The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

Inside the Moon Weaving Pavilion, the children were all busy.

Some people are washing vegetables, some are setting out bowls and chopsticks, and some are tiptoeing to hang newly made lanterns on the branches of the camellia tree.

Several younger children were running around and playing in the corridor, but were gently stopped by the older children.

"Stop running around, what if you bump into Sister Zhi?"

"Hurry up, go and bring the stool out."

The little guy stuck out his tongue and then obediently went to move the stool.

Women caring for children also moved among them.

A young woman dressed in simple cloth was carrying a stack of bowls and plates out of the kitchen.

Looking up and seeing Tang Xixue and the others, she stopped, bowed slightly, and smiled gently and naturally.

"Miss, sir, it's cold outside, please come in and have a seat."

She was also taken in back then.

Her name is Guihua, a very ordinary name, just like she is an extremely ordinary person.

She was only sixteen years old at the time, and her husband had just died—the man who always beat her.

She didn't shed a single tear, but she had nowhere else to go.

Her family disowned her, saying that a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup.

Her in-laws thought she was unlucky and wouldn't even let her in the door.

It was Zhiyueting who took her in.

They gave her a job, a room, and a monthly wage that would allow her to support herself.

No one forced her to remarry, no one made decisions for her, and no one told her, "How a woman should behave."

They simply gave her a place to settle down and make a living, and then it was up to her to choose how she wanted to live her life.

She didn't want to be a wife anymore.

She wanted to be herself.

Now she stands here, wearing an apron, sleeves rolled up, a serene smile on her face.

The look in his eyes was no longer blank and helpless.

She found the meaning of her life here.

The boy brought out the washed fruit, which they usually couldn't bear to eat.

"Sister Zhi and brother-in-law, please rest here for a while. We'll be ready soon."

After he finished speaking, he turned and went back to the kitchen, his steps light and brisk.

Upon hearing this, the children immediately busied themselves with great enthusiasm.

"I'm going to find a gift for Sister Zhi!"

"I'll go get the tea!"

"I'll go get some snacks! Aunt Gui still has the osmanthus cake she made earlier!"

The tiny figures flitted about in the yard, like a nest of cheerful larks.

"Brother-in-law?"

Yun Boyan heard this title.

When those two words reached his ears, his heart was instantly stirred.

He actually... has a formal status now?

He quietly raised his eyes and glanced at Tang Xixue.

She was speaking using a communication talisman, her fingertips flashing with spiritual light, her eyes filled with focused concentration.

She didn't seem to notice the title at all.

There was no rebuttal, no correction; it was simply ignored naturally.

"Zhizhi is the older sister, and I... am the brother-in-law!!"

Thin clouds drooped their eyelashes.

His face remained aloof, his thin lips slightly pursed, like a jade statue untouched by dust in winter.

But his earlobes were tinged with a light red, and the heat rising from them was like a small flame burning fiercely from his earlobes to his heart.

The corners of her lips were turned up, and she couldn't suppress them.

"Zhizhi, she...she's tacitly agreeing?"

He asked himself quietly in his heart.

No one answered him.

But his heart was pounding.

The heartbeat became erratic and disordered, like a fish trying to break through the ice beneath a lake in the depths of winter.

He tried his best to circulate the Ruthless Path technique, hoping to calm his mind, but the technique seemed to be acting uncooperatively today.

"Could what my master taught me be a false path of ruthlessness?"

However, Tang Xixue paid no attention to him at all.

Messages flew from her fingertips, disappearing into the void and flying in different directions.

"Burning down the Crimson Nest can save those afflicted by the curse. The Fengxiao Pavilion's henchmen are guarding that area, so be extremely careful during your operation."

"At the same time, there are indeed snow fireflies near Crimson Nest. I saw it with my own eyes, there's no mistake."

"I have confirmed this."

Her voice was calm, clear, and articulate, like a general on the battlefield giving instructions.

The light from the communication talisman flickered, reflected in her eyes like twinkling stars in the night sky.

Baiyujing.

When Tang Xiye received the news, she was sitting at her desk reviewing reports on the plague from various places.

The communication talisman suddenly lit up, and he glanced down at the few lines of text, his gaze sharpening slightly.

He then closed the report.

"Strategies and advice."

"exist."

"Immediately issue the order—burn down the Crimson Nest and collect the Snowfire. These two tasks are the top priority."

"Yes."

Yan Ce turned and left immediately, his steps quick and without uttering a single wasted word.

Tang Xiye lowered her head and read the message again.

Then he took out another communication talisman.

This talisman is a secret thread leading to the rulers of various nations.

A flash of inspiration struck him, and his fingers wrote rapidly in the air.

Every word is concise, without reservation or concealment.

This is not just a disaster for the Beichen Kingdom, but a calamity for nine continents and hundreds of millions of people.

Anyone who still thinks about reaping the benefits at this moment is hopelessly stupid.

The news spread like wildfire in all directions.

In a short time, Shan Hai received countless mission orders.

The threshold of the branch office was almost worn down by the crowds, and the light of the communication talisman shone from morning till night.

Every task sheet contained the same message: find the Crimson Nest, burn it down, and collect the Snowfire.

The remuneration column was sometimes written as extremely high, and sometimes left blank, with only four words written on it: "No matter the cost".

The spies of the Seven Generations Pavilion came out in full force.

The Tianji Pavilion's intelligence network is operating at full speed.

The three intelligence organizations, which are most adept at intelligence gathering, usually guard against and wary of each other, are now working together with all their might on the same matter.

The spies traversed deep mountains and forests, searched through canyon crevices, and cautiously explored the edges of villages ravaged by witchcraft.

Even Zhan Tang Ye Feng and Yun Jue Wu Yu received missions.

These sharp blades, renowned for their assassinations, were not given orders to take lives, but rather to search for and destroy the Crimson Nest.

Those hands that were once wielding knives now carry torches, searching for those crimson nests in the darkness.

A silent battle has begun, sweeping across the nations of the Nine Provinces in opposition to the Guixu Palace.

There were no war drums, horns, or fluttering banners.

Only the light of communication talismans crisscrossed the night sky, figures ran through the darkness, and clusters of flames ignited in the crimson nest, burning the restless Gu worms to ashes.

This is a game of chess where all living beings are the pieces.

The decisive move made by the Palace Master of Guixu Palace has now been turned around by one person against all odds.

That—the great enemy they thought was dead: the Heavenly Physician of Destiny.

Hua Rongshi's communication talisman lit up.

His voice came from the talisman, hoarse from having read too many heavy files.

"Xue, I've checked Menghua's royal family files."

"The Cold Jade can purify water sources polluted by the Crimson Dust. Back then, Meng Hua couldn't find a way to cure the Gu. The source was too difficult to find; they only discovered that the Gu was afraid of fire. In the end... they could only burn that city to the ground."

Although the Gu calamity that Menghua caused back then did not spread to the entire territory, it was extremely tragic.

That wasn't a battle, it was a massacre, a desperate struggle.

In the end, they weren't even saving people; they were just stopping the spread.

They used fire, in the most primitive and cruel way, to burn the entire city to ashes.

No wonder this past event was kept tightly sealed away.

This is not something that can be recorded in official history.

"But this time—we can solve it together."

Tang Xixue's voice came from the communication talisman, clear and calm, like a warm hand gently stroking his cold hand.

"You see, it is not invincible."

She explained the solutions to him one by one.

The method of burning down the Crimson Nest and the way to use the Snow Firefly were explained in detail.

The voice was reassuring.

Hua Rong nodded with red eyes.

"Um."

"This time, Menghua will definitely not let this tragedy repeat itself, I promise!"

He is the crown prince of the Menghua Empire, and he has a responsibility to protect his people!

They will definitely not lose this time!