yan Ci thought to himself, "The struggle for the position of empress has always been like this since ancient times."

The pavilion fell silent once more.

The charcoal fire gradually dimmed.

Feng Zhuo and Pei Yanchuan looked at each other, their young faces displaying identical innocence and bewilderment.

They knelt on the cooling carpet, listening to the faint, distant, furious footsteps of the emperor as he departed. After a long while, Feng Zhuo finally murmured:

"Little bookworm, tell me... where exactly did we offend His Majesty?"

"I don't know..."

Pei Yanchuan silently gazed at the empty space of light and shadow at the doorway and slowly shook his head.

The two innocent little darlings were completely unaware that they had touched upon—the emperor's most sensitive sore spot, the one that called exclusive possession.

At this moment, the owner of that reverse scale, carrying the rage of burning the city, was hurrying towards the dense forest behind the mountain.

"Si Xingzhou—how dare you even attempt to lay a finger on my Zhizhi?"

Emperor Tang Xiye's voice was very low, as low as the cold current surging beneath the ice of deep winter, each word imbued with a frost that could freeze one's bones.

He stood atop the high steps of Shuying Pavilion, his black-gold dragon-patterned cloak billowing in the sudden, biting wind, like the outstretched wings of a dark eagle reaching to the sky.

The winter sunlight is crystal clear, like a dome carved from a single piece of icy jade, enveloping the world in a clear and bright atmosphere.

The sky was as blue as freshly washed glaze, with wisps of clouds as thin as fine silk, adorning the horizon.

Meixuewu, nestled against the mountains and beside the water, features undulating mountains like a dark green screen, with flowing clouds and mist lingering among them.

At this moment, in the plum grove on the back mountain, the vermilion plum blossoms are as vibrant as congealed blood, the green calyx plum blossoms are as clear as jade, the jade butterfly plum blossoms are clustered like snowflakes, and the weeping plum blossoms cascade down like waterfalls.

The plum blossoms, adorned with the unmelted snow, looked like stars scattered across the branches from afar.

The sounds of string and wind instruments drifted from afar.

Right in the center of this landscape where plum blossoms and snow intertwine, on the lake surface that has already frozen over with a thick layer of crystal-clear ice—

The snow in Tangxi is dancing.

The light blue gauze sleeves flowed wide like surging clouds and the skirt fluttered like rippling blue waves.

She stepped onto the crystal-clear ice, each step as light as if she were about to ride the wind home.

Sunlight filters through the sparse and dense plum branches, casting dappled shadows on her. These spots of light flow as she spins and leaps, as if she were draped in a feathered robe woven from fragments of gold and rainbows.

A breeze swept by, stirring up thousands of snow-like waves and falling plum blossoms.

She suddenly leaned back, her long, light blue sleeves spreading out like wings, her dark hair cascading down the ice like a waterfall.

At that moment, behind her was a grove of fiery red plum blossoms, and in front of her were weeping plum blossoms as white as mist.

Standing there, her blue dress reflecting the icy light, she resembled a blue phoenix that had accidentally wandered into the human world.

It was breathtakingly beautiful, yet so desolate it sent shivers down one's spine.

Si Xingzhou stood at the edge of the plum grove, almost forgetting to breathe.

He had never seen a dance that blended the spirit of heaven and earth with the mundane world so perfectly.

It's as if the spirit of plum blossoms and snow has taken form, freely unfolding its life in this crystal world.

A plum blossom was startled by the wind and fell, fluttering against her flowing sleeves.

A crisp, cool fragrance wafted through the air, mixed with a very faint herbal scent.

Si Xingzhou felt as if he was so amazed that he was almost dizzy.

He subconsciously took half a step forward, his thin lips slightly parted, as if he wanted to say something.

Suddenly everything went black.

His body tilted forward uncontrollably, plunging heavily into the fluffy snowdrift.

In his last moments before his consciousness faded, he only saw a pair of light blue embroidered shoes come to a graceful stop in front of him, the pearls adorning the tips of the shoes shimmering in the snow.

"Senior brother's Drunken Dream recipe is indeed effective immediately."

Tang Xixue squatted down and gently poked Emperor Xingze's unconscious cheek with her fingertips, her tone carrying a hint of satisfied slyness.

"It wasn't for nothing that I spent three hours at the pharmacy yesterday—I heard that even a peak ninth-grade expert can control half a cup of tea."

She stood up and patted the snowflakes off the hem of her skirt.

"take away."

The two words fell softly, like snowflakes landing on a branch.

Twelve silver-white figures emerged from the depths of the plum grove like ghosts.

The Twelve Silver Wings of Mist Feathers are top-tier experts of Cloud Lord. They move silently and coordinate perfectly as if they were a single unit.

In the blink of an eye, he bound the unconscious Si Xingzhou with specially made black iron chains, covered him with a snow silk cloak that blocked his aura, and swiftly disappeared into the depths of the plum forest like a shadow.

The whole process was dizzyingly fast.

"Sister-in-law," Yun Boyan emerged from behind a white plum tree, his silver clothes almost blending into the snowy background.

"Leave the rest to me. You just need to remember—"

"I have never set foot on the back mountain, nor have I ever seen any Star Emperor."

Tang Xixue nodded, her light blue skirt brushing against the snow. When she turned and left, she was as light as a real snowflake, without taking away a single cloud or leaving a trace.

Halfway up the mountain, a gnarled red plum tree grows horizontally on its branches.

Qi Wang was originally leaning against a tree branch, seeking some peace and quiet, but he was bored and aimlessly gazing at the bustling scene of the Floating Fragrance Pavilion below the mountain.

When that azure figure appeared on the frozen lake, he instinctively sat up straight, almost captivated by her unparalleled dance.

Upon seeing Si Xingzhou collapse without warning, the twelve silver wings appeared like ghosts and bound him.

"A beautiful face, a demonic heart... She really is a bad woman."

The God of War muttered to himself, his phoenix eyes filled with disbelief.

The Xingze Emperor, whom even his imperial uncle had to treat with caution, and Si Xingzhou, known for his iron fist and unfathomable nature—were so easily kidnapped.

Shocked, he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.

"Sister-in-law—how cruel!"

Is this really something Ying Lin can handle?