The first day of the tenth month.

Lord Jianzheng’s birthday. Early in the morning, someone from the palace came to summon him into the palace.

He accompanied Shi Wenyu for a meal, then went to pay respects to the Late Empress. By the time he returned to Si Tianjian, the sky had already darkened.

Lord Jianzheng waited for Huang Rang’s dinner, but she didn’t come.

He searched her study quarters thoroughly, but she wasn’t there either.

It seemed she had gone out.

He didn’t mind—Huang Rang was very busy too.

Late at night, someone entered and reported: “Jianzheng, Miss Arang sent someone to deliver a letter.”

“A letter?” Di Yiqiu frowned. He took the letter, opened it, and inside was written: “Come to Baoqin Hall.”

Baoqin Hall?

Though Di Yiqiu didn’t frequent flower houses, he still knew what kind of place Baoqin Hall was.

—Such places paid very high taxes each year, so of course he had an impression of it.

Why was Huang Rang asking him to meet her there?

But looking at the calligraphy on the letter again—Huang Rang had used the script from Di Sanmeng’s seal.

She didn’t normally use this style of writing.

Lord Jianzheng hesitated no longer. He left Si Tianjian at once and headed straight for Baoqin Hall.

He had no taste for romantic affairs. Upon arriving at this place and smelling the heavy scent of powder and cosmetics, he couldn’t help but frown.

At the entrance, many women dressed either gaudily or elegantly were soliciting customers. However, when they saw him, they only smiled with pursed lips—no one approached. Instead, a plainly dressed servant came forward and asked: “May I ask if you are Lord Qiu?”

Di Yiqiu acknowledged with a sound. The servant quickly led him inside: “Lord Qiu has finally arrived. Please follow this humble one.”

The two passed through corridors. The surrounding sounds gradually quieted. The path ahead grew darker and darker. The servant simply picked up a red lantern to light the way for him.

Di Yiqiu suddenly went from the din of voices to complete silence. Occasionally he could hear the sound of artificial mountain streams by his ear, as if he had fallen into another world.

As the servant walked, he said: “I heard the young master is a lord from Si Tianjian. Recently, something strange has been happening in our vicinity.”

He spoke mysteriously. Hearing this, Di Yiqiu said: “Oh? What matter?”

“One of our elegant rooms is haunted.” The servant said quietly and mysteriously.

Di Yiqiu was intrigued by what he said and asked: “How so?”

The servant’s voice was very soft, falling upon the dim corridor, seeming quite eerie: “We have a place called Fengyue Pool. In the pool are seductive bones. Whenever a handsome man passes by the pool’s edge, the seductive bones transform into a beautiful woman, bewitching the man until his soul is lost. Step by step, she lures them into the pool water…”

“Oh?” Di Yiqiu always looked down upon such romantic tales. How foolish must a person be to be deceived by a female ghost to this extent? He said casually: “Then the woman formed by those seductive bones in the pool must be extremely beautiful.”

At this moment, the servant brought him into a pitch-black hall where one couldn’t see one’s hand in front of one’s face.

He slowly raised the lantern high. The dark red light illuminated his own face, revealing a ghostly countenance: “Then… the lord can only see for himself.”

As his words fell, he slowly retreated.

Immediately, the two doors slammed shut with a bang.

Di Yiqiu naturally wasn’t afraid. Just then, a bit of dim light scattered ahead. The sound of water gradually rose. Di Yiqiu gazed intently and saw ahead was a water pool. Faint sounds of strings and bamboo instruments came indistinctly from behind a screen.

Ripples stirred in the pool water. A woman’s pale hands cradled a lotus flower as she slowly emerged from the water.

Her hair was dark as seaweed. Water flowed like a waterfall, like pearls. The light gauze on her body was fine and soft, clinging tightly, outlining an extremely graceful figure.

Difficult to paint, difficult to describe.

The candles around them lit one by one, self-igniting without wind.

The beauty had a slender waist and bare feet, dancing in the water. Her skin was like congealed fat, her form like a startled swan.

Di Yiqiu’s breath suddenly stopped.

In the dim candlelight, the beauty continued dancing, gradually leaving the water. The white lotus she held in her hands clearly concealed a drying artifact. So when she left this water area, the gauze garment on her body was already dry, her long hair once again like silk, like clouds.

The beauty stepped barefoot on jade stairs, as if finally discovering the unfamiliar visitor.

Her enchanting eyes were like silk. With delicate jade hands, one hand held the flower while the other crooked a jade finger toward the youth.

Lord Jianzheng seemed to have had his soul stolen away.

He didn’t know at all whether he had stepped forward, but when he came to his senses, he had already arrived at the pool’s edge.

The beauty smiled, sweet as sugar, sweet as honey, able to draw out transparent silver threads.

She half-reclined by the water pool paved with black stones, her thin gauze half-covering her jade legs, half-trailing in the water. The faint lamplight scattered, her garments shimmering with radiance, flawless as ice carvings and jade sculptures.

Beside her sat a white lotus-shaped wine pot and a jade cup.

The beauty lightly poured the fine wine, filling half the shallow cup. Lord Jianzheng couldn’t help but sit opposite her. The beauty’s pale hand held the cup, bringing it to his lips. Lord Jianzheng smelled an intoxicating dark fragrance, like flowers, like honey, dispelling all his distaste for powder and cosmetics.

Cup to lips, he parted them and drank lightly. What was in the cup wasn’t wine, but entered his mouth cool and refreshing like mint. The beauty only waited for him to taste it lightly before withdrawing her hand. Her fingertips were slightly cool as she gently caressed his forehead, then downward, over his nose bridge, across his lips, then lingering slightly at his throat. Then she casually cast the cup into the pool.

Di Yiqiu only tasted a bit of sweetness between his lips and teeth, along with a faint floral fragrance.

He reached out, wanting to grasp the beauty’s jade arm, but her skin was smooth and soft. She slowly retreated, so even her fingertips slipped from his hand. Lord Jianzheng’s hand only obtained half a gauze sleeve.

The gauze was fine and soft. He was reluctant to use force and could only watch as it slipped through his palm like fine sand.

The beauty’s gauze sleeve fell, obscuring his vision. She retreated barefoot, re-entering the water. That deep pool water rose over her delicate jade feet, soaking the floating fine gauze, finally slowly submerging her.

Di Yiqiu reached out and grasped the jade hand holding the lotus flower. Her five fingers opened, and the lotus flower swayed and fell.

Beauty to the extreme, heart-stopping to behold.

Di Yiqiu no longer cared about anything else and followed her into the water.

The pool water was slightly cool. In this clear water, her white gauze drifted, like beautiful jade slowly melting.

The pool water gradually embraced her, submerging her.

He followed, and so her serpentine arms slowly coiled around him. Her lips drew near. The beauty’s breath was fragrant as orchids. In the cool water, only her lips were warm and full.

Lord Jianzheng hadn’t drunk wine, yet his blood boiled and burned.

He responded with a more passionate deep kiss. The beauty’s light gauze peeled away in the water, flying like clouds. What intoxicating scenery was this?

But without having cultivated immortality, he couldn’t remain long underwater. Especially once his breathing became chaotic, his inner breath couldn’t sustain itself.

The beauty dragged him to the pool bottom, lingering in his embrace for a moment, then her pale hands pushed forcefully, pushing him away.

In the ice-blue dim light, Lord Jianzheng watched her sink to the pool bottom, while he himself, borrowing the force, returned to the water surface. He took a breath and immediately dove down. But where at the pool bottom was there any beauty like jade?

Lord Jianzheng searched everywhere, only finding a beauty’s bone made of pink crystal.

“Arang—” He searched all around, but the water bottom was silent and completely empty. He could only take this seductive bone and swim back to shore. The sound of strings and bamboo behind the screen gradually ceased. The room door opened, and the servant brought in clothing.

“Lord Qiu, please change clothes.” The servant said with a smile.

This time, all the candles were bright. Under the brilliant lamplight, Lord Jianzheng finally saw clearly that this room contained only a pool and a screen. Behind the screen were only a few musicians.

He looked toward the water again. The beautiful person had vanished without a trace from the water surface. Only a white lotus flower drifted with the waves.

Lord Jianzheng recalled what had just happened and felt as if he had been caught in a cloud dream.

The servant smiled and said: “This humble one said so—this place is haunted. After the young master changes clothes, you should leave quickly.”

Finished speaking, he glanced at the pink crystal bone in the Jianzheng’s hand, shaking his head and sighing: “A pink skeleton indeed.”

Di Yiqiu gripped that seductive bone. From this moment forward, he understood human greed and desire.

On this side, Huang Rang was changing clothes.

The madam personally helped her change garments while muttering: “You’ve really figured out men’s little preferences!”

Huang Rang laughed: “It’s just that I encountered someone slow to catch on, so I’m helping him gain some experience.”

The madam said: “With your skills, what man couldn’t you win over? Why must you pursue a green youth!”

“Tsk,” Huang Rang didn’t like hearing that. “This melon is only a bit green, but everything else about him is quite good.”

The madam understood and said: “Looking at his clothing, he’s also someone powerful and noble in the capital. Young and handsome too. Ai, no wonder you’re so devoted. But since you’ve already reached this point, why not let nature take its course and spend the night with him?”

Huang Rang finished dressing and said: “That won’t do—it would damage my family elders’ reputation.”

When she mentioned reputation, she herself was surprised.

Back then outside the dream, she wasn’t someone who cared about reputation.

—With a father like Huang Shu, what reputation was there to speak of?

But now, she was Qu Manying and He Xijin’s niece.

He Xijin, as the sect master of Ruyi Sword Sect, had always had a virtuous reputation throughout the immortal sects.

No matter what, she couldn’t bring shame upon him and Qu Manying.

Huang Rang shook her head, finished dressing, and prepared to leave.

The madam still felt it was a pity: “What a waste. If you put in a bit more effort, even Xie Hongchen might not escape calamity.”

Huang Rang laughed aloud: “Spare me, spare me. Please be kind, Mama, and treat this as if I never came.”

She paid the silver and hurriedly left Baoqin Hall.

That night, the Jianzheng tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

With great difficulty he finally fell into a dream, but in the dream there was still ice-blue water, and the beautiful person’s red lips were like fire. He pressed close, and between lips and teeth was all that faint floral fragrance.

The beautiful person’s jade arms coiled around his neck, the delicate cries escaping from lips and teeth—the dreamscape was chaotic and mad, the fragments scattered.

With great difficulty, dawn barely broke. The Jianzheng rose and discovered a soiled patch on his bedding.

…