Chapter 67

Lin Yu caught sight of Zhang Yulin's face after what felt like a long absence. It had only been a little over ten days since they last met, but to Lin Yu, it seemed far longer. Her heartbeat gradually slowed. "What birthday gift?"

Like a conjuring trick, a small gold lock pendant appeared in Zhang Yulin's palm—a longevity lock.

Lin Yu suddenly smiled. "Isn't a longevity lock meant for newborns? I'm way too old for this."

Zhang Yulin rose and stepped close to Lin Yu, reaching her hand around to the back of Lin Yu's neck and fastening the tiny longevity lock onto her. The golden pendant settled just above her collarbone.

Warm skin met the cold gold, and Lin Yu stood still without protest. Once it was secured, Zhang Yulin quickly withdrew her hand. "Who says grown-ups can't wear a longevity lock?"

"Oh, right—your little immortal attendant has something for you too." Zhang Yulin casually gestured to a pot of pale pink flowers on the windowsill. "These are said to have a calming effect when kept indoors."

Lin Yu followed her gaze. The flowers looked a lot like jasmine, but not quite. Spring hadn't arrived yet, so the branches were full of buds and green leaves. A few days ago, she would have taken them for an ordinary potted plant with soothing properties.

But Zhang Yulin didn't know that Lin Yu had been learning at a rapid pace over the past couple of days, and she recognized the flowers at once: these were gan tang blossoms.

This flower was extremely rare—a spiritual herb that grew in the south. It absorbed the energy of the sun and moon and had excellent calming properties; it was nearly impossible to come by. Its natural habitat was very far from the Imperial City—a thousand li away—so it couldn't have come from Chen Lu.

And Zhang Yulin had just returned from the south, so the flowers were most likely from her. But why would she give two birthday gifts? Lin Yu keenly guessed that the longevity lock had been given by someone else.

"Yulin, who gave me this longevity lock?" Lin Yu asked suspiciously. "Chen Lu doesn't even know when my birthday is, so how could she have prepared a pot of gan tang blossoms just in time?"

Zhang Yulin was taken aback to hear Lin Yu name the flower. "You... you recognize it? Fine, the flowers were from me..." She admitted it outright. Her mind raced to fabricate a story for the longevity lock when Lin Yu spoke up.

"Was it Lin Zhao?" Lin Yu's tone was flat, giving nothing away.

The words struck Zhang Yulin like a thunderbolt. After a long pause, she said in a low voice, "...Yes. You figured it out."

Three months earlier, Lin Zhao had already prepared this year's birthday gift for Lin Yu. She had commissioned the longevity lock because when Lin Yu was born, their parents hadn't made one for her—Lin Zhao always felt she owed Lin Yu that, so she made up for it.

But fate was cruel. Only a few days after receiving the lock, she lost her life to the Moon God Festival incident, never getting the chance to give it to Lin Yu in person.

Receiving a gift from a departed loved one—Lin Yu didn't know how to describe her feelings. There was grief, desolation, and bewilderment, but soon the melancholy and regret faded, leaving only hatred. She hated this ridiculous Heavenly Dao.

A single absurd Moon God Festival had brought them to ruin.

Zhang Yulin wasn't good at comforting people either. She rubbed Lin Yu's back gently. "It's okay. All of that is past now; we can only look forward. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Is there anything you want to do?"

Lin Yu didn't respond, so Zhang Yulin made the decision for her. "It's the New Year, so the Imperial City will be lively. Let me take you out for a walk—don't stay cooped up on this mountain all day." Her tone was light.

Lin Yu looked at Zhang Yulin's earnest expression, and her mood lifted somewhat. She pushed aside the tangled emotions from a moment ago and replied, "Alright."

...

The next day at noon, Zhang Yulin took Lin Yu to a multi-story pavilion built not far from the palace walls. Lin Yu had heard of the place—it was said to be run by a woman who had divorced her husband.

The pavilion had started as a small tavern, but it had an excellent location, so business flourished. Over the years, the owner had earned enough to buy up the surrounding shops and land, expanding the establishment. Countless treasures had gone into its construction, and the interior decor was lavish. Hence its name: Fan Lou.

The pavilion stood more than ten stories tall, and word had it that from the west-side private rooms on the top floor, one could glimpse a corner of the imperial palace. That had drawn crowds who would reserve those rooms just to steal a view—until not long after, every room with a view of the palace was sealed off and no longer open to guests.

As they neared the Fan Lou, Lin Yu could faintly hear music from various instruments playing in unison. Once inside, she was dazzled by the dancing girls. Countless silk ribbons hung down from the upper floors, and the dancers, clad in rainbow-hued gowns, performed a flying dance by gripping the suspended ribbons, weaving nimbly through the guests. Night pearls and lanterns dotted everywhere cast a glittering, radiant glow throughout the building.

A waiter hurried over to greet them and respectfully escorted them up to a spot by the railing on the second floor. From there, it was an excellent vantage point to watch the dancers below. The windows were all shut tight, and the room was warm—almost hot.

"Hey, the Spring Sacrifice is coming up. Is that female priest still presiding this year?"

"Didn't that priest die? I have a contact who told me that the Heaven's Mandate Tower has executed a lot of troublemakers recently."

No sooner had they sat down than they overheard a few young men leaning on the railing, chatting as they enjoyed the music. Guessing they were talking about Yun Chi, Lin Yu couldn't help but marvel at how fast rumors spread—already there were whispers of the priest's death. She exchanged a look with Zhang Yulin, and neither said a word, both listening quietly to the men's conversation.

"Dead? Then who's hosting the Spring Sacrifice? Surely not the Xianzun?" the short young man who had first asked chimed in again.

Someone nearby agreed: "Right? To get a spot at the Spring Sacrifice, my father offered up several children of our household slaves, just to gain one viewing seat. If the priest is gone, that's a farce!"

A man with a crooked mouth and squinty eyes said, "The Heaven's Mandate Tower has been farcical for ages. One more time won't matter. Why worry about them? They won't botch it anyway—everyone's just fretting over nothing."

"True. Hey, did any of you go to that Divine Maiden's enthronement ceremony? That so-called Divine Maiden is pretty arrogant too—same temper as their Xianzun. But from the look of things, she's just an empty shell, not going to amount to anything." The short man suddenly spoke, wearing a disdainful sneer.

Lin Yu had been sitting with her back to them. Only then did she turn to glance at the short man, trying to recall where she'd seen him before—but she had no memory of him at all.

The squint-eyed man asked, "Why? You've met her? You're so sure about that?"

"Of course! On her very first day, she was dressed all flashy and gaudy—plenty of people kept an eye on her. But the moment the ceremony ended, she ran off without even seeing believers like us who'd come all the way to watch."

Lin Yu: ?

Lin Yu racked her brains before remembering that she'd been in a hurry that day to tell Fu Ming about Lu Yao, so she hadn't gone to meet the visitors. But no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't figure out what part of that heavy Divine Maiden outfit was flashy and gaudy.

"Quit it. Since when were you her believer? You just wanted to see her, didn't you?" The squint-eyed man laughed for no reason. "What does she look like? Pretty? You're so eager to meet her—maybe I'll go watch the ceremony one day and pay my respects to her too."

"Pah." The short man let out a mocking sound. "She just has a pretty face, that's all. A powerless, vulnerable woman like her—she knows herself how she became the Divine Maiden..."

A young man passing by overheard their exchange and cut in: "Oh please. Why would she meet someone like you? Give it a rest. A bunch of toads badmouthing someone they've never seen. She's going to become a god one day—do you think you're even worthy?"

Zhang Yulin couldn't help but burst out laughing at that. The two men's gazes shot toward her like knives, and she waved her hand at them between laughs. "Sorry, wasn't laughing at you. I just suddenly remembered something happy—couldn't help it."

"Are you asking for trouble?!" The short man, who hadn't dared to talk back to the passerby, saw that Lin Yu and Zhang Yulin were just two women, so he rolled up his sleeves and charged over, ready to teach them a lesson.

"You—ah!"

The moment the short man brushed past Lin Yu, he suddenly pitched forward. Blocked by the railing, he slammed into it hard; Zhang Yulin thought she heard a crisp sound of bone. It had to have hurt.

The railing wasn't short, and the man was really quite short—it came up to about his neck. By all logic, he would have bounced back and landed face-first on the floor. But something inexplicably caught his feet and shoved him upward. It all happened too fast for anyone to see, and he went tumbling over the railing to the floor below!

With a heavy thud, a grown man crashed onto the table right below, shattering it into pieces in an instant. The guests downstairs screamed in fright, and chaos erupted. The men who had been leaning on the second-floor railing stumbled backward in panic.

The short man clung to a broken table and struggled to his feet. Cursing, he looked up—but no one was there anymore. More and more guests crowded around to gawk at him, and he felt utterly humiliated, his rage with nowhere to go. He grabbed a wine flagon from the table and hurled it to the ground!

A sharp crash rang out as the silver flagon smashed to pieces. Several waiters gathered around, but they didn't stop his rampage—they just stood silently by as the man went on smashing things like a madman.

Lin Yu led Zhang Yulin around to the opposite side, where they leaned against the railing and watched the man below keep cursing. Zhang Yulin laughed until tears streamed down her face. "How did you toss him down without even blinking? We hadn't even made our move! Such a scoundrel, hahaha..."

Lin Yu shrugged, her mood improved. She propped her chin on one hand against the railing to watch the spectacle. "Can't help it. I've always been like this."

Lin Yu had always been this way—whoever crossed her interests, whether or not anything had happened yet, she would resolve the problem before it could. She hated trouble, especially unnecessary trouble.

Her gaze fell on the short man, then drifted idly across the gawking guests—until it stopped, fixed on a man and a woman.

The man wore a blue long robe. He was hidden among the crowd, his features indistinct from this distance, but Lin Yu found him familiar and yet couldn't place him.

Suddenly, a slender woman squeezed through the crowd and affectionately looped her arm through the man's. He turned his head to look at her, and they seemed to be smiling. Then he raised a hand to touch her hair, and the two held hands, apparently about to leave.

Zhang Yulin noticed where Lin Yu was looking and followed her gaze to the pair. Once she made out the two figures, she exclaimed, "That... that's the Imperial Preceptor?!"